#PS3 music

[posthumanwanderings]

[fridgefanatic]

Wall-E (the character) is a great demonstration of how being curious about the world echoes our level of care for it. And that caring can quite literally course-correct humanity His playful fascination with what humans left behind, his ability to find "new" on a dormant planet of waste refuse-- he continues to care and be amazed by and change things in a world that has not effectively changed for about 700 years. Wall-E commemorates artifacts of life by treasuring them on their own special shelves in his home. He lovingly makes sure The Plant is secured in a way that won't crush it as he's going home. He accidentally runs over his cockroach and worries about it. He tries to make an inactive Eve comfortable at his expense, not knowing when or if she will ever wake up again.

Wall-E has such an impact on Eve and other passengers on the Axiom because he invites them to care about small interactions they took for granted. They make meaningful connections and changes in their own directive because-- simply by being interested by them and what they're doing-- he offers a new perspective of looking at themselves. (Remember when he gives the elevator robot that little wave and it's so taken with that gesture it starts to copy it? It was seen and acknowledged when its role has always been to punch numbers.)

The spark that Wall-E shared with Eve, I think, is not only symbolic of his love for Eve (though it is clear he loves Eve more than anyone). It was that care. It has to be that same care. Because if his little acts of wonder and determination inspired every other character to break from their programming, who's to say it can't overcome a factory reset?

Oh, and "curiosity" and "care" have the same etymological root, apparently

[t1me0fdying]

[alexandriaisburning]

048: Child of Eden

A spiritual sequel to Tetsuya Mizuguchi’s Rez, Child of Eden released with little fanfare, and has seemingly failed to achieve the same critical adoration and cult status as its predecessor. Regardless, Child of Eden acts as a sort of missing link between Rez and Mizuguchi’s subsequent directorial projects, folding back into its predecessor with Rez Infinite’s Area X, with visuals and themes being directly revisited in Tetris Effect. (Co-producer James Mielke also went on to direct Jupiter & Mars, a dolphin themed game that draws from similar aesthetics seen here).

Child of Eden directly follows themes explored by Rez’s finale, with many parallels in its setup, but eschews a direct connection for more of an alternative retelling. Both involve taking on an AI--in Rez you take on a rogue AI named Eden as she has an existential crisis brought on by an overload of information. In Child of Eden, Eden is instead the name of cyberspace, the archive of human knowledge where Lumi awakens. Lumi is made from the memories of the first human born in space, and when activated, a virus begins to corrupt her memories, requiring you to clear various archives to keep her conscious. 

Rez’s aggressive, immediate club beats give way to a more layered pop soundscape provided by Genki Rockets, Mizuguchi’s own musical project. Genki Rockets itself ties into the story, with the frontwoman being a fictional 17-year old from the future, and the first child born in space, making Child of Eden’s Lumi an AI based on her. 

Genki Rockets’ music leans much heavier into the electronic pop elements, with heavily processed lyrics, guitars and samples. It’s a much more upbeat soundscape, leaning into themes of optimism and imagination. Rachel Rhodes reprises her role as Lumi here, seen in the opening video as well as in glimpses throughout the game. It’s a more human, and organic aesthetic compared to its predecessor, even when it leans into similar synthetic thematic material. 

Child of Eden largely follows the syncopated rail shooter format of its predecessor, with a focus on lock on attacks, with enemies coming in waves of 4 or some multiple of it, timed to line up with the beat of the music. Both locking on and releasing  are signalled with percussion, and timing your release as you reach maximum lock on will result in a score bonus for staying on beat. 

Supplementing the lock on is the rapid fire attack, which does less damage but can defend against attacks and break down armor on certain enemies. Attacks often follow a circular, or spiral pattern, requiring you to smoothly trace them in order to intercept them. A screen clearing bomb rounds out the arsenal, as your panic button when the odds get too overwhelming. 

