News

A wine has been matured using a computer game soundtrack

31 May 2024 By James Evison

Japanese electronics company Onkyo has ‘matured’ wine using the soundtrack to the NieR: Automata video game.

The wines are presented in two variants, 2B and 9S, which refers to specific characters in the game. Nier: Automata is set during a proxy war between alien-created machines and human-made androids, focusing on the actions of combat android 2B, scanner android 9S and a prototype called A2.

It was developed by games designer Yoko Taro for PlatinumGames and published by Square Enix in 2017 as a sequel to Nier, which was released in 2010, and is itself a spin-off from the RPG series Drakengard.

Calling the range NieR Automata Ver1.1a, the wines were matured by Onkyo through speakers attached directly to the barrels, and playing two variants of the game’s original soundtrack.

In addition to being able to buy the wines for 12,000 Yen (£80) each, a wine tasting was also held at Onkyo’s Akihabara store. When purchased, the bottles include a glass that has a ‘lunar tear’ design on it.

The powerful Nier soundtrack was praised by gaming reviewers when the first game was launched, and was created by composer Keiichi Okabe, who returned as lead composer with his studio band Monaca, for the Automata sequel.

Rather than a single looping track, Okabe created multiple hard and soft songs, that transitioned into each other depending on situation and environment within the gaming environment. Vocals were provided by Emi Evans, who has also featured on the Dark Souls games.

The two wines were matured with different soundtracks. The 2B android wine has tracks including The Sound of the End, Rebirth & Hope, Girl’s Memories, Crumbling Lines (Ver1.1a), and Weight of the World/English Version (Ver1.1a).

The 9S soundtrack includes the tracks Widespread Disease, City Ruins – Rays of Light, Faltering Prayer – Dawn Breeze, Copied City (Ver1.1a), and Weight of the World/English Version (Ver1.1a).

発売同日時から秋葉原店舗「 #音アニ2号店」にて2B、9Sボトル飲み比べ有料試飲の開催が決定。
試飲金額は1,000円（2杯分）で特典はオリジナルコースター（2枚）。
試飲数に限りあるイベントとなりますのでお早目のご来店お待ちしております。

▼音アニ2号店　https://t.co/sdagiQEx31 #ニーア #NieR pic.twitter.com/V19vYhHfkZ

— onkyodirect (@onkyodav) February 22, 2024