Episode 031: Thought you’d lost me, eh?

Stuff mentioned:

Music played:

  • Dees – Way of The Exploding Fist (BeatronixRMX)
  • Neil Brennan – Fist II – The Legend Continues
  • Hazel – Spellbound (64 Knights And One Round Table)
  • Tomas Danko – Planetary
  • Dafunk – Out of the Dome (instrumental version)
  • Nada – Paperboy

Tunes played on todays show are available for download from Remix.Kwed.Org, and from the HVSC. Commments either right here at the site, by e-mail to C64Takeaway [AT] gmail [DOT] com, or via the Messageboard, or PodcastAlley.com. You can also add your pushpin to the C64 Take-away frappr map or even send me a voice message.

XNA Game Studio Express Public Beta Released

Microsoft today released the public beta of XNA
Game Studio Express, the pioneering technology designed to open up game
development to new audiences, including hobbyists, students and
independent developers, in the hopes of injecting a shot of creativity
into the electronic entertainment industry.

Novice game creators can download the tool today from http://msdn.microsoft.com/xna
to develop games for Windows XP and Windows Vista, at no charge. The
games built on Windows can be migrated to the Xbox 360 console system
starting this holiday season as part of the XNA Creators Club
subscription for $99 a year, or a four-month trial cost of $49, opening
up retail console game development to anyone for the first time.
Since the announcement of XNA Game Studio
Express’ upcoming availability on August 14, the public response has
been overwhelming – more than 100 schools have requested information on
how they can incorporate XNA Game Studio Express into their curricula
and the breakthrough news has generated millions of hits on Internet
search engines.

As one of nearly 20 leading universities
worldwide incorporating XNA Game Studio Express into their curricula,
including Southern Methodist University’s Guildhall and the University
of Southern California’s GamePipe, Microsoft announced additional
support from DigiPen Institute of Technology in Redmond, Washington, a
leader in the field of digital interactive entertainment education.
Through its ProjectFUN software running on XNA Game Studio Express and
summer workshops starting in 2007, DigiPen will bring Xbox 360 console
game development for the first time ever to thousands of children ages
10 through 16.

“XNA Game Studio Express is an incredibly
accessible tool for making games for Microsoft’s game platforms and
will provide our university students with modern tools and console
development experience,” said Claude Comair, founder and chairman of
the board at DigiPen Institute of Technology. “And now with our
ProjectFun for XNA Game Studio Express, we’re eager to extend our
educational offerings on Windows and Xbox 360 to include young
children.”

In conjunction with today’s release of the XNA Game
Studio Express beta, XNA partner GarageGames will begin enrollment for
its Torque X beta program which can be accessed via http://msdn.microsoft.com/xna.
Torque X includes both Torque Game Builder and a version of the Torque
Shader Engine which have both been developed in conjunction with XNA
Game Studio Express, allowing budding game developers to use drag and
drop tools to easily create great games. The final version of Torque X
will be released this holiday.

The final version of XNA Game
Studio Express and the XNA Creators Club for building and distributing
games on the Xbox 360 will launch simultaneously this holiday. XNA Game
Studio Professional will be available in spring 2007.

Source: Xbox-Scene

Sakari September Music Competition

Sakari has officially started its Music Competition for
September. The theme (surprise, surprise) is The Matrix. But it’s not JUST The
Matrix… There is another level to choose from.

The theme this month is most definitely The Matrix, but anyone participating
may choose one of five pre-selected scenes from that movie to write music for.
The scenes for this month are:

1.) Chase scene with Trinity and Agent Smith at the
beginning.

2.)
Scene with Neo waiting under the bridge in the pouring-down rain.

3.)
The “Kung Fu” scene with Neo and Morpheus.

4.)
Scene where Agent Smith is “breaking” Morpheus in the large
building.

5.)
Scene where Neo is killed and then gains his abilities.

Each one has a different difficulty rating and a different
theme behind it. There’s already a bit of a stir in the forums about this
month’s pick; word is that the musicians are excited. I think this is going to
be a very fun month, and there are enough themes to pick from that no one will
be able to say: “I’m no good at writing that type of music”. The
Staff at Sakari are looking forward to a large number of participants this
month.

Also, the submission dates are similar to last month.
Submissions for this contest will only be accepted from September 20th through
September 26th. It’s a bit of a wider window this month, so it should be easier
to remember to get your entry in on time.

