Soundtrack of the Month #5: Wii Music review
(the box art is more exciting than the game…)
It was just a week ago that I declared I was not too keen on getting a copy of Wii Music. Initial reviews scared me away from buying the game, at least at full price. Well, I caved and got a copy. Since this game is all about music, I’ll make this SoTM a review of the entire game rather than just its soundtrack.
Short three word review: A Major Disappointment
Longer review: I was looking forward to this game since the day I first heard about it, which I believe was around the time the Wii itself was released. Back then I heard it had conducting and that was enough to get me excited. What a perfect use of the Wiimote that would be! I was looking forward to conducting song after song of my own virtual orchestra. Since that was going to be the highlight of my experience, I’ll start there.
Conducting is indeed pretty cool. The orchestra will follow your tempo and adjust their volume according to how vigorously you conduct. If you stop conducting, they’ll hold their note and all look at you which is pretty hilarious. It’s a good time for at least a little while. But there are some issues. One problem I have with the conducting is that if you do a regular conducting pattern, it doesn’t always register your beat. It seems as though it was designed for a one beat pattern. Also, if you beat too delicately to try and get the orchestra to play pianissimo, it sometimes won’t register the beat. Anyone who’s had difficulties hitting delicate shots in Wii Golf can understand that problem.
The main problem with the conducting minigame is that you only have a whopping five songs to choose from. Sure, Zelda is fun but that’s by far the most interesting of the lot. Even if all five tunes were killer, they’d get old in no time. You’d think Twinkle Twinkle would be the worst, but it’s actually a pretty good rendition with fun harmonies. The limited song list pretty much kills this mode after the first hour. You can extend the life of the mode a little by having four people at a time conduct. Everyone has to agree on the tempo and when to hit the cymbals but that’s pretty much a novelty. Even the high score system was mediocre. You don’t get the top ten scores for each song, just the very top score.
Turns out the minigame that is the most fun is the handbell game. Up to four people can control two handbells each and play in their own handbell choir. You can adjust difficulty and tempo if it’s too easy. Ironically, this game is the most like music games that are already wildly popular, Guitar Hero and Rock Band. You ring your bell when your color hits the “bell hit” line. Sadly, this mode is also hampered by a limited track list, another whopping five songs.
The other decent minigame is an ear training test of sorts, where you identify pitches, order pitches, and do other assorted musical quizzes. There are 8 levels of difficulty, but we couldn’t for the life of us tell the difference in difficulty between the first and eighth levels. With the less-than-stellar musical samples they use for the instruments, it’s also difficult to identify which instrument is playing a wrong note in some of the tests, too. Nintendo missed a chance here to implement a deeper ear training mode which could help budding Mozarts really develop.
Speaking of kids, that does seem to be the demographic this game is aiming at. I can see them having some fun with the Jam mode and the minigames. The songs are also geared toward younger humans. I would, however, rather spend my time introducing any 5 or 6 year olds to a real instrument. They can handle piano or violin. Giving them their first taste of making music through the warped Wii Music music making just seems odd, maybe even detrimental to their development as a musician.
I haven’t mentioned the jamming mode much in this review because it seems like a waste of time. It’s hard to tell what you’re supposed to do, if anything. But if you just randomly play with your Wiimote you’ll make sound and maybe contribute to the song you’re playing, but often it just sounds wrong. And ultimately it’s just not a satisfying way to make music.
The Mii’s inhabiting your Wii are implemented very well. I give them a big thumbs-up for that. From your orchestra to the handbell ringers to the crowds, you’ll see your Mii’s everywhere. I love Wii games that use Mii’s so effectively like that. We spend a lot of time making our Mii’s so it’s nice to see them in our games!
It’s quite a shame that the best mode in Wii Music (handbells) is based on a proven game mechanic. A big opportunity to use the Wii controls innovatively has been wasted. It seems Nintendo just couldn’t come up with a fun way to make music using their spiffy controller, which is quite surprising considering how long the game was in development. Of course, Nintendo probably looked at the Wii Play sales figures and decided they could shove another cutesy mediocre game out the door and sell a zillion copies too. And… they’re probably right. But if you read this review, please don’t make the mistake I did. The game is worth a try, but not at full price. Whenever it hits $30 or less, then give it a try. It’ll be a good for an hour or three.
Verdict: Not Too Shabby (but not at full price)
My Wii Music conundrum.
