Audio

i think ffx was a good soundtrack was very good although there are two others which i preffered. firstly the zelda series (particularly Ocarina of Time) and i also really enjoyed Metal gear solid 2 as well

woah conundrum. u read my mind.

id havta say, in order.....

1.perfect dark
2.goldeneye
3.mgs2
4.zelda ocarina of time

http://sumea.com.au/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1301&SearchTerms=game,soun…

Plenty of ones here :)

I recall the Mechwarrior 2 soundtrack being very good.
The Halo monks were also very moody...
Chrono trigger also has it's moments with sound.
CYer, Blitz

ooooh im leaning towards time splitters 2, that game had some awesome music (and you usually expect that kinda stuff in RPGs, not crazy shooters) especially the western level. i have about 3 mp3s on my comp from that game.

It's hard to think of any computer game music that's impacted me since the days of Rob Hubbard (nothing to do with scientology,
he did all the best music on the C64), of these my favourites were
the the theme to Zoids, the theme to Spellbound. Also Chris Whittaker's theme to Amaurote and (how could I forget) Feud.

I liked the Brotherhood of Steel theme on Fallout (PC), the theme to Star Control II(PC) and the theme to the original Deus Ex (PC).

Two interesting uses of music within games I can think of are:

* Anarchy Online, which had a bunch of music snippets, and a big table that told the game how to (randomly) assemble songs at runtime
* Ultima IX, which I have not played, but I heard that the music had a number of themes representing the ultima virtues, and each town apparently represented the intersection of two virtues - so two themes were played at once, and had been designed to fit with each other.

Both pretty cool ideas :)

Metroid Prime has very mood setting audio...anyone else that has played it will probably agree...

otherwise, probably FF8 because its the only FF game ive played...[:D]

Freedom Fighters and Hitman for sure. I think they were both done by Jesper Kydd. Anyway Freedom Fighters was like choir to trance and Hitman was just all choir. But they were great.

Secret of Mana

I?ve been playing Civilization III recently, and the high quality of the soundtrack really struck me. It plays music according to the era your civilization is in, so in classical times you get some nice classical tunes with some high quality piano work, and then as the game moves into the modern era, you get treated to electric guitar instrumentals with some brilliant wig out solos! And it all fits perfectly with the game and doesn?t get tiresome.

It?s great to hear virtuosic musicianship in a game.

any of the Grand Theft Auto series. they all have a great selection of music.

I found Resident Evil 2 had a musical score that really built tension and fear.[:0]

StarControl 2 i always thought had cool sounds and music...

Conkers Bad Fur Day without question.

The awesome Rock Solid club music (that we still play at parties), The excelent Great Mighty Poo opera song, and the all themed music was fantastic. Rare used to have the whole thing available for download, but it got pulled once they got bought out and changed the site. All excellent original music in its own right, it also complimented and elevated the game perfectly.

I love the music to the arcade game Outrun, especially the piano piece that plays during the end of the game when you put in your name. It's called Last Wave, and listening to it really takes me back to the days when I just started high school. If you ever played arcade games in the 80's, you *KNOW* this track. Incidently, Outrun 2, which should be released around about now, has a remixed soundtrack of the old music (You can hear samples of the [url="http://www.sega-am2.co.jp/jp/download/outrun2.html"]new remixes here[/url]. It sounds incredible.) You can also find a quite a few fan made mixes and midi's here and there around the net.

I've just downloaded a gig and a half of remixed fan-made game music.. they have a bittorent of the huge mp3 collection available. It's the *darn best download I've made in ages*.. [:)] A lot of them sound like chip music from the C64 but clearer. It's what I listen to when I'm working on stuff now. Tonnes of Final Fantasy tunes, and other oldschool music as well.

http://www.ocremix.org/

Silent Hill Series, hands down best music ive ever heard. Akira Yamaoka is a composing god.

Beware, that OC Remix site is addictive!!

Oh and yes I would have to say Secret of Mana has the best video game soundtrack ever.

The Legend of Zelda theme is quite good also.

Oh and Ryu's theme from street fighter. Just classic.

lets see. FF8 has an awsome soundtrack... metal gear solid 2 was pritty cool...

i say they get yoko keno to compose a few songs for games, she did an awsome job in macross plus and cobow boy bebop^^ seeing her work in games would be a blast

As an audio nutcase (and classically trained composer) I can't believe no one has mentioned the Thief series.

OK there is not much music, and what there is is simple, but it is used in a way that is much more like cinema than games (and that is a good thing). When it is used it is to get an emotional response, rather than providing something to "fill the silence" (ambient noises are used to do that).

Actually all the audio in Thief and Thief 2 really impresses me- though it is still static ("sprite based" in graphics terms). I'm waiting for games that do realtime synthesis, which is more like the 3d graphics in current games.

I'm not that keen on Thief 3- though perhaps that's because it makes me really motion sick and I'm not about to start taking motion sickness pills to play a computer game...

The Bioware RPGs are interesting too because they use simple interactive music systems- you guys must have noticed what happens when combat starts.

Smash Bros Melee (awsome remixes of game classics)

Zedla: Ocarina of Time or A Link to the Past

Banjo Kazooie 1 and 2

Metroid Prime (freaking awsome music) (MP1, not 2, the music in that is kinda dull)

Vampire Bloodline

IMHO the coolest thing about the 3d Zelda games is the musical instruments (the virtual ones you play), and the way playing music is integrated into gameplay.

That "follow the music" thing in the lost forest was neat too.

I find the Ocarina of Time in game music annoying and much swearing has been directed at Nintendo for not providing a simple "music off" option.

For you Zelda fans who own the game, Project 64 lets you play N64 roms on the PC with fantastic resolution eg Zelda @ 1600x1200 in 32-bit colour with anti-aliasing, texture filtering, etc and 60 FPS. Just a LITTLE better than the N64 [:D] Audio breakup is rare too, it is almost a perfect emulator, and great if you want to hack up some N64 software.

Nintendo did a pretty darn good job of stamping out roms on the net though, so happy hunting.

Project 64 is free @ http://www.pj64.net/

My all-time favorite music from a games is Homeworld (1 not 2) though I am a big fan of Barber's "Adagio for Stings" (the music uses in Homeworld though ironically it is sung by a choir and uses no stings in the Homeworld version)

other than that there was Mechwarrior 2: mercenaries, fallout 2, and quake 2 for great atmosphere.
And the prize for the wackiest music for me has to go to the music from the catamari Damacy for the PS2.

The best music?
Probably from Deus Ex, "Return to Unatco"... which was one of the best fitting tunes I can think of.
It was also cool how it would seamlessly change between the "states" of the song when you were discovered, hiding and at several key locations of the area.

Chrono trigger was also good... LBA... Zelda 3 & 64... many others were good. I didn't like the metroid music as much, just got on my nerves rather than providing a good setting.
Tales of phantasia at least requires a mention because they had vocal lyrics in a snes soundtrack.

Mine would have to be Castlevania 4 and Alien 3 on the snes, MechWarrior2, Mafia, and the first Tenchu. Killer Instict had some kick ass atmosphere in the character selection screen too.

most of my favs would have to be classics

Super Mario Bros all
Killer Instincts
Zelda all
Secret of Mana
Street Fighter II
Mortal Kombat
Castlevania
Sonic ....
Donkey Kong Country
etc... list goes on cant remember much

and the not so classics
GTA series

thats all

baldur's gate
and let me have more time to think about it......

Zelda ocarina of time
Total annihilation
Chrono trigger
Body harvest

And for all of those OC-remix addicts out there
http://www.ocremix.org/songs/Zelda_64_Ocarina_Boogie_OC_ReMix.mp3

Pure Zelda 64 goodness[8D]

Hi ho,

okay, I recommand you to the following scores:

- Baldur's Gate (I,II + add-on) *hehehe*
=> That's a brilliant orchestral score, with live percussion performance (~ 30 membranophones altogether) and real brass recordings and a perfect synth-orchestra (sounds really authentic). There are many theme developments, of course with some kind of "musical complexity" (no standart string-triad-wailings ? la Jeremy Soule).
The main motif (2nd, 2nd major 3th upward, then a 3th back and two 2nds down) is almost used in every cue, but in such an interesting and artistic way that it is a real pleasure to recognize it in each track.

