JamPaladin

I can has downloadable version? This is awesome.

Quoted for emphasis and truth Yeah, I'm a cyberpunk elitist. Actually I was hoping to stir up some interesting controversy. Like this: Deus Ex was post-cyberpunk, though it could be argued to be on the cusp. Consider, the game explored it's ideas through the format of a video game (played through a computer) where actual computer literacy skills (Typing in username and password, reading email etc) were used to a limited extent. That is to say, the game could not have made its point in the same way without playing on understandings of contemporary levels of tech, of the sort that cyberpunk is usually focused on However, Deus Ex is Cyberpunk, not post-cyberpunk in content - it did NOT focus on the hacking, that was a means to an end. The actual content was focused on near-future techs such as nanotech which did not actually exist, and a focus on a society that was not yet around. (It's about an anti-terrorist coalition, and plays on a lot of things that didn't happen until september 11 the year later - an interesting bit of prophacy.) The fact that it merges unironic use of these themes along with the connection between input within and out of the game world (your keyboard is the keyboard in game!) brings a slightly post-modern aspect into things which is why I would classify it as post-cyberpunk. More to the point, it plays around with tropes of cyberpunk. Remember, Cyberpunk was a flash literary genre that worked because it came out of nowhere and did things no-one had seen before. The fact that Deus Ex follows genre conventions means it is aware of genre conventions, which firmly pushes it into post-cyberpunk territory. There wasn't a second-gen of cyberpunk, really. Writing to ANY genre conventions was against the ideal and ethos of cyberpunk, so anyone doing it must do so with intentional or unintentional irony (much like a manufactured punk music band is ironic). The fact that Deus Ex does this really, really well, and still manages to tell a good story and make an interesting social comment despite the irony of it's genre tropes simply shows that it is a brilliant work in any case. Have fun picking out all the holes in that argument, I'm hungover.

No, No, No, No, No Cyberpunk is about this: "Whatever you can do to a rat, you can do to a person, and you can do ANYTHING to a rat" Cyberpunk is about life being cheap. Cyberpunk was about the future, and is now about the present day. Cyberpunk is dead, and by the very fact we have the internet now, the closest anyone can get is post-cyberpunk or classic cyberpunk, written ironically. Start with Neuromancer. Don't stop there, because everyone else does and thinks that's what cyberpunk is about. Instead, continue on to Bruce Sterling, who ACTUALLY invented the genre, even if Gibson gets the credit. I met Bruce Sterling at a con once. Brilliant, facinating man, and he signed my copy of Schismatrix. Read that. Also Noir by K.W. Jeter, it's about a world where pirating basically has the death penalty, and has the greatest opening line of any book ever. Chi by Alexander Besher is fun, it's about Ladyboys. Oh, and there is no such thing as Cyberpunk film. Cyberpunk was dead the first time someone tried to visualise it. When you read Neuromancer, note the depth of imagery and tell me if you think film could ever do that justice. But you want adolecent fiction? Right. The Web series, various authors. Pulply but fun young adolecent cyberpunk about a metaphorical internet and its repurcussions Synners, I THINK by Pat Cadigan but could be wrong. (Also note in this one the stark difference in sexual imagary that was pointed out by a lecturer I had a while back. In an adolecent Lit class. She pointed out that in Neuromancer, you "Jack in", but in Synners, you "Take the wire".) Also, I'd recommend "So Yesterday" by Scott Westerfeld first for being excellent adolescent lit and second for being a great example of post cyberpunk.

On a similar subject, I spotted what I think might be a mistake - for the Breath of Fire 2 song "You Must Dance", song listed is "Crazy Dance". Now, I'm only a huge Breath of Fire 2 fan, but I'm pretty sure the song is called "You Must Live" or at least was in the games sound test. Correct me if I'm wrong. Sweet addition, though.

this topic is far too reasonable. MOAR JUDGEHATE. SHTYJDGEFGTS

Right, someone at the start of this thread broke rules #1 and #2.