Wii Music has been released today. Months ago when I first heard about the game, I was pretty excited about it. But after learning more about the game, I’m not that keen on getting a copy. Maybe it’s the limited song list (Twinkle Twinkle?). Maybe it’s the lack of challenge of playing the instruments. Maybe it’s the poor MIDI-like sound quality of the instruments. But mostly I think it’s the fact that almost any time I want I can sit down with my wife and friends and play music as much as we want.
I don’t think I’m the target audience for this game. And I’m kind of disappointed that they couldn’t have expanded the track list or made more challenging modes for people who have a little more experience with making real music. Guitar Hero and Rock Band were able to bridge that gap as even people who play guitar could enjoy those games. I don’t think it’s that hard to do.
So it looks like I’ll be waiting for the price to drop to $30 or so before I play with the Wii Music toy. I do think there’s some fun to be had. I’m still looking forward to trying out the conducting minigame and I’m sure jamming will be fun for awhile, but I can’t get too excited beyond that.
All that being said, Nintendo needn’t worry about my business. They’re going to sell millions of copies of this game. And I’m happy about that. It’s going to get lots of kids excited about music and maybe our nation’s orchestras will thank Nintendo years on down the road.
The perils of going cheap with music.
Your game’s budget is going to be a major factor in determining the quality of your game. With more money, you can hire more talented programmers, artists, and audio personnel. With less money, the talent level is going to drop unless you are very lucky. All of that is pretty obvious. What’s less obvious is how dangerous cutting corners with your game audio can be. One of the first areas to be cut when trimming a game’s development budget is audio, unfortunately. Here is a list of some of the common ways developers try to cut corners with audio and how they can jeopardize the overall quality of your game.
- Licensed music
Pros
- Save money
- Often very well produced and professional sounding
Cons
- Extremely difficult to fit the character of your game
- Can be used in other places beyond your control
- Difficult to maintain consistent soundscape
Licensed music can add some good production values to your game, but it does so at a cost. The music will often not fit the character of your game and sort of sit on top of your game rather than be an integral part of it. It is this sort of superficiality that often forces players to turn the music off in a game and does nothing to help immerse players in the world you’ve created. This goes for the latest pop tune by Snoop Dogg (which wouldn’t save you money to license anyway) or the generic circus piece off that music licensing site you found on some game dev forum.
Also, you have no control where that music might be found outside of your game. If the piece is used in a toilet brush ad and becomes that annoying toilet brush song that everyone knows and comes to hate, well, you’re stuck with it in your game.
- Go in-house
Pros
- Save money
- Communicate easily
Cons
- Speed of turn-around
- Lower quality production
- Quality of music itself
I’m all for people creating their own music. It can be immensely satisfying for hobbyist composers to write their own music. It exercises the mind and is a great way to pass time. The problem comes when some of them try and turn that into a professional gig. I’ve seen it time and again, hobbyist composers who bite off more than they can chew. That scripter or producer on your team may fancy themselves a composer, but actually creating effective game music requires skills that are, frankly, pretty rare. Keeping up to date on the latest sample libraries and improving compositional techniques requires time and resources that are already being taken up with their day-to-day duties of their job.
Composing music is going to take time away from their primary duties on your team. They will also take more time to actually compose the music, as their undeveloped compositional skills will probably necessitate lots of trial-and-error and guesswork. They will also probably not, as hobbyists, have dedicated a large budget to their sound libraries and their music’s production quality will suffer for it. At best, it will sound a few years old. At worst, it will be a joke.
- Super cheap composers
Pros
- Super cheap
- Maybe local, easier communication
Cons
- Very inexperienced
- Lower production quality
- Poor quality of music itself
- Legal issues with pirated samples
I don’t want to sound curmudgeonly here, but there’s probably a reason why the $50-$100/minute composers are only charging that much. Sure, give them a fair shake. Maybe they’re just coming out of college or otherwise just starting their career, but even then they should be charging more than that if they think they have the chops to create top quality music. Much of what I’ve heard from this particular group of composers is the flavor of the month: their own pale imitations of The Lord of the Rings or the latest Michael Bay movie or Final Fantasy. Giving you music which feeds off of and adds to your game is probably not going to be their forte.
There is also the real danger of the use of pirated samples in their music. It’s just not likely that they can feed themselves, pay the rent, and buy professional samples if they’re charging so little for their music. That hurts the industry as a whole and can come back to bite you if the sample developers find out about those pirated samples in your game.
