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Music rocked this year's Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), the annual convention/circus for the videogame industry in Los Angeles. Thousands of developers, artists and journalists from around the world took over downtown for four days of pyrotechnics. Gamers who turned out to preview games for this year's competing console systems -- Microsoft's Xbox, Nintendo's Gamecube and Sony's PlayStation 2 -- were treated to live performances by popular artists, plus a host of new warez aimed at the MP3 generation.
Here are the highlights:
Party Gigs
Every year, the big game makers churn out the free booze and finger
foods for bloodshot E3 attendees. Past performances have included
Beck and Macy Gray.
This year, Nintendo kicked things off on Wednesday with a set by
jazz singer, Diana Krall. Microsoft's bash
at the Palladium Thursday night earned the highest marks from
party-goers with surprise performances by Third Eye
Blind and Blink-182. Sony followed
up Friday night with its own prize, a raucous set by
Everclear in the company's downtown movie
studios. Third Eye singer Stephan Jenkins summed up exactly why he
and other bands are so eager to play E3 events: "Me get free
games!" he said.
Orgy Plug In
Orgy guitarist Ryan Shuck and
guitarist/keyboardist Amir Derakh roamed the halls Saturday,
checking out the latest games and scouting out the potential for
doing a game soundtrack. "We're mass gamers," Shuck confessed
between rounds of playing the upcoming Unreal Championship for
Microsoft's Xbox. The band travels with a PlayStation hooked up in
their bus. Much of their songwriting inspiration comes from games.
"'Fiction (Dreams in Digital)' is all about Lara Croft style
virtual girls," Shuck said. "They're taking over the world." The
band hopes to join the ranks of artists who are composing songs
specifically for games. Such a project is appealing, Shuck said,
because it would let the band break out from the traditional
album-oriented song structure. "With a game, you don't have to
write a single," he enthused, "you can just write for hours."
Game Music
Orgy isn't the first band to get the game music bug. Ever since
Trent Reznor scored the eerie sounds and
music for the ultra-violent shooter Quake back in 1996, artists and
game companies have been looking to recapture the magic.
David Bowie, Wu Tang Clan
and Rob Zombie have followed up
with varying degrees of success. This year, a host of upcoming
games being previewed at E3 hyped the inclusion of exclusive tunes.
Gran Turismo 3, the ultra-realistic racing game due for PlayStation
2 this June, will feature new tracks by Snoop Dogg
, Raekwon, plus a special remix by
Lenny Kravitz of his hit, "Are You Gonna Go
My Way." Frequency, a unique music generator game coming in
November for PlayStation 2, features electronica from
Crystal Method, BT,
Dub Pistols, DJ Q-Bert
and Juno Reactor. Players will be
able to remix tracks by these artists as part of the game play;
they'll even be able to collaborate with others via the Internet.
Finally, id Software confirmed that Trent Reznor will be recording
the music for the highly anticipated new Doom game, due, the
company says, "when it's done."
DJ Games
Software like Mixman and Acid pioneered the market for DIY DJ
software that lets amateur musicians create their own customized
songs. This year, other companies behind the so-called "audio game"
genre got into the mix with accessible programs for desktop
jockeys. The Germany-based eJay (www.ejay.com) unveiled its latest
music creation software for PCs, which lets users easily drag n'
drop selected "sound blocks" (ranging from hip-hop to trance) into
an on-screen mixing board. Another German company, Magix
(www.magix.com), touted a multimedia alternative called Music
Maker, which lets players mix not only specially selected song
tracks, but video clips as well. The Korean-based manufacturer,
g:company, showed off its self-described "dancing game:" ag-mix
(www.ag-cd.com), which challenges players to keep the beat on the
computer keyboard.
360 Degree Concert DVDs
Enroute, a video and photography company in Silicon Valley,
unveiled FirstPerson, a new interactive video technology that lets
fans view a previously recorded concert from wrap-around 360
degrees. "We want to bring the fans to the artist," said executive
vice president, Paul Cha as he demonstrated the software. The debut
example will come out this November with FirstPerson
Britney Spears, a 360-degree concert taped
in Holland. While Britney performs her hits onstage, fans can move
a camera mounted from the perspective of someone sitting front row
center, moving the view up or down, zooming it up into Britney's
face, or spinning it around into the crowd. Cha said that the
technology is still in its early stages and that, at some point,
viewers might be able to manipulate a camera positioned from a
variety of viewpoints around the stage. No other artists have been
announced.
DAVID KUSHNER
(May 22, 2001)