PLAY AUTOGRAPH GALLERY

Here are pictures of everything I got autographed at Play!

The Concert Program Book, signed by all the composers


Items signed by Yasunori Mitsuda

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Cross

Xenogears

Xenosaga: Episode I


Items signed by Koji Kondo

Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker and Ocarina of Time


Items signed by Yuzo Koshiro

Music From Ys: First Edition

Music From Ys

Music From Ys II

Actraiser & Actraiser Symphonic Suite

Super Adventure Island

The Scheme

Wangan Midnight I & II

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!

The Play concert was a complete success!! Never before has such a concert been produced, that featured all the great composers of game music. I just got back in town today and soon I'll have a full review up and plenty of pictures of the Nobuo Uematsu Tower Records Signing and the event itself.

Be waiting....

IT'S TIME!!

It's about 4:30 am and my plane leaves in 6 hours for Chicago, this could be the best game music concert ever produced, and the excitement is really building. I am leaving today to allow myself plenty of time to find the Tower Records where Mr. Uematsu is signing. It will all be over so fast, but I'm in it to sieze the day! If anyone reading is attending, hope you have fun, and I'll post my full report when I return.

Keith

Angela Aki Performance

Good news for the Tower Records signing event one day before the Chicago Play! concert premiere. Angela Aki will be performing! Maybe we will get to hear something from Final Fantasy XII!
Here, once again is the official Tower Clark St. Website.

Tower

MORE PLAY UPDATES!!!

Just got another update: And NO, I won't be able to attend the Detroit show!! Well, miracles happen, we'll see.

Dear subscriber of the PLAY! newsletter,

1. Hitoshi Sakimoto to attend Detroit concert
2. Yoko Shimomura to attend Detroit concert
3. PLAY! to feature music from Oblivion

--

1. Hitoshi Sakimoto to attend Detroit concert

Veteran video game composer Hitoshi Sakimoto is going to attend the
PLAY! concert on July 12, 2006, in Detroit. His past work includes
titles such as Vagrant Story, Stella Deus and Final Fantasy XII.



-

2. Yoko Shimomura to attend Detroit concert

Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura will attend the PLAY! concert
in Detroit on July 12, 2006. The music will be performed at the
Orchestra Hall by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and chorus.



-

3. PLAY! to feature music from Oblivion

Jeremy Soule's music from The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is going to
be an exclusive part of the concert in Chicago. The special
partnership includes a free give-away for all concert attendees.



-

Best Regards
PLAY! A Video Game Symphony

More Info

COUNTDOWN TO PLAY CONTINUES

It's only five days now until the biggest game music concert ever hits! I can hardly wait for this thing. I'll actually be in chicago on Thursday to give me time to find the place where Mr. Uematsu is signing. I've been told that particular Tower Records is not very close to the Rosemont Theatre, where the event is taking place.

I think this week will go slow until the concert, it's not every day the biggest game music concert ever comes alive and you've got a chance to go.

Of course I will post my thoughts on the whole event and share a review, and whatever pictures I can get as well.

Keith

5/16/06

Here are some cover scans of works by Angela Aki, who performs the Final Fantasy XII theme. As mentioned earlier, she will be at the signing event on the night before the Play! Concert.

Cover Scans

Keep listening to game music as always!!

WHERE IS UEMATSU SIGNING?

I thought it would be helpful to post the address of the Tower Records where Nobuo Uematsu will be signing in Chicago the night before the Play! concert. He will be joined by Arnie Roth and Angela Aki.

Tower Clark St.
2301 N. Clark St. # 200
Chicago, IL 60614

Here is the site for this Tower Records with more information:

Tower Clark St.

More news as soon as it comes!!

COUNTDOWN TO PLAY!

That's right, it's only 16 days now until the greatest game music concert ever comes to Chicago. Don't forget on the night before Nobuo Uematsu is doing a signing, promoting the More Friends Concert on CD. It's almost here!!!
Still waiting on stuff from Yahoo Japan to arrive, but I made two more contributions to the art gallery.

5/8/06

My Wild Arms CD sold for only $13.99! Someone got lucky!
Finally nabbed the Ys Strategy soundtrack, I'm waiting for it to arrive. I can't wait for that one, it was a very limited release. I also added my KFC comic idea to the art gallery, check it out, you'll laugh...

UPDATE 5/5/06

Still no bids on my Wild Arms CD on ebay, if anyone is watching you may get it for cheap! Just rounded up Ys Symphony 21st Century, which I am currently loving. You can find a pic of it below and also a link to my ebay auction.
Ys Symphony 21st Century

Ebay Auction:

Wild Arms Complete Tracks

As Always, Keep Listening to Game Music and Have Fun!

