yuzo koshiro
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'Streets of Rage 4' will be scored by an all-star group of composers
However well Streets of Rage 4 turns out, it should at least have a top-tier soundtrack. Guard Crush Games, Lizardcube and Dotemu have revealed that the side-scrolling beat-em-up will have music from Motohiro Kawashima and Yuzo Koshiro, both of whom produced soundtracks for the original Streets of Rage games. They'll tap into the "thumping club anthems" you may remember from the first three titles while creating new sounds.
Ys Online soundtrack now free download
If you're anything like some of us at Massively, the music in your games really adds something to the experience. While Ys Online may not snag the headlines here very much, it's an MMO based off of a series of Japanese RPGs that reaches back into the 1980s. The Ys IP has also been spun off into two anime series produced in the late 80's and early 90s. Ys Online is still in open beta in Europe, but they're already making the game's soundtrack available for free download. You can preview the tracks on the Ys Online Europe site and download each track individually, or just grab the whole soundtrack as a zip file. The Ys Online soundtrack is composed by the same people behind the score of the various Ys titles in the past -- Yuzo Koshiro; Mieko Ishikawa and Hideya Nagata.
Etrian Lottery: Win Etrian Odyssey II's soundtrack
Atlus is conducting a unique contest on their message board -- one which, if you're an Etrian Odyssey fan, you should be entering right now. The prize is a 3-disc soundtrack CD set featuring game music legend Yuzo Koshiro's score for Etrian Odyssey II: Heroes of Lagaard, as they are heard on the DS and in totally retro PC-8801 versions!All you have to do to be eligible is post a continuation of the ongoing Etrian story being crafted in the contest thread. The best contributor, as judged by Atlus staff, will be awarded the soundtrack. There are resources available to introduce you to the world and the characters, in case you care more about Yuzo Koshiro than Etrian, or you didn't pay any attention to the first game's story. You have until 5:30 Pacific time on May 13, so put on your robe and (thinking) wizard hat!Atlus has also created an official Etrian Odyssey II Facebook page. If you're enough of a college student to be all about Facebook, be sure to check it out.
Elebits, Dewy director on future plans and old game music
Gamasutra's Brandon Sheffield spoke to Konami's current de facto head Wii guy, Shingo Mukaitoge, who directed both Elebits and Dewy's Adventure, in an enjoyably in-depth interview about influences, interests, and a bit of game history. Mukaitoge got his start as an architecture student, but moved to games after college, directing console music games for Konami before getting a chance to develop his two original Wii games. When the time came to create the original game, he says, the design followed from the Wiimote -- which seems kind of obvious when you play Elebits, the game of pointing at stuff. The games were more popular in the U.S. than in Japan, which Mukaitoge theorizes is due in part to Japan's reliance on franchises: "Well I've found that mysterious myself, as well, but the Japanese market tends to purchase games that already have previous versions, like franchise games, instead of original ones. Maybe that is one of the reasons. It's not a good thing though..."This startlingly candid interview is worth checking out. Towards the end, Sheffield and Mukaitoge begin riffing on obscure Saturn and PC Engine RPGs and talking about great Yuzo Koshiro music. It's always nice to find out that game directors put some effort into playing games occasionally.
Sonic and Chrono composers to join PLAY! in Chicago
It appears that PLAY! A Video Game Symphony will be hosting yet another guest from Japan as well as another musical exclusive. Yasunori Mitsuda, main composer on Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and a number of other epic Japanese RPGs, will be attending the opening PLAY! concert in Chicago on May 27th. An "exclusive suite" of his music from the two Chrono games will be featured in every PLAY! concert worldwide. Mitsuda will join his compatriot Yuzo Koshiro, whose "special suite" of arranged music from the Sonic the Hedgehog series "will be heard live for the first time at the world-premiere." They will engage in a meet and greet with fans--who fork over the $125 needed for VIP tickets--along with Jeremy Soule (The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind), Marty O'Donnell (Halo), and Jason Hayes (World of Warcraft). [Via 1UP]
