I was level grinding the other night in Call of Duty 4 multiplayer, and I started to wonder about how important custom playlists are in video games to me and the the average player. I then started to think about what the other people on my team might be listening to while gaming, or if they had everything shut off to listen solely to what was going on in-game. My head began to spin thinking about all of the different permutations.Since the advent of surround sound in gaming, programmers have done their best to immerse the player in ambient sound. One of the best players I’ve ever multiplayer-ed with uses his surround sound setup to find enemy locations in the game. That’s a brilliant idea and all, but for someone like me who plays games primarily to relax, it’s a bit overkill.

Me being a connoisseur of music, I find most games soundtracks added on. The sole exception I have to this is in JRPGs, where the music is very appropriate for each section of the game and is meant as an aid to the action on-screen. There have been times that I was known to be listening to The Mars Volta while playing Oblivion, but then again I can only speak on my own habits. Generally I won’t turn on my own music when gaming, but if its multiplayer, a bunch of level grinding, or my 2nd or 3rd play through of a game, all bets are off.

By me turning off the supplied music that came with the game, am I somehow slapping the makers of said game? A bit maybe, but I’m glad that we live in the days of being able to do so. Don’t get me wrong, I am a huge proponent of video game music, especially anything from the NES or the SNES and will gladly show you my collection of game music on my iPod, but the music in games these days seems a bit too shallow, easy to throw away, and all too forgetful.If you take a listen to the soundtracks for Mass Effect, Lost Odyssey, Halo 3, and Super Mario Galaxy you’ll find some amazing pieces of music that are great to listen to and are great examples of good videogame soundtracks. But even some of the Game of the Year candidates’ soundtracks are entirely forgettable, like Bioshock. If it weren’t for the few licensed songs in that game, I don’t think I’d recall a single song.

I’d like to ask you wonderful readers this, why do simple game soundtracks from the 8-bit era stick around, while extremely well produced games soundtracks from the current generation go by the wayside? How important is it to you to be able to listen to your own custom soundtrack in games these days?I really wish I had an answer to the first question, but I honestly have no clue why it seems that way. It very well could be my own sense of nostalgia that’s making me think this way. As far as the second question, to me its very important, so important that I prefer my Xbox 360 over any current console I own. True, you can stream music through your PS3, but I have yet to see the ability to play the songs while in game…please correct me if I’m wrong here.