X360's in-game MP3 playback is optional - developer

By Tom Bramwell Published 8 November, 2005

Alone in the Dark opts out.

An Xbox 360 developer has shed more light on the issue of background music in games for Microsoft's next-generation console, revealing that in-game streaming of music from outside music sources such as iPod is something developers can opt not to support.

Speaking at Atari's GoPlay event in Lyon last month, Alone in the Dark developer Eden Studios said it would not be allowing players to stream their own music as it would spoil the ambience of its horror-themed action game.

Microsoft has previously demonstrated how music can be streamed into battle sequences in games like Kameo: Elements of Power by accessing an in-game menu and selecting music directly from devices hooked up to the console's USB 2.0 ports.

Subsequently a number of commentators pondered the worth of such a feature, arguing that game music is often an integral part of the game experience. Now it seems they have an answer - it's up to the developer to decide.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (56) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • king_skins #1 6 years ago

    Depends on whether its your first time playing the game or not... I think everyone on their first time through would listen to the games music, after that...
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 11:06

  • gibbondrives #2 6 years ago

    I can understand Eden Studios not wanting their game to be messed with, but surely Alone In The Dark is the last game you'd put a custom soundtrack over anyway? It should be up to the consumer in the end, because no doubt now there'll be games coming out for the 360 where you'd think your own music would work excellently with the game only to find they've crippled it.

  • alpha-0ne #3 6 years ago

    this is offically eurogamer bash 360 with meaningless stories day..

    From what ms said the game has no control over the OS after all this feature is built into the dashboard how would they stop it?

  • Gurgeh #4 6 years ago

    Real stuff:

    Cross -platform development on next-gen consoles

    "...with the exception of in-house titles developed by the console manufacturers themselves, none of the three major platforms (Xbox 360, PS3 and Nintendo Revolution) will end up with games that look significantly different from each other, nor will any platform show any real "edge" over the others. Many games will be written to a "lowest common denominator" platform, which would be two threads running on a single CPU core and utilizing only the GPU.

    All other market factors aside, the platform most likely to benefit from this situation is the Revolution, since it has the simplest architectural design. The PC, often thought to be a gaming platform on the decline, may also benefit. "

    http://arstechnica.com/articles/paedia/hardwa re/crossplatform.ars/1

  • Martin #5 6 years ago

    Thank god for the "ignore poster" link...

  • gibbondrives #6 6 years ago

    It's not a negative report, christ.

    They're just saying what someone else has said. He has said developers can switch off custom soundtracks (although the playback is via the dash, i assume the game has control over whether it appears on the dash during play). It's an open matter, some people don't believe in custom soundtracks for all games, some do. Whoop de do.

    It's certainly not negative, considering eurogamer's report only cites comments and not their own opinion, and those comments aren't even negative.

    I fear I may now have to read the Daily Mail for some unbiased commentary on the world around us *cocks rifle*
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 11:33

  • MoFo #7 6 years ago

    Hey La dickanttante I didn't even know X360 was supporting playing mp3s in the first place so it's news to me even if it isn't to hyper-informed heroes like yourself.

  • lennon #8 6 years ago

    I didnt read it as negative. Just news from last month!!!

  • Lovemoose #9 6 years ago

    "This has got to be the most worthless and pointless report I have ever read here. C'mon EG, sort your shit out! "

    Wrong. The point was that MS mandated the ability to play whatever you like over a game. Devs don't really like that idea. It devalues an important part of game making. The fact that Eden have stepped up and called them on this is really good news... definitely not worthless or pointless.

  • Tyronne #10 6 years ago

    This is a great shame as now I will not be able to play the Benny Hill theme upon being chased by something.

  • Glitch #11 6 years ago

    Stop moaning you sad f*cks, good post and was interesting, thanks EG!

  • Fatfish #12 6 years ago

    @ LeDil - To be honest, I agree with the others. This isn't negative, it's just informing us of the facts. I would rather hear information like this and the previous thread before I buy a product, instead of getting it home and then realising my hopes and expectations have fallen way, way short...........story of my life really....... ;)

    And for those of you who slated LeDil for posting his opinion (namely MoFo) - WIND YOUR NECK IN!!! There's no need to respond to him like that. It's his opinion and it counts as much as yours.