The game was promoted for its use of motion controls, supporting both the Kinect and PS Move controller, leading to some people mistaking it to be a motion control only game. The game does support using separate controllers as Mizuguchi’s famous “trance vibrator”, so you can even get the force feedback while using them. 

As for the controls themselves, I can only speak to the Kinect version, but they work well, with each hand acting as a different shot type, and tracking generally being good, though there might be some unintentional overlap when switching hands. Raising both hands activates the bomb function, which has a short buffer to prevent accidental bombing, meaning you’ll have to anticipate using it a little earlier. The feeling is not unlike Fantasia’s conductor-like hand motions, though instead of swipes here there’s a great focus on tracing shapes across the screen. 

Child of Eden’s stages flow between transitory tunnels with more focused encounters, to open spaces with a large number of popcorn enemies to occupy yourself with as you take in setpieces. It never reaches the frantic pace of contemporary rail shooters, but synced up with the layered electronica of the soundtrack, there’s a dense visual and auditory soundscape that demands attention. 

Each stage--or Archive, in the game’s terms--focuses on one particular theme. Matrix depicts the initial dive into cyberspace, dense with tunnels, and focused on an abstract geometric theme that calls back to Rez, incorporating some of its gate designs. 

Evolution calls to mind Rez’s final stage, chronicling the evolution of life, starting from the player performing cellular division, evolving into sea life and finally traveling into space to meet more fantastical creatures. 

Beauty begins in a garden with blooming flowers, before diving into their root network and ascending to face off against massive, sentient clusters of them. 

Passion builds on the humanoid encounter from Rez’s Area 4, this time pitting two figures clashing and racing each other, as you get caught in the crossfire. As they clash footage of humanity’s technological evolution appears, chronicling our eventual ascent into space. 

Journey is the final stage, incorporating imagery from all the previous stages, culminating in the final encounter where you free Lumi and restore her memories. 

Each stage is host to a variety of surreal imagery, both abstract and interpretational, with creatures and viruses depicted as living neon beings, calling to mind the bioluminescent deep sea creatures. Eden itself appears as a collective unconscious, a digital representation of the history and hopes of humanity. It’s an optimistic, New Age type vibe, that sees humanity reaching far into the cosmos.

It’s an opposite interpretation of Rez. Instead of the weight of all our connections and knowledge leading to an existential crisis, it’s what connects and lifts us up. It’s up to us to weave it all together and give hope to the future. 

And that’s why it doesn’t work as well for me. While that cosmic, spiritual viewpoint is appealing, and supported by tons of evocative imagery, it ends up feeling too limited to achieve its more ambitious message. The narrative aims for something larger in scale than its environments and run time support. Stages are strangely small, and aside from a few standout moments, don’t evoke the feeling of a connected journey. 

Genki Rockets’ music also provides a more consistent soundscape than Rez, but ironically that results in less contrast in mood, making each stage’s track harder to differentiate, with a lack of threat or stakes. The denser soundscapes also draw emphasis away from the accompanying percussive effects, resulting in a weaker connection between your actions and music. 

The largest problem by far is the game’s structure. It’s relatively short, coming in at about the length of an album, but it drags it out by forcing you to replay stages until you meet an arbitrary medal requirement. Finishing a stage earns you between 1-3 stars, and stages can be played again to earn more, with a certain amount required to unlock the next stage. Even if you somehow manage to earn a 3-star ranking on the first try, you’ll need to grind older stages by level 2, stopping your initial momentum dead in its tracks and giving you very few songs before you start repeating them. 

Rez did require a certain rank in each stage before accessing the final stage, but you’d seen most of the game by then, and would have much more variety to return to when attempting to unlock the final stage. As if afraid players would finish it too fast and leave unsatisfied, Child of Eden drags out what’s here, dramatically halting its pace, and really only earning another hour and a half or so. Each run does earn you another lifeform to add to the fish tank that is Lumi’s Garden (the level hub you pan around before selecting a level), but it doesn’t come close to justifying the repetition baked into the first run. 