I find it funny that sleeping with hookers was removed in GTA. In Australia, prostitution is legal in at least some states. So it is wrong for a game to feature the legal, consensual act of paid sex, yet it is entirely okay for the same game to feature murder, theft, and everything else it does? Someone has f**** up priorities.

that's mc chris, lower case, no dots, rewind

Does the Shael rune sing about its groin? </Obvious joke>

Thanks, I might be going out (it's Friday night and I have a life), but I'll see how I go. If you're up pretty late, it works for me, but I might be very drunk.

If it's not too late, I might be interested on this - your 8pm seems to be my 11am, and since I'm working afternoon/evening shifts this year, if that's the time you'll be msotly playing it works with my schedule. So, can I join up? Won't take too long to catch up one Act, and I'm happy to play whatever class people are wanting. (Paladin sounds obvious, but I've played a bit of every class and like them all) I played heaps of D2 single player back in the day, but I haven't played a lot online since I had dial-up back then. Fortunately, US West is the fastest server for me, so I shouldn't have any lag issues. I'm at work at the moment, but I can join the irc channel at home. Which is where I'll be most days from next week on.

Deltron 3030? Yours Truly, 2095 by Electric Light Orchestra? Anthem for the Year 2000, by whoever did that?

I totally hear you on this - I've been thinking for years writing can be powerful, but more powerful if combined with music or images. (Maybe I'm biased, though, because I'm a good writer, despite being entirely useless musically and artistically.) I also really enjoyed Snow, Love and Sludge as an example of this. In other words, I think it's a great idea. Despite being a dirty lurker, I may be interested in helping out or participating.

Ok, I'm sure no-one is going to believe me here, but I was on holidays for two weeks, and didn't get the podcasts. I get back, here the clip contest, and, before hearing the answer, I actually did guess that it was Open Ending - one of my favourite mixes. As I said, I'm sure no-one believes me, but I feel pretty impressed. Open Ending has some rather distinctive synthy sounds, and I can tell them from a half second clip.

She is the river that runs where all water is gone. She is the ice that lasts in a land of liquid heat. She is the final breath of the firstborn, and the first sweet drops of life that we mortals are akin to. It is a precious few leaves that makes up one of our lives in the great tree that is time, and yet, thanks to her, a flower blooming closely to us mere shadowy leaves, the lifetime between the spring we bloom and the autumn we fall is made worth it all. She is the dewdrop that glistens in the sun and sways gently in the wind, reflecting the light of the world in all directions that we may be illuminated to her wonderous presence. Oh, and Auroramix stopped just as it was getting musicially interesting.

This piece is alright. I've always been a fan of DJ Pretzel's more orchestral piexes, and this is one of them. While I don't feel this stands up to some of his other pieces, it's still pretty good. It starts off lightly, on a piano I think, with strings in the background, sort of humming away throughout the piece. At 32" the main melody comes in over this, followed by some flute or piccolo type thing at 43". At 1' 00" the track reaches the most "exciting" point, but ther eisn't any real tension, just a change in tune. At 1' 22" we're back into the main melody, but with more instruments, in a sort of climax. A light bridge carries us from 1' 50" to 2' 00", then the piece begins to wind down, to a soft finish I'd have to say that this piece is for fans of the genre. If you're only into techno, move along, you'll find this absolutely boring. If you are a fan of light orchestral music, then this is a good, but not brilliant example of it. Subjective-humming-string-O-meter: 6.979.

At the start of this track, a voice proclaims "It's a trip, It's got aa funky beat." This is quite true of the mix, as it does indeed have a funky beat. Except its not really a trip, not that I can comment on that, as I've never tripped. But the best is cool, as is the melody. The mix starts off ecclecticly, with the main melody not coming in until 0' 17", but starts off with some cool sounding synthed electronic sounds, acompanied by some odd UFO type sounds. It's all good however, and at 55" a piano, I believe, come in, with a sort of second melody. In true techno fasion, we have it repeat for several bars length, until 1' 45" where we lose the funky beat, and focus on the melody. There's abit of variation in the tune, as the beat come back in, but it still continues repeating, before the voice returns, at almost the exactly halfway point. At 2' 40" some more synths come into the tune, spicing it up, and forming a decent addition to the melody. At 3' 40", it starts to wind down, and settles with a typical coonclusion. Not an amazingly original composition, but it's good techno, and the addition of voices with a cool phrase makes it that much more memoriable. Thus, I pleased to award it the follwoing ranking: Subjective-funky-beat-and-Trip-O-meter: 7.459/10