    @ Glitch: +1
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 11:52

  • Mugwum Verified Operations Director, Eurogamer Network #13 6 years ago

    Um. Wow. The point wasn't to piss anyone off - MS had been demoing it as if it was a feature in everything, and somebody told me it wasn't so I ran it. If anything, it's a positive story, since it's evidence of a common sense approach...

  • teamonkey #14 6 years ago

    "From what ms said the game has no control over the OS after all this feature is built into the dashboard how would they stop it?"
    You can't play music in the dash at the same time as playing the game - that'd be silly, just like you won't be able to play music while watching a DVD or watch a DVD while playing a game. Something'll have to get paused. In-game music streaming won't go through the dash.

    It's not really an "opt-out" process for developers either, more an "opt-in" process. It's a nice easy interface for the developer to take advantage of if they want to use it, but it's not appropriate in all cases.

  • Furbs #15 6 years ago

    Christ, its like highcalibre in here :p

  • tengu #16 6 years ago

    God, yet another pathetic thread.

    Well done fellas.

    /Claps

    Well.

    Done.


    ¬_¬

  • lennon #17 6 years ago

    I love the way this site has so many people with such a high opinion of themselves :)

  • Fatfish #18 6 years ago

    @ disc - I'm not having a go here, but to be honest, the lack of HD-DVD and late releases really doesn't bother me that much. As long as the games are still good, I don't care what format they come on or how long they take to develop. As for the single core programming for the 'first generation' titles - it won't just be the 'first generation' titles, it will be well into the first few years before they crack the mutli core issue - and it won't just be the 360, it will be on all the mutli core systems including the PS3.

    And for anyone else that's read my comments recently - yes I know I've been banging on about the multicore vs. programming issue for the last few weeks, but most people (it appears to be mainly PS3 fans) seem to think that it's a problem associated only with the 360 - it's not!

    As a console fanboy (who just happens to be eagerly awaiting his pre-ordered 360), I haven't felt that any of the stories I've read over the last few weeks on EG have been 'negative'. Just stating the facts.

    Also @ disc - the re-hashes of old xbox games is exactly what happened on PS2 when it was released. Re-hashes of PS1 titles with better graphics and sound. The same will happen on PS3 too - until developers start making new genres, new concepts and more involving titles (irrelevant of which platform), this problem will continue to rear it's ugly head.

  • old_skool #19 6 years ago

    @Fatfish

    I know I posted that link at The Inquirer on the single threaded use of the game engines for the XBOX360 some time back . Well Guess what , those chaps at The Inquirer is now saying something else http://www. theinquirer.net/?article=27459

  • kenty #20 6 years ago

    According to the latest release of the Xbox 360 Technical Certification Requirements, it is still required that games must not play their own background music if the player has enabled music playback in the Xbox Guide. I don't see how anybody would be able to ignore that requirement and still get their game approved for release...

  • Mirkan #21 6 years ago

    Well, contrary to what someone said in here, the idea of the Guide button or whatever they call it would be to have access to all of the trademark Xbox features anywhere at any time. Did the Kameo presentation show how he put on his own music to play in the game through the guide button thing? Yes it did.

    The notion that it's not designed to play music regardless of which game you're playing and whether it's paused or not is plain wrong. I feel there's a general lack of insight in the features of the 360 among a lot of people.

    However, it seems devs can choose to block this for whatever reason. Look, I'm not gonna play random music during my AiTD5 sessions, they needn't worry about that. I am however right miffed if this means EA can choose (like in the past) to FORCE their licensed SHIT music on you and block the option of listening to some quality tracks instead. Burnout 3 had tracks you couldn't switch off. Why? I'm guessing it's a licensing issue of "you better make people listen to this or we won't Franz Ferdinand your game up!"

    THAT worries me about this report.

  • Fatfish #22 6 years ago

    @ LeDil - Thankyou mate. Very kind of you to say, but I'm not perfect and I know I've had my moments like everyone else.

