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Meta's open-source MusicGen AI uses text to create song genre mashups
Meta's Audiocraft research team has just released MusicGen, an open source deep learning language model that can generate new music based on text prompts.
Pioneer and Canada partner to ensure musicians get paid for DJ play
Pioneer DJ wants to make sure electronic artists get paid for the remixes you hear at the dance club. The company's Kuvo entertainment service has partnered with Canada's performing rights organizations (PRO) and the Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) to beam music metadata into other PROs, according to a press release. Apparently this won't cost DJs or venues a thing, either.
Fan mashup of 'Mario Kart' and 'Star Wars' is a gaming dream
If you're like me, you spent your youth imagining what it'd be like if your favorite fictional universes got together -- heck, Aliens vs. Predator and Kingdom Hearts are practically kids' dreams made real. Well, some fans weren't willing to keep their fantasy locked in their heads. YouTube team Dark Pixel made Star Kart, a video mashup of Mario Kart and Star Wars that's pretty much the blend you'd hope it would be. The project (which took a year to produce) has Mario, Yoshi and crew racing Star Wars ships across a galaxy far, far away, complete with cute touches: shells replace laser cannons, getting knocked out means leaving hyperspace... and of course there's a Death Star trench race. Frankly, we wish Disney and Nintendo would find a way to make this a proper game, even if it's just a Mario Kart 8 add-on.
'Mad Max' meets 'Mario Kart' in this rad mash-up
Mad Max: Fury Road is already one of the year's best movies, but you know what was missing in all of director George Miller's gear grinding under the desert sun? Mario Kart's banana peels and green shells. Check out the video below for a quick look at the mashup that'll almost positively never, ever happen: Chomp chains destroying dune-buggies, Bob-ombs attached to the kamikaze-like warboys' staffs and so, so, so much more mayhem than Nintendo would likely ever allow. We're just going to have to close our eyes (for a different reason this time) and imagine sucking dairy dust from our teeth in Cheese Land in a Mercedes is the same thing.
MMO Blender: Eliot's online brother from an offline mother
We don't need to go online to have a good time, oh no. Obviously Massively's writers like us some online games. I am no exception to the rule. But I also started playing video games back when the internet existed only in its most nascent form. I started out by liking video games, period, and the online component came much later, with a lot of benefits, to be sure, but I still love some offline action just as well. I don't feel the need to bring every game into the online arena. There are games that just don't work as well in a multiplayer environment. But there are also a lot of offline games that translate quite well to an online space, and I'm not just talking about ones that play like MMORPGs stripped of the first three letters. Today's MMO Blender is taking inspiration only from games that do not have a primary online component. Let's see about making a nice big MMO from single-player offline offerings.
YouTube embraces Creative Commons licensing, turns your cutesy kitty into mashup fodder
Sourcing material from the mecca of viral video has always been a bit iffy -- who knows which rabid Beyonce fan will bite back when you slice and dice their Single Ladies tribute video. However, YouTube's recent addition of the Creative Commons licensing option just made it a whole lot easier to make mashups without stepping on anyone's stiletto-sporting toes. Users are now given the option to choose between YouTube's standard license or the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which, when selected, automatically adds the video to a library of similarly appointed videos, now available for your cutting and captioning pleasure. An attribution is placed beneath any video sourcing material from the Creative Commons library. Among the more professional outfits adding their videos to the CC pool are Al Jazeera and C-SPAN -- who's ready to see Mittens the Kitten and Sarah Palin battle it out over tax cuts? You can now access the Creative Commons library through the YouTube video editor.
Super Mario gets a Portal gun, you monster (video)
Before Portal 2 there was Portal, and before Portal there was Super Mario Bros. Bring these together and you get a mushroom-chomping Italian plumber ruling the 2D world -- outside the cold confines of Aperture Science -- with the infamous Portal gun. The next logical step? Turn this into a first-person game. Go on, Reggie, make it happen.
Google helps electric car owners find battery charges, peace of mind
The biggest challenge of owning an electric vehicle aside from having to awkwardly pal around with Ed Begley Jr. all of the time? Finding a place to charge it, of course. The ever-green folks at Google have teamed up with the US Department of Energy and more than 80 companies to form the GeoEVSE Forum, an organization aimed at bringing diverse electric car resources under a single umbrella. Looking for one of those elusive Best Buy charging stations? Use the Google Maps database, helmed by the DOE, which currently offers some 600 alternative fueling stations, including electric charging, hydrogen, and natural gas. Now if only it could help us find a good deal on a Tesla.
