Video Games Getting The Hollywood Treatment

Video games are fast becoming an enormous part of the entertainment industry. With AAA-quality titles being hugely anticipated every year, millions of dollars spent in marketing with billions more earned and more powerful hardware being developed every other day, it’s not preposterous to estimate that in twenty-to-thirty years time video games could overshadow the film industry. However, how much innovation and originality will it cost to get there? Let’s take a look at some points that are plaguing the creative growth of the games industry.

McFranchises
The words “annualizable franchises” (thanks Kotick!) are among the most defining of this console generation, though they are not to be mistaken with sequels. In a general sense the development time for an original game can take anywhere between two to five years, with sequels usually taking around two years. Annualizable games on the other hand are usually shared between multiple developers so that a title in that franchise is released at least once per year – cases in point being Call of Duty, Assassin’s Creed and the now laid to rest Guitar Hero. The phrase “some is good, more is better” is not always apparent in the games industry since #1: games are expensive, and #2: consumers will get burned out playing the same game every year. And in the mind of most mainstream gamers one game will be enough to last a couple of months, unlike a lot of us gaming enthusiasts who are willing to buy a new game every few weeks. If Joe Consumer only has an Xbox 360 and buys maybe four or five games a year, and being a CoD and Assassin’s Creed fan, half of his money is going to the same companies every year to fund them virtually making the same games.

Even heroes die.

This is a very strong issue because the mainstream audience generally won’t take the risk to spend money on a game that they don’t know about – they rely on advertising and words of mouth to tell them what’s good. This helps accentuate the phrase “the rich get richer” because the games that stand out most over the years are the ones with the bigger budgets behind them. In the earlier days of video games people looked to the bigger developers to innovate and present something new, however it’s slowly shifted to the complete opposite with people looking to indie studios to surge inspiration. This is because the larger companies feel comfortable creating titles that they know will make money, and have little to no interest in taking risks in making something different anymore.

When developers put all their time and resources into making what’s familiar and release it every year instead of spacing out releases, eventually people are going to get bored. And instead of looking back on some franchises’ legacies we look back on them with exhaustion and annoyance. We saw it happen with the Tony Hawk series, we saw it a few days ago with the Guitar Hero series and we’re going to see it with Call of Duty. To non-believers of that last point let me ask this: how many years in a row are you going to happily spend hundreds of hours reaching the level cap in multiplayer, only to do it all again next year? Hmm?

Would you like Black Ops with that?

Remakes, reboots and re-imaginings.
The three Rs that have been funding the film industry over the last decade have made their way into games now too. There’s a bit of leniency towards the thought of Hollywood rebooting older films since there is such a dense history in it. Games on the other hand have only been commercially available for under four decades, which begs the question: what’s the point of game reboots? It’s understandable that often since the original iteration of a game’s release there have been newer generations of hardware that have added capacity for glitz and glamour. However I am of the belief that a great game of its generation shouldn’t be overshadowed by its doppelganger in the future (though contrary to this, I’ll admit I am looking forward to the 3DS’ Ocarina of Time remake). It often distracts from what made the original great, and in essence, makes it obsolete. Though having said this, there are times when a remake is welcome and can help engage a newer audience that may have missed it or were simply too young to have experienced it, such as the aforementioned OoT, Pokemon Gold/Silver, Bionic Commando Rearmed and Metroid: Zero Mission. These work because they’re either older and less appreciated games (Bionic Commando, Metroid) that deserve a refreshed experience or were remade with careful consideration of what make them stand out in their era.

Some examples of arguably unnecessary reboots are DMC (Devil May Cry), Medal of Honour, Tomb Raider and Aliens vs Predator. What all these games have in common is that their first titles were released between the years of 1996 and 2001, meaning their franchises aren’t any older than 15 years old. Even in the film industry this is considered young, though exceptions go to the new Spider-Man reboot apparently. Tomb Raider, the oldest of the bunch, has seen ten main releases to its series with its eleventh currently slated for release later this year. As said earlier 15 years seems a little early to be completely revising a game but factoring in the release of ten games during that time, it almost makes sense why a company would be forced to rehash: to keep Lara Croft relevant. Being idolised as somewhat of a sex-symbol in the 90s by male gamers seeking to portray how “mature” games have become (though fronting that argument with a big-busted cave explorer probably wasn’t the way to go) she lost touch with the rest of the world in the 2000s because the quality of her appearance was taking priority over the quality of the experience (coughAngelOfDarknesscough). Arguably the only Tomb Raider to become relevant to gaming since the late 90s was last year’s critically acclaimed Lara Croft and the Guardian of Light, utilising local and online co-operative play as its core experience. What’s strange is that instead of continuing to explore (no pun intended) that aspect further developers have decided to take her back to before she became Tomb Raider. What’s even stranger is that the same treatment is being given to Devil May Cry after only four titles since its birth in 2001.

Whaaat? In what universe are these the same Dante?

Film Adaptations
Ask anyone if they remember a truly good video game movie and you’ll more than likely be met with a disconcerting look and a phrase similar to “Uhh…”  Why is this? What is it about the transition between movies and games that tend to go wrong? Some argue it’s because games are a much more personal experience, that games’ storylines don’t hold up well when presented primarily, or that game films often have a ten hour experience uncomfortably shoe-horned into two. Video game adaptations of movies have always been a staple problem, but are often overlooked since for many decades now big-budget films always have a huge marketing and merchandising push behind them. T-shirts, toys, books, cartoons, school gear, it’s a no-brainer to casually throw a game out there too. For some reason though a movie adaptation of a game always seems to sting fans much harder, though it could be because they’re often poorly written, quickly made, shallow and resemble almost nothing of what makes the games memorable. This double-standard hit its stride with the release of the Super Mario Bros Movie starring Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo in 1993. Since then we’ve been blessed with multiple high-profile gaming movies like Mortal Kombat, Street Fighter, Tomb Raider, Doom, Resident Evil, Wing Commander and the list goes on. The worst offender to this issue is visionary German filmmaker Uwe Boll, responsible for film versions of Bloodrayne, FarCry, Alone in the Dark and Postal.

