Portal 2: Another kind of rabbit hole

Brilliant!

Suffice to say that’s the exact word that I would use for one of the rare sequels that didn’t make me regret buying.

Back in 2005 an amazing little game originally made by DigiPen students came into light. Their original creation called Narbacular Drop saw the team hired by Valve. Thus Portal was born. Presentation was the key to the original and it still is with its polished puzzles, dual portal system and well scripted story of a passive-aggressive computer whose only love in life is using you for science.

Now Portal 2 has finally graced our consoles and the PC. The first thing I noticed to my elated surprise is in my PS3 copy has a code that gives me a PC copy which can also share my saved game between the two thanks to the Cloud system via Steam. Well, as long as the Playstation Network is running at the time anyways. Second thing I noticed is your character waking up back in the Aperture Science Lab. *STORY SPOILER* Now didn’t I escape from it in the first one? *END* Which is what I would think if I didn’t see the free webcomic Valve released which explained a few things and set the story a bit for the sequel. You can find the comic here:
http://media.steampowered.com/apps/portal2/comic/Portal2_Lab_Rat.pdf

Now Portal 2 hasn’t really brought anything really new to the table. Same kind of puzzles, get from here to there, bring cube to button, avoid turrets, get ridiculed by the AI as it tries to kill you. Adding new elements like the various propulsion gels, launch pads and laser direction cubes keeps things fresh. Though I must admit, I am slightly dismayed at the puzzles. When you stop to think about how you solved it, it is very simple, like /facepalm simple. The real challenge is how the game trains your mind to think in certain ways so you don’t see the answer right away. You then forget the basic tricks the game teaches you abd instead your mind looks for a more complicated way to solve it.



What really set things apart and kept my mood high was the story development and the scenery. Valve’s graphic engine and the atmosphere are amazing as always as you really do feel “alone” in the larger than thought Aperture buildings. It starts off with our silent protagonist, Chell, who recently woke up from a long sleep, though there’s no idea of what year it is. Her environment which is normally pristine is now in shambles with no clue as to why. Thankfully a chatty and happy-go-lucky British bot named Wheatly (apropos no?) “helps” you out and tries to find a way out. Though honestly any Portal fan knows the best part is when GlaDos comes in and, my god, does she deliver the sarcasm in spades. *clap clap clap* Many questions are answered in this sequel as you progress and discovery the true story of what happened behind the scenes and what this science company is all about. That should satisfy many curious gamers who were left with a cliff-hanger and many unanswered questions from the first game.



Gone are the extra levels and time trials from the first game. Yet happily it is replaced with a co-op mode where you and a friend next to you or online can solve unique puzzles together much to GlaDos’ amusement. Quick button markers and set gestures help you communicate with each other and helps things from getting frustrating, especially if your online companion chooses not to use a mic.



Overall this is a must buy and if you’ve never played the first then I highly suggest getting both to appreciate the full offering that is Portal. The graphics are amazing, story and text is well done, lots of humour to be found from the random signs, environment and the script. The fun and challenging puzzles will keep you busy. On top of all, by no means is the game as short as the first one is. My only gripe, if any, is the lack of more sophisticated puzzles, special challenges and a "create a puzzle" function. That would amp the replay value through the roof as the fans of the series would jump on it like a companion cube on cake.



I’d give this game a 9.5/10

Dynasty Warriors 7: KOEI's 7th iteration of a "diverse" dynasty

Dynasty is definitely the best word to describe KOEI's and Omega Force's long running hack and slash series that dates back to 1997.  Little known fact about Dynasty Warriors 1 is it was a one-on-one fighting game similar to Tekken. Only in the second version which was the first in North America did they change it to the 3rd-person rts hack and slash that we?ve known throughout the years and I use the term rts loosely. 

The newest version boasts many new improvements, such as the graphics that are now crisper, the cutscenes are amazing to look at, the attacks more fluid and eye catching, more characters can be loaded upon the screen at the same time without disappearing and proper pronunciation of the characters names. 

One of them that I`ve been enjoying the most is the new weapon and skill aka seal system where each character are not limited to one but two that can be switched during battle (which was features in DW: Strikeforce) and exchanged for other ones if you`re not liking them, which is great except that each characters are proficient with a handful of the 10 types of weapons on a 1 to 3 star rating. Each weapon also contains a seal for you to unlock by defeating numerous enemies that can later be equipped upon each weapon you hold, for example: Attack +, Defence +, Movement speed, Officer Assasin which raises atk and def against officers and Seal Master which helps you unlock other seals faster. Basically it replaces the item equipping you`ve had in previous versions. Each character as well has their own skill set that you can unlock by spending skill points that you collect from defeating enemy officers.

