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Jukebox Heroes: EverQuest II's soundtrack
I figured that after the last column's focus on World of Warcraft, I might as well feature the other major November 2004 MMO release: EverQuest II. EverQuest II embraced high fantasy to its core, and the soundtrack for the original game certainly reflects this. SOE tapped composer Laura Karpman for the project in the early 2000s. The four-time Emmy-winner spent time getting acquainted with the first EverQuest before creating the music for the sequel. Following EQII's completion, Karpman remained on staff at SOE from 2005 to 2006 as the resident composer. She would leave the team after doing the score for EQII's first expansion, Desert of Flames. "This was one of the most rewarding opportunities I have ever had," Karpman said in 2003. "We had an amazing time recording the score in Prague, a wonderful city with equally great players." The one-hour soundtrack came with the collector's edition of the game, and a friend mailed me his copy, which I deeply appreciated. There's a lot to enjoy about this score, so let's dig in!
Jukebox Heroes: World of Warcraft's soundtrack
Recently I cleaned out my closet and discovered, tucked away with several older storage mediums (i.e., CDs), my World of Warcraft collector's edition soundtrack. Honestly, I had completely forgotten it was there. Within minutes, I dusted it off and had it playing on my computer. Non-ironic wow, I thought. That takes me back. If you were one of the players who spent any amount of time in what's now referred to as "vanilla" World of Warcraft -- before the Burning Crusade released in 2007 -- then it's just about impossible to hear these tunes and not be transported back to those first couple of years of discovery and conquest. WoW's original soundtrack was composed by Jason Hayes, Tracy W. Bush, Glenn Stafford, and Derek Duke, each of whom brought his own take on this MMO version of Warcraft. I had a blast re-listening to all of these old tracks and wanted to share with you a few of my personal favorites.
Jukebox Heroes Extra: An interview with Inon Zur
Did you grow up watching Power Rangers? I didn't, but then again, I was slightly over the age demographic there. But it tickles me pink (ranger) that the guy who got his start doing background music for one of the cheesiest shows of all time ended up scoring many of the greatest video games of all time. Israeli-born Inon Zur was hard at work in the film, TV, and video game industry in the '90s, but it wasn't until 2002's Icewind Dale II that his music and fame started to climb to a whole different level. Zur started winning awards left and right for his work on Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Prince of Persia, and Men of Valor, among other titles. MMO players might not know it, Zur's deft hand is all over the place. He's composed several EverQuest and EverQuest II expansions, the now-defunct Exteel, last year's RIFT and most recently, TERA. As a driving force behind MMO music, Inon Zur has a unique perspective on what makes for a great audio experience. Want to hear more? Us too. We have a great interview with Zur as well as a few select pieces of his works after the jump.
Jukebox Heroes: Guild Wars Prophecies
What's that, you say? A cheap tie-in, you say? Oh, pish posh. It just so happens that I appreciate the rich oeuvre of Jeremy Soule, and the alignment of the planets is... OK, it's a cheap tie-in. I can't help it; Guild Wars has been on my mind this past week, and since the full Guild Wars 2 soundtrack has yet to ship for DirectSong, this will do. Besides, as we well know, music doesn't age at the same pace as games. So why not hit up a soundtrack for the first Guild Wars while we dive into the sequel? At the risk of understatement, I think it's safe to say Jeremy Soule is somewhat well-known in the field of gaming. As a composer, he's tackled projects like Knights of the Old Republic, Icewind Dale, and the last three Elder Scrolls titles. In the Guild Wars community, he is the voice of the musical soul of the game. His compositions are the stuff of heaven: full, ethereal, dreamy. It's almost impossible to separate Soule's work on Guild Wars: Prophecies from the game, especially for those who played Prophecies extensively since its 2005 release. I'll be eager to digest and report on his newest work when it arrives, but until then, let's sample the highlights of his first foray into Tyria.
