Mitsuda

Game Music

Los Angeles Vs. Tokyo: Huge Ass Game Music Concert Taking Place In… Australia?!

September 8, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 5 Comments Share this

You guys probably know that any time “game music” and “Australia” appear in the same sentence, it probably involves Eminence, and indeed I am referring to the upcoming A Night in Fantasia 2009 concert which is shaping up to be one hell of a show. We told you two months ago what was going to be played, but what we know now is who will be attending, and it’s one of the most impressive lists of game music composers from the East and West that we’ve ever seen.

Los Angeles-based composers Wataru Hokoyama, Steve Jablonsky, Cris Velasco, and Inon Zur will be joined by Tokyo-based composers Yasunori Mitsuda, Kow Otani, and Go Shiina. Singer Aubrey Ashburn, also from Los Angeles, will be balanced out by singers AIKA Tsuneoka and Chiaki Takahashi from Tokyo. It truly is an LA Vs. Tokyo event, and it’s taking place in Sydney, Australia of all places! This should definitely be something to see if you’re one of the lucky people in town on September 26.

Check out the official website, and let us know what you think about this list of special guests. Are you looking forward to any of the arrangements being performed in particular?
Game Music

Namco Bandai Composer Plagiarizes Music From Chrono Trigger, Lufia II, and Warcraft II

August 27, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 8 Comments Share this

I actually think this is kind of old news, but interesting nonetheless. I sort of missed the big hubbub until a post about the topic resurfaced on Soundtrack Central, but apparently Namco Bandai composer Kennosuke Suemura recently “borrowed” the melodies from “Battle with Magus” from Chrono Trigger and “The One Who Will Save The Earth” from Lufia II for his recent Super Robot Taisen series soundtrack.

Worse, this isn’t the first time this has happened. The same composer was supposedly involved in a similar incident involving music from Warcraft II when working on a previous title in the series. Namco Bandai has since released a formal apology and paid a settlement to resolve the issue, but it’s kind of funny that the composer went after Square Enix and Blizzard Entertainment, two of the most vigilant companies when it comes to cracking down on unauthorized use of their property.

What do you think? The series has always been known for combining elements from all kinds of different games, but did Suemura go too far this time?

[via Soundtrack Central]
Game Music

Noisycroak’s First Game Composer Roundtable Discussion -Complete English Transcript-

August 15, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 8 Comments Share this

While many of you may have missed the news, the guys over at Noisycroak in Japan (who you may recall from our coverage of Castlevania Judgment) recently hosted a composer roundtable to answer fan-submitted questions and discuss a wide range of topics involving the game music industry in Japan. Composer and studio head Hideki Sakamoto hosted the unprecedented event, which our own Chris Ling attended along with a number of Famitsu staff, and the results were pretty amazing.

What we have here is Chris’s English translation of the massive transcript that Noisycroak posted in to their website (in Japanese) a few weeks ago. Yes, a complete English transcript of all 17,000+ words! I’m definitely grateful to Chris for doing this for us, as well as to Sakamoto-san at Noisycroak for putting this together, Mitsuyoshi-san for coordinating Chris’s attendance, and to all the participants for taking part in this event and for letting us post the English-language transcript here for your reading pleasure.

While it’s quite long, there’s a lot of great stuff here. Nobuyoshi Sano is particularly hilarious, and it’s funny reading how Sakamoto-san was constantly trying to keep everyone on track (with mixed results). I found some of the discussion towards the end about game music concerts and “young” heroes to be interesting, but let us know what you think!

Read the entire transcript of the event after the jump. (more…)
Game Music

Comic Con 2009: Sands of Destruction Needs a Soundtrack Release!

July 24, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

Okay, maybe I’m being a bit premature, but the few tracks I heard on the show floor today sound pretty awesome. I’ll admit I haven’t been overly impressed with much of Mitsuda’s latest work, but this sounds more in line with his work on Chrono Cross more than anything else (although you wouldn’t know from the epic battle theme). The game looks and plays really well too, making it a nice, tidy package.

So what was there there hear? The demo I played took place in the Mirrorsand Grotto, a gloomy blue cavern with some awesome music. The piece started with some triangle percussion before an acoustic guitar was added with some cool pitch bend effects at the end of each measure. The pad progression was really dark and different, especially for a Mitsuda piece. The battle theme, as I mentioned, is pretty epic. I dig the breakdown at the 0:52 mark in the above video, and afterwards, that’s some nice marimba!

Looking forward to Sands of Destruction early next year? Are you hoping as much as I am that they put out a soundtrack for this game?
Game Music

Video Games Live Pulls The Trigger: Chrono Medley Added to Repertoire

April 8, 2009 | David Hsu | 25 Comments Share this

If you’ve ever gone to Video Games Live, you might have gotten the vague feeling that something was amiss, namely the woeful absence of Yasunori Mitsuda’s name in the program notes. Fortunately that should no longer be a problem in future concerts, as Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall debuted their new Chrono segment with the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony back on March 14th. Be on the lookout for the segment, as it will likely be a part of most (if not all) of their upcoming performances.

How do you think VGL’s medley compares to PLAY!’s? Has Jack Wall unintentionally jeopardized his career by demonstrating the orchestra can get along fine without a conductor? And how many “Scars of Time” arrangements is too many?
Demoscene

Sylvanwood EP: Generic Forest Music Released On Mephtik Netlabel

January 6, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

Yes, it’s that time again. Mephtik Netlabel has put out its sixth release, and to even further the shameless self-promotion of my netlabel, this one comes from me (with love)! Titled Sylvanwood EP, and released under my Arcubalis alias, the EP is a 4-track collection of tunes from the last few years that sort of fit together with a loose “forest” theme.

The first track is actually co-written by my fellow Italian and friend Matthew “Blisaed” Centonze, who’s an amazing ambient artist. He wrote the first thirty seconds or so and I expanded upon it to its full length. “Shadow’s End Glade” is my (poor) stab at Yasunori Mitsuda’s style, which you may notice from the track’s title, which refers to “Shadow’s End Forest” from Chrono Cross. “Tree of Holy White Light” is a brooding track with an epic melody, and “Sunlit Vista” is an attempt to write some serious ambient music. As always, it’s downloadable for free, so why not? I’d love to hear what you guys think!

Oh, and I guess I should mention the artwork that I borrowed from weiweihua on deviantART. While I tried to secure permission to use it via his (her?) email and blog, I never got a response. Hope this link makes up for it. The full piece, titled “the Forest church 2,” is a really beautiful image.

Have you been downloading any of the music I’ve been pushing on you from Mephtik Netlabel? Do you have a favorite release so far?
Game Music

Yasunori Mitsuda Gets Rick Rolled, Is Surprised

December 5, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | 14 Comments Share this

Well, I’ve been hinting at a huge surprise regarding Mitsuda’s work on Chrono Trigger for weeks, and here it is. I hope the build-up pays off! People who have played Chrono Trigger have always joked that “Robo’s Theme” was the first rick roll, so I thought I’d show the video to Mitsuda and ask him what he thought of the track.

I’m surprised to say that he was actually a good sport. I was expecting him to say, “Oh, interesting, I never heard that before.” Instead we get what sounds to be genuine surprise. Maybe we’ve made a fan of him?

See his response after the jump. (more…)