Story wise they`ve changed little, Story Mode allows you to choose one of the four sides of Wu, Wei, Shu and the new Jin which is led by the cunning Sima Yi who`s well known as Wei`s famous strategist. Once you pick a kingdom you go through the clan`s entire story from one character to the next and back depending on which battle you`re in so you get the chance to unlock all of the related characters along with keeping the repetition low compared to DW 5 where you play one character`s story at a time where you ended up playing the same battles over and over again. This also keeps the storyline prevalent as you`ll not play characters that historically didn`t appear in certain battles.

Lu Bu: The Chuck Norris of the Chinese dynasty

Once after playing through a dynasty or two you can jump into Conquest mode where you select only one character and go on a rampage throughout China by unlocking stages on a hex grid which is great for those who wish to unlock everything and for the hardcore players who want to gain extra stats and weapons to grow their favourite characters that will help them endure hard and chaos mode which is the best way to do so as the gap between normal and hard can be astronomical in difficulty. You can also participate in various quests, buy new mounts which every character has one that can be summoned at any time by pressing a single button which makes things much easier compared to previous version, grow bonds between other DW characters and answer historical Romance of the Three Kingdoms questions which the game is based upon.

Overall the game is great but not amazing and nothing really new to the series. Despite some terrible English voice acting and the removal of the optional Chinese voices, the repetition is thankfully low, the maps and character designs were re-done so you won`t feel like you`ve seen it all yet remain familiar and the conquest mode will keep the replay high enough for fans of the series to keep going and unlock the higher end weapons and for the challenge. For newcomers be warned, it is a button masher, you may not know the series and the history behind it but it is fun, fairly easy to get into and if you`re looking for an excuse to cut down thousands of enemies per battle then this is your game but I`d suggest two things, try Dynasty Warriors 5 first on the PS2 as it was one of the best in my opinion and for god?s sake, stay AWAY from Lu Bu until you`re ready, he is a badass for a reason, who else rides a fire horse (besides Guan Yu who`s also a badass, just look at that beard) and lives?

*side notes: For those who don`t want to read the long Romance of the Three Kingdoms book can also check out the turn-based strategy game of the same name that`s been out for years and also the movie Red Cliff to get info and your fix on Chinese history.

Dragon 2 or 1.5? The aftermath of Denerim and the path Bioware chose to make Disappointed? Yes/No/Stab in the throat!

*Be warned, potential spoilers*

I've been meaning to write about this game for the past week and words fail to come to me as to how I can express and explain what this game is. Suffice to say that I am pleased in some aspects and confused in others. so let's work at this one at a time.

The Dragon Age sequel has definitely improved in the visual category, so much that I had to reduce most of the graphic settings on my computer in order to run it more smoothly and my Inte i5 CPU 650@3.20GHz, ATI Radeon HD 5450 and 6 Gigs of ram is decent enough to run any game at a high setting. 

Bioware has always been a favourite of mine, crafting amazing worlds, creating characters you grow attached to and writing amazing scripts and stories. One cannot deny they've done much in the realm of rpgs. Suffice to say that I was a little shocked at what was to be found when playing the game.

Now mind you I have yet to finish the game, to be honest I have a hard time wanting to play more as the game feels diminished, gone is the big arching story line that got me absorbed in DA:Origins, now I find myself grinding dozens of side quests in order to get enough money in order to move on. Same with the environment, yes the city of Kirkwall is large, especially with its numerous wards that you can visit during the day and night along with the handful of areas outside of the city but it all feels too constricted and limiting with its set paths.

The characters in the game have been great I do admit, who knew a dwarf with a shaven beard can be so cool? The friend/rival system which allows your companions to gain different bonuses depending on how they see you is a great aspect but the now limited equipment they can use really shows a part of how they've stripped the game as a whole. Especially when throughout my adventures I find a many great items to use yet most are restricted to Hawke who will never use most of them when they do not fit their chosen class. You can still further develop and learn more from your new allies but they have taken away the camp/hq style forcing you to visit each character in their place of domicile that are scattered throughout the city which I find slightly irritating, especially when one wants to progress with various companions at once. At least the banter between teammates is still as amusing and unique as ever.

The list of things I enjoy in the game are few and far in between. The menu has changed a little. No more can you see all of the downloadable content you’ve acquired from the main menu as was prior even though you have an option for it. These little nuances keep building up though perhaps I am nitpicking too much. It is noteworthy that you may upload the story of your previous DA:Origins hero so you may hear about them in this version, along with a few familiar faces such as Flemmeth, Bodahn and Sandal (Enchantment!) and some new class trees you can explore in.

I find there is little to not enough in this time to consider it worthy of the title of a sequel, perhaps a larger expansion, a Dragon Age 1.5 if you will but overall not what I was expecting from such a well-established and veteran company such as Bioware.

