Contrary to a lot of idle criticism, Bungie's
Halo series of video games has
a surprisingly rich backstory -- a universe complex enough to support
seven bestselling novels,
a wiki with over 7,000 articles, and
one of the most successful ARGs in history (including
a full-fledged radio drama). The series has also turned out sweeping audiovisual work, from the games'
cinematic cutscenes and
epic music (lots of free previews) to
top-shelf anime and the Hollywood-quality short films --
ODST,
Believe,
Deliver Hope,
Landfall -- that were made to promote the games (the latter of which, produced by Neil Blomkamp,
inspired District 9). And that's apart from all the material produced by Bungie's dedicated fan base:
genuinely hilarious machinima from
Red vs. Blue,
professional-level graphic novels (table of contents at the top),
gorgeous artwork,
hours of recorded dialogue,
complete transcripts of
hidden apocrypha, and more
factual analysis,
story speculation, and
casual discussion than you can shake an energy sword at. But most of these pale in comparison to the latest and greatest exercise in Halo beanplating: the
Svmma Canonica, a 40-page, 17,000-word formal treatise on the nature of canon in the world that Bungie built, and how it will fare once Bungie moves on and the franchise is managed by 343 Industries. Discussion
over at Bungie's official site, or at decade-old fan forum
Halo.Bungie.Org.
posted by Rhaomi
on Jan 31, 2011 -
71 comments
The first thing I was told about Arcanum was the central conflict of the game: magic versus technology. This idea was so interesting and unique that I considered carefully how to best reflect it in the music. […] We finally settled on a sort of musical anachronism: a score centered around the styles and textures of Renaissance, medieval, and early music, but performed by a characteristic ensemble of the Victorian era, the string quartet.
Composer
Ben Houge and his
choir-on-strings score for
Troika Studios' (buggy, beloved) steampunk step-child
Arcanum (
letsplay),
in mp3, lossless pcm, and full sheet music.
[more inside]
posted by kid ichorous
on Jan 27, 2011 -
41 comments
Street Fighter II. It basically created the 2d-beat-em-up, and invented the combo, the special move, a wide roster of diverse, playable characters who people grew to
love, and all the other things that gamers have taken for granted for years. It spawned a whole
series, none of which ever quite captured the original's charm or had the same influence. This was a game that people obsessed over -
bands were named after its special moves,
rappers cited it in their
lyrics, and
even Premier League footballers weren't immune to its charms. Poor
Raul Julia's final film was
this masterpiece, and
a new version's headed straight to DVD very soon. Now, 17 years later,
Street Fighter 4 is about to be released in Europe and the nostalgia machine is going into overdrive. The game's producer's been talking about its
links to Street Fighter II, reviewers are
getting misty-eyed , and even musicians are getting in on the act with Akira the Don making his very own
Street Fighter-themed track.
Apparently it's pretty good. Hadouken!
posted by muggsy1079
on Feb 19, 2009 -
79 comments
CNet's Music site is one of my favorite sources of often surprisingly good independent music. As I write this, I'm listening to
Zo Wanti Music's Lost Ship, a mellow New Age environmental piece that is very nice and relaxing.
They have an enormous selection of music here, but one of the oddest and sometimes most rewarding to pick through is the
game soundtracks/musical scores section. The artists listed here all compose music for video games (or have in the past). It's strangely fun to listen to some of their pieces and wonder what game that could belong to.
posted by Reverend Robbie
on Oct 7, 2008 -
0 comments
With the wild success of the Guitar Hero series, using video game controllers shaped like guitars is nothing new. However, the duo at
Modal Kombat actually use guitars as video game controllers. They won't reveal all of their tricks, but you can read a bit about their technology
here and at
this interview with Urban Guitar. The results are awfully impressive. View the original Modal Kombat
here, and their newest installment, the admittedly trippy GuitarKart
here.
via
posted by Ufez Jones
on Dec 3, 2007 -
5 comments
Zelda and the Golden Ratio. A fascinating examination of the music from Nintendo's Zelda games, and the recurring appearances of 0.618, the bisection point on a line at which the relationship of the shorter segment to the longer one is the same as that of the longer section to the whole line.
posted by jbickers
on Mar 7, 2007 -
24 comments
SMW - The complete soundtrack to Super Mario World, covered by one man using dozens of instruments. Roughly in game order, faithful to the originals, with some bizarre artistic license thrown around. A private hobby made public. Dedicated to Koji Kondo.
posted by Pretty_Generic
on Aug 13, 2005 -
20 comments
VGMix is a site that hosts MP3s made by video game afficionados who have remixed the tunes from their favorite video games, old and new alike. Check out the
releases page and try out a few songs. You can also
search for songs by a particular game system, genre, specific game, etc.
(Unfortunately, search seems broken for me right now, but it usually works!) The users generally provide extensive reviews that will help you sort out the great from the mediocre before downloading.
posted by knave
on May 23, 2005 -
11 comments
Do you miss the music from your old NES games? Well if you do, be sure to check out the minibosses. They're a band that only plays the songs to classic video games from the Nintendo Entertainment System. Great stuff. I particularly enjoyed the Wizards & Warriors track amusing, since I was addicted to that game when I was younger. Also, am I the only one who thinks there should be a new console system DEDICATED to only 2D games? 3D games are neat 'n all, but I don't think enough good 2D games are being made anymore. The
Gameboy Advance is probably the only system doing that sort of thing right now, but it's just a portable.
posted by kingmissile
on Oct 3, 2001 -
22 comments
