The Michigan Daily - michiganclaily.com Wednesday, September 17, 2008 -5A The Michigan Daily - michigandailycom Wednesday, September17, 2008 -SA When legends fall and iPods sell: The anatomy of a sellout a a my mo listened times g no mat how ma times I my way throug album The Lon some C " ed Wes will ne have lis to thos tracks thing li or "Cop tinged trips to or my f moose that wi It's h being f the firs tainly r a talent got a d But me, an QVC - cials fe and pro the "Ug Known Off." T live sho band; n somethi networ perforn the net "Jacque Collect cert," w proclai the cha showca began. Jar a lo to d * QV Tayl album,: say I w James ' thing li on a Fr deliver what J to do to Jam hate th broadly many is Plus, I ing out "$19.97 that wa on thes clinche But t out" ar ing mo " bands t in comp have ch Modest song "G to a neu IgetI Making able as made a to begin really 4+ all, esp indie ba mes Taylor - you, sir, are Because of this, they offer an douchebag. album's worth of M3s linked on This statement will kill their website. It's easy cash when ther; she loves the guy. I a company comes up to you as an d to his songs thousands of artist, asks to use your song from rowing up, enough so that a past album and, just like that, ter you have $25,000. We all need to any pay the rent, but you don't have make to shoot the neighbor's dog or destroy a career's worth of clas- h an sits to do it. like '-^So for God's sake, please pick ne- your method of promotion care- rowd- fully. tI MATT In respecting the art, yes, I ver EMERY concede that maybe it's not the stened noblest way to stay true to the e craft and that yes, selling a song as many times as some- to Ford to hook trendy twenty- ike "Carolina in My Mind" somethings, thus building a big- pperline." They're songs ger and stronger conglomerate, with memories of road sounds awful, but give the artists Glacier National Park, a break. If you're an indie band ather swearing about a that hardly makes money outside in the middle of the road of touring and t-shirt sales, is ll not fucking move. there a better idea than promot- ard to love someone after ing your music in a new, multidi- orce-fed their songs for mensional, artful way? t 12 years of life, butI cer- Apple's iPod commercials are a espect the man's skills as perfect example. Sure, Apple isn't ed songwriter, and he's exactly strapped for cash any- amn good voice. more, and they're clearly using James Taylor's dead to indie music to hook indie kids d it's mainly because of (something they've succeeded at the network of infomer- doing). But come on, their com- aturing Christmas in July mercials are always well done. bably something called From the initial silhouette spots gliest-Fucking-Sweaters- to the new runny paint ads, i-to-Man Weekend Sell- they're all visually appealing aylor was performing a and damn it, really cool. And the ow with a full backing music does nothing to hurt this. ot all that uncommon had Is Feist really selling out by let- ing like VH1 been the ting her song be used in such a k the ones showcasing the trendy, hip way, a way that almost nance. But this was QVC, single-handedly landed her a work that showcased the spot on "SNL" and catapulted her eline Kennedy Jewelry album to a top spot on many year- ion" following the "con- end lists? iPods aren't exactly the rith a fake, bubbly woman worst product to be associated ming, "Do not change with, and their advertising team nnel!" when her hour to does a fantastic job of compli- se overpriced necklaces menting the music with appeal- ing visuals. Animal Collective is another example. Is Crayola really a bad Taylor has company to sell a song to? We all esr loved Crayola as kids, and why t of explainin not give back to the company p g with a track that will undoubted- to - hopefully ly fit their quirky color schemes? But then there are the true Cisn't involved. idiots. A band like Of Montreal - who sold just the melody of their song "Wraith Pinned to a Mast (And Other Fun Games)" to Out- back Steakhouse - committed or was marketing his new an atrocious crime. Marketing aptly titled Covers. I can't their image with a tacky, national as all that surprised to find chain is just laughable, especially Taylor showcasing some- when the ad agency replaces a ke this during primetime key line of, "Let's pretend we iday night, but it was the don't exist" to "Let's go Outback y that irked me. Is this tonight," plastered over images of ames Taylor actually has the Bloomin'-frickin'-Onion. make a buck these days? Or take Ratatat, who sold es Taylor is a sellout. I "Seventeen Years" to Hummer, a e term, and I think it's company often seen as the sym- 'used and attached to bol of America's dependence on nappropriate