Bit Trip BEAT Soundtrack Review

Hey,

As a part of Bit Trip Lovers' Bundle and of my March Music Madness Month special, I'll be reviewing some Bit Trip soundtracks as my first task.

So those of who don't have any clue what I'm talking about. Here what the wikipedia had to say about Bit Trip series: BIT TRIP Series

Now that you know, I shall begin my review of Bit Trip BEAT soundtrack.

The Review

It's chip tunes more or less. The game is based on rhythmic beats which obviously you can hear from the first few seconds of the album. The artist is title simply Gaijin games. No more to add. 

Compelling, but short

Both the Bit Trip Beat game and soundtrack are short. I understand this for it can get frustrating and repetitive too soon for the listener. Fortunately, the tracks vary between a couple of second to 4 minutes of rhythmic beats that bounce and recoil inside the experience. To truly appreciate the soundtrack, one has to experience the game first, otherwise the listening experience is bound to cut short, rootless, and most of all, confusing. The game generates the music as the player advance through the stage.

The graphics and music go hand in hand, simple but compelling.

Tracklisting:

1. Bit Shifter - Move to Intercept – 4:00

2. Transition – 3:35

3. Descent – 2:39

4. Growth – 3:16

5. Bit Shifter - The Information Chase – 4:36

6. Concept – 0:33

7. Trial – 0:09

8. Tribulation – 0:06

9. Progress – 0:08

10. Beginning – 0:15

Site: http://www.aksysgames.com/bittripbeat/
        http://www.bittripgame.com

Surveillance Society in Watch Dogs

Hey,

The upcoming next-gen Ubisoft title Watch Dogs is in my view for its description of surveillance society. Even today, millions of people are targeted via different computer generated methods already in internet, public places and transport. If you start to look around, in any city on earth, you might notice the electronic CCTV eyes watching you move. It is not in some far away future where people are tracked, taped and censored non stop, but in our modern societies as well. Today, there's GPS, chips in credit cards, you name it, in every new appliance in the market. The pace is increasing. As we become more prone to misuse of power by our governments and companies, third party hackers are already inside the matrix, waiting for us, to plunge into a sea of information, power and reach without telling us how to swim, how to navigate. And think about all that electronic signal constantly making its way through your body and cells, frying from the inside, exposing us to unknown risks.

Enough with the rant. I got you thinking...

Here is my video with commentary:

For sanity's sake, keep it real. Use your brains. Eat healthy. Abandon the decadence. Spend time with your family. Reach for the stars.

My Walking Dead walk/playthrough series in now complete

Hey,

My Walking Dead journey has finally come to its end. I'm paying tribute to the game and Telltale games by posting the last episode as play through, for all of you to feel the gloom and despair of this fantastic game.

Here it is:

The Walking Dead: Episode 5  - No Time Left - Playthrough Part 1

And for those who want to see my whole story, star with this:

As already seen on my blog and channel...

Sony PS4 - What to think?

Before I start.

So. What to think? The ability to share my gameplay sounds great so far. I still have my doubts concerning the HDD size and local digital content, since PS3 HDD seems small to me. So far, the technical date is of little interest to me, for the programmers decide eventually the full capability of the hardware. Needless to say, looks promising.

Video games and social engineering

Hey,

This spring, I'm starting a new video series on my new-found youtube channel about social engineering in video games. This series will have a look on recurring themes in gaming that are used to introduce and reinforce social policies and attitudes in modern western societies. For the last ten years, video games have been used excessively to promote certain views of the world; of course not every game promotes the same policies, but there's a continuity that derives from movie and comic book industry which has now taken over the central role of symbolism and themes in gaming. The themes and symbolism are partly the same as in movies for more and more movie writers shift to the growing industry of video games.

There are lots of different themes, still many of them have been around for ages. Video games serve only as a new medium of dissemination of information, in this case values, belief, symbols both covertly and overtly - in a similar manner the television has done over many years. There is a shift going on from TV to internet and computers, from TV series and movies to video games. As even fewer express interest in reading and computer use gains popularity with the future generations, we can be sure that this media will have a tremendous monopoly like status over the information and the creation of social virtues and vices, more so than in our youth back in the day.

Here comes my part in the equation, I possess a criticising disposition to expose the powers and values behind the iron curtain. In my future posts, I will show you some games which clearly promote social engineering. When it comes to social engineering, it can be used both good and bad, always for some predetermined purpose from the high ranks downwards to blind masses.

Is virtual violence real violence?

Many years ago I started playing violent video games. That was around the age of ten in my case sometime in the late 90's. I've heard that many of friends started to play games like Quake and Doom well earlier and later on as teenagers played quite regularly GTA IV which most people would condemn outright. Nonetheless that the history I grew up with, playing the first GTA with my friends, fighting my way in Virtua Fighter 2 on Sega Saturn, controlling medieval armies in Shogun: Total War. Still, I can only imagine today's youth who from a very early age grew up with games like Halo and Call of Duty, a totally mind-blowing advance in realism compared to the 2D graphics of early GTA series.

For all that I can gather, many online players of Cod are under aged when it comes to the age rating system of games introduced by Mortal Kombat's finishing moves. However I'm not saying they are responsible but their parents are. When it comes to exposing youngsters to violent images and sounds of gaming - TV is already full of such content to the max - gaming usually takes it one step further with the interactive approach. If parents' feel their children are fit to take a dose of virtual violence every once in a while as if it was no big deal, surely, the problem is greater than one might fathom at first glance.

