As much as I love video games, there is one passion of mine that stands above all others - music. So more often than not, when I'm playing a game where the presence of sound is not essential to the experience, I'll be wearing headphones. I also love to listen to the Bombcast while playing games. I feel that certain games achieve this better than others, so here's a list of my favourite games to play with 'phones on.
Maybe this is indicative of Soulcalibur, but I find it hard to play Street Fighter or Virtua Fighter with headphones because it divides your attention to the point where you can't play as well. But with Soulcalibur, it's a lot of fun to chill, listen to music, and play this gorgeous looking, accessible yet challenging, and great feeling fighting game. Heavier albums are better for fighting games I reckon - so something like Panopticon by Isis is a great choice.
Most of the humour in Nuts & Bolts is achieved through text rather than sound, so I found the game just as engaging and charming with the sound off as I did when I was playing it with sound. I played the final half and a bit of the game with headphones, and still loved the hell out of it. Light hearted albums are best - maybe something like Morning View by Incubus, or a good Beethoven String Quartet. Lovely.
