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[PATV] Monday, August 1, 2011 - Extra Credits Season 1, Ep. 9: Video Game Music
Dog
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
This week, we look at the way video game music has evolved over the years, and compare the strengths of today's game music with the chiptunes of gaming past.
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PS. Made this account just to post about this video. Thank you for the great work! Auditory gold!
"Make it simple, stupid!" is something we should use for songs in games. Using a lot of sounds is great but make a melody, not many melodies at the same time.
It's like elevator music: bland and forgettable. What was so "awesome" about those Halo or Metal Gear examples, for instance? Sounded like every other game soundtrack to me. When I browse the games that I've recently played, I can't help but wonder if they had any music at all. Because I don't remember anything about it.
Except Saints Row the Third and Portal 2, but I mostly remember those songs because of the lyrics.
The music fades into the background after a while, you tune out to them... its when there's a break in the focus or a rest or relaxing segment provided, that music becomes obvious.
oh yeah and I didn't recognize the halo music. Played only the first one and disliked it a lot.
In fact, the songs got such praise and were so memorable that the second game got a much bigger music budget and diverged much of the processing power to its music. So much so that you can't even tell the games are only a single year apart from its soundtrack (from graphics too, but the soundtrack is even more jarring). Heroes 2 even had most of its spec barrier being caused by the soundtrack. 'Till this day I get teary eyed as a pavlovian response to its grassland theme, sure, for nostalgia, but also because this tune never left my memory.
- Anonymous Russian Philosopher
54 seconds here, it all kicks in at once and gaaah, so good.
And 55 seconds in this is such a cool variation on the game's main recurring theme, but I don't think it actually got used in game;
Also the 2 big confrontations where you switch AIs, both scenes use the main theme, but they sound pretty distinct (and equally fantastic)
All out crazy nuts for GLaDOS taking over again.
For this purpose I'm trying to make interviews with as many videogames composers as possible (as well as studing the history of videogames and so on)
Also, any material related to videogames music could help me (specially bibliography, articles and interviews)
So if you know something about this and want to help me with my research, please, make me know it.
I'll be checking this from time to time in order to see if it's there any response.
Best regards.
But some parts are a little caricatural like comparing only 8-bits / early music with latest one, just like nothing in the middle never existed.
Just listen to SNES / NEOGEO music. This style is still use today even if done with modern tool. This era was the best of both world. Saurus, Metal Slugs, F-Zero, Starfox, R-Type, Street Fighter, etc.
Take all modern Corneria music from the Official OST, none of them can beat the original one generated like the SNES sound chipset. And the music is nothing like a 8 bit music.
BTW to my taste, I chose the 8-bits music from MG, the modern one just suck: seems flat with no personality at all. This is a very common problem with modern music. All the modern tools just made a lot of people lazy, just like when the video-games move from 2D to 3D.
While I would not go back to the 8-Bits era music, I will gladly return to the 16/32 bits one.