How to not perish at PaxEast (or any other con) and live to tell the tale! My first ever big convention and trip to Boston!

Wow...that's how I would describe PaxEast. That’s it and thanks for reading!

Kidding aside, I had the most amazing time over at the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center where Penny Arcade was hosting their 2nd annual PaxEast and I admit, I was a total fanboy when I was there. Yes, as an aspiring writer I could've been more productive and professional by talking with various big name and indie developers asking them all sorts of questions about their products but as this was my first time outside of Canada and at my first major video game convention I wanted to just enjoy it, and enjoy it I did. It's quite funny how one can wish they could spend more time there and wanting to go back home at the same time because by the end of the 3-day event I felt lethargic, sore and sleep-deprived, I never felt closer to a real zombie in my life, especially since I spent most of the week-end with a Plants vs Zombie cone on my head.

Now I'm going to "try" and summarize my experience, but be warned, it will be extensive. Skip below if you want to read about specific games:

As Dimitri Martin once said, location location location, and PaxEast picked a great spot as the convention center is attached to the Westin hotel, which by the way was a great hotel that had all of the amenities a convention goer needed: a working warm shower, a really big comfy bed and a coffee shop (Starbuck’s) in the main lobby. It was also attached to the convention center so we never needed to dress warmly as we walked to and from our hotel room.

The convention center itself had three floors; level 0 was the main floor where the exhibit hall was. It housed all of the game developers, from the well-known Rockstar, Ubisoft, 2K, Valve, Bethesda, EA and Turbine who all came out in force, to indie groups like Torn Banner Studios (Chivalry), SBRN Games (Ash), HalfBrick (Raskulls) and The Tap Lab (TapCity). A few game development schools like Becker College were also there to recruit future students along with various hardware companies like NVidia, Alienware, Logitech, Kingston and Asus, There were also a few video/card/board game and clothing vendors. Honestly there are many, many more but I’m too lazy to list all 118 companies, and I’m sure you could find a complete listing elsewhere I’ll give you my most memorable ones below.

Also on level 0 was the massive tabletop room, where after they close the main hall for the evening, you could go and relax with the fellow board and card game geeks while trying out new and old games until 2am. This is one of the features of PaxEast that impressed me. Various attendees volunteered their time to show and teach people games they’ve never tried, especially for D&D 4th edition where many tables were setup and dice were rolled to teach first time players. This is where I tried Ascension, a derivative of Dominion, for the first time. The people were friendly and anyone who walked by could join in or just watch the game be played. Another section had a free play area where tables of donated board games sat waiting to be picked up and played once you registered it with the Pax volunteers aka Enforcers. Various times random people were looking for others to join in on a game, they even had an LCD panel with a Looking For Group twitter board so people could organize themselves. I even had a chance to play a game of Munchkin Zombies with a couple who’ve never played Munchkin games so myself and my friends happily showed them and we had a good time beating each other up. I also had the chance to play Dominion for the first time  (funny note, we had to rock/paper/scissor with two other people for it when we found it) which all of us agreed was a must buy as it was fun and fairly easy to learn, sadly only the expansions could be found for sale anywhere. Many tournaments of Magic, Pokemon, Settlers and WoW TCG were had in this hall as well. There were also more board and card game who gladly sold me the board game Smallworld.

Once you’ve battled your way through level 0, level 1 contained a more relaxed area where various meeting rooms were converted to free play areas (minus the Cat Theatre where some of the panels were held). You could sign up to play modern consoles (lots of Marvel vs Capcom 3 was being played), PC and Bring Your Own PC (for those who reserved a spot) There was also a room dedicated to console tournaments, a handheld lounge where all the Pokemon trainers hung out on comfy beanbag chairs, and designated Dance Central and Rockband areas. What was best is that none of these required any extra money to be spent as it was all included with your event pass.

After defeating the console boss you move onto level 2 where the more aspiring and professional attendees went as it contained most of the rooms where the panels were held, aptly named Manticore, Wyvern, Naga and the IDGA Dev center and Reckoning lounge. Sadly I only attended two panels, State of the Industry: What are your career options? and Snagging the Marketing or Writing Job of Your Dreams. I found out that you either have to be really dedicated to what you want to see and show up early to wait in line as space was limited or roam around to see everything else on the main floor. More often than not various interesting panels were at the same time or right after another, which along with the numerous prize giveaways in the exhibit floor ensured you couldn’t see and do everything. In hindsight, this is a good idea on PAX’s part to avoid having large crowds in one place. The floor also contained a couple of rooms for classic consoles from Atari to N64 (where a great tournament of Bomberman 2 was going on full of gasps and cheers) and a room dedicated to classic Arcade machines (4-player Gauntlet, Beer Tapper or Dragon’s Lair, anyone?) thanks to an American arcade company whose card I sadly lost.

