ella guro

I might try submitting one or two as well. They may or may not fit, but it's worth a shot anyway.

pretty interesting older interview with (former) Silent Hill game composer, Akira Yamaoka. The translation seems not so good, but he does say some interesting and slightly provocative things.

He's addressed that exact comment several times in his videos and Extra Punctuation articles, and I think his reasoning makes perfect sense.

I remember seeing this on the front page when it was posted, and just downloading it because I thought "Shnabubula" was a funny name. I was pretty blown away, like another world had opened up. I didn't find this difficult either - I definitely had a visceral reaction to it, like I had discovered a new band that I knew I would an avid fan of from then on. It's like, one of those things you always wanted to hear but weren't aware of that fact until you actually hear it. It's the reason I keep trying to listen to mixes by new artists on this site, hoping that I'm gonna discover another gem like this. But that hasn't happened. Just the self-contained completeness of this song, despite the fact that it's only like 2 minutes long. Some of the ideas may seem pretty silly and tossed-off compared to a lot of Sam's other mixes, maybe, but I still like it a lot.

The original is maybe my favorite off the DKC2 soundtrack, and I think Patrick did it complete justice here. This is an energetic, inspired, and heartfelt arrangement. My definite favorite from the ones I've heard off the project so far.

Yeah, this is a review thread after all. People should be allowed to have their own opinion without everyone jumping down their throats if that opinion is at all negative. I haven't listened to the whole thing yet, but I was impressed by quite a few of the tracks. Nice work, from what I've heard so far.

I used to not like this mix, now I enjoy it a lot. It's a very strange combination of, like, what sounds like could have been this relatively straightforward pseudo-cheesy relaxing type orchestral piece with avant-garde weirdness. But then there's a strange chiptune that seems almost half-assedly thrown in. It's hard to describe, but layering of all the different parts is harmonically very wacky and also sort of delayed in places, making stuff clash in new and interesting ways. It sort of brings things out of the original that you didn't think would be there in the first place. I've listened to a bunch of other mixes by Wingless and none of them ever hit me like this one did. It's definitely something that was original and it's sad that more people don't try to attempt things like this.

It seems to be working for me now.

Doesn't work for me either. I've tried refreshing and a different browser, no luck.

I like Jade a lot, personally. She's a really well-rounded character, and kind of a badass but in a way that it would be plausible to a real life person. I honestly don't care who or what a character is as long as he/she/it is compelling and three-dimensional. As far as Tomb Raider goes...you'd be surprised at how many girls play those games, despite it being so obviously aimed towards males. Also, I don't know where the hell you're getting the idea that Bayonetta is aimed towards women. She seems really obviously sexualized/fetished for males. That seems to be the point of the character design, to the point where it's intentional self-parody.

This is a great post and I agree with/second everything you said.

Been playing Silent Hill 2 lately, and I still have a billion other PS2 games to finish/catch up on. It's the only thing close to a next gen console I have, and I don't plan on getting one of those for at least a couple more years. You rule, PS2!

No, my best friend on OCR was another former judge who mysteriously disappeared .

Old thread, but those who talked to Gray knew he never really divulged personal information about himself beyond his name, and I think people are right to suspect that it's not his real name. He was just a private person. I think he just really wanted to keep his online life and his real life separate. He also told me that when he first joined the community, he wasn't around very long before he left because he was turned off by people's attitudes at the time. But then he came back after that, so it's certainly possible that he could come back again. But even if not, he had a good run at OCR and I'm sure he's doing plenty in his life right now. Not everybody sticks around.

an album of Treasure Hunter G pop song arrangements.

I've heard many good things about the canon Hv 20/30/40's. They're supposed to be good, inexpensive HD camcorders (You can probably find an Hv20 for around 200-300 dollars somewhere). I'm planning on getting one to shoot some short film stuff on a budget at some point, but I haven't used one yet.

