Update: In your Face

Just a quick note; The article titled "In your Face" has been updated. Some spell checking and additional content has been added, you might wanna take a look at it.

Smart music.

In more than one occasion recently I've heard friends mention they mute their video games. Usually in order to watch TV. This worries me.

I, for one, don't like to watch TV while playing because it's a distraction. I either watch TV or play. That's how a brain with ADD works. So if i'm going to focus on the game and entirely block the TV, then I might as well keep it off. Then there's the fact that some events in games do not have a visual cue. But that's really the least of my worries. Even if I had the talent to keep an eye on the TV while playing, I wouldn't.

You see, I love video game music. I really do. I mean true love, I love it for what it is and not just for it's superficial appearance. Sure, some games got crappy music, but still, I appreciate it being there. I love video game music for what it does: It sets a mood and a pace for your playing. It fills the void of not having a sound effect for every little thing (imagine background noises like the wind blowing and dogs barking). It takes you to a different world. It completes the gaming experience. When you mute the game, you're only playing half the game.

Has it ever happened to you that you're having a crummy day until someone nearby starts whistling the Super Mario Bros. 2 tune? Sure, it's possibly the most cheerful tune ever, but half that joy is produced from the nostalgia. Listening to that tune makes your brain dig up the good old days from the depths of your long-term memory file. Just like the smell of fresh-baked apple pie.

One of the reasons players nowadays are caring less and less about video game music is that game makers in general are doing it wrong! I remember like it was yesterday. When the CD ROM was invented. I recall reading an interview with game designer about the SEGA CD. He said that one of the best parts of this new technology was that music no longer needed to be "programmed". Now they could just hire musicians and record real music to play into the games!

I would have never guessed they would use audio tracks, just like a music CD. So cheap. Load the whole thing to ram or install to hard disk then play the CD like any other. If you swapped disks it'd just play your CD. They totally disregarded the formula they had been working on since Pong. Now that it was recorded in audio tracks, it would mean music would no longer loop infinitely, or seamlessly change like when you hopped on Yoshi, back in Super Mario World and suddenly there would be percussion. Music was no longer smart.

I remember I had a few PC games that I'd play, but I'd take the CD ROM out to play music CDs (Back then there were no MP3s, kids). One was a motorcycle racing game... I think it was actually a demo. To this day I associate the music from Green Day's Nimrod to it. Somehow the music seemed to match the game. Then there was Grand theft auto, yeah, the first one. That one I played to the beat of a Space Monkeys CD! And yes, to this day when I play those songs, they remind me of those games. They remind me of my first year of college. They remind me of when I met my wife. They remind me of my friends back then. And more importantly, they remind me of when I'd run over those monks that jogged in a row and I'd get a big yellow GOURANGA! on screen as a reward. I don't even like some of those songs anymore, but they're still on my party shuffle. I love those songs for what they do, not for what they sound like.

Another amusing anecdote: I was among the lucky to get the Playstation when it first came out. I got the 2 launch games as well: Battle Arena Toshinden and Ridge Racer. On the back of the Ridge Racer case (the big one that looked like a VHS tape), among the main features listed, they made a big deal about you being able to swap CDs and play to your favorite tunes. The entire game would load to RAM while you were treated to a quick game of Galaxian, if you beat it, you unlocked the secret cars. When it was done it'd keep the disk spinning but used it as a CD player. Well, apparently the marketing genius that wrote that had not played the game. You see, the game would ignore track numbers and instead seemed to look for a specific "time" on the soundtrack and start playing from there. So songs would start halfway through and only last one lap! That was funny. Luckily the game had really good music.

Back on subject: Prerecorded music only worked for two genres, racing and fighting. They both have you doing a repetitive task in a single location for a limited amount of time. To this day I listen to those audio tracks occasionally. On any other game the result was disastrous. At times the music felt out of place, and at some point the song would abruptly stop, then restart after the time it took the lens to return to the track's beginning. Nowadays they have somewhat overcome those limitations, but that was not the bad part.

