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Events, Game Music

VIDEO GAMES LIVE LEVEL 5 is now live on Kickstarter!

February 24, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on VIDEO GAMES LIVE LEVEL 5 is now live on Kickstarter! Share this

We all knew it was only a matter of time. Video Games Live is looking to create a LEVEL 5 album with a third kickstarter campaign. Video Games Live has successfully funded two previous campaigns in the form of their LEVEL 3 and LEVEL 4 albums. You can read OSV’s review of their Level 4 album here.

Planned Track Listing for Level 5:

SUPER MARIO WORLD
THE LEGEND OF ZELDA
CHRONO CROSS
GRIM FANDANGO
PHOENIX WRIGHT
METROID
ICO
WORLD OF WARCRAFT: WARLORDS OF DRAENOR
COMMAND & CONQUER: RED ALERT
TOP GEAR

with stretch goals:

Mother/Earthbound, Okami, Xenogears/saga/blade, Katamari Damacy and more…

Video Games Live

The initial goal for the Level 5 album is $150,000. The stretch goals begin at $275,000 and increase in increments of $25,000. For each stretch goal reached another track will be added to the album which will be decided by kickstarter backer voting polls.

Video Games Live has an excellent kickstarter record and has always delivered their rewards to backers on time. You can find all the details about the campaign on their kickstarter page. Backers are already grabbing up rewards fast.

Will you be backing Video Games Live Level 5? Is there a song that you think should be on their next album?
Game Music

E3 2015: Most Anticipated Video Game Soundtracks

June 3, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 4 Comments Share this

There are not that many video game soundtracks that I have been anticipating but today I got a serious soundtrack vibe. As E3 is approaching there have been numerous hopes and speculation about the Japan Studio and Team Ico’s The Last Guardian. Every year for the past few years at the beginning of June I dutifully revisit the two breathtaking trailers for the game. There’s the E3 2009 trailer which runs about 4 minutes, and there’s the Tokyo Game Show 2010 trailer that runs about 2 minutes. In the first trailer there are no mentions of who will be handling the music for the game but, it does mention that the Sound Design is being handled by Tsubasa Ito.

So being the curious type I try to look for hints, and clues about who will be doing the music for the game. As Kow Otani composed the now classic score for Shadow of the Colossus in 2005 my sights are on him. Secrecy in the Japanese game industry is legendary, and it may be nothing but it looks like Tsubasa Ito recently started following Kow Otani on Twitter. I may be grasping at feathers here, but one can dream right?

Are you anticipating any video game soundtracks for games that might be announced at E3 this year?
Anime, Featured, Game Music

Matron Maestras – Michiru Ōshima (spotlight)

November 12, 2014 | Brenna Wilkes | 2 Comments Share this

The current climate of the video game world has been speckled with a fair bit of controversy over the role of women in the industry, both in-game and outside of games. No doubt, women have been involved with video games since the beginning, and one particular facet of the gaming industry that hasn’t gotten a lot of focus in regards to its diversity is video game music. Due to the fact that video game music is not as easily identifiable as being male or female-influenced, it’s sometimes very easy to go by without knowing just how much an impact female composers have had in gaming through its entire lifespan. Indeed, it in essence makes little difference what gender, race or creed a composer is, as their musical ability is what makes the games they compose for and creates their legacy with video game fans.

Thus, I decided I wanted to make a small series of spotlight features over the next couple of weeks, highlighting some of those female composers whose works are either well known or obscure, but nonetheless important to the history of gaming.

The first composer I wanted to focus on briefly doesn’t have a huge repertoire of game compositions under her belt, but the quality more than makes up for the quantity when it comes to Japanese composer Michiru Ōshima.

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