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• Japanese Musicocracy: Capcom's Numerous Tributes to Axl Rose

  I don't know how many years Axl Rose spent working on his latest album, Chinese Democracy, but I seem to remember still playing with dollies when the project was first announced. I'd say I was about 13 years of age. Don't judge me. Axl's hibernation was long, but he had the courtesy to surface every few years and eat a former band member so we wouldn't forget him. Forget him we did not, though perhaps the Japanese deserve the most credit for keeping Guns N' Roses alive through video games. Capcom in particular was good about reminding us that Axl Rose was more than a scary story parents told their children when they formed an obsession with hair bandanas. GnR's influence flavours the streets of Metro City in Final Fight, haunts X in Mega Man X's Maverick uprisings, and, in Street Fighter III, gives us a glimpse of what Axl might look like if he drank two steroid smoothies every day. You might have missed Axl and Slash in Final Fight; they were mere droplets in the tsunami of thugs that crashed over Cody, Haggar and Guy. It was an unspectacular appearence anyway. Slash didn't try to hit anyone with a concrete Gibson and Axl didn't have an attack involving a heroin syringe. I'm sorry, I'll show myself out the door. Read More... Posted Nov 25 2008, 02:53 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: capcom, music, nostalgia, nadia oxford, guns n roses, mega man x7, street fighter 3, axl rose, mega man x5

• Rock Band: My Anti-Music

  Last Friday, Joe blogged about the curmudgeonly Nickelback and their outrage over how music games like Guitar Hero are supposedly preventing people from actually picking up real instruments and starting bands. As I said in the comments section of that post, if the world needs anything, it's fewer local bands; the town I come from is so lousy with them, you can't leave your car parked anywhere for more than ten minutes without your entire windshield getting plastered with an inch-thick layer of fliers.  So I don't think we need to worry about rock and roll going anywhere anytime soon--and if anything, Nickelback is only contributing to the death of the genre, what with their general shittyness and all. For me, though, Rock Band is my only real musical outlet. You see, between the ages of 16 and 17, I had about a year-and-a-half of guitar lessons--and while it didn't give me much of a musical foundation, I still picked up some fundamental skills that manifested into a sort of prototype Guitar Hero.  I'd put on a song, try to play along with it to the best of my ability, and think "Damn, this would be pretty sweet as a video game."  Of course, I'm not exactly claiming I had the idea first; everyone knows that GuitarFreaks predated Guitar Hero by a good seven years--I think my imagination was mainly stoked by my obsession with Um Jammer Lammy and the guitar controllers found on the Japan-only arcade release of the game. Read More... Posted Nov 24 2008, 01:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: music, guitar hero, rock band, gaming habits, um jammer lammy

• Devildom String Orchestra: Music, Masks, and Madness

  The hardcore American video game fan has been known embark on some pretty wild and awesome projects, even if some of them do happen to be complete fakes.  But there's just something about the industriousness of the Japanese hardcore that puts all of us to shame; just take a look at any Japanese-created levels of LittleBigPlanet, and you'll realize their devotion eclipses ours by a pretty large margin.  So what, exactly, am I getting at here?  Well, in researching Friday's post about the music of Mother, I stumbled upon a collection of YouTube videos that were too cool to keep to myself. The Devildom String Orchestra (at least, that's what I think the entire group calls itself) is a collection of Japanese musicians that arrange video game and anime music into real, live instrumentations. And they do all of this while wearing extremely creepy masks.  The most disturbing thing about this group, though, is that their videos really aren't getting the attention that they should.  You can access all of them by going to Tuengxx's YouTube page, but I've highlighted a few of the better ones below for your convenience. A very nice Chrono Trigger medley. More tunes after the cut. Read More... Posted Nov 24 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: fan project, music, chrono trigger, fan projects, bob mackey, final fantasy v, fan art, dragon quest iv

• Meme of the Moment: Bike Hero

  The "Most Creative Use of Free Time" award goes to YouTube user madflux for the following video--and perhaps, for all time. Combining biking, Guitar Hero, an extraordinary amount of planning, and what must have been dozens of takes (he ain't telling), madflux shows us that he takes his fake instrument playing very seriously. And we all benefit from it: The most astounding part about all of this--to me, anyway--is how the bike rider is able to keep up a consistent tempo (in this case, speed) for all of this to work out.  I'll also be astounded if, by the end of the week, Bike Hero isn't turned into a t-shirt, referenced in 1000 lame webcomics, or made the focus of a new reality show on VH-1.  Ah, the time before a meme becomes obnoxious.  Savor it. Related Links: A++ Parents Let Their Teen Quit School To Become a Guitar Hero Praise His Name With Guitar Praise--Or Go to Hell Everyone Will be Able to Rock Read More... Posted Nov 19 2008, 03:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: music, guitar hero, bob mackey, fan art, meme, biking

