These beats inside my head

Music within a game to me is a very major part of gameplay for certain games. I can go through FPS games without a soundtrack because it can hinder your gameplay in some situations such as in Call of Duty games where the background noises play an important role in your survival. But games such as Castlevania, Ninja Gaiden, Mario etc., these games have background music that has played an important part. Not only are the songs keeping up the beat of the level of gameplay but they add life to the experience.

Since I was younger I can remember going from playing Atari to playing NES and remember hearing those first 7 sounds from Super Mario Bros. world 1-1 for the very first time. It sparked something in me that had been missing from Atari games. It added an extra something special. One could walk around and hum these songs and everyone would immediately chime in. It added more emotion to the game and in my opinion it's what kept me going in some games.

The addition of background music began to drive the intensity of certain levels or even cinematics. Prime example, Ninja Gaiden for the NES. Hearing that pivotal change in music from the duel scene to Ryu reading the letter from his father set the tone from action to dramatic. You knew you were going into something bigger than just a simple duel. There was a plot behind it all that was about to be uncovered.

Fast forward to SNES and Genesis. The transition to 16Bit gaming added better music and with it the opportunity to own a game soundtrack. More and more game soundtracks started becoming available for sale in the market. My first soundtrack owned was that of Streets of Rage 2! One of the best soundtracks to this day. Yuzo Koshiro, a genius in the world of game soundtracks if there ever was one, brought to the table that music in a game is more than just background sound, it's a form of art. They transported you to a place where gaming was more than just good eye/hand coordination. It took you to a level of pure fun and bliss. It kept you in harmony with the game. Faster beats and more uptempo tracks had you pulling out all the stops to defeat any boss on the screen. Slower tracks had you pay more attention to the level and made sure you didn't overlook that one corridor and didn't leap before looking. It was a sense of direction that your subconscious held on to in order to alert you of danger. The fad kept going with the addition of Dreamcast and Playstation and was at its peak before it started plunging. Today these soundtracks are still available on the market but not as widely as before. Mainly because so many of today's games are using actual licensed songs or are using songs produced by famous artists specifically for the game and there are licensing issues. But the games that are still exploring with great original scores are leaving us game soundtrack junkies out to dry.

I know that you can still find soundtracks out there. It’s just a shame that you can’t get them readily available anymore. I guess for now I will stick with my classic soundtracks and keep converting them to ringtones. Or VG Tones as I like to call them. Well I’m off to listen to some 8Bit synth heaven…

Revelations Revealed

The newest trailer for Assassin's Creed Revelations has been revealed and it looks nice! Not only do we get to see more of the lush scenery of the new places that the adventure brings us to but we get to see Ezio and Altair in action. Ezio is sporting some nice new moves and we get to see the new hook attachment to his assassin's blade that allows him to use as a grappling device and to turn the numerous ropes around Constantinople as zip lines for faster travelling. This is one game that is high on my list for new releases this year. On top of the game dropping November 15th, NECA Toys is releasing an exclusive Ezio action figures and a replica of the Flying Machine from Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. November you can't come fast enough!

Throwback Wednesday: Tennis for Two

Quite arguably the first video game to be created, Tennis for Two was developed to cure boredom for visitors of the Brook Haven National Laboratory. Nuclear physicist William Higinbothan and  set out to develop Tennis for Two after learning that one of the computers in the lab could calculate missile trajectories. Knowing this he used that ability to form the games foundation.

The game had a simple concept - hit a virtual ball over a virtual net back and forth between two players. It used an oscilloscope as a graphical display and an analog computer to process all the physics behind the game. Players would control the gameplay using aluminum boxes that were fitted with a turn knob and a single button. The knob controlled the angle in which the ball was hit and the button would smack the ball. Hitting the virtual net would reset the ball back to the opponents side as it would in real tennis.

Amazingly the game was designed within 2 hours and assembled in 3 weeks. on October 18, 1958, Tennis for Two was introduced to the public at one of the lab's annual Visitors' Day. It gained much attention that day as it was the first time that anyone had seen such a device. Hundreds of visitors lined up to play and this would continue every Visitors' Day following.

It's most obvious that this game may have influenced games such as pong heavily. But it also used technology such as vector video signal that would be used in games such as Asteroids and even in flight aircraft HUDs. Without knowing about it, Higinbotham did introduce something to the future of video game design.