Level 3. Location: Main Theatre. Final Boss. Well ok, not really but this is where Jerry Holkins aka Tycho and Mike Krahulik aka Gabe held their keynote, Q&As, along with the Omegathon (which I sadly did not see, I’m hoping all of the missing panels and what not will be on the dvd). Rooster Teeth aka Red vs Blue, X-Play and the concerts were also held here.

All in all it was an amazing experience, one that will have to be repeated over and over again in order to see everything as the event had aspects that were catered to specific types of people whom would only go see those (ie: media to the game booths, aspiring game industry people to the panels, professional gamers to the tournaments) which makes it difficult to get into those if you have no specific genre like myself.

Various things were also learned on this trip: Don’t bring food on the trip except for drinks and snacks that you can eat before crossing the border, buy easy to eat foods once in town from the grocery store to cut down on meal costs, travel with friends whom you can handle for long hours and bring plenty of fresh clothing, especially socks as you WILL be warm and aromatic by the end of the day and the other event goers will appreciate it. Bring plenty of money just in case for emergencies or for when you spot things you didn’t expect and want to get but try to keep to a budget. Be kind to other attendees as there will be crowds and guaranteed bumps as you stare wide eyed at the game trailers and the well-dressed cosplayers, especially to the Enforcers who volunteered their time to help you and ensure the event and your experience goes smoothly.Stay awhile and listen (*grin*) to the hardworking developers and merchants who’ve taken the time to show you what they’ve made as this encourages them to keep up the enthusiasm for what they love to do: making great quality games and items. Also don’t worry about bringing an extra bag for the free swag as more often than not there will be someone who will be giving out large bags for you to store your free t-shirts, hats, buttons and other items in (though try not to overload it as they will break) so a trip or two a day back to your hotel room is a must.

Special notes and things that I liked at PaxEast2011: The cosplayers who’ve made awesome costumes and take the time to stop for pictures (which to some would be every other minute). Favourites included the Pyro (whose foam axe was confiscated for being too real) from TF2, a Commissar from Warhammer, a female Mass Effect Shepard and heroine from Dragon Age 2, Saria and Sheik from Zelda: Ocarina of Time, a male and female version of Assassin’s Creed as well as Valkaria Chronicles, three well done Ghostbusters, a Joker, Harley Quinn (whom they let keep her real baseball bat) Scarecrow trio, the PvZ group (two girls in pot/sunflower costume, two guys dressed in suits with a zombie head), who were awesome when they were rocking it out at the Rockband booth and a slightly scary and hairy legged Chun-Li of Street Fighter. There were lots more but I couldn’t recognize all of them. Big thanks to Tycho who I spoke with briefly and who shook my hand before he remembered about the germ thing as well as Gabe, Morgan Webb, Adam Sessler, Blair Herter and Scotty Kurtz who all signed my X-box 360 controller.

For pics of the event, go here:

http://s1186.photobucket.com/albums/z375/TheMrButtons/PaxEast2011/

Games that really got my eye:

Chivalry from Torn Banner Studios, whose realistic medieval battle game really impressed me as it is based on skill where the mouse acts as your hips which directs how you swing your sword or fire your arrows, battles arranged from free for all to attacking/defending the castle. No levels or upgraded gear is obtained. Only customization of armour can be garnered from doing well which is where skill comes in.www.chivalrythegame.com Beta will be out in a few months, out possibly at the end of 2011 or beginning of 2012.

Raskulls from Halfbrick which is out now on Xbox Live. It’s a fun and cute competitive party game where you race your variously dressed little skull characters through coloured blocks that you shoot through in order to get through and hopefully trap your opponents behind you. www.raskulls.com

TapCity from The Tap Lab is a free social iPhone and soon to be Android game where you can use real buildings from google earth and attack them, once obtained you can turn them into various types of buildings like a castle or bee hive and have it defended with dinosaurs, lasers and what not. The social aspect comes in where you can get your friends to check in on the battle and the more people you can get on your side the more it can sway the battle no matter how strong the opponent is. www.playtapcity.com

Orcs Must Die! by Robot Entertainment was one of my favourites and a must-buy on my list. It’s like a tower defense game where orcs and other creatures run along a defined path and your champion spends points to place traps like floor spikes, shooting arrow walls, spring boards and swinging ceiling spiked balls that help as you attack and try to prevent them from reaching the other end. www.orcsmustdie.com

Geek Chic is not a game developer but a company who caters to geeks with taste and well-lined gold pouch as they create well-crafted solid wood tables that you can use as coffee and dining room tables which open up and convert into the ultimate board and/or miniature table with tons of room for attachable cup holders and drawers lined with foam shaped to your preferred console controller They also create armoires and bookshelves to safely store your books and miniatures in style. www.geekchichq.com

