Moguta

Whoa. Before Deus Ex even finished. Bet Eidos ain't real happy 'bout that. This, ladies and gentlehearts, is a revolution in video game music arrnangamentation. If you thought that it would be hard to outdo the metal opera chops of FF2 Light and Darkness, well, evidently you were right because it took 150,000 to do so. But, nevertheless that barrier has been BROKEN! The introduction of spastic disco into the video game spectra will go down in history, mark my words. Well, nerd history, anyway.

Mass Effect SPOILERS: Make the Reapers not completely forget about their obsession with Shepherd between ME2 and ME3. I mean, seriously, one Collector ship can track down him & his stealth ship, but the Reaper armada doesn't even give chase?

Somehow, via all the wonky corruption issues with my old Droid X phone, this song ended up as my default ringtone through no intent of my own. (Happy coincidence though, since it has a nice fade-in beginning that prevents startling everyone with sudden loud music.) So imagine my surprise and confusion upon hearing this old ringtone come from my new Galaxy Note II phone, while it was on vibrate, while no calls appeared to be coming in, and while some "Goonies II I'm Taking It All Back" remix was supposed to be playing instead! Thought my new phone was starting to go on the fritz! Can't believe I haven't heard this as a complete song until now. Silly shuffle algorithm. Due to the above, I don't know if the "you're getting a call" mental association with those first 30 seconds will ever go away. But I must say, Goonies II: I'm Taking It All Back is an enjoyably upbeat remix. It reminds me of a more electronic version of OA's Phoenix Wright: This Feeling. Very fun. Thanks for the music AND the story TJ Nekko. ^.~

I'm assuming there will be a separate announcement for this? Might as well grab it all at once.

I appreciate this Jimquisition video because it actually goes through the effort to assert that this treatment of women is a norm, and that this norm is harmful. Having to battle with publishers over the role of your game's character *based specifically on their gender* is strong evidence that some sort of gender discrimination is going on. Now, not all gender discrimination is harmful -- I don't think a gynecologist should have to see both males & females, for example. But when Jim shows that a leading or co-leading female character either gets relegated to the back-of-the-box *because of what the publisher sees as gaming norms*, or that the developer must raise hell to see them put in their deserved prominent position, it's a lot easier to conclude that this is a harmful discrimination. Additionally, I appreciate Jim's reflections on the complexity of the problem: is it chicken or egg? Are the publishers too sensitive to perceived preference, or are these actual community preferences? Where exactly is the blame to be placed: with the makers, the marketers, the gamers, or a combination of all three? Anita's video on the other hand seems to skip over all these subtleties and launches straight for a "harmful & pernicious" bashing of a single trope which she does not satisfactorily establish as a norm. There are no useful statistics given about how many games feature this damsel in distress. Nor, in her videos, does she give strong evidence that female characters have been forced into this role as a matter of norms. We are given the Krystal in Star Fox Adventures example. But Anita merely states that she does become a damsel in distress, nowhere stating that Krystal was forced to conform to it as a norm. And this single data point cannot be extrapolated to a trend. Mentioning several other games does not make it a trend either, as how many thousands of games have been released since the Atari? I have to bring in my PERSONAL experience, psychologically biased memory, to surmise that yes this probably is an overused trope. I'm not saying that damsel in distress isn't a trend -- but merely that Anita never adequately demonstrates it's symptomatic. We never even get to hear if the damsel is used in the majority of games which feature a female. Just stating this one statistic -- the percentage of female-featuring games which use one as a rescue trophy -- could make or break the argument. If it's a low percentage, then it's difficult to attack this trope unless you wish to ban telling those kinds of events altogether, but if it's the majority, we can definitely see the need to reflect on game industry practices and make more frequent use of other story types. But when we don't hear any such decisive statistic, instead a long string of anecdotal examples or just straight up logical leaps, jumping right into the trope's harm feels like quite an overreach. Overall, I think we should expect better reasoning from Anita, even if these videos weren't as heavily funded. Again, I'm not saying that games -- and probably all media -- don't have harmful stereotypes regarding women. The ease alone of writing stereotypical roles makes that absurdly unlikely. I just wish Anita would give a better argument than she does, instead of leaning so heavily on the "female stereotypes = bad" attitude prevalent in modern Western culture. In addition, I'd really love to see someone explore the harmful male stereotypes in media. Male, female, or other, we're all in this life thing together and I really hate to hear one gender attack another, no matter what for.

Checking off a laundry list of games would be dull & unnecessary, I agree. But I do feel that in any critical analysis, it's just as essential to thoroughly review what has been done well (or what exactly should be done better) as it is to point out shortcomings. Just hoping to hear more of such counterpoints in future videos.

Looking back at my game history, I was shocked to realize that I've mostly played series where there is no main character (TIE Fighter, Civilization, SimCity) or where the main character is completely customizable (Daggerfall, Morrowind, Mass Effect). I think this was more chance than any high moral road of my own, though, because gaming consoles were forbidden in our house, and PC games tended to be a bit more open-ended. If not for my parents' restrictions, I'd probably have much more personal experience with the classic damsel in distress scenario. While I agree that the points she raises are worth discussing, I find it distressing that she plans on harping for 11 videos and discussing positive roles in only 1. Honestly a little worried that it won't leave much opportunity to discuss what exactly these positive images entail.