Child of Eden doesn’t come close to the emotional highs (and lows) of Rez, but even with this repetition built into it, it’s a relatively short journey that is worth experiencing, if only to see its beautiful visuals and connections to the rest of Mizuguchi’s catalog. It’s an optimist interpretation of his own work, and while it can often come off as a bit corny, it’s still encouraging to immerse yourself in an optimistic, humanist worldview to fend off the torrential cynicism that seems to blanket everything today. 

Child of Eden never received a modern release, but is playable via backwards compatibility on the Xbox, minus the Kinect features. 

Screenshots were captured via PS3 emulation, so they may not be entirely accurate.

[sxlphie]

Giving Final Fantasy IX another go. I first tried it when I was sixteen, and I got up to disc 2 but probably not much further than that. I didn't really appreciate the world map enough (never even got Quina!) and the sluggish, slow combat kind of drove me nuts. However, I really liked the characters and the world that had been set up for me. I've restarted the game in hopes of getting further this time and so far I'm paying much more attention!

[flojocabron]

12/04/24: I'm so lucky and grateful that Winters in Southern California aren't super cold and nasty. It was actually feeling a bit warm by mid-morning. Or maybe it was just my excitement for this huge fleamarket lot of media I got today. Everything here was from one seller. And I had to hold back as he still had interesting things left. As I went through at least a dozen boxes, the stack grew higher and higher! I had to grab a plastic tub and drag it with me. Hundreds of movies were looked at by me. And I chose these, plus some books and videogames. I just went at it, and I didn't even ask how much they cost. Dvd series, criterions, steelbooks, 4k blurays, many still sealed. Some cases are cracked and bent, but it's acceptable. When I took it to the vendor, he told me that the items were three for $5! Ugh! My stingy side was rearing up. But I kept a straight face. As he kept counting, he made it about 3/4ths of the way, and he stopped. He gave up and said, "Just give me $90 bucks for everything." I had to comply. I had already been there for close to an hour already, and I would be a waste of time if I left stuff behind I was clearly interested in. So I paid him. And I pretty much spent all my money in one place! I more or less counted seventy-five items. So yeah, less than a buck a piece!

[criminal-sen]

Idk much about internet shit but the ONE resource I can't live without - yet never see anyone use - is free videogame midis for their phone alarms/ringtones etc?? Like I cant believe I can be talking to a supposed video game nerd only for their phone to ring and its fuckin.. Samsung theme #3 or some shit. So here is a good site for all your video game music needs:3

[lucysdawn]

I got the glow. Like so much that they tell me behave. Yeah. If you can’t swim. Better learn cause my drip making waves. Yeah. Jewelry so flooded. You can say that my diamonds stay bathed. Yeah. All of these stacks. I could drown in the cash that I made. Yeah. - Alice got glow. Way too much glow.

[musicalueion]

[OST] Daytona USA [1994]

Video Game

Artist: Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Developer: Sega

Publisher: Sega

Daytona USA is available to play on:

PC

Arcade

Sega Saturn

Xbox 360

PlayStation 3

Xbox One (backwards compatibility)

Xbox Series X/S (backwards compatibility)

[lunnefisk]

i love ac6's music but the more i listen to older armored core stuff the more i feel like we got a little bit robbed of a more upbeat track for the garage. some of these older games have bangers

[wistfulmistful]

Me at all the team ico/gendesign games

[lonely-person0128]

Playing the best game frr GREEN DAY

[darthyolk]

I wish there was more of a Demons Souls community :(

[idalenn]

As part of my moral obligation to draw in new people to read Umineko, here are the FFXIV characters who share a JP voice actor with Umineko

please enjoy this knowledge given against your will

[bitesthestuff]

Favorite Speech from a Video Game (Brutal Legend) #gaming #shorts

[alexandriaisburning]

036: Everyday Shooter

Made to escape the dead end of overcomplex, pretentious game design  Jessica Mak found herself obsessed with, Everyday Shooter is anything but what its title suggests. Citing Every Extend and the works of Kenta Cho as its inspirations, Everyday Shooter wears those influences proudly, but manages to deliver not one novel twist on the shooter genre, but multiple. 

