Hideki Sakamoto

Featured, Game Music

Ragnarok: The Imperial Princess of Light and Dark (Interview)

March 6, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Ragnarok: The Imperial Princess of Light and Dark (Interview) Share this

I love Ragnarok Online. While the original PC title will always been one of my favorite games, we’ve checked out the Ragnarok DS spin-off here on OSV, and it looks as though GungHo Online is set on redefining the series with a number of spin-offs that have been slated for iOS (Ragnarok Violet), PSP (Ragnarok: The Imperial Princess of Light and Dark), and the PlayStation Vita (Ragnarok Odyssey). The Imperial Princess of Light and Dark is a strategy title for the PSP that was released in Japan on October 2011, but as of yet has no release planned for North America.

Still, I couldn’t help but be intrigued by the score for the game, composed in part by composer Hideki Sakamoto who has impressed us with his work on echochrome and other titles. He’s joined by composer team 12sound to create a blend of orchestral fantasy music that is a lot of fun, even if distinctly different from the music soundTeMP wrote for the original PC game.

I was curious as to how Sakamoto was brought on board for this title and the nature of his contributions, so join us after the jump as we inquire! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Working it Just Right: Hideki Sakamoto Orchestral Works (Review)

August 12, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Working it Just Right: Hideki Sakamoto Orchestral Works (Review) Share this

Have we mentioned that we’re huge fans of Hideki Sakamoto’s work? He’s been featured numerous times on OSV, from his work on Yuusha no Kuse ni Namaikida 1&2 Giant Recital to 100 Million Ton No Bara Bara to his recent Guinness World Record-winning (for longest game music piece) score for echochrome ii. And don’t forget about the crazy Noisycroak game composer roundtable that he hosted some years back.

Back in March, however, we told you that Sakamoto would be traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, to put on a live performance of his music from No Heroes Allowed! and the original echochrome. For most of us who were unable to attend the performance, Sakamoto has made a recording available through his in-house Noisycroak record label.

Brace yourself for an epic listening experience and check out our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Hideki Sakamoto’s Masterwork: echochrome ii = prime # 4507 (Review)

March 21, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Yes, it was just two weeks ago that we mentioned that Hideko Sakamoto is traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia to conduct an orchestra in the performance of his music from echochrome and No Heroes Allowed!, but we’d been meaning to check out his score for echochrome ii for quite some time now.

We posted about the live streamed recording session for this soundtrack last year, where we noted that the game would feature a single track titled “prime # 4507” that would clock in at over 75 minutes in length and act as the soundtrack for the entire game.

Did Sakamoto’s experiment pay off? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Hideki Sakamoto Live in Concert and Live on Ustream

March 10, 2011 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Hideki Sakamoto Live in Concert and Live on Ustream Share this

[Update: In consideration of the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, the concert will no longer be broadcast live, but will instead be aired on Sakamoto’s USTREAM channel at a later date. Check the noisycroak website for more details]

By now, we’d certainly hope you know who Hideki Sakamoto is. If you somehow missed our coverage of his work, he’s the incredibly talented composer and head of noisycroak with titles like the echochrome series, the Yakuza series, and 100 Million Ton no Bara Bara under his belt, among many others. As it turns out, he’ll be traveling to St. Petersburg, Russia, on March 30, 2011 to conduct the St. Petersburg State Academic Symphony Orchestra in a performance of his music from echochrome and No Heroes Allowed!.

Wait, upset that you won’t happen to be in St. Petersburg, Russia on that day? Sakamoto has you covered, as the concert will be broadcast live on Ustream for fans to enjoy. Sakamoto did this recently with the recording sessions for the amazing echochrome ii soundtrack, and it’s good to see him continuing this trend with this concert. His official website not only lists all the tracks being performed, but lists the stream times for nearly every time zone around the world.

We’re all in for a rare treat! Let us know what you think of the set list and the fact that this is being streamed live to fans around the world.
Game Music

Watch echochrome ii’s Soundtrack Being Recorded, LIVE!

July 12, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

We posted a couple weeks ago that Noisycroak’s Hideki Sakamoto would be handling the music from echochrome ii. Well, given Sakamoto’s history of giving game music fans an insider’s look at the world of Japanese game composers, it should come as no surprise then that he has streamed the entire recording session for the echochrome ii on Ustream for your viewing pleasure.

As it turns out, the game will feature a single piece of music that was apparently recorded with a live string section. Wait, one piece of music, you ask? Yes! An incredibly long one that comes in at 2628 bars. The video above is the fourth video in a series of five, but I thought I’d start with it as it gets you into the music as quickly as possible. From what I’ve heard here, the music is sounding pretty awesome, and it’s great that Sakamoto has decided to let his fans not only get a peak at the music, but also the work that is going into creating it. Click here to check out the rest of the videos.

What do you think of the music thus far? Would you like to see more videos like this from game composers in the future?

[Thanks Demetri!]
Game Music

Sakamoto Returns, Spins, Falls for echochrome iisy

June 29, 2010 | Gideon Dabi | Comments Off on Sakamoto Returns, Spins, Falls for echochrome iisy Share this

Noisycroak’s Hideki Sakamoto will be returning for the upcoming PlayStation exclusive, echochrome ii, the sequel to the Playstation Network downloadable puzzler, echochrome. echochrome featured a very intelligent and charming soundtrack (recently made available for download on the PlayStation Network, review to come soon!) made up of a string quartet – most uncommon for a game soundtrack. Sakamoto is also famous for his work on Yakuza 3, a massive departure from the echochrome series in every way.

It’s a great movie by the folks over at Sony’s JAPAN Studio to bring back Sakamoto as the soundtrack was one of the staples of the series. Plus, it’s damn fine music.
Game Music

Drunken Mayhem with Otoya #2 on NicoNico Live

April 27, 2010 | Chris Ling | 5 Comments Share this

It was only a matter of time before Hideki Sakamoto and Takenobu Mitsuyoshi teamed up to wreck havoc across the Internet landscape again. On the heels of the success of the first Otoya event on NicoNico Live as reported previously, the duo were back with even more guests for the second Otoya event, Otoya Dai-ikkai ~Kimi no Tame Nara Namaiki da.~ (Music House Second Round ~I would be sassy for you.~) As was the first live event, the title of the event is a play on the Sega DS title, Kimi no Tame Nara Shineru or Feel the Magic: XY/XX as it was known in the West.

Along with Sakamoto and Mitsuyoshi, Nobuyoshi “Sanodg” Sano, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Michiko Naruke return as commentators. A new addition to the lineup is composer Yoko Shimomura*, famous for her work on titles such as Street Fighter II, Legend of Mana, and Kingdom Hearts. A host of new guests in the industry also come on throughout the live event to talk about anything and everything about game music.

Though the event has come and gone, all is not lost for viewers outside of Japan who might not have been able to get up in the wee hours of the morning to catch the event. Recently, the first round of Otoya has been made available in its entirety on NicoNico Douga (Registration required). Chances are the second round will be available soon after. Until that happens though, you can hit the jump to get the run down on some of the topics and off-topic antics that happened this time around. (more…)