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The Daily Grind: What's your favorite MMO soundtrack?
It's commonly said that MMO players eventually turn off the game's soundtrack in favor of their own tunes, voice chat or even silence. Most MMO tunes are forgettable the first time you hear them, nevermind the 1,000th, so scores are dumped in the trash and forgotten forever. Except that's not always the case, now is it? Sometimes there's an MMO with a gifted composer who crafts tunes so ear-catching that you even listen to them (gasp) outside of the game. Sometimes there are MMOs in which you consider the soundtrack to be an essential part of the game experience, and refuse to ever disable it. For today, we want to hear about your favorite MMO soundtrack. Which is your favorite? Are you in love with any particular track? Have you ever gone to great lengths to obtain a particular piece of music for your MP3 player or a CD? What score will you refuse to mute, even when a cute elfish vixen or lad comes up to chat? (Bonus points to commenters who provide a YouTube link to their favorite scores -- and to the genuis who thinks that this is a great time for a Rickroll, well, call this a preemptive strike.)
Zur and Abernethy making TERA music
Bluehole Studio and En Masse Entertainment continue to impress with their ability to put together a top notch roster of talent for TERA. The forthcoming fantasy MMORPG will feature a musical score by Inon Zur and Rod Abernethy as well as the Northwest Sinfonia Orchestra. The soundtrack makes use of traditional acoustic guitar, various ethnic instrumentation and vocal performances. Zur is a prolific composer responsible for the Dragon Age, Fallout 3, and Prince of Persia scores, while Abernethy's extensive body of work includes music for The Hobbit, Alpha Protocol, and Dead Space. "The general direction for the music for TERA was to have an original score that sounded grand and to match the large-scale in-game world, mixed with some warm sounding music," said Mr. An Yong Jin, Bluehole's Audio Director. "Inon has created world-class quality, epic orchestral music, which is his best attribute; his sweeping symphonic music is outstanding. Rod's beautiful compositions for TERA span a wide scope of musical styles. His expertly crafted blend of acoustic guitar and orchestral compositions is incredible for enhancing the musical atmosphere and their popular music appeal." [Thanks Greg!]
Post-keynote TUAW prediction scorecard: How did we do?
Yesterday we pooled our predictions together to try and predict what would happen at the iPad presentation today. How did we all do? Sang Tang: Sang was the closest in terms of the iPad's screen size -- 9.6" prediction vs. 9.7" actual size. However, the iPad has neither wireless HDMI nor a front-facing camera (or, indeed, a camera of any kind). Score: 1/3. Erica Sadun: Erica was off on screen size, but was correct in predicting that the iPad would look and function much like an iPod touch. However, by all appearances the iPad doesn't add any new revolutionary gestures, and without a camera of any kind, any augmented reality applications are going to be very limited in scope. She was correct in saying there'd be no "mind-blowing new tech onboard" and optional nationwide wireless with a monthly fee. Score: 3/5. David Winograd: David was also off on screen size (though just barely), cameras, and new gestures. He was correct in predicting a keyboard dock and an optional data plan, but wrong about iPhone tethering and iPhone OS 4.0. Score: 2/7. More scores and the TUAW total after the break!
Dark Void soundtrack taking off February 9
Though Capcom's jetpack-infused action title Dark Void may be getting universally panned by critics, one element of the game seems to be garnering praise from reviewers: Its Bear McCreary-composed soundtrack. Thanks to an announcement from music publisher Sumthing Else Music Works, we now know when said soundtrack will get its own release: February 9. Unless, of course, that's when Modern Warfare 2's soundtrack gets released, in which case they'll probably push it back a little bit. Personally, we can't wait to pick up the album, which will be shipped to retailers and available for purchase on Sumthing Else's site. Soon, we'll be able to sit back, close our eyes and listen to McCreary's orchestral jams without worrying about jetpacking into a cliff face.
ZEN Pinball's Ninja Gaiden table trailer slices and dices
Wondering what the official Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 table for ZEN Pinball looks like in motion? Wonder no more -- the video above will show you all of the Hayabusa-style bumper action you'll be able to find, complete with ramps, flashing lights, ninja spirits and... burning pagodas? Boy, those ZEN folks aren't really pinball traditionalists, are they? But it does look fun. The table will bring new gameplay modes and missions along with it to the PlayStation Store on Thursday, January 14, for $2.49 (€1.99). Of course, it's DLC for the original ZEN Pinball game, so you've got to have that, too. Wait, we just rewatched it -- did Ryu just slice the ball in half? That's pretty awesome!