situations. foreign oil - America! Big cars! wouldn't even label it sell- Guzzle that gas! - for one of their if it weren't for the damn commercials. It makes iPod com- (plus $3.97 for shipping)" mercials look like a cuddly puppy is lounging in the bottom next to a shaved, three-legged screen - that was the real feral cat. Or just take any number r. of hip-hoppers who rap for gum 'he idea behind "selling or Coca-Cola. It's just pathetic. e changing. It's becom- These are the people who re and more common for really should be ashamed of o sell their songs for use themselves. And what about mercials, but in ways that James Taylor? Probably the worst anged quite a bit since of all. No art; no effort; just a Mouse attached their shitty gig to promote his "album" ravity Rides Everything" on an extended infomercial. I w minivan. may cringe when I hear one of my the "selling out" thing. favorite bands backing an online g music just isn't as profit- college, butI won't want to kill a it used to be. Artists never legend. ton of money on albums Artists: Choose wisely. Playing odd God Creator of "Sim City" single cell (which somehow has very cute eyes) and evolving it mixes elements of RPG over eons through five stages of sentience. After the cell stage, and evolution to Create creatures develop legs and ven- twisted, addicting game ture onto land, gain intelligence and form tribes, defeat or team- up with other tribes to form By JAMIE BLOCK civilizations and finally venture For the Daily off into custom-built spaceships to dominate or unify the galaxy. If you've always wanted to cre- Throughout evolution, the game ate a monster with eyes for hands, is filled with fun challenges and seven mouths and one leg, then surprisingly difficult strategy "Spore" is the game for you. decisions. After years of development, Gameplay mainly consists of "Sim City" creator Will Wright's interacting with other creatures so-called "God to unlock new abilities, parts Game" has and stages. In the early stages of finally arrived the game, these interactions can on the PC and Spore unlock new body parts. In later Mac, and while It stages, players earn access to new, comes very close PC and Mac technologies, parts for their "trib- to meeting its EA al outfit" and eventually a vehicle galactic poten- editors for cars, boats, planes and tial, attempts to spaceships. In addition to the sat- accommodate novice gamers have isfaction of earning new parts, left some gameplay elements feel- there's something indescribably ing redundant. enjoyable about watching your "Spore" gives users the power creation devour its enemies. to evolve a galaxy of their own. "Spore" is not a visually stun- Players start by controlling a ning game, but the cartoony Nuclear disasters might be cooler than we think. graphical style is complemented well by humorous cut-scenes and character animations. Sometimes creatures' legs will pass through their arms when they run, or their tails will magically vanish underground when they, sit. But given that the programmers were faced with the immense challenge of animating anything the user could come up with, they deserve to be cut some slack. Although it might not be the earth-shattering simulator some anticipated, "Spore" 's deep cus- tomization tools and accessible nature will appeal to a broad spectrum of gamers. It looks like Will Wright's resume just got a little stronger. Some assembly required: "Spore" 's claim to fame is its edi- tors, which allow players to make everything from cells to space- ships. The editors let players unleash their creativity, assem- bling a creature out of a set of parts in whatever freaky formationthey wish. The same goes for buildings and vehicles, with no convolution too weird for the game to allow. A free trial of the creature creator is available on Spore.com. Internet Creature Data- base (ICDb): One of the game's most groundbreaking features is the seamless sharing of creations between players via the internetL Everything created is uploaded to the Sporepedia section of Spore. com. Creations will then exist on other players' planets, and gamers can even track what hap- pened to them. For example, one of my recent species was driven extinct by two different 'players on the same day. R.I.P. Kwillp. While Maxis provided a substan- tial amount of pre-made content, the most grotesque, absurd and fun playmates are those made by other players. Luke, I am your previous generation: The force is strong in this game, with the light side See SPORE, Page 10A n with, but now they on't make much money at, ecially if they're a niche and bloggers rave about. Emery's just mad his Kitana sword hasn't arrived from QVC. E-mail him at emery@michigandaily.com. J AA A