Firefall by Red 5 is a free to play 1st and 3rd person team class based shooter that quickly reminded me of Tribes which by chance one of the developers of this game was from. Each class has three skills that refresh over time and has lots of team customization from emblems, names and so forth. I’m looking forward to this later on in the year. www.firefallthegame.com

DragonNest by Eyedentity is a free to play mmorpg with stylised anime inspired characters that uses various main classes that grow with various sub-classes as you play. Combo attacks chained with special moves make the game enjoyable, though invisible walls that prevent you from jumping down a ledge annoyed me somewhat. The graphics were well done and on the cute side, the creatures you fought were well detailed and looked like monsters instead of cute fluff balls of doom.http://www.eyedentitygames.com/eng/games/dragonnest.asp

Now some of you may say, wtf mate? Where are all of the big games we’re so excited and hear about? Exactly, you’ve all seen and heard about the games like KotOR, LA Noire, Duke Nukem Forever, Battlefield 3, Portal 2 and Brink, though all of them had amazing booths and great trailers to look at but that’s the thing, what’s the point of regurgitating the same info? All I could really say about them is that you had to be up really early to be far enough ahead in the queue to even have a chance to try some of these games, especially for the Star Wars demo which allowed everyone inside to play for 45 minutes. But the line was so full that one would have to spend their whole day waiting to even get a chance to try it. The point of my trip wasn’t so much for bragging rights but to just have fun, I knew I would see plenty of videos of the convention from the media and reviews of the demos by others so unless I was getting paid or a convention veteran what would be the point of it? I saw what I wanted to see, tried what I wanted to try, happily spent all of my money feeding the Merch and had a great time with my friends. Objective accomplished, xp earned, level up and cue the victory music (FF3/6 for me please!). =)

Tactics Ogre: Let us cling together review

Ok let’s be honest and get the obvious out of the way first. Firstly, yes this is very similar to Final Fantasy Tactics as it was made by Quest but Quest who made the Ogre Battle series before FFT came out lost several key members who then left for Squaresoft to then make FF:Tactics and Vagrant Story so you could say that this is a variation or improvement of it. Secondly, as like me, a lot of you are who only played and knew of Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen back on the SNES were hoping for something similar to it, but where Ogre Battle was the 5th chapter in the series, Ogre Tactics is the 7th and places itself further along in the saga of world known as Valeria and thus required a different approach. Also to my surprised this game has already been re-released previously from its SNES roots to the Sega Saturn and Playstation back in 95-96. The PSP version, which was only recently released in February doesn’t really matter as I am so entrenched in (much to my girlfriend’s chagrin), is a re-make, not that I’m complaining.

 For lovers of turn-based rpgs this game will not disappoint. A lovingly epic story unfolds as you guide your young protagonist Denam, his sister Catiua and best friend Vyce plan to get revenge on the country and people responsible for destroying their hometown and loved ones. Through fate they end up joining the Walister (their clan) resistance whose people have been suffering from prejudice and tyranny from the other two major powers (Galgastan and The Bakram-Valeria kingdom) after the death of the king who unified the country. After showing your bravery in battle the leader gives you your own group of soldiers whom you get to name and get sent out to fight for the cause. After a few battles where you get used to the mechanics of the game, things get interesting as the game sends you down various paths depending on the choices you make, from the alignment (Lawful, Neutral or Chaotic), plot and moral choices, which offer plenty of replay to get all of the dramatically different endings and characters that can only be recruited on certain paths.

Rich story script can be found in cutscenes and during battles.

As for the mechanics the game offers numerous classes and throws a twist on them by only allowing you to change between them by using Marks that you find through loot and from the shops though some can only be found by defeating certain enemies which can give you pause when it comes to character development though the game encourages to do so as various skills can only be learned through specific classes, example: the Trajectory skill which shows you the arc your arrows will fly, without it you will learn the hard way that even if you can hit your chosen target with 100% success, it can still land in your friendly comrades back (ouch!). It did made me wonder why archers and melee classes had access to it yet not to the casters who can still fireball your allies if they don’t have a clear line of sight. Note that xp and skill points are divided by all participants and levels are determined by class level and not by character alone, so as you recruit your new Beastmaster, they will start at lv1 unless already brought up higher by others which can make things difficult with item level restrictions. Along with keeping to the tarot system from Ogre Battle you can use the cards to cast beneficial or detrimental effects, though compared to the bags of loot on the battlefield the cards cannot be retrieved unless specifically moving a character onto it which also bestows a small permanent stat change.  One of the more fun and intriguing mechanic in the game is the chariot wheel which allows you to backtrack up to 50 turns in a battle, so if you ever wondered what would’ve happened if you casted a different spell or dispatched the priest instead of that knight then you can give it a go. Though for you purists and stat fanatics, the game keeps track on how many battles you’ve won without using it.

