At the WaveGroup Studio

Are you ready to RAWK?!!? Starting today, the songs produced by WaveGroup for Guitar Hero, Guitar Hero II and Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s, are available for digital download at the iTunes Store.

Working closely with Harmonix Music Systems, WaveGroup arranged, performed and produced enhanced versions of many songs, adding cool guitar solos, interesting guitar flourishes, and custom endings. Dozens of musicians, producers and mixers were involved in the creation of the 97 songs which are all included in The Guitar Hero Recordings:

• The Guitar Hero Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero Recordings Volume II
• The Guitar Hero II Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero II Recordings Volume II
• The Guitar Hero II Recordings Volume III
• The Guitar Hero 80s Recordings Volume I
• The Guitar Hero 80s Recordings Volume II

Here’s the complete song list.

“It was a blast recording these great rock tunes and we wanted to make the Guitar Hero versions available to everyone,” said Will Littlejohn, President/CEO of WaveGroup and Lead Music Producer for the Guitar Hero series, “In addition to experiencing these tracks when playing the games, we’re excited that fans can now load up the in-game renditions on their iPods.”

WaveGroup’s in-demand recordings from Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II have garnered numerous awards including Best Soundtrack at the Spike TV Video Game Awards, Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack from the Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences, and Best Soundtrack at the BAFTA Games Awards.

If you didn’t get a chance to check out the making of video I posted yesterday, go now.

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WaveGroup principal composer Scott Dugdale
gives games a pulse with his musical talents

I had to meet the fam-damily the other night for my Dad’s birthday and, as usual, I was running late. I was already on the freeway before I realized I’d left my iPod charger at home, but it was too late to turn around, so I flipped over to the CD player and hoped for the best. The music was good. Actually, it was really good, but I had no idea what CD it was. Fountains of Wayne maybe? Hmm ‚Ķ I skipped to the first track. That one sounded Avril Lavigne-esque. The next track started like the typical crank-it-up-while-you-cry-into-your-pillow-because-he-didn’t-ask-you-to-
the-dance kind of song. What the heck was this? I ejected the CD to see what it was and suddenly, everything made total sense. It was a CD I’d gotten from WaveGroup’s principal composer Scott Dugdale with the soundtrack he’d written for Brooktown High – a sim game for the PSP. I gotta give Scott props. I didn’t realize there was a CD that could completely embody high school through sound, but apparently, it was in my CD player.

Listening to Scott’s music out of the context of the game made me think how cool it is that video game technology has advanced enough to provide us with so much more than the 4 bar, 8 note loops we heard back in the day. Not that there’s anything wrong with classics like the theme to Super Mario Bros. or the amazing artists it has inspired, but you’ve got to admire the composers like Scott who can create radio play-worthy tracks for our games. These are the people make our gaming experiences more immersive and memorable.

Scott also sent me a disk with the soundtrack for Online Chess Kingdoms – another PSP title. This soundtrack is on the opposite end of the spectrum from the indie-pop, makin’ out in the hall before the bell rings kind of sound he created for Brooktown High. In Chess Kingdoms, tracks vary from glow stick-demanding techno-ish stuff to complex orchestral arrangements that seem unworldly when partnered with the ethereal voice of Sheida Ansari (who can not only sing, but ‚Äì as you can see over there on the left ‚Äì is also really, really, really ridiculously good-looking).

Video game music is consistently getting better. I haven’t met a single person who played God of War 2 who won’t admit (although usually sheepishly) that they sang along to the operatic theme at least once. Now, games are enhanced with music recorded by huge orchestras and choirs instead of being limited to beeps and boops. Is this a trend we should keep our eyes on? I sure think so. Video Games Live founders Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall developed a world-traveling symphonic show honoring an ever-growing list of complex video game scores like those found in World of Warcraft, Halo and Kingdom Hearts – finally validating to so many miseducated non-gamers that video games can be art – not only visually, but musically. That’s important.

And can we talk about video game music without mentioning the awesomeness of the Guitar Hero series? I think not. Scott Dugdale was one of the peeps with WaveGroup who made it possible for us to wail like rock stars in living rooms across America. You can click the image below to take a look at this 6-minute long making of Guitar Hero II RAWKumentary:

So, the next time you pop in a game, take a minute to listen to the way it sounds. Scott, WaveGroup and all the other musically talented folks out there work their butts off to make sure that your games offer a complete sensory experience, and I say they’re doing a fine job of it. Cheers to all the folks who suffered through middle school band nerd jokes and continued your musical education to bring us the amazing scores we have today. I salute you.

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A bit of Scott Dugdale’s history:
Music has always been a part of Scott’s life. His parents actually met in their high school band (aww) and they both became professional musicians. Following suit, Scott began piano lessons at age 7 and drum/percussion instruction at age 8. His first professional gig was at the ripe old age of 10 (YES, TEN) with his dad, and he has been performing and composing ever since. In addition to games, Scott has composed music and themes for film, television, commercials, and documentaries, including scores for The Travel Channel, PBS, Konami, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. and Cisco Systems and is currently the principal composer at WaveGroup. For music samples, make sure you visit Scott on MySpace at: MySpace.com/ScottDugdaleMusic

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I get phone calls so rarely that when my phone does ring, I usually don’t answer it. I always forget what ring tone I have on there, so I end up looking around thinking “GOD! Who’s PHONE IS THAT?!!?” until I realize it’s me. And by that time, whoever was calling is already leaving me a voice mail.