LEGEND OF HEROES VI FC FOR PSP CONFIRMED

Falcom confirmed in a press release dated today that Legend of Heroes VI, the First Chapter will be coming to Japanese PSP on September 29th this year. There is a faint glimmer of hope that one day the title could make it for an english release, due to Legend of Heroes IV (aka Legend of Heroes) and now even LOH III (aka Legend of Heroes II) being released in English for PSP.

This is a wonderful game that I have had the pleasure of playing and finishing on the PC, and you won't be disappointed even if you play it without knowing Japanese.

Here is the Press Release, it is in Japanese but you can see clearly the first item confirms the PSP release of LOH VI FC

More information when it becomes available!

WILD ARMS COMPLETE TRACKS

Hello everyone here is the Wild Arms Complete Tracks OST set that was released in April. It is every bit as good as I had hoped. Disc one has 37 tracks, and disc two has 39 tracks, plus a bonus 40th track not listed. I snagged an extra copy and I'm offering it for auction on ebay. Here is a link for you, and pictures of the set.

Wild Arms Complete Tracks ebay auction

CD Pictures

Front

Back

AWAITING NEW SOUNDTRACKS

I am waiting for some gems to arrive. Wild Arms Complete Tracks, Growlanser IV OST, Mushi.net Final Fantasy Battle Arranges, and an extra copy of The Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time OST that I am hoping to get autographed by the composer at the upcoming Play! Concert.
In the meantime, I bought the Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children DVD. Still have to watch it, as I have so many hobbies. I have been listening to a lot of the Breath of Fire series at the moment. I really love those old SNES soundtracks.

I had to add the Ys background picture here, in tribute to my favorite game series.
More soon!

AWESOME ARRANGEMENTS!

Today I thought I would share a Japanese page that has some insanely awesome game music arranged versions. The artists were nice enough to allow free downloads of their work.
Enjoy!

Opus Xero/Music

A LONG WAIT IS OVER...

Just as the heading says, a long wait is over. Wild Arms fans can finally rejoice that after ten years (yes it has been that long!) the complete soundtrack to the original WIld Arms game for PS1 has now been released! Many of you, myself included remember being let down just a little when you popped that Wild Arms soundtrack in your CD player, only to realize many of your favorite tracks were missing. How could they do that?

Well, they're making up for it now. The new release is entitled Wild Arms: Complete tracks, and now it contains everything this time!
Here is a link where you can buy the set from CD Japan, or you can see the design for the set as well. It seems there are conflicting reports on whether or not this set contains one or two discs, I am waiting for mine to arrive, so I'll report on it again. Enjoy!

CD Japan

Catch ya later!
Keith

BIG PLAY CONCERT NEWS!!!!!

Just announced! Mr. Koji Kondo, the man behind many of The Legend of Zelda and Mario's awesome musical scores is a confirmed guest at the upcoming premiere of the Play Video Game Symphony Concert in Chicago on May 27th! For someone like me, this is the equivalent of a Star Wars fan meeting George Lucas. I can only count the days for this one. Oh, and least I forget, the legendary Nobuo Uematsu of Final Fantasy will be there as well. Like I could forget that!
Here are a few links that will take you to more official information: Koji Kondo

Here!

Nobuo Uematsu
From the Play! Newsletter:
"PLAY! to feature music from Blue Dragon
Nobuo Uematsu's music from Blue Dragon will be performed exclusively
for the first time at PLAY!'s premiere in Chicago. The video game is
designed by Final Fantasy series originator Hironobu Sakaguchi."
Full Story:

Click Here!

Play! Site
You can also view the official site

Here

More News when it comes!

You can see my tribute to the world of Milon's Secret Castle/Do Re Mi Fantasy in the art gallery now!
Here you go!

My Art Gallery: All are Welcome

Keep Watching!

YS V PS2 REVIEW

I am currently playing the Ys V remake for the PS2 (Japanese only) and I had to review it. I am only about three hours into it right now, but I think this one is better than Taito's Ys IV PS2 remake.
I base that on a single factor: The music, which is much better and much more faithful to the original than Taito's previous remakes of Ys III and IV.
The characters look exactly the same, the gameplay is basically exactly the same, however the backgrounds do show improvement from the last title.
For me, the music is making this a much more enjoyable experience. I have been an advocate the the Ys IV PS2 remake is a lot better towards the end, and I know the harsh criticism that game has gotten.
I am keeping my fingers crossed that this game too will lose some of it's poor traits as you get further into it.

Once again, there is poor dungeon design though. What doesn't help is a little automatic 90 degree turn at certain parts in the dungeons that will get you lost immediately, because all the environments in the dungeons look exactly the same.

I can't be too hard on it, because I really like the playful look of the characters and the portraits are treated with respect as well.
For now though, it is what it is, I still look for a day when the game will be remade by Falcom for PC. There is just so much more that could have been done to make this game better, but at least they gave it a shot, it is a lot of fun to play.