- Super cheap foreign composers
Pros
- Super cheap
- Possibly high talent level and production quality
- Good experience level
Cons
- Language barrier
- Equally possible to find low talent level
- Lack of transparency
- Legal issues with pirated samples
Many foreign (non-U.S.) composers are very well trained composers coming from excellent universities. The biggest two problems with this group could be communication and issues with piracy. Communication between developer and composer is extremely important when adding music to a game. If the composer does not speak English well, much of the nuance you are trying to communicate about your music direction is going to be lost. This could lead to frustration and sub-par results.
The other problem could be issues with piracy, even more so than the “super cheap” US composers. Piracy rates around the world (especially in Eastern Europe and China) can be extremely high and, while the cost of living may be lower, the price of samples is at least as much as in the US. I don’t want to paint all non-US composers as despicable pirates. I’m simply going on the possible pitfalls and unfortunate instances that I’ve observed. Don’t let difficulties in communication prevent you from assuring that the foreign composer you picked is on the up and up.
- Lowballing established composers
Pros
- It may work
Cons
- Lose future dealings with that composer
- Lose future work with that composer’s associates
- Composer’s effort is commensurate with pay
“What? $1000 a minute? That’s ridiculous. How about $200 a minute?” Besides outright insulting that composer, you are essentially giving yourself away as someone who does not understand the value of good music in a game. You may like that composer’s music and really want to work with him or her, but you’ve just kissed away any chance of working with them, at least for this game and maybe more games in the future. That composer is likely to tell this ridiculous story to their composer friends and they’ll all have a good laugh about you and they’ll all steer well clear.
Of course negotiations are important and composers are happy to find a way to get their music into your game at a fair price. Just remember lowballing is extremely risky when negotiating with anyone who brings unique talents to the table.
- Cut minutes of music from the game
Pros
- Save some money
- Afford established talent
Cons
- Players may get sick of music
- Less immersive game experience
It’s painful to cut tracks from a game, but sometimes it’s the only way to bring on board that talented composer. Instead of cutting whole tracks, maybe you can shave 15 seconds here and there. A good composer will make shorter loops more tolerable. Or, since you have shown your regard for having good music in a game by hiring an established composer, the composer will be more amenable to throwing in a little extra for the game. The better the game does, the better the composer does. A hit is good for everyone.
Just make sure you have “critical mass” for music in a game. One play loop is not sufficient for an entire game. For instance, if there are 4 general locales get 4 different play loops. If you do not have enough music in your game, it doesn’t matter how great the composer you have is. The music will get old fast.
So, there you have it… some things to watch for when trying to bring down your game’s budget. These are not hard and fast rules, of course. You can find a diamond in the rough in any of these groups. But the time you take sifting through the dirt while looking for those diamonds is time that you will lose on the actual development of your game and game soundtrack. When time is money, you actually may not be saving a dime. Bring in the best music you can and that will help you reap the rewards from an all-around excellent game.
NPR reads (and steals from) my blog!
… or they might, anyway. I was folding some laundry this afternoon listening to the local NPR station, KUOW, and I heard something awfully familar on their “The World” show.
(Oct. 15, 2008) “The second a caveman heard another caveman hitting a log with a stick in a compelling way, he copied it and added his own style. And so it has gone throughout history.” (from their “Pistolera” story)
Hey! (speaking of copying…) That’s really close to something I wrote a couple weeks ago on a blog post entitled “Cliches through the ages”:
(Sep. 30, 2008) “213,000 BC - Branch hit against tree: This brilliant invention of Kurpnar, a struggling composer of the era, was used at first only in the performance of Kurpnar’s unforgettable opera “Me Eat Bird I Hope”. It was received so well in that opera that he used it in the rest of his compositions until his death at the late age of 20. Other composers of the time of course saw the possibilities in using branch hit against tree and used it in their music as well. There were many years where you couldn’t walk by a forest without hearing improvisers banging away at their favorite trees. Needless to say, the trend didn’t last more than 15 years or so, after people got tired of listening to the same general sound again and again. All sorts of experimentation with branch and tree sizes yielded results that couldn’t save this particular cliché.”
Now, I’m not saying NPR is definitely made up of a bunch of dishonorable plagiarizing thieves but I’m struck by the similarities. And flattered that they’d steal from my blog. If they did.
Ok, it’s probably just a coincidence.