- Ultima IX (and of course the extracts of U. X)
=> That score is the live recording of a 40-piece essemble with many strings, string-like instruments and mediavel flutes, called a "sweetening orchestra".
The soundtrack contains plenty of wonderfully composed themes for each location (mainly mediavel towns, castles and dark dungeons) the Avatar - the main character of the game's story - has to visit. Of course there are also some fighting cues and short suites for the game interrupting video seuqueces.
Two main/franchise themes dominate the whole score: The heroic Fellowship theme (for the Avatar's kindreds) and the dark, chant-like Guardian motif, which represants the absolutely evil antagonist of the Avatar.
The soundtrack itself is about 75 mintues long, the average length of each track amounts to 2-3 mintues.

The 6 tracks of Ultima X are good as well, because they're performed by the big Northwest Symphony and contain a little of the matierial of U. IX.

- Diablo II: Lord of Destruction (add-on)
=> that's a really nice performance of the popular (mostly metal) Diablo themes by the City of Prague Symphony Orchestra.
Not very long (only 5 tracks of 5-8 mintues), but quite interesting and - somehow - very moving.

- Jurassic Park - The Lost World
=> I don't know if you have this already. If not: JUST GET IT NOW!! *g* That's Giacchono's first live orchestra score. There very adventurous themes and cues in good and variative developments. The performance is perfect, because of the great Seatlle Philharmocis.

- Heroes of Might and Magic II
=> An epic fantasy score, such as Merlin or Willow, but more coherant and homegeneous (not so many emotional changes). The orchestra sounds very good but is sampled by big synthesizers. The opera-like voice performances (mostly tenor and sopran) are of course live recorded. ;-)

- Myst II: Riven
=> Not really an orchtral score, but still worth a listering!
It provides you with a dark, epic atmosphere that never really gets loud, so it also carries a bit of an ambient (almost new age) flavor to it. Perfect not just to go with the game (I have to assume, since I am not a Myst gamer myself), but to work, read or write. It's mellow, but it doesn't sound common or simple. It is one of those albums you wish you could get more of, so I end up playing it once and again and again in my stereo... ^^

- Super Smash Brothers
=> That's an orchestral suite containing 15 well arranged medleys of the most beautiful Nitendo gamemusic themes (the Super Mario Theme, or the Zelda Ouverture for instance).
The whole work is performed by the Tokyo Philahormonics in a perfect sound quiality. Although it's a live concert recording, there're no end clapping, ovation or other noises.
I have cut them away (thanks Audacity 1.5). All!!! ;-)

-Warcraft III
=> Not as good as World of Wacraft, WC III has a very pleasing soundtrack, with epic-dramatic themes, as well as some very calm and beautiful cues. The "Cinematic Suite", a cut-together of the orchestral video sequences, is definitively the best!

- and - last but not least - WORLD OF WARCRAFT
=> That's a fantasic instrumental soundtracks. Most of the pieces, particularly the one of the main locations, are orchestral live recordings. The tracks are very long (average ~ 6-8 minutes) and all in all the scores measures almost 80 mintues.

------
Hope I've convinced you of the geniality of these game osts! ;-)
Please excuse my poor use of language. That's of course the guild of our poor German education system!!! ^^
------

Greetings from Cologne

Dustin Naegel

Check strathfield car radios.

They have a few differen brands. Pretty sure none of them is over $200.

do they have 256 mb one?

In fact....

http://www.strathfield.com/catalogue_archive.asp?CatID=59&PageNumber=2#

Dick Smith electronics have some good prices as well

I think i was looking at JB-HiFi's catalogue this morning, and they had a couple different 256Mb mp3 players for ~$100.
CYer, Blitz

the MP3 players are changable right? like you can take songs on and off the player, ive heard abuot ones that you cant.

yeah, moony they are, most of them are pretty much USB keys which play music. Thanks gullwings, Strathfield looks good, but im surprised about JB, they are usually a rip off.

had a look in the city yesterday and some 256 were selling for like $145 but there are some cooler ones around that cost a bit more :/

wow my local JB is usually like the cheapest prices on well... everything (CDs, TVs, Stereos etc).

Sorry, i goofed. those $99 players at jbhifi were only 128Mb.
CYer, Blitz

I have recently purchased a Creative Muvo2 (1.5 gig) for $300. i am very happy with it. and u put ur music in folders :D its good. get one. N0W!

I would do some very careful research before you buy an iPod. I have just read a lot of horror stories about them.

care to share Aven? I've heard some ones like how the menu buttons were dodgy, but they were replaced by the stores they were pruchased from.

Ipods are awesome.. the pros far outway the cons.. I've owned one for about 8 months now.. and it never leaves my side... (20gb) however.. if you want music that can be listened too you have to update it at home with iTunes (itunes matches with the ipod) Thats about it really.. I few over things are frustrating about it but it iss ssssooooo cooooooool

These are just some of the probelms I have read/heard with them. It will be cool to see if Me109 has had anything bad happen :)

- As it is a hdd instead of RAM, when you do shock it, it can be shocked fairly badly. I've read of people killing the hdd through shock. How much movement do you do Me, and has it skipped at all? That's the major one I was worried about when I was looking at one.
- The battery life. Not really the run time between charges. More how many times you can charge the battery before it will die. People who bought them originally started finding troubles with them after a year. A friend of mine now has a job at a Mac store and he said that if you do choose to get one, make sure you get extended warranty or the replacement battery will cost you.
- Read that the screen can crack very easily. That can happen with any lcd based screen though.
- Upgrades that included making Solitare better instead of trying to improve battery life and file format compatibility.
- Can't play oggs :/ Major down side.

All Mp3 players have their downsides. Have a look at all of them and what features suit you best. The Rio Karma looks wuite nice, but I haven't looked into that much. I'm not interested in buying at the moment so I'm not really up with what is good and bad at the moment. I'm happy with my O2 XDAII :)

Just do your research.

actually the LCD screen thing remind me of a digi cam series LCD screen that was allways cracking (cant remember the manufac) because they made them too small, i think the ipod suffers from a similar problem (or it could be just the general LCD screen problems).

Something i keep telling people about all this storage is that even 4gigs is pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeenty. Now i know theres mp3 fanatics that will cry "pffft well iiiiiiive got 7 gigs worth of songs" to which i reply "yes, but are you going to listen to them all before you have the chance to change them around again." Not likely.

Pesonally im happy with my CD player (plays CD-RWs, so i can have MP3 CDs) but if you insist on getting an ipod id go with the cheaper one because you really dont need all that space.

oh and course i couldnt make a post in an ipod thread without posting this link: http://www.ipodsdirtysecret.com/ [;)]

I'd be looking at getting one of the Creative Zen Touch MP3 Jukeboxes that are soon to be released. From all reviews I've read the Creative series seem to have superior sound quality to the IPods. The standard Zen and Zen Xtra are not as stylish as an IPod, however the new Zen Touch looks quite nice (and is obviously cashing in on the apple look) They are also extremely good value for money, especially when compared to the Ipods.

Another brand worth looking at would be the IRiver series of jukeboxes. These things are packed with a huge amount of features and still retain excellent sound quality. One of the best things about these is that you can use them as a portable storage device without the need to install drivers on the PC you are connecting it to.

My brother ordered a 20 gig ipod from apple.com.au 4 weeks ago, it still hasnt arrived. He has contacted them constantly but they keep making excuses up, he is getting really pissed off. However, he is wondering if they are going to send him a 4th generation ipod, since they were announced just after he ordered a third generation 20 gig ipod...