Jukebox Heroes: Runes of Magic's soundtrack
Welcome back to Jukebox Heroes, the column that dares you to close your eyes and unplug your ears. Well, after you're done reading this opening, of course. So what's the greatest tragedy in modern musical history? Everyone has an answer to that, but mine will be, "How much Runes of Magic's score is overlooked because it's a free-to-play title." Sure, the game shares enough DNA with World of Warcraft that the two titles can never marry or else they'll have inbred children, but RoM's soundtrack is anything but a clone of WoW's. Runes of Magic actually goes toe to toe with some of the greatest music I've ever heard in MMOs, and that's no exaggeration. I have to thank Massively's Jeremy Stratton for turning me on to this particular score. According to a few accounts I've read, Runes of Magic's music is both cobbled together from tracks of other video games as well as original pieces composed specifically for this. I honestly don't care where the music comes from; I just care to turn my speakers all the way up and feel epic when it's playing. So here we go with my absolute favorite tracks from Runes of Magic, minus a couple that I've shared on Massively before!
Jukebox Heroes Extra: Five exclusive DDO music tracks for your listening pleasure
I'll be honest: Part of the reason I'm doing this column is to get my grubby mitts (and ears) on as much MMO music as possible. So while it's great to talk with composers about their projects, I'm even more interesting in hearing the finished result. For a companion piece to my Chance Thomas interview, Turbine sent over five exclusive tracks from Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark. Sound Video Technology Director Steve DiGregorio wrote, performed, and recorded each of these, as both he and Thomas collaborated on Turbine's two expansions. In addition to the tracks and my thoughts on them, DiGregorio provided descriptions of each for illumination. Are you excited? I know I am, so let's hop to it!
Jukebox Heroes: Chance Thomas talks about scoring Turbine's expansions
For many Lord of the Rings Online players, the name Chance Thomas is synonymous with the feel of virtual Middle-earth. From the earliest days in the game, explorers have traversed the Shire, Moria, and beyond listening to Thomas' melodies. So we were excited to hear that Turbine is bringing Thomas back to score not only Riders of Rohan (his first soundtrack for the game since Mines of Moria) but also Dungeons and Dragons Online: Menace of the Underdark as well. Thomas is an Oscar- and Emmy-winning composer who's been working primarily in the field of video game music since 1998. Being a huge fan of MMO soundtracks, I made it a personal quest to talk with him about these two new scores and how he feels about working in this genre. In the weeks ahead, I'll be reviewing both Rohan and Underdark's soundtracks, but today I wanted to focus on the man behind the music. Join me, then, as we embark on a voyage to worlds far away, sailing on the wings of a song. Geez, that's cheesy, ain't it?
Jukebox Heroes: Aion's soundtrack
Welcome to Jukebox Heroes, a new biweekly column in which we jam an 8-track cassette into the deck and rock out to the best of MMO scores. I've been a huge soundtrack fan since about forever, and I collect both movie and video game scores like crazy. You may have seen this fanaticism peek through in a few of my Perfect Ten columns, and we thought it was time to give the sounds of MMOs their own dedicated space on Massively. Before we go into today's featured soundtrack, I want to establish two ground rules for this column and the discussion that may follow. The first rule is that even though many players turn off MMO music due to repetition, that doesn't mean that the score itself is forgettable. It's just that no music is good enough to listen to 1,047 times in a row. The second rule is that we're going to focus on the music itself without a larger commentary on its MMO. Good games can have terrible music and vice-versa, so it's important to divorce game opinions from musical analysis. Without further ado, I'm going to kick off this series by examining the latest MMO soundtrack I've acquired, Aion's. Aion is a gorgeous game to look at, and its music is just as -- if not more -- beautiful (and if you're not reading MJ's excellent Wings Over Atreia column, shame on you). Let's give it a listen.
