With the current generation of console game stations, there are hardly any games left with MIDI soundtracks. These days, games use real music in the background. This sucks. I like music, and when I first heard it, I thought it was cool that games were using current music. I think this is going to be interesting in 10 years, though.

Any kid born in the so-called Nintendo generation can hum you the bleeps that form the music to the first level of the original Mario Brothers for the NES. It may take a few minutes, but the tune is still there, in the back, gathering dust next to the memories of The Goonies and Cabbage Patch Kids.

I am going to enjoy pulling out the ‘ol Playstation 2 in a decade and playing a few of the games. SSX, a snowboarding game, comes to mind. The music that is so bad ass today is going to seem so... so... cheesy. Just imagine that instead of that loveable Mario Brothers tune accompanying the first level, it is a song from the, uh, great 80’s band Twisted Sister. Not cool. I don’t think it is just my undying hate for Twisted Sister, either.

I think games are better off using original music, but I doubt any will anymore. Not that I blame them, it must be cheaper, but video game nostalgia will never be the same.

What was cool about honest to dog MIDI soundtracks in PC video games was that you could edit the MIDI patches to go to an external MIDI device. Instead of hearing your Sound Bastard's cheesy tinny 8-bit FM synthesizer, you'd get badass stereo wavetable orchestration coming from your keyboard.

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