Oh well, from what i have heard they are fantastic! But i feel sad for some kids at my school, they have ipods and they have about 50 songs on them [:(]. For shame i say, if you arent going to use that space, get a 256mb MP3 player or something and hand me the ipod [:)].

Oh and Moonunit, i have 6 gigs worth of songs [:p], 98% of them are my brothers. All of them are ripped from my brothers CDs though, my brother and i hate downloading songs off Kazaa etc... they will always have some distortion or something not right, so we go the proper official way.

/slogan for the kids

SAY NO TO PIRACY, YOU ARE JUST HURTING THE PEOPLE WHO CREATE THE ITEM YOU ARE PIRATING.

yeah with the creative labs machine.. you can't just plug it into any pc or mac and get it to work... you need to install drivers... Ipods are one of the very few that work straight away on connection.. no drivers needed..

as for cracking the screen and stuff? shouldnt you be looking after your $700 ipod a bit better?
yeah as for battery life.. I think its just ignorant to think that the thing is going to last more than two years.. its a rechargeable battery.. they die.. end of story

As for the hard drive... yes mine did die... data went on.. didnt come off.. bad sectors or something.... this drove me insane.. but it was replaced (brand new) under warranty withing 3 days.. so I was extremely happy with the service..
I use the thing half for music and half for data.. I always have 10gig free for programms movies.. anything.. you can never have enough space!

iRiver all the way!

Hey Me109, with the ipod working as an external harddrive, is it recognised on both mac and windows platforms? I heard that if you format it for PCs, it only shows up as an external drive on PCs, but not on macs. Same the other way around IE: Format for mac it will only show up on macs etc..

I'm thinking about getting one but I really need it to be cross compatible so I can transfer files between PCs and Macs.

I like the ipod mini's casing and design (the metal casing seems more sturdy than the white acrylic casing of the normal ipods), but it just seems like such a waste to pay that much for it when I could just pay a little more for a 20gig ipod.

is it true that it costs a shit load to get the ipod's battery replaced like it says in the ipods dirty secret video.

yeah it is a fat32 file system which works across both the mac and pc.. and compatible with firewire and usb2, so it takes about 5 to 6 minutes to copy one dvd's worth (3.6gb)..
dosent charge off the usb however?? just firewire (must be mac vs pc rivallary)
...
one of the main reasons I bought the thing was because at the time my minidisk playa kicked the bucket and I need portable storage.. and its worked well in both areas..

as far as the battery is concerned.. buying a battery from a wholesaler will cost a minimum of a $100 to get.. and installation would be a half to 1 hours labour at what ever that is an hour ($100).. even thou it sounds expensive, its standard stuff.
I'll be replacing the battery myself.. only because I have training and experience in doing that kind of thing thou..

yeah notice in the video how the guy on the phone says "at that price you may aswell just buy a new one" -_-

firewire is availible on both PCs and Macs, whadda ya mean Me109?

I got one the day they came out... sure I could have got a normal one with way more storage for $100 extra, but when I went and had a look at the mini's when the shop got a demo model in march or april, I was instantly sold on the size, weight and interface. Compared to the mini, the regular iPod feels like a brick. And the fact that the regular ones have now got the click-wheel must say something about the interface.

It's a solid little bit of kit, I really feel like I got my moneys worth. It's about the same size as my mobile phone, and less than 1/2 the size of my wallet, so it's no biggie to slip it in my pocket. It goes everywhere with me already.

8 hours of battery life means I'm probably going to charge it 2 or 3 times a week - just the same as I do with my phone. It also charges off USB - I don't think the normal iPods can do that. As for the lifetime of the battery - it's like any Lithium battery - you get about 300 charge cycles out of it before the capacity starts degrading. I've had my iBook for a couple of years now and the battery time has dropped by about 1/2 hour to about 4 hours.

Edit: The reason why the regular ones can't charge off USB is because USB can't provide enough power, whereas FireWire can push a lot of power over it - enough to give you a nasty shock I believe.

yeah the usb thing is the only thing that shits me about it.. usb is good for 5 volts + firewire jams out 12volts plus..
I think apple, on purpose, choose to design the power needs of the ipod just outside the range of the USB (5volts is plenty for devices that only require 3.3 or 2.5 volts) who knows..(probably charge time) I'm sure apple knows..
yeah as redwyre has pointed out there are other products out there that are worth checking out.. at the time I couldnt finda satisfactory alternative.. but i'm sure thats changed now...

It's not so much the volts as the current that matters. As for Apple designing it to be just outside the USB range - How many USB-powered hard drives have you seen? It's all about the current. A bit of googling reveals that USB can drive 5v @ 500mA, where as FireWire can drive 40v @ 1500mA. IIRC, to get Watts you multiply current by voltage - so USB can push 2.5W and FireWire can push 60W (which is a figure I've heard of before.)

Brain, have you heard of o2jam? (their english website is http://o2jam.e-games.com.my/ Everyone at work who's into the music games loves it although there is some controversy about winning by mashing the keyboard. I personally have never played it, but if it's as good as my friends say, they hey may be worth a try :)

Yeah, gave it a go once, and the signup/download process was iffy for me, and kinda soured the experience for me. I'll consider looking it up again sometime soon, see if the process is a lil smoother.

My friend works at EB and he has watched the Ad for the Singtour for hours on end, so hes going to just buy it... The poor fella...

i have a pair of sennheiser hd202's, and they are terrific (i wear them everyday at work, 8 hours a day)
so anything that they make that is considered better than the 202 you would think would be pretty damn good [:)]

Ok thanks, its just its description says it is good for classical music and i wasnt sure if it would be good for gaming [:p].

From a Dj's / audiophile's perpsective, sennheiser make durable and good quality sounding headphones allround - they may not look the coolest - but that aint what counts, if you do get a pair, expect them not to crap out or break at weak points.

And expect the sound quality to stay sharp without deterioration for many years, even when your punishing them in those times where you absolutely must have the volumn so loud your ears bleed.

Thanks for the replys!

My brother has a pair which are closed (Blocks out noise from the world around you), and they are quite good. The pair i should be getting are open and are meant to have better quality then that of the closed pair.

I cant wait to rip through games with a pair of these babys! I always find headphones seem to put you in the game more [:)].

Cos they help block out the noist from your 5 PC fans :)
I think (particularly if you only have a 2 speaker setup) they give you better 3D effects.
CYer, Blitz

i dont think that kind of input is very far off at all - i remembering reading that sony has something in production like that for an rpg ( as ambitious as it sounds ) whereby the player character ( you ) can walk up to an NPC and actually have a conversation with them.

imagine this tho..
varying pitches and tones in voice - ie you start getting shitty and yelling into the headset, and NPC characters / townsfolk start oogling at you, shopkeepers sart getting pissed and ordering gaurds to throw you out of their store.

Voice recognition i think is not too far off - but when we get to that level, i think.. WOOOoo the fun :)

I can see it now. Summoning a feirce beast. "DENIZEN OF THE NEITHER WORLD COME FORTH AND HEAD MY COMMAND. I SUMMON YOU RYOOOOOOOZUUUUUUUUU" and every one is just staring at you I get that alot.

Until you get a fantastic game that comes along that just happens to have either bizarre names for their creatures and you can't actually pronounce them. Let alone do anything with them :) "I choose you hk'adsk"

Lol Aven, " i said attack the guhtarcaj!! not the guitar case! christ man are you stupid !?!? oh gosh dont attack the shtooped!! NOOOoooOO! "

LOL - yeah, I think it would really need to be cleverly designed.

But it is a very interesting concept. I could image it taking off and a lot of games having it just for the gimmick, but eventually someone would come up with new, revolutionary gameplay because of it. It could open the door to all new game concepts.

A cool idea would be some modern military game where you speak to other units over the ?radio? like in real warfare. ?Alpha Charlie Zulu, this Echo Bravo requesting napalm over grid 3, 4, Hector. Over?? (Or something to that effect) ? Or even just yelling at the other troops for covering fire would be cool.

