“Dragon Age: Origins” brings the sex and violence… and Marilyn Manson

As much as I love them, I just don’t have much time these days for video games. And so I have to prioritize, and rest assured, BioWare’s Dragon Age: Origins is at the very top of my list.

I was pretty excited when a new trailer recently surfaced, but after watching it, I’m a little disappointed. Not by all of the violence and bloodshed on display, nor by the sexual content. From the very start, BioWare has described Dragon Age: Origins as a dark, adult fantasy game influenced by writers such as George R.R. Martin. (For the record, I found the sexual content more humorous than anything else—I didn’t know brave warriors wore bras and panties.) No, what bothered me was the use of Marilyn Manson’s “This Is The New Shit” as the trailer’s soundtrack.

First off, it just strikes me as odd and rather anachronistic to use modern rock to sell ancient fantasy (another example would be Nine Inch Nails’ “Just Like You Imagined” in 300‘s trailers). And if you’re trying to present your game as a dark, mature fantasy, it also seems odd to use music from someone who is typically identified with angst-ridden goth teens (and whose puerile schtick became passé in the late nineties).

When I heard Manson’s growls, my first thought wasn’t “Wow, this game is going to take me on some thrilling adventures in a magical land”, but rather, “Does this mean I have to buy this game at Hot Topic?”