Thou Shalt Not neglect silence. (#7)
neglect silence.
Music is of course an integral part of any video game experience. But while other components of video games (like graphics and user interface) are absolutely necessary throughout the entire game, music isn’t always necessary and in fact sometimes should be left out. If a game has wall-to-wall music, one important possibility of musical contrast is left out: the simple and effective contrast between sound and no sound.
Nothing encourages a player to reflect or see a new perspective like eliminating music for a while. It doesn’t have to be long. One common way to use silence is to place it right after finishing a level on the score screen. When the music stops, the player is free to breathe to their own tempo which helps them take control of their own thoughts and regroup. If the game immediately launches into new music without that break, the player is left at the mercy of the music’s beat and remains mentally at the surface of the game experience. ..no reflection, just an urge to launch into the next level. Never underestimate the power of silence to help deepen the player’s experience.
To take a couple of examples spanning a couple decades, think about Super Mario Brothers and Grand Theft Auto 4. In SMB, at the end of a level after jumping up to get a flag or kill the final baddy, a short victory piece is played and then there is a brief period of silence. The player can catch their breath and think back on their hard earned victory. If new music started immediately, the player would naturally be in “anticipation” mode rather than “satisfaction” mode. Sure, even with silence they’ll still anticipate a little but it’s important for the player to get that reward. Music’s not totally left out of the end of SMB levels… they do get the victory music. But silence is an important way to help make the player look back and feel satisfied about their accomplishment.
Grand Theft Auto 4 has a ton of musical content, but it isn’t constantly bombarding the player. You’ll commonly only find the music when you’re driving around or inside buildings. Often, you’ll finish a mission in your car listening to some heart-pumping rock. As soon as you park and step out of your car, you’re greeted with the quiet of a park or the bustle of a city street. Either way, the player is encouraged to reflect on their accomplishment to their own rhythm. The player doesn’t need to be baby-fed their emotion through music. They can find it within themselves with the help of silence. And you can’t always predict how they’ll feel. After mowing down half a dozen baddies, you can feel a little weird then walking around a quiet park with the sounds of the battle still echoing in your own head.
So, be sure and get plenty of musical content for your game. But remember to leave some space for silence. Trust the player to generate their own emotion sometimes. I did write about this in an earlier blog but, sure enough, I found it in the good game music rule book (the long lost and now found Ludus Sonitus Decretum).
How to talk to developers.
A couple of months ago I wrote some tips about for game developers on how to talk to their composers. I thought it was about time to give some tips to the composers out there on how to talk to your designers and producers. These tips come from observations I’ve made over the course of my career as I’ve communicated with many different developers.
First, before getting into the important discussions about the music direction, get as much info as you can about the game. Read any design documents, look at any art assets, or play the game or prototype if it’s that far along. Then take a step back and think about what you think would be the best kind of music for the game. And then also consider a couple alternatives to that. Don’t get too excited about your music direction, though, as the developers may have something else entirely in mind. Then file that away for the time being.
When you finally sit down to talk with the producer or designer who’s making the calls on the music, just listen and carefully consider their vision for the music. You already have your direction in mind, but the developers will probably have insights into the game that you were not able to consider. Even if their direction sounds really bad at the outset, just take a little bit of time and give them a fair hearing. They have the best interests of the game in mind, as well as a good overall vision of the game, so their idea is probably going to be alright, if not absolutely suitable.
They will probably ask for your thoughts on the music direction at some point. That’s when you can compare your vision to theirs. Chances are some concepts will line up. Concentrate on those. If there are significant differences between your visions, go ahead and lay out your best argument for your approach to the music. They may have considered your approach already and decided to abandon it. Hearing those reasons will probably enlighten you to aspects of the game you hadn’t seen or been privy to.
A good developer will seriously consider your approach if it is new to them. You do, after all, make your living doing music for games and have significant experience in the industry that is of value to them. As long as your vision for the music is well thought out, well explained, and appropriate for the game, they will give you a fair hearing. When explaining your vision, keep in mind that developers have widely varying experience with music. I’ve dealt with anyone from tone-deaf musical illiterates to accomplished instrumentalists. Generally, the more experience a developer has with music the more they will be willing to listen to you. And that’s fairly counter-intuitive. I think the reason for this is because musicians get used to working with other people. An orchestra or band is composed of different people all working toward the same goal of making the best music possible. Musicians understand teamwork whether making music, making games, or making music for games.
