score
Latest
Age of Conan composer nominated for Best Original Score
Funcom's most recent title Age of Conan tends to come under some fire from the gamers who jumped in upon launch. You may have noticed. While players can fault some aspects of the game, it does have some strengths, namely its fantastic score. In fact, the music of AoC has caught the attention of the Hollywood Music Awards. Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who composed the soundtrack for Age of Conan, has been nominated for Best Original Score in a Video Game, specifically for his "Ere the World Crumbles" from the fantasy title. We also turned up an interview with Haugen about the challenges of scoring Age of Conan, and of composing interactive music in general. 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: The best MMO music
Here's a story for you: a certain blogger is playing The Lord of the Rings Online. He's in the Trollshaws, and he notices the music -- oft-ignored in MMOs -- is actually really good. It's classy and it's beautiful. Then he starts to think about the music in other games -- the gorgeous and mournful guild hall ballad of Meridian 59, the beautiful and muted arpeggios of EverQuest's Kelethin theme, and the dark and foreboding ancient instrumentation of Age of Conan's various Stygian pieces.Music is not usually the focus of a lot of discussion or attention in MMOs. A lot of people probably just turn it off and listen to terrible terrible pop rock in the background. But for those of you who actually pay attention: do any particular musical compositions in MMOs stand out to you? What's the best track yet featured in an MMO?
WoW Heroes sets you right at endgame
We've covered sites like this before (Be Imba is probably the one best known), but here's another character comparison/improvement tool for you to use online. WoW Heroes is a site that will look up your character's significant info from the Armory, put it in an easy-to-read format, and then help you check out all your stats, enchants, and gear, and help you find improvements to what you're wearing. It's not as judgemental as Be Imba -- you just get the stats and the facts, not yelled at for not having gems in your sockets (though getting yelled at might be just the motivation you need to get better), but it does provide suggestions in a much gentler way, including what kinds of enchants to use and what kinds of instances to run.And one fun feature that isn't as easy to do on Be Imba is the comparison tool -- you can put in two characters' names and servers and very easily look at both at the same time, comparing item levels and/or seeing where the gear came from. Neat feature, and very easy to get up and running, no login or signup needed.There is one drawback -- you can't see any characters in the system that are below level 70, so WoW Heroes is only for people trying to find improvements and options in the endgame -- if you're below 70, you'll have to go elsewhere. But as an endgame character improvement tool, it's another good option to use.
Age of Conan composer speaks about Hyborian soundtrack
One interesting side effect of having a developer like Funcom being based out of Norway is that we are introduced to a whole cavalcade of interesting Scandinavian names. Case in point: they recently posted an interview on their official site with Knut Haugen, the game's composer, to celebrate the release of the Age of Conan official soundtrack on the iTunes store. The soundtrack itself is suitably epic, and you get a robust 25 tracks for the respectable price of $9.99. Plus, you get to own an album by a guy named Knut! Quite a deal.As for the interview itself, Haugen talks about how he got into composing originally and how he came to be acquainted with the Age of Conan team. He also talks about the intricacies of balancing Age of Conan's ancient, almost primeval ambiance with a desire to convey complex emotions for a situational score. It's an interview that's definitely worth reading, as it effectively relates an aspect of game development that we often hear too little about.
Age of Conan's composer talks inspiration, challenges
MMORPG met up with Age of Conan composer Knut Avenstroup at the Oslo launch event and spoke with him about the beautiful score he created for the game. During the four minute video interview, Avenstroup talked about adapting his creative process to the video game medium and staying motivated when faced with the intimidating task of creating three and a half hours of music.He explained that he wanted to learn about ancient forms of music, since the game is set just before the dawn of recorded history. Unfortunately, he had a bit of trouble because "there is very little material to look into because the only thing they know about ancient music or music from two thousand years ago is based on the instruments that have survived. They are basically trying to find out what kind of music would be possible to play on these instruments, so there's not a lot to go on."Despite that problem, he was able to draw on inspiration from several cultures -- including Arabic, Celtic, and Nordic -- and the scores of films set in the distant past.