If you haven’t seen The Matrix, I’m sure there’s a good
reason: Maybe you were in a coma for the last 7 years, or perhaps you were in a
scientific study in a strictly-confined area. But if you’re reading this, then
there’s no excuse: If you’ve not seen The Matrix yet, you must. Not only is it
a prerequisite for the contest, it’s just a plain ol’ good movie that
everyone should see at least once.

As always, more information is in the Sakari forums. See you
there!

http://www.sakari-infinity.net

Celldweller.com announces Remixing Competition

Klayton and Celldweller have announced a Celldweller Remixing
Competition which will start mid-September. For the uninitiated,
Celldweller is an independant electronic/rock band created as a musical
outlet for the former Circle of Dust frontman Klay Scott (now just
Klayton). Read more for more info.
From remix.celldweller.com:
Prizes for contest winners consist of software packages from Apple’s Logic Pro, Native Instruments and Cakewalk’s
Dimension
Pro and Rapture, Gear Cards from Guitar Center, music accessories,
digital distribution and web hosting via CD Baby, clothing
and accessories from FIXT Clothing and custom engraved Video iPod’s with the entire Celldweller Audio & Video catalog
pre-loaded. Winning mixes will also appear on an upcoming Celldweller Remix CD from FIXT (FixtMusic.Com), Klayton’s new

music/clothing label.

Please visit http://www.remix.celldweller.com to check it out!

OverClocked ReMix celebrates Mix #1500

Today OCReMix celebrates it’s 1500th remix (a djp tune at that), ChipAmp, a new torrent, and various other changes.

“We’re back. After a drought of mixes, a server migration, and months
of headaches and coordination, OCR01500 is upon us, and along with it
quite a few changes, some big, some small, to OverClocked ReMix in
general. Where to begin? About four months ago I was having a rough
time with “big life questions” and what not, and felt like I had
reached a point where I needed to decide where to focus my energy –
where to invest myself, if you will. I’ve always felt like I could
accomplish a lot if I put my mind to it, but I’ve never been 100% sure what
“it” should be, in other words. I looked at what I’d done and what I
felt I could do, and essentially decided that OverClocked ReMix was
still something I could pour my heart and soul into and feel good about.

That decision’s been vindicated by several events since then: we had a wonderful time at Video Games Live in Philly, our Otakon
panel went swimmingly, and we’ve had some generous donations that have
allowed us to migrate to our own dedicated servers for the first time
in the site’s seven-year history. I’m personally proud of what I’ve
been able to do for the site recently, and I’m just as proud of
everything our listeners and staff have done as well. Being on our own
server should give us a good deal more technical flexibility to
experiment with dynamic functionality, and we still plan to migrate our
forums to vbulletin soon, as well. We’re also looking into an
arrangement with eStarland.com to get reliable international shipping of OC ReMix T-shirts, hoodies, and bumper stickers running.”

Read more @ OverClocked ReMix.

Ormgas gets new streams/relays! Sweet!

Ormgas now has a total of five streams instead of the old three! The two new streams are from America and Finland, hosted by member Dracoirs and admin w-ber respectively. Awesome. The streams were also moved to a block on the very right side. Very streamlined now with a very nice aesthete.
That makes a total of three 80kbit
high quality ogg streams (125 slots from these three alone!)
and the original 56kbit (which is basically the same as the 80kbit) and
32kbit streams from admin ravon’s home, Sweden.

Check da shizz out! Ormgas.com! Streaming OCReMixes 24/7!

Sakari Music Competitions

Sakari has had a nice month and already some great entries for this month’s music competition. New names and old names are all in the hat this month!

Hey to all you out there.

I just wanted to let everyone know that Sakari has had more
people submit entries this month for our monthly music competition than we’ve had
in past months. However, this still isn’t a lot.

So, if you’ve got an interest in writing music, then I’d
highly recommend this competition because we’ve gotten some nice entries in the
past, and people that enter usually have a lot of fun. Well, that’s usually
because most of them are so damn competitive… But we’d love to have more
people join next month! Submission dates will be the 20th through
the 26th, and the official theme, rules, options, and prizes will be
announced on Sept. 1st.

I’ll give a small hint: Next month’s theme will have
something to do with The Matrix. And remember, it’s all in the Forums!

Thanks and good luck to all who are currently participating
in this month’s competition, and make sure that you stop by and submit your
entries for next month’s competition!