A silly idea of a voice command gimmick: You could have a Tekken style of beat 'em up where the more you grunt and make martial arts noises, the better your character fights...
erm?

I could just see the voice-recognition enabled version of GTA. Swear at someone and they go off at you. Hehe...realism to the max!

Or, I don't know, Hitman or James Bond games. You use your own voice as per normal but need to pick up devices that change the sound of your voice so that enemies can't recognise you or something...[:p]

quote:Originally posted by HazarD

i dont think that kind of input is very far off at all - i remembering reading that sony has something in production like that for an rpg ( as ambitious as it sounds ) whereby the player character ( you ) can walk up to an NPC and actually have a conversation with them.

Unreal Tournament 2004 lets you use the microphone to order around the bots on your team. Just download some Microsoft software to allow voice recognition and away you go! I haven't tried it yet, but I heard it's pretty good..

Well UT 2k4 supports this kind of thing with your bots - mind you haven't used it, so it could be crappy, not sure...

Personally I'm hanging out for some kind of device that tracks your eyesight, so you can look at specific areas of the screen to select units :)

Makk you gotta use those keyboard shortcuts for starcraft :) Otherwise, as a friend of mine puts it: "you lose to the interface" :-( Plus waypoint list helps lot with that game - reduces the amount of flipping between units.

Cheers,

Mark

haha...put the whole light gun technology into contact lenses hey CombatWombat?

that would be cool...[:D]

Voice recognition will REALLY take off when natural language understanding improves. At the moment simple commands work great in shooters where your mouse is your aim, but in RTS's don't provide much if any advantage over the mouse. The mouse is more precise and in some cases it is much faster to click a bunch of things than to say a few words!.

quote:With the unit/s selected, I the mouse over on said area/enemy and say the word "Attack" The unit/s would then attack that area/map.

Thats a good examply of where it is pointless. Much more efficient to just click the enemy/area.

Where it will come into it's own will be when the computer can understand things like "All units near city X advance on enemy position gamma and attack from long range. When enemy forces are at 70% of the current level, charge."
So, actually being able to describe a plan to the computer and have it act out the plan.
"Team beta, patrol area between mountain X and river crossing Y"
etc. without actually having to be looking at the map.
I think voice recognition will be in RTS's soon, but it may be quite a while before it is more than a useless gimmick...
CYer, Blitz

quote:Originally posted by CombatWombat

Personally I'm hanging out for some kind of device that tracks your eyesight, so you can look at specific areas of the screen to select units :)

Sony (or the guy who got the playstation happening for Sony) is on record for saying they're planning mind controlled games for Playstation 7 or so.. Jack yourself in like the Matrix!! I think they/he was serious too. [:)]

quote: in some cases it is much faster to click a bunch of things than to say a few words!.

Thats true Im a big fan of rpg and in those games you can issue orders with bliding speed so fast that people watching have no idea whats going on

Playstation 7!? Whoa! [:0] When?s that going to come out? About 50 years or what? I don?t see how anyone could accurately guess what possible features something that far ahead might have. There?s really no way to know what technology will be like then. Voice regognition might be as common as the humble mouse is today? For all we know, AI might actually take over the world and we could all be living in a real matrix type universe by then! Actually come to think of it, we could be in a matrix right now.. [8D]
Wake up, Neo?

(heh could you imagine matrix n00bs, just a thought that occured :P )

ive given the UT2k4 voice command thingy a bit of a whirl, its ok but not perfect, that could be my mike but its more likely the game. It is in no way 100% reliable, but sometimes it works and its really neat. Mostly i play online (like without bots) tho so i havent really had the chance to use it much.

Aven: hahah, funny! :D

CombatWombat: Yeah, I group my units with CTRL, etc but I still lose anway!!
:P
:)
Whats this about waypoints and unit flipping?
Bloody Protoss and their Carriers!! :(

Blitz: Comparing Keyboard/Mouse Vs Voice command, I think really comes down to the individual's personal preference. They are probably about the same speed, but some poeple would prefer voice, as Im sure some would prefer keyboad/mouse.

Regarding the PS7 thing, am I the only one a little freaked out and distrubed by that?!?!?

quote:Blitz: Comparing Keyboard/Mouse Vs Voice command, I think really comes down to the individual's personal preference. They are probably about the same speed, but some poeple would prefer voice, as Im sure some would prefer keyboad/mouse.

It's not as simple as user preference though, the user does actually have to be able to play the game! It's about an input interface that is suitable to play the game, and in cases where people want to beat the game, it is about the input that provides the most powerful and quickest interface to the game.
In the case of RTS's it is certainly not as fast to use voice commands as kb/mouse. For instance, it takes me much longer to say an intelligible word/s such as "(Select) group one" than to press the 1 button. Especially if i already know where the 1 button is on the keyboard!
Also, as moonunit said, voice recognition still isn't (and probably for a while) 100% reliable, at least in game implementations where no user particularly wants to spend 2-10 hours "training" the game to understand their speech patterns. KB/Mouse is 100% reliable, unless you have faulty equipment (which is not the games fault!).
If console manufacturers become really serious about voice recognition, they could build it into their hardware/os and allow the user to train the voice recognition, then let all games access that data. With the current state of things though, i think kb/mouse is going to be king for some time to come.
Oh, and the other problem voice recognition has is context. It's very difficult for the computer to understand "Attack THAT tank!", whereas mouse has context (it clicks on specific items). So even when voice recognition is 100% reliable etc. and even with full natural language understanding, you still have the problem where the computer/game doesn't know what the hell you're talking about without using some other context device (eg. that can move the cursor on the screen or tell what your eyes are looking at).
I'm not suggesting that anyone else was suggesting that RTS's completely get rid of everything else and use only voice support, but just pointing out a number of hurdles it faces to become at least as useful as plain old kb/mouse.
CYer, Blitz

I was watching XPlay last night when they showed a new game that has come out. It is called 'Life Line'.

http://www.konami.com/lifeline/

Basic idea is that the game is a survival horror game. The difference is that you don't actually play as the main character. You play as some guy who has locked himself inside the security room of a giant space station. You give voice commands to some poor lady that is stuck in a room. You have to help her through the game. This is done by constantly giveing her voice commands.

Everything from walking to a room in a corridor to shooting at areas of a monster and what items to pick up is done through voice control. It sounds and looks like quite a cool idea, unfortunately to voice recognition didn't seem to work too well. The guy that was testing was constantly having troubles getting the main character to do what he wanted.

The character is in a room standing next to a mirror. The mirror (like other objects) had a set of rings pulsing from it. He said "mirror", to get the character to interact with the mirror. Instead the character said "Okay, I will run around", and actually ran in a circle around the room. The main problem came from when he became pissed off from that and was trying to tell her to "stop". She just kept on running around the room. There was also a table with a few objects on it. He had to say "camera" three times until she stopped saying "that item isn't there". When she finally looked at the camera, it gave the usual survival horror response. "it is just an old antique. no use".

I really like the idea of it, but it just didn't seem to work very well at all.

Heya Avin- Life Line sounds like an awesome game- or at least a game that has the POTENTIAL to be awesome.

-From the Gamefly Review-
LifeLine represents an ambitious undertaking, so the developer certainly deserves credit for trying something different. However, the experience is undermined by unreliable technology and some poor game design.

I would really agree that games technology has to make some progress in order to keep up with the creative ideas that the industry wants to implement. Imagine the interfaces that could be designed if there weren't the constraints of "what if the voice isn't properly recognised and the character takes the wrong action" This is what I meant when discussing the potential of games to move beyond puzzle-solving challenges to EXPERIENCES in the time thread.

-From the Gamefly Review-
The conceit (I think they mean concept) behind LifeLine is certainly an interesting one. Forcing you to actually talk out loud to the character onscreen to get things done is a potently immersive effect, and when everything is humming, the game can feel surprisingly real. Unfortunately, the voice recognition isn't as advanced as it needs to be to effectively support the entire gameplay experience.
Despite the game's many imperfections, there are moments when everything clicks. In these instances you're given experiences that are truly unique.