    This relates to your post on the other 360 thread aswell - I would like to say that I don't think you should leave because of the PS2 fanbase. Yes, they can be annoying, rude and completely biased with little or no founding, but that's half the fun of sitting back, reading their posts and mocking them. If they really are as single minded as to just simply buy in to the hype of the next itteration of the Sony franchise, then let them! We know we are the better men/women because we have no loyalties to any franchise - we are adopting early purely because we like the look of what the MS system offers - not because we're age old stalwarts who don't like change or pathetic little 'oiks' who have nothing better to do with their time than bicker about who's machine is the greatest with no actual argument or discussion, just 'mud-hurling'. We weigh up the news stories with a healthy amount of cinicism and optimism and we can put forward a well composed and throughtful answer - ok, so EG may not be cutting edge news, but I've found the forum/community to be fun, informative and thought provoking (at times anyway!), and it's because of people like you that it manages to stay like this. If people like yourself leave, then we will only be left with pathetic fanboy rants - and then the site really will go to the dogs!! Don't write it off just yet!

  • Carlo #23 6 years ago

    can we Ban LeDillante for excessive swearing/trolling now?

  • BartonFink #24 6 years ago

    Sorry I am with LeDilettante et. al. on this one how is this news afaik streaming in-game has always been optional. It was for Xbox how is 360 going to be any different?

    MS to impose in-game streaming for all 360 titles.
    Now that would be a story.

    Slow news day, eh?

  • jellyhead #25 6 years ago

    In that case at game startup i'd put up a message saying "You're playing music that we think will ruin the atmosphere of the game and make it shit. You have been notified!1! Change it or suffer." or something like that.

  • Fatfish #26 6 years ago

    @ disc - I know you weren't, but I felt compelled to respond. Much like a dog chases a stick.......or a cow chews grass......why? They don't know, they just do it - it's a genetic thing, working at the most base of levels..... :)

    And stop picking on LeDil - can't you see he's already disheartened and ready to leave. What's the point of a forum if everyone agrees all the time - would be boring as fook.

  • Lovemoose #27 6 years ago

    "MS to impose in-game streaming for all 360 titles."

    That was the story, until now. MS TRCs demanded the ability to put your music on at anytime, regardless of what the game is doing. This news is about a dev actually standing up for themselves and saying "we think imposing user initiated music streaming is bad for our game."

  • Fatfish #28 6 years ago

    @ Fluffy - thanks, the cheques in the post! Accountants starting to get nosey though - next month will have to be a bundle of used notes in a paper bag again. Same rubbish bin as last time? Why do you always choose that one on Clapham Common?

    Seriously though - ah, gees. Thanks guys. Bringing a lump to my throat....sniff, sniff....

  • brainbird #29 6 years ago

    Read it again: The article is about outside sources.
    Custom soundtrack will still be supported, I think?

  • Fatfish #30 6 years ago

    @ LeDil - defomundo mate. Only problem is that I've just sold my old xbox (25% extra on trade-ins at GAME) ready for the 360.......and guess who forgot to delete his Live account from the HDD?!?!? D'oh! I'm just hoping nobody buys it and goes online with it before I get my 360 - spoke to Live support the other day and they said there's an option when you conect to 360Live to recover old account and only allow it to run on the new machine. I'll let you know when I'm back up and running.

    In the meantime, if anyone sees Fatfish77 on xbox live over the next month, please let me know. Ta. :)

  • Fatfish #31 6 years ago

    Fluffy - you old dawg, you. Sheesh, you're making me blush now.......ok, but this time we take turns on the roleplay...... ;)

  • kenty #32 6 years ago

    "This news is about a dev actually standing up for themselves and saying "we think imposing user initiated music streaming is bad for our game"

    as I said above, this is a certification requirement and devs can't just choose to opt out of the ones they don't like. If MS allow an exception to the rule for one game then they would have to retire the TRC completely. As of now the TRC about background audio has not been retired.

    It was pretty much proven with the Xbox that if feaures such as this are optional then nobody bothers to support them. I think it makes sense that if a person wants to listen to their own music in a game then they should be able to do it in all games.

    Also bear in mind that if you enable your own background music in a 360 game, the setting does not persist between reboots so the next time you boot up it will have defaulted back to the game's own music.
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 13:07

  • Mirkan #33 6 years ago

    And how is the OPTION of a custom soundtrack "imposing" on anything? Surely the customer can decide to simply turn off the music in game and put on a record in their CD player. Would Atari come knocking on my door and be all "hey you!" then? No, they wouldn't.

    I don't see the point of removing this option, and to make sense of it and make the report into something I can understand then the thing they're describing is the ability to have your own music in THEIR music's place. For instance, the set music to a certain level in a game would instead pick from your custom soundtrack. Now if devs don't want to support THAT, because they feel it doesn't help the game then fine. You would still be able to access the guide and play your own music on top of the game however, unaffected by load times and level transistions.

