Time is running up for this month’s Bitmob Writing Challenge, Concept Album. If you feel passionate about game music, write an article on a specific title and post it before Thusday, September 30.  Here are the rules:

1) Choose the soundtrack of any video game. Soundtracks that use licensed songs -- like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or Rock Band -- are fine.

2) Write a 400- to 800-word article on the soundtrack and how it works with the game. Why did the developers go with a rock, techno, or orchestral soundtrack? Why is the music upbeat or moody? In the case of licensed music, are the tracks selected to create an overall mood, or do they feel thrown together?

3) While you can link YouTube videos in your posts, please do not embed them directly into your article. Imagine that you’re writing for Rolling Stone, and you have to explain why a song is good without any auditory aids.

4) When possible, try to include both the song’s official name (“Bullet Dance”) and the context it appears in which it appears (Noel’s theme song). If you can't find the official name of a tune, just use the context it appears in the game without quotation marks (ex: Mega Man X's Storm Eagle Stage.)

5) If the song selection in the English and Japanese versions is different, use the English version. For example, Kingdom Hearts' intro song is called “Simple and Clean" while in Japan it's called “Hikari.” You would use the former since that’s the song SquareEnix chose for English audiences.

6) Post the article with the tag "concept album."

This month’s challenge has been successful for those who participated. Nick Nordstorm made it to the front page with his analysis of Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater. Meanwhile, Bitmob staff has featured both Chase Koeneke’s article on Sonic The Hedgehog 2 and Marcel Hoang’s submission on BlazBlue: Continuum Shift in the Spotlight articles. Plus, I’ll collect all submissions for a final article at the end of the month.

If you need more help, you can read my sample on Street Fighter 3: 3rd Strike. You can also get hyped for next month, as Bitmob regular Jeremy Signor steps in as challenge host. You know him best as the writer of the (30) Days of RPGs feature.