Now I think it's worth saying this right off the bat; I'm a musician first and a gamer second. I would without question say that for seven months of the year (i.e. not during NFL season), they are my greatest abiding passions, the fuel for my existence. My love of video games significantly predates my love of music; the music I listened to during my N64 era was terrible pop music and Pokemon soundtracks. But then my music appreciation blossomed, and then last year my video game appreciation also grew significantly beyond the realm of game enthusiast to game fanatic.

So naturally, you would expect my two greatest passions to overlap. And you'd be right. There isn't much that I enjoy more than listening to a great album and playing a great video game. However, I don't connect them together like some people do. Jeff will often tell of his days playing Lode Runner and listening to Van Halen, and Brad has mentioned his unbreakable connection between Green Day's Dookie and F-Zero for the SNES. For me, though, I'm all about variety in my music. I can't listen to the same album twice in one day; hell it's hard enough for me to listen to the same song twice in one day. Regardless, as I said before, playing video games and listening to music is one of my life's greatest pleasures.

But there is a balancing act involved. What games are enhanced by listening to music? What particular kinds of music can encourage a better performance in games? At what point are you diluting your experience of the game via the music, or vice versa?

I remember Jeff remarking on the Bombcast quite a few months ago that he liked Star Wars: The Force Unleashed much more when he listened to Ice Cube and played the game. This is very telling to me. It's telling both of the joy produced by combining two wonderful things, and the issues it can cause. Now I'm not game journalist and so it doesn't matter for me, but I've had my opinions altered through music. At first I thought Civilisation Revolution was a good game, but through playing the game with music, it suddenly became a really great game. Same applies the other way; I find I can appreciate bands I normally wouldn't be too fond of, like Story of the Year, Alexisonfire, Hot Water Music and As Cities Burn by listening to them while playing Virtua Fighter or Forza.

In truth, though, sometimes I don't want my experiences diluted. There are certain albums that I refuse to listen to while doing anything else, or at least anything as potentially taxing as playing a video game, because I don't want to be distracted from the music. Thrice's Vheissu, Sigur Ros's Agaetis Byrjun, Vladimir Ashenazy playing Rachmaninoff's second piano concerto with Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra. This music is so special to me that I cannot in any way taint my experience of listening to them.

The same applies to video games. Some games are very well suited to some music, genres like fighting games, shooters, sims, strategy games and RPG's. Actually now that I think about it, I actually listed most genres of popular games there. I guess it depends on how good the game is, and how much atmosphere and the in-game sound effects play a part in the game's style. Games like Dead Space and BioShock need to be appreciated without dilution, and Half-Life 2 is another game that I feel I woundn't enjoy with my headphones on. Mass Effect is another, and Condemned, and Assassin's Creed.

However, some games are perfectly suited. I tend to think that most kinds of music are somewhat of a hindrance to your performance, because they force you to redirect and split your focus, unless the music is just background noise. To that end, low intensity games tend to be the best suited for the task. I've found that when, say for example I'm playing a JRPG and I need to grind a few levels to beat a boss, listening to an album makes the whole experience much smoother. I've already mentioned Civ Rev; this relatively low intensity turn-based strategy game does require focus, but gives you plenty of time to breathe and appreciate the music you're listening to. I also found Forza to be an excellent game for this task; there are plenty of times where you need to sink a fair bit of time into beating one difficult race, and music does help you not lose your mind when you keep oversteering and crashing into the wall, which inevitably happens once you get into Forza's harder challenges.

And then there's games like arcade games, basic games that provide plenty of challenge but don't sap too much attention. My Xbox Live Arcade has grown substantially recently, and many of my favourite games in that collection are games that I'd probably never play without music. N+ is a good game, but it is made great with music, and the same applies to Rocket Riot and Zuma. Same applies to Ticket to Ride and UNO; neither really provide enough entertainment to stand against games like Braid, Ikaruga or Rez, but with music, suddenly the appeal is much greater. Both games are great for providing a distraction while listening to music.

And then we come to the biggies. Anyone who knows anything about my taste in games knows that my favourite game of all-time is The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. I still think that, even today, in 2009, this three-year old game is the best game in the world. That's very much an opinion, but one I hold dearly. The fact that the game offers 150 hours of interesting and unique gameplay makes it very special, and unlike any other game I've played. And yet, music manages to make an amazing game even better. Let's face it; there are moments in Oblivion that can be a little dull. Dungeon raiding after you've sunk 75 hours into the game and raided more similar dungeons than you'd care to count can be tedious, as can closing all the Oblivion gates. But immediately, with one press of a button, the relative tedium of these exercised evaporates. With music, these tasks stop being dull, and actually become enjoyable.

Now that I'm talking about Oblivion, I started this thing making the point that I don't have a connection between games and albums that some people do. There is however one exception. In recent years, I have developed a great fondness for The Mars Volta, and in my opinion their greatest album is Frances the Mute. And somehow, during the course of my gaming endeavours, I have established a connection between listening to Frances the Mute and doing the Mehrunes Razor quest in Oblivion. I think I've only done this three times, but that was enough. The album is almost perfect length in terms of how long it takes to beat the quest, and it's the perfect blend of intensity and great musicianship without being overpowering. Partly because of this connection, the Mehrunes Razor quest is probably one of my favourites in the entire game.

Sometimes I find this connection between games and music a little jarring. As someone who is a great appreciator of both, I'd like to think that one would be enough stimulation and enjoyment without the other. But this need for multiple forms of stimulation is hugely indicative of the ADD multi-tasking thrill-a-minute lightspeed world we live in, especially we young people. For us, sometimes just rocking along to Metallica's Black Album isn't enough, and sometimes playing Street Fighter doesn't provide the amount of thrill we need. So what better way to get a great rush in the comfort of your own home than to play Call of Duty and listen to loud fast music.

And this brings me to another point. On the handful of video game forums I occasionally frequent, whenever a thread along the lines of people talking about their favourite music comes up, metal always seems to be the winner in most cases. In fact, I've seen threads relating to people's top ten favourite albums, and some people's lists consisted of nothing but metal. Now I can appreciate the connection between video games and metal - the counter-culture social outcast image, coupled with the need for loudness, aggression and stimulation - but as someone who is not a great appreciator of metal, and someone who demands variety in the music they listen to, this always baffles me, and sometimes even disgusts me.

But who am I to cast judgement on people's musical tastes? No one. I just find it fascinating, especially since I love the thrill of listening to a low intensity album while playing a high intensity game. Getting my ass whooped at Street Fighter is an easier pill to swallow when listening to Beethoven Piano Sonatas. And conversely, listening to Underoath makes playing The Sims 2 a completely different experience.

So now I throw this issue over to you, the Giant Bomb community. How do you feel about the issue? What albums or types of music do you like to listen to while playing video games? Do you have a strong connection between a specific album and a specific game? What is your view on the matter of gamers being into metal? What are your favourite games to play while listening to music? Do you like video game soundtracks? And most importantly, which would you say is more important to you; music or video games?