In the 1980's, Tennis for Two was part of a "first video game" controversy. Before 1958 there were three different developments that others had considered to be video games. One was simply dubbed the Cathode Ray Tube Amusement Device. There was no motion in this game. It consisted of a beam of light that one would turn a knob to move to overlap an airplane that was painted on to a transparent screen. This would simulate that you fired upon an aircraft bomber and it would explode. Another was a form of tic-tac-toe. Players would press numbers on a keypad to input where they wanted to place an X on the grid. Both of these were simulations to study human interaction and were not meant for playing in enjoyment. Whether or not they should be deemed the first is still up for debate. On top of course was whether or not Tennis for Two qualified as a video game. The fact that it used a display that was not a raster signal such as a CRT and used the vector signal of an oscilloscope was the main point of argument. This would lead on to many arguments and would also be used in court cases in which Magnavox was being sued by Nintendo because of patent infringement stating that the tennis game for the Odyssey resembled Tennis for Two. This example was dismissed because of the video technology that Tennis for Two used and was not considered video games by the courts.

Whether or not Tennis for Two is a true video game or if it was the first or not doesn't matter. What matters is that a nuclear physicist who helped develop the atomic bomb would later on help create enjoyment for future generations. Here's to you William Higinbotham!



music from this video is 'To Find Our Freedom' by Peacespeakers, from the album 'Message From Planet Earth'

Happy Birthday Samus!

This week marked the 25th birthday of another Nintendo classic, Metroid! So consider this a special edition of my Throwback series

To all who grew up playing the NES Metroid is one game that still rings fresh in the mind. It brought to life an alien planet with all sorts of creatures and monsters controlled by a massive brain bent on revenge and power.

It was 1986 and Japan had just released this instant classic to the masses. For those who don't know or remember the game tells us the story of Samus Aran, a bounty hunter who searches the galaxies for Space Pirates that are bent on taking the power of the Metroids and using them for evil. After learning that Mother Brain, an intelligent creature that has gained power of over the pirates, is on the planet Zebes, Samus heads out to kick ass!




Looking back at the gameplay in Metroid reminds me of Super Mario and Zelda meshed together and then thrown on a desolate planet. It was definitely one of the darker games of the NES. It offered so much more to the standard side-scrolling platformers of the time because it was non-linear, you were able to gain powers and weapons,  and explored vast rooms and chasms on a planet fortress in search of bosses to take down.  No other game could offer you that.

Of course the most remembered moment of the game that set it apart from all others at the time is when you've reached the end and Samus removes her helmet and reveals to the player that all along the protagonist was a female. This was the moment that Nintendo used to shock every gamer in the world. It was unheard of at the time and it introduced the first lady of video games to the world. Metroid most certainly helped Ms. Pac-Man open the door to female characters in video games.

It was also pretty cool that the game had five different endings depending on how fast or slow you played the game. In addition, you were able to go back and kick ass using all the powers you had just obtained from your first playthrough.


Mother Brain even gained her own following. She later went to star as an evil character on Captain N: The Game Master. They even created episodes  that revolved around Metroid and Zebes.

Metroid also had a pretty good soundtrack for its day. I still remember the iconic music and some of the more eerie songs. Playing in the dark at 7-8 yrs old was freaky. The title song itself gave you the chills alone. If you care to hear the original theme song check it here.

Now after 25 years Metroid has released a total of 12 games on all Nintendo consoles except for N64 and Virtual Boy.  Clearly making itself as one of the most successful games for Nintendo and it deserves more accolades than it has come to receive. I really wish Nintendo would do something grand for the Metroid series. All the new installments that were released under the Prime moniker have been great games but the publicity for these releases have been really slim. Most have never played or even heard of them. I'm hoping that after reading this some of you decide to check out more of the Metroid games you never played. I guarantee nothing but fun

For all those reminiscent of the original that started it all! Enjoy!

El Shaddai hits next week

By next Tuesday the US can finally begin enjoying what the Japanese have been doing so since April, El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron. (Sorry Europe, you'll have to wait until next month...)

For those of you not familiar with this breakthrough game it is an action packed hack-n-slash style game with cel-shaded art styles that tells the story of Enoch, a priest seeking seven fallen angels to prevent a great flood from destroying mankind. The story is heavily influenced by the Deuterocanonical Book of Enoch. The game takes place in the legendary Tower of Babel, where seven angels have taken over a floor and turned it into their own playground.

