14 DAY TRIAL // The music game genre is definitely on an ascending trend these days, with titles such as Guitar Hero or Rock Band being extremely popular with the gamers. This popularity is largely due to the fact that the two games bring tracks from highly successful groups and offer them to players who want to picture themselves as the lead musicians in their favorite bands.
In some cases, these games have actually brought even more recognition to these groups, as the CEO of Activision, Bobby Kotick, has said on various occasions that bands should really be grateful that their songs are in music games. But quite a few bands have really been hesitant about associating their own image with titles such as Guitar Hero or Rock Band.
All up until now, it seems, as the frontman for popular metal band Megadeth, Dave Mustaine, has talked about the fact that his group appears in the popular Rock Band game, having released their album Peace Sells ... But Who's Buying, as DLC (Downloadable Content). Mustaine took this chance to lash out at groups who don't want their music in games, calling them dinosaurs because they can't adapt to the current age.
"In fact, I think the advent of these new games and YouTube and MySpace and being able to upload your music — it's the way of the future. These old dinosaur bands that don't want to put their music up on iTunes or have anything to do with you guys doing games with Rock Band and stuff like that. It's just stupid. You know, just have mercy on them, the old dinosaur bands, and feel sorry for them and buy our stuff instead."
Quite a "modest" statement coming from Mustaine, but he might be right. A lot of bands have seen some very big profits from offering their songs as DLC for Rock Band or Guitar Hero, and things are bound to get better, as more and more people are buying music titles. Let's just hope that more bands take notice of Megadeth's example and put their tracks in games.