David Bowie
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David Bowie's later albums have been remixed in 360 Reality Audio
Five of David Bowie's post-2000 releases will be released in 360-degree audio versions on streaming services January 21st.
Recreate 'Space Oddity' sounds with a Bowie-edition Stylophone
It's a regular Stylophone bearing the legendary artist's logo and it comes with a commemorative booklet.
Chris Hadfield's zero-gravity cover of 'Space Oddity' returns to YouTube
When Chris Hadfield left the International Space Station, he performed a cover of David Bowie's Space Oddity for the world to enjoy. Unfortunately, the Canadian Space Agency only had a license to distribute the track for a year, and after that it had to be pulled from YouTube. Thankfully, all the parties concerned have been working together to un-knot the various legal issues concerning performance rights in the upper atmosphere. Now, the astronaut has taken to his blog to announce that the video has been given a two-year extension and can now be watched once again - unless, of course, you just ripped it the first time it was up, in which case you probably didn't notice that it was gone.
iTunes exclusively streaming David Bowie's new album
As reported by Apple Insider, David Bowie's forthcoming album, The Next Day, is exclusively available to stream on iTunes in its entirety until March 12th, when the album is released. The Next Day, available for pre-order now, is Bowie's first album in 10 years and has come as somewhat of a surprise. Bowie first announced the album in early January with a video for the track "Where Are We Now?". iTunes streaming is becoming more prevalent as a means to promote high-profile releases. Previously streamed albums on iTunes have included works from The Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Matchbox 20 and Jack White. [Via Apple Insider]
Star Fox sings 'Space Oddity' in 3D, puppet-style
If you fondly recall long nights barrel-rolling across the galaxy with Fox and his crew on your N64, this video is for you. If you've ever listened to David Bowie's "Space Oddity" in the angsty privacy of your room, this video is for you. If you ever saw a puppet show at one of your local libraries, this video is for you. If you've never done any of those things, your childhood must have sucked. Geek-gag geniuses brentalfloss and Underbelly threw together a stellar Star Fox-remake of Bowie's "Space Oddity" using hand puppets, paper spaceships and what appears to be a small amount of Fox porn. We think they nailed the entire video in these five words: "Hey Falco, you're a douche," but we could just be projecting.
Rock Band Weekly: David Bowie
All you need to know about next week's Rock Band DLC featuring David Bowie is: Ziggy played guitaaaaaaaaaaar! Also, he believed in "fame" and "modern love" with "young Americans" named "Blue Jean." Check out the full details after the break.
Director predicts Warcraft film will break video game movie trend
Last week, Badass News posted an article detailing an interview with director Duncan Jones in which the Warcraft movie was one of the main topics of discussion. Jones is the son of David Bowie and director of the impressive science fiction flick Moon, as well as Source Code, another sci-fi title being released later this year. Though the interview reveals nothing about the production of the Warcraft movie, Jones thinks that the film is going to break the ongoing trend of terrible film adaptations of video games. In the article, Jones says he believes it's possible to make a good adaptation -- it just has to be approached properly. "A good game adaptation is where you find the story or the emotional aspect that's at the heart of a computer game and you replicate that on film. It doesn't mean you need to have first person perspective or try and capture the mechanics of a game," he says. Jones thinks the Warcraft film will be the film to break the mold because director Sam Raimi seems to be approaching the film correctly. "From the little I've read of interviews with him, the way he's approaching it makes so much sense. It's what I was talking about – it's not worrying about how the game plays, it's about creating the world of the game and investing the audience in that world." Jones explains that he's a serious gamer himself and is skeptical about other directors who claim the same. He doesn't think most directors have the time to be both hardcore gamers and filmmakers. Jones, on the other hand, says he stays up all night to accommodate his gaming habit and cites titles like Starcraft 2 and Call of Duty: Black Ops. He also says he's looking forward to Diablo 3. Jones admits that he's "hugely jealous" of Raimi's getting the chance to direct the Warcraft film; the writer of the article goes so far as to suggest that Jones have a chance at directing it, since Raimi set it aside to work on The Great and Mighty Oz. That's not really quite how Hollywood works, though, so unless Raimi steps down from the project himself, I wouldn't count on his losing the project just yet.
