A few recent stories from The Daily Chord have brought the issue of music in games to the forefront. Today’s report from the E3 conference notes the popularity and growth of music games, along with new initiatives from the Wii people. The placement of a new Guns N’ Roses track on the upcoming Rock Band 2 drew the attention of the NY Times. Apparently Axl remains savvy enough to get his long-delayed tunes to the ears of his fans in today’s popular format, traditional CD releases be damned. The Financial Times reported on Activision Blizzard’s plans to develop a retail platform around their Guitar Hero franchise.

As you ponder the implications of this trend, take a minute to check out an excerpt from the SXSW Music Conference in March. Steve Schnur, Worldwide Executive of Music & Marketing for Electronic Arts describes the unique ways in which music and games inform and enhance each other. Watch the clip via the SXSW Coverage Player. Scroll down to the “Music Placement in Video Games” clip. You can also download the clip here. It turns out that playing games is a serious matter.