The season finale of Game Shop is now upon us. This action packed episode is loaded up with Cyber Ninjas, Time Travel and lazer shootin' Digital Heads.
Looking forward to season 2.
The season finale of Game Shop is now upon us. This action packed episode is loaded up with Cyber Ninjas, Time Travel and lazer shootin' Digital Heads.
Quite enjoyable. It would be a bit pretentious to complain about paradoxes in this wouldn't it ;)
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/05/2013 at 07:04am
No. That's totally geek-ceptible.
I liked how she was "I can't tell you about the future" and then immediately did. That's prob how that would work with most people and I generally don't like that mechanic in other shows/films.
My Review of Hawken. I actually had to reupload because of a problem exporting, so you guys only get the good one.
My Review of Hawken. I actually had to reupload because of a problem exporting, so you guys only get the good one.
Awesome video @SignalWarden, thanks for posting! Hawker looks totally badass, I just put it on my radar. Like many I haven't played a Mech shooter since Mechwarrior on PC and SNES.
I was pretty impressed that you mentioned the people online were nice. That would definitely put Hawken in a place above other muiltiplayer games if that was how the game community was compared to other games like DoTA 2 :)
Also interesting they went with live action cut scenes, they looked well filmed but I don't see that a lot these days.
Looking forward to your next video!
SignalWarden Post Author
wrote on 01/04/2013 at 06:31pm
Thanks! The live action is actually from an upcoming web series. They don't have much story in game. They are relying on a web series (which I think is being produced by Warner) and some graphic novels (I think the same team that did the GoW graphics) to tell the back story. I'm looking forward to it, but it is kind of a poor way to get story attached to a game.
And yeah, there is no community as vile as the Dota/HoN/LoL community. And I am a longtime DotA/LoL/Dota 2 player, so it's experience talking.
The experience of playing Sword & Sworcery on my iPhone showed me how immersive games on my phone could be. I wasn't sure iPhone games could be more than the typical grind of a puzzle game or fruit ninja clone. As I played Sword and Sworcery for the first time it recommended I use stereo headphones and I was surprised at how fantastic the experience was. The game that unfolded was a visual and audio feast. I enjoyed the fresh take on how a video game provides you with an introduction and the music stood out front and center as incredible. I mentally noted to find out more about the music because as I played it really hooked me. Jim Guthrie's scores for Sword &... Read All
The experience of playing Sword & Sworcery on my iPhone showed me how immersive games on my phone could be. I wasn't sure iPhone games could be more than the typical grind of a puzzle game or fruit ninja clone. As I played Sword and Sworcery for the first time it recommended I use stereo headphones and I was surprised at how fantastic the experience was. The game that unfolded was a visual and audio feast. I enjoyed the fresh take on how a video game provides you with an introduction and the music stood out front and center as incredible. I mentally noted to find out more about the music because as I played it really hooked me. Jim Guthrie's scores for Sword & Sworcery, Indie Game: The Movie and most recently a Sword & Sworcery remix album are some of his more recent awesome creations. I have wanted to talk to Jim for sometime and recently I sent him a note and he awesomely agreed to answer my questions.
Over the course of the Interview he let drop a few bits of fresh information. He is working with Sony to hopefully release the Corporeal score on iTunes and Bandcamp in the next few months. I asked him about his next project and he is currently working on a new solo album of material that will should be released by late spring or early summer!
jdodson: I was first exposed to your music playing Sword & Sworcery and that experience really stuck with me. I want to thank you for taking time to answer my questions.
jdodson: The track “Army of Assholes” from the Indie Game: The Movie score is interesting to me in that it seems thematically different. To me this track is a jab at simple ignorance and people that can be quite sublime in smugness. I just imagine an army of simple minded smiling folk as they walk down a long hallway. With all that, whatever all that was... I wonder how you approached creating this song and its inspiration?