Archers are a favorite of mine for their distance and high damage.

With a well written story, beautifully drawn character portraits, crisp graphics (my favourite being the spell and weather effects, the lighting storms especially) and challenging gameplay it is a must have for the PSP system and rpg fans alike, especially for the long car trips like the one I will be doing from Ottawa to Boston for PaxEast. I give this game an A.

Please feel free to post your thoughts about the game and give it a thumb’s up if you enjoyed this review. Thanks! =)

PS. I found myself smiling a bit at the game’s spells as they used French words for them and as it is my first language it made me chuckle as I read their descriptions and nodded happily to see that they fitted fairly well.

Chiptunes: today's folk music to gamers and a brief history of.

Huh? Chiptunes? That’s what most of you have said but little did you know if you’re around my age 25-35 you’ve already heard of it. The Amiga, Atari, Commodore, Gameboy and every old system played chiptunes aka video game music. That is just one side of it, I’m here to open the curtains some more on the underground movement that has been around for many years. Chiptune artists are just like any other musician but with a mission to pump out amazing and ear-pleasing tunes from these old systems that go straight to a gamer’s heart and mind, giving them a flashback of the good old days. Here’s a basic rundown that I’ve put together through some research, there is much more but one could spend many months or years trying to learn the intricacies of this style.

Computers can do more than just math and pong:

Chiptunes have been around since the 1980s albeit the scene and its purpose have changed dramatically throughout the years. At first people could only squeeze so much out of the hardware that was available until someone with sufficient programming skills could create software or reverse engineer it to repurpose the hardware and create what they wanted out of it. Thanks to various pioneers/programmers like Rob Hubbard, David Whittaker and Martin Galway who’ve worked on the Commodore 64 MOS Technology SID (Sound Interface Device) which helped bring video game music to whole new levels, though editing the music properly was still far from perfect. Still, it did not prevent enthusiasts from noticing as people began ripping music from games into executable files to share while others used them as music for crack, keygen and demo intros which are still used to this day.

A burgeoning culture:

In the mid-1980s the popularity of creating original music from these components grew with hobbyist, especially overseas where a young German named Chris Hulsbeck, who went on to become a well-known video game music composer, created software called Soundmonitor which allowed users to create more advanced SID music. The software was published within a German commodore enthusiasts’ magazine called 64’er which was noted to have held some of the earliest chiptune competitions. Nowadays, the term "chiptune" is also used to cover chip music using actual chip-based synthesis, but some sources, such as the Amiga Music Preservation project, still define a chiptune specifically as a small tracker module.

Cue back to modern day:

Various open source chiptune websites have popped up throughout the years that have helped artist share, collaborate and perfect their music. More often than not they are small, tight-knit communities who shun others that don’t follow their version of how the music is made. Other artists have grown and expanded on their own like Tommy Tallarico (Video Games Live, Electronic Playground) who’s known as the most successful and revolutionary video game musician in the industry, also video game bands like Protomen and Minibosses have made their mark and chiptune DJs like DJCutman and my friend Francis Yoan Rodrig. Here’s an interview (and the first I’ve ever done) I’ve had with him recently to give you a glimpse of how they do things:

The basics:

What do you call yourself?

XC3N

How did you come by it and does it have any special meaning to you?

Bxcenoxyzs then shortened it to xcen eventually and then converted ack when I played MMO’s I couldn’t find a name that wasn’t taken, I started with it to XC3N. Very boring stuff.

How many years have you been doing chip tune music?

I’ve been doing chiptunes since 2007 and before that tracker music since 1996.
In your brief own words, what is chip tune music?

Music that is produced from PSGs (programmable sound generators) , often on vintage computer or video game hardware

Where are you based?

Griffintown, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Comparison with mainstream:

What do you think chiptunes have to offer compared to today’s mainstream/pop music?

Hmm, to say that it's better would just be arrogant... I would say that, for me and for hundreds of others, it possesses a soul like no other type of music and perhaps a sense of accomplishment of sorts, the conquering, outdoing of what others now regard as obsolete garbage. It feels great to re-appropriate and go further than the original vision. The YM2149 is a great example heh.

*For more info on what the YM2149 is, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yamaha_YM2149 and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jochen_Hippel

What do you call a chip tune performer?

I guess I would call him that lol, a chiptune performer. 
Do people ever compare your to a regular club DJ? Would you be insulted by this?

Yeah, people easily get confused and think I 'm a DJ. I get somehow offended because it's really nowhere near what I do. Even when it comes to my radio show, I'm a host not a DJ... but I do handhelds DJ sets lol

Why go to all the trouble to modify all those equipment and crating the software? Why not just buy modern synthesizers?

