According to a press release featured on Yahoo Games it would seem that Rockstar Games and Amazon are about to team up and offer digital downloads of music in the game Grand Theft Auto 4, this is a distribution technique we have never seen before and the way it is being implemented is pretty exciting.

Built exclusively for the upcoming video game blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV it allows players to buy real-world MP3s of tracks heard over the game’s numerous radio stations in a very seamless manner. (Initially, this service will only be available in the U.S.). The technology which is titled “ZiT” has been built into the games mobile-phone interface, gamers at any point in the game can mark a track playing on the in game radio station by opening their mobile phone and dialling the number ZIT-555-0100 in game.

After dialling the ZiT number and marking the track gamers then receive a text message with the song and artist name along with an email which contains a direct link to your custom play-list on Amazon.com. All songs you have marked in this way appear in the gamers Amazon play-list where they can preview the tracks or purchase DRM free version for $.89-$.99 per song.

The in game radio stations within GTA have always had millions of listeners and it would seem Amazon and Rockstar have maybe found a way to further monetize their product. Other games like Rockband have have proved success in selling music tracks with EA reporting 6 million in a three month period, Rockband is a completely different genre of game where music is essential the GTA franchise have obviously recognized an opportunity though.

Rockstar and Amazons approach to digital distribution is certainly unique but only time will tell if gamers actually take the offer up after the novelty wears off. Also if you can add you own MP3 collection to GTA4 like was possible with GTA3 the actual uptake may be a lot less than anticipated, definitley something to watch and see how it all pans out.

Is this a good idea or simply just another way of getting money out of eyeballs or in this case ears?

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Tags | amazon, digital downloads, gta4, music, rockstar games