Why I normally don't listen to game music.

So, I'm a game designer, right?  I guess.  Well, maybe not officially.  I mean I've been paid to do a game before, and I've had ideas, so lets just say I'm a game designer.

At least, I'm a game afficianado.  I like games.  I like random games, small games, tripple A games, games with and without meaning, and games with and without strong subject matter.  And while i regularly enjoy games, their artwork, presentation, sounds, etc, I rarely, if ever, listen to game soundtracks.

I almost think its immature.  Not to say that music from games isn't real music, it just doesn't have as much of a message to me as the music I like to listen to.  Here's a quick list of things I listen to, just to give an Idea as to what I like:

Gorrilaz, Aesop Rock, The Postal Service, Plushgun, Frankmusik, The Flamming Lips, Mc Frontalot, smashing pumpkins.

So i guess this stuff is "Vocal Heavy", and that might be part of it.  Theres a huge lack of vocals in game music, and I love memorizing the words to songs, and singing along (I always play vocals in rockband, everything from Disturbed to No Doubt.)  None the less, I am cappable of admitting that there is good game music out there.

Just recently I started listening to the galaxy man theme a ton, the menu song from Street Fight II HD Turbo Remix is wicked good, but I don't listen to these songs.  Not casually, not at parties, not on the bus or anything.  At most if im in the mood at random in my room, I'll boot up a game to hear the song, but its normally because i have the sensation to play it as well.  I hardly find the need to just hear the song and nothing else.

The worst part is that I do feel higher and mightier then though about it.  Almost as if "I listen to real music, and you can't escape the realm of games", and trust me when I say that I RECOGNIZE THIS IS A TERRIBLE THOUGHT.  But I think it, and I poke its validity.  Is there a difference between the signed artists and the songs played in a games sound track?  Game musicians work HARD, daily, to create masterpieces.  Kingdom hearts made me cry, I can rock out to Sephiroth's theme, but I can't put on my headphones and relax into the music of these artist.  I know nobu's music when i hear it, I plan on (if i can) going to video games live, but I always feel a strange statisfaction of knowing about a song before it hits guitar hero or rockand, and another sense of loss when I find out about a band through the same medium.  Almost like I don't deserve to know about the band's exsistence to begin with since I didn't know about it before the game.

Its a wierd thing I've had to pull my hair out about, and I still try and think about what it means to me and why I keep thinking it. I've tried changing my point of view, opening up, but something about me just keeps thinking that you shouldn't listen to video game music outside of the game.  I just don't know WHY!

Getting my rant on: Death of 1up, and why I'll probably only read kotaku for now on

Wow.  1up is dead, just when I finally found the perfect source for paid gaming news.  I have (for a long time) read only kotaku and Destructoid, almost exclusively, as these publications offered the best, unfiltered gaming news.  Their editorials made the most sense, they are actually funny, and they're actually fun to read.  They have an entire community backing them up, they have tons of features daily, and most news is instantly posted on their site, so im always ontop of the industry.  I don't have to get the news through ads, finding out weeks before something comes out that a game is coming, and i don't have to read through a thousand digg comments before i hear news or rumors.  I had long decided i wouldn't read publications like Game Informer or Hardcore gamer because they were slow to press (Being print publications) and i wouldn't read Gamespot since the rumors of paid reviews began to have merit, and i wouldn't read IGN because I often disagreed with their reviews.

Then I found EGM, 1up, and the 1up show.  They talked to lead members of game development crews about games, instead of PR people.  They wrote editorials on why the ps3 was tanking, and interviewed people from sony about why certain promised features were cut.  They had the balls to say "we wont review metal gear solid 4" when Konami had the audacity to tell reviewers not to mention the install times, load times, or length of cutscenes.  Their reviewers had names, faces, likes and dislikes.  They had personalities, features about gaming culture, not just game reviews.  They talked about industry jobs, and how to get them, and interviewed people with those jobs.  They had features about japanese games, imported them to try them and actually talked about their significance.  Their rumors were normally true, informed and ontime.  They had a podcast, a video blog, each reviewer had a blog, the entire community was a mini facebook where you could speak with the reviewers themselves.  And their video blog had features, like interviewing developers for things other then their games, like their interests and their background.  Infact, developers even perferred 1up over most publications, having blogged on the website themself.  It made sense to me, this is how printed publications should work.  Apparently, not so much.

In order for a printed publication to work, you need a contract with the biggest game store to give out free copies of your mag.  In order for a printed publication to work, you need to take it in the ass from big name publishers and say "Yes sir, we will not talk about these flaws from your game, despite the fact that they may affect the experience."  Apparently, in order for your publication to work, you need to be like cosmo or people, and be a giant ad.  Its impossible to be a sophisticated gaming publication, its impossible to be independent.  Someone needs to own you, someone needs to be your boss.  You must submit to the hive mind, advertise games, used is just as good as new, cheaper too.  Gamers don't care about culture, community or art, people or independence, nor the industry they buy from.  Gamers want Tits, ads, gore, good reviews for the tripple A's, bad reviews for the unheard of games.  They want constant coverage of GTA and Halo, they want to be told these games are good, and that they should go buy them.  Their is no interest in independent publications.  Apparently, Cliffy's opinion doesn't matter, despite the fact he made the game your thumbs desire.

