Winter's Wings

Back a couple pages, we were talking about why things are different now...and this is kind of a spill-over from another thread in Community at the moment (the Post-Wii Gaming "Are casuals bad?" thing), but stick with me for a second. Way back when, video games were a new thing, and sort of had a niche market. I'm willing to bet that many of you here who have nostalgia about the "good old days", also either had a local arcade they were allowed to go to as kids, or parents that loved (or at least tolerated) video games. People creating video games didn't really have to cater to anyone, because they had this steady market of people that would always consume their merchandise. In addition, the technology was fairly limiting, and we didn't really have much in the way of games to compare with to create a "standard". This is also the same kind of thing that happened in the computer industry. Way back when, nobody cared about how easy the GUI was - or even if there *was* a GUI. People who wanted to use computers were those who truly had a spot in their heart for the technology, and they'd use it no matter what. There were only so many real options for software/operating systems, and again...no real standards. What's happened with gaming in the past 10 years, is exactly what's happened with the computer in the past 15-20 years. *EVERYONE* has a computer now. I haven't met a single person at my university that does not own a computer -- and even if someone doesn't, we have a huge open use lab in our library with over 200 machines to pick from. Makers of software and operating systems now have to cater to a VERY wide audience. Trust me...I work at our IT Helpdesk. I know. >.> The "undoing" of the classic gaming metaphor, is that we all loved video games so much, we tried to share it with everyone. By doing so, we've helped make video games one of the primary sources of entertainment alongside television. Now, with the expanding audience, we've now got fans of video games that don't fit the "typical" mold of a gamer. This is at once fantastic (I certainly want everyone to enjoy games as much as I do), and terrible (the likelihood of "classic" gaming coming back full-force is basically nil). So now, we have games like Super Mario Galaxy, that try to cater to both new and old players by having the entire first half of the game ridiculously easy, and then managing to make the final few levels actually challenging (then going right back to easy mode after that >.<). But at least it even tries - other games these days just forgo the actually challenging bits, because that's not what sells games anymore. My solution?

I think I liked Gundam 00 a lot because it did a very good job of showing the flaws of the pilots and people within the different organizations. Gundam always tries to show how flawed everyone is, but in the end shows how everything works out despite those flaws, and I really like that for some reason. It may or may not have something to do with my working for IT, and feeling like the entire world is collapsing around my cubicle on a daily basis. =P I also liked how they killed off a lot of the characters in Gundam 00. I *REALLY HATE* shows that don't kill their characters when they need to. Watch Bleach for a fantastic example. It blows my mind that you can have a show based on fighting, and still manage to go entire arcs without killing characters (not even the bad guys). Say what you want about Naruto, but at least the author is willing to let characters go when they need to go. My only problem with the show, is that they did such a great job setting up for the second season...and then they botched it. On top of that, it appears they've already made their point in the first season (again, haven't watched the whole second season yet though). In Gundam Wing, there's a bunch of themes of conflict, and they're introduced steadily one by one until the end, where it all comes together (and you see the soldiers triumphing over the "soulless" mobile dolls). That's what made it great. Gundam 00 doesn't use its themes well on the whole... I kinda felt like SEED and SEED Destiny were sorta lacking in that area, too.

Video gaming is probably the only example of an activity where the equivalent to beating your head senselessly against a brick wall actually ends up getting you somewhere...