As for myself, I do not feel particularly violent. I don't seem to have any mental problems (that I know of) that could have a negative affect and add to that I don't take a cocktail of prescription antidepressants that could severely affect my judgment. Still, more are more children feel the anxiety and stress in their lives in a way that many can perceive - yet they are treated or their symptoms are treated with sometimes too extreme measures. Ok, I admit. I'm digressing. I believe the games themselves don't make anybody violent per se, but a fatal combination of negative reinforcement from mixed sources can lead to a violent behaviour. However, I still argue whether violent games give an image of life that we, human species, would like to promote in our future attempt of coexistence and harmony. These games uphold certain values, certain division of man into us and them, friend and foe, even though, once stripped of our differences, we are more alike. But that a whole other issue about global "divide and conquer" policies that the elite enforces through pop culture and media.

We should ask whether virtual violence is real violence. If there is a war between different beliefs, surely we can thus agree that virtual violence would qualify as real as physical violence with the difference of happening in an alternative plain of existence.

My new youtube channel "FinnballWizard" will launch this Spring

Hey,

My new Youtube channel will launch this Spring. It's called FinnballWizard.

https://www.youtube.com/user/FinnballWizard/

In the meantime, feel free to have a look on my current channel: Fmips19.

Here's some Unfinished Swan.

Black Ops 2 Single Player Campaign Walkthrough

Hey,

I've just started a new walkthrough for Black Ops 2 single player campaign in my youtube channel. Have a look.

Ins't that dramatic?

Game music bundle 4 now available

Hey,

Check out the new Game music bundle 4 - BIT.TRIP Lovers' Bundle.

Listen to some unique beats.

The bundle is now available at http://www.gamemusicbundle.com with 20 bucks you get Runner2 the game, Runner2 OST and 6 other soundtracks.

PAY WHAT You Want! What could be better? It's up to you to support little productions. Only six days left...

Necromorphology: What they didn't do?

Heya,

It's kind of sad to see potential game series trodden into mainstream run-of-the-mill execution with very little innovation. For once, I would have been grateful if the Dead Space series had gone through some kind of convergence itself, however EA, probably, decided the make it more appealing for the masses.

First of all, no new exciting enemy types. Unless you count enemies that shoot back at you. Secondly, the animations are more or less the same. I would have appreciated some new physics aside from rolling on the ground. I would've liked to throw live enemies with kinesis through sharp objects or into flames. Another thing to mention, what's with the crouching? There's no way you can sneak up to an enemy and silently finish them off.

I'm not gonna start with the ridiculous story with some odd relation schisms, but, hey, everything goes - Dead Space 3 is a decent game. But like I said: Expect no surprises.

Xenomorphology: Aliens Colonial Marines HYPE

Yeah.

I have to say something about the new Aliens game that just got out. I know it's been on the shelf for some time waiting for its due time, but as far as I'm concerned it should've stayed on the shelf a couple of more years at least waiting for the next generation of consoles. I agree that the game Colonial Marines stays true to the original alien series in both visual and audio aspects, but the real disappointment is the lackluster execution of the game - something that is very common with movie franchises that are brought to any gaming platform.

From an aesthetic point of view, the game seems true to Aliens universe, but sadly it also seems something of a early 2000s release on the PS2 generation consoles. A b-class arcade shooter with a so-so story inside an inspiring universe. Nothing new, in other words.

The game could've used a lot more refinement, because the gap between the jaw-dropping trailers and the in-game footage is enormous. The hype has been building behind the scenes...

Check it out:

And the review:

Thanks for the accurate review - hypechoppa is down.

Lost in dead space?

Space is dark, empty and cold. Imagine a void. A sterile environment of open vastness that boggles our minds incessantly.

Now that intro's done, time to move on. I going to write about space and aliens in gaming since I've been playing some Dead Space 2. I've also kept an eye on the latest in the front of sci-fi gaming, you know, Dead Space 3 and Aliens Colonial Marines. Well, long story short, so far the Dead Space franchise beats the hell out of Colonial Marines which is sadly stuck in the eighties.

So to begin I start with the eldest Dead Space and move towards the latest addition of the series. Then I'm moving to examine the Aliens game and its ties with the movie series.

Dead Space was scary. I had trouble finishing the game, more than six months break between the attempts at completing the single player campaign. Wow. Scary as hell. The ambiance, music, graphics and the story… Everything in its right place. Only minor thing was the rigid controls which left a similar sensation than that of Killzone 2, but well still acceptable. A neat ensemble altogether.

As for Dead Space 2, I've been playing it for some time. I bought it ages ago but now I've managed to force myself to play it. And surprise, it's not nearly as scary as the first game. The only thing that gets me are the jump-scares, unattended sounds, flickering lights etc. Once again, a perfect survival horror experience with a twist.

They say the third time's the charm. First of all, before the release of Dead Space 3, I remained skeptical about the new features like co-op gameplay. As for the story and setting, I was aware that it would be a challenge to provide the fans of the series something totally new, something to bring more new faces to this kind of game; a compromise perhaps to attract more shooter fans to series, with the risk of alienating some vowed fans of the series. Thus far, from what I gather, DS3 is pretty much DS2 with new story. Expect nothing special, unique: a secure move from EA. However something that made the earlier games is missing. Do you feel scared? I don't. I knew what to expect, since the transition woke me up in DS2. I'm not scared to play the game.