Music and games… it’s a match made in heaven. The GoG team loves their music almost as much (sometimes more) than the games we are playing. We’ve spoken to many musicians who are as passionate about games as we are. Naturally, we had to go on a hunt and see how many of our musical influences had dabbled in creating virtual worlds. Here’s a list of 10 bands or musical acts who injected their creativity into video games.
1: Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden is no stranger to video game development. In 1999, they released the game Ed Hunter, accompanying the album of the same name. The game follows Eddie, the band’s mascot, through levels designed around past album covers. When the band released the album The Book of Souls in 2015, they also launched the online game Speed of Light which can be played in a web browser at speedoflight.ironmaiden.com. Their third and most recent game, Legacy of the Beast, launched on iOS and Android in the summer of 2016. Legacy of the Beast is a role-playing game where you search for the shards of Eddie’s shattered soul.
2: Kiss
Besides a pinball game, Kiss created a first person shooter called Kiss: Psycho Circus: The Nightmare Child. It was released in 2000 on PC and the ill-fated Dreamcast. Developed by Third Law Interactive, the game is based on a comic book series by Todd McFarlane called Kiss: Psycho Circus that is about a Kiss tribute band who gains superpowers. Apparently, there was supposed to be PlayStation and Game Boy Colour versions of the game, but they didn’t see the light of day.
3: Queen
The British rockers took a spin at game development with the action-adventure game Queen: The eYe, released in 1998 by Electronic Arts. it featured remixed music by Queen. In this futuristic game, an all-seeing machine overlord called ‘The eYe’ obliterated everything that inspires and promotes creativity. You play secret agent Dubroc who has uncovered a database of rock music during his work and thus has been sentenced to death in ‘The Arena’. Broadcasted as a live television show, you must survive “The Arena”, battling against the Watchers, and venture on a quest to destroy ‘The eYe’.
4: Michael Jackson
Moonwalker, based on the film of the same name, was released by Sega in 1989 for arcade, Sega Genesis and Sega Master System. The arcade version was a beat-em-up where Michael Jackson uses magical powers instead of physical contact to defeat his foes. The console versions were focused on saving children that were scattered throughout levels, platformer style. Cue the epic dance moves for extra damage. Oh and there is a Just Dance style game called The Michael Jackson Experience too ;).
5: Wu-Tang Clan
Wu-Tang: Shaolin Style is a four-person 3D fighting game for the original PlayStation. The story revolves around the rap group, specifically their stage personas. In order to get around censorship, this game used a special unlock code that had to be entered in order to see the blood and violence in full force.
6: Avenged Sevenfold
Hail to the King: Deathbat is a 3rd person, overhead dungeon crawler action RPG (think Diablo) that focuses on the origin of the Deathbat, Avenged Sevenfold’s mascot. This game is available on Steam, iOS and Android.
7: David Bowie
In 1999, Bowie entered the world of gaming, and worked with the team at Quantic Dream on the story, game design and soundtrack of the video game Omikron: The Nomad Soul. He makes two appearances in the game as the characters Boz, and the nameless lead singer of the music group “The Dreamers”.
8: Katy Perry
Katy Perry jumped into the mobile video game world with the release of Pop! On December 15th, 2015. The simulation game had you managing your very own character from aspiring artist to superstardom. This was the second celebrity inspired game from developer Glu Mobile, who has had lots of success with the release of Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. The game didn’t do too well (more like a straight up flop) and was removed from the Apple and Android stores just shy of it’s one year anniversary on November 21, 2016.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=14&v=hfTL-730E2w
9: Nicki Minaj
The downfall of Pop! didn’t stop Glu Mobile from using celebrities as muses for games. Along with the character simulation, Nicki Minaj: The Empire focuses on the music, letting the user make their own rap songs, even permitting the recording of your own voice samples. If your song is super dope, the community team at Nicki Minaj: The Empire might feature your track on their social channels. This game is still going strong so feel free to get your rap on and download it from the iOS and Android app stores.
https://youtu.be/-eDiSs7iO9E
10: Demi Lovato
I am sensing a trend here: take super celebrity, insert into simulation game, make money. Developer Episode Interactive teamed up with Demi Lovato to make Demi Lovato: Path to Fame. This game is a little different from the previous two sims in that the story has been set up into seasons. At the time of this writing, Demi Lovato: Path to Fame is in its 3rd season called Confidently Me, where your character stars in their very own tour. Intrigued? You can download the game now on the app stores for both iTunes and Android.
Do you know any other artists or bands who have released games? Let us know in the comments below, on Facebook or on Twitter!