– Illustrationism

http://www.sakari-infinity.net

Authoritative Chrono spc rips released

After noticing a few errors in the latest SNESMusic rips of Chrono
Trigger and the Prerelease, I decided to undertake my own ripping
project for Chrono fans. Along the way, I discovered a few more errors
that have been a fixture of every rip to date, and also made various
improvements to the soundtracks. This should, in theory, be the last
time you have to download the spc soundtracks for these games. Download
CT here and CTP here. Click “read more” to learn about the changes.
CHRONO TRIGGER

——————————————————————————-
2.) Improvements Over Past Releases
——————————————————————————-

In
past releases of Chrono Trigger spcs, several songs were mishandled and
certain parts were omitted. These have been corrected in this release.

02 Chrono Trigger (part two)

In
past releases, part two starts immediately with the lead melody. In the
game however, part one ends and part two truly begins a second or two
earlier with sweeping strings. The rip is now complete with the
inclusion of this intro.

27 People Who Threw Away the Will to Live

The quirks of the SNES (on and off the actual console) cause an instrument in
this song to randomly assume two higher pitches. These two variants are
included here, the first time they appear in official release.

28a Lavos’s Theme

Prior rippers were not quick enough to capture the cymbals in the intro. They
appear for the first time here.

61 Last Battle

Something within the latest SNESAmp causes the volume of the main synths in
this song to mute considerably after the piece begins. The cause is unknown,
and the track sounds fine within other spc players. Strangely, the rip of this
track included in this archive is somehow tagged or otherwise modified to avoid
the bug. It comes from an old SNESMusic.org rip; their current one suffers from
the volume drop.

~

Certain songs within the current SNESMusic.org rip are not included here. For
the sake of education, they are listed here with reasons.

2-22b Magus’s Castle (With Bats) – The bats are not a normal part of this song,
and appear in Chrono Trigger as a looping sound effect. It is easy to
accidentally include them in the rip if it is done at the entrace to Magus’s
Lair.

se04 Prison Tower (Variant) – This is just Prison Tower, albeit starting at
0:35.

se11 Tsunami, se13 Fall of Mt. Woe – There is no reason to separate these, as
they can be ripped as one track.

se06 Computer Active, se07 Intruder Alarm, se17 Blackbird Crashes,
se22 Ozzie Laughs, se23 Ozzie Falls – These are all sound effects, and are not
found in the game’s music data.

~

You can download both Chrono Trigger’s normal sound effects and battle sound
effects by following this link:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Miscellaneous_(Chrono_Trigger).html

——————————————————————————-
3.) Songs Renamed
——————————————————————————-

A few songs were renamed after a new translation was undertaken.

09 Longing of the Wind was originally Wind Scene.
16 A Prayer to the Travelers was originally A Prayer to the Road That Leads.
29 The Final Day of the World was originally The Day the World Revived.

——————————————————————————-
4.) Imperfect Songs
——————————————————————————-

02 Chrono Trigger

Part one and part two cannot be linked in one file. However, this is possible
with the Chrono Trigger Prelease, as the song did appear as one spc stream in
that game. Please download the CTP archive at

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Music_(CTP)

19 Frog’s Theme

Though not imperfect by the game’s standards, Frog’s Theme can only be found
complete on the OSV.

22a The Hidden Truth

This song cannot be linked in one file with The Hidden Truth – Finale.

48 Singing Mountain

On the OSV, more wind can be heard before the actual song starts.

82b Inside the Shell (Approaching)

If one walks up to the Lavos core, it takes ten seconds for the full
acceleration of the song to occur. Since this effect relies on successive
SongSpeed commands and varies by player path, it cannot be ripped. It was
approximated in this spc set by a SongSpeed command raising “Inside the Shell”
to maximum over roughly ten seconds (a duration of FF in the command).

CHRONO TRIGGER PRE-RELEASE

——————————————————————————-
2.) Differences with the Final Version
——————————————————————————-

002 Longing of the Wind – The bass is absent.
003 Corridors of Time – The arrangement is rough.
004 Rhythm of Wind, Sky, and Earth – Different drum instruments are used.
005 Ruined World – The clanging bells have a high pitch.
009 Zeal Palace – The song’s instrumentation is incomplete.
013 Lavos’s Theme – Among other changes, the bass and ending are different.
016 Manoria Cathedral – The choras is stronger in the mix.
020 Schala’s Theme – The main lead is buried in the mix.
021 Delightful Spekkio – The flute does not fade note to note.
024 Chrono Trigger – This is the full song! In the final game, this song is
stored within one music offset, but the second part can only be triggered
through a certain event command. This precludes ripping it as one song on
the final. Be thankful it was left on the Pre-Release!
031 A Strange Happening – The instrumentation is rough, and the bells are
faded.
035 The Hidden Truth – Instrumentation is different and the intro is longer.
046 Mystery of the Past – The song lasts longer due to an added chorus.
052 Lavos Heartbeat and Grunt – The grunt is absent from the final game.
053 Earthquake – The ambience is different.
057 Lavos’s Theme (Day of Lavos Video) – In the final version, this is stored
with the regular Lavos’s Theme music, and can only be accessed through an
event command. On the Pre-Release, it gets its own song offset.
062 The Brink of Time – The song is clearly pitched higher.

Many other songs are minutely different from their counterparts in the final
game. The volume of some songs on whole or certain instruments varies between
versions, and other subtle details.

It is also worth noting that “045 People Who Threw Away the Will to Live” has
three variations, just as it does in the final version of Chrono Trigger.
The quirks of the SNES (on and off the actual console) cause an instrument in
this song to randomly assume two higher pitches.

~

Certain songs within the current Pre-Release SNESMusic.org rip are not included
here. For the sake of education, they are listed here with reasons.

39b – Confusing Melody (Bats) – There are no bats here. Someone accidentally
ripped them with the song at Magus’s Castle.

se06 Computer Active, se07 Intruder Alarm – These are sound effects, not to be
found within the game’s music data.

se12 Earthquake – There is no Earthquake, just Earthquake (Variant) in the
Prerelease ROM.

~

You can download both Chrono Trigger’s normal sound effects and battle sound
effects by following this link:

http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Miscellaneous_(Chrono_Trigger).html

——————————————————————————-
3.) Songs Not Appearing in the Final Version
——————————————————————————-

Certain songs simply don’t exist in the final version, apparently scrapped
before release.

014 Untitled – The purpose of this song is totally unknown. In the future, the
Compendium plans to ask Yasunori Mitsuda at his site what this was to be used
for. It is possible that a Nobuo Uematsu song replaced it in the final.

040 Tyrano Lair (Unused) – As the name suggests, this was the Tyrano Lair music
before Nobuo Uematsu’s own work replaced it.

068 Battle 1 (Rough Version) – Battle 1 is most certainly in the final game.
However, two alternate, slightly-slower versions exist in the Pre-Release ROM.

069 Battle 1 (Different Instrumentation) – This is the other version.

——————————————————————————-
4.) Imperfect Songs
——————————————————————————-

19 Frog’s Theme

Though not imperfect by the game’s standards, Frog’s Theme can only be found
complete on the OSV.

22a The Hidden Truth

This song cannot be linked in one file with The Hidden Truth – Finale.

48 Singing Mountain

On the OSV, more wind can be heard before the actual song starts.

82b Inside the Shell (Approaching)

This rip is totally complete except for a version of “Lavos Heartbeat and
Grunt” which speeds up. Compare to “Inside the Shell” from Chrono Trigger. If
you recall, as you approach Lavos before the final battle, the song reaches a
fever pitch. Currently, Temporal Flux cannot edit the Pre-Release, so we cannot
replicate this effect with a SongSpeed command in a controlled environment.

VGDJ: Episode #054

This week on the show all about the music and community of OverClocked ReMix:

August
21st, 2006: it has been a dark weekend for OverClocked ReMix… the
forums have been down for 72 hours now, our ReMix rations are running
low, and not a pretzel in sight. There are even whispers among the
forum members about mutiny. However, it’s still smooth sailing at the
U.S.S. VGDJ! The full crew is back on duty for this episode, from
captains zircon and pixietricks to SgtRama, brigadier of the poop deck.
We’ve loaded the cannons with two new ReMix Reviews, and we’re on
course for a voyage through site projects. So dust off your peg leg and
pilfer a parrot: Episode 054 AHOY!
* Note: As of this writing, the
OCR forums have been down for about three days now, so we can’t link to
any threads there. When the forums are restored, we’ll update the
shownotes with all the appropriate links. Sorry!

[00:00] Does djpretzel, in fact, have “it” going on? You decide!

[01:10] Step
aside, pixietricks. zircon’s vocal prowess is not to be ignored.
Anyway! Things have simmered down around these parts, and so we’re back
to our normal audio format. Three cheers for pixietricks for the insane
amount of work she did putting together last week’s show, and a special
thanks to listener Kroze who assisted in encoding it.

[04:37]
We’re considering setting up a donation method due to our continued
influx of new listeners (we may break 1TB in bandwidth this month) …
if you have any suggestions or comments about this, feel free to pop us
an email about it at [email protected] . In the meantime, you can
support us for free by spreading the word through our Cafepress store merchandise.

[06:02] Toss us a vote on podcastalley
as you kick back and enjoy the episode. We’re still rocking the
Music/Radio category, but it’s all thanks to you guys, so keep it up!

[06:43] The Rama Report: News straight from ThaSauce: An Ocarina of Time remix project has been started by Nario and Link12548 of VGmix. Two new arbiters were added to ReMix: ThaSauce, community members EazyP and Cerrax. MagiNinjA has revamped the website for the OrmGas Remix Project. Finally, the joke Duck Hunt remix project “Repercussions of Fowl Lamentation” (RoFL) has been rereleased.

[10:32] It’s the Rama Club theme!

[10:39] ReMix Review: From Super Street Fighter 2 Turbo: ‘I Don’t Fight Boys‘ by Malcos, Red Tailed Fox
… Now, as you may know from previous episodes, we’re not so great at
math here at VGDJ. But we do know this much; two veteran remixers + one
good source tune = slick, jazzy hotness. All right, so it had a
Garageband drumloop in there, but that’s definitely no reason to pass
up on this awesome collab effort.

[13:50] ReMix Review: From Tetris: ‘Thirty-Plus Mix‘ by R3FORGED
… Tetris and techno? Well, it might not be the most shocking
combination around, but newcomer R3FORGED takes the concept and raises
the bar with this badass trance ReMix of the often-overlooked B theme.
The ReMixer himself was kind enough to leave us with his thoughts on
the mix and give us the skinny on how the funk he produces his tunes.

[18:41] The Compo Report: PRC, TOMC, and FLMC.

[20:26] SEGA!

[20:30]
Ah, the not-so-elusive OCR Site Project. Apparently, it’s mating season
for ReMix projects as there are more of them than ever before – at
least ten currently that are well underway. Since it would take a whole
show to go into each and every one, we picked out some of the
highlights. We touched on Project Chaos (Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic
& Knuckles), Summoning of Spirits (Tales of Phantasia, Tales of
Symphonia), Milkyway Wishes (Kirby Superstar), and Children of Edrick
(Dragon Warrior 1-3), all of which are shaping up to be very good.

Projects
that have just gotten started can be tracked at the ReQuests forum – if
you’re interested in participating, this is the stage where you can hop
in. All projects that have significant progress are located in the Site
Projects forum.

[27:33]
lol omg secrets revealed! zircon divulges a few choice details about
the status of the FF7 ReMix project that he has been directing. A VGDJ
exclusive. 😉

[28:20] The Meetup Report:
What a dedicated minihost. DrumUltimA manages to give us a report even
though he’s on vacation! First up on the list of meetups is Shael Riley
Live, which will be on September 21st at Fat Baby in New York City. The
concert is at 9PM, but there will also be a traditional meetup the day
after at Shael’s house. Next is a barbeque hosted by Xerol at his
residence in Timonium, MD on August 25th and 27th. Lastly, OverCoat is
planning two meetups; one at the Penny Arcade Expo in Bellevue, WA on August 25th-27th, and another (a picnic) on September 2nd in Seattle.

[32:08] Russian ReMix Roulette:
After briefly poking fun at the names of various ReMixers, we get right
down to business. pixietricks elects to spit the die this week (as per
the requests of our undying legion of fans), selecting a tune that is
very dear to the both of us; GrayLightning‘s ‘Chasing the Phoenix‘, from Xenogears.

[41:37] zircon and pixietricks yearn for the glory days of OCR, where men were men and ReMix titles were totally awesome. Then, has the tale of McVaffe’s alter egos really been forgotten so quickly? zircon thinks not.

[46:00] Oh LES! You’re our hero. You give us so much, yet ask for so little. <3 [46:27] This is among the things you didn’t ask for. [47:02] OK kids, we think that’s been enough of zircon singing for one show. Since we don’t have a special ep coming up next week (OR DO WE?) we’re gonna take this opportunity to just relax. Anyway, vote for us at podcastalley.com, check out the Cafepress store, and gaze upon our lovely visages at our photo album. Until next week, this has been… vuhguhdihjh.

[49:35] VOICEMAIL: Max & friends, jdproject, DJAnubis, Fragment, Samuel L. Jackson, BlackMage, and Snooper_1989.

[53:57] [stinger]