Cerrax

Why stop at Shadow of the Colossus? What about EarthBound? Final Fantasy? Metal Gear Solid? It seems like your definition of art is something that calls upon more than just sheer creativity. All of the above games go beyond just being a game to being a statement of expression.

I believe there is already a thread about elitism in the forum...... I do not believe art is too complicated for the average person. Art is any endeavour that evokes thoughts and emotions from a person's mind. Games are art because we feel the same emotions and go through the same thought processes as the character(s) of the game. Movies and books are art because we feel certain emotions about the characters and think about what is happening within the movie. Music is art because we feel certain emotions of the song and think about the lyrics and/or title. All visual forms (sculpture, painting, etc.) are art because we can see the emotions of the work, and think about what is in the work.

Wow. cerrax.com is worth $268. cool.

That is an interesting blurb. On the one hand, you have artists who fall squarely into this category. E. S. Posthumous comes to mind. Talented brothers weave classical/electronica music. Get popular over the internet. Get signed by CBS. Do shitty rap song for CBS. Lose most of their original fanbase. Disappear from the face of the Earth. Then there's stories like Rob Dougan. Guy starts mixing classical and blues influences into breakbeat/hip hop rhythms. Gets lots of gigs at clubs. Gets noticed by the dudes of "The Matrix" Releases an "indie" album. Refuses to change style to suit a label. Disappears from the face of the Earth. And then there's stories like Type O Negative. Talented goth/metal group captures audience. Gets a small label. Moves to bigger label. Pisses off the bigger label for not complying with album criteria. Finds another label. Pisses off that label for not following album criteria. Continues to hop from label to label while refusing to give up creative control. Never hits as big as previous two stories, but is nonetheless successful and has a fairly large, loyal fanbase.

I find that the games I would call "fun" are the ones that make me feel the most in control and at the same time I don't have control over anything. Perfect example is ES4: Oblivion (or any ES game for that matter). I can do just about anything I want, but when I go into an Oblivion Gate, or come across something I haven't seen before, I'm a little freaked out. I have so many options, and it all boils down to will I make the right choices to escape? Excite Truck is the same feeling. I have perfect control of my vehicle. I can drift, jump, speed up, slow down, etc. But as I race, there's other trucks trying to smash me and throw me and all kinds of obstacles getting in my way. The rush comes from the same question, will I make the right decisions to make it through the race? I guess what I'm trying to say is, simplicity/complexity has very little to do with it. I have just as much fun with a complicated game like Oblivion as I do with a simple game like Excite Truck.

One day I was walking across a bridge and looked down at the water. I turned to my friend and said, "That looks like XBox water." She gave me the strangest look and then I realized that it was real water. From then on, we always joke about what console it looks like the water was generated from. When ever I go into an uncomfortable place (like my old basement..creepy fuggin place), I put my hands up so I can see them like I'm in an FPS. Many of my friends and I use pwn, n00b, 1337, and other such terms on a regular basis. But only with each other. I sometimes tend to walk like an FF8 character, stiffly moving my legs and making a distinctly loud "clop" with every step. When writing sheet music by hand, I've caught myself numerous times trying to find the Command key and click the paper. (To place notes in Logic, you must hold command and click)

This man speaks truth. First glance makes you want to put it away, but it is hella fun.

wormguy's ZOE avatars are much better. Don't even bother with mine. Nice job man!

You don't want to play EarthBound? Why Rama, why? Ugh, DMC2? The soundtrack sucked more than the game. Get DMC1 soundtrack. Some of the best stuff I've ever heard. And Oblivion? The game: unforgettable. The music: eh, its nice filler.

Bought the Maximo Soundtrack. Bought the game cuz the soundtrack was pretty good. I have countless NSFs and GYMs that are from games I've never played. On the flip side, I have Power Quest for GBC, but I can't find a GBS file anywhere . I'm too lazy to rip it myself

GASP And I thought I was the only one who liked ET.

I'm actually working on something like this right now...