So keep their musical experience in mind when discussing the music direction. You won’t always approach the music direction the same way when the discussion first starts, but it’s important to fully understand each other’s approach. If you don’t understand where the developer is coming from, be sure and ask questions. Trust that they’ve put some thought into it. Get as detailed a description as you can. To come to a music direction you can both be excited about, it’s important to communicate clearly. Get as technical as you can, depending on how much detail they are able to provide.
The best way to describe your visions to each other is to use examples. Look at other games, movies, and pieces of music and say what aspects apply to your vision. A developer of any musical skill level will be able to understand you better when you pick appropriate examples. If they have no examples to provide to you, then provide some for them and ask if those examples are what they were thinking. They can then confirm or look to give you other examples. Examples are very important for successful communication between composer and developer.
So, all of this advice is assuming your producer or developer is willing to listen to you and use your experience to help make a great soundtrack. What if they are stubborn and refuse to budge from their vision of a Britney Spears-inspired soundtrack for their giant monster turn-based strategy game? Well, you’ll sometimes just have to shut your mouth and do what they want, nonsensical as it may sound. The reality is that they’ve decided to hire you because they think you can do what they want. And, of course you can, even if what they want is truly awful. So at that point, just do the work and await your paycheck. Be prepared for some bad sound/music reviews because of poor music direction, but take heart knowing you were under orders.
But those kinds of developers are fairly rare. If you go in with a willingness to cooperate, chances are you will all come up with a music direction that will best fit the game and make you all proud to have been a part of it.
Video Game Music Quiz
I came across something today that you may want to check out. It’s the most well done video game music quiz I’ve ever come across. Granted, I haven’t come across many but this one easily stands out as the best. Apparently, there are hundreds of game music clips and the site picks them randomly as you go through the quiz. You can find it here:
Don’t be scared off by the austere look of the site or the fact that you have to register to get started. Registration is instant and the quiz interface is easy to use. About the only problem with using the quiz is the fact that you have to download MP3’s of the music clips. Streaming playback of the clips would be nice, but it’s not a big deal.
So far I’ve been able to identify 2 out of the 40 tracks I’ve heard. Ouch. And one of the pieces I only knew because it came from the game’s cartoon series theme. Double ouch. A lot of my tunes seemed to come from old Nintendo or Playstation games that I’d never played (not having owned many of the older gaming systems). And I realized something. I’m glad I never listened to the music in those games! Most of what I heard was terrible. It sounded like awful low-fi wannabe dance music. I would have been embarrassed to write that music and it gives me great relief to hear how much game music has improved over the last 20 years.
I know there is a great base of fans for much of that music and that may sound heretical, but I have to be honest. Much of the older video game music was simply unacceptable. It seems many current composers would agree with that sentiment though, as the overall quality level of game music has continued to improve since the dark days of the NES.
Maybe I just got a particularly bad batch of random quiz tunes, though. I’ll definitely be playing this some more.
Your music, out of your control!
Watching the presidential debate today reminded me of a story from a few months ago. Back in June, John McCain used some music from a video game in one of his ads. It was all fine and dandy until the composer of that music came forward and said he doesn’t support John McCain, and is in fact an Obama supporter. You can read more about it here. Sounds like a horrible scandal, right? Except the way our business is set up right now, this sort of thing is bound to happen and is legally and ethically fine.
Unfortunately today it is common for a composer to completely sign their rights for their music over to the developer or publisher they did the work for. This is called “work for hire” and benefits the developer or publisher greatly. If a cartoon series develops based on the game and they want to use your music for it, they can. Or if they want to use your music to advertise the latest greatest rat trap, or for any other reason, they can go ahead and use your music for that too. Once you sign that contract, your music is out of your control.
The composer of the game music used in the McCain ad, Christopher Lennertz, was upset that his music was used for something with which he does not agree. Sadly for any composer who signs such work for hire contracts, the composer’s thoughts on the matter are almost completely irrelevant. Legally the music is the developer or publisher’s to do with as they please. As long as McCain or anyone else buys a license to that music, it can appear anywhere. You’ve got to just roll with it. You decided to sign the contract, so accept that it just may appear somewhere you may not agree with.
I said above that the composer’s thoughts on the matter are almost completely irrelevant because the Lennertz case shows that it can backfire at least a little bit if the full background of the music is not considered by those using it. Even though nothing illegal or inappropriate happened, the McCain campaign still got some negative press because there is at least the appearance of some disharmony within the campaign. The question could be asked, why couldn’t they find some music by a McCain supporter?