    Again, I wouldn't do that with a game like AiTD though.

  • All_Action_Hero #34 6 years ago

    LeDilettante my friend, http://s11. invisionfree.com/High_Calibre.

    join us, and together we will laugh at these comments threads ;)

  • All_Action_Hero #35 6 years ago

    that's it, report him for swearing as you use the word prick, because that's not hypocritical...
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 13:19

  • All_Action_Hero #36 6 years ago

    Fatfish, http://s11.i nvisionfree.com/High_Calibre

    join us!

  • tengu #37 6 years ago

    Getting desperate for more members of the fanboy army arnie?

  • All_Action_Hero #38 6 years ago

    hardly, they just seem like 2 decent guys amongst you shitheads.

    oh i said shithead, quick, report me on the comments batphone like you did LeDilettante.

    :D

  • tengu #39 6 years ago

    No need, you'll be banned soon enough. Again. Another one for you to be proud of.

  • All_Action_Hero #40 6 years ago

    and as ever, 'i'll be back'.

    though you may have noticed i don't comment on other people's comments here anymore, you're all so thick it's a waste of time ;)

    edit: aside from this thread obviously, but i only commented here to offer some members a place on my forum.
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 14:05

  • tengu #41 6 years ago

    Er... all you've done here is comment on other people's posts though.

    You know what, I refuse to let myself get anymore worked up about this. End of the day, this is about computer games ffs, there's more to life worth being bothered about. So you lot can knock yourselves out for all I care.

    This just isn't worth it.
    Edited by 1 at 08/11/05 @ 13:42

  • old_skool #42 6 years ago

    You really need to get out some more...fresh air does wonders you know

  • Teeth #43 6 years ago

    Faaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaan

    booooooooooooooooooys

  • Teeth #44 6 years ago

    It's a fanboy love-in!

    You can't see for the sweat and jism. The icing on the cake? Arnieofdarkness comes in to recruit more zealots for his Xbox-fanboy forum! Soon you'll all be coming over here and calling well-rounded gamers fanboys in the comments threads because you got offended by some choice of words in a 360 article.

    Classic, classic stuff

  • All_Action_Hero #45 6 years ago

    'well rounded gamers'.

    quality.

  • Teeth #46 6 years ago

    Nice try arnie.

  • Fatfish #47 6 years ago

    @ LeDil - I'll have a look for you as soon as I'm up and running again. Must admit, haven't used the old Live side of things for a while. Got pissed off with the same twats spoiling it for everyone else. I'll certainly look you up (under that name) when I get myself connected........the writings on the wall......

    @ tengu - rise above it mate. Don't get worked up.......go and bat one off to release the tension or something..... :)

    @ All_Action_Hero - thanks for the link. I'll try and take a look at some point this evening. No promises though - if it turns out to be a convention of people who do nothng but dress their console up in girls clothing and swap photos, I'm out of there!! ;) Seriously, thanks for the offer.

    @ teeth - Lalalalalalalalal........I can't hear you.....lalalalala......all I hear are words.....lalalalalala...........tosser.

    Why is it if people discuss the same console, articles relating to it or comment that they are eagerly antcipating it's arrival, you suddenly deem them 'fan boys'? Fan boys are the ones who no matter what the argument or discussion, adamantly state that they are right and that their console/car/team/chav girlfriend is the greatest thing 'evah' and 'for da w1n', with absolutely no basis or weight to their argument - just mindless statements.

    Personally, I think it's an insecurity thing - you become arsey because you're defensive. I think you're just feeling left out, but you're too shy to ask to be included - well, it's your lucky day Teeth. The jizz pools hot and wet and there's plenty of loving to go round. So why don't you jump on in and share in the anal gratification that we're obviously all indulging in - go on, you know you want to!! ;)

  • Teeth #48 6 years ago

    LOL

    Left out of what exactly? God I wish I could be a part of the reader base that accuses EG of being biased all the time when a 360 article is posted that doesn't try to procreate all over the thing. Oh no, hang on. It's that I want to be apart from it :)

  • Teeth #49 6 years ago

    If you're referring to me there mate, do me a favour and find some posts of mine that have horrendous grammatical errors, eh? I doubt you'll find many.

