Hundreds of Rare Video Game Soundtracks ... Found!

Do you love video game music? Of course you do. Personally I love buying video game soundtracks, but they are often quite difficult to find. Sure you can hope over to Amazon to pick up Halo, Jade Empire, or Kingdom Hearts. But what if you're looking for some best, and most difficult to find, soundtracks of all time?

Well look no further than Japanese import site Play-Asia.com. Not only will you find a huge selection of Japanese games, toys, and movies, but their selection of video game soundtracks is simply astounding. With well over 1200(!) video game soundtracks to choose from you can easily blow a couple of Benjamins in a matter of minutes. Just take a look at some of these choice albums (I feel like K-Tel):

• Shadow of the Colossus
• Ico
• Chrono Trigger
• Chrono Cross
• Katamari Damacy
• Final Fantasy VII
• Xenogears
• Lumines Remixes
• Mother (Earth Bound)
• Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater
• Bomberman The Music
• SEGA Mega Drive Super Medley

As well hundreds more. Best of all, the prices are quite reasonable (especially considering that they're all import titles). Oh man, that iPod is going to be filled up mighty quick!

Posted by Gaming Steve at 10:00 PM | Posted to Culture | Random |      

Will Wright Discussing Gaming as a Form of Time Travel

Happy New Year everyone! And what better way to start off the new year than by watching a presentation by Will Wright? Will recently spoke at the When 2.0 workshop at Stanford University and talked about the role of time in game play. CNET just posted a short video of his speech for all to view and even though its only four minutes long it is quite interesting.

For those who have never heard a lecture by Will Wright before, it is a truly memorable experience. Listening to him talk for just a few minutes and you quickly realize that Will is really on a whole other level when it comes to designing games.

Also make sure to view his presentation from last year's Game Developers Conference where he unveiled to the world his next game creation, Spore (which we at Gaming Steve are following quite closely).

Posted by Gaming Steve at 2:00 PM | Posted to PC | Random |      

Radio Controlled Mario Kart Cars

Can't get enough Mario Kart in your life? Or do you need a really cool present for a huge Nintendo fan? Well now you can recreate the Mario Kart experience at home with these very cool radio controlled Mario Kart cars.

The "MarioKart Advance Mario Bit Char-G Full Function" model is perfect for desktop races as the car is small enough to fit into your hand. The package comes with either Mario or Yoshi as well as five plastic banana peals, two shells, a mushroom, and R/C remote.

The other model, the "Large Turbo Model", is over a foot high and comes with a very cool GameCube R/C controller. There are no bonus items included with this set, but the cars can say "Mario Karty-things" like "mama mia" or "lets go". This model is definitely suited for those outdoor races as it handles like a standard R/C car, and you can select from Mario, Yoshi, or Donkey Kong.

If you are lucky enough to live near Manhattan New York you can pick up the Char-G cars at the Nintendo World store at Rockefeller Center. But for everyone else I would suggest the awesome import store lik-sang.com which has no shortage of very cool video game-related toys.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 2:00 PM | Posted to GameCube | Random |      

Needlepoint and Video Games?

Want to hear two phrases that I don't think I have ever heard used together? Needlepoint and video games. No, I'm not talking about a video game based on needle pointing (now that would be a crazy game). I'm talking about creating needlepoints of video games; or rather I'm talking about creating "plastic canvas" video games.

For those unfamiliar with plastic canvas needlepoint it’s a simple technique that is often used to teach beginners how to needlepoint. Instead of using cloth you use a rigid plastic canvas (the large holes allow for simple stitching) and it’s extremely easy to copy a detailed pattern onto the plastic canvas. Also due to its rigidity plastic canvases can be used for creating strong structural objects, such as tissue box covers, handbags, small jewelry boxes, as well as other decorative objects. In fact, I am comfortable enough with my manhood to publicly state that I used to perform plastic canvas needlepoint as a kid and I really enjoyed it!

Well it might be time to break out the needle and thread because I stumbled upon some crazy cool plastic canvas video game patterns for sale on eBay. The seller, "plasticcanvascreations", sells five patterns in total: an upright Pac-man cabinet, a cocktail table Donkey Kong (very cool), an old-fashioned claw machine, a Fireball pinball machine, and a pool table with a removable top. Each pattern can be bought for a mere $3, but you will need to stitch and assemble each item yourself, but that cocktail table Donkey Kong cabinet is just too damn cool. I definitely need to get myself one of those.