Thanks. I've been planning this for a while and the programming is a bitch. As far as the sprites, I'm not looking for anything complicated. Something within the range of Mega Man X or Super Mario World is what I'm going for. Just simple black-line, colored-in stuff. Here's a pic that pretty much speaks for the style I want: http://www.zoggles.co.uk/asp/image.asp?f=tsu&id=7-1&t=gif&a=0

Hey, I'm not really sure where to post this, so feel free to move/delete as necessary. I am creating a Smash Bros type game. Unfortunately, I have no graphics for the game. I need some good pixel/sprite artists to heklp me with the graphics. I have done sprite graphics before, but I do not have the talent or time to make them all myself (and there are a lot). Here's a basic run down of the project: 2-D sprite-based fighting game in Smash Bros style. Characters acculumate damage %. The higher the %,the farther attacks send them flying. Characters have three different weapons: guns, swords, and hand-to-hand There will be character sprites needed for standing, running, attacking, falling, bouncing and jumping. There will also be sprites for effects such as sparks, pows, explosions, gunshots, dust etc. I don't have specific sizes in mind, but the prototype has been designed with character dimensions of 45x50 so it would be best to keep charcater sprites within that range. The prototype can be played here: www.cerrax.com/prototype1.html You must have Shockwave Player 10 to play this game. As you can the see, the prototype is pretty ugly, but the movements are pretty smooth. Also falling off the stage has not been programmed yet, so if you do, just close and re-open the window. If anybody would like to help, by all means please let me know and I'll get you started!

In an interview, Gabe Newell (co-founder of Valve) said he was extremely disappointed with Vista, and even suggests that if users want a better experience than XP, they should look for Mac OS X, not Vista. He says, "If you're an XP user, you're going to be more comfortable upgrading to Apple than Vista...Other than gaming, which is Apple's Achilles heel, almost everything else works better on a Mac." This is coming from a man whose own company depends on the success of Windows. EDIT: Linkage-- http://www.gameinformer.com/News/Story/200701/N07.0116.1324.31632.htm

The realistic graphics that consoles ultimately shoot for are what open up the doors to these artistic graphics that everyone is talking about. Could you do Okami on Playstation 1? No. Can you cel-shade on N64? No. Would Shadow of the Colossus inspire the same emotions on a SNES? No. Even animated movies have benefited from increasing technology. Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust looks 1000 times better than the original VHD. Why? Because effects that were used to create "realistic effects" in live action films, have been altered to fit animation styles. The same will (and to a point, has) come around for video game graphics. As long as consoles push the nevelope for realistic graphics, it will ensure and open new opportunities for alternate graphics styles. After all, realistic graphics are the most difficult to render. So if we nail those, doing the more artistic representation type of graphics will be a breeze. Every artist first learns to draw realistically, before they draw in any cartoon or abstract style. The same is ttrue for consoles. Let them learn realism first, and then let developers imaginations run wild.

It may just be a retitled version of Hellbent. Hellbent is about the Ghostbusters' descent into Hell (which happens to be an alternate twisted version of NYC). It was a real script, but Murray decided to move on to otherthings and they forgot about it. I remember there was a rumor that they were going to do a new Ghostbusters movie about 4 or 5 years ago, with a whole new cast (allegedly including Will Smith as Dr. Venkman).

Aenima is actually how its spelled in some of the Final Fantasy games. I didn't think anyone would get 27 across. It's Xenon Cannon.

Hey I got bored and made little crossword puzzle for everyone to enjoy! http://www.cerrax.com/vg_crossword.pdf First one to finish it gets hugs. ;P

I love FF8 and I hate FF7. But FF9? That one was good. I don't think anybody has a lot of gripes about that one.

Thanks everyone for your help. I had read about the differences between the EXSP and the EXS and I was afraid that would be the case. Apparently, LE 7 is the first LE that uses the EXSP instead of the EXS. Bummer. I'll have to try Kontakt. It sounds extremely simple so I feel really stupid for asking, but at least now I know! As for Sample Tank, I'm not that worried about it. It wiould be great if I could get it to work, but I've heard that IK's stuff isn't really that great anyway.

