Oliver emailed me Sunday afternoon with a link to this video. I had no idea what to expect but was immediately thrilled that he’d finally provided me with a nerd-approved way to justify enjoying a Lady Gaga song.

I first heard about Superpowerless back in March when Oliver won the MTV Fast Track contest and was flown to London to work with Luc Janin, who previously directed promos for Stereophonics, The Fratellis, Boy Kill Boy and Lethal Bizzle, on the video for “Wasted My Time.”

Based in Leeds, England, the live band now includes Oliver Hindle (the curly haired dude/lead), Steve Brunton (the dude in the beard), Tom Hunter, Jaylyn Coffin (who directed the Poker Face video) and Stevey Gilkes.

The first time I played the Superpowerless Lady Gaga cover, I laughed my ass off, but I wanted to make sure I wasn’t missing some deeper meaning to the video. Did the bearded man represent the dark side of Oliver’s personality? Did the lightsaber battle represent a daily struggle? I asked Oliver. Turns out, the only big message they wanted to convey was how much fun it can be when you’re part of Superpowerless, “The beard was a spur of the moment thing,” he said. “We decided to shoot a video… went in to town… had no plans at all and just went shopping to see what we could find that would make an entertaining video… Found the lightsabers and the beard and the rest is history! [laughs]”

The entire video was shot in one day in Leeds. Some scenes didn’t make it to the final cut, like the one where Oliver and Steve managed to lightsaber their way into the cinema and in front of the screen where they battled for an epic 10 seconds before getting kicked out. Sadly, the footage was too dark to make it to the video, so you’ll just have to use your imagination to picture the audience’s reaction to that one.

It seems that, above all, Superpowerless just wants to have fun. Last time I chatted with Oliver, he was in the process of setting it up a PlayStation dance mat to trigger samples from a laptop and he’s getting closer to the finished product, “Tom Hunter took apart a Guitar Hero controller and a really expensive Japanese guitar and then put all of the guitar hero controls in to the real guitar,” Oliver said, “One of his friends has it at the moment to cover it in LED’s which will interact with which buttons are pressed and the music that it makes! Tom’s also got a mohawk which the LED guy has created a headband for which lets Tom fill his mohawk with LEDs which change color along with the guitar…. pretty mental stuff!” Sweeet. I’ve always got mad respect for creatives who come up with fun ideas and actually have enough focus and dedication to make them happen.

You can expect to see more videos from Superpowerless over the next few months. In fact, here’s one that just went live yesterday for one of Oliver’s original songs “Press Start and Jump Around.” Shot by band member Tom Hunter, this is the result of a drunken promise and a £0 budget. “It was filmed entirely in a tiny shed, with us wearing suits in the space of 3 hours. We decided it’d be funny to shoot a video in a shed the night before while drunk and then he couldn’t back out of it so we made him do it the day after. [laughs]“The “Press Start and Jump Around” video features Oliver Hindle, Steve Brunton, Jaylyn Coffin and Tom Hunter (who also directed.)

If you’d like to get your hands on some Superpowerless tracks, you can download them for free from his page on TheSixtyOne.com. If you’re ready make your own Game Boy-fueled adventure-core music, Oliver uses a program called Little Sound DJ for the Game Boy and digital synths to create those retro, video-gamey sounds.

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Matthew C. Applegate, known as Pixelh8 when he’s rocking the chip tunes, just released his third studio album, “And The Revolution.”

Somehow between performing, teaching people how to use his new “SUPER CHIP TUNE SAMBA BAND” app, winning art contests and giving various lectures, Matthew still found enough energy to create a brand new 11-track album.

“And the Revolution” still contains the head-nodding, leg-bouncing sounds we’re used to from “Videogames Ruined My Life” and “The Boy With A Digital Heart,” but there’s also a calm composure in this track list. Whether it’s the haunting orchestral echoes in “You Were Born To Save The World” or a fast-paced dance-worthy track like “IED”, sounds are less about competing with one another and more about coexisting and evolving. This makes sense considering “And The Revolution” was initially intended as a collaborative piece.

“Some of the songs weren’t written from my perspective,” Matthew explains, “The album was meant to feature several special guests, but schedules kinda got in the way, which was fair enough. It just meant I had to revolutionise it.”

