Mark Morgan : Fallout: New Vegas

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:36 pm

Videogamer.com http://www.videogamer.com/pc/fallout_new_vegas/preview-2604.html that Mark Morgan is doing the soundtrack for New Vegas.

The biggest nostalgia kick stems from the return of Mark Morgan, composer on Fallout 1 and 2. When one of his eerie tribal tunes kicks in during a close battle, accompanied by the familiar whirring and bleep of the combat interface, it almost feels like the old days. Almost.

As some have noted, the music clips from recent interviews are very reminiscent of the original games. It has also been pointed out that Inon Zur managed to approximate Mark Morgan's signature sound in Fallout: Tactics.

So what do you think? Critical Hit on the part of the author by getting the scoop before anyone else, or critical failure...

Update: After probing the author for specifics (in the comments section), I got the following response:

I'm afraid you're absolutely right: I've just checked this with Bethesda, and they've confirmed that it's not his work. For some reason I'd cemented in my head the idea that he was coming back (there was a story that reported he was, but as you said it was actually just a rumour).

Humble apologies, and thanks for pointing that out.

Update Mk.II:

All of the new music in Fallout: New Vegas is by Inon Zur, however we do use some of Mark Morgan's tracks from Fallout 1 & 2. They're mixed in with the Inon music in places (so are sound effects from Fallout 1 & 2) and the actual tracks themselves will play in specific locations. We use some of Inon's music from Fallout 3 as well. There's a ton of music in this game.

(Sweet)

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:43 am

:twirl: that journalist was speical in the head :confused:

» Tue May 17, 2011 5:35 am

Critical Fail.... Although from a gaming "journalist" that seems par for the course.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:53 am

It would be nice if he said how he learned that info. Still I hope he's right but I doubt it.

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:54 am

I have no clue, but I hope Fallout 3s style of ambient track returns. Fallout and Fallout 2s styled music worked because of how those two played, Anywho, not arguing, this is just my two sense.

» Tue May 17, 2011 8:18 am

game journalists are not know for there smarts :grad: or realiable :deal: sources are they

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:43 am

I'm wondering if the music is just a different style than Fallout 3 that is very similar to the old games.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:08 am

Critical Fail.... Although from a gaming "journalist" that seems par for the course.

If I were to take a wild guess I'd say it's this.

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:31 pm

"Critical Fail for $500, Alex" :facepalm:

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:52 am

Most likely Critical Failure, but I really really hope it's a Critical Hit... Kind of like I'm playing Fallout with a low luck character.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:49 am

I'm a huge fan of Mark Morgan's work and would like nothing more than to see him return to Fallout. When I heard that Bethesda didn't bring him on board for Fallout 3, I was mystified. Zur is fine, I don't hate him like some, and I think he did a fine job with Fallout: Tactics. If the music we've heard in the interviews was indeed Inon Zur, then credit where credit is due: it sounded good. Still, for Fallout, Mark Morgan is the first and last choice and anyone else is always going to be second best.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:02 am

Considering that it does not say how the author came by this information and have not heard anything to either confirm or contradict it, I can't say if it's correct or not. Many seem to be quick to say that it most be wrong, but there isn't really any more basis to make this assumption than to assume its correct. It could be Mark Morgan, or it could be someone else emulating the style of his contributions to Fallout 1 and 2, with the information we have now, I can't say.

I don't honestly care that much, though, I'm more concerned with how well the music works for the game and how good it is than who composes it, and honestly, I don't actually have any major complaints as to Inon Zur's work on Fallout 3, if they're still using him for New Vegas, I won't have any objections. Now if they get someone else to do it... it will depend on how the results sound.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:07 am

Didn't I read that Mark Morgan himself denied this some weeks (months?) back?

I would hope its true, but I don't think it is.

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:45 pm

Would be great if this was true.

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:35 pm

It would be great if it were. Just imagine walking the wasteland desert to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jxn1sqAQ-c, or walking through a scary burnt-down town to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZtBgcnV8Ztw.

» Tue May 17, 2011 4:54 am

It's a mistake, the guy even posted on No Mutants Allowed to apologize for it, saying that he was convinced Mark Morgan returned for New Vegas and that the style of the soundtrack was fairly similar.

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:02 am

It's a mistake, the guy even posted on No Mutants Allowed to apologize for it, saying that he was convinced Mark Morgan returned for New Vegas and that the style of the soundtrack was fairly similar.

Yeah, I probed for specifics in the comments section of the article and got this response from the author:

I'm afraid you're absolutely right: I've just checked this with Bethesda, and they've confirmed that it's not his work. For some reason I'd cemented in my head the idea that he was coming back (there was a story that reported he was, but as you said it was actually just a rumour).

Humble apologies, and thanks for pointing that out.

Case closed. :sadvaultboy:

» Tue May 17, 2011 1:37 pm

As I understand it... Mark Morgan has publicly uploaded his remastered FO1 & 2 tracks as free for non-commercial use. This would seem to mean that someone could make a mod to add those tracks to either Fallout 3 or FO:NV.

(If someone knows different, please speak up...)

» Mon May 16, 2011 11:19 pm

As I understand it... Mark Morgan has publicly uploaded his remastered FO1 & 2 tracks as free for non-commercial use. This would seem to mean that someone could make a mod to add those tracks to either Fallout 3 or FO:NV.

(If someone knows different, please speak up...)

The first thing I did after the music was not that pleasing to hear was to use the mp3 version of the old soundtracks and put it into fitting folders in the Fallout 3 directory. Works without problems.

» Tue May 17, 2011 2:25 am

The claim has been corrected in the article:

CORRECTION: We originally reported in this article that Mark Morgan, the composer who worked on Fallouts 1 and 2, was returning to work on New Vegas. This is not the case, although much of the game's soundtrack resembles his style. Apologies for any confusion this may have caused.

» Tue May 17, 2011 9:55 am

Critical Fail.... Although from a gaming "journalist" that seems par for the course.

Nice battlefield bad company refference....

» Tue May 17, 2011 12:28 am

Nice battlefield bad company refference....

Out of curiosity, where was the reference? I guess I missed it.

» Tue May 17, 2011 11:01 am

Out of curiosity, where was the reference? I guess I missed it.

I don't get the reference either. It seems like a fairly standard statement.

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:35 am

I've never played that game... but could it simply be the term "critical fail"?
Its no stranger to the Fallout series, but I don't think I've ever seen it in Fallout 3 (so some might not see it as a part of Fallout).

?

» Tue May 17, 2011 3:07 pm

Pretty cool the author responded so quickly and corrected the mistake, he even went so far as to go to NMA and apologies to the fans directly...