Level 99

Agreed, Yoder. I've already heard where Josh is going with this and I can tell you for a fact it's going to be an intense song. Also, something awesome happened. The two producers for this project, DiGi Valentine and TRiPPY, also run the NiGHTSintodreams.com website. They just posted an incredible interview with Yuji Naka talking about NiGHTS. It's a very interesting read and I encourage you to check it out! http://www.nightsintodreams.com/?p=1343 Edit: I must have glossed over this, but one VERY IMPORTANT fact surfaced during the interview: apparently, there was a PC port for NiGHTS: Into Dreams back in the day in Japan.

OCAD's MAGFest 8 footage MAGFest 8 footage from the OCAD crew. Features surprisingly little OCAD, but it's got the Video Game Business panel, the video game improv show, and the OCR panel. Big download and quite long but we think you'll enjoy it.

Pretty accurately sums it up. It's far different enough to be funky fresh, even though there are times where I definitely feel like connection to source might be stretching, but considering the style, that's entirely appropriate. Shows how far one can go with Ice Cap while still keeping it Ice Cap, if that makes sense.

All I have to say is this: if you like what he did with this, and with Kirby 64, and with Cheetahmen 2, then you absolutely need to listen to his solo album. You nailed the sound to a T here. Incredible production and a clever arrangement of the source, this is fantastic. It's hard to sum up my feelings but I have to say that it gave my car speakers quite a workout, and I intend to keep doing this to them as long as you're making music. Sick nasty stuff.

I never really listened to the source tune much but it's pretty good, and what you did with the mix here was work your usual magic of getting that nostalgic feeling embedded throughout the song. It never feels forced, and the things that could have sounded really cheesy (like the hiccup and the tempo acceleration) ended up effectively used and add to that "I remember playing it" feel. Even if I never really played it. Consider it standard halc fare, which is quite exemplary as a standard. Keep it up, bud.

You'll get all the songs I'm behind by the final due date. I assure you.

Mattias, you've simultaneously captured the nostalgia factor of the original song whilst transforming it into your wacky chipomatic signature swede format. I absolutely love your interplay between major and minor chord variations throughout the song. It sounds almost bipolar, and is incredibly entertaining. I don't need to say anythign about your instrumentation or production value: as always, it's through the roof and very clean. You almost got a reggae vibe in particular places with that damn organ and beat you have going on. I can't pin down a style, but why should that be something I need to do anyways? Great song, and great ending. Hope you got some extra lives hanging around.

It sounded awesome back in Winter, and it still sounds awesome now. Rozo knows how to work his sounds to their maximum potential. The result is nearly always mixes that sound complexly layered, even when they really aren't. This one is more complex than I've usually heard (unless my ears are playing tricks on me), with a mesh of pads and high bell chimey sounds supported stable strings and some killer dancey drums. Definitely a wintery feeling throughout. Love how the progression doesn't change up that often but it never gets too stale for me, as there's always parts changing, coming in and out. I dig the Rozo sound. His force is mighty.

Not 90's Enough. Okay, yes, I'm kidding. I heard this repeatedly when it was on the WIP forums and was quite happy with the final he had then, even when it had lack-luster guitars and a hihat that irked me a bit. But then he goes and does this retooling of it. Damn you, Willrock, and your quick-adapting abilities. This perfectly captures the feeling of the game, and the Power Rangers. Excellent synth work throughout (the swells are my favorite usage you did), and rocking guitars with beastly solos. Someone get this guy a gold trophy full of steak. He deserves the glitz and the meat for a job well done on a song that is awesome.

Dr. M with more of his awesome stuff. This song is ALL about those guitar harmonies above the moving drums. It really has an AC/DC feel with me, at least guitars-wise. The drums aren't showy, and that's just fine because the song isn't focusing on them. Everything here is at the very least competent, and at the very best incredible. When it switches over to fast-gear, I can't help but imagine some Rocky-style training montage playing to it. It's very uplifting. Don't stop rocking, very muscular naked blue superhero.

I'll come right out and say it: I love these chimes. I love the bells, all the bright and dull tones that are produced. It's so soothing and relaxing, almost to the point of being meditative. The piano is a fantastic compliment. The strings later on are great as well. The water stuff is pretty cool but I can see where it might get annoying since it happens through the whole song. I made that choice way back in the day with a rejected mix. However, here, it actually doesn't bother me much, due to it being quiet and it usually meshes rhythmically with the rest of the song. I listened to this in the car yesterday and suddenly everything just seemed to be "alright": the traffic was no longer bothering me, I wasn't too tired from work. If a mix makes me feel like that, I'm giving it my approval. Going on my sleep/relax playlist for sure.