One of the side effects of this phenomenon was when they started hiring live musicians to record the soundtracks. Songs stopped doing their job of setting a pace or a mood, instead they just slapped on any songs that sounded cool and modern. A new trend has developed of using commercial tracks for game soundtracks; this works on movies because the director can manipulate the scene to match the tempo and general mood of the song, whereas in a game the player is in control and the music needs to follow. This generation does not appreciate their game's music, and I don't blame them.

One can only hope that upon the advent of retro games such as Street Fighter IV, New Super Mario Bros. Bit.Trip and Sonic 4 they realize the true value of proper background music. Smart music. In the meantime, I know there are some games out there that have stuck to these principles and I assure you it will be a rewarding experience, if you would only listen.

We want OCRemix to do the Sonic 4 soundtrack!

So, hey. I'm getting some stuff together for an article on video game music I will be writing soon when I heard about this. There is a movement of video game music enthusiasts pushing for SEGA to have the extremely talented musicians from ocremix.org compose and perform the soundtrack for the upcoming Sonic The Hedgehog 4: Episode I!

This is the same awesome group of people who made the Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix soundtrack! For all you nonbelievers out there, here's an index of all the great Sonic The Hedgehog Remixes they have done. Heck, Hedgehog Heaven and Project Chaos are among my favorite albums and a permanent part of my party shuffle.

So, how do they plan on convincing SEGA? Why, spamming the snot out of Twitter, of course. (I don't use Twitter so I don't mind it being spammed.) If you are a Twitter user, and you agree to this, simply click here. On the other hand, if you believe it is a bad idea, click here, which will take you to the same address as the previous link, anyway. The idea is to go to http://bit.ly/ocr4sonic4, this will help you post a generic message tagged so that SEGA hears of it. Hey, don't ask me, I don't know how Twitter works! JUST DO IT!

Don't forget to tell your friends!

There. I fix it.

Just a quick note: If you visit the Sonic the Hedgehog 4 webpage and the Intro section doesn't make any sense, do not contact SEGA. This issue has been reported by loyal fans from around the world as soon as the webpage was published.

According to an internal Downcast source - said intro was written by the Zero Wing localization team. By the time this post is published the entire SEGA web team should have cleared their desks and committed yubitsume.

In the meantime please accept this mark-up, and rest assured they will rewrite the whole damn thing because even after all these corrections it barely makes sense.

Story thus far:

It began as Sonic's animal friends begin disappearing from South Island. Soon Sonic he discovers that the evil scientist known as Dr. Eggman has been kidnapping them and turning them into robots to collect the legendary treasure - The Chaos Emeralds. Sonic decides it's up to him to save them and embarksto embark on a quest to free his animal friends. Sonic He battles Eggman through many different zones. Sonic and eventually pursues Eggman to the Final Zone where the first in many epic battles between them begins. In the end Sonic is victorious and Eggman's mMecha fly's flies away, badly damaged. Sonic returns to Green Hill Zone and re-unites with his friends.

Their reunion is short lived however, as Eggman resurfaces and begins kidnapping Sonic friends again, in an effort to create more workers to finish his ultimate Weapon - The Death Egg! Teaming up with the newly met, Miles 'Tails' Prower, Sonic embarks on a new mission through West Side Island in an effort to free his friends and ensure Eggman does not obtain the 7 Chaos emeralds Emeralds to fuel the Death Egg.

Once the West Side Island is freed, Sonic and Tails eventually board the Tornado and assault the Death Egg itself. After destroying Mecha Sonic, Eggman flees and enters , hops on his new Eggman Robot attacking and attacks Sonic! After a heated battle Sonic destroys the Eggman Robot and the Death Egg begins to explode.

Sonic and Tails fly down and come across a mysterious island called Angel Island. This The island, which floats due to is floating by the power of the precious stone called Master Emerald,but now this mysterious island are dropping down tofalls into the ocean surface becausewhen the Death Egg had been falling on this islandcrash-lands on it. Upon their landing, Sonic and Tails are attacked by a Red Echidna named Knuckles - the guardian of the island.