Though on the upside over the last couple of console generations a lot of games have been blurring the line between video game and blockbuster movie. With consoles now packing surround sound capabilities, high definition output, large media storage, multiple gigahertz processors and all kinds of other technical jargon, it’s almost enough for some people to be confused with what’s a movie and what’s a game. Naughty Dog’s Uncharted series have been continuously pushing the boundaries in visual entertainment by attempting to “max out” the PS3’s capabilities, and after having played through Uncharted 2 multiple times it makes me wonder what the third instalment has to offer when it releases late this year. With consoles fast becoming the central entertainment hub of people’s households it even makes online film distribution a much more worthy choice of people’s time. Services like Foxtel, ABC iView, Zune Video Marketplace, Plus7 and Netflix in the US offer a mix of free and subscription-based on-demand services that work quickly and easily, provided you have high speed internet access.

In conclusion…
The video games industry is a business, with its companies run by business people. Despite what we hope and want, it always comes down to money and how much. If a game shines for its innovation and ingenuity but only strikes a small fraction of the target audience (which for this generation is essentially everyone) then it’s often considered a failure. In the earlier days of gaming things were at least seemingly happier because gamers were a small demographic with similar tastes in what was good and what was bad. Though with games today mostly striving to be adored by as many people as possible, original games are much bigger risks for companies to take than to continue with a recognisable brand and ensure steady cash-flow. The best we can do as gamers to support this industry and help it grow it into something respectful and socially endearing is to pay attention to the people who have the gall to try new ideas in a market of full of “me too!” mediocrity. Because I don’t know about you guys, but I’m sure getting sick of Military Action Game starring Gun Guy and its series of cookie-cutter follow-ups.

2010: The Year That Was

2010 was a great year for gamers. Ripe with quality titles right from the get-go, there was a wealth of enjoyment to be spent across all platforms. It also marked the official launch of the Motion Control War with Microsoft’s Kinect and Sony’s Move entering the battlefield with guns blazing high – the quality of titles might have been considered less than stellar, there was at least a lot of support from many high profile publishers and developers for both controllers. Though there were many cases to be cheered, the year wasn’t without loss; there were layoffs, studios were shut down and more lawsuits than you could waggle a Wiimote at. Let’s start with how the year kicked off.

In the beginning…
The year started with a bang. Starting mere days after the New Year Bayonetta and Darksiders were released, soon followed by Army of Two: The 40th Day, MAG, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars, No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle and Mass Effect 2. And this was just in January. What makes this significant is that this particular time of the year usually sees very limited releases due to it being the post-holiday season.

February also saw a massive launch line-up with titles like Bioshock 2, Dante’s Inferno, Aliens vs. Predator reboot, and Heavy Rain. And then there was March – Battlefield: Bad Company 2, Final Fantasy XIII, God of War III, Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver, Just Cause 2, Red Steel 2, WarioWare: DIY… Phew. To put it simply, if you love games, chances are you spent a lot of money on them for the first half of 2010 with little disappointment.

Mass Effect 2 saw huge success throughout the year, being a contender for (if not the) Game of the Year of 2010 by many publications.

The year of sequels.
Whether you like it or not, franchises have become a huge part of the games industry. 2010 was rife with continuities and spin-offs, thankfully with only a low number of them not matching the standard of their originals. Here’s a quick list of some of the sequels released last year:

• Super Mario Galaxy 2
• Army of Two: The 40th Day
• Bioshock 2
• Mafia 2
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
• Crackdown 2
• StarCraft 2
• Metroid: Other M
• Fallout: New Vegas
• Mass Effect 2
• Gran Turismo 5
• Final Fantasy XIII
• Sid Meier’s Civilization V
• Dead Rising 2
• Puzzle Quest 2
• Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
• Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2
• Splinter Cell: Conviction
• Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver
• God of War III
• Monster Hunter Tri
• Super Street Fighter IV
• Lost Planet 2
• Puzzle Quest IX
• Supreme Commander 2
• Skate 3
• Scribblenauts 2
• Donkey Kong Country Returns
• Various sports titles
• Plus more.

Resurgence of traditional arcade and platforming games.
Another abundant group of games to come out were platforming (yay!!) and arcade titles. Many independent (and some large) developers managed to gain massive amounts of attention and praise to themselves with a myriad of great titles that harkened back to fun, traditional gameplay. We saw the rise of games such as Limbo - an atmospherically sombre platformer of a boy trapped in purgatory among the childhood nightmares of dark horrors and death; Pacman Championship Edition DX – the hyper-addictive spiritual successor to 2007’s Pacman Champion Edition, with all-new bullet-time and ghost-conga-line-eating mechanics; Super Meat Boy – a frustratingly brilliant homage to uber-hard sidescrolling platformers of the 1980s & 90s; Donkey Kong Country Returns – another nod to classic sidescrollers, this time featuring fully-rendered 3D graphics and an all-new adventure starring Donkey and Diddy, from the folks that brought us the Metroid Prime trilogy Retro Studios; and Angry Birds – one of the biggest mainstream successes of 2010 where you fling wingless birds at fortified structures to demolish them and exact revenge on the pigs that ate your eggs (and it’s a smartphone game!).

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game was a great sidescrolling beat ‘em up inspired by classic brawlers like River City Ransom.

Unfortunately, not everything was lollipops and rainbows. Though Sonic Team made their first real attempt at recapturing what made the world’s fastest hedgehog a landmark series in the 90s, Sonic 4: Episode 1 didn’t quite cut it. The nice aesthetics and great soundtrack just weren’t enough to draw attention away from how un-Sonic the game felt – no player momentum, often frustrating level design and an abrupt, unnecessarily difficult end-boss fight left a sour taste in many gamers’ mouths. Which brings me to my next bolded heading…

Disappointments.
Sonic 4 aside, there were some rather large disappointments in the industry over the last year. Let’s run down some of the bigger ones:

• Krome Studios sees a drastic reduction.
  Australia’s largest game development company saw the close of many of its studios across the country. Founded in 1999 Krome has developed titles for most major consoles over the last couple of generations and is most famous for its Ty the Tasmanian Tiger games. Unfortunately financial crises forced the company to close their Adelaide (once called Ratbag Games with its staff being acquired in 2005 by Krome after closure from previous owner Midway) and Melbourne branches, followed by layoffs at their Brisbane establishments. Though most reports say Krome has been shut down, it’s been purported that they are still functioning as a developer, albeit with very limited staff.
  
