Jukebox 360…

What’s your poison? What’s your honey? PS3? X Box 360? PC? God forbid, Wii? Are you a strong, silent type, or perhaps you’re a noisy bastard? Well, I fall into the latter half of that question. When I slap on the trusty old X Box 360 (Which might I add, I got for nothing from my boss. The tray wouldn’t open apparently and within two minutes, after a little stroke, a soft coo in it’s exhaust vent and poking a nail in the emergency eject button, I had the little beauty working) I crank up the music. What’s better than sitting with three friends, a bottle of Bells Whisky, a 2 lt bottle of Coca Cola, Left for Dead 2 and then some atmospheric Cradle of Filth. Or you could go the other way and put on some Zero 7 and lull yourself into a zombie killing trance as their music flows over you.  It’s a surreal experience. You can make it almost melancholy, running to escape the Louisiana Bayous whilst Sarah Maclachlan’s  haunting voice sings of loves lost and hearts devoid of passion. My recommendation is Angel.

I don’t particularly have playlists for certain games any more. I used too. Remember Conflict Desert Storm for the original X Box? Well I had a playlist with stuff by Clapton, BB King, Jimi Hendrix, The Eagles, The Rolling Stones, The Who and many more. If it had been used in a Vietnam film, or I had visions of Helicopter blades thundering to the music it went in. For games such as Halo CE and Halo 2, I’d have your generic, common variety metal. Disturbed, Drowning Pool, Soil, Stonesour, you know the drill. I also used to own…. Hunter: The Reckoning. Terrible, terrible game. Shoddy camera angles, a terrible storyline and  repetitive gameplay. But my dedication to soundtracking my own games knew no boundaries. In went all the gothic metal I could think of. Darling Violetta. HIM. Within Temptation. It made the game playable, but I never did complete it. Of course, all these songs are merely my taste. You may have a completely different approach to soundtracking your own games? Conflict Desert Storm could have been all Euro Trance for you, in a similar vein to the opening credits of NCIS. FiFa 11 or Madden NFL for you Americans (I’m a limey….) could have been a game where you had to have pounding industrial music to even contemplate playing it. Cue goals and touchdowns to Combichrist, Rob Zombie and Nine Inch Nails. Today though, I made an exception. Any of my friends could tell you, I am Gay for Halo. So my Bro and I spent the last two hours playing Reach multiplayer and I had Janes Addiction, Alice in Chains, Pearl Jam, Clutch and Black Label Society blaring away over the top. It was good. It prompted me to write this, because, you know something? I was curious. Am I alone in this?

So, I want to know fanboys (and girls, there will be no sexism here…) What are your favourite songs to play your games to? Or why don’t you like listening to music whilst playing games. Drop your ideas in the comments section and then discuss. Play nice.