VG-RESURRECTION - Video Game Culture and Nostalgia

World of Goo Soundtrack by Kyle Gabler

russjman — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:20:05 -0600

I recently picked this up during a weekend promo that Steam was running for $5. I've thrown away more money than that pretty much doing anything i can think of;burgers, porn, booze...you name it. At normal price(as of now on Steam) its $20, which i would not have shelled out. Not because i could not afford it, but because i didn't feel like adding the list of games that i haven't had time to focus on and finish. The only reason i wasn't engrossed with the new scout class update on Team Fortress 2 instead was that i nursing a cold, and couldn't handle anything that required too much coordination. World of Goo ended up being wildly better than i could have expected, or imagined, and well worth either the $5 or $20 you might spend on this. It was one of most beautiful and moving gaming experiences of my life, and especially surprising considering the fact that this game is a puzzle game by genre.

The premise is quite light-hearted, with playful elements and dialog reminiscent of Katamary Damacy (even though there's no dialog per se, just signs with hints from "The Sign Painter"), with highly stylized and highly polished 2-D and 3-D visuals, made to look like an illustrated childrens story book. What makes this game so appealing are the dark/innocent Burton-esque under-tones(which become much more pronounced as you progress through out the game), and marketing/corporate/glamor satire injected into the Sign-Painter's hints. As if he were a father who put them there to help you guide his children(the goo) through the harsh world of consumerism and superficiality.

These elements would not have been as poignant or effective in creating such masterful and polished gaming experience, if it wasn't for the score. Each individual level had a theme, and its corresponding track fit in, and perfectly emphasized that theme. When settings get darker in the later level, the music come through even more powerfully. Always communicating the foreboding atmosphere of the "World of Goo Corporation", and that you are some how you are helping this Goo find its place in the world , but also protecting them from it, and helping them return to "MOM". Very moving and mysterious stuff.

I usually don't highlight more modern scores, obviously, since this site is about retro games. But I felt this little gem need to be mentioned (not that it hasn't gotten a good amount of press on its own). Especially for the score, which in my mind, it would not have been the same experience if the music had been lacking. Special kudos for Track 18 - "My Virtual World of Goo Corporation" as a great little piece of chiptune goodness!

Tracks i dugg:

You can get the entire zipped set and notes on each track here: World of Goo Soundtrack by Kyle Gabler. Great Job Kyle!

Magician Lord Soundtrack

russjman — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 17:30:29 -0700

When i was 10 or so the home version of the Neo Geo system was released, one of my friends actually got one as a gift(Makio, whom i've mention in previous post). Looking back on it is when i realize what a fucking little brown-noser i was. Makio was more of a friend of a freind; he lived across the cul-de-sac from Jerry's house(where i had as many sleep overs as humanly possible through out my middle school life). While i was there, i was usually bugging Jerry to call Makio and see if he could bring over the newest greatest Neo Geo games. Jerry had a Neo Geo too, but with the games being $200 a pop, he only had 3 games. One Neo Geo game was more expensive than my Super NES, which i had to beg my Mom for for a good year before it was released. At one point or another i convinced a reluctant Makio to record a Magician Lord, Ninja Combat run on VHS for me. I still have this tape, and i must have watched it HUNDREDS of times. I was amazed at all the pagan imagery contained within one game, it was disturbingly beautiful. And the music has been bouncing around my head since then.

Magician Lord was one of the flagship games for the arcade Neo Geo MVS. The genre is fantasy/anime, the atmosphere is dark and moody, and the bloody pentagrams are freshly painted. My impressionable 10 year old mind was uncontrollably drawn to it, how could i not be. I dropped SO MANY quarters on this game at the local 7-Eleven in my youth. The score is synthesized electro-funk, with some fantasy-rpg-esque melodies mixed in, in the flavor of Phantasy Star 2.

check out:

Recently title has been added to the Wii Channel. The graphics don't look half bad for being a 15+ year old game. Still a fine example of some of the best 2D graphics out there. Well worth the points, despite being rediculously difficult. Do yourself a service and check out the Magician Lord Soundtrack in the meantime

The Year in Retrospect

russjman — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 11:56:44 -0700

I cant believe that its been almost a year since i posted anything. Its been a whirlwind of worries, apathy, sprinkled with little financial hardship. The good thing is that i was able to get through it with the help of the people love, those who for some reason still like my company despite being poor and irritable.

I have a few things in store for this site(music mostly), and a related project in the works. In the next couple of days i'll have some tracks that i myself have been looking for for years, and was pretty much the catalyst for me making a site like this, as well as some recent music from a few games that have successfully sucked me in throughout this year.

Drop me an email for any requests, or if you enjoyed anything found on this site.

Buy Used, or BE Used

russjman — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 12:35:06 -0700

On Kotaku there was an article about used games, and how in the eyes of developers they're seen as "Parasitic" to the Gaming Industry. Stores like Game Stop, and Game Crazy make money off used games, none of it goes to the pockets of the developers, or distributers. With production budgets rivaling some Hollywood movies, you can see how this can be damaging to the industry.

Officially I stand on the side where i can find gaming gems that are no longer being produced for dying consoles. A great example of this for me is finding Megaman 8 at Game Crazy for $7. Another one is finding a used copy of Castlevania: SOTN at a local blockbuster. The latter
being a title that's quite hard to find. Also, the ability to purchase not-so-new titles at a discount, enables me to enjoy a wider range of titles that i wouldn't shell out $50+ bucks for.