• Over-hyped games.
  It happens every year, and though they most often than not turn out to be fine games, they also fall short of their ambition and hype. The bigger offenders being Sonic 4: Episode 1, Medal of Honour, Fallout: New Vegas, Gran Turismo 5, The Force Unleashed 2, Fable III, Epic Mickey and (if you’ve been following my blog) Final Fantasy XIII. Also, to anticipate any heat for the mention of GT5, let me just say this: any game that boasts a six year development cycle with constant delays for refinement yet has absolute minimal crash damage (like, merely a small cluster of pixels after a head-on collision), long load times despite an hour-long install, cockpit view with only a handful of cars out of its catalogue of 1000 and the fact it barely looks better than its 2004 predecessor on on the PS2 is most definitely over-hyped.
  
• More layoffs.
  Unfortunately Australia wasn’t the only country to be affected with developer layoffs. Other large companies like EA, 2K Games and Activision let go of portions of its staff across a number of their development studios. The most notable of which being…
  
• The Activision vs. Jason West & Frank Zampella fiasco.
  Though this isn’t really much of a gaming disappointment, it was definitely one of the bigger stories of the year. Infinity Ward’s (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, 2) higher ups Frank Zampella and Jason West were fired by parent company Activision in March, supposedly right before they were to receive their royalties from the release of Modern Warfare 2, one of the most anticipated games of 2009. It was claimed by IW that Activision sent security into their offices to quiet and intimidate staff while West and Zampella were under questioning. According to Activision, the two heads of IW were intentionally having quiet meetings with their competing publisher EA, thus expelled them for insubordination. Since then the duo have filed a lawsuit against Activision for their lack of royalties and are now working for EA. Activision however is still publishing Call of Duty games, with their most recent offering Black Ops (developed by Treyarch) becoming the fastest grossing game of all time, making over $1 billion by the end of the year following its November 9 release.
  
• Still no R18+ classification in Australia… Yet.
  It’s been a problem for Aussie gamers for many years now, but never before has the issue seen this much attention nor have we ever been this close to attaining it. With Michael Atkinson (the once most vocal opposer on the matter) stepping down as Attorney-General of South Australia following the SA elections earlier in the year, gamers were more motivated than ever to have this issue brought to the public eye. Two of Austarlia’s biggest video game retailers, GAME and EB Games, hosted nation-wide petitions in-store to get the public to understand the importance of this matter. No R18 rating for games means violent titles (such as Grand Theft Auto IV, God of War III, Call of Duty series) are being rated at the MA15+ level despite being restricted to adults everywhere else in the world. With numerous news stories being televised across the country and many news/blog posts being posted online, tripled with the huge response from petitions (GAME claiming to have received over 89,000; the largest response to a “wet signature” petition the country has ever seen), on December 10 the subject was discussed at the Standing Committee of Attorneys-General. However following a highly tense waiting period that day the issue was declared non-conclusive for now. Though this may seem another step backward, it was also declared that a draft of a refined classification system will be drawn and presented for the next SCAG meeting. What does this mean? It means that by end of the next SCAG meeting in March, we could finally have a balanced ratings system for games.

Gamers4Croydon were a South Australian political party rallying against Michael Atkinson as the Member for Croydon. They didn’t win, but they definitely made their point and contributed to pushing the R18+ debate as a public issue.

Nintendo strikes back with a vengeance at E3.
As it turns out, having bad E3 press conferences for a few years in a row can work out to your advantage – it gives you the chance to stock up on the big guns then let lead fly. At 2010’s Electronic Entertainment Expo, after a rocky start with technical difficulties while showing off the next Zelda’s new gameplay mechanics, Nintendo’s press conference was nothing short of a spectacle. Zelda, Donkey Kong, Kirby, Golden Sun, GoldenEye, Dragon Quest… Then there was the 3DS and its own enormous list of upcoming titles. With Nintendo pulling out all the stops with most of its biggest franchises laying waste to consumers’ wallets over the next year, one can’t help but beg the question: what’s to come at next year’s E3? At this point we can only speculate, but here’s hoping to a new home console – one with HD support and un-embarrassing online service. Oh and user names.

The motion control war has officially begun.
For almost four years Nintendo held the monopoly in motion controlled gaming (though the PS3 had its offering since launch with SixAxis, but… come on). That all changed with the inevitable releases of Sony’s and Microsoft’s controllers Move and Kinect, respectively. What makes this so important is now that motion input for each console is different, simply porting a motion game between each platform is going to (read: should) take more effort, thus hopefully leading to more innovative and exclusive gameplay. Though the current releases so for have proven to be relatively average (bar Kinect’s Dance Central), they are of course launch titles, and as everyone knows in the gaming world the first wave of software for any console shouldn’t dictate the quality of the hardware. We’ll just have to wait and see what’s coming in 2011.

Last year was great, and this year’s shaping up to be the same if not better.
With the holiday season now finished and Nintendo’s 3DS just over the horizon (supposedly being released worldwide by March 31st), what does 2011 have in store? For Nintendo fans there’s the aforementioned 3DS and its gale of releases, plus The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, Pokemon Black/White and Okamiden for DS. PS3 owners are in luck with a slew of exclusive games such as LittleBigPlanet 2 and Mass Effect 2 in just a couple of weeks, SOCOM, Killzone 3, Twisted Metal, inFamous 2, DC Universe Online, Resistance 3, ICO & Shadow of the Colossus HD remakes, The Last Guardian, Yakuza 4, and Uncharted 3: Drake’s Deception. Lastly Xbots have Gears of War 3, XCOM, Forza 3, plus multiplatform titles like Batman: Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, RAGE, Crysis 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Dead Space 2, Marvel vs. Capcom 3, Dragon Age 2, FEAR 3, Portal 2, Bulletstorm, de Blob 2 and finally after thirteen years of development, Duke Nukem Forever.

Golly gosh. It’s a good time to be a gamer!

Paradigm Shift: The Joys and Sorrows of Casual Gaming

Gaming has come a very long way since its original offerings in many different ways including technology, design and social standing. In terms of consumer gaming, it is arguably the youngest industry in the entertainment market and is still trying to establish itself today. Up until perhaps this generation of consoles (beginning with the US release of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 in 2005) gaming was mostly seen as a toy by the mainstream – a plaything usually enjoyed by younger people. To help change this perception, while Microsoft and Sony were fighting for High Definition dominance with the 360 and Playstation 3 to appeal to the mass market, Nintendo decided to opt for standard definition graphics and motion controls. It was upon this reveal that a new market of gamers became ever more prevalent  – casual gamers.