Knuckles He steals the Chaos emeralds Emeralds from Sonic , after being tricked by Eggman to believe that he is an enemy and has come to take the Master Emerald.WhileEmerald. WhileSonic and Tails are entangled by Knuckles, Eggman repairs the Death Egg and preps prepares it for launch.

Back on the ground Dr. Eggman begins the repairing Death Egg again. Feeling that Knuckles has served his purpose, he sends EggRobo to eliminate this potential threat. EggRoboIt finds Knuckles relaxing in Mushroom Zone and drops a bomb on him but Knuckleshe manages to survive. Enraged, the Wild Echidnawild echidna sets off to defeatdestroy EggRobo. Meanwhile Sonic and Tails explore the island to find traces of the Death Egg and find out Eggman's fate. After and Epicepic showdown between Sonic and Knuckles, Eggman uses the opportunity tofinally steal the Master Emerald and re-launches the Death Egg. With the power of the emeralds, Sonic goes after Eggman, who has taken the Master Emerald into space.

Sonic He manages to jump on Death Egg just as it's flying lifting off. After confronting and defeating Eggman on the Death Egg, Sonic defeats Eggman once more and, the Death Egg plummets back to Angel Island.

Back on the ground Dr. Eggman begins the repairing Death Egg again. Feeling Knuckles has served his purpose, he sends EggRobo to eliminate this potential threat. EggRobo finds Knuckles relaxing in Mushroom Zone and drops a bomb on him but Knuckles manages to survive. Enraged, the Wild Echidna sets off to defeat EggRobo. Meanwhile Sonic and Tails explore the island to find traces of the Death Egg and find out Eggman's fate. After and Epic showdown between Sonic and Knuckles, Eggman uses the opportunity to finally steal the Master Emerald and re-launches the Death Egg. With the power of the emeralds, Sonic goes after Eggman, who has taken the Master Emerald into space.

Sonic and Tails secure the Master Emerald and return it to Knuckles on Angel Island. With it'sits power restored, the Angel Island lifts off into the sky as Sonic and Tails fly off into the sunset.

But this humiliating defeat only serves to further Eggman's rage, and he has determined to once and for all to rid himself of Sonic. Eggman revisits - and improves - the very best of his creations to defeat our spiked hero.

And so a new Adventure begins...

Project Needlemouse: Sonic the Hedgehog 4

This is the greatest day in video-gaming history*. And no, I'm not saying this because I'm the world's biggest Sonic Fanboy.

Sega just announced that the much hyped Project Needlemouse is indeed Sonic The Hedgehog 4.

[pause for giggling like a schoolgirl]

Yes, my friends. That's Sonic - The - Hedgehog - and then a number 4 (four). If you are good with numbers, you must be aware that four comes right after three. Is this not a glorious day?

This is an event only comparable to the advent of the New Super Mario Bros. series (actually, it's very similar) except for the fact that Sonic kicks Mario's ass*. What they've done is that they have returned to the classic naming convention, thus making a direct sequel to the classic 16-bit-era games, forsaking the 3D crap they had been forced to make to keep up with an industry that was growing out of control. Street Fighter IV is also a good example. There is hope.

I mean, 3D games were mandatory, and I must admit Sonic Adventure was a pretty decent game*. But then they just went nuts, and now I know why. They wanted to build up anger and frustration so we could better appreciate the glory of Sonic in his true 2D goodness when he made his triumphant return.

Let's take a moment to embrace the return of the prodigal son of video games, Sonic the Hedgehog.

According to several sources the game will be episodic, fully 2D and the story (and gameplay mechanics) will pick up RIGHT where Sonic & Knuckles left off. I can only hope they don't decide to turn him into a sword-wielding werewolf on the last minute before launch.

Now I have something to look forward to in life. I will fire up this game, gather my kids around the living room TV, and show them what REAL video games are like. Eventually they'll get to play after I've gathered all the chaos emeralds and beaten every episode.

I'll do my best to keep you posted in any news pertaining this game. Now I'm off to cuddle my Sonic plushies*.

*This is because I'm the world's biggest Sonic Fanboy.