• Gaming Impulse Buys

  Gaming is an expensive hobby, and freelance writing is not exactly a lucrative career (no offense to my kind, handsome bosses). So, when it comes to buckling down and buying a game, I tend to split my time between fretting and doing online research for hours on end.  But with certain games, something just snaps and shuts down the reason center of my brain--which tends to operate even when I'm drunk.  I've fallen victim to the siren song of music games so much that I really should have started to notice a pattern in my life by now.  Let me break it down for you: - 2000: I walk into my nearest Funcoland (coincidentally, the worst name for a business ever), see a new copy of Samba de Amigo and the maracas, and promptly hand over $120 + tax. I had no idea why I was even in the store in the first place. - 2001: I see an official Konami Dance Dance Revolution bundle featuring the game plus a dance pad. Inexplicably, I find myself buying it. Seemed like a good idea at the time. - 2005: What's this? Taiko Drum Master? At this point, it had been marked down to twenty bucks, so it's probably my least impulsive impulse buy. - Today: I get a fat freelancing check in the mail, and my paycheck was just depositedin my bank account last night.  I immediately drive to target and purchase Rock Band 2 against my will.  IT IS HAPPENING AGAIN Read More... Posted Nov 14 2008, 06:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: music, gaming culture, bob mackey, rock band 2, gaming habits, capitalism

• Praise His Name With Guitar Praise--Or Go to Hell

  If your worship of Jesus Christ permeates every level of your life to the point where you must include Him in your fictional guitar playing, your worries can now cease; Guitar Praise, a PC Guitar Hero clone, exists to remove all of the fun from music games forever.  Okay, Okay; I know I'm being kind of harsh.  To be honest, when it comes to Christian Rock, I'm of the same mind set as King of the Hill's Hank Hill: "You're not making Christianity better, you're just making rock and roll worse."  It's totally cool to worship however you want, though Flanders-ized products like this always seem a little disingenuous to me; I'm sure God has better things to do than fret over you playing "My Name Is Jonas" on expert.  Still, if you must have this product, it exists.  One question, though: just what are you doing on the secular Internet? If you're wondering just how Praise Hero plays, Wired's Eliot Van Buskirk has written a hands-on report that's obviously not as hateful (or fueled by Catholic school experience) as my own take on the game. One thing I thought was funny, though, was his mention of Guitar Praise's use of gentle encouragement for those who totally suck on toast: Digital Praise's Guitar Praise - Solid Rock adopts the same concept of "playing" rock tunes on an increasingly difficult level. But it inhabits a gentler world where a bad performance gets you mild clapping and gentle suggestions instead of the raucous boos and catcalls that accompany failure in Guitar Hero. Read More... Posted Nov 06 2008, 12:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: music, guitar hero, religion, bob mackey, religion and games, praise hero, christianity

• Watcha Listening To: Into the Score

  I'm a podcast fiend, and if my ears aren't necessary for a task, then they're probably busy listening to something nerdy. So it should come as no surprise that Into the Score is one of the dozen-or-so podcasts I download as soon as a new episode is available.  As far as gaming podcasts go, it's completely unique; Into the Score is the only one devoted to the academic study of video game music--but don't let the word "academic" throw you off.  A musical layman--like me, for instance--can safely go into an episode of Into the Score and actually learn something.  Scary, I know. Even though I lack the vocabulary to talk about video game music, I've always been obsessed with it. All you need to do is take a look at my iTunes library (though I never let anyone do this) or travel back in time to 1994 when i was making my own Final Fantasy III soundtrack by holding a crummy casette recorder up to my TV's speakers.  So, needless to say, I'm consistently amused and educated by every episode of Into the Score.  Host Kenley Kristofferson uses each episode to explore a different soundtrack while tying in a discussion about the prevalent musical concept(s) used within said soundtrack. I daresay it's given me greater respect for soundtracks I like, and has even shown me the greatness of soundtracks I wasn't aware of. Read More... Posted Nov 03 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: music, bob mackey, watcha listening to, podcasts

