EA announces Throwback Trax

Electronic Arts has announced a deal with Rhino Records that will see music from the late 80s and early 90s appear in this year's range of EA Sports titles in the shape of "Throwback Trax", an expansion of the publisher's "EA Trax" soundtrack catalogue.

The deal will see songs from the likes of House of Pain, Pantera, MC Lyte, Faith No More, The Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure and Violent Femmes appear in games like FIFA Football 2005, Rugby 2005, NBA Live 2005 and others.

The first game to feature Throwback Trax will be EA Sports' American football title Madden NFL 2005, which is due out on all formats this August.

Electronic Arts maintains that the original Trax label "remains focused on breaking new artists in the games," citing Blink 182, Chingy and Jet as artists who have benefited from their appearance as 'Trax' in EA games since 2003.

"Music discovery is about being turned on to a great song that you've never heard before, whether it's brand new, or a timeless track," says David Dorn, Senior Vice President of New Media Strategy for Rhino Records.

"Music is an essential part of the gaming experience and gaming is an essential vehicle today for music discovery. We're obviously thrilled to be working with EA to bring the best music of the past back to those who were there the first time, and to expose today's younger gamers to something that, for them, will be completely new and cool."

It's certainly a noble goal, although one has to suspect that Rhino had other motives too in choosing to work with EA - or perhaps it's a coincidence that EA is the only company that can boast a certified platinum videogame soundtrack in the shape of NBA Live 2003, which featured songs from artists like Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg.