Sony

Events, Music Production

Sony & Morpheus Headline at Game Music Connect

July 30, 2015 | Shawn Sackenheim | Comments Off on Sony & Morpheus Headline at Game Music Connect Share this

Game Music Connect, the international video game music conference, has announced some new sessions for their third annual gathering to be held in London on September 15th. Chuck Doud, Sony America’s Director of Music, will be the opening keynote speaker for the session “Vision Talk: Emotional Resonance in Video Game Music”.

Having worked on major Sony properties from The Last of Us and Gold of War to Journey, he “brings a unique game music world view […] as he discusses Sony’s current and future visions for video game scoring and celebrates the vital role music plays in today’s and tomorrow’s interactive entertainment experiences, together with the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead.” It will, no doubt, be a great session to step back and take a look at where modern game music is at. With so many games coming to so many platforms it’s harder than ever to get that kind of perspective nowadays.

One of those upcoming platforms for new games is virtual reality and Sony expects music to be supremely important and supremely challenging to incorporate with it. Since beginning development of Project Morpheus, the VR headset for PlayStation 4, Sony’s in-house music team created a series of trials to study the “aesthetics and functionality of scores for VR”. Their goal was to create “implementation systems which harness the inherent power of music without disturbing user immersion”. In the session “Virtual Reality & The Meaning of Music” Alastair Lindsay and Joe Thwaites, two music producers from Sony Europe, will demonstrate their findings. There’s sure to be some insightful (and potentially disorienting) revelations about sound and VR in this one.

You can check out much more on Game Music Connect 2015, its panels and presenters, and how to buy tickets to attend at the official homepage.
Game Music

KILLZONE 3: Joris [is] de Man (OST Review)

March 30, 2011 | Gideon Dabi | 1 Comment Share this

Joris de Man holds a special place in our music-nerdy little hearts. Aside from giving us some high quality soundtracks in the Killzone series, de Man also holds the honor of being the first composer to win the prestigious Ivor Novello Award for a video game score. There is much satisfaction to be had realizing that the same award once given to David Bowie, Radiohead, Iron Maiden, and Paul McCartney has been given to the composer of a fine Playstation 3 shooter.

It is because of this spectacular and deserved achievement that I waited with great expectations and high hopes for Joris de Man’s follow-up effort in Killzone 3. With a universe as rich as that of the series, as well as high-octane action and drama that is always present, (the second installment, in particular) there could be no reason for this score to be anything less than its predecessor. Right? (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…)
Featured, Film, Game Music

A Blast From The Past: Vince DiCola on Gran Tursimo 5 and His Career

December 28, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on A Blast From The Past: Vince DiCola on Gran Tursimo 5 and His Career Share this

It should come as no surprise by now that most of us here at OSV are huge fans of Vince DiCola. From his work on Rocky IV and The Transformers (the animated film), to some of the recent YouTube postings he’s been involved with, he’s extremely talented and generous with his time. I conducted an interview with him while at Music4Games back in March 2008 after learning that he was involved with an arrangement of popular “Moon Over The Castle” theme from Gran Turismo 5: Prologue. It’s shocking to think that it was nearly 3 years ago that Prologue was released, huh?

In any case, this is one of my favorite interviews that I ever conducted. Vince DiCola is not only very detailed in his responses, but also very genuine and open about his career, the challenges he’s faced in the music business, and his hopes for the future. Interestly, the project he alludes to at the end of the interview is still in the works, and trust me when I tell you that it’s going to blow you all away when it’s finally out there. Hopefully we can provide a preview on that soon, but in the meantime, take a trip back with us to enjoy this Blast from the Past entry with Vince DiCola.

What are you waiting for? Hit the jump! (more…)
Featured, Game Music

Comic Con 2010: Bear McCreary Goes Hip Hop, Talks SOCOM 4

July 23, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

Yes, hip hop. The last time we talked to composer Bear McCreary it was all about Dark Void and Dark Void Zero. With new projects on the horizon, we thought it’d be a good time to catch up on his latest projects, and we were right. Along with his upcoming videogame score for SOCOM 4, McCreary also touches on his feature film debut with Step Up 3D as well as Dark Void and Dark Void Zero. He also hints at some big gaming announcements that will come in the near future, and will be of particular interest to hardcore game music fans.

He’s got me excited, and the instrumentation used in SOCOM 4 definitely has me more excited about the game than I have been up to this point. Hit the jump for our Comic Con interview and see why you should be excited about the SOCOM 4 soundtrack as well. (more…)
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.