I have quite a situation on my hands that I need help with. In my earlier days, I used a program called MTV Music Generator, which used only sampled instruments. That meant no drum kits. Each piece of percussion was it's own channel. In that channel was one sample that was located on middle C. Going above or below middle C changed the pitch accordingly. I got very used to this method of drum sequencing and the flexibility it gave me with the samples allowed me to create sounds that I can't create now. Now I use Logic Express 7. All the drums are collected into various drum kits. This means no more pitch variation on individual pieces of percussion. Each key on the piano roll is a different instrument, and their pitch can't be changed without altering the entire drum kit (via a pitch shifting effect). Of course I could create a separate track for each part of the kit, but then I stilll have to use a pitch shifter to acheive the effect I want. Logic 7 has a sample player built-in, called the EXSP 24. It says that you can load individual wav and aiff files into it, as well as giga, samplecell, sf2, dls, and akai. But I can't figure out how to load wav files ijnto the damn thing. Basically I want to load a single sample onto the piano roll so I can run it up and down the scale. I have several samplers, none of which I can get to work. Logic's EXSP 24 confuses me, and I don't know how to load the sample. Native Instruments' Kontakt also confuses me, as I don't know how to load it into that one either. Sonic's Sample Tank 2 crashes every time I attempt to load a sample. I always have Polyphontics SoundFont creator, but then I lose the control and flexibility of a sample player. If anyone can either help me get these ones to work, or point me in the direction of a free (or cheap) sampler that works on OS X 10.4, I would be eternally grateful.

Oddllama: you've got to admit though, the battle music in FFMQ rocked your socks. Dshu: You make it seems as though I hate things simply because they are popular, which is not the case. DMC1 had an incredibly tight and well put together style that was quite different from any other game of the time. It was a perfect blend of mature action and storytelling with beatuiful graphics and one of the best non-orchestral soundtracks I have ever heard in any form (movie, game, TV show) of media. DMC2 featured "new moves" that were just rip-off moves from The Matrix. The sad part is, DMC2 excutes these new features better than the Matrix games, but that's another thread all together. The overall exceution of both graphics and sound was horrible and bland. The music was cookie cutter industrial rock, with no flavor whatsoever. Every level looked the same. The enemies were interesting, but the game was so easy that they weren't terrifying in the least. The story is even more cut and dry than the first. (I personally loved the story of the first game. But I have to admit it was riddled with cliches and some questionable dialouge) However, Dante's character remains mostly intact. He's a little less talkative, but he's still cool hand Dante. DMC3 is when the popular culture takes notice of DMC. Now the game has revived a much more stylish and upbeat nature, but its nowhere near the same environment that was present in DMC1. Dante, instead being a slightly arrogant, but mostly cool headed character, is now a whiny emo kid, complete with hair over his eyes and stupid catch phrases every ten seconds. Not to mention his voice itself is childish (I know this is a prequel, but he ain't that young). The music has regained the energy it lost in DMC2, but now its full-on rock with some industrial thrown in. The gothic-techno atmosphere is completely gone at this point. The only clue as to what this game is about are the demons running around trying to kill you. You could easily do a color palette switch on Dante and swap demons for guys with guns and swords. Then you would have Versus. Which leads to the next point. The cutscenes are basically Versus with demons. I know that the director of Versus was the one who did the cutscenes, and that;'s why it upsets me. They purposefully ignored the original style of DMC and called in some famous guy to do it instead. Basically, DMC3 claims to return to the roots of DMC, except no one from the original team has any connection with the most important parts of the game. Its a disappointment and I hope that they learn their mistakes for DMC4. Unfortunately, they probably won't. Just think about this, would you like an FF VII game if it had Cloud as a loudmouth badass tough-guy, instead of the soft-spoken brave warrior he is introduced as? Would you like a Zelda game where the music is all E.S. Posthumous and Enya?

Actually I hate DMC3. I actually like DMC2 more than 3. DMC>>>>>>>>DMC2>DMC3 Every version gets more commercialized and bastardized than the one before it. I shudder to think what DMC4 will be like. The previews already make me doubtful that I'll like it. PS-If you notice in my sig, most of the pics are from 1 and 2. Only two of them are from 3, and one is from the preview for 4.

It happens to everyone. There's a game that by the general opinion, was pretty damn bad. But for some odd reason, you love it. I know I have a few games that O love, that people (game journalists, gamers, and even non-gamers) would consider to be horrible games. EOE: Eve of Extinction (PS2) The graphics suck, the sound sucks, the music is cliche, the enemies are retarded and cliche as well. The movement and fighting is clunky as best, downright annoying at worst. The story is stupid and horribly told. But somehow, this little turd of a game has found its way into my heart. Power Quest (GBC) A less than mediocre fighting game that is ridiculously easy, then ridiculously hard. Weak use of GBC color palette. Long and involved story about nothing. I think the music is what attracts me to this no-hitter because it actually has very good (but very short) tunes. can't think of some others..... share yours!