In “Out On The Floor”, for instance, Pixelh8 knew he needed vocals, but didn’t have anyone to do it. “I can’t sing a note to save my life,” he laughed, “and I wasn’t about to go all T-Pain, so I vocoded it.” The result? A funkified robot dance party that wins my vote for favorite album track. And even though “Out On The Floor” dabbles in the pop/dance arena, you can rest assured that Pixelh8 will always bend the circuits just enough to add his signature spin. “I purposely did it at 119bpm. Most dance tracks are at 120bpm and I wanted it to be slightly off.”

Those who enjoy the slightly off can purchase “And The Revolution” via iTunes and keep up with the latest Pixelh8 news on his site: www.pixelh8.co.uk

RELATED ARTICLES:
New Pixelh8 Album: The Boy With The Digital Heart»
Interview with Pixelh8 – Chiptune Guru»

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I called GoDaddy to figure out WTF was going on. They told me there was nothing wrong on their end. That WordPress was calling a database and that database didn’t exist. Apparently, it got bored and decided to take off. I have no idea how that could’ve happened and neither did the guy I talked to.

I spent the next hour freaking the hell out that I’d lost every post on my site and would never be able to get things working again. I was trying to get help from the first tech support guy. He said that because I’d installed WordPress manually and not through them, he couldn’t help me. I was about to lose it. I asked the guy if he knew of any good resources online where I could figure out how to fix this mess. The dude actually said “Why don’t you try Google?” REALLY, ASSHOLE?!?! Thanks. I wouldn’t have thought of that. Fucking jerk.

I set up a new WordPress account through my GoDaddy hosting account with the help of another tech support dude named Chad who was NOT an asshole and prevented me from writing the totally nasty “I hate GoDaddy” rant I had totally intended on posting as soon as I got everything switched over to another company. So, thanks Chad. Way to represent your company. I don’t remember the other guy’s name, which is probably good for him, but whoever you were – you should take customer service lessons from Chad. When someone who has supported your company for about 10 years and has purchased around over 50 items from you has a crises, don’t be a jerk. There’s this thing called the internet, and we will tell EVERYONE about it.

Then I called my friend Mike. And through him coaching me on the phone, I was able to retrieve everything except the last two months of posts – which most of you know there weren’t a lot of. He was even helping me find the last two months of posts through cached Google pages, but I’m so worn out that I decided I’m good with losing those. Mike also designed my layout. Mike is a genius. And I love him. I owe you a solid, bro We need to plan our WTFBBQ soon.

SO – I’m back. I lost a few posts, but I regained my sanity, so I think that’s a fair trade.

Now that my heart rate has slowed, I will leave you with this (the song I originally wanted to post over 3 hours ago) and go back to enjoying my night:

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Oliver Hindle is Superpowerless – Winner of the MTV Fast Track Competition [Photo by Alistair Darley]

Back in January, MTV and Vodafone launched Fast Track, a contest designed to find and break a new musical act. Solo artists and bands from all over the world submitted their entries and the polls were opened up to the public. Once the voting stopped, the top 20 entrants were put in front of a panel of 5 judges – industry professionals who spent the next week picking the one act they felt captured the originality, individuality and something special that would really grab people’s attention. The winning track was Wasted My Time by Oliver Hindle – the 20-year-old electro-artist behind Superpowerless.

As part of the Fast Track prize, Oliver and Steve Brunton — Oliver’s live gig partner — re-recorded Wasted My Time with renowned producer and DJ, Andy Chatterley. Andy has been Grammy nominated as part of The Buick Project, and played keyboard and synths on Kanye West’s Graduation album, most notably on the hit single Stronger.

Superpowerless were also sent to London to shoot a music video for the winning track with director Luc Janin, who has previously directed promos for Stereophonics, The Fratellis, Boy Kill Boy and Lethal Bizzle. Oliver found out about his big win through a phone call while riding the bus, “I don’t think the rest of the passengers shared my excitement … I rang nearly everyone in my phone book and had the same conversation over and over until I ran out of credit.”

The video will debut on MTV on the 23rd of March in 29 countries, but you get to see it here early because I love you and MTV was nice enough to let me post it in all of its radtastic glory:

Oliver started off as a drummer in a punk-pop band, learned guitar and played some acoustic sets at college. He was then introduced to electronic music which would influence his musical direction. “After hearing the Postal Service, I started listening to electronic bands like Depeche Mode, Adult, and Motion City Soundtrack. I decided it was something I wanted to have a go at, so I bought a synth off eBay and started putting some songs together.”