I have to say that I think these kind of game experiences that are less clear cut- where as the player you're getting spatially displaced, are really interesting. You're dealing with to spatial areas and all the sounds that come with hem at once.

Here a game experience has the potential to be like an interactive cinematic experience. We don't need our attention to be held by little "wins" and progress rewards as we move through level type structures. Instead we get "potently immersive" and "moments where everything clicks" and "experiences that are truly unique" in a game that is "suprisingly real". If we're so immersed in the characters and game environment then the sheer fear of our girlfriend being hurt- keeping her alive, should be enough to keep us playing without constantly thinking about how well we're playing, whether we've collected enough tokens, how long until we get rewarded with our next cut scene and new level. It could also mean in RPG style that there's less need to keep us collecting crystals, cards, magic items or whatever to justify boring hours of levelling up and participating in random mini-challenges. If games were immersive enough in themselves then suggesting this would be like suggesting a solitaire intermission in Jurassic Park.

We're talking about voice commands in a game, i can't even to get voice typing thingy to work in word. You spend hours trainging it and then it'll stuff up on you. If i say "Gay" it types "Texas" <- True

What i'm trying to say is if you can't get just a word processor to work while your speaking normally, imagine what'll will happen during the excitement of exchanging fire with zombies or while your ask for back up as your base gets hacked at by Elfs.

I just don't see it happening anywhere in the near future, but hey, i said the same thing about games like Eye Toy.

voice recognition in games would be awesome and i have fantasised many a time about it in very cool rpg game style :)
although the player would need to run through and train the software to recognise each critical word that can be used in the game. that would be very time consuming although may eliminate alot of the mistakes made by the software.

Would levelling up require saying "attack" for a couple of hours? [:)]

I would say the only place where voice commands would be appropriate and actually of any use would be in a tactical shooter game. Like Ghost Recon and others, where you could give voice commands to your squad while you were moving and performing actions yourself too. Using your voice would free up your hands to keep controling you character, so you wouldn't have to move your fingers off the movement keys/mouse during a firefight to order your squad etc.

In an RPG it will probably be only of a novelty value until we can actually get a good enough vocabulary to make interaction with NPC's interesting, and in an RTS, well I have to say that I don't see it working at all. You could say squad 1 go to location x, but you'd have to first define squad 1, and then location x. (This of course would work best in a Ground Control style game, which is akin to the tactical shooter example above) Asking anything more from the voice commands would be asking for trouble.

Anyways, those are my thoughts on the subject at hand.

quote:Originally posted by Souri

Would levelling up require saying "attack" for a couple of hours? [:)]

LEEEEEROYYYYY JENKINS!

Waco Ressurection used voice commands http://waco.c-level.cc/

The David Koresh helmets have a mic in them. You quote bible passages to cast spells [:)]

UT2003 has some ok tracks i suppose but what i like is jesper jyds work in hitman2 and freedom fighters, done with full orchestras and quires and stuff its very dramatic, i love it.

Quake3 had good music (by Front Line Assembly).
Rez has one of the best soundtracks. Ken Ishii is awesome :D
JSR ans JSRF have really cool soundtracks.
Wipeout was really good in it's day. It is a little dated now.
American McGee's Alice had a fantastic soundtrack. Chris Vrenna is awesome and the remix of Flying On The Wings Of Steam is just sweet as :)
I like a lot of the Squaresoft/Square-Enix soundtracks.
DDR also has some decent tracks. Mainly the Smile d.k. tracks though.

ANYTHING from Resident Evil on the Cube.

wizball

and if it applies, then sidology 1 & 3, and the great gianna sisters
[url]www.machinaesupremacy.com[/url]

oh yeah the JSRF music was pretty catchy :P

Check out www.ocremix.org
Very cool site.

I love just about anything from Sonic, Chrono Trigger, Castlevania, Zelda, Metroid, Mario or Yoshi's Island.

Then again, i'm nuts.

Wasn't quake3 done by Sonic Animation - or did they do quake2?

Nine inch nails did quake 1, and doom 1 & 2 has metallica from their good period...

Now I usually just listen to mp3's when I'm playing games - unless they're sneakers or good story based games... Haven't noticed that great a music tho.

Redneck Rampage, can't go past 'i've got a pig' and 'babies liquered up'..... (yes, i am being serious)

I haven't been totally out of the loop with recent games, but the only memorable music I recall is from the C64 era! Certainly RPG's like Final Fantasy have brilliant scores, but from a genre like FPS's, music is pushed aside for atmospherics... which is understandable, and more suitable for that type of game where you need to hear things happening.
Anyway, like I said, C64 games had brilliant tunes from some great musicians like Rob Hubbard, Martin Galway etc.. games like Auf Wiedersehen Monty, Crazy Comets, Commando, International Karate, Last Ninja, Robocop, Ghost 'n Goblins, Exploding Fist.. there's tonnes more, but I won't bore everyone with my list [:)]. I love the music in Outrun (arcade).

quote:Originally posted by Daemin

Wasn't quake3 done by Sonic Animation - or did they do quake2?

Nine inch nails did quake 1, and doom 1 & 2 has metallica from their good period...

Now I usually just listen to mp3's when I'm playing games - unless they're sneakers or good story based games... Haven't noticed that great a music tho.

If you open the .pk3 file to get all the music. The first six tracks were done by Sonic animation (actually ends up being four songs because of the way they recorded the music), and FLA did the last six. The FLA ones were the better ones though. Grttier and bassier :D Rob Zombie did Quake2. The Quake1&2 soundtracks were okay, but not that great.

The sims jukebox. It's hilarious just get the sims to song along with it.

i cant beleive i forgot, Time Splitters 2!!!!

that has probably the best music from any game and ive gotten a few tracks.

I would have to say Chrono Trigger for super nintendo, my god was that game the greatest game ever made? I dont think no other game has had music like it and for the super nintendo my god was it good.

So what im saying is go to http://www.zsnes.com A awesome Super Nintendo emulator then go and find the Chrono Trigger game (Chrono Trigger rom) and boot it up.

Sonic Mayhem worked on q2 and 3, not sonic animation.
And Bobby Prince worked on the Doom games.

cheers

He may have worked on the doom games, but the music is metallica, you can easily tell that.

im into bouncy game songs like in Mario and Yoshi games...theres a Sega Mega Drive 2 game called Chiki Chiki Boys that has some funny music too...

Ah thanks Smeg. I didn't mean to write animation. An Aus dance duo didn't work on an id game :p I'm pretty sure that Zombie also did some work on Quake2. I may have read incorrectly though.

All 8bit and 16bit console games had great music. Street Fighter 2 was one of the first games I listened to without playing the game. The music from the Chemical Plant Zone of Sonic2 was kick arse :D

Ah SF2. I still humm Ryu's music to this day (mainly to annoy people). :D

heh i still "doo doo doo" along to the tunes of wario world 1 on the gameboy (pre colour gameboy)

Personally, I've always felt The Dig had an incredible soundtrack.

Other notable mentions: Diablo II: Lord of Destruction, Planescape: Torment, Ultima VII, Gabriel Knight & Grim Fandango.

Most annoying tune ever: The Astro Chicken Theme from Space Quest III.

My favourites would have to be:

Old School:
Prince of Persia
Sam & Max
Mortal Kombat (1 & 2 mainly)
Doom 1 & 2
Space Quest (with the possible exception of Astro Chicken)
Monkey Island 1 & 2

New School:
Quake3
UT2003. (The Phobos Track rocks... "Chemical Burn" I think its called).
Diablo (1 & 2)
Max Payne (1 & 2)

Thats all I can think of for now.

By the way, has anyone ever noticed the similarity between one of the doom2 riffs and the main riff from "This Love" by Pantera? They're almost identical and would've been released around the same year I think. As far as I know Pantera never worked on the doom music.. Maybe I'm wrong.

