"Name of the Game" is the first single from

The Crystal Method The Crystal Method is an American electronic music act formed in Las Vegas, Nevada, by Ken Jordan and Scott Kirkland in the early 1990s. They were pioneers of the big beat genre and their music has appeared in numerous TV shows, films, video gam ...

's second studio album, ''

Tweekend ''Tweekend'' is the second studio album by American electronic music duo The Crystal Method, released on July 31, 2001, by Outpost Recordings and Geffen Records. The album title is derived from the demise of the West Coast rave scene in the late 1 ...

''. Despite the popularity of the song, The Crystal Method almost never play it live. The track features guitars by

Tom Morello Thomas Baptist Morello (born May 30, 1964) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, and political activist. He is best known for his tenure with the rock band Rage Against the Machine and then with Audioslave. Between 2016 and 2019, Morello ...

, vocals by Ryan "Ryu" Maginn, and

scratching Scratching, sometimes referred to as scrubbing, is a DJ and turntablist technique of moving a vinyl record back and forth on a turntable to produce percussive or rhythmic sounds. A crossfader on a DJ mixer may be used to fade between two record ...

DJ Swamp Ronald K. Keys Jr. aka DJ Swamp is an American hip hop DJ, turntablist, producer and vocalist. He was born in Cleveland, Ohio, United States. He currently resides in Los Angeles, United States. In 1996, he won the title of US DMC Champion, hi ...

; it also contains samples from "Calling All Freaks" (1974) by Tina Dixon. The song enjoyed mainstream success as well as remixes by popular artists.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

for the song (directed by

Marcos Siega Marcos Siega (born June 8, 1969, in New York City) is a film, television, commercial and music video director. He has also worked as a producer, a musician and an artist. In the late 1980s, he helped to form the New York-based punk band Bad Trip, ...

) features the exploits of the character Nosey, who is named so because his entire face is covered up by a giant

nose A nose is a protuberance in vertebrates that houses the nostrils, or nares, which receive and expel air for respiration alongside the mouth. Behind the nose are the olfactory mucosa and the sinuses. Behind the nasal cavity, air next passes th ...

. Scenes in the video depict Nosey participating in sports, breakdancing, and a relationship that falls apart quickly. He gets back to his friends to breakdance and they get to do some until the police arrive and arrest him for unknown reasons. At the end of the video, the words "to be continued ..." are shown. However, no known continuation of the "Nosey" story has yet to be produced.

Track listing

CD #Radio Edit #Album Version #Instrumental Vinyl #

Eric Kupper Eric Kupper is an American keyboardist, arranger, songwriter, remix artist, DJ, and record producer of French descent. Biography Eric Kupper began playing in bands in his formative years, and got his real start in the mid-1980s working as a keybo ...

's Deep Pump Mix #

Hybrid Hybrid may refer to: Science * Hybrid (biology), an offspring resulting from cross-breeding ** Hybrid grape, grape varieties produced by cross-breeding two ''Vitis'' species ** Hybridity, the property of a hybrid plant which is a union of two dif ...

's Blackout In L.A. Mix Vinyl promo #

's Electrosphere Mix #

's L.A. Blackout Mix

In popular culture

To date, the song has been featured in numerous different forms of media, including: *Used in the 2001 ''

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'' episode "Charity" *Used in the soundtrack for the film adaptation ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' *Used in one of the climactic scenes in the 2002 film ''

Blade II ''Blade II'' is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character Blade, directed by Guillermo del Toro and written by David S. Goyer. A sequel to ''Blade'' (1998), it is the second installment in the ''Blade'' franchise, fol ...

'' and its 2004 sequel '' Blade: Trinity'' *The 2002 film ''

Half Past Dead ''Half Past Dead'' is a 2002 American action film written and directed by Don Michael Paul in his directorial debut, and produced by Steven Seagal, who also starred in the lead role, alongside Andrew Stevens and Elie Samaha. The film co-stars Morr ...

'' *The 2002 film '' Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever'' *Used for the intro and ending credits of the 2002 video game ''

Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...

''. *Playable in PS2 and Xbox versions of 2004 video rhythm game '' Pump It Up Exceed''. *Episodes of '' Dark Angel'' *Episodes of ''

NCIS NCIS or N.C.I.S. may refer to: Law enforcement * National Criminal Intelligence Service, the predecessor to the Serious Organised Crime Agency of the United Kingdom * Naval Criminal Investigative Service, a United States law enforcement and intelli ...

'' *The 2004 unaired pilot for the TV series ''Fearless'', starring

Rachael Leigh Cook Rachael Leigh Cook (born October 4, 1979) is an American actress and model. She has starred in the films ''The Baby-Sitters Club'' (1995), ''She's All That'' (1999), and ''Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), and in the television series '' Into th ...

*Played in the trailer for the 2007 film ''

Live Free or Die Hard ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (released as ''Die Hard 4.0'' outside North America) is a 2007 American action-thriller film directed by Len Wiseman, and serves as the fourth installment in the ''Die Hard'' film series. It is based on the 1997 articl ...

'' *Intro music used by

The Amazing Johnathan John Edward Szeles (September 9, 1958 – February 22, 2022), better known by the stage name The Amazing Johnathan, was an American comedian and magician. His act was mostly composed of hijinks, interaction with one specific audience member, an ...

for some live performances *In 2006

Hummer Hummer (stylized as HUMMER) is a brand of pickups and SUVs that was first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. Although discontinued in 2010, Hummer returned as a sub-brand of GMC in 2020. ...

ads *The 2008 film ''

Drillbit Taylor ''Drillbit Taylor'' is a 2008 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Steven Brill, produced by Judd Apatow, Susan Arnold and Donna Arkoff Roth with screenplay by Kristofor Brown and Seth Rogen based on an original story by John Hughes ( ...

'' *The Crystal Method remixed "Name of the Game" for the 2008 film, ''

Tropic Thunder ''Tropic Thunder'' is a 2008 satirical action comedy film directed by Ben Stiller, who wrote the screenplay with Justin Theroux and Etan Cohen. The film stars Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Jay Baruchel, and Brandon T. Jackson as a gro ...

''. The remix, called "The Crystal Method's Big Ass T.T. Mix", is similar to the original, with samples of the character's voices included in the track. The track was played in the film, though the character's voice samples were taken out. The full remix is played during the credits.
IGN review *The trailer of the 2009 film '' Crank: High Voltage'' *Used in the Cinema mod for ''

Max Payne 2 ''Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne'' is a 2003 third-person shooter video game developed by Remedy Entertainment and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to 2001's ''Max Payne'' and the second game in the ''Max Payne'' series. Set tw ...

References

{{authority control 2001 singles The Crystal Method songs 2001 songs Geffen Records singles Songs written by Tom Morello Music videos directed by Marcos Siega