So I was listening to some music today at the office (OC Remixes, of course), and I use Windows Media Player at work. I watched the visualization briefly, but it didn't seem to offer much of a matchup to the music. So my question to all of you is, do you guys know of any good visualizations out there? Obviously I'll put Google to work and see if I can't come up with something worthwhile, but I'd be appreciative if anyone has got a visualization they can recommend that really shines. Mostly, I'm just looking for something that does a good job of matching up with the music.
Anybody?
Showing posts with label OC Remix. Show all posts
Showing posts with label OC Remix. Show all posts
Friday, April 2, 2010
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Bayou Billy
As some of you may remember (or just assume), I'm crazy about video game music. There's a whole site dedicated to video game music (OC Remix), and today's selection comes from that site. The song is called El Lagarto, by Evil Horde. The original song is from the game The Adventures of Bayou Billy.
I might normally give you a description of the song's style, tenor, etc., but not today. Today I'm just asking you to listen. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.
I might normally give you a description of the song's style, tenor, etc., but not today. Today I'm just asking you to listen. Feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
Video Game Hall of Fame: G.I.Joe
I was a huge G.I.Joe fan as a kid. I liked the toys, I liked the cartoon, I liked the idea of G.I.Joe. This persists today, as I'm a strong advocate of red lasers for good guys and green lasers for bad guys, and nobody ever dying in war, people always leaving their vehicle just before it explodes. I like that.
We got the G.I.Joe Nintendo game when my brother had some kind of ear surgery and was given the choice of a single game. Eddie's made some bad decisions in his life, but G.I.Joe was oh so good.
The basic gameplay is a pretty standard platform game. You are assigned a leader for each mission, and select two other soldiers to complete your team. Each soldier has varying capabilities; for example, Captain Grid-Iron is a dominant hand-to-hand combatant, while Snake Eyes can leap through the roof, and Rock n' Roll is your heavy weapons expert. Playing to each guy's strengths is part of the fun of the game, but really the fun is just playing the game.
Each level has a well-constructed boss, and by "well-constructed" I mean that each boss has a particular method to its madness. One of the keys to a good NES game is having tasks that can be figured out and defeated with the proper plan and execution. Newer games work on complex AI that mirrors human thought, but older games tend to work better if they're more like puzzle games. G.I.Joe does exactly that.
As usual with older games that I like, the music kicks ass. Unfortunately, though, OC Remix hasn't produced any remixes of songs from the game. I even posted a request in the forums (which I think is like sending an email to a professional athlete asking for an autograph: good luck). For those of you interested in this or any other old Nintendo game's original music, I've got a post in the works giving you the rundown on how to get the song files and how to set up your machine to be able to play them. It's easier than you think.
Back to the game, it's really one of the all-time greats on the original Nintendo system. I suggest you try it out, if you're able. Be a Real American Hero.
We got the G.I.Joe Nintendo game when my brother had some kind of ear surgery and was given the choice of a single game. Eddie's made some bad decisions in his life, but G.I.Joe was oh so good.
The basic gameplay is a pretty standard platform game. You are assigned a leader for each mission, and select two other soldiers to complete your team. Each soldier has varying capabilities; for example, Captain Grid-Iron is a dominant hand-to-hand combatant, while Snake Eyes can leap through the roof, and Rock n' Roll is your heavy weapons expert. Playing to each guy's strengths is part of the fun of the game, but really the fun is just playing the game.
Each level has a well-constructed boss, and by "well-constructed" I mean that each boss has a particular method to its madness. One of the keys to a good NES game is having tasks that can be figured out and defeated with the proper plan and execution. Newer games work on complex AI that mirrors human thought, but older games tend to work better if they're more like puzzle games. G.I.Joe does exactly that.
As usual with older games that I like, the music kicks ass. Unfortunately, though, OC Remix hasn't produced any remixes of songs from the game. I even posted a request in the forums (which I think is like sending an email to a professional athlete asking for an autograph: good luck). For those of you interested in this or any other old Nintendo game's original music, I've got a post in the works giving you the rundown on how to get the song files and how to set up your machine to be able to play them. It's easier than you think.
Back to the game, it's really one of the all-time greats on the original Nintendo system. I suggest you try it out, if you're able. Be a Real American Hero.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Video Game Hall of Fame: Mega Man 2
Younger people are going to remember their first big time video game as something relatively recent, maybe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, or Super Mario Kart, or Super Smash Brothers. And older folks will probably remember Tetris or Pong. For people my age and a bit younger, there's going to be a wide variety of games, like Super Mario Brothers, Ninja Gaiden, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Dragon Warrior. But for me, the first, big time, "gotta play it for as long as my mom will let me" game was Mega Man 2.
