the-time-machine
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The 8-bit Time Machine takes game music back to 1985
Modern game soundtracks are nice thanks to their full orchestras and high-definition sound, and chiptune music can be a fun trip down Nostalgia Lane. While it may seem like you'd have to choose one or the other, you can have your audio-flavored cake and eat it too thanks to "The 8-bit Time Machine," a 10-track album from Italian film composer Giovanni Rotondo that seeks to give listeners 8-bit versions of modern game soundtracks, albeit with a few modern tweaks. Featuring 8-bit interpretations of themes from the likes of Destiny, Super Mario Galaxy, Battlefield 1942, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Watch Dogs as well as two original tracks, the album is currently gathering backers on crowdfunding site indiegogo. As of writing, the campaign has $1,033 raised of its $1,000 goal, with a $1,500 stretch goal to add four tracks. Rotondo is planning to release the album via iTunes, Google Play, Amazon mp3, Pandora and Spotify in January 2015. [Image: Giovanni Rotondo]
All the World's a Stage: So you want to be an Engineer
This installment of All the World's a Stage is the thirty-fifth in a series of roleplaying guides about how to roleplay various aspects of the lore and gaming elements of WoW. Engineering has been my favorite profession in WoW, both in terms of its usefulness in the game, as well as its status as an awesome profession for roleplaying. Maybe it's just because I'm a huge fan of steampunk, but I find that those gadgets and funny things you can make with engineering have a certain style that goes beyond simple utility -- You just look at an engineer with his goggles, his mechanical mount, and maybe even some sort of robot or machine trailing along after him, and you immediately get the feeling that this is a character with character. No other profession can give you such a distinct characterization: you're not just a rogue, for example -- you're a scientist rogue!In addition to that, most other professions feel like "crafting" jobs added on to the regular game, which they are -- they may give you better stats in one area or another but otherwise don't add many new abilities. Engineering, on the other hand, gives you a lot of special abilities and buttons to push, all of which can start to feel like a special sub-class for your character, underneath whatever class he or she already has. In fact, as roleplayers, many of us play up our status as engineers as much or even more than our status as a hunter, warlock, rogue, or whatever. That engineering style is so persistent that it can define our characters more than anything else -- our own Palehoof practically defined this style in the column devoted to engineering that he used to write every week, before he lost his horns and his hooves in a bizzare scientific experiment (and decided thereafter to spend more time with his family). His commentaries on practical and theoretical engineering serve as excellent inspiration for all roleplayers who would call their characters engineers.
