Archive for October, 2008
Festival of Freeness I
Posted by admin on Thursday, October 30th, 2008
This is your brain on shopping.
We Americans tend to view shopping as a birthright even though it’s more like an addiction. Still, tough times and looming holidays offer an excellent incentive to bend one of our most cherished habits–if not break it–while the growing profusion of online resources has the power to take the sting out of spending less on ourselves. The links below lead to five exemplary tools and territories. Explore, enjoy, and take comfort in the knowledge that by the time you get through them, at least twice as many new ones will be ready and waiting.
Posted in General Media, Multimedia | No Comments »
GameStop’s Inverted Perks
Posted by admin on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008
GameStop, would bug me even minus the CEO’s wishful thinking on the future of brick-and-mortar. But the retail behemoth sometimes sucks me in regardless, thanks to its knack for sweeterning deals with unique perks. The pre-order bonus, for instance. Getting a free hot pocket-red headband, emblazoned with the words “Street Fighter IV” just for preordering a title months in advance can dazzle all but the most astute gamer. For anybody with sufficient otaku, these “one-time only” opportunities read like merit badges and/or stock certificates. A plush version of Country Crock vat mascot Mashy might boost preorders of a tater-related game by thousands, whether the title played like Grand Theft Auto or a Burger King advergames.
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Posted in Gaming, Industry, Multimedia | No Comments »
Obama: Beyond Recognition at First Amendment
Posted by admin on Friday, October 24th, 2008
Live music graphics have never been better, especially in Minneapolis; where the likes of Aesthetic Apparatus and Amy Jo Hendrickson crank out remarkable show posters with stunning regularity. But the biggest, bestest, and most prolific design house of all is the mighty Burlesque of North America. The Northeast-based printing powerhouse’s principles have been deploying their promotional clout in a different arena as of late, gracing local storefronts with newly minted Obama posters by the likes of the likes of David Choe, Ron English, Datefarmers, MunkOne, Sam Flores, Morning Breath, Cody Hudson, and Burlesque’s own Wes Winship. For an extended glimpse of what nobody’s campaign will ever show, check out the Obama test print exhibition at the Burlesque-owned First Amendment Gallery, opening Saturday, October 25 at 7:00 p.m. and closing exactly one month later.
Posted in Art and Culture, Multimedia, Politics | No Comments »
A Five Dollar Vader
Posted by admin on Wednesday, October 22nd, 2008
“When taking a spin down Downloadable Content Boulevard, one must always be prepared,” says my Cuban, Tom Selleck-looking guide as he inserts a Wikipedia-filled clip into his Metacritic 9mm. “Information is power,” he adds. The hombre’s serious, so like any good boy I tighten my ragged seat belt an extra inch, hoping lost circulation yields increased personal safety. “We’ve gone from yellow to blue!” chimes the mini homeland security agent implanted in the Bush-era part of my psyche.
Posted in Gaming, Industry, Multimedia | No Comments »
Mature Games? We First Need Mature Gamers.
Posted by admin on Tuesday, October 21st, 2008
Suckers, USA: still associating this image with the real Barack Obama?
“So what if Obama were a Muslim or an Arab?” asks CNN anchor Campbell Brown in a blog-ish article on the site’s frontpage. She’s responding to a question posed to senator McCain at a Q & A session in Minnesota where a wary bumpkin (I’m being nice) declared “I don’t trust Obama. I have read about him and he’s an Arab.” Brown’s also responding to the surprising (not really when you think about it) number of videos popping up on YouTube highlighting this oh-so-American behavior.
Posted in Gaming, Multimedia | No Comments »
Small Fish Meet Big Slope: Hands-on With Destineer’s Stoked
Posted by admin on Friday, October 17th, 2008
It would’ve been hard for Plymouth, MN-based Destineer Studios to have chosen a better song than Atmosphere’s “Smart Went Crazy.” for upcoming snowboarding game Stoked. Minneapolitan hip-hop phenom Sean Daley’s elegantly shambolic runination on fame perfectly matches the developer and publisher’s do-it-yourself, anti-anybody’s-establishment stance.