Casual gamers by general definition are people who mostly game either minimally, socially or on-the-go to pass time. Up ‘til now gaming was something of a niche activity; a hobby dominated by a demographic dubbed “hardcore gamers”. With the introduction of motion controls and Nintendo’s push for the attention of non-gamers, the market for video games grew exponentially to being one of, if not the most profitable entertainment industry today. However given the successes of Nintendo with their current target audience, Apple’s iPhone App Store, and the recent release of Sony’s Playstation Move and Microsoft’s Kinect motion controllers, there have been repercussions.

Almost synonymous with the term “casual games” is the word “shovelware”. Shovelware games are often games that have limited funding, development time or development attention that the outcome is a product that usually results in frustrating gameplay, generic level design and low production values. To put it bluntly, they’re bad games made for quick cash. Before casual gaming shovelware was mostly reserved for licensed games – titles based on movies, cartoons or television shows that require a particular license to develop for (which are still around today). Since licensed games are usually aimed to be released alongside the release of its theatrical counterpart, more often than not they are given to smaller development studios with a very limited development schedule. Obviously, the solution to avoiding these games is to not buy them, correct? Unfortunately because the mainstream consumer does not pay close attention to games and/or read critical reviews to differentiate between a good and a bad game, shovelware (especially attached to a licensed name) manages to profit enough to cycle more mundane products.

The image that brought gaming to the mainstream.

Another term that crops up with casual games is “streamlining”. Often this can be worrying for core gamers since streamlining usually affects gameplay. The biggest offender in recent memory is Square Enix’s Final Fantasy XIII. For the longest time the Final Fantasy series was considered one of the most hardcore JRPG (Japanese Role-Playing Game) franchises in the industry. Mostly featuring turn-based battle systems, stat tracking to manage your characters in combat and lenghty storylines JRPGs could be considered quite a daunting experience for non-gamers. Square Enix attempted to rectify this by substantially lowering the micro-management of battles, side quests and freedom of manueverability (no joke, outside of battles and cutscenes for the first twenty hours all you do is walk forward). Though this game wasn’t specifically targeted towards non-gamers, it was made to be more “accessible” for a broader audience.

Some could also argue that New Super Mario Bros Wii’s streamlining negatively affected the gameplay with its additions of Bubble Mode and Super Guide. When playing in multiplayer anyone having problems overcoming a particular point may press A and enter bubble mode, which renders the player invulnerable to damage though removing control. In order for the player to return to action they must shake the Wiimote to draw closer to another player and have that player collide with the bubble to free them. If abused, bubble mode potentially leaves the challenge to just one player while all others are free to float about the stage. Super guide on the other hand can only be accessed once a player fails to complete a stage eight times. Upon this, a green “!” box will appear and when activated shifts control of the player to the computer to complete the stage – the player can jump back into control however by pressing the + button on the Wiimote. Both of these features are completely optional (and the first only being available during multiplayer), but are still often brought up in debates about NSMBW’s difficulty.

Streamlining isn’t always a terrible thing, however. Games like Mass Effect 2 benefitted from this process immensely in terms of inventory and special ability management. Mass Effect had a mostly cumbersome menu and loot system to the point where it eventually became annoying having to manage all the non-usable items and weapons that weren’t compatible with your character’s class or squad mates. Other titles that were streamlined for the better include Super Mario Galaxy 2, Assassin’s Creed II, Halo Wars and World of Warcraft: Cataclysm.

 
Waggle for everything. Waggle in precision. Waggle your body!

A growing trend of trying to attract non-gamers is the use and, a lot of the time, misuse of motion controls. At the unveiling of the Wii Remote concept a lot of gamers were confused as whether this would be a good or bad thing. During Nintendo’s press conference at the 2006 E3 people were amazed at what motion controls could mean for the gaming industry, especially from the first impression of Wii Sports Tennis. Instead of the precise 1:1 control of the Wiimote that was initially speculated, gamers were treated with waggle-filled titles that left our hopes diminished. During the first couple of years after the Wii’s launch there was an abundance of mini-game compilations that were just rehashes of the same ideas. Since then there has been a surge of refining and redefining of motion controls beginning with Nintendo’s Wii Motion Plus peripheral to add precision to the Wii Remote, and the launches of Sony’s Move and Microsoft’s Kinect. Even a huge amount of today’s mobile phones feature some form of motion detection, whether it be gyroscopes or accelerometers.

Another control method popular among casual games is touch-screen controls. Many more games have been praised in their sense of control with touch-screens than motion however in the case of some of today’s smart phones such as the iPhone, systems without button input often lead to some unresponsive or problematic experiences. The Nintendo DS’s launch in 2004 paved the way for touch-screen based gaming with its dual screen layout. With its top screen being a normal LCD monitor and its bottom being touch-sensitive the DS has seen enormous success with puzzle, action, strategy and first-person games. With two screens players were able to enjoy touch-sensitive gameplay mechanics without much screen obstruction since all systems are recommended for the use of a stylus. Apple’s iPhone, however recently seeing enormous success, still often struggles to find un-hindered gaming due to its utilisation of single-screen multi-touch technology sans stylus/button control. In terms of puzzle and racing games, more often than not the iPhone shines in its control since the players’ fingers aren’t constantly covering the screen. However in terms of shooting, fighting and adventure games it is often a nuisance and gains critical feedback. This is also evident in other smartphones that only utilise touch-screen control.

 
The lack of buttons on mobile devices can often prove problematic for gaming.

Though one highly praised feature pioneered by the iPhone is its App Store – an in-built, inexpensive, mobile digital distribution platform for games, utilities and other programs. This completely revolutionised digital distribution in 2008 since it offered ease of distribution for developers with a 70%/30% revenue share (the latter being Apple’s income), iTunes store browsing, and on-the-go purchasing and downloading via your cellular network. Though at first the App Store was more directed to distributing programs for iPhones, it soon broke the device through to being a legitimate handheld gaming contender against the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP.

The video game industry has seen a massive turn-around in the last half-decade. Usually in that time we would just have a change in console hardware, but now we have seen a major shift in audience and control methods. New control methods such as the Wii Remote, Move Controller and Kinect are only the bare bones of motion gaming’s potential. With Nintendo regularly leading the charge in gaming innovation first with D-pad control, 4 player gaming, analogue sticks, motion controls and next year glasses-free 3D gaming with their new handheld, the 3DS, it’ll be interesting to see what they will come up with for their next home console. Let’s just hope they don’t put us hardcore gamers in the backseat this time, yeah?