If Shinn is your favorite character (or even one of them), I'm gonna kick your ass LOL... >.>

IMO, Gundam Wing will always reign supreme as the best Gundam show ever. However, I would put the first season of Gundam 00 right behind it (and SEED close behind that). The second season, though...? I mean, I've only watched up to episode 13 so far...but it just all seems pointless so far. I think they honestly should've just ended Gundam 00 at 25 episodes. =\ I mean, episode 25 was the big epic OH SHI- battle they always have anyway, so it seemed a fitting spot for it to end. As for Destiny...I'd be understating my dissatisfaction with that series if I said I wanted to drive a large wooden stake through both of my eyes rather than watch it again. Good God YES - watch this series!!! I generally can't stand this type of anime, but I found myself utterly astonished by how awesome it really was. The soundtrack isn't bad, either - especially the full version of the opening. =D

This is an excellent point. See now how Sony and Microsoft are scrambling to come up with a better motion-control system for their platforms than the Wii's. Eventually, we'll be playing Wii-esque games on the PS3, and everyone will be sitting here wondering why people bother to buy a Wii because it's so under-powered in comparison. At that point, Nintendo will be forced to come up with an answer to that question, and...voila! As far as systems go, the Wii is nothing but good for the gaming industry in general, in my opinion.

Everyone keeps saying their first songs/remixes are terrible...but at least they made some musical sense (and in some cases, are actually pretty good). =D When I first got into music production (way back in Fruity Loops 3, a tiny bit before I first found this site), I hadn't a clue what the hell I was doing. I wasn't aware of what keys were, what dissonance was, what clipping was... Nothing. I more or less had this program, and some presets, and thought it was the coolest thing ever. So, here's the first "song" I ever did: http://content18.wuala.com/contents/phantomcactus/public/VOX_-_01_-_Chaotic_Airway.mp3 It's really not even a song, honestly. It's just presets and stuff I tossed together and thought it sounded cool. Please, for the love of all that is good in the world, make sure your speakers aren't up very high. It clips pretty badly, and overall is just a piece of junk. =P Eventually, I found that you could import MIDI files into FL...and that's when I did my first "remix": http://content16.wuala.com/contents/phantomcactus/public/VOX_-_04_-_Musically_Enhanced_Mushrooms.mp3 It's pretty much just a MIDI rip with added presets and simple percussion. Again, really, really lame. XD And from those "humble" beginnings... =P Actually, I don't think I've ever shown current work of mine to anyone here, so posting this was probably a terrible idea... Now you're all gonna think I'm retarded. =\ Meh, oh well. XD EDIT: Oh, let me know if the links don't work. I signed up for Wuala just to post this stuff, since my website isn't up and working yet. If you're interested, it's gotten pretty good reviews (and compares favorably to other services according to Wikipedia), and so far I'm pretty happy with it. I think there's some way for me to get extra space or something if I have people sign up through a special link, but I can't be bothered to find it. =P But, PM me if you want a personal review of the service.

I play games "casually". I have one new system - a Wii - and I play it on average of about 10 hours a month. I'm just too busy with other stuff to sit down and play it more, what with my university studies and two jobs and my side projects... But, to other casual gamers, I'm not a casual gamer at all. I have a friend who is currently working their way through Super Mario Galaxy, and having a tough time with it. But, I personally think the game is super-easy. By the time I'm done playing for 2 hours, I have 2-3x as many lives as I started with. Meanwhile, my friend has hit game over twice. The problem with the casual label is that it's all about perspective. To "hardcore" gamers, I'm casual because I don't put enough time into it, and I couldn't care less if my gaming ability is top-notch. But, to "casual" gamers, my skills are out of this world, and I game just as much as they do. So, where would you put me? What label do you slap on a gamer like myself? Furthermore, how would you classify Super Mario Galaxy? Is that a game for casuals? I mean, you can't pretend it's not ridiculously easy compared to Super Mario 64. But, it's immersive, it's got a great score, fantastic visuals, and extremely fun gameplay to boot. Ultimately, I agree with The Damned and others - give me solid definitions of what makes a good game, and what the different levels of gaming are, and then we'll talk. Until then, I'm just going to play whatever I find fun, whenever I have time. Sure, there might not be as many good games around (see my previous post in this thread), but gaming is hardly in the dire straits everyone thinks it is.