I believe that these higher level problems are caused by the industry itesef. This used game "epidemic" is a product of an oversaturated market, where the inflated cost of production and development nessesitates premier game producers to only focus on "money maker" games and genres. They justfy these huge budgets by rehashing games that have been financially successful in the past, adding a few bells and whilstles, and selling milllions of copies around the world to hopefully end up with profit in the end. In the end they cause these problems to happen; besides the fact that you end up with a game market that is a little dull, and lacking any real originality.

Very much like my stance on the "Great" online pirated music debate, i will pay full price for something that i think is worth it, and that i want to support with my hard earned dollars. And there are a few games that i would, and have paid full-release-date-gouge-your-money-out-of-your-pocket price. A couple off the top of my head are God of War, Rachet and Clank: Up Your Arsenal, Katamari Damacy, The Orange Box And i think that these are phenominal games were completely worth what i paid(some even more since i got them as "Greatest Hits"), which is the case with most of the games that i own(i tend to do a lot of research before making a game purchase)

In the end, its not our problem whether they or not the Game Industry has a worthwhile enough product for me and you, as a consumer, to warrant a $50+ purchase. If we dont think it's worth it, then we wont buy it at full price, and the "Industry" will need to rethink what they know about us, and our tastes, and try to find another way to keep us interested, and not use us as a scape goat for their shortcomings.

http://kotaku.com/344807/used-game-sales-are-parasitic-hurting-industry

NES.app: NES emulator on iPhone

russjman — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 17:50:02 -0700

I made a post a while back about an NES emulator the the iPhone. For those of you lucky enough to have an iPhone is here is the iPhone NES Emulator.

I have not had the chance to test it(since i can't afford this rediculously expensive white elephant of a cellphone). This seems like a work in progress, so i have no idea what kind of ROM incompatibilities there may be.

Super EDF by Tsukasa Tawada

russjman — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 20:11:33 -0700

This is one of the games that fueled my search for retro games online, and to the discovery of gods gift to game nostalgists like me: ROMS. Anyway this reminds me of a story that relates to this game, and its music of my childhood. When i was junior high, i had a group of friends whose entire reason for being around each other was because of the video games we loved to play(One of tm was Makio, from the Thunder Force 4 post). I had sleep overs at my other friends house, Jerry, at almost a weekly basis. Super EDF was one of the games that i had brought over for every one to try out(I was the only one with an SNES, Jerry and Makio would not defect from the Genesis camp). During one of the brief and rare moments that we were not playing, or watching someone else play a game, we decided to have an arm wrestling competition. So during the match we would have one of the people not involved play music from the sound test. I was like a little chubby frosted flakes fuled Hulk O' Maniac.

The game itself is quite good, incorporating RPG elements into the selectable weapon systems. Fortunately the music actually does the game justice. Tsukasa Tawada composed the sound track to this game, as well as Pokemon Colosseum. Its too bad that most of the games he composed music for have never made it to western shores.

The music is J-pop influnced, with a futuristic military funk to it. Midnight Intercept is a testiment to the funk; i only wish was as funky to be able to play the bass line.

Tracks of note are:

There arent that many tracks; but it is a shooter, so its not that unsual. Super EDF Soundtrack

Magician Lord Wallpaper

russjman — Thu, 23 Aug 2007 18:32:27 -0600

This is a wallpaper that i made a while back. Magician Lord is a paganistic platformer released only on NEO GEO. The music is quite good, and the game sports bloody pentagrams and demon overtones, which is never a bad thing in my book. :P

NES emulator on iPhone

russjman — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 16:17:40 -0600

Seems to run a bit sluggishly, but it can only get better from here on.

NES emlulator on iPhone

This would be the major reason why i may actually be dumb enough to shell out 700 bucks for phone. Too bad the iPhone doesnt have the nessesary buttons, it's gonna suck trying to clean cheetos stains from the touch screenscreen.

Megaman 8 by Syusaku Uchiyama

russjman — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 16:25:30 -0600

Composed by Syusaku Uchiyama, this soundtrack grew on me quite a bit, as did the game. For me this is one of best Megaman scores since Megaman 3. Its quite poppy, jazzy, and light hearted. But by the end of the game the music take decidedly darker note; more ambient electronic music bordering on drum 'n bass, and gabber core. My favorite tracks include Granade Man, Frost Man, Wily Stage 1, Wily Stage 2, and Title

Megaman 8 Soundtrack

Mr. Uchiyama body of work also includes the scores for Resident Evil 2, and Megaman X3.

Wii Hacked

russjman — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:55:41 -0600

Hackeers have appearantly found a way to possibly run homebrew games and apps on the Wii.

Wii Hacked

I dont believe this will be taken lightly by Nintendo. The emulation scene has flourished only because the copyright holders of "retro" games haven't raised their voice, they're more worried about making the next bestest greatestest game of the century. With old school games being so hip nowadays in Xbox Live and Wii's Virtual Console, i hardly think that Nintendo will allow their profit from these repackaged games to be comprimised. </gloom>

I guess we'll see how Nintendo handles this, if at all.