The VC Advantage: Treasurevania
The internet has made it easy to find cheats for games, but we miss the tips pages from game magazines, when the discovery of a new code could inspire you to go back to an old game. These codes aren't exactly new, but oldness is the essence of the Virtual Console! We're bringing back the classic codes every week on The VC Advantage.Score used to be important in video games. With the rise of Guitar Hero and the Xbox Live Achievement system, it's coming back, but it went out of style for a long time. High scores made a lot of sense in the arcade (which has also gone out of style) since other people played the machines and could thus compete to overtake your three-letter tag as that machine's leader. Home games adopted scoring for two reasons: first, in the older games, there was no other way to determine progression. After twenty minutes of Asteroids, without a score there'd be no evidence that you'd done any better than someone playing for thirty seconds. The game never changes, never reveals new content, and never ends. Score was a very simple way to allow you to progress. Of course, competitive sport-based games like Pong required scoring as a basic gameplay mechanic.Later (NES and beyond) games adopted scoring mostly as a holdover from classic arcade games. Games like Super Mario Bros. were more about experience than performance, and progress could be tracked by ... actual progress. You moved from place to place, and didn't need some arbitrary number to tell you how far along you were. Even the first Mega Man game had a score display.The first Castlevania arguably didn't need a score counter at all. Not dying was more than enough of an achievement to wear as a badge of honor. Besides, it already featured another counter in the game (hearts) that also incremented by picking up items. Later Castlevania games adopted experience points, which are exactly like points except that their accrual actually improves your avatar's abilities, but pre-Symphony of the Night games all awarded points for killing enemies and collecting items.Some of the items, in fact, did nothing but improve your score.
DS Daily: 20
Did you ever make it? We mean the optimal score in Brain Age, of course. Tragically, the lowest this blogger ever hit was the low-to-mid twenties, but surely that comes from being a drooling, Castlevania-obsessed blogging type (and also, apparently, old-brained). Did you get all the way down to twenty? Did you pump your fists in the air and cheer? That can be embarrassing when you happen to be in public. Or are you more like me, sad and pathetic, staring through the glass at all the younger, smarter, better people? It's okay. It's not too bad here on the outside.
Vroop's Liveboard: the retro Bluetooth baseball scoreboard
Vroop's Liveboard won't win any awards for "world's largest" or anything, but if you're looking for an easier (and more decorative) way to keep a close eye on baseball scores around the league, you'd be hard pressed to top this. Designed after a timeless stadium scoreboard, this device sports built-in wireless capabilities that enable it to sync up with the included software in order to keep track and display real-time scores in MLB. Users can select from a trio of modes depending on what scores they'd like to see, and you'll even find a wireless USB adapter thrown in for good measure. Of course, those not interested in America's pastime may find the $299 pricetag a bit baffling, but for those sick of waiting for a ticker to reveal the home team's current status, this fee is completely justified.[Via Coolest-Gadgets]
Thermoacoustics behind all-in-one cooker, fridge, and generator
Sure, building up a campfire in order to roast some eats in the wilderness could be fun for awhile, but for the reported "two billion people that use open fires as their primary cooking method," we're sure it loses its luster somewhere along the line. The University of Nottingham is hoping to change all that, however, by attempting to develop an all-in-one gizmo that acts as a "cooker, a fridge, and a generator," and relies on biomass fuels for energy. The £2 million ($3.96 million) SCORE (Stove for Cooking, Refrigeration and Electricity) project seeks to create a "wood-powered generator capable of both cooking and cooling food," and it will purportedly rely on thermoacoustics to cut down on pollutants, increase efficiency, and be more reliable to future consumers in Africa and Asia. No word just yet on when this newfangled kitchen appliance will be ready to ship, but a portable version would probably do quite well in the camping market.[Via CNET]
Wii Warm Up: Enter initials
Dude, so we were playing some Alien Crush, and we killed the bonus stage with the dragons over and over again. We totally scored like five billion points and it was so AWESOME that we had to call everyone we knew and tell them about it. Okay, we're embellishing a bit. When we say we "totally scored like five billion points," we mean that we "continue to be awful at Alien Crush despite playing and loving it for eighteen years." But without our humble admission, you'd have no reason to doubt us! And that leads into our discussion.Simply put, we want leaderboards. We aren't going to get online play in VC games any time soon (or ever,) so we'll ask for the next best thing. We want to be able to see the high scores for games that, you know, have scores. We don't need prizes or anything. We'd be motivated enough by the idea that we could put our three-letter tag (mine: JC!) at the top of a nationwide or worldwide list if we were any good, which we aren't.Are high score leaderboards worth doing? Do you see value in friendly competition like this? Or did you always flip right past the high score page in old gaming magazines? Perhaps most importantly, what are your high score initials?