At first I wondered, how would the reception of a game heavily inspired by religious texts be received? But the reception has been wonderful by the gaming community. The story line is filled with massive plots and the dialogue is better than expected. Thankfully there has been no criticism over the story that the game revolves around, causing the development team to produce a masterpiece that is this game.

The combat is simple hack-n-slash but is still difficult to fully master. You get 3 weapons: The Arch, a curved blade which also allows the user to float. The second weapon is the Gale. It's a ring like weapon that provides a dash ability and the power to throw small darts at targets. The third weapon is the Veil, a shield that also acts as a pair of gauntlets. This is the the strongest defensive item but it does allow for a strong punching attack. The Gale is the fastest weapon of the three and the Veil being the slowest. All of the holy weapons become corrupt as they are used and have to be purified throughout the game or simply steal one from one of your attackers. Corruption will cause the weapon to weaken it's attacks and defense. You do also get a handful of divine powers bestowed upon you by God. Powers such as self resurrection. Useful for when power runs low.

Combos are performed by rhythmically tapping the one button that is used for attack. For example, tapping the attack button 4 times will give you a basic combo but doing so like this "tap, tap (pause) tap, tap, tap (pause) tap, tap" will give you a different combo. Strange, but will make it that much harder for you to pull off the best, perfect combos.

Ignition has been trying to capture the attention of "casual gamers" and "female gamers" hoping to gain more of a spotlight for this game. It may not appeal to all but I am still looking forward to getting my hands on this game. It's a welcomed change to the visuals that we are all used to and the simple yet difficult fighting style will be a challenge. Sort of how Mirror's Edge was when it first came on the scene. All in all, El Shaddai is a definite recommended play in my book. Get yourself a copy and enjoy the fun.

Throwback Wednsday: Fairchild Channel F

I've been wanting to showcase old video game consoles and games that have been long forgotten and I think I will start doing this on Wednesdays from time to time. Today I would like to bring back the Fairchild Channel F console (also known as the VES).

The year was 1976 and Fairchild Semiconductor just released the Fairchild Channel F console to rival Atari. At the time Atari's major console was the Pong console. What set the Channel F apart? It was the first gaming console to use cartridges that were interchangeable! It also allowed users to pause the games which was not a feature so common back then. This feature was called hold instead. And it introduced player vs. computer AI to consoles!

Graphics were quite basic and it only had the ability to create 8 different colors in its palette. It ran on a whopping 64 bytes of RAM which is about half of what the Atari 2600 would end up using. Sound was all heard from an internal speaker until the second revision which allowed sound to escape from the TV through an RF switch. The controllers had a unique design. They were just grips with a triangular cap that operated for movement and a fire button.

Officially only 26 games were released for the console. They each were released as cartridges that were about the size of an 8track tape.

Sadly the Atari VCS was released and it brought a halt to the Channel F and its production. The Channel F was released to try and bring Atari to release it's newest console and when it did it brought the guns blazing and won. By 1979 the last console was made and sold and cleared the path for Atari's boom. Channel F, here's to you!

Video Game Renaissance

With all that is surrounding us we truly are in the "Renaissance" of video games. Almost every AAA release within the last 2 years have been blockbusters. Independent studios are publishing games that are being played on a much higher audience than ever before. What's more, games are now being branched off into movies, comics, and novels more than ever. This year is proving to be even bigger than before with major releases and more to come.

It truly is the best time to be a gamer. What's best about the current state of games is that there are masterpieces coming out from everyone rather than just a few hits from one or two top studios. Triple AAA titles are not the only ones in the spotlight as more mobile games and Arcade games are starting to garner more attention by the masses. Games such as Limbo, Outlands and From Dust are taking center stage for their beautiful in-game artwork and intriguing gameplay.

More novels and and video media are being made to tie-in to games. This opens up a great part of a storyline that a developer can't fit into cinematics. Back stories are introducing us to plots never before thought possible. Introductions to future characters are creating the chance of a sequel. In some cases it just expands the games universe creating a new type of fan. In any case these are being welcomed by the community as sales for such items are getting higher.

Yes folks, I truly believe we are seeing the peak of a true renaissance. I'll be sad when it's over but I know that down the road someone will bring us into a new age.