I remember thinking the exact same thing. "Have I been missing something all this time?!?" But the changeups helped keep it fresh. And they definitely patched up the vanguard bugs. As you noticed, sometimes you'll still 'warp' back to the center of the stage, which is annoying. But at least you're not having a trippy journey into the sky anymore. There was one weekend challenge to rack up a few thousand points using Biotic Charge. Couldn't help but suspect it was their way of bugtesting it.

Sweet. What's your Origin name? I'm StarlitVagabond

...but I like my comfy position of hypocrisy.

Anyone playing ME3 multiplayer these days? Vanguards got fixed, and the Batarian vang is a hard-hitting beast.

This is awesome. So glad he got to perform at MAG. Now I can put a face to all these groovin' tunes. Where's the RAWK smilie, dangit?

But if there's MAGWest, how're we ever gonna get you West Coastians to the real MAG? ;_;

I think you should be able to use Winamp with SHOUTcast to stream in whatever bitrate you desire. Though I see mp3 costs $5? Will have to ask D-Lux if that's what he used for his station. Back when Internet radio was wild & unregulated, I had a totally free setup, but the software is all deprecated & I can't find equivalent replacements now.

Any word on a BitGen happening in Baltimore this year? What with the previous venue being shut down and all...

Shazbot! Didn't realize Huelsbeck was still composing. Now I'm kinda sad I didn't get to his MAG panel. Thanks for lettin' us know Kyle, the sweet sounds are now filtering through these ears.

Mass Effect, oddly enough. Went into it with a "well, I've heard good things about it, and there's a Steam sale for $5" meh-level attitude. You'd expect someone who absolutely drools (and I mean nonstop, gross out levels of saliva) over Star Wars and Star Trek would be all about a space RPG. For some reason I'd visualized it as akin to the bland, generic Halo 1 universe. But damn if -- from the very loading screen! -- the game didn't knock this BethSoft-fanboy onto his newfound ass. Not only does Mass Effect know how to tell a good story, but it bathes you in plot & lets you know the characters have a few more feelings than a standard cardboard cutout. *stares meaningfully at Skyrim* And, plus, SPAAAAAAAAACE!

Aw, no video closeup of the dancing transvestite? ;(

Bookmarking for VGM justice

Congrats Zirc! Incredible to see it's over 6x the original funding goal. Just put in my contribution for the Identity Sequence digital download. Posters and signed physical would've been awesome, but college is a major DoT on my funds right now. Hope you can understand.

Terrific post I found re the ending: http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/355/index/13006636/1 SPOILERS!

Honestly, the Extended Cut seemed mixed to me. Overall, I appreciated it, but (highlight for SPOILERS) I was incredibly disappointed at how late in the ending it kicked in. One of the things that bothered me most was no matter the size or composition of Hammer, the last mission plays out *exactly* the same. Whether it's 50% or 25% of Hammer that reports in, whether you have Krogan, Geth, Quarians, Salarians, and all the merc clans, or nothing but humans, Turians, and a battered Quarian flotilla. How hard would it have been for Bioware to program a couple instances into that last mission where groups you rallied to your side came to your rescue... or if you didn't rally them, you have to deal with an enemy force all by yourself? It's so odd to me that the final mission is unaffected by your military choices. Also, could Bioware really not admit they made a mistake in having your London squadmates step out of the crashed Normandy? The whole evac scene seemed so awkwardly shoved in. Sure, let's just bring the most advanced Alliance ship down from the fight to squat like a sitting duck before the most powerful ancient Reaper, just so we can evac two wounded soldiers in a battle where EVERYONE is likely to die anyway. Honestly, your London squadmates should have perished with the rest of the assault. To do any different devalues the long-established strength of the Reapers. Thankfully, the writers struck a much better chord with the revised and extended Catalyst dialogue. I no longer get the feeling that he is opposed to the Crucible's changes, as he seemed in the original ending. Also, it is wonderfully enlightening to hear the Catalyst fleshed out as an AI creation, one that creates less-than-perfect solutions to a near impossible task. The ending speeches, however, seem without Bioware's usual nuance for detail. No one ever lives happily ever after, and I was hoping to hear at least a foreshadowing of such.

IIRC, he played synth in a prog rock band before composing game soundtracks. I've also got to chime in with Sakuraba love. The Star Ocean 2 and Valkryie Profile arranged albums were -- and still are -- some of my very favorite game compositions. Just listen to the bleak emotion poured into "Nigh to the Twilight of All"! And can't help but love how the man rearranges his own music.Also one of the most funky, underrated villain themes:

You bet your hydrogen-fusing ass I'm goin'.

Love the how the rhythm flows from gently driving to downright contemplative. Excellent acoustic layering, Stevo!