Number One!

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Released in 1998 for the Nintendo 64, re-released for Wii’s Virtual Console in 2007.

Come on, as if you didn’t see this coming.

It’s a no-brainer. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is regarded by most gamers to be one of, if not, the best games ever created. The Legend of Zelda series is one of Nintendo’s oldest, beloved by the company itself and a huge amount of gamers the world over. The original (titled The Legend of Zelda) was released in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES for short, and is still considered a pivotal point in gaming for its inclusion of an in-built save system – before this people were required to remember or write down passwords if they were to continue from a particular point. Over time the games were developed for other Nintendo platforms and the scale of the adventures continue to grow.

The premise is usually the same for each home-console release of the Zelda games – Ganon seeks to obtain the power of the Triforce, the balance of all life and law throughout Hyrule. The (unsuspecting) hero Link somehow becomes tasked with the fate of protecting the world from Ganon’s rule by acquiring some sort of aid from the title character, Princess Zelda. Along the way Link discovers new perils, weapons and cultures. It’s a formula that’s present in all major releases of the game, which is both good and bad; good in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different, and bad in the sense that it doesn’t risk doing something radically different. Most Zelda fans (myself included) are happy with the way the games are, but it is understandable how some people would want some changes – and that’s what the handheld versions have done. The DS iterations of the series are sequels to the controversial Wind Waker title released for GameCube in 2003. The formula remains relatively the same - Link attains new weapons, must find/help Zelda, culminates in bad dude confrontation, however they take place outside of the world of Hyrule (above it to be exact, since the once prosperous civilisation is been underwater for hundreds of years) and the art style features a more cartoonish look.

One of the most important moments in gaming; Link embraces destiny.

However, back on topic, OoT was the first Zelda game developed in a fully realised 3D world and the scope of it, since it was an N64 game, was massive – if you stood in the middle of Hyrule Field and saw something far into the background, you could go there. The game was also the first to feature an automatic jump mechanic – one that was quite unconventional at the time but again is not unusual today. A particularly “memorable” (for the lack of a better word) inclusion was the character Navi, Link’s fairy. Within the universe of this particular game the children of Kokiri Forest were considered to be grown-up only when they obtained the company of a fairy. I mention this because apart from being a character in the game Navi was a sort of hint system – if you were lost you would press C-Up and receive a hint for what currently needs to be done. Though, Navi also proved to be an annoyance for a lot of people spawning various internet memes for its frequent exclamations of “Hey! Listen!”. One of the most notable and appraised features of the game however is the inclusion of a musical instrument; the titular Ocarina of Time. With this players were able to learn and memorise certain button combinations to perform a tune that would alter the gameplay or the environment in some fashion. Another highly revered feature was the ability to time travel between the present and the future. Completing certain quests or objectives in Link’s childhood affected the outcome of some situations or passages in his adulthood. In fact the final dungeon, The Spirit Temple, could only be completed once certain objectives were met between both timelines.

 
First confrontation with Ganon.

Ocarina of Time was the very first Zelda game I had ever laid eyes on upon its release in late ‘98 when one of my uncles bought it. I watched him play the entire game from after the first dungeon, The Great Deku Tree, over a period of perhaps six months – we got stuck in the Water Temple like a lot of people and took a two month break before figuring it out and working towards the finish again. It wasn’t until I finally owned the game in the following year that I realised how much more the game had to offer – the game has many secrets and collectibles it’s almost frustrating, though finally attaining them is greatly rewarding. It was also the first game that made me feel like a hero – the absence of a voice for Link allows for you to imagine your own instead (this is true for every Zelda game; the only vocal sounds Link makes are grunts and screams during action). It was also the biggest game I’d seen at the time; as mentioned before about seeing places in the distance, when you see Death Mountain in the distance then realise you have to eventually scale it and enter it makes you feel apart of something grand. The discoveries of other cultures such as the Gorons, Zoras and Gerudo make you feel like it’s a living world with each culture being so unique yet practical to the game. Also the unique effects of most songs learned for the ocarina are easy to take for granted, such as the ability to quicken time from night to day, summon the rain, call your horse and more.

I could go on and on about what else makes this game great, but I’m sure you’ve already heard other people rave on about its brilliance. And if you haven’t played it yet then get to it!

Number Two!

Pokémon SoulSilver
Released in 2010, Original release titled Pokémon Silver for Game Boy Colour in 2000

The series that absolutely dominated playgrounds and the handheld gaming scene through the turn of the millennium.

I mentioned a few posts back that I was always a social gamer from a young age. Well, as for a lot of kids in the late 90s, the Pokémon games taught me to game socially too. The Pokémon titles are a series of RPGs (Role-Playing Games) aimed for children, wherein the point is to catch every critter and become the ultimate Pokémon master. In the first two of the franchise, Red and Blue (Green was a Japan-only release), players were challenged to defeat eight “type”-specific gym leaders throughout their adventure, culminating in the confrontation of the Elite Four and your rival for the title of Pokémon League Champion. The game didn’t end there though – the real challenge came after the main adventure, where you had 151 pocket monsters to find and capture.

I mentioned earlier the phrase “game socially”. The next hook in the series is that it is impossible to catch every Pokémon in a single game version because each variation omits the ability to find every creature alone. In order to own all 151 you had to meet up with a friend and trade via link cable. This method was fine for the era, however looking back on it people would agree that this was quite arduous. Thankfully over the last decade technology evolved, and now we can connect our gaming devices wirelessly over a local connection or a global one. The games themselves also evolved; from a now-seemingly humble 151 different monsters to catch originally, we’re currently at a whopping 493 – and the roster will soon expand upon the release of versions Black and White next year.

However, of every version out to date, to me the best was SoulSilver for DS released in Australia on March 25th this year. As you could already assume it is a remake of the original Silver version (alongside HeartGold of the Gold version) of 2000, though the game is less of a rehashing and more of a vast improvement. Aside from the updated graphics the game has a completely refined user-interface over the generation before it (Pearl/Diamond/Platinum), an updated Pokédex to account for all 493 creatures, the brand new Safari Zone (located west of Cianwood City), Pokéathlon and more. One stand-out feature though is the Pokéwalker – a pedometre to clip onto your clothes that allows you to capture more Pokémon, find items and gain experience points just by walking in real life. The gadget communicates to the game cartridge via infrared located at the top of each device to exchange the earned data. The Pokéwalker acts much like a Tamagotchi, except you don’t feed your pets and they are unable to die.