Jack Wall scoring Mass Effect 2, score the soundtrack yourself on Jan. 19
The prolific composer Jack Wall will be droppin' mad orchestral beats on the soon-to-be-released Mass Effect 2, according to a recent EA press release. Though you may not be familiar with the name, you're probably familiar with his work -- Wall produced the scores for Jade Empire, Splinter Cell, Myst III and co-composed the accompaniment for the original Mass Effect. So, you know he's already got experience with theremins and other sci-fi synthesizers, which is important for this kind of work. If you need something ambient to listen to during your daily chamomile bath, the soundtrack will also be available to download from the usual online retailers on January 19. Or you could just, you know, leave the game running in the other room with the volume turned way up. Your choice!
Outnumbered presents an interesting twist on iPhone multiplayer
Veiled Games sent word of their new game, Outnumbered [iTunes link], on the iPhone app store, and it seems intriguingly different. It's basically a multiplayer arcade game, which pits two iPhones or iPod touches against each other via Bluetooth. One player takes over the role of the O.N.E., a singular robot armed with weapons and special attacks, and the other player controls M.A.N.Y., which is a top-down view where you can control waves of attacking units and robots. The two players duke it out, with the first controlling his robot around the arena, and the second overseeing the armies and buying new units with collected currency. When the single robot is dead, players switch sides, and whoever earns the most points while fighting (for attacking, moving, or a few other criteria) wins the game. Interesting idea. Of course, you'll need a friend with their own iPhone or iPod touch to do all of this, and you'll have to be in the same room, as the connection only works (so far) over Bluetooth. If you're still confused as to how it all works, there's a nice tutorial video up (although that voice gets to be a bit much after a while) that explains how the game goes down. Most of the big iPhone titles we've seen this year mostly focus on single player gaming, so it's cool to see an attempt like this to try something that more than one player can share. Outnumbered is available in the App Store [iTunes Link] right now for 99 cents, and a lite version (that will allow a second player to play along, although one of the two players must own the full version) is due out soon.
Listen to new tracks from the Earthrise soundtrack
Masthead Studios, the creators of post-apocalyptic MMO Earthrise, just reached out to Massively and gave us access to two tracks from the upcoming game's soundtrack. The tracks are titled Flooid and Shiv Out, composed by Pavel Benov who we've mentioned in the past for creating a blend of ambient and industrial music for the game. Both tracks are electronica, which seems fitting for this sci-fi MMO. When you're creating the music that sets the tone for a futuristic game where the old world is dead and gone, lost to nuclear and biological warfare, something orchestral as heard in a fantasy MMO might not really work. Earthrise is a game about a cloned society of technocratic elite reborn in the far future -- a time where advanced technology dominates and defines the lives of all of the world's remaining inhabitants -- so going electronic with the game's music was probably the right choice. Give the Flooid and Shiv Out tracks linked above a listen and let us know what you think. If you like these tracks, you might also want to check out Benov's Dystopia Sunrise and Lay Waste as well.
EVE soundtrack performed by 16 string symphony orchestra
The "HTFU" video by CCP Games employees Permaband got all the attention around EVE Fanfest 2009, but there was something else a bit different that attendees of the annual player gathering were treated to -- a live performance of EVE Online's in-game music. The performance was given by DJ Margeir and his Symphony Orchestra; unlike the game soundtrack, some songs have accompanying vocals. It's a very different take on the familiar sounds many of us have been flying with for years in EVE.CCP Games made the Fanfest performance available on YouTube, and we've got the video of this embedded for you after the jump.
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.
Think you're good at Flight Control?
Here I was, thinking our fine TUAW readership was pretty great at playing Flight Control. Yesterday, as part of a post about the new game Trains, I asked for everyone's high scores, and I thought we were doing well. Commenter DJ won our informal competition (no prizes, sorry, beyond the satisfaction of a job well done) with a score of 1036. Dan came in second with 575. Rounding out the top three was Matthew with a high of 275. Now, however, with the latest update, your high scores can be uploaded to cloudcell.com, home of high scores for not only Flight Control, but Real Racing and Fast & Furious. There, it's clear that TUAW readers have much better things to do than play Flight Control all day. Just a few hours ago, a user named TommyRoissy landed 14,439 aircraft before two of them collided. Ridonkulous. Our own Mike Rose speculates that some are playing the game inside the iPhone SDK's simulator mode to gain higher scores. I agree -- pair simulator mode with a graphics tablet, and you've got yourself quite the landing machine. Update: Thanks to our commenters for correcting this; it's not technically possible to run purchased iPhone apps in the Xcode simulator, as it cannot emulate the iPhone's ARM processor. Even so, that's a lot of time spent playing Flight Control. I mean, it's a good game, but let's say the average landing time is five seconds. 14,439 landings is over 72,000 seconds -- or 20 hours -- of playing time. I'm certain there's some pauses in there, but that's still a lot of landing.