Jim: There was really a master plan when scoring the film as I had very little time to do it (3-ish weeks I think?). The music for Army Of Assholes was written for the section of film it shows up in and was fleshed-out and named after words. I was trying to evoke a synthy / tech / electro circus vibe that also might shadow a "questionable sanity" of a developer at any given time during the creation of a game. It wasn't until after I finished the song that it became clear to quote Phil Fish from the film when he uses the term to describe trolls on the web.
jdodson: What was it like working with Sony on Corporeal? Did Sony change much in the way of how you and the Superbrothers collaborate?
Jim: Sony wasn't really directly involved with what Craig and I did for our level in Sound Shapes. It was a little bit more disjointed because Craig Adams (aka superbrothers) worked on the art assets with some guidance and direction from the guys at Queasy and I worked on my sounds separately with help from Shaw-han Liem at Queasy. I got to see Craigs art at early stages and I did my best to try and create a pallet of sounds that worked but there was a lot of experimenting and hoping for the best as well.
jdodson: “The Red Bull” is a song from the Indie Game: The Movie score. The song has a primarily electronic drive and ends with an out of tune guitar strumming. I wonder what theme you were trying to hit here?
Jim: The songs sort of rises and distorts from the digital version over to a broken acoustic version of the song to try and expose the human element of game developing. Simply speaking it's sort of a digital vs analog, mind vs body and the challenge to pull emotion / soul out of a few lines of code and some pixels or whatever. It's one of my favourite songs on the album
jdodson: What are you working on right now?
Jim: I'm working on a solo album that's not related to video game stuff at all. Before I did music for S&S I was more known for playing in bands and writing songs etc. It's almost 10 years since I put out a "regular album" and it should be out by late spring / early summer.
jdodson: Some of the music on Swords & Sworcery is so incredibly atmospheric. What came first? The art or the music? Were adjustments made on either side to fit the other?
Jim: Well the music came first I guess. Craig heard some of my Playstation compositions years before the game was even conceived. When Capy approached Craig to make a game we used a few of those tunes to get us started and then it was more 'back and forth' after that.
jdodson: Any plans to release the Corporeal soundtrack?
Jim: Yes, I'm just trying to get all the paper work sorted out with Sony. Hopefully there will be an ep of the music from the game for sale on Bandcamp and iTunes in the next few months.
jdodson: What are some of the things you have yet to accomplish as a musician and composer?
Jim: That's a tough question. I've done music for many mediums (recorded and live) but at the same time I feel like I'm just getting started. I just want to keep myself guessing and take on interesting and challenging projects. It's hard to even know what that means but I've been lucky to work on the projects I have and I guess I just hope to keep getting more of the same work in the future.
jdodson: The Sword & Sworcery score saw a limited Vinyl and Cassette release. My 90’s teen self is wondering if there are any plans for a Compact Disc release and my Dad is asking about 8-track? Seriously though, I still buy CD’s, rip them and put them on my shelf. Something about an actual album still seems totally awesome to me.
Jim: I probably should have made a CD version but it just felt right to keep it in these extreme ends of the format scale. Digital download or extreme analog! * - track would have been sort going overboard but its' tempting. I still like CDs as well but cassette and vinyl is so much more nostalgic for me.
jdodson: I love the Song “The Maelstrom.” It starts with what sounds like a looped guitar, drums and a piano. What did you do to the guitar to get that awesomely melodic grating sound?
Jim: I used a Boss looping station plugged into an amp and just experimented with different strumming patterns until I found something I liked. I then added piano to break up the drone and give it structure.
jdodson: I know you have worked with the MTV Music Generator. Any thought to using Mario Paint in a future creation? The Cat and Dog sounds alone are worth the price of admission.
Jim: I never really got into Mario Paint but I love the limitations it imposes. I feel I do my best work when confronted by a limited options.
jdodson: The primary medium that people use to consume music now is digital and allows totally awesome stuff in that I have access to all 44.3 days of my music at once. That said, one negative change is that I don’t listen to a single album as much as I now have so many. I wonder, as how people listen to music changes does that alter how one creates music?
Jim: Maybe. I don't really think about how the whole album until I get all the individual songs done. It isn't until then that I sit back figure out how to best sequence it in a way keeps people listening for the whole thing. I can't expect to have people listen to the whole thing in one sitting because like you said there's just so much music out there and it's fun making your own playlists or putting it on shuffle. In a way I almost like the idea of someone unexpectedly hearing a song of mine in shuffle mode more than anything else. It definitely doesn't change the way I make music but it may change the way I sequence an album knowing people have shorter attentions spans. There will always be musicians who care about the album as a whole and there will always be people care to listen to a whole album and the rest will just work itself out. jdodson: You release your music on Bandcamp with the pay as much as you like model. I wonder how well this is working for you and if you have any plans to modify how your music is released in the future?
Jim: It's tough to know how to price your own stuff and certain pricing models work better than others depending on the project and how it's marketed etc. I don't really have any answers on how to best approach this kind of thing but it seems like the more you give away the better chance you have of people giving back. The Humble Indie Bundle is a perfect example of this. The trick is to have an audience to begin with. If you have that luxury then you just have to experiment with how to price stuff and make people happy. jdodson: I picked up The Scythian Steppes: Songs Localized for Japan and really enjoy the remixes of your music.
Jim: I think this is the first time having people remix my stuff. I let the people at 8-4 in Japan do their thing in rounding up remix artists and then pretty much let them do whatever they felt like.
jdodson: Chiptunes and retro video game scores seem to have garnered more attention lately. Your style seems to borrow from these elements already but I am wondering if you have any thoughts to incorporating more elements from 8 and 16 bit music?
Jim: Well this is the thing. I don't really consider myself a "chiptune musician". The term gets thrown around a lot and what I do is a mish-mash of a bunch of sounds and technologies. For example, I'll use a real acoustic guitar and strum it and then sample it and and mix other synth sounds in there and maybe even some 8-bit emulators but I'm never just using hardware from the 80s or even just emulators to create an entire piece of music. I just call it "computer music".
jdodson: Are there any video game scores that stand out to you above the rest?
Jim: Ah, jeez. There are so many good ones that it's hard say. I feel like if I name one then I fall down a rabbit hole of ramblings about video game soundtracks.
jdodson: Have you considered creating music with a 5.1 or 7.1 mix?
Jim: I haven't really considered it but I'd love to try and mix something in 5.1.
jdodson: What games have you been playing lately?
Jim: Well, I just got a Wii U so I've been playing a lot of Zombie U which I quite like and Nintendo Land. Overall I like the Wii U but it's just such a mix of good and bad decisions on Nintendo's part that's it's hard to give a definitive answer about the console as a whole. I'm looking forward to seeing what games come out for it because right now there isn't a ton of them to choose from. Otherwise I play a lot of Chip Chain and Drop 7 on iOS. I really like number puzzle games.
jdodson: You have a wider audience because of your involvement in video games. Did you always want to approach scoring video games or was happenstance?
Jim: I never really considered it an option to be honest but I love video games and the potential they have to produce truly inspiring and engaging works of art. It was just happenstance that Craig asked me to do the music for S&S and I'm forever thankful to him and everyone at Capy for having me along. It's been an unbelievable couple of years.
jdodson: The score to Sword & Sworcery uses a wide array of musical instruments. The track “The Cloud” features woodwinds. How do you accomplish recording these different instruments and what different players do you collaborate with?
Jim: I come from a rich local music scene here in Toronto. Most of the people I know and play with are amazing musicians so it's just a matter of trying to direct them while letting them contribute in ways I couldn't have on my own. For The Cloud I didn't really have a song structure in mind. I just had people come in a play very loosely in a certain key and then I edited all the rises and falls afterwards. There was a lot of uncertainty and experimentation in that song and I'm happy with the results.
jdodson: Thanks for talking with me Jim, its been awesome!
That was a super cool interview. As a music lover, I totally enjoyed reading about how he experimented and created! Now I have to check out the games that he's scored!