Hyperspace Beacon: Homage to we hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will
One of the best compliments you can give a creator is to make an homage to his work. The title of one of the Hyperspace Beacons was an homage to TOROCast articles. It's a way to tell the creator, "You're doing a good job. Keep up the good work." Not to mention, homages are a lot of fun. In fact, my first published work was an homage to the work of Charles Dickens. I wrote a story about what happened to the Cratchit children. But what happens when an homage goes too far? Every once in a while, the Hyperspace Beacon takes a side track and asks about ideas that should end up on the cutting room floor. We all know games have concepts that just don't work. Star Wars: The Old Republic will be no exception. This little humorous segment is called We hope this never makes it into SWTOR, but knowing our luck, it probably will -- or WHTNMIISWTORBKOLIPW, for short. Follow me after the break to see what "homageneous" ideas should never make it into the release of SWTOR, but knowing our luck, they will anyway.
WoW Moviewatch: A Moonkin Space Oddity
We've talked about the sublime, unknowable joy of the Moonkin in previous Moviewatch installments. There's something wonderful and subtle about these creatures. A sort of oddness that sets them apart from your average creature. That's why it seems to be a particularly beautiful inspiration to couple Moonkin with David Bowie in BeeblesTV's A Moonkin Space Oddity. The video is straightforward and wonderful. The story is about a Moonkin who longs to return to his home. He embarks in a short, earnest quest to put together a rocket, and then shoots off into the sky. The video might feel like it runs a little long, but I promise the final bits make the journey worth your time. The filming isn't fancy or complex; instead, Beebles has focused in on his simple narrative. He lets the elements of his art do the heavy lifting. Like I said, putting Moonkin and David Bowie seems like a natural thing. Beebles gets a tip o' the hat for thinking of this coupling. And, really, it's hard to go wrong with Moonkin. Interested in the wide world of machinima? We have new movies every weekday here on WoW Moviewatch! Have suggestions for machinima we ought to feature? Toss us an e-mail at machinima AT wow DOT com.
Blood Sport: Patch 3.2.2, the times they are a-changin, Part II
In keeping with our musical theme, here's David Bowie's Changes. Most of you have probably heard it, but most of us have not really listened to it. Take some time to enjoy one of Bowie's most renowned pieces with the article today.Last time, I went over a few significant arena modifications that 3.2.2 brought us. Square pillars for line-of-sight, the armor penetration nerf, focus frames, flying in battlegrounds, and the Onyxia loot table can be found here.This article is going to talk about five of the nine classes discussed in the 3.2.2 patch notes (warlocks were left out). The reason we won't be talking about the other four is sheer article size. I'm not getting blamed for breaking anyone's scroll wheel today! We'll go over death knights, hunters, druids, and mages in the second part of this part II (which should be in a day or two).I'm giving analysis on class changes; I hope we will agree on most things, but if you disagree or decide I don't understand a mechanic properly, please let me know in the comments below. I read all your comments and am often stunned with how gracious our readers have been towards me. Thank you for all the kind words, those of you who took the time to write them!Please don't assume that I don't care if I don't write a large amount about the horrors of nerfing or the glories of buffing your main character's class (triple negative hooray). I probably don't know enough about the intricacies of the change to make an educated prediction, and would say little rather than proclaim "this will gimp class X vs. class Y" and have it fail to come to fruition.I'm going to be ignoring all non-pvp related notes. If you think I left something out, please post a comment below and I will (most likely) edit the post accordingly.Also, 3.3 patch notes are out already! Next week, part III will be merged with the 3.3 patch notes that are coming; there's a lot to talk about!So, without further ado, here's what 3.2.2 is cha-cha-cha-cha-changing in the arena world.
