What kinda bothers me about new games and what makes me kind of sad and what some of you guys don't seem to care about is that they can do anything with video game music nowadays so it isn't video game music anymore but just music IN video games.
That's a shame. Now that the limitations are gone a certain charm is gone as well and you could use those songs in movies as well. You wouldn't notice a difference. There is no "video game label" on those songs. Instead of listening to songs with bleeps EVERYONE knows "ah video games!".
Limitations force people to do some creative thinking.
That's why KNP games have a certain charm. There are a lot of limitations but its how you work with them, use them, work around them and find clever solutions. With everything possible this is gone.
So while Symphony of Night and Shadow, Grim Fandango and Shadow of Colossus are nice songs indeed I think they don't belong in a VIDEO GAME MUSIC thread even tough it is music you find in video games. It's pretty disappointing even the thread starter posts a song that could be from a movie as well.
I hope you understand what I'm saying here.
A certain genre of music has died simply because limitations are gone. Just like pixel art pretty much died for most commercial games because the limitations are gone- this is sad. Limitations don't have to be a bad thing.
@MasterM: I guess that's why the Mega Drive's FM music is so much better than the more powerful SNES' PCM music?
Soundtracks have a function, they don't exist in a vacuum. As a film editor you'd do well to know this.
You may be easily fooled, but the above isn't a film soundtrack at all, it's the soundtrack to spending 100+ hours walking around a silly island. The associations are profoundly different.
Originally Posted by MasterM What kinda bothers me about new games and what makes me kind of sad and what some of you guys don't seem to care about is that they can do anything with video game music nowadays so it isn't video game music anymore but just music IN video games.
That's a shame. Now that the limitations are gone a certain charm is gone as well and you could use those songs in movies as well. You wouldn't notice a difference. There is no "video game label" on those songs. Instead of listening to songs with bleeps EVERYONE knows "ah video games!".
Limitations force people to do some creative thinking.
That's why KNP games have a certain charm. There are a lot of limitations but its how you work with them, use them, work around them and find clever solutions. With everything possible this is gone.
So while Symphony of Night and Shadow, Grim Fandango and Shadow of Colossus are nice songs indeed I think they don't belong in a VIDEO GAME MUSIC thread even tough it is music you find in video games. It's pretty disappointing even the thread starter posts a song that could be from a movie as well.
I hope you understand what I'm saying here.
A certain genre of music has died simply because limitations are gone. Just like pixel art pretty much died for most commercial games because the limitations are gone- this is sad. Limitations don't have to be a bad thing.
MORE BLEEPY SOUNDS PLZ
like the man man song
I agree completely. Limitations have a way of bringing out the best in us. While orchestrial and movie-esque soundtracks are still awesome, the 8-bit and 16-bit video game music of old is in a genre all itself, and that genre seems to be slipping away from commercial titles.
When I compose music for my games, at least, I often find myself picking instruments that are cooky or 16-bit despite my collection of higher-quality soundfonts, because they ultimately make the song more memorable and catchy.
Originally Posted by MasterM What kinda bothers me about new games and what makes me kind of sad and what some of you guys don't seem to care about is that they can do anything with video game music nowadays so it isn't video game music anymore but just music IN video games.
That's a shame. Now that the limitations are gone a certain charm is gone as well and you could use those songs in movies as well. You wouldn't notice a difference. There is no "video game label" on those songs. Instead of listening to songs with bleeps EVERYONE knows "ah video games!".
I disagree.
The bleeps you love so much are just the instrument, and a good tune is still a good tune whatever instrument it's played on - guitar, piano, ancient games console...
You should listen to some of the remastered versions of old videogame themes.
Anyway, this is one of my favourites:
Sounds awesome if you download the midi version and play it back through a good quality soundcard.
Ok time for some I doubt anyone else is likely to post.
Gotta give some love to the Amstrad cpc here
Great title screen music on a very good conversion generally.
OK this one is probably quite well known because the game featured in one of the Angry Video game Nerd's videos. But he fails to talk about the music.
It's amazing how just adding a little pitch shift to the bass in time to the noise channel's drum can make such a huge impact on the music.
If you play Grim Fandango (which I LOVE! I got the sound track and I tend to listen to it. I tend to listen to a lot of Lucas Sound Tracks, great work. Just interesting to hear "real" versions of songs and then the midi versions) people will ask: What's that song?
While if you play Mega Man to them they will be like: Oh nice what GAME is that?
you can tell this song is a VIDEO GAME SONG. it was used in a game. while modern songs are written for games and they are all wonderful and nice they just have this GREAT SONG FEELING but not "video game" feeling. the "retro" is missing.
I hope you understand that. Also WTF do you want from me and talking about me being a film editor, MR FENN?
And while we are at it LETS JUST DO THIS for the sake of it and proving I'm not a dick about it:
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Edited by Deaval