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/04/2013 at 06:57pm
Sword & Sworcery is available on Android now and its fantastic.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/04/2013 at 06:57pm
Here goes! I'm trying to come at this from a "how to" or "guide" angle because I feel like my 360 hours of this game should be good for something. Let me know what you think.
Here goes! I'm trying to come at this from a "how to" or "guide" angle because I feel like my 360 hours of this game should be good for something. Let me know what you think.
Wow Gary that was fantastic, that really helps me understand the depth of the game and some basic strategy that I didn't quite get by "armchairing" Isaac.
Watching this game is hella awesome but I realize how far I have to go to actually beat it in a run as it gets REALLY hard later on. Awesome though, looks fun.
Just made two Isaac runs. Nowhere as beefy as you were by floor 3. That and floor 3 stopped me each time. Used your strats to find the secret rooms and bombs blowing two spaces. Helps quite a bit, way more powerful that I was starting Isaac totally fresh.
That said, I unlocked Magdeline and she seems not as good as Isaac. Recommend?
If you find yourself taking a lot of damage, Maggie can be really helpful until you unlock Cain. Try Maggie a few times. More health, as much damage, yum heart. The only disadvantage is she's slower but speed upgrades are plentiful.
I have noticed speed upgrades are pretty plentiful. I dig Issac because he is Isaac but I find I really do appreciate the speed boost to start. Ill incorporate her more into my play though.
Cain is sort of by the books next steps. Cain is a straight upgrade in every way other than starting with only 2 health, which you can make up quickly. The other Maggie strategy is to liberally make deals with the devil. 4 hearts can make a huge difference there. An early brimstone can make or break your run.
UPDATE: This is not a real trailer. It's really the game, it's just a very early version that was never meant to be shown to the public. This was posted all over gaming news sites and even the social media manager at Activision posted it, so I don't feel so bad.
So here's another game for The Walking Dead. There's the Telltale adventure game, the Facebook game, and now this first-person survival game published by Activision. None of these are related at all except by the source material. I worry this will be confusing for some consumers.
I'll be... Read AllUPDATE: This is not a real trailer. It's really the game, it's just a very early version that was never meant to be shown to the public. This was posted all over gaming news sites and even the social media manager at Activision posted it, so I don't feel so bad.
So here's another game for The Walking Dead. There's the Telltale adventure game, the Facebook game, and now this first-person survival game published by Activision. None of these are related at all except by the source material. I worry this will be confusing for some consumers.
I'll be fair and say that, no, I haven't played this game. And this may be super-early production for all I know. But this trailer for the new Walking Dead game just looks bad. You play as fan-favorite and heart throb Daryl Dixon, a character from the show. It doesn't appear to do him justice.
I'll wait for the final cut to come out before making any real judgments, but I'm not sold.
Yeah, no. The Telltale game is so good because it captures the spirit of the world/comic perfectly. The show, while decent, doesn't. An imitation of an imitation probably has limited potential.
Seems like the video has been pulled. The Walking Dead is hella popular now so it makes sense to me that make things would pop up with that property.
I have heard that the game is stronger than the show, but that the show is good. Haven't started the show myself as I am waiting for it to be over to plow through them all in a few weeks on Netflix. Netflix has forever changed how I approach TV shows.
In my opinion it goes Comic->Game------>Show. The show is good but it doesn't have the character power the other media does. It took 1.5 seasons for the show to get good, I think. That said, I haven't watched much of the 3rd season.
Travis Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/04/2013 at 01:35am
Gary, interesting, as I thought the show was great through season 1, and then not so great in season 2, but is pulling itself back around in season 3. And oooooh season 3. So good.
The first half of Season 2 is abysmal, i think. Season 1 is pretty OK but I've got source material to compare it to, which isn't fair, but I can't help it. I think the turning point in Season 2 is the scene in the bar in town. Then it gets good. I'm looking forward to season 3 but I'm waiting for more of it to come out first.
