I just can’t kill enough

Your own personal blood loss

With all the focus currently on getting music in prime time US TV dramas or onto the soundtrack of the next Guitar Hero or Rock Band spin off, it’s easy to forget that there are far subtler ways of integrating your presence into consumers’ living rooms.

Quite possibly my favourite band integration of the end of the year goes to Dépêche Mode’s presence in Valve’s zombie onslaught video game ‘Left 4 Dead 2′. Why? Well it’s not because of Dave Gahan making an appearance in-game as a putrid member of the brain munching club, nor is it because his dulcet tones feature amid the killing spree. The reason it’s so good is because one of the four main protagonists in the game – Rochelle -  sports a pink t-shirt emblazoned with the band’s name. What’s so great about that I hear you say? Well, what it effectively means is that throughout the many hours it will take to complete this game, the millions of eager gamers – both pre and post Christmas – will be constantly staring at an artist billboard as they lay waste to the zombie horde.

The inclusion is intentional and planned, and although subtle, it is indicative of how traction is routed in repetition. Gamers have a devotion to their chosen product that surpassed the often passive interaction with a CD. For the hours, days, weeks it takes to reach completion they are living the game – and thereby have a certain level of connection with the game’s protagonists. Indirectly they are wearing that band tee and seeing their reflection mirrored in the action. “There is no storyline in the game with the band, as they do not appear in the game,” said Johnathan Kessler, Depeche Mode’s manager, “their music was included as a way to get their songs out there, so that the kids can be exposed to it in a way that differs from conventional radio.” With radio you get your three minutes of fame (that’s if you’re lucky enough to get a mention pre or post airplay). In Rochelle’s case you get a walking, talking, zombie slaying, advertisement . An emotive avatar that the gamer can emphasize with as both they and the character engage in the storyline as one.

Not groundbreaking, not complicated, but arguably very, very clever.  If Lara Croft had worn a band tee, for example, the group would have become immortalised in gaming history.

That said don’t expect to see a Susan Boyle T-shirt on anyone in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare.