The Future of Rhythm & Music Games

Before I begin, I would like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year, and all of those other holidays which all seem to happen to fall in to this time of the year, including my 21st birthday, for those of you who were unaware. Yes, check that About Weasel page if you are curious to finally see the first picture of me on my Blog, and with my first drink no less. It’s a month of firsts, let me tell you. Oh, and 2009 will be a year of firsts as well. I’m starting work on a secret project, which you’ll be able to find information about on the Project Source page I’ve just created. And don’t forget to check out my Video Games page, which, I promise, I’ll get around to fully updating soon enough. But, without further ado, let’s get to the real meat and potatoes of this entry. Mmmm… meat and potatoes… I’m hungry, damn.

Music and rhythm games come in all shapes and sizes these days. Obviously, some of the most popular are games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, or one of my personal favorites, Dance Dance Revolution. They can also be karaoke, SingStar and Lips being examples of those, or even more different, Elite Beat Agents and Wii Music. But a handful of more unique, non-mainstream rhythm games have been put out on the PC, the most notable now being Audiosurf. I’ve always personally been a fan of Audiosurf, and it’s available on Steam for $4.99 until the end of their sale, so I’d recommend it.

Audiosurf

Audiosurf created something new and different that captured people quickly. The premise of Audiosurf is that it takes your music, any song that you have in an MP3 format, and scans it for it’s beat and tone. Then, it creates a highway based on the pitch the music takes, and you, playing as the vehicle on this highway, are made to run over colored blocks to create combinations, depending on which mode you play in. There are many different modes, which range from the simple mode of picking up the color blocks and avoiding gray ones, to harder modes which force you to match up at least three of each color to acquire points from it. This game can be played with your keyboard, but is the most fun when played with your mouse. This game had me hooked from the beginning, because, as stated earlier, it can be used with any song you could possibly happen to have in your entire library.

There are more than just that, though, that you can find on the internet. Take for example a game that is nothing but a Flash demo still so far, yet very advanced to begin with. The game is called Auditorium, and it’s made by a company called Cipher Prime. Even by checking out their Website and their Blog, it’s easy to see that they know a thing or two about creativity. Auditorium features a completely original orchestrated soundtrack, and it is what drives the game. The idea of the game is extremely simple. The “Flow” is a stream of white lines that come from a starting point. The objective is to change the direction of those lines using “Controls”, which range from simple directions, to the most advanced control in the demo being the “Attract” control, which makes the flow wrap around in circles around it. The destination for this flow is “Containers”, which are bars, like you would find in a recording studio. When all of the varied containers in the level are filled up to the top, you are taken to the next level. There is a lot to explain about this game, but I would recommend just heading over and trying it out yourself. The demo only contains three stages, some of which can be difficult and annoying, but with time, each one can be figured out.

Auditorium

The market for rhythm games is vast, but more unique ideas, such as the one used in Auditorium, are needed to keep it as alive as it is right now. The constant rehashes of Guitar Hero games will eventually lead to over saturation, and the amount of sales they will get will eventually fall. For my personal self, I’ve ceased buying any of the Guitar Hero games due to the fact that it is continuously being milked for all that it’s worth. There comes a point where I feel disgusted that they’ve made so many of the same thing, that I’m just torn away from wanting it anymore. Many people could come back and say that the Final Fantasy series has done the same thing, but I would like to point out that every Final Fantasy game is a unique storyline, with unique features and elements built in to them, and even if some of the mechanics are similar, the story is always many, many hours different than the others. Ideas like this, and quite possibly flOw as well, will shape the direction that music-related games will go in the future.

Also, semi-related, in the aspect of music, check out the band that did the soundtrack for the video game Mirror’s Edge, Solar Fields. They have an area where you can listen to music directly on their website, and if you love instrumental music as much as I do, you will definitely enjoy many of their tracks that they’ve created over the time.

Media Week – Symphony by Sarah Brightman

Symphony by Sarah Brightman

Producer: Frank Peterson
Label: Manhattan Records
Genre: Operatic Pop / Opera Classical
Release Date: January 29, 2008

While not something that I would usually listen to, I decided to pick up the latest album by Sarah Brightman entitled “Symphony”. This album is just that, featuring a very high multitude of people singing with her. It also features many famous orchestras, including the London Symphony Orchestra. Many of the tracks from this album have been used on many special occasions, including the 2007 Championships in Osaka, Japan; or as the theme song for the Pokemon film “The Rise of Darkrai”.