• WTFriday: The Mario Paint Music Showcase

  Note to readers: WTFriday is a weekly feature where I find something stupid about video games and get you to laugh until it goes away. Please try to forget this is what I normally do every day of the week. With all the hardcore furor over the recently-released Wii Music, I think it's important to put things into perspective. Luckily for me, someone has already done this: namely, 1UP scribe Jeremy Parish, who made a remarkable amount of sense with a recent blog post.  And, on his personal site, he also made a great comparison that I'm going to monopolize for the remainder of my own post: Have self-proclaimed hardcore gamers always been this hysterical about "non-game" software? I feel like Wii Music is the latest in a long line of toys and apps that Nintendo has been churning out for years; nothing new in the least. Maybe it's because I wasn't lurking in the proper corners of USENET back then, but I really don't remember Mario Paint eliciting so much FUD back in the day; on the contrary, people seemed to love it, and it's still regarded fondly. Seems sensible enough. But where would we be on WTFriday without something strange and disconcerting? This, my friends, is where Mario Paint comes in. I goofed around with this "game" quite a bit as a child, but little did I know that people were still actively using Mario Paint's composer for both good and evil.  There's even a free program, aptly titled Mario Paint Composer, that emulates the game's basic music-making functions while adding a few new features that weren't exactly in demand back in 1992.  After all, I doubt Nintendo anticipated an eight year-old reproducing anything like Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames:" More serious music discussion after the cut. Read More... Posted Oct 24 2008, 02:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: jeremy parish, wii, music, snes, wii music, mario paint, bob mackey, wtfriday

• You Can't UNhear It: Time's Scar

  It's true; the Chrono Cross soundtrack is one of the most ass-kickingest collections of music to ever exist in our unworthy world. And the pinnacle of said soundtrack--at least, in my opinion--is the opening song, "Time's Scar;" Yasunori Mitsuda's stirring mix of wistfulness with a sense of urgency may be the highest point of his career. That's being said, I've probably heard the song hundreds of times in my life; and because I'm such a big fan of Time's Scar--and anything Mitsuda--something very minor about the recording of the song makes me cringe every time I hear it. Crank up your speakers to 11 and wait for the sound at 00:16. Did you hear that tiny little thump? It has haunted my dreams for the past decade. Read More... Posted Oct 13 2008, 11:00 AM by Bob Mackey with | with 6 comment(s) Filed under: ost, music, square-enix, chrono cross, yasunori mitsuda, bob mackey

• The Economist Weighs in On Music Games

  A few weeks ago I called out music industry bigwigs who were pushing record companies to charge Activision and Harmonix more money to feature songs by bands on their rosters. I argued that this is stupid, and these execs should view music featured in Guitar Hero and Rock Band as free advertising.  Welp, the Economist agrees. Read More... Posted Oct 09 2008, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: music, cole stryker, guitar hero 3, rock band 2, economist

• Little Big Planet Meets FFX

  I'll admit that I'm not very hyped about Little Big Planet; it could be the curmudgeon in me, or just the fact that I'll have no goddamned time to create anything cool with the game on my busy schedule. The silver lining to all of this is that I won't need to plunk down the cash for both a PS3 and a copy of the game to be entertained--all I need to experience LBP's user-created content is the entirely-free YouTube. Expect the majority online streaming video services to be completely loaded with content from Little Big Planet for the next year or so. A good example of this trend of this already in action is the following video, which takes the best part of Final Fantasy X--the music--and transplants it into a baroque music player created through hours and hours of hard work and block placement in Little Big Planet. Sure, I can hear the same thing by looking this song up on iTunes, but I gotta give credit to all of the makeshift music box crafters out there: Now, if someone out there would somehow turn Little Big Planet into a rhythm game using the same technology, I'd be motivated to smash in the window of my local GameStop and steal a brand-new PS3. Read More... Posted Oct 08 2008, 09:00 PM by Bob Mackey with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: little big planet, music, final fantasy x, ps3, bob mackey

• The One Thing I Know How To Say: "Thank You Mario..."

  John Darnielle is already a friend of Nerve, and now we know that he is a friend of gamers as well. John's musical project The Mountain Goats just released their new single "Thank You Mario, But Our Princess Is In Another Castle," a hauntingly delicate ballad from the perspective of an imprisoned Toad in Super Mario Bros. featuring Kaki King on drum, glockenspiel and backup vocals. Beautiful. Read More... Posted Sep 08 2008, 12:00 PM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 2 comment(s) Filed under: derrick sanskrit, music, super mario bros, pitchfork, toad, the mountain goats, john darnielle

• Rockman Lucky Star

  Ewww, who stunk up the blog with religion and serious crap?...Oh, it was me. Sorry guys. Friday is not for thinking. Friday is for sillies, especially Fridays that herald the looong weekend. I'm gonna drink a beer and get so drunk. And by "a beer" I mean fifty. I don't think I'd want to live in a world without silly anime dances. I don't know how many of you are fans of Lucky Star (I personally haven't seen it yet), but the adorable Mega Man parody of the opening can be appreciated no matter your alignment. There's some impressive sprite work to be had. Bonus footage of Gravity Man flipping Roll and Kalinka upside-down. It's not quite what you think. Sorry. Lord, the whole thing is very innocent. I wish you the best long weekend ever. Read More... Posted Aug 29 2008, 09:41 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 4 comment(s) Filed under: music, mega man, 8-bit, retro, parody, anime, nadia oxford, rockman, lucky star

