In an effort to push myself back toward making a game in RPG Maker VX, I had the brilliant idea of concocting a sound pack full of 8-bit-styled sound effects, once I spent a few more hours toying around with FamiTracker. I also tried converting a tune into OGG format, and while it plays fine, a small but significant bit of the song is cut off during the conversion process (I had used FamiTracker to convert the song into a WAV file, and then Audacity to change that WAV file into an OGG file; I think part of it got cut off during the first step). The idea was to create a complete soundtrack in this style, but as long as that issue stands, it doesn’t look like my experiment will work. Having just the old-timey sound effects juxtaposed with the more modern-sounding MIDIs is quite jarring, so if I can’t have both pieces (music and sound effects) sound the same, then I won’t use either in my game. I may decide to release a sound effect pack on the site once I get some more done, so stay tuned!

Filed under: Music, Video Games by WillyFourEyes
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WarioWare D.I.Y. is coming out on the Nintendo DS this weekend. While there are much fewer packed-in microgames this time as opposed to previous iterations (D.I.Y. has about 90 compared to Smooth Moves’ 180), the hook in this version is that you get to design your own. When I get my copy, I plan to make something involving Kirby (that is, if 9-Volt doesn’t beat me to it).

Filed under: Anime/Manga, Music, Video Games by WillyFourEyes
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Listening to 8-bit versions of modern video game tunes on YouTube inspired me to attempt to make one of my own. I once tried out using a MOD tracker program, but it didn’t sound authentic enough (too many sound channels, for one). That’s when I stumbled upon FamiTracker, and after a few hours of experimenting with the program, I came up with this: a song from the video game Makai Kingdom: Chronicles of the Sacred Tome, which has one of my favorite soundtracks out of any game Nippon Ichi has done so far. I’m quite satisfied with how it turned out…it kinda reminds me of something I heard in Gargoyle’s Quest II.

Filed under: Computers, Music, Video Games by WillyFourEyes
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* So, three days after losing Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, we’ve learned that infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died in his home today. I doubt this is going to get half the media coverage that Jackson’s death has (and likely will have for the next few days), but when my brother told me about it, he was in shock.
* At the flea market in Upper Darby today, I managed to score both parts of Kill Bill, the first eight episodes of Cyborg 009 (an anime series about a multinational team of cyborg that reminds me a bit of Astro Boy), and a few PlayStation 2 games, including Silent Hill 3 and Primal (the latter seems to be pretty cutscene-heavy in the first part of the game…I’ll see how that pans out as I play it). I wasn’t able to get any super-duper bargains this time around, but I’ll take what I can get.

Filed under: Anime/Manga, Music, Shopping, Video Games by WillyFourEyes
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Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson all died within 48 hours of each other (TMZ reports that Jackson died in a hospital today moments after suffering a heart attack).

There really isn’t a lot that can be said right now.

Filed under: Music, Television by WillyFourEyes
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