On the U.S. Billboard Top 200 Albums, Symphony reached up to the 13th position at best, while topping the Classical charts without hesitation.

Listening to the first few songs may be a bit decieving, as they are a bit more upbeat and epic than the rest of the album. Being a operatic-type album, most of the songs that you will find on this including a lot of singing, or large amounts of instrumental sections. None the less, Sarah Brightman has a very good voice, so if you’re looking for a good album which contains a lot of singing, this is the one for you.

Album art for the album "Symphony".

Bringing in a fun fact, and a reference to video games, the album art, including the clothing that Sarah Brightman is wearing, as well as the background that she is in front of, were inspired from Daniel Dociu, concept artist for the popular CORPG Guild Wars. Based off of my knowledge of Guild Wars, I would say that the art represents buildings from the Kurzick side of Factions, the second game in the Guild Wars series.

Again though, if you listen to the song on the website and think that that might be what all of the songs on this album are going to be, you are going to be disappointed. Sarah Brightman sings more of the slow songs than anything else, so if you have a soft-spot for that, you will enjoy this album. Overall though, I did enjoy this album greatly, and was happy for my purchase, and hope that you will be too if you decide to buy it. It can be found in most retailers, as well as online retailers such as iTunes.

Weasel’s Score: 76%

Weasel’s Weblog Presents Media Week

Welcome to Media Week, here on Weasel’s Weblog! All week this week, enjoy seven days full of reviews of everything media. This includes music, movies, and video games! So keep a watchful eye out all week, and be sure to tell the world what YOU think in the comments! At the end of the week, I’ll post up the best comments, so include a website that you own or want to promote so that I can feature you. Check back tomorrow, Saturday, for the kickoff Blog that will start out this week, and let me tell you, this game is definitely worth the read!

The Music World of Growing Greed

This world is surrounded by greed, and life is based around the aspect of money. A sad realization to come to in the end, but the truth hurts in most aspects. But it can’t be denied that this world is only getting worse by the day, whether it be price hikes on products and services we use, pay drops in the work force, or whatever other issue that pops up in the world economy. What’s my reasoning for bringing this up, you’re probably asking [or at least, I would be if I were you]. Recently I read two articles, based on the world of music that caught by eye, unfortunately in a negative way.

The first was an article about music in video games, such as none other than the popular Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises. Warner Music has basically come out and said that game makers need to pay more to have their music featured within these video games, or any other rhythm and music based games. In THIS article, CEO Edgar Bronfman basically comes out saying that companies such as MTV Games and Activision Blizzard aren’t paying enough to feature their music [and satisfy their greed, but that's just a personal addition to the story].

And just today, another article was released featuring the, also very popular web radio service, Pandora. In an interview with the Washington Post, found HERE, founder Tim Westergren lamented over the poor income that their company is bringing in. With the disappointing increase in internet radio fees, their company and service is reaching a point where they may have to shut the site down to be able to salvage what’s left of their funds. Even with the fight that SaveNetRadio is trying to keep up, Congress and the RIAA have not let up their fees on what was once a booming internet streaming radio community.

It’s a shock to see all of this, but it’s a trend that we’re seeing lately within the music production business. It’s never enough money to satisfy the massive amounts that they already have, and it continues to become a burden on those who just want to listen to good, new music. There are many things that I just don’t understand about why they charge so much. When it comes to video games, they aren’t distributing the music in any way other than to play it within the game, and in fact, are popularizing it. Unconfirmed reports say that downloads on iTunes of songs that were featured in the music games have gone up ten-fold.

When looking at the internet radio stations, once again, they are doing nothing more than playing the songs that they have for others to listen to. In most cases, the songs that streaming radio stations play are legally bought music that they just are playing for others to hear. Once again, there is no sharing of the music, just simple listening.

Another issue I have found is how they keep their songs so protected, or at least they try to, by upping these fees, yet on the MP3 player that I purchased, it has a recording function, where I can actually be listening to the radio, and record directly off of it, and save it to my computer from there. If I had the time and patience, I could, theoretically, “steal” every song ever played on any radio station. Yet I don’t see music companies trying to ban MP3 players, or even the single feature from them.

I feel that this situation has gotten out of hand. I’m also curious to hear your opinion, so please feel free to share it in the comments section here. Music companies make enough money as it is, why must they torture the successful promotion and advertising that they are getting from both music video games and from internet streaming radio stations?