Oliver dubs Superpowerless “Game Boy-fueled adventure-core” music, and his winning song Wasted My Time is a perfect example of this catchy electro-pop. As intense as it is, the entire video was shot in one day. “There were weeks of preparation behind it,” said Oliver, “I was amazed at how many people were working on it on the shooting day. It was crazy to think that they were all there to work on something for a song I’d written at home for something fun to do. The most memorable part of the shoot was the guy in the monster costume having a serious conversation with me (while wearing full costume) about what his acting influences were and me trying to keep a straight face [laughs]. I’m really grateful to Vodafone and MTV for everything, it’s been an amazing experience!”

Superpowerless can be seen at live events near Leeds, their hometown, literally tearing it up on stage. At a recent show at Gasworks in Bradford – a metal venue – Oliver and Steve played in true rock star style, “I managed to pull the mixer off of the table we’d put it on during a gig but it was still working so we carried on playing regardless,” Oliver said. “In the same gig I threw my Game Boy at the drum kit and the cartridge and batteries and everything all went off in different directions which was a bit of hassle to sort out ready for the next song, but there’s a picture out there of a Game Boy that survived a bomb, so damaging them is a pretty hard task!”

Superpowerless is not a one-hit wonder. As soon as they got back from shooting Wasted My Time in London, they came back and shot a video for Robots Need Love Too sans fancy director. Oliver gave me the scoop. “Some of my friends are really in to filming silly videos so we thought we’d have a go at doing one ourselves so we could get something online fast. Talked to a few friends and we decided it’d be a good idea to run around the city wearing cardboard boxes. We discuss things like this all the time but then everyone pulls out or forgets and nothing comes of it, but everything went ahead and we managed to get some really good footage! We got an equal amount of abuse from people that don’t like to see other people having fun and also people that were really in to it and thought it was genius. I think this comes across in the video from peoples expressions, I’m really happy with it!

“There’s some scenes that we didn’t manage to fit in, like lots of fight scenes between us robots and the scientist. We ran in to places like Sainburys and just started rugby tackling each other and rolling around wrestling. It was really fun but the footage didn’t work as there were too many people stood in the way of the camera. We got kicked out of Gamestation and a shopping center too. We had no permission to film anywhere but we managed to blag to some council people to let us carry on. Also the bit where we’re dancing, we payed a busker to let us play the track using an iPod through his amp so we could actually dance to the proper track which was fun!”

Superpowerless is currently working on a new album. “I have all the tracks written and rough versions recorded, I’m just in the process of getting them all to the same standard,” Oliver says. “We’re filming another music video to a song I wrote a long time ago called ‘Zombie Survival Plan.’ The idea for the video at the moment is that we’re going to get as many people as possible dressed as zombies in Leeds’ train station. I’m not sure what we’ll do once we’re there … but I imagine it’ll be a decent video!”

Most of Oliver’s free time is spent working on his music. “I don’t really have time to play games anymore, which is pretty depressing!” he says. “To be fair though, I like it this way as you end up having something you created at the end of it and it’s not like dead time. Don’t get me wrong, I love video games!”

So what does Oliver think of music-based video games like the Guitar Hero/Rock Band series? “I think they’re a pretty cool idea and if I had more time and money I’d probably get in to them. To be fair, I’m really bad at them and it’s quite gutting!” But that won’t stop Oliver from tweaking it to work for his shows, “I’m in the process of setting it up so we can use a PlayStation dance mat to trigger samples from a laptop. The same is possible with a Guitar Hero controller, so I might end up finding myself on stage with one [laughs].”

For any of you budding chip tune artists out there, Oliver wanted to share some words of wisdom with you: “Stay away from forums!!! [laughs] Seriously!”

Wasted My Time is available to download from Vodafone Live! on 23rd of March. Superpowerless play The Old Blue Last in Shoreditch, London on the 24th of March.

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Check out the face-off interview featuring me and MMORPG blogger Tobold published yesterday on the Sweet Flag blog. Good times.

READ IT>>

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I recently had a chance to interview Kenn Hoekstra, Producer and Level Designer at Pi Studios, LLC – an independent game developer located in Houston, Texas. These guys have really taken off over the past few years and – according to Kenn – are currently one of the fastest growing independent game developers in the world.