• No Alternate Soundtrack: Chibi-Robo

  There's no denying that music is an important part of games. There are some fan-favorite scores that initiate warm feelings outside of the games that bore them (Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Mega Man). There are some games where the music IS the gameplay (Rock Band, PaRappa the Rapper, Elite Beat Agents). And then there are a distinct few in which the sound is so irrevocably tethered to the gameplay that removing those sounds would render the game dull and lifeless. It is these games that I hope to spotlight in this new irregular feature – NO Alternate Soundtrack. Today, a personal favorite of mine, skip's quirky Gamecube platformer Chibi-Robo. Read More... Posted Jul 29 2008, 11:00 AM by Derrick Sanskrit with | with 3 comment(s) Filed under: alternate soundtrack, derrick sanskrit, music, gamecube, chibi-robo, skip

• FMV Hell: Sonic CD

  I'm pretty sure most original prints of Sega CD games were long ago ground up into dog food, but the resurrection of Vay on the iPhone got me nostalgic for the anime cutscenes that used to preced certain Sega CD games. Each scene employed about sixteen on-screen colours and had about thirty frames of animation, but there was something charming about those florescent marionettes. They were like figures drawn in an Autistic kid's painting: clumsy, but admirable for the attempt. (And vasty preferable to the grainy live-action FMV that usually gummed up the games in the Sega CD library.) The Sega CD is largely considered a failure, but every failed system has its must-own games. Sonic CD was certainly a gem, easily the highlight of Sonic the Hedgehog's up-and-down career. Sonic CD began with the standard Sega CD animated intro. It's interesting to note that there are a few versions of the anime. Most obviously, there's a Japanese intro and an American one. The animation in both is more or less the same, but wars have been fought over which country has the better intro song. America long ago became familiar with Spencer Nilsen's "Sonic Boom, Sonic Boom, Sonic Boooooom" whereas Japanese children got to hear a song about leather and lace and what might possibly be a chorus that begins with "Toot toot Sonic Warrior." Here's the Japanese intro stacked up against the American one. Engage comparison. Read More... Posted Jul 21 2008, 08:40 PM by Nadia Oxford with | with 5 comment(s) Filed under: music, sega, sonic the hedgehog, sega cd, fmv hell, sonic cd, fmv, spencer nilsen

• Pixies Cover "Theme From Narc"

  I'll admit it. I'm not cool. I discovered the Pixies back in '99, six years after their breakup. Their most famous song, "Where is My Mind", soundtracked the climax in Fight Club. The song was so otherworldly, so magnetically creepy that I bought all their albums, including a collection of rarities. When I discovered that Frank Black and Co. covered the themesong to a relatively obscure video game from my childhood, my inner music geek and inner video game dork gave each other an epic high five. The original theme tune was written by Brian Schmidt, who has composed music for several dozen pinball games. "Theme from Narc" was released as a B-side to "Planet of Sound", which was also included on the Trompe le Monde full length. The song illustrates everything that made the Pixies the best band ever: simple, metronomic drumming, schizophrenic guitar flourishes, relentless bass riffs, and a quirky sense of humor. "Theme From NARC doesn't really have a chorus. I thought it was pretty cool, because the chord progression in it is completely fucked up. It isn't standard rock n roll progression." - Black Francis in Rock A My Soul fanzine #2 Read More... Posted Jun 20 2008, 05:00 PM by Cole Stryker with | with 1 comment(s) Filed under: music, cole stryker, narc, pixies

• OST: Treasure of the Rudras

  OST reviews original soundtracks, arranged albums, remixes, and game related music. Everyone hates Final Fantasy Mystic Quest, and despite my nostalgia-warped fondness for the game, I admit it's a pretty lame addition to the series. The 1992 "beginner's RPG" — known insultingly in Japan as Final Fantasy USA — has a parodically generic storyline, preschool gameplay and bland-as-hell graphics. But there's one thing to love about it: the soundtrack. Even Mystic Quest's most fiery detractors tip their hats to Ryuji Sasai's ass-whooping hard-rock score, which pushes the SNES's sound chip to its limits of its metalosity. Sasai must've pissed off one of his bosses, because the few games he scored — including Mystic Quest, Final Fantasy Legend III, and our subject for today, Treasure of the Rudras — were all kind of stinkers, by general public consensus. Maybe that contributed to his early exit from the game industry; he's currently playing bass in a Queen tribute band. Treasure of the Rudras never made it over to the U.S., so its soundtrack is even more obscure than Mystic Quest's. But if you've got a yen for some choice, melodic hard rock, it's a real buried, uh, treasure. Read More... Posted May 14 2008, 01:00 PM by Peter Smith with | with no comments Filed under: rudra no hihou, final fantasy mystic quest, treasure of the rudras, ost, final fantasy legend iii, ryuji sasai, music