"Fallout 3" (2008, Bethesda Softworks) opening

Contrapuntal music works against what is on screen, creating a sense of irony or tension. The opening cut-scene from Fallout 3 (2008, Bethesda Softworks) illustrates this perfectly. The Ink Spots 1941 version of "I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire" (1938) issues from a car radio set as a slow zoom out begins. This reveals a scene of post-apocalyptic decay.

This use of a sentimental song set against nuclear devastation echoes the final scene of Dr. Strangelove (1964, dir. Stanley Kubrick), which utilises "We'll Meet Again".

This cut scene also plays with diagesis, since it is uncertain whether the music might actually be issuing from the radio, or whether the song's lyrics are a commentary on the visuals. The use of reverberation supports a reading of the music as diagetic, that is, embedded in the narrative. But the exaggerated nature of the presentation hints that the music is a nondiagetic soundtrack.

The fact that all of these possibilities are in play simultaneously creates an aesthetic depth. The viewer knows already that this might not be a conventional game experience.