This is definitely an interesting song. First and foremost, I can 100% respect anyone who writes something like this which is out of the box of what I would consider my usual orchestral fare in music, as it's not relying on constructs that are used to create popular orchestral music today. In fact, this is unbelievably expressive in it's limited use of instruments. At first I was reminded a little bit of something like Peter and the Wolf or Carnival of the Animals, but after listening for a while, my brain literally started to pain a picture of mischevious goblins doing nasty things in some kind of factory. So this could be considered the kin of silent cartoon music, where action is dictated by the sound, regardless of whether or not the sound is considered overly musical. Complicated and confusing, but definitely a good song. Wouldn't listen to it every day but it's definitely an experience listening to it at least once. Considering my limited knowledge of how this was written and exactly what, if any, musical guidelines it was trying to be within, consider this my sign of a thumbs up of appreciation.

Hey, watch it, or we'll have to do an entire video episode dramatically re-enacting the storyline of Cho Aniki. OCAD: The People's Choice! This weekend we have a HUGE recording going on. We've got Nerdy Show coming back on to give all the down-and-dirty details for the upcoming Nerdapalooza. Furthermore, Brad "The Prophet of Mephisto", otherwise known as "The Prophet", otherwise known as "prophetik", will be down here so he'll be on either an OCAD special or at the beginning of the show. And we'll be blackmailing all our contacts that we got from SGC

Here's the complete version of our reading of My Immortal, pieced together without breaks in one big file. Clocks in barely over 6 hours. Listen responsibly. http://lemonsinseries.com/ocrab/?p=14 My Immortal (unabridged)

One word: Drumscape. Technically, it was in an arcade and had a video screen, so I'm counting it as a video game. Ocean City, Maryland, and I was so terrible that 30-40 people crowded around the booth just to see the kid who couldn't keep a beat. Oh, and that time where I beat Starfighter and successfully defended The Frontier from Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada... Please say someone gets the reference

I owe Keith Apicary at least two cases of beer for being awesome.

How important is it to you that the internet is generally the same experience, no matter what broadband provider you use to access it? a) Very important . How would it affect your overall internet experience if, depending on your broadband provider, certain content and applications performed better/quicker, and others performed worse/slower? a) Very negatively . How would it affect your overall internet experience if, depending on your broadband provider, certain content and applications were totally inaccessible, and others performed MUCH better? a) Very negatively . How competitive are broadband prices in your area? Competitive . How many broadband providers can you choose from for home computer access? Two . Think of the fastest broadband available to your home. How many other broadband providers offer similar speeds to your residence (within a few Mbps)? One . Which practices do you think to-the-home ISPs should not be allowed to engage in? Choose all that apply. a) Prioritizing selected low-latency apps such as voice, video, or games Selling content- and application-providers higher priority access c) De-prioritizing applications and content that don't pay a fee d) Blocking applications and content of their choice . On privacy grounds, what do you think of ISPs classifying and prioritizing the types of internet content you send and receive? d) Stop peeking into my packets! . Which best describes your relationship with computers in general? e) Jaded expert . How familiar are you with the technical workings of the internet? e) I speak in TCP/IP. Starting to see a pattern here, eh?

NEW OCAD! Episode 30 - TAGCAD, featuring AkumajoBelmont, fellow podcast-runner and musician extraordinaire. Episode 30 - TAGCAD ALSO new website is officially half-open for business. http://lemonsinseries.com/ocrab/ Eat it.

"Wish U Were Here"

Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt. I remember specifically Duck Hunt was more fun but, technically, I chose to play Mario first. I was home sick from school with chickenpox, and my Nana bought me my first video game console. We only had one TV that I could use it on since I was primarily confined to my parents bedroom. I remember calling her up and thanking her over and over again for it. And thus began that slow downward spiral to the magnificent man I am today

This would be the biggest and most epic speedrun for lives that nobody ever cared enough to watch for 88 Trillion years. On, and you absolutely reminded me why I hate math. Now get back to playing SMB2. Oh, and side note: couldn't one macro the input for each section into an emulator and put it on an iflessthanx-repeat, ifmorethanx-nextstep basis? Would easily resolve the exactness of timing for specific parts, and THEN you could ramp up the emulator speed to going beyond human comprehension. Sounds like, if there wasn't the internal cap based on game programming, this would be an interesting semibasic computer program exercise. Reminds me of the "Tower of Hanoi" recursion. Edit: Semibasic meaning that if you had the skills to macro each of these runs that requires repetition at least once and then base a simple program on executing those macros. In reality, that'd probably be a bit harder to do.

Wet Congaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

I'm sorry, but I can't resist this: There is no time that image is not hilarious. Also, nice job on getting all the wavs. I'll give you a nice shiny quarter if we can get the art done and the album out before the five year mark.