Streets of Rage 1 and 2 (not 3) -> Megadrive.
Chronno Trigger -> SNES
FF6/7/10 -> SNES/PS1/PS2 respectively.
Gain Ground -> Megadrive
Sonic the Hedgehog -> Megadrive
Castlevania 4/X/Symphony -? SNES/PS1

Another old thread comin back!

Just finished playing Freedom Fighters and it's soundtrack kix arse. It's like russian choir to techno music. It's the best soundtrack i've heard for anything.

Final fantasy Wooot. All of them. Thats the top of the chart followed closely by Wild Arms 1 2 and 3. Umm not sure that this counts but DDR and last but definetly not least SECRET OF MANA on the snes. Thats got some kick ass music not to mention the story and gameplay as well. There are other but I have no idea which games they belong to.

Wipeout, PS1

All of them.

I actually love all the artists that appeared on the Wipeout soundtrack, but I didn't like the songs that they chose by those artists. Go figure :)

bullet, the theme music for freedom fighters (which i also own) was composed by jesper kyd, he also did the hitman1/2 music which is unsuprisingly by the same developer. But for some damn reason i cant remember the name of the orchestra/choir that performs it for the life of me. Really awesome though isnt it.

actually on that topic, if you didnt know danny elfmans going to be making the theme for the ever delayed xbox rpg fable. Elfman traditionaly works in film with movies like the batman series, edward sciscor hands, beetle juice, pretty much all the recent super hero flicks (spiderman, hulk etc), sleepy hollow and so on to his credit (those who are movie buffs will notice that bar two, those were all tim burton movies, its just cause i love tim burton and consequently there the only ones i know!) aswell as the super famous simpsons theme!!!! though i dont think hell use that style on fable... :D

I loved the music from MOHAA, very emotive, so too COD.

Diablo 2 is nice and very suited to the different acts, but $hits me because it repeats often.

Zelda OoT & MM Rocks! Music and all!

Hey moonunit, was the name by any chance the red army choir, i've heard some of there stuff it's great, and it does sound similar.

Street Spirit - Radiohead. Black and white, speeding up and down in time while other parts of the clip in normal time.

Bjork, All Is Full Of Love. Awesome film clip. Best ever filmclip to feature robot lesbians :D Second time I had ever heard of Softimage (Jurassic Park was first).

Aphex Twin, Windowlicker. Come To Daddy is good, but this one is just funny as all hell.

Happatai, Yatta. Japanese group of five guys who wear white underpants with big green leaves on the front. Yatta mean 'all right', so they are singing about being good. You will either cry laughing or be confused as all hell. There is also a Flash parody available that is just cool. You have to see the original to understand the parody though :D

Aya Matsuura, Any film clip. Hot young Japanese woman who has the most catchy (catchy also means annoying) songs, and just plain lame clips.

Squarepusher, Come On My Selector. Not really music, but still awesome.

Squarepusher, My Red Hot Car. A Flash film clip made for a comp. Never finished. If anyone has or knows where I can get the original flash version from I would love you forever. All i can get are crappy .wmv files where the sound doesn't synch :( I had the Flash version years ago.

Prodigy, Smack My Bitch Up. A cool idea.

Thats all I can think of off the top of my head.

Beastie Boys, You gotta fight (for your right to party) or whatever it was called. Just a really corny cool clip.

Radiohead, that cartoon one where he plays table tennis with the angel. This was just a whacked out clip.

Any flim clip with the scantily clad ladies isn't bad either.
CYer, Blitz

pearl jam - do the evolution

tool - sober

points of authority - linkin park (the big 3D one)

i dont know what the song is or who its by, but its got like these wierd 3D tic tac men running around getting killed by big black 3D wasps...tis pretty cool

beastie boys - sabotage
Prodigy - Smack My Bitch Up

All the Tools videos - Adam Jones (the guitarist) is just a heck of an artist, and he worked on Terminator 2 also.

Some of the White Stripes videos are cleverly shot, like the lego one, or the one where they zoom repeatively into each other with that red white and black theme, or the latest one where they leave all the instruments everywhere... They're not brilliant, but they're good.

I also like a fair few of the Chemical brothers videos, especially the new one "Get yourself high"...

Aphex Twin of course... all of their stuff rox0rz my jox0rz.

Electric Six - Gay Bar... thats the best clip ever if you ask me. Its the funniest thing you'll ever see.

Atari Teenage Riot - Revolution Action. Destroy 2000 years of culture is also damn good, but its impossible to find.

Daft Punk - Around the World... *dances*

Glassjaw - Cosmopolitan Blood Loss... pissed off looking guy strutting and being mean to everyone.

Marilyn Manson - Sweet Dreams.

Primus - Winonas Big Brown Beaver... COWBOYS!!!

Presidents of USA - Peaches... NINJAS!!!

Prodigy - Babys got a Temper. Mmmmmm.

Ween - Push the lil Daisies... cool retard hat. Also Freedom of '76 for just being weird.

Rollins Band - Liar.

Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore... for being artsy and cleverly shot.

Ohgr - Minus... Has Nivek Ogre from Skinny Puppy... who nobody will know or understand. [:P]

Nine Inch Nails - The perfect drug. A very moody and atmospheric clip.

quote:Originally posted by inglis

pearl jam - do the evolution

I definately agree with you there! Todd McFarlane does an awesome job with DTE.

yeah its a great vid.

i just downloaded Prodigy, Smack My Bitch Up....what a crack up.
i liked the parts where she gave the finger to everyone then started smashing a chair over someones head..followed by crashing into the toilet and pulling some guy of the crapper ;lol

quote:Originally posted by Blitz

Any flim clip with the scantily clad ladies isn't bad either.
CYer, Blitz

Watch ANY Mystikal film clip :D

I just had a look at three of my four data DVDs of film clips :p Here are some more good ones.

Jamiroquai, Virtual Insanity. Although there have been a few clips that have used the sliding floor technique, this easily does it the best. Supersonic by them is also a pretty good clip.

L.B.P., Frontside. A bunch of Aussie guys. Not that great a song, but the clip rocks. Just basically an attempt for one of the guys to be a stunt artist.

Michael Jackson. He has a LOT of cool clips, but the full length Triller is still my fav.

Mr. Oizo, Flat Beat. Anyone who has seen this knows why. Goes in the catagory of 'absolutely pointless'.

Orgy, Fiction (Dreams In Digital). Some really cool effects and compositing. Give this one a viewing.

Sir Mix-A-Lot, Baby Got Back. Sooo Pathetic :D

Sonic Animation. All their clips are funny.

Kyoko Fukada, Kimi No Hitomi Ni Koishiteru. Another JPop artist who appears in a rather stupid film clip trying to dance when it is really obvious that she can't. The people who made this clip need to be shot. She is really hot in real life, but she doesn't look that great in this clip.

Lee Jung Hyun, Going Crazy. Korean Pop. Starts off as a really cool song then... She is dressed in latex and leather fetish gear, trying to look really tough, while singing one of the most happy and slow songs I have heard. Laugh everytime I see it.

Fine Killing Liberty, Everlasting Love. A group of four really good looking girls (well three of them are), that are trying to dance. Pity they don;t know what choriography is :D They make up their dances on the spot. Another hilarious one.

Do The Evolution is a fantastic clip. As are all Tool's clips. Hush being my fav.

You guys watch music video clips???
Creepy...

gorillaz - 19/2000

i love this clip, its cooky and funny, i dont know if youve seen it but i laughed when the jeep went up and the rockets came out beneath it, it was just so nutty.
this is a pic of the moose from the vid clip that i made into a sig for a different forum:
[img]http://www.vooks.net/moonunit/moosecomplete.gif[/img]

I would have to say any Cannibal Corpse clip. They look like they have just grabbed their mates, an old black and white video camera, and gone to work! :)

Also the first Cradle of Filth clip (From the Cradle* to Enslave) was good, with deformed midgets (sorry, height disadvantaged), amputees and daemons with large phalluses everywhere. Great stuff! Hanging out for the new Dimmu clip though... :)

*Replace 'Cradle' with 'Sellout'

Benny Benassi - Satisfaction

quote:Originally posted by Maitrek

You guys watch music video clips???
Creepy...