I would still recommend this game to anyone, but if you have the chance play the original Ys V first. Here are my scores for Ys V PS2:
Graphics: 6.5/10
Music: 8/10
Gameplay: 5.5/10
Fun Factor: 7/10

My Ys Collection

I thought a photo gallery of some of my Ys Game Music Collection was overdue, since it is my all time favorite game series. All album titles are from left to right.

Very Best of Ys

Ys I Original Soundtrack, Perfect Collection Ys I&II (Ryo Yonemitsu), Ys Renewal, Symphony Ys

Perfect Collection Ys, Ys Dramatic Concert(Ys I Anime Soundtrack),Ys I&II Eternal Original Soundtrack, Ys Symphony '95,

Ys II Original Soundtrack, Perfect Collection Ys II, Ys I&II Eternal/Legend of Heroes IV Unpublished Music, Ys II Renewal

Ys Midi Collection

The Ys II Anime Soundtrack (Perfect Collection Ys: Heaven's Sanctuary I-IV)

Ys Healing, Ys III Original Soundtrack, Ys III JDK Special, Ys III Super Arrange Version

Perfect Collection Ys III, Ys Special Collection, Ys: The Oath in Felghana Premium Music Box, Perfect Collection Ys: The Oath in Felghana

Ys Piano Collection 1 & 2, Lilia From Ys, The Vocal From Ys

Ys IV JDK Special, Perfect Collection Ys IV Vols. 1,2, and 3

Ys V Original Soundtrack, Ys V Image Album, Ys V Orchestra Version, Provincialism Ys

Ys VI Original Soundtrack, The Songs of Zemeth:Ys VI Vocal Version, The Songs of Zemeth: Ys VI Vocal Version Instrumental Only, Ys VI: The Return by Atsushi Fukai

Windtales from Ys, Ys Battle Special, Ys Midi Special 1&2
All by Atsushi Fukai

Project Ys(Atsushi Fukai), Paroject Ys(Atsushi Fukai), and Baroque (Hellion Sounds),
these are wonderful albums.

NEW SOUNDTRACKS APRIL 4TH, 2006

Just got more Soundtracks in today! I am very happy to see Motoi Sakuraba has been PROLIFIC lately with his music, the guy never stops! He never does anything without it being of amazing quality. I will add these to the collection list soon. As always, thanks goes to Cocoebiz/VGM World for making it happen all the time!
Baten Kaitos II

Castlevania: Aria & Dawn of Sorrow

Valkyrie Profile: Complete Reissue Edition

Tales of the Abyss

Breath of Fire I-V Soundtack Box

ART GALLERY MOVE COMPLETE: YS V PS2 REVIEW COMING SOON

Hey, I just finished moving the art gallery to it's new home, I think you'll agree it is much better now! Check it out in the links section! My Ys V PS2 version is on it's way! I can't wait, as soon as I get to play it, I'll post some pictures and review the musical score to the game.

Art Gallery Update

Hey everyone, I've got a lot in store for the future with this thing, so keep watching. I'm going to create a separate haven for the art gallery, though you'll still find it linked in the links section, and I'll have lots of news about upcoming game soundtracks in the week ahead also. They are finally releasing a Breath of Fire Soundtrack complete Box, thanks to cocoebiz, so I'll have some nice pictures of the set when it comes too.

THE INCREDIBLE XANADU NEXT

Ok, after waiting a while to play it, I just finished Xanadu Next last night!
This is one incredible Falcom action RPG for PC(Japanese). The great thing is you don't have to know Japanese in order to enjoy it, or finish it! Just like Falcom's legendary Ys series, which is my all time favorite. Xanadu Next is not too long, which is good, but it is not an easy game either.

This game is quite a dungeon crawler too, you'll be fighting monsters non-stop and hunting down keys, special guardian cards, magial items, and saving gold (YES!) to buy weapons and armor. The bosses and graphics are all 3D, and in the Falcom tradition all crafted wonderfully well. This is classic sword slinging RPG action at it's very best! There are giant spiders, nasty zombies and hundreds of other creatures, but I don't want to spoil it for those who haven't played it yet. Don't get me started on the music.

As any Falcom or Ys fan knows, the composers, Falcom Sound Team JDK are game music legends and they outdid themselves here once again. My breath was taken away at the awesome dungeon themes, and the glorious symphonic choral pieces in this game. I highly recommend this game to anyone. Now, if you are unsure if you should try a Japanese game, and you don't know Japanese, let me say this, you won't be sorry, and you only live once!

Operating System: Windows 98/2000/ME/XP. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM versions available.