This...plus more. From my perspective, the real problem is more that it takes *forever* to make a great game anymore. Back in the NES/SNES days, good games could be made in a fraction of the time it now takes with all the 3D and particle effects and large physics engines and huge amounts of content and...you get my point. Games before? There were 5000000 titles for you to pick from. It was overwhelming...but you could always find the good ones, and there were generally a fair amount of them simply because there were so many games. Games now? There's maybe 100-200 new releases (if that?) per year per system, and VERY few of them are *good* games. I, honestly and truly, see nothing as having been changed by the Wii or casuals at all. What's changed, is that it takes a significant amount of time to make games at all these days (and I'm not counting the smaller, downloadable content games like WiiWare and XBox Live stuff, just for the sake of equal comparison). The proportion of good games to bad is still the same, but now there's less games so it seems more pronounced.

AnSo, you weren't kidding when you said this was your best work... It really is. In fact, this song more or less embodies everything I want out of my own personal musical style. In terms of instrumentation, I love how the bells and pads contrast the more digital sounds of the bass and random other sounds. My favorite remixes tend to be ones that are able to blend the more complex, "real" sounds with the decidedly simpler blips, beeps, and other random digitized elements. The World's Smallest Giant does that and more. I also particularly liked how, even though the melodies and themes in this mix are rather simplistic, they're woven together in the most complex ways possible. I've been listening to this mix at least once a day since its posting, and I'm still amazed at the little new things I pick up every time I play it. And, thematically, you've done a fantastic job. This is a complete re-interpretation of the source...and yet, I can throw it into a playlist of songs from the game and it fits magnificently. It is, at once, beautiful and creepy - just like many of the themes Nilsen created for Ecco. On top of that, as Palpable said...2:44 is truly heavenly. The only thing I could even possibly fathom changing, from a personal standpoint, is the percussion. I really feel that, although it still lended a positive touch to the song, it could have been more fleshed out and emphasized than it was. I also feel the use of "real" percussion (such as some of the samples from zircon's Groove Bias sample set), would have been an improvement, as opposed to the drum machine that was used. Regardless, I really want to emphasize that this criticism is an EXTREMELY minor one - even the percussion was done with extreme care and talent. Overall, a truly impressive mix...and one I will be recommending to new listeners from now 'til the end of time.

Sup guys? I suppose my first post should probably go in here...being the whole "hi I'm new" thread. Aight, so...I've been lurking around this site since about 2003-2004 or so. I guess I'm "new" in that no one here knows me, but I'm not entirely new to how stuff works, etc. I figured, since I'm a huge fan of the music, and would one day love to contribute myself, I should probably get an account since...y'know, that would make sense. Quick facts: - I currently live in Tampa, Florida, although I'm originally from around Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. - I moved to Tampa in Fall 2007 to attend the University of South Florida for Computer Science and Physics (yes, it sounds like it hurts, and sometimes it does). - I have professional experience in web design, graphic design, programming, various IT things, and soccer refereeing (yeah, odd, I know). - My DAW of choice is FL Studio...bought it way back when FL4 came out and am currently running FL8 on XP Pro running through VirtualBox on my Ubuntu laptop (8.10 comes out in 5 days!! wooo!!) - When I started making music, I preferred trance as my main style...although I've grown rather bored of making it (though it's still fun to listen to it!). Now, I'd say I'm working towards a weird rock/electronica hybrid style. - I do not, in my opinion, "play an instrument", although I am vaguely familiar with the piano, ocarina, violin, and guitar...my proficiency dwindling as you reach the end of that list. - My favorite tracks typically come from games that had an impact on my childhood. Kirby Superstar's soundtrack, for example, is unforgettable because I played that game to death. However, I also enjoy tracks that I think are exceptionally creative. The Okami soundtrack has quite a few examples. And...I think that should be it. If anyone needs me, I should be lurking around the ReMix section looking for samples and guidance. You can also contact me via AIM (sneachtuil) or email (alsandair [at] sneachtuil [dot] com). See you around!