The Perfect Ten: MMO Jukebox
Earlier this year, I got to expose my musically nerdy side to you all in a one-two shot of MMO theme song countdowns. The truth is that I'm just a huge sucker for video game music, and as such, I've collected a wide range of MMO scores to bolster my MP3 player. I know that we players tend to be pretty vocal about turning off MMO music at some point, usually due to extreme repetition. Unfortunately, that seems to leave a bad association with this music in our minds, and I don't feel that reputation is deserved. MMO scores can be just as good -- if not better -- than their counterparts in film or other video games. So I've decided that every so often I'm going to devote a full Perfect Ten to sharing my favorite MMO music. I'm always open to suggestions, of course, so if you know of a track that you feel really should be in the next list, send me an email or leave it in the comments!
Hyperspace Beacon: Top five SWTOR launch day secrets
It's official: The year's most highly anticipated MMO is no longer anticipated. As of today, Star Wars: The Old Republic has officially launched in both North America and Europe (and our Australian friends have had it shipped from the US). Despite some earlier issues about the time of delivery, everyone who pre-ordered can play on launch day thanks to the 48-hour grace period and the adjusted shipping date for most retailers. I guess that'll teach BioWare not to release so close to Christmas. Now that you have the game in your hands, what do you do? Of course, you enter in the code to your SWTOR account, but I mean, what do you do once you get into the game? First, if you have absolutely no clue which direction to go, you should read a couple of the class introductions in Massively's giant SWTOR pre-launch guide. Once you've decided on a class, hop past the break as I give you my top five things you must watch out for very early on in the game -- things that will make your launch day experience just a bit more interesting.
The Perfect Ten: The evolution of /dance
I recall when I was a wee... teenager and C+C Music Factory would blast through our Walkmans to demand that everybody (1) dance and (2) dance now. It was commanding, enthralling and extremely dorky, but the dance could not be denied. Dancing is in the soles of our souls as humans; we simply must boogie to a good beat. I'm not quite sure when or where dancing in MMOs became all the craze, but these days it seems as though every game (except the dour ones with bears, bears, bears) prides itself on a good set of /dance emotes. For some players, it's the perfect way to unwind after a long raid or chew up a bit of time while one waits for SgtCuddlyMonkey to return from his refreshing bio break. For others, it's a legitimate career path with a long and distinguished history of gyrating on top of mailboxes while annoyed postal recipients long for a day when a pelvis will not be gesturing at eye level. So this week, let's loosen up, let our hair down, and samba across the ballroom floor as we count down (up?) 10 incredible MMO dances.
Kaleidescape launches 100-disc Blu-ray movie server
Kaleidescape has fulfilled its promise of launching the industry's first Blu-ray server by releasing its new 100-disc Blu-ray disc vault we saw at CEDIA that, when paired with its M300 or M500 players, can rip, store, and stream copies of Blu-ray movies throughout the home. However, despite its pricetag of $1,495 (plus $2,500+ for the player) there's still some serious restrictions -- each disc vault has to be connected to an individual player, and the discs have to remain in the vault for the player to stream their ripped copies over the network. Sony's 400 disc changer can store more movies, but this should load them faster and offer easy browsing with cover art and title info. We suppose this is the "simplest" ripping solution available for now, but a year and a half later we're still wondering if Blu-ray's Managed Copy feature will ever launch and make a legitimate movie jukebox option a reality.
Delta's JFK terminal goes iPad crazy
Back in the day, it was not uncommon to sit down in a booth at a diner and find a box with lists of songs that you could browse and play back through the jukebox. Fast forward to 2010, and the Delta Airlines terminal at New York City's John F. Kennedy airport. With most people carrying a jukebox in their pocket, eateries like Croque Madame have installed Apple iPads in the booths that allow travelers to place food orders, check their email or read the news while waiting for their connection. OTG Management is installing as many as 200 iPads in the Delta JFK terminal and plans to do the same at LaGuardia soon as well. Since travelers typically have limited time before they have to catch flights, OTG isn't implementing any time limits, but hopefully they are putting some sort of anti-bacterial, anti-grease screen protectors on the tablets. Considering how many people go through major airports, using a touch-dependent device like the iPad in an area where people are eating probably isn't for the germophobic. [Via Engadget]
ReBraun music jukebox is beautifully retro, woefully expensive
Got a thing for vintage, do ya? If so, you owe it to yourself to have a gander at the ReBraun music jukebox, which was modeled after the absolutely stunning Audio 1 Kompaktanlage (circa 1962). This here device is crafted from aluminum and sports twin LCD displays in place of radio scales, and the optional WiFi module gives it a link to legions of internet radio stations. Needless to say, the mix of old and new is downright tear-jerking, but we'd argue the €12,000 ($15,561) price tag is even more so.[Via today and tomorrow]
Philips underwhelms with lackluster iPod / iPhone accessory line
Is it any wonder Philips is opting out of making a stop at CES this year? If it showed up with this line, it'd literally be laughed right out of Vegas. The outfit's dedicated "showing" in San Francisco this past week consisted of two Streamium Network Music Players (NP2500 and NP2900) that we were already well aware of, a refreshed DLO iBoom JukeBox ($200) that now plays nice with iPhones and two other mildly interesting pieces. First up is the January-bound DC350 Docking Entertainment System ($150), which bills itself as an iPhone / iPod dock "with hands-free conference call functions and the ability to sync with business calendars on your PC." Finally, we've got the 2.1 SPA5300 sound system (pictured), which has evidently been introduced in less traveled corners of the world but is just now making itself visible in the US. On second thought, maybe "underwhelming" is being too generous.[Via iPodNN]
Jamming to Wario Land: Shake It!
Click for image that isn't cropped If you're the type of person who is big into the music in games, then we've got a post for you. Combine the visual excellence and tight controls (which don't overuse motion control, by the way) with this audio assault and we're sure Wario Land: Shake It! is going to be the Wii title to top this year. Well, actually, the bar was set way back in January, by a little-known game called No More Heroes. We're sure Wario will give Travis a run for his money, though.Head past the break for the video.%Gallery-26293%
LocaModa lets cellphones interact with jukeboxes
Trust us, this isn't the first time LocaModa's dabbled in the cellphone-controlled gadgetry game, but it's never been more friendly than it's being with the Social Jukebox. The aforesaid company has teamed up with TouchTunes in order to give patrons the ability to interact with flat-panels on TouchTunes jukeboxes. On-screen applications will include information about the song currently playing, elusive "user generated content" and even "patron photos" from their social networking profiles (scary?). For those completely absorbed in this stuff, you can even keep tabs on the interactions via data feeds from your favorite network. Twitter fights over which song ushers the drinking crowd out in a bar 1,500 miles away? What is the world coming to?[Via textually, image courtesy of LocaModa]
DS Daily: Are you a jukebox hero?
We know there are some DS games that include jukebox features, wherein you can listen to music (that you often have to unlock first) at will. So, what do you think about jukeboxes? Do you ever actually leave your game on and listen to the music? Or is a jukebox just an unnecessary extra?*Note: The video embedded above is just for fun and has nothing to do with the DS, although it does show us a true jukebox hero.
Rocking out to Flower, Sun, and Rain
If you find yourself importing Flower, Sun, and Rain because you have no faith in localization, there will be at least one feature you won't have trouble understanding.Some extra content in the game includes a jukebox feature, and luckily, music is an international language. At least you'll have something to listen to while you try to figure out how to read Japanese. We wonder if the soundtrack is even half as good as the one for Suda 51's Wii game, No More Heroes.See also: 2008's Biggest Blips -- Flower, Sun, and Rain / The Silver Case%Gallery-12911%
Final Fantasy IV comes with nice soundtrack treat
Having a jukebox feature is not unique to video games, but it's not often (or never) that we have this pleasure with a Final Fantasy title. Fortunately, though, the Final Fantasy IV remake for the DS will have a jukebox component, hosted by none other then everyone's favorite spoony bard.Once you make Edward play your tune of choice, you can close up your DS, listen, and relax. If all of our DS games let us do this, we probably wouldn't have any need for our iPods anymore (okay, that's a lie).It's important to note, however, that the soundtrack for the DS version is slightly different from that of the original game because of sound issues on the handheld. Regardless, we find this to be a nice little feature for the game.[via Siliconera]