Most of the devices I use don't really need to be modified that much to be used and I don't create software, although I do what I can to influence software development. As for the reasons, for most devices the primary reason is transportability. You can carry a gameboy in your pocket, get it out and powered within seconds and do music right away, regardless of where you are even though you can still do music with a laptop they are nowhere as convenient to use. Some kind of kick obtained from derailing a device from its original purpose and some kind of nostalgic aspect where you get to create with the sounds that fascinated you as a kid playing video games.

XC3N's modded gameboy

Tools and creation:

Is hacking (dismantling your old toys and creating software) the core of chiptune music?

No I wouldn't say it's the core of chiptune music. I mean, the philosophy (wanting to understand and outperform technology) is at the core of the scene that was the forefather of chip music (demoscene). But nowadays that aspect is not always present but without hackers, there might be no chipmusic as we know it today, yes.

Can you give me a rundown of what hardware and software you personally prefer to use when making your music?

It depends, I'm always touching different things but let's say I love LGPT (Little GP Tracker, as it originated on GP32), on GP2X or PSP, LSDJ(Little Sound DJ) on a DMG(Dot Matrix) is an unavoidable classic although I like the harshness of the GBA SP hehe. Right now I am having a love affair with musicmon 2.5E on Atari ST(16bit computer from the late 80s).

How much time and effort is placed in what you’d call a good tune? 

There is no constant for that. You can spend hours on something and not be satisfied. Some of my most appreciated tracks were done in like an hour. It all depends on how well your session(s) flows.

And what would it take to satisfy you as an artist when making music?

Oh man. I don't think I'm ever satisfied, I just get bored with things and then I go "oh well, that'll be that”.

Are you usually creating music solo or with a group?
Solo. I mean, I do belong to collectives that release music together but the creation is always solo. I tried working with people, which is something I would really really like but I never seem to find someone I get a working flow with. I think I might be too much of a jerk.

Personal:

How did you get started?

I thought it was pretty cool, and then I looked it up on the internet+????=PROFIT. I discovered digital sample trackers on Bulletin Board Systems (BBS). Basically read the instructions of scream tracker after having installed it and figured out the f***ing tracker then evolved to Impulse Tracker then modplug then I flirted with milky tracker and psycle but that didn't do much. Then came the VST dark ages and after that the MPC, all of which I ditched for LGPT. I sold my MPC2500 because of that. I got a gp2x at some point and I found LGPT, but I never used LSDJ (Little Sound DJ) which LGPT is based on so I started looking into both LGPT and LSDJ on the internet which lead me to the HEXAWE collective. I started hanging out with that crew and it built up over the years basically. Oh I forgot renoise in the lot, it's the tracker I'm using now on desktop but I play with all kind of shit and then get bored and/or lazybut the collective knowledge gained is useful aha!

Just how passionate are you about the whole chiptune scene and how does it affect you as a person?

I am really passionate about it, I found a lot of friends, people to share with, people to get inspired by... it's a community unlike any I've ever been part of, there is a lot of trust and sharing and I am really happy to be part of it
Do you sleep with your Gameboy or Amiga at night? Do you nickname your tools?

Haha no. Although I could've fallen asleep with a gameboy in my pocket. My amiga 1000 takes a LOT of place, too. I don't really nickname my tools although I've modded and painted some

What are some of your personal favourite chiptune artists and songs?

Oh man! There are too many uncanny talents to recognize. ??? (yes it’s an artist based in Montreal), oxygenstar, m-.-n, starpause, videovalvontaa, rhinostrich. F***. I'm going to forget someone and regret it later. Dark Angel, Mr Spastic, PDF_Format, 8gb and Stu. Let's leave it at this and say there is no way in hell I can make a comprehensive list of everyone deserving a mention. As for songs, anything from ??? and the above list of artists.

In what ways have they influenced you?

By sharing sources, inspiring me, giving feedback, advice, or participating to compositions.

Visual aspect:

I’ve seen some live shows using mind blowing and colourful pixel art and videos. Are you trying to tell us a story with the music to bring it all together or just something that seems apropos to the style of music you play?

Well, given that I don't do visuals and music at the same time, I don't have control over this. Musicians usually get paired up with local VJs and so don't have much say over what is being displayed. On occasions, I'll pair up with a VJ I know and then we can try to make something happen, but I generally go with shocking people when I can hah.

That sounds interesting and fun, shocking people in what way?

Haha me and pocaille (a VJ) drunkenly had the idea at blip fest to display pixelated hardcore porn as visuals. Especially on big screens where you can't really make out what's going on if you're too close.