Not every single one [;)].. most pop music videos are pretty generic and forgettable. I'm talking about the video clips that are like shortfilm, and are works of art in their own right - and in some cases are a lot more interesting than the music they're promoting.
If you haven't seen it already, try and get a look at that Bjork video clip!

And yeh, Radiohead and Aphex Twin have the strangest and most interesting video clips. Another cool video clip is Judith by A Perfect Circle. It's directed by David Fincher (Seven, Fightclub). Very grungy effects, like what you see in the opening to the movie Seven.

Benny Benassi - Satisfaction ?? There were two versions of that. One with the group standing still and mouthing the words while a lot of design effects were happening.. and then there's that other one with the females in bikinis with powertools. [;)]

bikinis and powertools.....

At the moment I'd agree with Inglis, that video clip is excellent! And the Chemical Brothers: Get yourself high.

whats that dance track on the radio at the moment by "junior senior" or something, that has the most cooky vid clip, and its all done in old style sprite animation :P

"get naked!"

oh...the Hanaka (sorry about the spelling) Punk Song on Adam Sandlers album...

that clip is funny

MoonUnit; Junior Senior, Move Your Feet

I downloaded it a week or so ago =D

Deftones - My summer (Shove It)-the DBZ one done by black Goku
well it's not the actual clip but it was made by some guy named black goku. It's is based on Dragon Ball Z i've caused and it get's the adreniline firing.

Static-X - Black and White.
Firstly you got to love wayne statics hair. This video clip starts of with all of them frozen and one by one they come to life. But that is about it. Nothing to fancy but i love it.

Fatman Scoop & ? - Be Faithful

Strange bobbing head people are kool

if you have seen it, what'd you think of The Offspring's 'Hit That' video clip?

The new Powderfinger music clip is okay. Like a mix between Samuri Jack and Dragon Ball Z. When I was a kid I used to love the clay animation music clip "three little pigs" (sorry I forget the band).

Green Jelly - Three Little Pigs. Has Maynard from Tool. Have the clip and the song :D

red hot chilli peppers - californication

mmm gameness :D

sounds really good :)
i dont do sound but that in 20mins to me is really impressive :)
good work.

Very nicely done groovy, especially for 20 minutes. How did you compose it, sampled or your own music?
It reminds me of earlier final fantasy/ warcraft games but with alot more sound quality of course.

I like the strings in the second area, they add a great dimension to the backround I can imagine that our hero is entering a battle or is nearing the captured princess tower ready for that final showdown with Mr Bad. [:P]

The percusion is also very well thought out, impacts well. The music wouldn't overpower the game also in my opinion, a mistake alot of people make, they want you to be drawn to every note but just like special effects music should add to the feel of a title not try to dominate it.

Keep us posted , I'd like to hear the finished piece. Now I think I have to go play FF7 again damn you.

Wow, that's awesome, and only 20minutes?!?

Sounds very suitable as game music.

You rock groovyone!

Wow.. very impressive stuff.. [:)]

Thanks for the feedback.

Tho it wasn't quite 20 minutes, but more like 50 minutes with all the extra fiddling.

Actually, I was writing this for a job application, but it was supposed to be medieval, but turned out more fantasy like.

This was my first serious attempt at what people traditionally call "orchestral". It's quite easy to be dramatic, so it will be a test to see how well I fare in the quiet sections..

I wrote this in freeware software called Psycle, using a sample library. The music is fully composed by myself, there's no riffs or recordings.

Aww the link's dead now :-(

However, may have got to listen to it in hearing the music you've
got on your site, good stuff man :)

So, on a tenuously related topic, can anyone recommend any
more good ambient/trance/electronica that's good to write
games to? :) Here's my faves:

Orbital
Michael Brook (excellent midi guitarist)
Cocteau Twins
Boards of Canada
808 State (ok, some of this list is pretty old :)
Brian Eno
Chicane
Carl Cox
Deep Forest (YMMV)
Enigma (again, YMMV)
Dead Can Dance
Tangerine Dream (slightly high cheese factor in some of their 80's/90's releases and just plain weird early on)
Leftfield

And some cool soundtracks:

Donnie Darko (mmm vocoders and moogs :)
Big Blue

Got any suggestions? Post 'em :->

Cheers,

CombatWombat (thread-hijacker extraordinaire :)

www.scenemusic.net - alot of music used in demos and old games

www.kohina.com - old skool game tunes

heh Gaming FM :) is this a net radio.. I think so.. ^_^

Damn I wish I did not have a cap ~_~

DAVID BOWIE!!
His "changes", "I'm afraid of americans" , "china girl", and of course his dance magic Labyrinth soundtrack songs oh and Heathen [:)] David Bowie is godly[;)]

quote:Originally posted by beatsta

I was wondering what tunes ppl listened to while they worked and in general of course? :)

//Without order nothing can exist - without chaos nothing can evolve. \(anon)

Ziggyyy.. playyeddd.... guitarrrrrr.....

Bowie is great.. I listen to so many types of music. From The Cure, to Tiesto and Mauro Picotto.. Korn, Coldplay, Gorillaz, Muse, Magic Dirt.. I like the recent Chilli Peppers too.. [:)]

space oddity is my favourite bowie song. I was a huge cure fan till the album after disintergration, which i cant remeber the name of.I got it lyin round here sumwheres. coldplay are great i should get some of there stuff...

bush, incubus, teaparty, system of the down, staind, korn, live, chilli peppers,rem, manson, massive attack, eminem, orgy, nin, radiohead, pearl jam, portishead, sevendust...off the top of my head [:)]

im listening to a whole heap of sunscreem twelves at this moment

yah beth orton and portishead, wish they never split portishead concert in brisvegas was great. massive attack and tricky hit my spot every time, me got unfinished sympathy on 12 inch last year, 2 copies to be sure :)

I like remixes of old (and newer) game tunes. Theres an amazing (IMO :) ) remix of the SF2 end credits tune mixed with pachabel canon that is one of my favourite tunes of all time.
Other than that, i mainly listen to punk and oi! music.
CYer, Blitz

I'm with ya there Blitz, but you'll hafta gimme a name for the SF2 remix so I can hunt it down. Any band doing a cover of Zelda ownz in my book (NIN and SoaD immediately spring to mind)

Frenzal Rhomb, Grinspoon, Cake, Eric Clapton, Crowded House, NIN, Metallica, Powderfinger, Something for Kate, Big Heavy Stuff, Weird Al, RatM, movie soundtracks like Star Wars/Toy Story/etc, U2... basically, I'll listen to anything. Yes, including Country (usually mates who are country singers, or Kacey Chambers)

Chris Bowden
http://brain.gamekey.com/

http://remix.overclocked.org has heaps of game remixes, including the one i suggested above. It's called "SF2 CE (One Credit Finish Mix)" by Rayza.
CYer, Blitz

Oh, I have a tiny collection of C64 music remixes! Way of the Exploding Fist, Internationl Karate, Commando (hi-score), Monty, Robocop (title music), just to name a few... Brilliant tunes and melodies. Lovely nostalgic stuff. [:)]

Lately I've been listening to arch enemy, nile, my dying bride, madder mortem, morbid angel, Nick cave, at the gates, satyricon,Amber Asylum, Polly Jean Harvey( Who is playing at the big day out, plus other gigs particularly her show on the 28th in melbourne which I have a ticket too YAY!!), Lacuna coil, dark tranquility, zyklon and emperor. Been itching for somthing new lately, looks like I'l be heading to JB hi-fi in the next couple of days.

"when it comes to angry killing machines, nothing beats the Lord Jesus!"

Well my usual playlist includes: Tool, Metallica, Rage Against the Machine, Foo Fighters, Tool, Deftones, A Perfect Circle, Nirvana, System of a Down, At the Drive In, Tool, Linkin Park, Slayer, Korn, Smashing Pumpkins etc.

