The readings this week, especially the Whalen piece, were very interesting and enjoyable for me. I have thought for a while that good movies and shows need to be supported by good music as well. The example that came to mind while doing the readings was my favorite childhood show, the Animaniacs. Not only were the movements of the characters in the show supported by many of the musical techniques discussed in the article, but the show was famous for the musical numbers that the characters themselves sang. This made me think of the various innovative ways that music has been used in video games as well.

Two obvious examples, mentioned in the Collins article,  were Guitar Hero and Rock Band. Although their novelty has largely worn off by now, when they came out they were revolutionary games that blurred the lines between “playing” video games and “playing” an instrument. Of course, playing Rock Band is nothing like playing actual instruments, but the point is that it brought about a distinct change in the relationship between games and music. The immersion and flow of the video and games is accomplished by music in a very effective and unique way. Instead of deep music in minor keys denoting dangerous territory or pleasant chiming tones associated with gathering money though, familiar music is meant to transport us into the position of our favorite rock stars. It is a kind of play that includes playing instruments, playing video games, and to an extent, even playing make believe, like we discussed in the definitions of play at the beginning of class. In this case, music is not only important as a support to the game, the music is the game. It ought to be acknowledged that, as was discussed in the readings, that there have been Rhythm-Action games since the very early years of video games, but none had ever matched the popularity and depth of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series.