Community:

Tell me about the crowds and fans you find at your live shows, are they gamer enthusiasts, people hungry for a new sound or else?

It's pretty much all of that. Fan of the genre, gamers, and a lot of curious people

I’ve noticed that some chiptune communities tend to be internationally oriented. Would you consider it important and how does it contribute to the movement?

Hey that's the wonders of the internets! I think it's important, it allows us to get crash spots all over the planet! =P

Obviously it's very interesting to exchange with people from different cultures, it's also interesting to see how the scene works out in different parts of the world. And then, of course, this augments the possibility that you might be able to play in different countries.

What are your favourite places on the web to go to for chiptunes communities?

chipmusic.org

Not just bleeps and bloops:

One cannot just snub it as simple or plain. Chiptunes are just as varied, complex, deep or simple as any other genre. Some are influenced more by their favourite games, other artists or genres like techno, jazz, dubstep and rap. Many of you have probably listened to some but just did not know it. One can say that it has definitely grown more and more in popularity and recognition as more bands and shows have come out of the woodwork. At PaxEast2011 alone they had a room dedicated to chiptune and video game bands that played during most of the convention. Even the group 2playerproductions has made a documentary on the scene and music that was 5 years in the making.

The artists show a true love for what they do, the passion is seen in their work as they tweak their hardware to get the right sound, you can see the enthusiasm as they rock to their own beat during their shows (sometimes more so than the crowds they play for). Who knew that you could make such amazing things with your old toys? So put down your Halo, your God of War or your FF7 orchestral soundtrack and pop in a classic game on your old console or emulator, buy and download some chiptunes as well and relish in the old childhood and carefree days as I did.

References and examples of chiptunes:

Software used to create tunes:

http://www.littlesounddj.com/lsd/

http://noname.c64.org/csdb/release/?id=59929

http://www.buzzmachines.com/

www.littlegptracker.com

www.renoise.com

Chiptune communities and groups:

www.chipmusic.org

http://truechiptilldeath.com/

https://8bc.org/

http://soundcloud.com/groups/chiptunes

http://www.last.fm/group/chiptune

http://www.iimusic.net/

http://www.ubiktune.org/

XC3N:

http://xc3n.bandcamp.com/

DJCutman, chiptune artist

http://soundcloud.com/djcutman/linkchopsii

Wired article:

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.11/mclaren.html?pg=1&topic=&topic_set=

Rick Roll: Your favourite meme as an 8-bit

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b1WWpKEPdT4&feature=player_embedded#at=169

One-winged angel 8-bit style: Imagine if FF7 was made much earlier.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JC-1T0MjHU8&feature=player_embedded#at=31

Tommy Tallarico’s bio:

http://www.tallarico.com/index.php?s=biography

Wiki page on chiptunes:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiptunes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_sound_revolution

Video game performers:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_music_culture#Performers

Dragon Age 2 demo review

Blood, sweat and tears. You can tell that’s what Bioware’s team put into Dragon Age 2 and that’s also what you get from your enemies in this visceral sequel to an epic rpg. Now I recently played the demo and I already knew what to expect from the veteran developer: A well-crafted story that is delivered through an amazing script and cut-scenes which I enjoy the most since it’s made with in-game graphics and speaking of graphics Bioware has upped their ante again. Now when it comes to fun that is up to the eye of the beholder, we are speaking of an epic game that will take time to unfold with lots of side quests, rich character development and from dying often as the game is not gentle if you don’t know how to play and use the pause button liberally. Now when I put blood in the forefront at the beginning it’s because you will get your fill of it and then some. At one point as I paused after dispatching a Hurloc which is your basic infantry and newly remodelled from the first Dragon Age to look like an s&m fan (just a lot more creepy and scary than normal) and noted the blood just floating in the air, just glistening like  water hit by the sun. Now yes that is dark but so is the game and it delivers in spades with the violence and the choices your character has to face.The demo gives you a decent taste of all three classes, fighter, mage and rogue with a handfull of impressive abilities So for any fan of games like Mass Effect, Jade Empire. Knights of the Old Republic, Baldur’s Gate or fans of the first Dragon Age then I welcome you home, for the others, have your mommy or daddy hold your hand, you might squirm a little.

A small side spoiler. For you item collecting fans EA offers many ways to gather some. As the e-mail with the demo says that if 1 million people download the demo then two books loaded with poems and lore about the world will be included. Also if you beat the demo while you’re connected on their servers you will unlock an extra sword AND on top of that if you haven’t gotten any other items from your pre-order (varies from your source) you can collect an amusing belt called Hindsight from the Dragon Age website via the Penny-Arcade video link which I encourage you to watch. =)

Oh and anyone else who played the demo noticed something different from the interrogator from the beginning of the demo and the end video after you finished it?