David Bowie invites us all to dance in latest Lego Rock Band trailer
No, really, that's David Bowie. Click for a higher-resolution peak Warner Bros. today announced the inclusion of David Bowie as a second playable character in upcoming music/rhythm game, Lego Rock Band, and also handed over a mess of new media seen above and below. Coupled with last month's Iggy Pop announcement , the game's playable-musician-who-probably-shouldn't-be-in-a kids-game quotient has officially been doubled. One major plus for Bowie: Lego character gender ambiguity is all the more fitting. Bravo, MTV Games! Now that's synergy. %Gallery-74836%
Remix David Bowie's "Space Oddity" on your iPhone
I'm a big David Bowie fan, regardless of the era. From Ziggy Stardust to Tin Machine, I'm a just a fan. Bowie's first big UK hit, "Space Oddity," was originally released on July 11, 1969. It was released in conjunction with the Apollo 11 mission and became a smash in the UK, though it wouldn't break through to US audiences until 1973. Coinciding with yesterday's Apollo 11 anniversary iKlax Media and EMI have come together to release Remix David Bowie - Space Oddity [iTunes link] for the iPhone and iPod touch. Essentially Remix David Bowie is the Space Oddity 40th Anniversary EP [iTunes link], but it lets you create your own "mix" of the track. iKlax's Remix app has a pretty neat interface that separates the original track into various stem-specific elements. You can control the volume for each of these stems (for things like the lead vocal, the vocal dub, the electric string guitar, orchestra, mellotron and others). In addition to letting you control what elements you want to adjust, you can also listen to some of the pre-arranged samples, like "acoustic," "a cappella" and "instrument only." This actually coincides with the versions and stems on the Digital EP release that is available as a music download. You can make track adjustments on the fly, but you can't alternate levels in various parts of the track. That would be expecting a bit much from a $1.99 app, but I thought I should point it out. After you create your custom mix, you can name it and save it. Unfortunately, you can't share that mix with others, which I imagine is a licensing issue, but it's too bad. Sharing custom remixes, even if it was through a web player, would be really cool. At $1.99US, Remix David Bowie is a pretty fun app for the would-be DJ/Bowie-fan. %Gallery-68450%
The best of WoW Insider: June 10-17, 2008
You can almost hear David Bowie singing around the realm of Azeroth lately: ch-ch-ch-ch-changes are in the air. Blizzard decided to do PvE to PvP transfers for the first time this week, Season 4 is coming soon in the Arenas, and lots of changes are coming to old Azeroth (including the Dalabubble, above). But don't let change worry you -- Joystiq's sister site WoW Insider has you covered, through all the changes coming in Wrath of the Lich King. You can turn and face the strain -- we got your back. News WoW player more ashamed than porn addictAddiction is out there, and people suffering from it need to get help. Combat stats and spellpower consolidated on AlphaA huge change to the way talents and gear will work hits the expansion's Alpha servers. Seven graphical WoW generators, and one for your carSeven different ways to put your World of Warcraft character into graphical form. Starting from scratch with two weeks to Season 4The new arena season was announced this week, and even if you weren't prepared, we've got you covered. Reading between the lines: are more PvE to PvP transfers possible?Blizzard broke their precedent for the first time this week to save a dying server -- will they do it again? Features Ask WoW Insider: /roll abuse?The number one way to cause drama in the game? Be unfair with loot. Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our natureOur raid Tanking column talks about that little DPS devil on your tanking shoulder. Ask a Lore Nerd: The evil-o-meterLots of players know some things about lore, but the Lore Nerd knows all. Changes to old Azeroth coming in the next expansionWhat's changing in the old world when Wrath of the Lich King releases? A lot. 'Tis the Season 4 making moneyZach Yonzon tells you exactly how to cash in on the news that Season 4 is coming soon.
Build your own Stylophone, be slightly more like David Bowie
Sure, this little hack requires more than basic soldering skills and you'll need an actual synth for sound output, but we've always been intrigued by the Stylophone David Bowie used to write songs on, and now we can build one. The 29-note "keyboard" is really just an exposed circuit trace, and completing a circuit by touching the metal stylus to one of the keys sends voltage to your synth and lets you get glam in the comfort of your own home. Complete instructions at the read link, and a video of Bowie in action after the break (it's at the very end).[Via MAKE]
All the young dudes carry a Bowie DS case
Okay, so maybe not all the young dudes, and in this case the dude is actually a dudette, but we're still impressed by this hand-made DS Lite case. As you may have noticed, the thing that separates Miss Fina's case from the hordes of (also impressive) others is David Bowie's face. Or, perhaps we should say the face of Ziggy Stardust.There's more images of this sweet craft after the break, along with some "Magic Dance" action that you know you shouldn't enjoy, but do.