Posted in Gaming, Multimedia | No Comments »
Debt and Consequences in Fable 2
Posted by admin on Tuesday, October 14th, 2008
I’m almost out of debt. Well, not me, exactly; my virtual character in Fable 2. The poor guy, or gal, doesn’t even exist yet (the game doesn’t come out until October 21) but he or she already owes more money than the average American college graduate.
While taking a gander at the debt I’ve accumulated, designer Peter Molyneux can’t help but chortle.
Posted in Gaming, Industry, Multimedia | No Comments »
Empire Strikes Out, Thomas Strolls…for Now
Posted by Rod Smith on Monday, October 13th, 2008
A few years ago, it was “terrorism.”
In a brilliant display of American jurisprudence, U.S. District Court Judge Michael Davis dismissed on September 24 last year’s “guilty” verdict (and the accompanying $222,000.00–$9,250 for each of 24 tracks–fine) against Minnesota mom and alleged illegal file-sharer Jammie Thomas. Better still, Judge Davis’s mistrial declaration calls into question the legal foundation of the RIAA’s extortion racket (30,000-plus lawsuits and counting) and urges Congress to change the laws that make such a mockery of America’s legal system possible.
Posted in Multimedia, Technology | No Comments »
Five More Enlightening Videos on Videogame music and Sound Design
Posted by Kyle Stallock on Sunday, October 12th, 2008
Developer: Red Fly Studio
Genre: Action Adventure/Platform
The Red Fly crew created Mushroom Men’s music by enriching the soundtrack of early Jim Henson film Time Piece with Les Claypool’s enhancements and a decidedly, dub approach, and putting the results into the perspective of a two-inch mushroom. Lead sound designer Matt Piersall claims he’s “never been able to multitask,” but given the complexity of the game’s score, he’s probably lying.
Developer: Bungie
Genre: First-Person Shooter
On October 10, at the 24th Annual Technical Excellence & Creativity Awards, Halo 3 won top honors for Interactive Sound Production. In the video below, audio director/composer Martin O’Donnel explains a part of his creative process and gives us an inside look at scoring interactive audio for videogames.
Developer: Lionhead Studios
Genre: Action RPG
Russel Shaw’s been composing audio for games for almost as long as Peter Molyneux’s been designing them. His latest for Fable 2, performed by the Slovak National Symphony Orchestra in Bratislava, looks to be some of his best yet. Not content with only composing the music, Shaw designed a sound effect system that allowed them to paint sounds into the environments. “How many” you ask? Approximately 9,000?
Developer: Crystal Dynamics
Genre: Action-Adventure/Platform
“Being a composer in the games industry is a very delicate task because on one hand you gotta bring experience from the movie medium, and integrate a lot of experience with that, but you also gotta understand how the game operates,” says composer Troels Folmann. Since Anniversary is a remake of a classic title, Folmann and company had to “stay faithful to the original but still evolve it.”
Developer: Spark Unlimited
Genre: First-Person Shooter
When composing the music for Legendary, sound producer Jack Brillo and his team decided to deviate from the traditional symphonic scoring. Seeing similiarities between the plot of the game and storytelling of heavy metal music of the 70s and 80s, Brillo recorded aggressively retro, rock-based tracks…leaving us wondering what the game would sound like had they chosen to draw inspiration from a bad Zappa album.
Posted in Gaming, Multimedia, Music | No Comments »
From the Twin Cities Marathon
Posted by admin on Saturday, October 11th, 2008
On Sunday, October 5th, IPR representatives crawled out of bed to set up in the Twin Cities Marathon post race party tent before the crack of dawn. It was a wet morning and many supporting organizations were making preparations for the thousands of runners soon to cross the finish line. Marquay Belcher, a recent IPR graduate would provide DJ services all day. Rebecca Buller, Dean of Students, provided logistical support. Norbert Kreuzer, Career Services Director, ran the 10 mile portion of the race and met us in the tent. Our participation was rewarding and fun. It’s true what they say about volunteering. IPR got so much more than we gave. We look forward to future opportunities.
Response from TC Marathon contact:
Rebecca,
Thank You so much! I heard so many great comments from runners and spectators with the performance. The choice of music was perfect for the party tent. We will contact you next spring/early summer regarding entertainment for next year’s event on October 4th 2009.
Thank You Again,
Kris Luneau, 27th Mile Chair
Posted in Newswire, Newswire Events | No Comments »
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