So this morning I decided to fix that. I wanted to find a video game related ring tone, so I got my Google on and came across this site with tons of old school game midi files.

But how can you get the midi file to your phone? I checked out the directions on David’s old school midi collection and found out about Phone Uploader, a program that makes it easy to send photos, midi files and java midlets to your phone.

I just tried it out. It only took about two minutes to get it done and in place and now, the next time I hear the Ms. Pac-Man theme, I’ll know the phone that’s ringing is mine. Want more midi options? Make sure you check out: VGMusic.com. They’ve got a ton of great classics and they’re all high quality. Got more good midi resources? Post them in my comments.

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So last night I finished the Halo 3 campaign. I gotta say … I feel a little gypped. I mean, this is one of the most highly anticipated games of 2007. And was it worth the hype? Not really. Granted, the options offered through Xbox Live are nice. You can play the campaign with multiple friends and that gives the game a whole new feel. But even then, the game is still this: Shoot stuff. Go forward. Shoot more stuff. Cut scene. There aren’t really any puzzles (unless you count trying to figure out where the hell you are as a puzzle) and after awhile, frankly, the game play gets pretty boring. Is anyone with me on this? Or should I expect my tires to be slashed when I leave work today?

In other news, here’s a clever piece talking about Master Chief vs. random opponents. It’s cheesy, but it’s a good 10 minute time killer perfect for this crap-tastic Monday morning. Chekkit.

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Ironically, my Game Dame posts have been sparse this week because I’ve been too busy researching “gaming edutainment” info for a presentation I have to do at work. Simply put, edutainment is where you combine education and entertainment to promote a subject/product/idea. This can be done through all sorts of mediums: music, TV, film and (clearly) video games. Through the research, I’ve found out some interesting stuff. And unless someone can debunk this and tell me about a game released before 1985 it looks like the very first edutainment game was Donkey Kong Jr. Math – a video game where players have to solve math problems to win.

Do you guys and gals remember the Blaster Learning series? I was thinking that came out before 1985, but it was ‘87. Man, I kicked total ass at Math Blaster.

[youtube njOOy4_vWDI]

And I remember a Typing Tutor program I had on the Apple Classic where you had a spaceship at the bottom of the screen and had to type the words (attackers) falling out of the sky before they blew up your planet. I can’t remember what it was called, but it was black and white, totally nerd-tastic and the reason why I can now type close to 100 WPM. Edutainment FTW!

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Yesterday, Eidos Interactive announced a partnership with Playboy and Fox Interactive Media. Their mission? To launch a Cyber Search for the ideal female to join Kane & Lynch in the upcoming game, Dead Men. Want to vote for your favorite girl? Visit KaneAndLynch.ign.com to enter and eventually submit your vote for the top 25 hotties.

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Just read an interesting post titled “7 Life Lessons I Learned Playing Halo” by John Wesley. I especially agree with life lesson #2: “Success Requires Experience.” Earlier this week, one of my Xbox Live friends sent me an invite to join his group for a game. It was the first time I’d ever played any version of Halo through Xbox Live and I got totally and completely annihilated. I had no idea what was going on. People were jumping all over the flipping place. I hadn’t finished the campaign yet, so I wasn’t even familiar with any of the maps. After the first game, I felt the need to apologize for my total lack of skills. It was shameful. After one particularly gruesome round someone said “We thought you just quit and weren’t playing!” I wish that had been true. The group I was with was really tolerant, but I do not recommend jumping in with a bunch of pros for your first online game. You’ll feel like a total idiot. SO… I gotsta get my level of experience up. Then I shall kick much ass.

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I want the U.S. Government to get their sneaky ads away from me and my gamer friends. I’m sick of them trying to create the illusion that joining the Air Force or Army will be a fun game.

Listen up, U.S. Air Force. I see right through you. You’re no David Blaine so quit thinking you’re the ultimate illusionist. You’re not even on par with a kid’s party magician. You’re more like a sweaty uncle that smells like pistachios and wants you to sit on his lap while he does the “I gotcha nose” trick.

STRIKE ONE:
When I was still watching TV, I used to boil when U.S. Air Force commercials would air during Adult Swim. They were specifically designed to make death and destruction look like the coolest RPG ever and they made me sick. Read the rest of this entry »

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Thanks to Daniel Lopez for sending this clip my way. I hadn’t seen this one before. Good stuff:

[youtube VvuCK023rZY]

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The Discovery Channel is running a Halo sweepstakes on their site as a promo for Last One Standing – a show that’s basically Survivor on steroids. Anyway, if you go here, you can check out a Halo short film. It’s all live action. Pretty sweet. I guess this is what Halo the movie would look like. (Thanks to SFCG from WeBeGeeky.com for the tip).

UPDATE 10/07 Turns out the Halo movie IS being made. The clip on the Discovery site and the two below are from our very own Peter “One ring to rule them all…” Jackson.

[youtube DpSO2slpLGc]
[youtube 7nJYrTo4eL4]

(Thanks to Travis Hughes for the info)

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