I love this mix. Just having deemed Rolling Thunder "El salsa" as repetitive and forgettable, I was comparing it to works like this. I've never heard the original, nor paid much attention to the actual tune, but I like it for one reason: the Cool Sound Effect. (CSE) It is very difficult to explain the CSE in words. I do not know how it was produced, but if I wished to emulate it, I would suggest the following. WARNING!!! I take no responsibility if anyone chokes to death while trying this!. First, take air into your mouth, like a chipmunk. If you hit your cheeks, and a fart sound comes out of your pursed lips, you are doing it correctly. Now, you need to place an object in your mouth. It must be spherical, about the size and weight of a marble, but also be hollow and around the size of a ping pong ball at the same time. Next, you must wobble it around your mouth. It must never touch the sides of your cheeks, while at the same time, touching the sides of your cheeks which are, of course, lined with both metal and tissues. Having done this, and with your mouth wide open and tightly closed at the same time, you must move your tounge to alter the pitch, whilst controlling the balls movements using the Jedi force powers. Finally, place a microphone into your mouth, and turn the reverb up to 11. The sound is really that cool. But about the actual mix... It starts off with the sound straight away, with a bit of a melody, and some electronic instruments. A nice drum beat comes in a 0:15, suiting the mood perfectly. At around 0:30, the melody does some stuff, breaking into the chorus again at 0:45. It all changes at 1:00, getitng intresting, with some more cool sounds, just before the chorus again. BTW, the cool sound effect has been playing the whole time. The rest of the mix continues much like this. It is repetitive, but in a good way - it suits the genre. I say this is a must downlaod if you are on broadband (and not in Autralia, and thus limited to a 3 gig, sorry, 300000 byte bandwidth cap) and a highly recommended download on a dial-up. Hey, its free. Subjective-jedi-force-marble-ping-pong-juggling-O-Meter:9.324/10

Well, what to say about this mix. Some people might like it, personally (and note the "personally") I find it mediocre and forgettable. Not to say its bad, but I don't think it stands up to some of DJP's better mixes. And when listening to it, I can't shake the image of a comical looking guy in a sombrero strumming a stringed intstrument. Who has drunk too much tequila. But I digress, and apoligise for that if you are mexican. And reading this. Anyway, the mix is straight into it, with a very "rolling" intro melody, which lasts all of 19 seconds, before going silent and starting a more muted tune. An cool souunding stringed instrument comes in along with some others, and (if you're me) you start seeing the sombrero guy, with his annoying moustache. But at least he plays well. About this time, you get hungry for salsa and corn chips, almost exactly at 1:10. The tune is pretty standard until 1:27, when a drumroll kicks in for two seconds, then goes back to the melody, with a drumroll pattern laid on top of that. Thakfully, the focus changes to a different instrument at 1:46 for variety, then breaks into the main pattern at 2 minutes. Then, the mix winds down to the end. So maybe its just me, but I don't find this anything more than repetitive, and basic. But then, maybe you like this type of music. In that case you might want to give it a try. Just don't expect a Mario 64 Sunken suite. Subjective-Tequlia-drinking-sombrero-guy-with-moustache-O-meter: 5/10

This is pretty cool. Not a track that comes straight to mind when I think of OC Remix, but one that is cool to listen to whenever it comes up on winamps random list. It has a very spooky styling, but has a very synthed sound to it. This works fabulously well, building a sense of tension, and sounding funky to boot. Of course, the mix can't be perfect. It's a pretty typical genre, and nothing particularly strikes out at you as being amazing and instantly (No pun intentional) memoriable. Not to say it does anything wrong - just that being a "really good mix" it gets lost among all the other "really good mixes." The track starts with a haunting clock tower bell. A dorr creaks open. A haunting sound effect occurs... and then we break into the melody. It plays for a few seconds before entering some ghost type noises. At 00:34 the door creaks again, and the track really gets started, with a 4:4 beat, introducing some hand claps or soemthing at 00:50. At 1:38, we lose the main melody, with a focus on the bass and a new melody. Its back by 2:11. By 2:50, the tune really starts to get funky. At 3:47, the tune begins to wind down, finishing with the aformentioned ghost sounds. Overall, a solid piece that's probably worth a look if you've heard the original, like the genre, or just like funky synth ghost noises. Subjective Does-GM-have-a-ghost-howling-synth?-O-Meter: 8/10

This is a pretty funky collection of synths. All the instruments are cool sounding electronic synths, and have a sort of wobbly sound to them. The tune itself is pretty good, giving a feeling of flying quickly over a blurring landscape. And the synths sound cool. The track starts with some cool chords, opening into the main melody at 00:10. At 00:28, another instrument is mixed in, and funks it up. At 00:40 the track really begins to soar,, the effect increased by the truly wobbly instrument introduced eight seconds later. At 1:08, the main melody changes, with more of an emphasis on the aforementioned wobbly instrument (Don't ask me what it is, I'm terrable at picking instruments.) at 1:48, we get a focus on the cool Bass work, opening into a funky piece of techno at 2:00, and getitng cool fifteen seconds later, mixing it up with some fast work. The main melody begins again at 2:42, following with what could be considered the kind of chorus. At 3:25, the sound fades to end. Overall, its a decent and funky track. I havn't heard the original, but suspect fans of the original would probably like it. However, with the great range of mixes at OC, this kind of ends up being slighly forgettable. Subjective playing-synths-with-bad-motor-control-O-meter: 6/10

This piece is beautiful. I've always liked DJ Pretzels Orchestral works, and this is a major reason why. While I havn't heard the original, this sounds much like I expect the original would, only done in a more orchestral style. Overall, It's very peaceful, and watery (As in it would work well with any Winamp AVS preset using the water effect). The track starts with some soft instruments, and at 00:12 opens up into the main melody. This melody has a great harmony between the instruments, and sounds really..inspirational and spirited. At 1:25 it really opens up, gets louder and stronger, and quite amazing. At 1:48, it calms down inot a slightly different melody, which continues until 2:32. Then the main melody starts again. At 2:55, DJP winds it down to a close. This once again is very peacful, but at the same time very strong. If you even vaguly like orchestral music, I highly recommend this. Subjective Load-up-the-water-AVS-Preset-and-whip-out-a-conductors-baton-O-Meter: 9.2/10

I like this one. It starts off (and continues with) a very cool melody thingo that goes down then up. This is the centrepiece of the whole tune, down with some Japenese sounding pipe/flute sort of thing, and gives the whole mix a very Japenese flavour. Think of a Jubei from ninja scroll wearing a funky orange bandana, and bopping to the beat and you'll get the idea. Subjective Ninja-Headbanging-O-Meter: 8.898/10

This piece is rockin'! The bass could be a bit more solid sounding, but that's not the point. The emphasis is most definately on the guitar, and it sounds cool. Very cool. Mucho -Spledifiaries cool. Coolittude. You get the picture. It's one of those really cool pedal effects, the sort which (Apparantly) the guy in RATM is famous for using. But this sounds better. I don't care if it's fake or emulated, it sounds good to my ears, and that's all I care about. Halfway through I just whipped out my air-guitar and started jammin' (The sheer versatility and portability of Air-Guitar can't be beaten.) About a minute in you lose the cool sounds, but they partially come back twenty seconds later, and then you get the full force of them again. If you like electronic guitar sounds, you can't go wrong with this. Subjective-Jam-along-on-air-guitar-O-Meter: 9.7/10

This mix starts with a very cool sounding sonar ping, which holds the beat for the rest of the mix. Unfortunately, the sonar ping is probably the best part of the mix. It's very jazzy -and if you like jazz like me it's certainly quite listenable, and its ambiance makes great background music. There's no real melody, the way jazz should be. It's almost as if the tune was devised based on some visulisation type thing watching a marble roll around while tilting the platform its on. On the whole though, if you're not looking for backgorund music, but rather somehting to actively listen to, this might be a tad bit boring. Subjective Ecco-Online-Sonar-ping-time-O-Meter: For background music: 7.2/10 For listening actively: 5.3/10