HeartGold and SoulSilver also have the ability to let the Pokémon at the top of your party to follow you on foot, a feature only before seen in Pokémon Yellow over ten years ago.

The Silver and Gold generation of Pokémon games were the  most influential of the entire series due to additions like the item-hold mechanic in which Pokémon can hold equipment such as health items to automatically heal during battles and items that boost their stats, a real-time in-game clock system for night and day to adjust accordingly for certain Pokémon encounters and the Pokégear. With the Pokégear players were able to receive phone calls from encountered trainers, listen to the in-game radio stations for contests, music and information on routes for which Pokémon are herding in, and consult a map of the region. The biggest additions however were the expansion of the Pokédex from 151 monsters to 251 and the ability to venture from Johto (the region you start the game in) to Kanto (the region from the first generation of Pokémon games) upon defeating the Elite Four. Essentially this meant the main adventure was twice as big since you go from having to fight eight gym leaders to sixteen, and that you were able catch critters indigenous to each region.

This game was huge – Johto is on the left, Kanto is on the right separated by Victory Road in the middle.

SO, why is it my second favourite game of all time? Well, there’s two reasons – the first is the amount of additions to the mechanics of the game and the scope of it. It wasn’t only an improvement over Red and Blue, but it helped redefine the genre. It was the second game to completely engulf me in its world; when I wasn’t playing it, I was thinking about it. I even used to write notes to myself of which Pokémon were cross-bed from others and how to attain certain evolutions such as the whole Espeon/Umbreon thing. Also, it was the very first game to make me have a “holy crap” moment upon realising the adventure was only half-way through after beating the Elite Four. The second reason is that Lugia (featured on the game cover) is my favourite Pokémon.

Number Three!

Conker’s Bad Fur Day
Released for Nintendo 64 in 2001, re-released for Xbox in 2005

“Laughing all the way to the bank!”

Anyone who knows me knows that I have a pretty sick and twisted sense of humour. Some of that due to watching South Park since the age of 9, and some of that is thanks to this fine game by Rare. The game was originally called Twelve Tales: Conker 64 and was set to be aimed for children considering the Red Squirrel had already starred in Diddy Kong Racing for the N64 and Conker’s Pocket Tales for the Game Boy Colour. After its announcement and gameplay footage was released at E3 1998, Rare was stigmatised by fans as being another kid-friendly developer. Soon after this Rare scrapped the entire game and took their character into the complete opposite direction – instead of being geared towards young’uns it was now aimed at the mature audience. And by “mature”, I mean “immature”.

Conker begins his journey after a hard night of heavy drinking with some buddies who are off to fight in a war the following day. Hungover and completely lost Conker tries to make his way home, however it’s not as simple as it seems. He must venture passed irate Scottish dung-beetles, a giant pile of singing poo, savage cavemen, vampire bats, the Evil Panther King, an army of evil Tediz and Death himself, just to name a few things. What makes this game more appealing however is its mostly crude sense of humour – within the first couple of minutes of the introduction Conker drunkenly stumbles out of The Cock and Plucker pub only to end up vomiting all over a Lizard Monk reading a scriptured tablet. I knew after that moment that I was going to enjoy this game.

Conker was set to be a radically different game.

There still isn’t anything quite like this game out there, except of course for the Xbox remake. Apart from the hilarious antics and storyline, the game also played and performed incredibly well. Since the game was developed very late in the 64’s lifetime, Rare managed to utlilise the complete power of Nintendo’s third-generation home console. Due the beautifully rendered graphics of the time, the game did however suffer a few hiccups in terms of framerate. As for sound, the game is still renowned as a technical achievement having fully-voiced dialogue on such a constrained medium. Also, the soundtrack is fantastic and catchy.

Last up is the multiplayer. CBFD features some more humourous concepts in terms of multiplayer scenarios. For example the mode Beach has the Frenchies (refugees) trying to penetrate the boarders of a country without getting killed by Tediz (boarder patrol), and the mode Raptor features cavemen trying to steal raptor eggs for breakfast whereas the velociraptors are trying to catch the cavemen to feed to their babies.

Conker’s Bad Fur Day was Rare’s second-to-last Nintendo game, next to Starfox Adventures for the GameCube. Despite being released late into the 64’s lifespan and having taken a complete U-turn during development, Conker has amassed a large cult following across the world for its technical achievements, crude humour and memorable story. I’m excited to place it as my third favourite game of all time.

Number Four!

Donkey Kong
Released in 1994 for Game Boy

“Help! Help!”

Everyone knows that Mario’s arch nemesis is Bowser, King of the Koopas. However a lot of people fail to realise that Mario and Donkey Kong aren’t quite the best of buds either. Mario’s (at the time called Jump Man) very first appearance was in the original 1981 Donkey Kong arcade game, where the titular character kidnaps the Italian plumber’s then-love interest Pauline – not Peach or Daisy. The arcade version only had four levels; Girders, Conveyor Belts, Elevators and Rivets. Jump Man had to overcome various obstacles such as rolling barrels, balls of flame and platform gaps to reach Donkey Kong at the top of the stage, who would then grab the damsel in distress and run off to the next area.

In 1994 the arcade classic was re-imagined for the Game Boy and featured a mind-blowing ninety-seven extra stages spread across nine worlds. The original four stages were featured at the beginning of the game, however instead of Mario and Pauline falling into each other’s embrace after DK’s downfall at the end of the fourth stage, the ape awakes to make off with Pauline yet again. The game soon evolves from simple running and jumping to platform puzzles. To progress through the stages Mario must find the key and bring it back to the correct door Donkey Kong passed through to proceed. The catch however, is that after a short time the key is left idle after pick up, it returns to its resting place.

The adventure starts out easy, but soon toughens up.

Of course, there’s also the boss fights. Every fourth stage is a boss battle in which the player must best vigorous traps and platforming techniques to reach the damsel in distress. However at the end of every world is a major confrontation with DK, in which the player must dodge barrels thrown by the ape and hurl them back three times to win.