The Game Dame: How did you guys decide on the company name?

Kenn Hoekstra: Pi’s president, Robert Erwin came up with the name. He has an affinity for mathematics and economic theory stemming from working a derivative trading desk for many years. Of particular interest is the Monte Carlo Algorithm Method. If I’m not mistaken, that’s what started it all.

Pi was originally called ‚ÄúPi Ware,‚Äù but the name didn’t stick. One of the partners rescued http://www.pistudios.com from a cyber squatter and the rest is history.

GD: What was your first official release?

KH: Pi’s first commercial work appeared in Call of Duty: United Offensive. The company worked alongside Gray Matter to provide both single and multiplayer content for the game.

GD: What’s your drive or goal in the industry?

KH: Our goal is to grow the studio into three full sized teams that do AAA quality game development for multiple platforms on time and on budget.

GD: Many companies focus on full game development. Do you see yourself in an advantageous niche?

KH: Pi’s focus is on full game development, but we’re always looking for opportunities to build relationships with new publishers. That’s where our contract and firefighting work really paid off. The days of publishers handing startups millions of dollars to develop a AAA original IP are over. If you want to survive and grow, sometimes you have to start small and work your way up.

This business model has worked well for us so far. We’ve gone from about 15 people and one project when I started in 2005 to 90+ people and multiple projects in 2008. Right now we’re one of the fastest growing independent game developers in the world.

GD: What’s your ideal project?

KH: Historically, we’ve come on to projects that were in the middle of development or projects that had shortened development cycles. Neither is optimal. That said, our ideal project would be a AAA console title (original IP) with a two to three year development cycle. Wouldn’t that be nice?

GD: What’s been your biggest challenge?

KH: As I mentioned earlier, we’ve taken on a lot of projects with truncated development schedules. That’s never easy. One of our core philosophies as a company has been to avoid crunch whenever and wherever possible. These shortened dev cycles have sometimes made avoiding crunch difficult, but overall I think we do better than average in that regard.

GD: What’s the best game concept you’ve had that never had a chance to get made? (Ex. A project you were working on that had funding pulled at the last minute or a creative idea that got squashed by “the man”).

Heh… No comment. I don’t want ‚Äúthe man‚Äù getting angry with us.

GD: What should we expect to see from Pi next?

KH: Quake Arena Arcade will be coming to Xbox Live! in 2008 and we have three other unannounced console and PC titles in the works. Keep your eye on PiStudios.com in the coming months. You can expect to see some big announcements soon.

Thanks for your time, Kenn! We’re looking forward to see what’s next from Pi.

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I had a chance to chat with UK musician Matthew Applegate who – in addition to several other bands – performs as Pixelh8, a chiptune-lover’s dream. Pixelh8’s specialty? Serving up fat helpings of totally original beats created from the 8-bit consoles and old-school handhelds we all know and love so well. He’s taken his Franken-bot synths on stage to open for Imogen Heap and just released an amazing new album – Video games ruined my life – now available on iTunes.

GD: How do you define chiptune music?

MA: Chiptune is exactly that. It relies on utilizing the sound chips from computers of yesteryear to make new music. For me, I had to go back and learn how to program the NES, the Gameboy, the Commodore 64, etc. to make them play the notes I wanted. Some people sample other people’s game music but I think that’s really shortsighted and pretty lame. If I get one more kid claiming he wrote the theme to Tetris, I am going to scream.

GD: Describe your music for those who haven’t heard it.

MA: My music is pretty funky. I am heavily influenced by Sly & the Family Stone, Marvin Gaye & Curtis Mayfield, so musically it’s 70’s funk music played on video game machines. It’s got to have that NYHF (Nod Your Head Factor). You have to be able to listen to it, nod your head, and get up and dance. “Kilobyte Rider” on my new album is just like that, I think it’s almost impossible not to dance to.

GD: What inspired you to write your first chiptune song and what system(s) did you use?

MA: That’s a tough question because when I was writing music on the Amiga 500 in 1992, it was just called music. Only in retrospect is it called chiptune. It’ like people calling 70’s music 70’s music. They didn’t call it that in the 70’s. So I think my first chiptune music was around 1992, but as computers got “better” they sounded less like a computer. It was only in 2005 when I decided I wanted that “chiptune” sound again and I’ve stuck with it.

GD: I’ve heard that your live shows are half music/half lecture. How does this work?

MA: Yeah, some bands just go “This is blah blah blah,” play and leave. I’ll give a brief explanation of how I did it and why and my explanations are normally quite funny. It’s good also because I normally have a line of people after a gig waiting to have a go on my crazy instruments and ask questions. I am planning to have the audience involved in some upcoming gigs where they will be given NES control pads to trigger off sound effects. It’s more about people being interested and getting involved than “Yeah I’m a big rock band and you can’t talk to us.” It’s about having fun – not an ego problem.

GD: When you perform as Pixelh8, what do you bring on stage with you?

MA: I have a touch screen monitor that controls the Mac Mini and all my midi stuff, a Gameboy Advance and an original Gameboy as it has better bass on it. In the future I will include other machines and gizmos. I am working on the visuals at the moment and some crazy interactive ideas, I’m sure my insurance will cover it if anyone gets electrocuted. (laughs)

GD: Artists find inspiration in different ways. Some have a favorite setting (in complete darkness with the laptop on the patio). Some have a ritual (gotta have 3 beers and a smoke first). Do you have a favorite spot or ritual for creating your music?

MA: Well first up I don’t drink, smoke or do drugs, but I do eat lots and lots of sweets and drink a lot of fizzy drinks. I have a “sweet box” next to me in the studio so I constantly have an insane sugar rush, and that is the only food allowed in the studio.

As for inspiration, it can come for anywhere. I have a really strange way of looking at music. It’s hard to explain … I see music. I’ll see a shape and that will make me want to recreate it as a drum hit or turn it into a waveform. I’ll read about a famous composer from the 18th century using certain vocal techniques in their music and I’ll want to try it out – but on a NES. I read and study so much music theory you wouldn’t believe it. I go to old bookshops and read about composers like Stravinsky and Schoenberg and try to weave some of their ideas into my music.

GD: In an interview with Plugged, you say you first started playing video games when you were seven and your “neglectful, self-absorbed parents kinda just dumped (you) in front of an Atari 2600‚” So your latest Pixelh8 album title, Video games ruined my life, goes a little deeper than I originally thought. Do you think that disassembling video game consoles was a form of rebellion (Take that, you stupid video game console!) that actually worked out in your favor (Oh wait, it makes a cool sound when I do that!)?

MA: I do love video games, and yeah it seems a little ironic to now say that video games ruined my life. The whole album was meant as a catharsis to my childhood, and I think that it has worked in my favor. Some people understand how to grow plants. Some people can build things. I know how to make computers do funny things and I have a bizarre understanding of vintage video games that I couldn’t have gotten any other way.

GD: Tell me about the GBA Synth cartridge you created.

MA: A lot of fakers were using tracker programs on stage and pretending they were playing live which kind of upset me. I wanted a real time synth to play lead melodies on stage. So I learned C and I learned about PCBs and Gameboys and now I have made my own “Music Tech.” Originally it was for just me, but several people asked me for one, so I am making 100 – most of which are already reserved. There are a few left. You can actually have a goon at it and reserve a copy online. The cost is a mere £20 plus shipping.

GD: What’s your next big project?

MA: At the moment I am programming every old computer and console I can get my hands on to make a “Music Tech” style program so I can use them all as instruments. I have already done the ZX Spectrum – an English computer. You can see all my craziness on YouTube.com. Just search for “pixelh8″ and it’s like my video diary of madness. I am also working on several interactive musical experiences but they are a way off at the moment.

GD: What video games are you into right now?

MA: The last game that absorbed almost a month of my life was Lego Star Wars II, but I managed to escape its tractor beam. I am really interested in the Wii at the moment. It looks a lot more fun to play than other consoles. I’m not really into long, drawn out games. I think I’ll get one of them soon and resist taking it apart.

GD: Any closing remarks/words of wisdom for my readers?

MA: At the moment I am tormenting people with my music just here in the UK but I will be heading over to America in September to play at the Nerdapalooza Festival in California. It’s gonna be good fun. Check out my music on iTunes and add me on MySpace. I am always on there

So there ya have it. Matthew – thanks for a great interview!

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ECA President, Hal Halpin

In order to learn a little more about the history of the ECA and the organization’s future plans, I interviewed Hal Halpin, President of the ECA.