This is in fact one of the risks inherent in using library assets for anything. It bit Hillary Clinton’s campaign in their infamous “3am” commercial. In that, they used some stock library footage of a little girl sleeping soundly during the night and asked who the viewer would trust to protect the country if a catastrophe struck late at night. It was a wonderful, fear-mongering ad that would stick in people’s minds. The problem is, the girl in the ad is now 18 and a fervent Obama supporter. Read more about that story here, it’s actually pretty funny.
So what do we do to keep people from using our music in the next project that we personally find offensive? It’s all about who owns the copyrights. The contracts are still weighted heavily in favor of the companies we do the work for, but we can do our best to change the terms. Keep 100% of our copyrights if possible, or at least keep any of the rights we can… like “ancillary rights”. That is, for any project that comes from that game (cartoons, spin-off games, sequels, TV shows, etc.), they will have to get our permission to use our music again. That increases the possibility of making more money from your music, which is only fair. If the game springs further revenue streams, the composer who is partly responsible for that success should share in the rewards.
Of course, it is a compliment when our music is found to be of value by anyone other than the people for whom we originally created it. But sometimes we don’t like the people giving us that compliment. That’s just part of being human. Not everyone gets along. All we can do as composers is keep on fighting to get fairer copyright terms in our contracts. That way, we don’t need to apologize for our creativity being used for purposes we do not agree with. Now if you don’t mind, I need to go finish a PETA ad with licensed music by Ted Nugent…
Some good free VST’s.
I thought it might be useful to make a list of some excellent free VST’s for some of the composers and sound designers out there. I’ve been using these regularly over the last five years (or more in some cases) and they all have been solid, stable, and of a value much beyond their price:
MadShifta - A quick and easy way to pitch shift your tracks, MadShifta can help quickly add some spice to your music track or sound effect. With controls for delay, feedback, and resonance, you can shape the sound of your new pitch shifted track. This is an especially useful plug-in when used for sound effects creation.
Triangle I and II - Well, this was a surprise… as I was researching for this blog, I discovered this VST has been absorbed by Cakewalk (Roland). Thankfully, it’s still free! Triangle I and II are full of many excellent synthesizer sounds and give you the ability to shape your own sounds as well. It’s a very well designed plug-in and has been very stable in my rig for more than six years now. Great stuff.
Crystal - Another excellent synthesizer, Crystal can help bring some unique sounds and rhythms to your music. Like Triangle, Crystal is full of many great sounds but also has a powerful way to synthesize your own. One hit against it is that it is not as stable as other VST’s, but on the whole it is well worth a download. The user interface is decent but could also be a little easier. But for a free VST, you won’t go wrong with Crystal.
Audio Arpeggiator - This one unfortunately isn’t VST, but rather a DirectX plug-in. It can help add some neat rhythmic effects to any of your audio tracks. I find it useful for some music tracks, but mostly use it in the creation of sound effects.
Delay Lama - Ok, this one’s not going to get a whole lot of usage, but if you ever need a virtual singing monk, this one is the one to use. It’s got a hilarious interface and lots of different options to help you get just the right virtual monk for your music.
So there you have it, some of the VST’s that I’ve gotten tons of use out of over the last few years. Give some of them a try and see what you think.
The new new Nintendo DS.
I guess it’s a little late to be calling the DS Lite the “new” DS. But that’s how I still think of it. I better get over that habit as Nintendo has announced their newest model of the DS, the DSi. The main difference I’m interested in is its ability to read SD cards and play MP3’s. Does that mean you can play your own music within a game? I hope so!
You’d think as a game composer I’d be against that sort of thing, but as a gamer I’m all for it. I’m under no illusion that even the best game music is not going to get old after hour upon hour of play. It will, and the game player should have options. The pundits are saying Nintendo is releasing this new model to compete with the extra features of Sony’s PSP, a nice multimedia machine. Well, whatever the case I hope Nintendo keeps on the forefront of innovation and adds the camera and MP3 player to its long list of new ways to interact with games.
About This Blog
This blog is dedicated to topics concerning the creation of music and sound for games. It will deal with issues that come up in the day to day work of The Game Composer as well as thoughts on the industry as a whole. I hope it will be useful for developers and other game audio professionals. Feel free to contact me: thegamecomposer@gmail.com
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