Zen Bound adding new tree in free update
Touch Arcade has a slew of new screenshots from an upcoming free update for a game I've been coming back to more and more lately on my iPhone: Zen Bound. When I first installed it, I thought of it as more of a tech demo than a game, but as you load it up more and more, you really do start uncovering layers of competition -- "if only I twisted the statue that way I could cover more ground, or maybe if I started from that leg I could wrap around closer on that side." It's pretty addictive, and it's one of those games that starts tugging at your mind even when you're not playing it. The update probably won't help free my mind -- not only will it have a whole set of new objects to wrap up (featuring some fun retro-gaming themed pieces), but it's getting some bugfixes and some performance tweaks as well. The paint spread by the rope will be smoother, and the problem of the rope crossing through objects should be better (while that happened from time to time, it wasn't a huge complaint). Still, especially for free, it sounds like the update will only make a great game better. Zen Bound is available right now in the App Store for $4.99 (with the free update available "soon"), and there's a lite version to try out as well.
WoW Insider exclusive: PopCap releases Peggle for WoW
digg_url = 'http://wow.joystiq.com/2009/04/23/wow-insider-exclusive-popcap-releases-peggle-for-wow/'; Yes, when PopCap released their Bejeweled addon a while back, the first question on everyone's minds was: when are we getting Peggle? And here you go: as of this morning, you can download the brand new Peggle for WoW addon from PopCap's site.WoW Insider got a chance to play with the addon from its early beta on, and it's extremely impressive -- not only will you find the usual addictive peg-hitting gameplay that we've come to know from Peggle, but PopCap and creator Michael Fromwiller (whom we interviewed about Bejeweled, and who we're told is actually being hired on full-time at PopCap as soon as he finishes school this spring) have really added a new level to the game by tying it right into World of Warcraft. The game rewards you with "Talent points" that can change the gameplay itself, and you can challenge other players within World of Warcraft to duels and score battles. There's even a "Peggle loot" setting, which, when used as Master Looter, will let your guildies and friends with the addon actually take Peggle shots against each other to determine who gets loot drops.It's really wild. Read on for our early impressions of the addon, check out the gallery below for exactly what it looks like, and then go head on over to PopCap's site to download it for free yourself.%Gallery-50946%
Black Prophecy's musical composers Dynamedion interviewed
Is the music in a game an important aspect of the play experience for you? If you've answered yes, you might be interested in a recent interview we came across at The Prophecy Network with Tilman Sillescu, musician and co-founder of Dynamedion, a company responsible for the soundtrack composition and sound design of many video games in Europe. One of their latest projects has been to create the soundtrack for the sci-fi MMO Black Prophecy. Sillescu gives some background into the process of composing music for games and you don't need to be a music major to follow along. He discusses what they did over the 10 months spent working on the project which Sillescu describes as 'epic and orchestral.' "We had many people working on the music: 4 composers, 3 orchestrators, a 70-piece orchestra and a 20-piece choir, conductor, solo instrumentalists, recording engineer, sound mixer," he says. "So we went to great expense to realize an optimal soundtrack for the game." There's an extra included with the Dynamedion interview at The Prophecy Network, an mp3 of Black Prophecy's epic battle music which was used in the recently released cinematic trailer.
Battlestar Galactica composer previews music for Dark Void
Hey, guy -- what's the matter? We've noticed you've been looking positively sullen these past few weeks. Has the series departure of Battlestar Galactica got you down in the frakking dumps? There's not much we can do about that, though your spirits may be lifted by checking out a recent blog post from Battlestar composer Bear McCreary, the recently revealed songsmith behind the score of Dark Void. His blog contains a video (posted after the jump) previewing a few clips from the game's soundtrack, which is shaping up to sound just as awesome as the title looks.If soaring orchestral tunes aren't really your thing, you might still want to check out the preview for a few new Dark Void gameplay clips. Then again, if you've yet to be swept off your feet (and propelled hundreds of feet into the air) by Capcom's jet pack-centric action title, you may be entertained by McCreary's declaration of love for Mega Man -- any composer who creates 8-bit versions of their pieces then saves them on hard drives named after Robot Masters is okay in our books.