Xbox Kinect on PS3 is Kevin Butler's worst nightmare come true (video)
So here's a dilemma that some gamers may have faced: do you want a console with great processing power but coupled with some glowing lollipops, or one with futuristic controller-free motion gaming at the cost of Blu-ray playback? Well, for us mere mortals it's either one or the other, but Shantanu Goel went ahead to combine the best of both worlds: Xbox Kinect on a PS3. The video above is our man demonstrating his early software mod, which can currently recognize basic gestures like quickly pushing your hand towards the screen twice to activate the X button, as well as the usual waving around for navigation. While it's obvious that this project is still at its infancy, Goel's already working on beefing it up by adding full game profiles and skeletal tracking support, so with a bit of help from the community, hopefully it won't be long before we get to liberally throw grenades in Killzone 3 without having to worry about damaging the TV. Maybe Kevin Butler will also see the lighter side of things, too.
Game Boy, HTC Aria and fake iPhone 4 combined for your amusement, is also possibly art
We're not sure what happened to Japanese tech mashup artist Goteking that inspired him to stuff an Android phone and a KIRF iPhone 4 into the back of a Game Boy Pocket, but stuff them he did, along with a bank of battery-powered LEDs that -- if we're not mistaken -- spell out a Tokyo train schedule. Perhaps it's designed to be a mind trip through and through, or perhaps it's a homage to the joint forces of nostalgia and geekdom that spark daily flame wars all around the world.
World of WarCrafts: Hey, it's-a me, WoWio!
World of WarCrafts spotlights art and creativity by WoW players, including fan art, cooking, comics, cosplay, music, fan fiction and more. Sample the whole spectrum on WoW.com's Arts and Crafts in WoW page. Mario, we know and love you best as our favorite plumber -- but don't think we haven't figured out that you're sneaking around out there as a druid, too. So what would happen if you tucked the beloved characters of Mario into the World of Warcraft? The result is David Stonecipher's "WoW Meets the Mushroom Kingdom" art series. Stonecipher's drawn up his own vision of how the Mario universe's most famous characters would look inside Azeroth. Mario as a druid? Bowser as a warrior? Try all 10 classes on for size. "I did something a little different with these pieces this time," Stonecipher wrote us. "I've created a video that shows each artwork be created from blank canvas to finished completion. This allows people to get a look at how the art is created in various stages." See more of Stonecipher's video game character mashups at GameArtOnline.com, or click past the break to see the other five WoW classes in Part 2 of the WoW/Mushroom Kingdom series.
Super Mario Bros. X trailer takes us to a special place
Hey Nintendo, pay attention: If you really want to find a direct line into the nostalgia centers of our brain, you could learn a few lessons from Super Mario Bros. X. The recently updated game borrows elements from the entire Super Mario franchise (not to mention a few other Nintendo properties), allows for co-op play, has some kind of time distortion gameplay mechanic, includes a level editor and occasionally lets the player navigate the Mushroom Kingdom using the eraser from Mario Paint. It is all kinds of crazy. You can download the game here, or check out a 10-minute gameplay trailer posted after the jump. [Thanks, EvoHelix]
Steve Jobs introduces the Death Star
This is an idea so beautiful in its execution that you wonder why it hasn't been done before -- take Steve Jobs' rapturous introduction of the iPad, and put it over the footage from Star Wars of the Death Star briefing. It's a perfect geeky mashup -- I especially love Han Solo's indifference ("It's just a big iPod touch, Chewie"), and the random jeers from the audience. Also, Google Maps on the Death Star looks a little different than on my phone, but I guess that Pac Man stuff is cool. Brilliant little short. It's funny how Apple product announcements have become almost as culturally significant as the products themselves. Of course, that's exactly the way Apple wants it, but it doesn't stop us from skewering the presentations with mashups like this. [via Cult of Mac]
Luigi's Mansion + Castlevania = Mansionvania: Vacuum of Sorrow
We'll have to file this one under the "Games That We Wish Existed" category, as the screen you see above is little more than a pixelart mash-up of Luigi's Mansion and the Castlevania series. Masterfully created by Shane Gill for his PixelJoint page (and spotted by the folks at Tiny Cartridge), the piece is the living embodiment of what we wish the DSiWare service played host to more often. Alas, we don't believe we'll be seeing "Mansionvania: Vacuum of Sorrow" landing on Nintendo's digital distribution service anytime soon -- but we can at least point to it next time someone asks what we'd like to see available for download. "That! Go make that! That 2D pixel game with the vacuum-wielding Luigi! And enough with the calendars already!" [Via Tiny Cartridge]
The Daily Grind: Your craziest idea for an MMO?
Some of the fun we have in working at Massively is just talking to each other about all the different things that would be interesting for an MMO. We've discussed mashing up Hello Kitty Online and Age of Conan among many other strange combinations. We've thought about what an MMO based on some of our favorite memories might be like; basing them on things like the A-Team, Transformers, MacGuyver, Monty Python, etc. And none of that even touches on all the comic mashups we'd have put into an MMO. This morning we thought we'd ask what the craziest idea you have for an MMO is? You know, the one that will never get made in a billion years, but still - you'd just like to see it for the sake of amusement? We know we can't be the only ones who get the urge to mash MMOs together or create them from comics, toys, movies, or strange things we find laying about.