As always, Falcom will not leave their fans wanting, so with this game (the limited edition, still available) they included the classic PC Engine RPGs, Legend of Xanadu I & II, formatted to play on PC! Also included is a Xanadu Music Chronicle CD, spotlighting a couple BGMs from Xanadu Next and some of Falcom's best Xanadu arrangements ever, with some long gone JDK Band Tracks from Falcom Special Box '94.
I will surely link up some of Falcom's Xanadu Next Music Samples soon as well!
Here are some pictures of everything that came with the game (isn't Falcom awesome) and a link to Falcom's official site of the game. Enjoy!

Front cover of game case (comes in a slipcase box)


Back cover of game case


Xanadu Encyclopedia (monster & weapon/item information)


Xanadu Next Playing Manual


Xanadu Music Chronicle CD


The Legend of Xanadu I & II

Official Site For Xanadu Next (Japanese)

DO YOU LIKE ACTION?

Hey, if you're a big comic book fan like me, and have never checked out some of the awesome Chinese Martial Arts titles from Comics One, you should definitely try them out! They are filled with awesome manga styled action, with tons of cool paintings, stories, and wonderful characters. They have been around in the U.S. for a number of years now, even in English. So if you're in the mood to try adding a little more action and culture to your comic book library, check these out! At the end here you will find a link where you can purchase some of these titles. Also above here is a cover scan of Saint Legend, by Andy Seto. Awesome, huh?

Buy Kung Fu Titles Here!

NEW SOUNDTRACK FOR THIS WEEK

Just got this one today, it's the Magic Knight Rayearth Sega Saturn Soundtrack. It's very hard to find now. I think I got pretty lucky getting it.

JUST ARRIVED! SORA NO KISEKI SC (THE LEGEND OF HEROES VI, THE SECOND CHAPTER)

Ok, so I am a little excited today, I have been waiting for this game for a while now. It just arrived from Falcom Japan and I am dying to play it. More pictures coming soon, but first I have to play it!!!!!!!!! If you want to hear music samples from the game I have them in a previous post. Feel free to check them out!!

FINAL FANTASY XII SOUNDTRACK UPDATE/DELAY

I've just received information stating there may be a delay in the release of the Final Fantasy XII Soundtrack. I will report any new information when it comes.

COLLECTION UPDATE

Today I decided to add a special location for my game music collection, so if anyone wanted to view it they will not have to search through my articles for it. So from now on the following link at the end of this article will house my collection. There will be a permanent link to it also in the links section. From time to time I list new additions to my collection, and I will continue to publish those on my blog. The new space for my collection will be specific to that topic. It will be updated only to add any new items. I think this will work out a lot better too. Thanks to all who read this blog and and I will try to make it a unique source of game music information as long as I can. So here is the new link which will host my collection from now on:

View My Game Music Collection

FINAL FANTASY XII ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK LIMITED EDITION ANNOUNCED

The long wait for Final Fantasy XII is almost over. I am eagerly awaiting this game because it is such a big departure from the established style from the series. One can not help but wonder if this trend will continue. The original soundtrack for the game is set for a release date of April 19, 2006, and the limited version looks like quite a package.
Since Hitoshi Sakimoto (FF Tactics, Vagrant Story, Breath of Fire V) has taken over as composer here, it will be interesting to see what he has come up with. Based on what I've heard in the playable demo I love the music so far. The soundtrack will once again feature four discs of music. While that is not unfamiliar to FF fans, to see Sakimoto step up to the plate and continue the legacy certainly made me feel like this will be a very special game, despite some negative comments stemming from the new battle system. Of course, the limited edition of this upcoming masterpiece is available at cocoebiz. Also, there is a contest to get Mr. Sakimoto's autograph, for those who preorder this soundtrack by April 10th! For more information just click the link below.

Preorder the Final Fantasy XII Original Soundtrack Limited Edition from cocoebiz!

TODAY'S THE DAY!!!!

I thought I would start a little countdown until the Legend of Heroes VI: the Second Chapter is released on March 9th, I can't wait for it, it is going to be an awesome game.
Well, as soon as the game arrives, I'll have great pictures up!!!

BIG SCORE

Sorry no updates for a while. Managed to score some extremely rare soundtracks today! They will be added to the collection list soon:
The Scheme: By Yuzo Koshiro (Now I have the first & second editions)
Symphonic Suite Gagharv Trilogy : The Legend of Heroes III - V
Shining the Holy Ark Sega Saturn Soundtrack
All Sounds of Albert Odyssey I
Albert Odyssey II OST
Albert Odyssey Sega Saturn OST: Legend of Eldean
Also Pictured is Neutopia, agame I have wanted to play for a long time for the Turbo Grafx.
Once again I have to thank cocoebiz for the continued EXCELLENT service and for obtaining such rare albums.