Steve Wiebe to go for Donkey Kong hi-score at E3
Amidst the lights, glitz and elbows to the face at this year's E3 will be Steve Wiebe, who will use the spectacle as the backdrop for his latest attempt to reclaim his Donkey Kong arcade scoring title. Wiebe will take joystick in hand June 2nd at the show, marking his fourth attempt to break the record since he was outscored by fellow quarter jockey Billy Mitchell at the end of manufactured biopic, King of Kong. The undertaking will be nationally televised by G4 as audiences crowd in front of their sets, pining for a chance to catch a glimpse of Wiebe's sweaty palms and maybe, just maybe, the classic's infamous 'kill screen.'
Age of Conan wins Best Original Score at IFMCA awards
The fantasy MMO Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures is a game that's notable for its score, and this aspect of the title has drawn accolades from gamers and music critics alike. Composer Knut Avenstroup Haugen was even nominated for Best Original Score in a Video Game in the Hollywood Music Awards. While ultimately that honor went to Wataru Hokoyama for Afrika, Haugen now has cause to celebrate his big win at the International Film Music Critics Association (IFMCA) awards. The IFMCA is an association of online, print, and radio journalists who write about film and television music. Clearly they were impressed with Haugen's work. Age of Conan won Best Original Score for a Video Game or Interactive Media, this time beating Afrika, as well as Gears of War 2, Mercenaries 2, and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed. [Via MMORPG.com] Having fun in Conan's homeland? Make sure to check out all of our previous Age of Conan coverage, and stick with Massively for more news from the Hyborian Age!
The Daily Grind: Make your own soundtrack
Music can be either a love or a hate in a game for many people. While I personally think the soundtrack in EVE Online is all kinds of awesome, I know a couple of people who don't like it. They told me that it just didn't sound like what they thought a game like EVE Online should have sounded like. (They were expecting heavy metal/guitar-driven music than the trance/electronic music in EVE.) This morning, we thought we'd ask - if you could compile the music for your game of choice; add a soundtrack everyone was listening to - what songs/bands would you use to score it? Are there any standout songs that just belong in a particular game?
EVE Online getting audio revamp
The music in a massively multiplayer online game tends to be an unappreciated aspect of the gameplay experience. When we play games we primarily notice the visual. Although the ambient sound surrounding us helps set the tone, it's almost always less commented upon. This is a shame because there really is some excellent music that's created for these games. EVE Online is a game that has some rather unique music that, for some, fits the galactic setting of New Eden. But still, a number of EVE players opt to turn the music off and play to their own soundtrack. EVE players who are really into the music that permeates the game will love the latest dev blog from CCP RealX. He details how he's created the game's music in the past, both in terms of hardware and software, as well as his approach to his work. RealX says, "I tried to make use of the panning as a compositional element, making swells and sweeps come up from behind and sweep past the listener." But he's looking to make EVE's music a bit more engaging as time goes on, giving more players less of a reason to disable the sound in favor of their own iTunes library, stating "what doesn't grow must wither and die."
Australian orchestra records tribute to WoW, Blizzard in general
Australia-based Eminence Symphony Orchestra (who performed pieces for the soundtrack of the console fighting game Soul Calibur IV) have recorded a vast musical tome called Echoes of War that encompasses virtually every game Blizzard has made -- including World of Warcraft. The international (Australia, United States, Japan) project is made partly out of the proverbial love of the game, but the folks behind it also want to get a young generation interested in classical music by playing "the music they want to hear." The samples on the website (which include two WoW tracks) are impressive, and should entice hardcore Warcraft fanatics to pick the full package up online. There's a standard edition for $29.95 that just includes the 90 minutes of music, and the pictured-above "Legendary" edition (geez, even video game soundtracks have CEs now) which includes the music, a making-of DVD, a "32-page color booklet" (whatever that means), and nine bits of artwork on cards. That'll cost you $49.95.Sure, other MMOs have gotten soundtrack albums, but we're pretty sure this is the first time we've seen a soundtrack for the entire catalog of an MMO developer other than Square-Enix; Final Fantasy fanatics proudly challenge even the Warcraft guys and gals in sheer enthusiasm.[Via Kotaku]
