Favorite Videogame Music Ever

This one is my favorite, Bramble Blast, which is a remix made for Super Smash Brawl of Stickerbrush Symphony from Donkey Kong Country 2:

This is the original Stickerbrush Symphony:

I Learned Programming

So, I recently learned the basics of programming due to Coursera. If you want the specifics, I learned Python. Using the template and assets the online class gave me, I made a basic shooting game, which you can check out here.

The controls are:

Space-shoot

Up-accelerate

Left/Right-turn around

Now, having tried out the game, I know what you are thinking. It sucks. Well, yes. First of all, I don’t know how to get around the ghosting effect of the keyboard because I am a noob at this. Second of all, if I had the time and energy, I would have added a bunch of stuff. The highest stuffs in my priority list would have been adding collisions to the rocks, increasing the difficulty as the game goes on, adding the explosion animation (which they were kind enough to give me, but didn’t take advantage of), and adding the start screen. Unfortunately, I don’t have the time or the energy, so this piece of software will remain a blot to all of humanity for all eternity.

Penn Jillette on Videogaming

I am a fan of Penn and Teller. They do amazing magic trick shows to educate others on our mind and perception, and they generally encourage critical thinking and skepticism. Recently, Penn got in an interview about the episode of Bullshit on videogames. Wow, finally, someone who defends videogame as a legitimate form of entertainment and art! Not that there has never been a defense on electronic gaming and all, but it is usually from the gamers who defend it themselves. Sometimes, I wonder if those people decrying videogames as harmful to society might have some truth to it. Maybe they do, but then, I remind myself that movies have far more violent content, but it has never brought about the downfall of our civilization. Although just like videogames, movies did have its stages in which it was trying to vie for public acceptance, especially those with violent and sexual contents. So did rock and roll, many books, and whatever form of entertainment you can think of. Eventually, movies did become considered legitimate forms of arts. I wonder whether videogames will reach the same status.

Oh yeah, and it is true, Jack Thompson is, I am quoting here, an “a**hole”. Although that particular legal bit of videogaming history is over, as the media is being accepted, and the guy has been disbarred. Of course, you have to be careful of the games you hand out to children, but I tell you, this Jack Thompson guy was going to extremes.

The Spirit of Videogaming

I have two interesting links relating to videogames.

The first one is on the status of videogames in my homeland, Venezuela. It seems like the Venezuelan government, oh so benevolent like always, is banning them as if they were weapons. Frankly, I don’t know how the Venezuelan people think while electing all of these people. Perhaps they are all corrupt. From what I have read on Venezuelan history and politics, the situation has always been precarious. I remember those times, school cancelled due to weeks of strikes and marches, or the coup which attempted to overthrow Chavez. And there was the riot which traumatized the country, El Caracazo, which happened before I was born. 

Oh well, not that it matters. Most games being sold in Venezuela are pirated, which I and my brother had a fare share of. You see, buying legal games in Venezuela is completely impractical for us working middle class family, and for the huge poor population of the country. I remember when a Gamecube used to cost 500,000 Bolivares, which is around 250 bucks. Thanks to that, I skipped a whole generation of gaming (around 6 years). Now, consider the huge number compared to the small dollar, though. It means the money is somewhat worthless and so getting that amount is just very expensive. Plus, all dollar transactions in Venezuela is done in the black market, so technically, the money is even more worthless. Now games cost like what, 500,000 and a console is around 1,000,000? That is madness, who would buy those stuffs except for the filthy rich.

The other interesting link is the interview of mainly Miyamoto (whom I admire, being father of videogaming and all) and Iwata, and other creative minds behind Nintendo’s awesome products and games. It tells you a bit about videogaming philosophy, their ideas, and what their thoughts are of the way things are going. Very interesting stuffs, so read up!

Oh, and before I leave, something funny that “explains” Mario’s crazy adventures:

(hat tip gonintendo)

http://gonintendo.com/viewstory.php?id=103133

Wicked Piano Playing

I love videogame musics, even the old ones. So naturally, I found myself searching for people playing videogame soundtracks in piano, which I have shown in this blog before. Recently, I found another really good one. It is from Star Fox back in the N64/playstation era. It used to be one of my favorite games, and I replayed it a lot. One of the soundtrack I really liked is the Star Fox boss battle theme, which is one of my favorite videogame and boss battle music ever. As you can see, she plays the extremely difficult piece very faithfully:

Comparison:

Now, I really want that sheet music, even if I will suck at it. ^_^

Oh, and if you check out her blog, she plays a whole lot more great videogame music.

Game Politics

I am an avid game, well, with school work not as much as I used to, but I try. I like to keep up with gaming news, so I go to a few gaming web sites occasionally. This one, gamepolitics.com is really good, excellent. It is basically about what happens when politics and videogaming mix. (well, that was kind of duh) There are things like:

Do online games make better citizenship? It links a researcher’s blog, Constance Steinkuehler, she reseraches on online games. (how cool is that!)

This woman and researcher Cheryl Olson and idiot attorney Jack Thompson will appear in Penn and Teller’s BS! on videogame violence.

And some dumb political manufactroversy by the always idiotic media about racism in Resident Evil 5. Though I admit, Eurogamer does have a point, since it is placed to ethnic groups that has long been misrepresented as savages. (jeez, I don’t know, perhaps black zombified people who have lost all ability to reason, you know, thanks to mutant viruses, you know, can’t possibly be violent too! You know, in RE4, the main guy is crushing a white dude’s face, you know, perhaps, I don’t know, you know, he is just a zombie, you know, who lost all humanity! Ya know? Nah, that can’t possibly be it, you know.)(By saying “you know”, I am just imitating normal speech. )

I’m Back!!

I had to do a one week hiatus, I have been busy with homework, unfortunately, I may have to put off more stuff. So, yeah, *schwarzenegger’s voice* I am back.

*cue dramatic music*

…Ok, I admit it, it is just an excuse to put that music there. But it is a cool video game music. Anyways, it is from Final Fantasy X, as you can see.

Video Game Music on Piano

Do you love videogames? Do you love music? And do you love piano? Then this website (vgvids) is for you! Basically, you can check out people doing videogame music in pianos and in a few times, guitar. One of my favorite is this one:

This one:

And finally, this one: