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  IAM8BIT Records to release Ori and The Blind Forest on Vinyl LP

  April 30, 2016 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on IAM8BIT Records to release Ori and The Blind Forest on Vinyl LP Share this IAM8BIT Records to release Ori and The Blind Forest on Vinyl LP

  

  On April 27, 2016  composer Gareth Coker tweeted that he was going to soon announce something related to Ori and The Blind Forest’s music, I hoped it would be a physical soundtrack release and iam8bit Records posted details of the release on their website. You can read my full review of the soundtrack here if you missed it, and also check out details of the digital release of the soundtrack to Ori and The Blind Forest: The Definitive Edition.

  The soundtrack to Ori and the Blind Forest swept the awards circuit this past year, with good reason. This game has it all: A charming story of friendship, breathtaking visuals that feel like living painting, and a score as lovely as it is emotionally moving. So it’s no surprise that composer Gareth Coker’s carefully crafted masterpiece is a sensory treat when emanating from a turntable – soothing, fantastical and, at times, strikingly sentimental.

  Coupled with artist Aya Kakeda’s hand-painted jacket art, not only is the cuteness, charm and allure of Ori and the Blind Forest preserved, its mythology expands, tantalizing in its detailed and soulful brushwork. As with all new iam8bit vinyl releases, the audio is mastered specifically for optimal vinyl audio quality. ***Please note that you may experience additional surface noise with glow-in-the-dark vinyl. For the best audio quality, select the blue/purple edition.

  iam8bit

  The album is available for pre-orders at iam8bit’s website for $35.00 and will start shipping in Q3 2016. Will you be adding this to your vinyl LP collection?

   

• Game Music, Reviews

  Sweepingly Beautiful and Engrossing: Ori and The Blind Forest Original Soundtrack (Review)

  March 18, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | 1 Comment Share this Sweepingly Beautiful and Engrossing: Ori and The Blind Forest Original Soundtrack (Review)

  

  The soundtrack to Ori and the Blind Forest is breathtaking and wonderfully crafted. The music was composed by Gareth Coker and performed by the Nashville Music Scoring Orchestra, with additional soloists. I have been listening to it for the past week and can’t seem get enough of it. The game designers describe the game as a Metroidvania-style platformer, and that they were heavily influenced by the works of Studio Ghibli/Hayao Miyazaki, and films like The Lion King and The Iron Giant.

  Below, you’ll hear the music from the trailer for the game. The soundtrack consists of 32 solid tracks and has a playtime of 88:51. In this review I will highlight my thoughts on what makes this score special, if any musical elements of the designer’s influences show up in the score,  and why its worth your listening time.

  (more…)

• Featured, Game Music, Reviews

  Spacial Soundcraft: Astroman OST (Review)

  June 7, 2012 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Spacial Soundcraft: Astroman OST (Review) Share this Spacial Soundcraft: Astroman OST (Review)

  

  Back in the hay-day of video gaming, there was a genre of game that was coined the “platformer” — in reality a 2D game where your main objective is traversing over the screen and through levels that consisted of many obstacles; most of which were platforms and the like. It was a popular type of game through the 90s that, within the past few years, has really been making a comeback in grand retro-style. Downloadable games seem to be leading the charge recently, with games like Braid and ‘Splosion Man becoming hits in their own right, enticing players with oldschool finger-twitching gameplay.

  One of the more overlooked games for the Xbox Live Indie Arcade was a release earlier this year titled Astroman: a platform side-scrolling game featuring an adorable little spaceman romping through the solar system trying to repair his ship as he blasts aliens to bits as he goes. It’s a short, cute game that goes for about $3 on XBLA. However, what really shines about the game isn’t it’s nostalgic gameplay, but rather the music, which has gotten some well-deserved attention due to the recent release of the Indie Game Music Bundle 3.

  A short but sweet original soundtrack crafted by composer Jeff Ball, known for his composition and violin work on games such Mass Effect 3 and Monkey Island 2: Special Edition, he has delivered some fantastic work for the little indie title and really makes the game shine. Journey with us into the star-stricken foray of music that is the Astroman Original Soundtrack. (more…)

• Game Music

  Protect Me, Game Composer! Yuzo Koshiro’s New Retro RPG Revealed

  April 13, 2010 | Joshua Kopstein | 3 Comments Share this Protect Me, Game Composer! Yuzo Koshiro’s New Retro RPG Revealed

  

  It’s only been one week since we’ve heard from game composer Yuzo Koshiro (Actraiser, Streets of Rage, Etrian Odyssey), and even in that brief time, it’s become quite clear that he’s not content with resting on his haunches. Koshiro, along with his studio, Ancient Corp, is now shedding light on a brand new game project called Mamotte Knight (Protect Me Knight), a retro-style RPG that’s headed to Xbox Live’s Indie Games catalog.

  Protect Me Knight will feature 4-player co-op RPG action/tower defense gameplay with 8bit-style audio and graphics, an aesthetic that’s becoming increasingly popular among game designers these days. The game is scheduled to release later this Spring, but if you have XNA 3.1 installed on your PC, you can try it out by downloading the Japanese demo from the game’s official site. There’s also a trailer and some screenshots available too.

  [via GameSetWatch]

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