I remember spending a solid three or four months playing pretty much only this game when I was in first-grade. It then took me a good four years (of in-frequent play) to finish it, which was such a huge achievement to me since it was the first Game Boy game to have completed. I still return to it every couple of years and beat it within a week just to keep my skills sharp because this game features some of the most challenging and satisfying level design I’ve seen in a side-scroller. Also, the music is incredibly catchy.

This game has gone on to spawn the popular Mario vs Donkey Kong on GBA and Mario vs Donkey Kong 2: March of the Minis for DS titles. I hope that someday Nintendo will release a handheld version of the Virtual Console for DSi Ware and add this to the catalogue.

Number Five!

Alex Kidd In Miracle World
Released in 1986 for the Sega Master System, re-released for Wii’s Virtual Console in 2008

 
Simple yet challenging. As were most platform games of the 80s and 90s.

The first game in this feature is none other than Sega’s answer to Super Mario, Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Incidentally this great little piece of history was also the first game I had ever played, back in 1991 on my little Sega Master System II. It took me seventeen years to finish this game, and even then it required the use of an emulator and save states, but every time I play this game I feel three years old again. As mentioned earlier, Miracle World was only one of Sega’s attempts at competing against the immense popularity of the Super Mario franchise during the Nintendo vs Sega days of old. Alex Kidd went on to inspire various sequels throughout the Master System’s lifetime and eventually onto the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis.

Those freakin’ dragons used to scare the hell out of me.

Though the levels were never particularly long, they became increasingly challenging. Add to this the lack of a save system – which was the norm for platformers up until perhaps the mid-90s – and you have yourself a means to play games with immense precision. See before save systems were incorporated to games gamers had to play using this thing called “skills”. Mind you, it took me a few years to finally develop these as I could never seem to pass the third or fourth level. And even then when it came to the rock-paper-scissors (or “janken” in Japanese) boss battles I would usually have to get one of my uncles or parents to figure it out for me since it was way above my comprehension.

Despite this though, I always loved returning to Miracle World knowing full-well I will eventually get a game over and start again. Either the level design was immensely compelling and the art made the game look great, or I was just a weird kid who lived a life of repetition. Hmm.

In all seriousness though, Alex Kidd in Miracle World is a fantastic little platform game and is highly regarded as one of the best titles for the system. The graphics were great, the gameplay was simple yet challenging, and the sound/music is memorable. Fun fact: For Aussies who watch Hey Hey! It’s Saturday! on Channel 9, the “fail sound” from their celebrity trivia/game segments is the death chime from this game.

My Top Five Games of All Time

Starting next Monday (ACST) I will be posting five consecutive entries over the week featuring my five most favourite games of all time. For each game I’m aiming to give around four hundred words containing a short review and what that game meant to me.

A bit of backstory:
I grew up as a Sega kid with my first console being the Sega Master System II (with in-built Alex Kidd: In Miracle World) in 1991. As such, I was very rarely able to play a Nintendo home console until April of 1997 when I received a Nintendo 64. Since then I’ve owned every major home console bar the original Playstation. As for handhelds, my collection started with the original GameBoy in Christmas of 1994 along with Metroid II: Return of Samus. Not very long after this I also had a Sega GameGear, however my time with it was short-lived since we sold it after around six months. Since the GameBoy Colour I’ve owned every major handheld gaming device.

Video games have been such a huge part of my life since the age of three. As a matter of fact, seeing my Dad come home with the Master System II is actually my second memory – the first being when I was standing in a pair of nappies at age two receiving a bottle of milk from my grandma. Most of my important childhood memories are associated with games in some way such as going over to friends’ houses to play all day, or having a whole bunch come to mine; playing my GameBoy while driving to visit family; watching the Super Mario Brothers Super Show or Captain N cartoons in the mornings before school; staying up late with my uncles (who were teenagers at the time) trying to beat various bosses; and of course trading/battling Pokémon with friends.

It gives me great pleasure to take all these games and work out which were the most important to me and had the biggest impact on my life. I hope you will enjoy it too!

The Evolution of Video Game Music and its Development as a Sub-Culture

It’s possible that I may have missed some important points, or gotten something wrong. So please, if that’s the case let me know!
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Electronic entertainment technology is one of the fastest evolving forms of entertainment. Though there have been different forms of electronic gaming dating as far back as the 1950s, the first in-home console dedicated to rendering games entirely in video was released in 1972 by Magnavox, called Odyssey. Since then, ‘video games’ have grown to be one of the biggest entertainment industries, and is still growing. Many people born in the late-70s to late-80s remember the so-called “Golden Years of Gaming” or “8-Bit Era”, being the biggest boom of video game influence over the entire globe. However, though some people may out-grow playing the games they loved as they were children, or perhaps even forgotten what the game involved or was about, they will usually remember the music. And the best known example of this is the legendary Super Mario Bros. theme.

What was it that makes music from the 8-Bit Era (Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES) and SEGA Master System, most notably) so memorable? Is it the fond memories people had of playing the games? Is it the way the music was emotionally portrayed? Or is it the simplicity of the tunes due to the less-powered technology of the generation? Arguably, it is all of the above. Many people of the older generation(s) might argue that game music from the 80s conveyed little emotion. However people who grew up playing these games would argue otherwise. Due to the power of the technology at the time if a game’s character falls into a trap and dies, instead of a sound sample of screaming in absolutely agony as their life ends, the game would play a tune that would soon become imbedded into the player’s mind. The same for if a character jumped; instead of a sound of the character’s feet kicking off from the ground and the character perhaps grunting, a short glissando would be played to represent the movement. Eventually these MIDI (musical instrument digital interface) compositions would come to represent actions or emotional moments in gaming – ask anyone how proud they felt once the fanfare played after they completed their first level in Super Mario Bros on the Nintendo Entertainment System.

As time moved on and the technology within gaming consoles evolved, so did its music. Into the 16-Bit Era (launch of the SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (or SNES)) the technology allowed composers to write more complex compositions, and they were able to write full orchestrations of works in MIDI. Adding to this, since this generation of consoles was at the turn of the 90s, the music reflected a lot of styles of the decade. Many games involving characters with ‘attitude’ such as Sonic the Hedgehog (mascot of SEGA) incorporated ideas from popular music at the time, like punk and rap/hip-hop. And as the install base grew for gaming, many more popular tunes came to fruition from games such as Donkey Kong Country, Super Mario World, Street Fighter, Dr Mario, Contra, and the Mega Man series.