TGD: I read that the ECA was born following an IEMA board of directors meeting. What exactly happened at that meeting?
Hal: We spent the better part of that meeting talking about consumer-centric issues, which gave way to the realization that the industry was extraordinarily well represented, with the International Game Developers Association (IGDA, developers), Entertainment Software Association (ESA, publishers) and Entertainment Merchants Association (EMA, retailers), but the most important group was being neglected, consumers. We formerly ran the retail trade association and I knew that our team could effectively apply a lot of the lessons learned and experience gained over our nine years and organically grow a membership organization. So we set out to partner with every game-centric company out there in order to get our message out. And the response from the trade and gamers alike was overwhelming. It was clear that the time was now.

TGD: Why should gamers join the ECA?
Hal: By joining the ECA, you can make your voice heard while taking advantage of exclusive ECA membership benefits. If you want to help take on the major issues confronting gaming consumers today – anti-gaming legislation, consumer rights, and the like – lending your support to the ECA can make a real difference.

But ECA membership goes beyond our advocacy efforts. The ECA is dedicated to providing a wealth of community and affinity benefits to our members. With membership, you can connect with like-minded gaming fans, explore career and educational opportunities in gaming, and more. ECA membership can also provide discounts on magazines and subscriptions and save you money on purchases at affiliated retailers.

Supporting ECA means not only doing the right thing for gamers everywhere, it lets you save money on gaming purchases while joining a network of passionate interactive entertainment fans.

TGD: Tell me more about the benefits available to ECA members.
Hal: We’re dedicated to providing a wealth of services to our members that truly span the gamut. Web-based modules will aid us in offering: Education (access to financial aid, tuition assistance, scholarships and game-related degree information), Career Center (with job boards, internship opportunities, and resume writing help) and Community (which provides forums, newsletters, polls, and other social networking opportunities). In addition, members receive discounts on game rentals and purchases, access to trade shows and live events. We’re currently working on our next round of benefits which will be much more robust. We can’t discuss them in detail yet, but I can hint at one of the bigger ones that I’m really, personally, very excited about: we’re talking with a portal provider that may be able to give ECA members exclusive access to several different types of insurance. We’re also talking to a leading bank about the possibility of providing our members with an affinity credit card.

It’s truly an all-encompassing organization that’s here to serve them. And frankly, we’re making the value proposition so compelling that it’s difficult to say “no.”

TGD: News stations only run a tiny ticker about the success of the Wii – a console that seems to be revolutionizing the way gamers play – but they’ll spend 20 minutes every hour talking about Britney Spears’ shaved head. I don’t get it. There’s a console in one of every two homes. Why is the media so afraid to report on an industry that’s such a huge part of our society?
Hal: I’m afraid that my personal opinion is going to take over here: sensationalism sells. The mass media and in particular the news media generally is in a fight for the attention of viewers no different than any other medium. News programming has evolved to meet the lowest common denominator as a result. They’ll concentrate on the stories that help them sell ads, and that rarely includes highlighting the upsides of gaming.

A few years ago I did a segment on Dateline NBC in which I represented game retailers and they did their normal spiel. I found myself wondering why they didn’t follow-up that story each year the way they did with most other investigative stories, and came to the conclusion that the retailers had really gotten their act together – as proven by the FTC studies – and there was no longer a sensationalistic angle.

A better question to ask these days is: why have no mass media outlets done stories on game culture, when it has such a profound impact on the American society? Part of the problem, as the IGDA is keenly aware, is that we don’t have movie or rock stars to idolize. The system is built to make the platform and the publisher the star, not the artist.

TGD: What does the ECA hope to accomplish by the end of 2007?
Hal: My personal hopes are to build membership, get the word out about the association and what we’re capable of, and firm up the infrastructure of the org operationally. In the formative years of any new non-profit, those are really the paramount challenges, and we’re no different.

TGD: How many members does the ECA have today?
Hal: I believe we’re around 500 or so, with just about three months worth of advertising under our belt. I’d expect that number to start quickly ramping up over the next few months as the ad campaigns get into full swing and partnerships get our message out. We’ve ramped up to about 10 million ad impressions monthly presently… but advertising is repetition…

TGD: How did you first get involved in the gaming industry?
Hal: I worked for a small chain of video game specialty stores back before the GameStops of the world were around. I then worked for a regional games distributor, which taught me a lot about the business side of gaming. And I leveraged that experience to start a trade magazine, which most in the business remember as GameWeek – essentially like Variety or the Hollywood Reporter, but for games. That begat the IEMA, which gave way to the ECA. (laughs) I wish I could have summarized it that easily before! You’d be surprised how hard it is to explain what I do to non-gamers at cocktail parties and fundraisers!