I think I'm gonna take a few steps back on what I said so I can clarify myself: I don't necessarily think that there's something wrong with lots and lots of micromanagement in a game. I don't generally like doing it...but I know there are many people who do. But I do think it's evolution for games to move further in the other direction, and the micromanagement style games to be pushed more to the fringes. Because I don't think the intentions are just commercial or it just represents a dumbing down to attract n00bs, more that it's concentrated effort to shift the focus of the gameplay now that it's much more possible to do that.

This is getting a bit off-topic, but an interesting point. I think what you said here about game music is a little different. One of the reasons people have grown attached to NES/SNES era music is because, regardless of the original intentions behind the music, there is nothing else that sounds like it. Today, videogame soundtracks often seem to aspire to sound exactly like other kinds of music, and it makes them generally less distinctive or memorable. Not that there's necessarily something wrong with that. But that's one area where I'd say that limitations definitely contributed a lot to the quality of music that was produced, even though those limitations weren't really intended. When there's a lot of number crunching or detail-oriented stuff game-play wise, it certainly is a different kind of experience. And I don't necessarily think it's a bad one. But I do think it's evolution for mainstream games to move more towards making the situations encountered in the game complex and keeping the mechanics fairly basic. And I also have trouble saying that some of what drives some people's outcry at the dumbing down of games is pride at the amount of time they've spent with games (and therefore feeling like other people should have to put in the time they have) or just nostalgia. But I don't really think people's attachment to old game music is the same way. Because I couldn't say game music is evolving by becoming less distinctive. I think most developers are a long way from figuring out how to use really utilize music and sound in a game. I think many are frightened with the idea of doing something that seems too "game"-y or childish.

Asking for citations seems to be a bit excessive for a debate like this (not to mention very difficult since there isn't a lot written about this kind of subject until very recently). I wonder how you can be a gamer and not notice the trends that zircon mentioned. Though I think there were older games that managed to be very immersive within their limitations and not detail-oriented, but it definitely was more of a trend.

I haven't read most of this thread, so I can't comment on people's posts. But I think the point made in the article is good, though I don't really like the guy's writing style. The purpose of games is to provide an enjoyable, immersive experience. When you put so much emphasis and detail into the basic mechanics and make them so complicated, I think it takes away from what makes games fun in the first place. And it also becomes really frustrating to play, unless you have the patience to figure out every detail. I mean, let's say there's a difficult jump in a game you have to make. The game designers could either make you have to use some kind of special button combo that's hard to pull off for some kind of special super jump, or they could find ways in the game for the player to be creative and find their own way of making that jump. Sure, maybe the first feels rewarding to the people who have put in the time and know how to do it. And maybe those people feel like other people should have to put in the time because they did. But really, is that what's important in a game? Wouldn't you rather be rewarded for accomplishing something substantial that took a high level of strategy and puzzle-solving, rather than just feeling accomplished because you can hit buttons with the right timing to pull off some difficult move? The former is just so much more immersive. One of the reasons a game like Half-Life is so good is that its mechanics are such basic, easy FPS fare that the designers could put all their concentration on throwing the player into a ton of different crazy situations. When you enter the game, it already feels so natural, like there's no a barrier between you and who you're controlling. The challenge is in reflexes and puzzle-solving, not in the basic mechanics. And the experience is a lot more memorable and fun because of that. So I think it's inevitable and a good thing that more games are going in this direction.

a wild judge approaches! and it is a...girl?! congrats, DA!

Hope you come back to this at some point and expand on the arrangement. What's there sounded nice, even though it was pretty much a cover so far.

I really wish ziwtra put more of the source in the mix. I also feel like a few notes here and there are off from the parts of the source that are used, but I don't have it here to confirm. But that's my only gripe. This is great otherwise - great sound design and the instrument choices are very nice, even though some are obviously pretty fake. It's also a mix that really feels like it moves somewhere, like you've gone on a bit of a journey after listening to it. Very nice work overall.

Ok, I've been listening to Hounds of Love lately and I have to second this. Amazing stuff. Makes me feel like I should stop trying to make music, cause it's never gonna be as good as this album.

forgot to mention...if you like dark, dreamy pop music, Mazzy Star is great stuff. At least the first album. The song "fade into you" was a hit, but that whole album is very good: