Sounds strange I know...but the game has that feature. Snake finds an ipod and can listen to songs you find in game...

Its kinda hillarious when you're in a big action sequence and you're playing elevator music. But it takes away from the vision of how it was optimized as the best musical expereince...

I know what you mean. Some people recommended listening to Uncharted's soundtrack, for instance, but when I did it sounded just like a movie's: pretty enough, but highly repetitive and definitely meant to stay in the background.

The only reason I can come up with to explain this is that as the technology permits for better music, it demands an increase in the budget as well, which is something many developers can't afford when they're already shelling out massive amounts for art assets and the like. Mario Galaxy is rumored to be Nintendo's most expensive game ever, and the blame for that is laid at the cost to orchestrate the soundtrack. (Not sure if it's true, I'm just passing along what I heard.)

I happen to totally agree with the OP. Back when XBox offered the ability to load your own songs into a game, I had a discussion with other people in the industry on the topic. Having entered the industry as a composer, the ability to load/play your own songs was a slap in the face to the talented game composers out there.

I think that having your own music detracts from the game experience. As a colleague put it: "Picture playng a serious RPG and you're at a sad/intense part of the game 'My family has been murdered by the king? My mother raped and killed?' and the song loads up and you hear 'From the windows to the walls! Everybody skeet skeet skeet skeet! Oh skeet skeet skeet skeet!' "

Playing a RE game with Slayer can be fun and all, but the music is what makes the scene even creepier. In game music needs to be preserved.

On related topics, a lot of composers are getting away from live recordings and returning to MIDI, now that we can use software synths to resemble high quality instruments. We can make the game be a logical dj - we create 4 or 8 bar musical riffs per instrument, give it a theme name, and tell the computer to choose instruments to mix and match, based on the given situation to match a theme. This means that you might not hear the same song twice - EVER. Pretty neat stuff.

UGHH! Kill me now...

Wonder how much a music costs for these games...must be huge.  All they really need is a guy with a synth, guitar and a musical vision really.

The orchestrated Super Mario Galaxy music and the sheer variety of remixes in Super Smash Bros Brawl have been the best I've heard. You're right though: Even Metroid Prime (great music in the first game) had generic, forgettable efforts in Prime 3.

Pretty interesting stuff...could work well but it may take away from the game too. Like if the computer suddenly decides its best to play a different tune in your favourite part. Like if the battletoads music on the car level suddenly changed, I'd go ape shit... :)

 Yeah, I was...bored. And the ending song for You Have to Burn the Rope definitely supports your claim: it ain't going to win any awards, but at least it was memorable, and ten years from now if I heard it, I'd probably recall the game. 

The World Ends With You >.>, Persona3 F and errwow good point... I don't remember any of the music from most of the games I've played for the past 11 years... I mean if I really thought about it maybe I could druge something up... wow..

I still remember the Da,da,da,dun~~, da,da,da,daa,da,da,dun. Beat from Mario Galaxy.

I remember the Final Destination Song from Brawl (Brawl Version is cooler)... I remember most of the Songs from Brawl actually.

I agree about the decline of game music - and being a musician, the soundtrack is a necessary part of the experience for me.

Also, everyone lately seems to be hyped about being able to play your own music in games (not just MGS4). That is a major step in the wrong direction because game companies now get a "free pass" with game soundtracks. I forsee lots of forgettable (and downright awful) game music on the horizon.

Perhaps the days of the "total package" are coming to an end. We'll know for sure when games with insipid soundtracks start getting 10's.

Super Smash bros Melee's orchestrated symphony is worth listening to.
I think the problem is that before in gaming, music was limited, so to make it any good you needed a catchy tune. Now all you need is decent tech and the tune doesn't matter as much... unless you are going for AAA.