No, gamers want tits, high scores, good marks, guns and blood.  Thats what matters right? your gamer score?  You inability to get laid?  What you will spend your money on next?  How to get headshots?  Top 10 reasons why Japanese games don't make sense?  These are the things you want to hear, because you're a gamer.  You are a simple creature, and you are satisfied by violence humor and sex.  Shakespeare was right I suppose.

Am i being out rageous? Yes, but I think what im saying has some merit.  I can't recal another magazine that prints what their editors really think.  I can't think of another magazine that prints editorials.  I can't think of another magazine that goes over gamer culture and niche communities, like the hidden arcades of san fran and new york, or the hand made goods made by loving gamers.  I can't think of another publication that would review and interview Alec Holowka.  I can't think of a publication that would import Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, and review it.  I can't think of any publication who would do all these things, and now, none will.

I can only hope, deeply, that rev3 takes up the fired members of 1up and give them a show, blog, site and the like.  But from now on all we will see is more of the same.  Gamer girls!  They're cute and they play games (In their underwear).  How to unlock alternate colored stinger in halo 3!  OMG god of war 4 already being planned?!  Inteview with Lara Croft, says "She wants your phone number!"  New DLC for gears says they will make lancer also have optional gun attachment, making first gun with mounted chainsaw with mounted gun in gaming history!  Break through! Innovative!  Video Games!

Fingers crossed UGO does it right, or Rev3 picks up where 1up left off.  Fingers crossed, or we might as well submit to a stereo type.

Death of a Medium

Whenever a store that sells exclusively one media closes, I have a tendency to think that the medium is dead.  This happened to me with Sam Goody, an old CD and DVD vendor I used to go to when i was younger.  They sold some games, some movies, game assecories and the like, but they're primary focus was CDs.  I remember buying my tenacious D album (an album i still have to this day) from Sam Goody.  But, long story short, Sam goodies is closed.  It does not exsist, it has ceased to be.  The ITunes store, torrenting, rapid share and album burningkilled this mega franchise, and with it, the medium has gone by the way side.

The same thing happened recently, with KB Toys.  If you waren't familiar with KB toys, they were the  toy store with the barking robot dogs and displays of children in cheap above ground pool outside their store, fasioned under a yellow and red banner.  They sold nerf guns, and legos, and cheap made for children video games.  But really i went in for nerf guns (almost spelled nerg funs, which i will probably call them for now on) and legos.  Apparently employees shoplifted from there all the time.  If that can lead to the fall of a retail chain maybe I should start picking up some 3rd hand video games (for the good of the industry ofcourse, but this is a jooooke.)

So my point is, that if KB toys falls, does that mean that toys are dead?  I mean, CDs are kinda dead, as are DVD (in a way, most people are about blu-ray, net flix or D2D).  How are hot wheels sales doing?  Do they make nearly as much money as the next itteration of Burnout? or Grand Turismo?  Maybe kids want to play the next avatar game.  And if you can play Avtatar, the game, why bother with an avatar action figure?  One moves beautifully in a 3d world, constructed to look and sound just like the TV show.  Maybe kids just perfer games now.  I hardly think its cheaper.  I mean, a nerf gun plus darts is less than 20 bucks.  Can anyone thing of a recent console/game como you can get for under 40? 60?  Didn't think so.

But how is it that toys could die?  I mean, they're toys!  I love video games, but nothing beats a nerf gun fight down your dorm hallway.  Or how about spending a saturday morning building legos?  What about the literal hours spent smashing action figures against each other, over and over and thinking it was the coolest thing in the world?  Is this experience just...Dead? not Economical? not what the next generation of kids is looking for? I' certianly hope not.  How am I supposed to play with action figures again if my kids don't think they're fun?  I mean knowing -exactly- what game is on my kids christmas list (and probably some of the people who worked on it) would be really cool, but what about toys? I always find it so sad whenever stuff like this happens.  Part of me understands, I mean when i was a kid I'd rather Video Games over toys, but toys aren't even sell able to the point of a chain store anymore?

I hope I'm wrong.  Maybe online dealers like amazon just give better deals, or maybekids are still asking for legos and nerf guns and action figures, I just don't know any more.  But I always found it odd when i was a kid that not only can elfs program, but they can recreate the hardware of an NES perfectly, and happen to know how to recreate Sigeru Miyamoto's legacy in gaming pixel perfect.  I was too smart for my own good when i was a kid.

But its just a thought, I doubt toys are dead.  Bakugan sells like mad and happy meals still feature plastic wind ups.  I guess toys aren't in trouble until happy meals start providing 1.99 games...Actually, some one call nintendo, I just got a good idea.