Although I sometimes just tune the radio to JJJ and listen to that, usually they have some good things playing during the morning / day.

Whatever I feel like at the time. Usually NIN, Tool, Queens Of The Stone Age, Kyuss, System Of A Down and Haujobb get played, but I also play (from time to time) Foo Fighters, Tea Party, Manson, Pantera, Fear Factory, Prodigy, Regurgitator, RATM, and a big mix of every song I think is kewl and that I have an MP3 for.

That's alot of Tool in one playlist.
Ummm - lately I have been listening to the sound of silence. but if not that then the radio in the background or maybe some game music or some such. Either that or some form of metal.

I have to say it. Dark Tranquillity went pants after Projector.

The bands I listen to in general are : Opeth (up until Deliverance), Dark Tranquillity (up until Haven), Chalice (great aussie/adelaidean band, any doom metal people should go support them), Tristania (earlier), have a near complete Megadeth and Metallica collection from teeny-bopper head-banger years, Amorphis, Alchemist (good band from Canberra), At The Gates, some small amounts of Tool, maybe Chilli Peppers sometimes.
On a more chilled note Enigma and Delerium (when they were two people and not one) are good. The Conan soundtrack is mucho cool, Blade Runner soundtrack also very good, Vangelis in general is sometimes good.

Snootchie bootchies!
Any off-topic issues send to maitrek@austarmetro.com.au

wow, every1 is into alternate, indie, metal,pop, rock, and game music
are there no house heads here.... no1 into bossa rythms, deep house, jazzy beats, and down tempo. ( i wonder if i will get flamed for mentioning jazz ) smirk.

wake up, we got, we want, CHAOS, wake up, we got perfect motion.
wake up, we've got, to stop, the rot, wake up, we want EVOLUTION
wake up, wake up, they've lost, the plot, so knock, 'till the walls come CRASHING DOWN. - sunscreem

i just thought, i know what i got here that might be drool material ( beatsta goes searchin and switches on the fluros so he can see the vinyl and trees growing thru his walls, the trees flower in winter with pretty white flowers otherwise i wld rip them out of the walls )
beatsa finds his pile of seven inches, so hard to find amid the crates of twelves ;) and comes
up with Player 1 side A: 'space invaders' ( oh yeah) and the b side ' a menacing glow in the sky'
beatsa reads the info on the record.... and get this, its from 1979 (a few years afta i was born )
it was produced by Bad Productions and recorded at Alberts Studios, Sydney, Australia.
Hows that? i might even listen to .... is this really from the atari space invaders... hmm i dont think so.. its got vocals like devo might sing .....rfl teeheehee ( oh but it does sample space invaders, that for sure)
maybe i shld rip it to sum audio file and upload it here...any1 interested?.. tell me what format and how to post it :)

wake up, we got, we want, CHAOS, wake up, we got perfect motion.
wake up, we've got, to stop, the rot, wake up, we want EVOLUTION
wake up, wake up, they've lost, the plot, so knock, 'till the walls come CRASHING DOWN. - sunscreem

'the thunderbirds are go' single is much better, i dont got it tho :( unfortunately.... or am i thinkin of the g force tune.. maybe both

wake up, we got, we want, CHAOS, wake up, we got perfect motion.
wake up, we've got, to stop, the rot, wake up, we want EVOLUTION
wake up, wake up, they've lost, the plot, so knock, 'till the walls come CRASHING DOWN. - sunscreem

DEVIN TOWNSEND wooooo hooooo! and of course,NIN, Dark Tranquillity (haven only), Manson, Korn, Overseer, Tea Party, Amelie sound track, cold play, Hed pe, Godhead, Vision of Disorder, Muderdolls, unwritten law, Bon Jovi, Skin lab, Prodigy, Eminem, Jimmy eat world, Pain of salvation, Bouwling for soup, Linkin park, Body jar, In Flames, Happy2BHardcore, Extreme, the beatles, weird al yankovich, and some asorted MP3's......thats about it....(but for how long???)[;)]

Its obvious that I listen to NIN, also all of Bowie, Tweaker (Chris Vrenna exNINs band), faithless (insomnia ;P), Alice in Chains, Faith No More, Type O Negative, Corporate Avenger, as well as the Blade Runner soundtrack and some Sonic Mayhem. I've tried working to heavier music, but no work gets done as I instead prefer to jump around like a crazy man!!!

Bladerunner soundtrack!! Vangelis is the man! [:)].. his music takes you to other worlds, I swear..

I listen to Hans Zimmer, Garbage or Linkin Park

It is infact ants who are the true rulers of this world!!!

I listen to a lot of film scores:

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones (John Williams, duh! [;)])
Spy Game (composed by Harry Gregson-Williams, who also did the score for Metal Gear Solid 2)
Planet of the Apes (Danny Elfman)
Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (Howard Shore)
Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (Eliot Goldenthal)
Minority Report (John Williams)

If I get bored, I just listen to whatever's on the radio.

We like a man who comes right out and says what he thinks - when he agrees with us.

Im listening to switchkicker 'drown' ova and ova and ova

Im chillin' to the sounds of Morcheeba right no. :P
Also Gomez, Gerling, the Cure, Massive Attack, White Stripes, The Vines, Avalanches, Silverchair, Portishead, Radiohead..... list goes on...

Bouncy_roo: David Bowie rocks. I loved Labrynth (not as much as dark crystal though)

Beasta: I went to the Portishead concert in Brisvegas, it was excellent. I managed to score private box seats too. :P
As for Jazz well Miles Davis is on my playlist so thers safety in numbers now budddy. [;)]

quote:Originally posted by rezn0r
I've tried working to heavier music, but no work gets done as I instead prefer to jump around like a crazy man!!!

Heh, I usually tune out if I'm listening through speakers, but headphones on generally means that not as much work gets done.

Ethan Watson, teh brand spankin' new Krome employee.

So the question now becomes: Speakers or Headphones?

Although the more interesting question would be what was the best live gig of a band that people have been to?

yeah malus, that portishead concert was the last concert i had been to, and before that it was the cure out at boondal, in 92 i think.I had ear infections in both ears and had go to work at 5am afta the cure concert, certainly one i wont forget..
Massive attack tickets are being purchased today...yippee...

A friend just recently bought me the 12 inch of the cures' standing on the beach the singles, i dont know if unfortuantely for her they said if i could get the warp out of it, it cld be worth sum money, altho it only cost her 10 bucks. I got the warp out and it plays fine. i only have that and disentergration on vinyl and about 3 new order blue mondays and a new order album, which hang out with the ah ha records ( forgot how to spell them and cant be bothered diggin )
wish i had gone to the beth orton concert, i worked at the tivoli for a bit last year behind the bar, it wasnt very good tho, altho i got to work when the vines played ( not that i am a fan) and i got to work when , sheesh i cant remeer the guys name, but while he was over here he did a qut add???? hes pretty old and scotish or ireish or sumthink ahh bob geldof thats the bloke. and i dunno who else i worked there and saw. glad i dont work there anymore as well, it was only a couple of months, about a grands worth on prolly my 3rd group certificate for that financial year ( this one) teehee, that with all my invoices for my psi, im goona get slaughterd by the tax department...despite all the awesome things i can claim on deductions...hehehe

headphones or speakers ehh, guess it depends on how good your cones or drivers, or whatever you want to call them, are for both... im not goona type anymore myself on this subject... except to say that professional monitoring headphones are awesome if you get a decent pair and well hell speakers...so many ppl fawk out large dollars for rubbish.........hmm yeah im not goona say no more. I like both and need both [:)] what ya dont need tho is ppl playin with compressors and dspus and eqs unless they no what they are doin and tell you and blah blah blah....sorry. stop.

Well far far to much Red Hot Chili Peppers.

headphones or speakers??

Comes down to the other people around me and how busy they are. But if you have a sub you have to use it.