Metroid: Other M

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Metroid: Other M Audio Journal: Experience It Through Its Soundtrack

August 27, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 12 Comments Share this

While I hadn’t necessarily planned it, we’ve had quite an eventful Metroid week this week. With our Metroid Prime 3 interview on Tuesday, Pat’s review of Metroid Metal’s Expansion Pack EP on Wednesday, and our Metroid-heavy podcast yesterday, we have even more for you, and this one’s about the game in the series you’re looking forward to the most: Metroid: Other M.

When Metroid Prime 3: Corruption was released, I experimented with a feature format that I called an “audio journal,” an exploration of the game’s universe as experienced through sound. I thought I would do the same with Metroid: Other M given the unique atmosphere of the series and the emphasis on music and sound design. While Metroid: Other M isn’t long enough to warrant a three-part series like I wrote for Corruption, I hope you enjoy our audio-inspired journey into Metroid: Other M.

Dive into the aural landscape of Nintendo’s most recent Metroid title after the jump! (more…)
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Comic Con 2010: Enjoy Metroid: Other M In Style, Plus DQIX Shirts (Gallery)

July 22, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Comic Con 2010: Enjoy Metroid: Other M In Style, Plus DQIX Shirts (Gallery) Share this

I have no idea how I missed this one. I saw people walking around the Capcom booth with Dragon Quest slime shirts, and asked them where they got them, and apparently they got them from Nintendo. I didn’t even know Nintendo was here (they’ve skipped the last several years)! Upon searching around, however, I did find their small booth showing off Dragon Quest IX and Metroid: Other M.

Yeah, not much, but what they lacked in quantity they made up in quality. The playable Metroid: Other M demo is running in its own darkened theater, complete with a comfy armchair and a nice display. I was impressed. They also have Dragon Quest IX kiosks set up throughout the area with special maps available only at Comic Con. Unfortunately I forgot to photograph the shirts, but they’re blue with a white outline of a slime. Pretty cool!

And yes, I did drop by Square Enix’s booth to show them what they missed out on by not publishing the game here in the United States. They looked like they were ready to head over to the Nintendo booth to get their own shirts.

Hit the jump for our gallery of Nintendo’s booth. (more…)
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Metroid: Other M Pays Homage to The Original Metroid

June 7, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

Yes, while Audun spotted the Metroid: Other M teaser website some months ago with a nice piano ballad accompanying it, Nintendo has launched an official website for the game, featuring a remix of the title BGM from the original Famicom Metroid. While Kenji Yamamoto often included references to past Metroid titles in the Metroid Prime series, Other M composer Kuniaki Haishima pays tribute to the very origins of the series with this chilling orchestral arrangement.

While I am a bit disappointed that Kenji Yamamoto isn’t handling the game’s music (I wonder what he’s up to?), I have enjoyed everything that I’ve heard from the game thus far. At least it seems as though Nintendo is ditching the terrible MIDI-based score that plagued some of the most important moments in the Prime series. Now we just have to wait for a soundtrack release. Cross those fingers!

What do you think of Haishima’s arrangement? Are you looking forward to the game and its soundtrack?

[via Nobuooo]
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GDC 2010: A Whirlwind Tour of the Audio Track

March 18, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on GDC 2010: A Whirlwind Tour of the Audio Track Share this

This year’s GDC felt much smaller than previous years. Gone was the four story behemoth that is west hall, and everything was instead crammed into the Moscone Convention Center’s north and south halls. The audio track in particular took place in one of two rooms, both in north hall, which were often much too small, which led to sessions filling up and people being left out in the hallway without the chance to hear several panels (the Flower panel in particular was so popular that people lined up outside the room despite it filling up just to meet Vincent Diamante after his hour talk).

So, what were the sights and sounds from north hall? We checked out a number of panels, and rather than post about each one individually, I thought it would be more manageable for you guys if I simply gave a brief summary of each panel that we attended and focused on highlights from the session. There were definitely a lot of surprises, and even some information revealed about the composer of Metroid: Other M from a non-audio track session!

Hit the jump to check out our coverage. (more…)
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Nintendo’s Triple Threat: 3 New Websites With Audio!

February 3, 2010 | Audun Sorlie | 5 Comments Share this

At E3 2009, Nintendo revealed the newest chapter in the Metroid saga, the oddly named Metroid: Other M. Treated to a nerdy ovation and instantly peaking everyone’s interests, the game quickly went behind the curtains again and little if anything has been shown of what to expect. Even more hidden was Monado: Beginning of the World. The title is Monolith’s new RPG, and was only shown in the press package released online, but no mention given at the conference itself. Finally Nintendo has started slowly to reveal more.

Monado: Beginning of the World has now changed title (in Japan at least) to XENOBLADE, which raises some interesting questions of its connection to the Xeno series. Another title was also revealed on the day of the website launch, a new RPG from Mistwalker titled The Last Story, by Hironobu Sakaguchi. Yeah you read the title right, the creator of Final Fantasy now has a new game called The Last Story. Clever.

The three websites all come with audio samples of what we might expect, and none disappoint. Metroid: Other M has a contemplative piano track, The Last Story has a very nice violin track, and XENOBLADE has what seems to be a Sakuraba-esque epic theme.

Go to the Metroid: Other M, The Last Story and XENOBLADE websites and tell us what you think!