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This is a video for Jurassic Life, a new Source mod coming out "when it's ready." This is currently a work-in-progress, entirely fan-made, with tons of new... everything! New AI, new textures, models, environments... and it could be the great Jurassic Park game we've been waiting for. I'm always curious in situations like this whether the IP owners will have anything to say about it. I'd be surprised if Universal doesn't go after them, but maybe they'll be nice about it. Free publicity right?
This is a video for Jurassic Life, a new Source mod coming out "when it's ready." This is currently a work-in-progress, entirely fan-made, with tons of new... everything! New AI, new textures, models, environments... and it could be the great Jurassic Park game we've been waiting for. I'm always curious in situations like this whether the IP owners will have anything to say about it. I'd be surprised if Universal doesn't go after them, but maybe they'll be nice about it. Free publicity right?
This is interesting. They have plenty of shots from the movie present, and John Williams score brings me right back for sure. I wonder if the game will be a multiplayer or single player experience? Both? From the video I sort of wondered if it would be Humans VS. Dinosaurs Deathmatch? Interested in knowing how this turns out as there are not a ton of mods released that I actually play.
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WARNING: This video is from James Rolfe. If you're unfamiliar with him or his character the Angry Video Game Nerd, there is a lot of adult humor and language. You've been warned! :)
I was catching up on some AVGN when I found a new series with James Rolfe and Mike Matei just playing games and chatting about them. This one in particular got me thinking about the old days with friends all crowded around the TV in the floor, playing the new game you just rented obsessively. Much has changed with games getting huge and the internet enabling remote multiplayer, and not all for the better.
I can remember so many hours spent playing so many games, including but not limited to... Read AllWARNING: This video is from James Rolfe. If you're unfamiliar with him or his character the Angry Video Game Nerd, there is a lot of adult humor and language. You've been warned! :)
I was catching up on some AVGN when I found a new series with James Rolfe and Mike Matei just playing games and chatting about them. This one in particular got me thinking about the old days with friends all crowded around the TV in the floor, playing the new game you just rented obsessively. Much has changed with games getting huge and the internet enabling remote multiplayer, and not all for the better.
I can remember so many hours spent playing so many games, including but not limited to Mortal Kombat, NHL, Double Dragon, and of course Super Mario Bros. 3 with friends. There's something special about sitting next to someone that is lost entirely in the internet multiplayer days. The experience just isn't personal. Even with voice communication, it's hard to really focus on everything at once. It's considered a distraction to just talk about whatever and react to things you find interesting or funny as you play.
It seems like there's a resurgence of this lately, to an unfortunately small degree. Games like Borderlands 2 allow split-screen on consoles. Serious Sam 3 even allows split-screen on PC with multiple keyboards and mice. And Nintendo is one major player that still keeps this going strong. Even in Super Mario Galaxy there were minor things a second player could do to influence the world. I couldn't have gotten all the stars without my wife's help!
But for the most part, multiplayer is online-only these days, taking social gaming into a less social place than where it could be. It's amazing that we can play games with people all across the world, but it's sad that some people will never experience the joy of couch multiplayer. Perhaps I'm just being a bit of a gaming hipster, and my gaming proclivities haven't kept up with the times. Maybe I'm wrong, and it's just that I'm nostalgic for a time when gaming was a brave new world to me. What do you think?
In person I'd say its easier to just play split-screen muiltiplayer on a console than get a game working across a few computers. At least, lately it seems to have gotten harder for some of my friends. Plus they have to have a beefy laptop as no one, generally speaking, wants to bring over a desktop anymore.
I wish Nintendo wasn't the only company to still do 4 player split-screen though. Like I bet we would play more split-screen on console if the typical ps3 game was more than just two player, shooter especially.
That said, like you I had a great time with Mario Galaxy playing it with my wife. She loved collecting the stars, shaking bushes and helping push back bad guys.
I do miss the days of couch multiplayer and LAN parties. Playing on-line is awesome, but it's just not the same as having your friends there in person.