  • Teeth #50 6 years ago

    Aha, ok, heh. Ahem.

  • captain-future #51 6 years ago

    Custom soundtracks are important to me and I'd like to see them implemented.
    It's a very lame excuse to say "creative soundtracks should rule" - ultimately if I was a developer I'd like to make games where consumers decide what is best for them.

  • Lovemoose #52 6 years ago

    "I was a developer I'd like to make games where consumers decide what is best for them."

    I'm not having a go here, captain-future, I totally appreciate where you're coming from, but wouldn't it seem strange if we all turned up at the cinema and the director had decided we should decide what's best for us? Eveyone sitting there with an ipod playing their own stuff...

    I guess the problem is that some games are more "art" than others; for every Ico or Beyond Good and Evil, there's an Amped or Burnout. For every game where a Soundtrack really adds to the atmosphere, there's one where music is almost irrelevant.

  • Xerx3s #53 6 years ago

    Personally, i think that playing your own music in a game is crap. Its like watching a really good film, while listening to hardcore trance. Totally spoils the mood of the film/game.

  • king_skins #54 6 years ago

    Most people will listen to the game music when playing an adventure game, but what about if your just replaying one of you favourite levels for the 30th time? Should to be forced to listen to the same sound track again and again and again?

    I don't see why some people are so against it... you have a choice, if you want to listen to the games sound track then do it, if you want to listen to your own tunes then do that...

    Why is that a bad thing?

    And to the poster that was saying should people be able to put there own art assets in a game... um... PC mod sean...?

  • Mirkan #55 6 years ago

    God these comments threads get filled up with so much crap it's impossible to have a proper discussion about the topic at hand.

  • Xavier_B_OXford #56 6 years ago

    Xbox 360 is going to be the greatest console ever developed, and any retard who disagrees can just fuck off and play their shit filled crappy B$3s or magic wand fisher price Nintendo Revulsion, because they aren't welcome among the elite that ARE the 360 owners.

    I don't want to read any bullshit 360 stories on this so-called 'website' unless it's a story reporting how utterly fantastic and completely faultless the 360 and all it's games are. I don't care if the stories are accurate or not, all I want to hear is more about how awesome the console is, BECAUSE IT FUCKING RULES!

    I played a bit of Perfect Dark Zero recently on a demo pod, and I exaggerate in no small fashion when I tell you I physically ejaculated so hard whilst playing it that I destroyed the demo pod and blew a hole through the wall behind it. It's like what must happen when Superman shoots his wad.

    The sheer pleasure of playing this game was so great, that I went and hired SIX prostitutes and had sex with them all at once, and I still experienced barely a fraction of the orgasmic joy given when playing the supreme orgasmic joy simulator, aka XBOX 360!

    In mere weeks we will all be living in a world of pleasure playing this GOD among gaming console ants, while B$3 wankers wait another year, and then wait forever for a decent online service, and wait even longer for games while the devs try to figure out how to actually make games for the stupid fucking thing! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

    Fuck you $ony you pathetic losers, you've lost this race before you've even begun because WE got the important head start on you, and that's why we're going to win. All other games on ALL other consoles will immediately become shit and worthless as soon as the first 360 is sold to one of the kings of gaming that are Xbox fans! OH YES!

    Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going off to the pub to tell some women I've actually PLAYED a 360, and proceed to beat them off with a stick as they beg me to fuck them upon learning this.

  • Vin #57 6 years ago

    Bloody hell.

    Get out more, mate.

  • Shyvah #58 6 years ago

    I'm not sure I can tell which are the real ones anymore...

  • Scimarad #59 6 years ago

    IMHO I can think of few occasions I would like to have a custom soundtrack. In most games I like, the soundtrack is integral part of the experience.

  • Gouki #60 6 years ago

    EB Games ships Kameo preorders; Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 expected in retail locations this week.

    There i'll deliver some news if euro wont!!!

  • speedstars13 #61 6 years ago

    B$3 looks good.

  • Aka #62 6 years ago

    Will this be an option in the 50 Cent game?

  • Lovemoose #63 6 years ago

    "EB Games ships Kameo preorders; Perfect Dark Zero, Project Gotham Racing 3 expected in retail locations this week.

    There i'll deliver some news if euro wont!!!"

    Don't give up the day job mate.