EA Trax

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EA Trax are in-game soundtracks on some video games by Electronic Arts (EA), featuring up and coming artists, as well as mainstream artists. Music genres featured range from hip hop to rock, depending on the game's genre ( FIFA games, for example, feature foremostly indie rock, electronic music and world music, while Madden NFL and NHL soundtracks are more geared towards alternative rock and heavy metal, and Madden NFL and NBA Live towards hip hop). It is usually attached to EA Games' sports and racing titles. Players can customize the playlist.

A soundtrack, also written sound track, can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film, video, or television presentation; or the physical area of a film that contains the synchronized recorded sound.

Video game electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor

A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a two- or three-dimensional video display device such as a TV screen, virtual reality headset or computer monitor. Since the 1980s, video games have become an increasingly important part of the entertainment industry, and whether they are also a form of art is a matter of dispute.

Electronic Arts American interactive entertainment company

Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. It is the second-largest gaming company in the Americas and Europe by revenue and market capitalization after Activision Blizzard and ahead of Take-Two Interactive and Ubisoft as of March 2018.

A PlayStation Portable version of some video game titles from EA Games also feature EA Pocket Trax, which takes advantage of the PSP's music and video playing capabilities by giving users the freedom to upload their own music to the soundtrack, as well as watch music videos from songs on the original soundtrack.

PlayStation Portable handheld game console made by Sony

The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment and competed with the Nintendo DS as part of the seventh generation of video-game consoles. Development of the handheld console was announced during E3 2003 and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004, at a Sony press conference before the next E3. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004; in North America on March 24, 2005; and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005.

Partnership

EA Trax began in 2001 when EA Games partnered with some major music labels to allow licensed music to play on EA's video games. The first video games to receive the feature were NBA Live 2003 , Madden NFL 2003 , NHL 2003 , FIFA Football 2003 , NASCAR Thunder 2003 , and Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2 . The partnership is intended for co-promotional opportunities on game launches, record releases, cooperation on advertising, events and at retail.

<i>NBA Live 2003</i> 2002 basketball video game

NBA Live 2003 is the 2003 installment of the NBA Live video games series. The cover features Jason Kidd as a member of the New Jersey Nets. The game was developed by EA Sports and released on October 8, 2002 for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, Xbox, and GameCube consoles and November 14, 2002 for Microsoft Windows. The game includes a soundtrack, which is the first video game soundtrack in history to be certified Platinum by the RIAA, selling over 1,300,000 copies worldwide.

<i>Madden NFL 2003</i> 2002 video game

Madden NFL 2003 is an American football simulation video game based on the NFL that was developed by EA Tiburon and Budcat Creations and published by EA Sports. The 14th installment of the Madden NFL series, the game features former St. Louis Rams running back Marshall Faulk on the cover. This edition of Madden was the first to have EA Trax, the Mini Camp mode and to feature John Madden and Al Michaels as commentators, who took over for Pat Summerall. The game was released on August 12, 2002 for the Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and the Xbox.

<i>NHL 2003</i> 2002 ice hockey video game

NHL 2003 is the 11th edition of the popular EA Sports NHL series, a hockey video game, released in 2002 as the successor to NHL 2002. Jarome Iginla appears as the cover athlete and spokesperson of the game. Iginla appears in the Behind The Scenes video to show the player how the game was made. It was the first installment of the NHL series to be released on GameCube.

Music labels in participation include Elektra Records, Capitol, Atlantic, Interscope, DreamWorks, MCA, Lava, Island/Def Jam.

Elektra Records record company and music label

Elektra Records is an American major record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk music and rock music between the 1950s and 1970s. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived as an imprint of Atlantic in 2009. As of October 2018, Elektra was detached from the Atlantic Records umbrella and reorganized into Elektra Music Group, once again operating as an independently-managed frontline label of Warner Music.

Capitol Records American record label

Capitol Records, Inc. is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva, and Glenn E. Wallichs. Capitol was acquired by British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary in 1955. EMI was acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company a year later, making Capitol and the Capitol Music Group both a part of UMG. The label's circular headquarter building in Hollywood is a recognized landmark of California.

Atlantic Records American record label

Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most important American labels, specializing in jazz, R&B, and soul by Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, Sam and Dave, Ruth Brown and Otis Redding. Its position was greatly improved by its distribution deal with Stax. In 1967, Atlantic became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warner Bros.-Seven Arts, now the Warner Music Group, and expanded into rock and pop music with releases by Led Zeppelin and Yes.

Today

The EA Trax program has proven to be a success as it continues today. It has expanded from simply being a feature on EA Sports titles to features on some of EA Games' best known titles, such as the Burnout , The Sims and the Need for Speed series. It has also expanded to some of EA Games' PlayStation Portable titles, enabling players to customize playlists and watch music videos. In recent years, players have been given the option of creating their own soundtracks for select EA Sports titles. In Madden NFL 13 , EA Trax was replaced by an orchestrated soundtrack. [1] It returned in Madden NFL 16 , but an option to use orchestral themes remain. The NHL series uses an orchestrated soundtrack on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions of NHL 15 and NHL 16 , however, last gen systems' NHL games continues to use the EA Trax feature. EA Trax returned in NHL 17, but orchestral themes can still be used.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Good, Owen (2012-05-27). "Madden 13 Swears It's Not the Same Old Song—So It Had to Get a New One". Kotaku . Retrieved 2012-12-03.
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