Then again, as teens my friends and I had a lot more free time to plan entire evenings to playing. As adults, it's difficult to arrange our schedules to align well enough for an hour or two of gaming on-line, let alone trying to meet in person. Still, it would be nice if more games at least gave you the option of local multiplayer.
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Looks like we are getting a pretty interesting update to Diablo III early next year.
"First and foremost, if our original goal was to support dueling, then we're not achieving that goal very well if we don’t actually give players a way to duel in-game. You’ve been asking us for dueling for a while, so we're going to add it to the game soon. Dueling is currently scheduled to release with patch 1.0.7, which is set to hit sometime after the new year. (We'll be providing details about that feature very soon, so stay tuned.)"
Blizzard didn't ship PvP with Diablo III and instead opted to release it as an update after the launch of the game. It doesn't seem like progress on... Read All
Looks like we are getting a pretty interesting update to Diablo III early next year.
"First and foremost, if our original goal was to support dueling, then we're not achieving that goal very well if we don’t actually give players a way to duel in-game. You’ve been asking us for dueling for a while, so we're going to add it to the game soon. Dueling is currently scheduled to release with patch 1.0.7, which is set to hit sometime after the new year. (We'll be providing details about that feature very soon, so stay tuned.)"
Blizzard didn't ship PvP with Diablo III and instead opted to release it as an update after the launch of the game. It doesn't seem like progress on PvP is going well and they are going back to the drawing board with it:
"Certainly, we've gotten a lot of benefits from the development of Team Deathmatch, especially in the areas of controls and combat model tuning, but at this point we don't believe it's the experience we feel it needs to be in order to ship, so we will be shelving it for now and exploring other options."
This makes sense to me as when I envisioned PvP in Diablo III the idea of modes like Capture the Flag came to mind. Simply putting a bunch of people in a room and going at it does seem fun, but wouldn't hold my attention very long.
After collecting all the community votes for game of the year the top 5 list is in.
*drumroll*
Borderlands 2
FTL: Faster Than Light
The Walking Dead
Diablo 3
Planetside 2
I am pretty happy with this list and want to thank everyone that voted! Feel free to submit your personal GoTY lists as well, I will collect mine and submit in the next few days!
After collecting all the community votes for game of the year the top 5 list is in.
*drumroll*
Borderlands 2
FTL: Faster Than Light
The Walking Dead
Diablo 3
Planetside 2
I am pretty happy with this list and want to thank everyone that voted! Feel free to submit your personal GoTY lists as well, I will collect mine and submit in the next few days!
Interesting that FTL did so well. It's a good game but I sort of stopped hearing about it much.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/02/2013 at 04:56pm
I was talking to @WhiteboySlim last night as he was playing it. Seemed to make a big splash earlier in the year but might not have with the regular gaming press.
jdodson Admin Post Author
wrote on 01/02/2013 at 04:57pm
I have yet to get it myself, I am kind of holding back on adding many new games to my list. Its on my "games to get" list though :D
I hit up Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2012 this year and am still surprised to see these video retrospectives come out so far afterward. That said, this is a good video overview of the event as it was back in the summer.
I am planning on hitting up the next PRGE and am working out a fun collab between Cheerful Ghost and Watch out for Fireballs. No promises, but if it works out, it could be fun.
I hit up Portland Retro Gaming Expo 2012 this year and am still surprised to see these video retrospectives come out so far afterward. That said, this is a good video overview of the event as it was back in the summer.
I am planning on hitting up the next PRGE and am working out a fun collab between Cheerful Ghost and Watch out for Fireballs. No promises, but if it works out, it could be fun.
Quite enjoyable. It would be a bit pretentious to complain about paradoxes in this wouldn't it ;)
No. That's totally geek-ceptible.
I liked how she was "I can't tell you about the future" and then immediately did. That's prob how that would work with most people and I generally don't like that mechanic in other shows/films.
How have I never seen this? It's on my IGN channel on Plex too. Dammit. Time to watch the whole first season.
:D It definitely opens up over the season to something really fun.
Yeah, Signal, be prepared for some slow moving at first, but the third episode (I think) it starts getting really good.