TGD: What was the first video game that had you hooked?
Hal: At 37, I’m old school. I was a 2600 kid. Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pong… really! I also spent my summers working for a family friend who owned an arcade and carousel on Martha’s Vineyard called the Flying Horses. In exchange for loading the rings into the arm so that riders could try to get the brass ring and win a free ride, we’d get free tokens to play the arcade games. Between the home console during the school year and the free arcade access all summer, I was on an almost pre-determined path.

TGD: What games are you hooked on right now?
Hal: I’ve been playing Mario Kart 64 that we downloaded for the Wii on the virtual console. I also spent some time on Sonic and the Secret Rings for Wii and Sonic for PS3. I checked out the new C&C 3 (for PC), and it looks really addictive… I’m not sure I’ll have enough time to commit.

TGD: What titles are you looking forward to the most for 2007?
Hal: I haven’t gotten a 360 yet, but if it’s gonna happen, it’ll be for Halo 3. The problem for me is that I get totally addicted. My wife lost me for a week when Halo 2 came out!

TGD: Any closing remarks/words of wisdom?
Hal: I’d encourage your readers to check out our website and see what the ECA is all about. For some it’s the advocacy that we do that’s compelling, and for others it’s the membership benefits, discounts and community that make them want to be a part of something. The ECA can and will be a force for change, and getting involved in helping to build an organization that can affect change, in an area in which you’re passionate, is a rare thing.

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When the last shift of winter finally ends and the sun starts showing up for work again, there’s nothing I enjoy more than driving around on a warm afternoon with my windows down listening to good music. This year was different, though. I was sick of all of my music and I needed something new. Enter Norwich-based band: The Lost Levels.

Four electro-indie-pop musicians РXavier (vocals/keyboards), Iain (guitar/vocals), Owen (bass) and Steve (drumkit) Рhave magically combined video games and music into an amazing sound that’s difficult to define. Maybe if Blur and Mario got together around a bonfire one summer night, ate mushrooms, then decided to jam they could come close to this sound Рbut I doubt it would be as good.

Described as “Dark Side of the Moon for the Nintendo generation,” their self-titled EP tells a story of a gamer that starts confusing reality with his pixilated 1up worlds. He begins wondering whether he’s playing the game or the game is playing him. One listen to “The Early Sheets” was all the convincing I needed to buy the EP. That song makes my heart smile every time I hear it.

Recently, The Lost Levels spent time in the studio recording new material with Andy Ramsey from Stereolab and Paul Tipler who has produced Placebo, Idlewild, Moby, Elastica and Julian Cope. Their latest single “Never the First” (available for a listen on their MySpace page) is about a girl who breaks up with her boyfriend via text message because he plays too many video games. Now that’s harsh.

What are you playing right now?
Xavier: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Iain: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Wii)
Owen: World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade (PC)
Steve: Worms Armageddon (PC) and Lego Star Wars (DS)

Are the topics in your next album all video game-themed?
We’re just getting into the writing of the next album and so far the lyrical themes seem to be slightly more conventional than the tracks from the debut computer game EP. We feel that we’ve said everything we wanted to about playing games for now and its time to look for inspiration elsewhere. We will obviously still be using video game sounds in the production of the record as this is a major part of our sound. Xavier has also started composing an overture of the games E.P. songs which may be used on the next release.

We have got a number of other game related things happening including bookings for the Game City Festival and the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival as well as a gig at the Museum Of Computing. We are also going to be featured on a Games Music For All compilation. Since the recent coverage of the E.P. we have also started to talk to game developers about possible commissions as well.

What’s the latest Lost Levels news?
We have recently found out that we are to be a featured band on MySpace which is great news and is a great opportunity. We love MySpace as that’s where we met The Game Dame and loads of other like-minded souls in the game music community.

I love your EP. When and where will we be able to buy your next album?
The next album, when finished, will be available from all the usual mp3 download sites like iTunes as well as the usual stores. We are currently talking with a few UK independent labels about deals so check our myspace page for more info.

Any closing remarks?
Walk into the waterfall, the secret is there…

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