Mega Man 2 had all the things people liked about the Super Mario Brothers series: jumping, running, and bad guys. It was a fairly standard platform game, as were many of the most popular games of that era. But there were a few really neat pieces that made it one of my favorite games of all time, and based on my conversations with others around my age, I'm not alone.
First, the concept of taking your enemy's weapon and using it yourself is awesome. I'm sure it wasn't started in the Mega Man series, and plenty of people out there would suggest some other origin for the concept, but the first time I saw it was in Mega Man 2. Beating Wood Man and then using the leaf shield to get through Crash Man's stage was very gratifying. As was using the air cannon from Air Man to take down Crash Man himself in two hits.
The second aspect of Mega Man 2 that warmed my heart was the ability to choose your path for at least the first half of the game. Initially, you spend all your time trying to figure out which weapon works best on which boss, so you can try to always have your enemy's weakness handy. But as time goes on, it became more of a personal challenge. For those of you familiar with the game, you'll know that trying to beat Quick Man's stage without Flash Man's weapon was a very serious undertaking. And when I was finally able to do it, I felt like a million bucks.
But there's one thing that transcends even those two impressive features: the music. You wouldn't think that the music from an old 8-bit Nintendo game would be such a selling point, but it was absolutely tremendous. Each song suited its stage brilliantly, and they were all well made tunes. What's that you say? That kind of music would've been nice enough in the 80's, but nobody cares about it today? Not so fast, my friend. Check out the many remixes that have been done of classic Mega Man 2 songs on OCRemix.org, a favorite site of mine.
This may be called a "Blog For The Modern Human," but sometimes its the classics that hold the most sway. I could play Mega Man 2 today and love it. In fact....I've got to run.
Mega Man 2 had all the things people liked about the Super Mario Brothers series: jumping, running, and bad guys. It was a fairly standard platform game, as were many of the most popular games of that era. But there were a few really neat pieces that made it one of my favorite games of all time, and based on my conversations with others around my age, I'm not alone.
First, the concept of taking your enemy's weapon and using it yourself is awesome. I'm sure it wasn't started in the Mega Man series, and plenty of people out there would suggest some other origin for the concept, but the first time I saw it was in Mega Man 2. Beating Wood Man and then using the leaf shield to get through Crash Man's stage was very gratifying. As was using the air cannon from Air Man to take down Crash Man himself in two hits.
The second aspect of Mega Man 2 that warmed my heart was the ability to choose your path for at least the first half of the game. Initially, you spend all your time trying to figure out which weapon works best on which boss, so you can try to always have your enemy's weakness handy. But as time goes on, it became more of a personal challenge. For those of you familiar with the game, you'll know that trying to beat Quick Man's stage without Flash Man's weapon was a very serious undertaking. And when I was finally able to do it, I felt like a million bucks.
But there's one thing that transcends even those two impressive features: the music. You wouldn't think that the music from an old 8-bit Nintendo game would be such a selling point, but it was absolutely tremendous. Each song suited its stage brilliantly, and they were all well made tunes. What's that you say? That kind of music would've been nice enough in the 80's, but nobody cares about it today? Not so fast, my friend. Check out the many remixes that have been done of classic Mega Man 2 songs on OCRemix.org, a favorite site of mine.
This may be called a "Blog For The Modern Human," but sometimes its the classics that hold the most sway. I could play Mega Man 2 today and love it. In fact....I've got to run.
Friday, September 14, 2007
Final Fantasy - Voices of the Lifestream
For those of you unfamiliar with it, OC Remix is a site dedicated to remixes of video game music, new and old. Among the most entertaining remixes are songs from Megaman 2, Super Mario Brothers, and the topic of this post, Final Fantasy. These songs are always available free of charge, and without any registration requirements.
From time to time, OC Remix conducts larger-scale projects involving the collaboration of a number of artists. These collaborations produce "albums" of music from the same game. The newest such album was released today, and is based on Final Fantasy VII. You can see the information about the project here, including download links. Or, if you use a BitTorrent application, you can download a torrent of the project by clicking here.
Enjoy!
From time to time, OC Remix conducts larger-scale projects involving the collaboration of a number of artists. These collaborations produce "albums" of music from the same game. The newest such album was released today, and is based on Final Fantasy VII. You can see the information about the project here, including download links. Or, if you use a BitTorrent application, you can download a torrent of the project by clicking here.
Enjoy!
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