One of the most notable games from this particular generation of gaming to feature music as part of its emotional make-up was Super Metroid by Nintendo for the SNES. Unlike most games of the time that used music to portray a sense of cheerfulness or intense action, Minako Hamano and Kenji Yamamato’s soundtrack portrayed the sense of mystery as the player was exploring an unknown and alien world. The Metroid series features the first female gaming heroine named Samus Aran, who wasn’t portrayed as your typical pretty-dress-wearing or scantily-clad female. The plot of these games is to hunt a race of alien predators named Metroids. The tone and scenery of Super Metroid in particular is very dark, as most of the time the game is spent inside caves/destroyed facilities. The huge emotional push, however, is that the player is immersed in a completely alien environment; by utilising a very atmospheric soundtrack (though its predecessor Metroid for the NES also attempted this with its main theme). A lot of the game is spent wondering what is beyond the next door, and the music constantly drives that sense of tension. However, the game and music’s pace quickly shifts to that sudden sense of urgency when presented with a boss battle – a challenge in which the player must defeat one of the game’s antagonists, usually by way of a climactic struggle.

Over time more games began to adopt this theatrical type of experience, and into the next generation of consoles (Nintendo 64, SEGA Saturn, and the new competitor Sony Playstation) around the mid-90s many more game developers were dramatic in the ways that they utilised music. Due to the increase in technological power and save space thanks to the transition from plastic cartridges to compact discs, this generation of game music composers began to include live recordings of works and sound effects onto their products.

This revolutionary transition from digital music to fully orchestrated/band recorded works eventually led to the distribution of video game soundtracks. Many games have had huge success in this regard, such as the critically acclaimed role playing adventure series Final Fantasy (most of the music being composed by Nobuo Uematsu) by Square Enix, the first-person shooter Halo series (Michael Salvatori and Martin O’Donnell) by Bungie, and the classic side-scrolling action/platforming series Mega Man by Capcom. As a matter of fact, some games such as WipEout by Psygnosis (now called Sony Computer Entertainment Studio Liverpool) were released on mixed mode CDs – a disc that held both game and audio data, but were also playable in CD players.

It was around this time when people not only acknowledged the creative minds behind the game, but also began to acknowledge the composers of these soundtracks. Today, it is not unusual if the composer(s) of a game’s album is/are usually much better known than the person who led production on the title itself. Some hit composers include Stephen Barton (Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare), Kazuki Muraoka (Metal Gear Solid series), Grant Kirkhope (Banjo-Kazooie), Masato Nakamura (Sonic the Hedgehog 1 & 2), and the immensely famous Koji Kondo (Super Mario series, Legend of Zelda series).

Due to the increasing popularity, the eventual confirmation of video game music as a genre and then a sub-culture, some of the world’s best known symphony orchestras performed selected works at concerts – the London Symphony Orchestra once played a Super Mario Bros. medley, and the Boston Symphony orchestra once played the Legend of Zelda theme. Due to the huge success and response to live orchestrated versions of hit game works, concerts dedicated to live video game music began to take place across globe.

However, what a lot of people outside of Japan don’t realise is that orchestral performances of live game music actually began in 1991 with the annual concert tour titled Orchestral Game Music Concerts performed by various orchestras throughout Japan. The tour was an annual event that began in ’91 and ended in ’96, having produced five different programmes and recording an album of each one.

The next notable concert dedicated to game music was 20020220 Music from Final Fantasy featuring the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra in Japan. The performance, as the title explains, premiered on February 2^nd 2002 and featured selected works spanning the entire Final Fantasy series. Next was the Symphonic Games Concerts series in Germany, which was the first of its kind outside of Japan. The concerts were used as opening ceremonies to the Leipzig Games Convention, the second biggest electronic entertainment convention next to the USA’s E3 (both are annual events). The biggest successes in live orchestral performances of video game works, are the Play! A Video Game Symphony and Video Games Live tours. The two tours travel the globe entertaining fans and classical music lovers alike with their impressive shows, featuring the local professional orchestra in that city. Though the latter is larger and more successful than the former, both are much respected and highly regarded concert tours to professional musicians, the classical audience, and gamers alike.

Video Games Live premiered at the Hollywood Bowl and featured the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra on June 6^th 2005. The project was put together by video game composers Jack Wall (Myst series, Mass Effect) and Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Prince of Persia) in the hopes of introducing gamers and the classical audience to each other’s respective genres. The shows continue to sell out in cities across the globe, including New York, London, Taipei, Brasilia, Paris, Wellington and Mexicali. Play! A Video Game Symphony premiered at the Rosemont Theatre in Illinois on May 27^th 2006. It then continued to tour through Europe, Asia, South America, New Zealand and Australia.

A much more popular mainstream innovation that has helped sparked the interest of non-gamers is the music game genre and the use of licensed music. Games such as the Guitar Hero series by Activision and the more recent Rock Band series by Harmonix are prime examples of games utilising music to excite the experience. The developers of these games pay for a license to various recording labels to incorporate popular music into their games, giving people the opportunity to “rock out” to their favourite music, even if they have never played a musical instrument before. An earlier series of music games that have done well with this approach also were the Dance Dance Revolution arcade games by Konami. The games had licensed and original dance/techno music (mostly of Japanese pop music influence) and required the player to dance whilst stepping on the forward, back, left or right buttons on the dance pad with their feet.

On the topic of dance/game music, another massive fan-base of game music is the remixing scene – most notably in the styles of “8-bit music” or “chiptunes”. There are many websites dedicated to communities who re-arrange and remix video game music, some of the largest and most popular being OCRemix.org and 8bitcollective.com. Many of the site’s composers are people who have studied music and/or composition and have acquired internet fame through this digitally artistic hobby. There are also many bands around the world who dedicate much (if not most) of their repertoire to covering game tunes such as The Minibosses, NESkimos and Anamanaguchi.

Video game music has evolved and opened up to be experienced in many different and memorable ways. Though many people will try to disregard game music as a viable genre, there is no denying that it has evolved from ambiguous or monophonic melodies to something that completely enhances, or is the experience. The technological and intellectual innovations that help drive game music forward continue to bring people all over the world new and exciting experiences. Music from video games has seen so many different forms over the decades such as emotional, theatrical, obscure, intense and relaxing. Also, like all music, the styles change to fit the decades/eras that game is developed. Most people do not and probably will not look too much into video game music and what it represents but to a lot of us that do, we believe it to potentially be the classical music of the future.

 

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