Off the charts in Wii Sports [update 1]
Last week, we bragged chatted about our Wii Sports accomplishments, and suddenly our e-mail blew up with stories of folks screaming off the charts in their favorite sports. Here we were, feeling good about being mid-range pro in tennis, and there are folks with rankings that make us feel like we might just be the noobiest noobs who've never noobed.We'll be comforting ourselves with chocolate while you check out the pics.[Update 1: Fixing an error both heinous and gratuitous.]
EGM so-so over Phoenix Wright, anoints Hotel Dusk
While we haven't seen it, word is that the upcoming issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly has some very interesting scores (and reviews) for a pair of upcoming DS titles. The March issue takes a look at both Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice for All and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (it's long title month around here), and offers a lackluster-to-good range of scores for one, and great scores to the other ... and it's not the way that you may think.Word on the street forums is that the scores for the two games in the issue are as follows:Justice for All: 6.0, 7.0, 8.0Hotel Dusk: 8.0, 8.0, 10 (yeah, that's a ten)Now, it's true that this edition of Phoenix Wright is not judged to be the best by those who've played deeper into the series, and those are decent and respectable scores (which mean nothing, since we're all playing it anyway, and probably twice). But the scores for Hotel Dusk are surprising, and something of a relief as well. Whether or not you're a fan of EGM, it's nice to see such enthusiastic review scores. As a point of comparison, Trace Memory (often invoked when mentioning Hotel Dusk) scored much lower with EGM -- that game posted an average score of 6.17. [Via Go Nintendo]
Two UMD cases, one winner
A reader at the PlayStation forums took the time and money to buy two different UMD cases, one from Sony and another from a third party called Score. The Sony one retails for $12, while the third party alternative saves you $3. Both cases hold 8 UMDs. After some thorough use, it appears that the Sony case is the winner. "The Sony case is worth the extra $3 by its design and is much more durable then the Score."You can read the surprisingly thorough review at the PlayStation forums.
Mario Hoops is just that good
We here at DS Fanboy can tell you with authority that 2006 is the year of the threesome. Of course, it's with GameBrink's authority, but who's keeping track? The site recently put up a review of Mario Hoops 3 on 3 that is so hot it burns -- on their rating system, it pulled a 95, outscoring such DS classics as Phoenix Wright and Trauma Center. In fact, the only game to score higher with their reviews was Mario Kart. What makes this more interesting than it otherwise might be is that Mario Hoops has only local Wi-Fi capability -- if you've a friend with a DS nearby, you can go head-to-head. The game does not, however, feature the open online play that many expected. Imagine if it did. Why ... Mario Hoops might take over the world, then. See? They left out online play to save us. Mario is here for you. But, y'know ... sometimes we like to suffer. In this case, it might have been a worthy tradeoff. [Thanks, Zuko!]
MTV VMAs to recognize best game soundtrack & score
During this year's Video Music Awards, MTV will present two new coveted 'Moon Men' for "Best Video Game Soundtrack" and "Best Video Game Score."Not to take anything away from the (actual) composers who were nominated, but we were pleased to see that Electroplankton got a nod for best score. As for 'best game soundtrack?' No clue. We haven't listened to one of those since Microsoft introduced the built-in custom soundtrack back in 2001. Oh snap!The complete list of nominees follows...
Activision hires Goldsmith for CoD3
Activision has hired Emmy nominated composer Joel Goldsmith, son of the late great Jerry Goldsmith, to score the upcoming Call of Duty 3. Anbody who listened to Major Nelson's interview with Xbox audio expert Scott Selfron got a fresh reminder about the importance of music in games. Hopefully, picking up some name talent for CoD3 will add to that "cinematic experience" developers are always talking about.