Of course your friends will probably make fun of you for doing needlepoint and making these things … and then secretly ask you to make them one I’m sure.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 12:00 PM | Posted to Classic | Random |      

Atari 2600 Game Code Visualized

Imagine you could take programming code and turn all the mathematical instructions into a graphical representation. Not only would this look cool but it could actually be useful in visualizing the code and how various elements work with one another. Media artist Ben Fry has done just this -- he took the assembly code of past Atari 2600 games and mapped their execution visually with surprising results.

Ben's transformation from binary code into a visual map is quite interesting. First Ben maps out the binary code of the cartridge itself using a series of numbers for lines of code and orange boxes for bytes of data. Then examines each line the code and the results of all conditional statements (i.e. if x is true, go to y). If the math results in a true statement a curve is drawn from that point to its destination. The end result is a elegant mix of curves and numbers.

What's really interesting to see how the programing varies by game. Extremely simple games, such as Combat, are light and airy. While complex games, such as Pac-Man, are a tangle of lines and curves. Unfortunately he only has six games on the site including Adventure, Air Raid, Combat, Pac-Man, Pitfall, and Q-Bert. But could you imagine what a modern game would look like mapped out using this method? Scary.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 4:00 PM | Posted to Classic | Random |      

Ancient Video Game Commercials Unearthed!

Someone either has a lot of free time on their hands or is clinically insane, but over at GameAds they have over 2000 video game commercials for you to check out. Everything from the insanely old (the TV commercial for the original Vectrex(!) system), to the moderately old (my favorite "Genesis Does What Nintendon't"), to just the other day (Episode III commercials).

Make sure to check out just about every single "top rated" commercials, including the extremely strange/bizarre Japanese TV commercials. And that French Resident Evil 4 commercial? Big ... Time ... Freaky.

How long do you think it's going to take me to watch all 2422+ commercials? I guess I'll find out...

Posted by Gaming Steve at 12:00 PM | Posted to Random |      

Videogame Voice Actors Come Back Down to Earth

It's official: the two unions representing videogame voice actors withdrew their insane demand of receiving residuals based upon sales and have accepted the offer made by videogame publishers. Just yesterday, the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) and the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA) counted the mailed-in ballots from their members and apparently they did not have enough support to authorize a strike. Instead they accepted a three and a half year contract which increases several of their previous benefits.

I am still amazed that the members of these unions really thought that they had a snowball’s chance in hell in getting residuals, considering that the programmers, artists, and people who actually spend several years of their lives creating the game itself rarely, if ever, receive residuals. Voiceover work usually takes a day or less to complete and isn’t exactly the most grueling work in the world. And when was the last time you bought a game specifically for the voiceover? Yeah, that’s what I thought…

Anyhow, here is a list of the increased benefits:

• An immediate 25 percent increase in minimum wages from $556 to $695 for a four-hour session for up to three voices with increases in subsequent years, bringing the daily rate up to $759.
• Double time pay after six hours (previously ten hours) for three-voice performers.
• A 7.5 percent increase in contributions to the unions' benefits plans, bringing the rate up to 14.3 percent.
• 15-25 percent gains in rates for remote delivery and integration.
• Payment to actors for reuse of performances in promotional films longer than 12 minutes.
• A specified rest period for each hour spent recording.
• Payment window shortened from 30 to 12 business days.
• Pre-work notification to actors performing in stressful sessions.

The offer still needs approval in committee, but if approved, it will last until December 2008.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 11:00 AM | Posted to Random |      

April's Fools!

Every year the gaming community tries to outdo each other with their April Fool's jokes. Here are a few that I've encountered so far (not all gaming related). If you see any good ones add them!

• World of Wordcraft the world's first MMOWP is announced.
• QuakeCon taken over by Imps.
• LucasArts Announces Sequel Trilogy in 2007.
• HEXUS.net first look at AMD GPU.
• The Game Gear is back.
• Freelancer 2 is announced.
• Richard's Online Journal has game review price rates.
• Tokyo zoo penguins in awe.
• Pirates! 2 Press Release.
• Beyond Unreal has the Unreal 3: Slug Saga - The Adventures of Ne'ban press release.
• Google Gulp. Thirst-quenching goodness, still in beta (of course).
• Sven Co-op is adding a flight sim mode.
• Multiplay UK has info on Frogger Online.

Posted by Gaming Steve at 12:00 PM | Posted to Random |