TimeXchange offers a time-tracking API
TimeXchange is a relatively new addition to the pile of available online time-tracking applications. Its current incarnation on the web is pretty standard, covering bases like multiple time entry, report and invoice creation, and Quickbooks integration. The developers have been fielding a lot of feature requests ... more than they have the capacity to handle. Their solution: an API, announced today, which will allow third-party developers to create applications, mashups and integrations with other tools. A version of TimeXchange is already available for the iPhone, in both a $2.99US version and a free Lite version (iTunes links). The mobile applications make use of a private API, and demonstrate only a tiny bit of what could be accomplished with the new API. The "hooks" in the API are to be exposed as needed to developers, and custom hooks can be created to meet developers' needs. Beyond task management and mobile time/expense tracking, the API provides the opportunity for industry-specific applications, language localization, multiple currencies, and corporate branding. With no license restrictions, developers can customize an application with TimeXchange as its engine and keep 100% of the profits made on distribution. The idea of opening an API to third-party development is not a novel one. Harvest (my current time-tracking app) and some others already provide access to an API. Tickspot, which also provides an API, has just released an iPhone app (iTunes link) as well. It's an excellent trend, and things such as desktop widgets, Basecamp integration and mashups allowing time tracking through Twitter and IM have become possible. By providing custom-built API's to developers, TimeXchange hopes to be able to meet any need which might come up. TimeXchange provides an aggressive pricing scheme and a unique model. For a one-time fee of $19.95US, you get a lifetime membership. There are monthly and yearly payment plans, but a one-time fee is a pretty sweet deal. The major difference in models is that TimeXchange uses a peer-to-peer mentality, rather than a company setup. Every user has an account, and users can invite other users to join a project. It might not be a great model for larger companies, but for a freelancer, contractor or small company, this can be an ideal situation, given that the members of the team change frequently from project to project. Today's API news will hopefully spark some creative development on the Mac, iPhone and web to take advantage of the engine. Interested developers can visit the affiliate page for more information. To check out the service itself, just visit TimeXchange.net.
Band Mashups remixes the music game
This is how you do new take on a Guitar Hero/Bemani game. Smarty Pants developer Planet Moon has just revealed their encouragingly clever music game Band Mashups, which focuses on the concept of the "battle of the bands." Each band in Mashups represents a different genre of music: country, marching band, funk, etc. Songs are played as duels between two bands, with each band playing the licensed soundtrack in their own style. The style of the audio track alternates, with the winning group's style coming through more clearly. The game is controlled by moving the Wii remote left, right, down, and forward to match onscreen cues.The cleverest thing about this game, we think, is how it turns a problem into a positive. Guitar Hero dealt with the issue of not having access to original recordings of licensed music by recording soundalikes. Planet Moon realized with Band Mashups that a cover doesn't have to sound like the original, and built a game around it. We are actually looking forward to hearing all the cover songs. Symphonic "Spoonman"? Latin "Blitzkrieg Bop"? Yes, please. The full soundtrack includes other weird and wonderful choices like Tenacious D's "Master Exploder" and "Man of Constant Sorrow" from O Brother Where Art Thou. More screens and even video are available at the IGN link.
Cinemassively: The Duran Duran 'Falling Down' Video Mashup Challenge
Reader Mescaline Tammas sends in this wonderfully-shot Second Life Machinima -- his entry to the "Duran Duran 'Falling Down' Video Mash-Up Challenge" (whew). It's a lovely video that contains bits of the official video for the song, as well as a few allusions to the new Duran Duran album, Alice in Wonderland, and possibly a couple of others I'm too obtuse to pick up. Today's Cinemassively is brought to you in honor of Moo Money, who is dealing with egregious RL issues right now. She sends her love and promises to return soon![Thanks, Mescaline!]
Today's best re-created video: Smash Bros. Retro
The Smash Bros. Brawl fan-made videos keep getting better, like this trailer made by Carlos Maulén and posted by YouTube user spiderfalcox. The segment follows the style and soundtrack of the original Smash Bros. trailer but replaces the video track with retro sprites. The result is a cool mash-up of the characters, generally from the games in which they first appeared.While this was posted about two months ago, it's new to us and certainly worth a look if you missed it then. It's just like mid-Summer TV.[Thanks, Kye]
Kung Fu made exciting through the magic of better games
It must have taken a lot of work to make the NES Kung Fu game look cool, but Mission Accomplished. Mission so accomplished. Thomas from Kung Fu takes on pretty much every other NES character (and Zangief) with the help of his massive arsenal of special moves stolen from other games. We hate to spoil it, but Thomas doesn't make it all the way through the video. It is Kung Fu after all, and a violent death is inevitable. The second half of the video follows Mega Man as he faces the same kind of pan-gaming gauntlet, but with much more loss of (his own) life. Get equipped with E. Honda-Launching Pipe and check out the video after the break![Via NeoGAF]