Focused on an almost puzzle-like objective of figuring out each stage’s unique chaining system, and in turn how that chaining system interacts with the soundtrack. Like Every Extend Extra, each level plays alongside a unique musical track, with a sound that I’ve heard described as “bedroom rock”, made of dreamy, meandering and atmospheric riffs removed from the polished clarity of a studio album. Sound effects are replaced with guitar samples that complement the song, but  can build up during larger explosions into a cacophony of distorted sound. 

Everyday Shooter lacks the satisfaction in its basic shooting, with relatively simple bullet patterns and enemy behaviors, but here’s a satisfying push in pull in figuring out the chaining system, skirting right up to the edge of danger to achieve the biggest reaction. If Every Extend Extra is a rhythm game--jamming to the sound while waiting for the right moment to set off a chain--then Everyday Shooter is an RTS. It keeps you juggling enemies across multiple parts of the  arena, setting up pieces for the chaining system, and balancing doing damage against collecting score items to build up lives, your single resource. 

Each stage’s chaining system is unique, and can even have sub-objectives depending on which phrase of the song you’re in. In one part of a song you might be fending off robots from reaching a massive eye, before it hits the chorus and the eye opens up  to become vulnerable. Or you  might fight off hectic swarms of enemies amongst the clouds, before they fade to make way for a biplane that pulls you into an aerial dogfight. There’s a fantastic dream logic to all of it, well suited to the abstract art style.

Structurally, it’s basically a playable album, with the length of the stage determined not by how fast you  destroy things, but  by the playtime of each song. Plenty of autoscrolling shooters time their music to match stage events, but without any mandatory bosses or ways to affect the pace, surviving a song is the only meaningful goal. 

Everyday Shooter’s solution to this is an unlock system, where you use the points earned to unlock alternative visual filters, modes, and the ability to play single levels. It works as a purely mechanical method to keep you playing, but is almost one of its biggest missteps. Shuffle Mode is hidden behind this menu, which randomizes the order of the stages. But only do you need to unlock Shuffle Mode, you need to unlock each stage individually to play them within shuffle mode. So even if you’ve completed a stage already, it won’t show up unless you pay for it. Worse still is that each stage costs a serious amount more than the last one, requiring exponentially more effort with each stage. 

With the high difficulty and relatively long stages, I found myself dying a lot during the early stages, meaning fewer chances to earn large scores and an incredible grind to earn enough points to practice those later stages. The problem is exacerbated by the slow rate you collect points, having to physically collect them, with only a slow magnetic pull when in proximity.

Traditional arcade shooters generally focus on mastery and score, often allowing you to see the game’s ending on your first try if you care to put in enough credits. Without more complex mechanics or scoring systems,  Everyday Shooter instead forces you to grind to see the end, as if insecure that it won’t be satisfying enough on presentation alone. 

It’s an unearned insecurity, because even as a visualizer for a short album, Everyday Shooter is largely successful. The visuals alone provide a certain tangibility to the music and the chaining system and accompanying chorus of sound effects gives it plenty of dynamism for future playthroughs. Aside from maybe the first song, I rarely felt fatigued by repeat listens of the soundtrack, and hours of attempts later, it’s still fun to unleash the layers of guitar samples that  result from a big chain. 

If Everyday Shooter  was a little laxer in its requirements to reach the later stages, I could easily find myself returning to it like a favorite album, dropping to play a few of my favorite songs, throwing it on shuffle, or carving out a short amount of time to listen through the whole thing. As it exists now, that’s not an experience you can have until you grind out points over several hours, likely growing fatigued with it along the way. 

Everyday Shooter was released on PS3, PSP, and PC. The PC version has some inconsistencies with controllers, but generally performs similarly to the PS3. The PSP version translates surprisingly well thanks to the original version utilitizing 8 way shooting and movement.