On Deviant Art!

I closed down the old art page in favor of creating a new one over at Deviantart. If you would like to visit and see what I've been up to over there, please feel free to do so!

Click!

Or if you would like to check my Twitter profile, I hang out there quite a bit too:

Gamemusicfreak's Twitter

Here's an awesome track from Sonic for the Sega Master System, I love it!


I'm considering attending the FF Distant Worlds Concert in Seattle this July. I'll keep you updated on whether or not I'll be there.

Catch you later!

Capcom partners with Sumthing Distribution!

The Game Music market in the US just got another shot at staying afloat thanks to Sumthing Distribution. Known primarily for releasing soundtracks for XBox games, Street Fighter IV is among the new titles slated to get a soundtrack release here in the US. That makes it one of the first multi platform game soundtracks to come from Sumthing Else, thanks to this partnership. I hope Capcom is in this for good, it would be nice to see some Megaman OSTs released over here! No release dates have been announced yet, but the new Bionic Commando OST is also up for release through this partnership.

More on this exciting deal here:

CLICK!

I also updated the collection list with all the latest soundtracks I acquired. See you again soon!

PS

The Ys Seven page was updated again!!

Ys Seven Official Site Updated!

New additions include wallpapers for PSP and PC, and some limited character information.

Click!

Check out the new Ys 1-7 History CD they are creating!


What Ys IV Tracks will be on it? I wonder if they'll be from the Perfect Collections.
More later!

PS

The Ys I & II Chronicles site has been updated too! A new Best of Ys I & II CD is planned as well!

Ys I & II Chronicles

Never heard Symphony Ys?
You may like this video I made with To Make the End of Battle from Ys II, using footage from the TG 16 classic version, with an orchestra arrangement:

Ys Seven Official site begins!

Ys Seven will be first released on the PSP this September, and Falcom unveiled the official site for it today. There's no content up yet, but there is a link to the site for their retooled PSP port of Ys I & II Complete, called Ys I & II Chronicles.
You can expect them to have music demos available soon. It's already been confirmed that Ys Seven will feature the Five Dragons of Altago story that fans have been anticipating. I'm eagerly awaiting to play this!

You can check out the site here!

See you again soon!

For those attending the Distant Worlds Meet and Greet with Nobuo Uematsu...

Hey! If you're attending a meet and greet at one of Mr. Uematsu's upcoming scheduled concert appearances, I have some tips:

1. Bring a camera!
2. Bring stuff to get autographed!

The meet and greet is one of the most fun things! Usually, though the line is long, everyone is given a good opportunity (at least 3 minutes) to meet Mr. Uematsu and conductor Arnie Roth. I usually spend about 5 minutes, but I'm always mindful of others in line.

First, the meet and greet is always after the show, so get there early! The theater staffs in my experience are very generous and will allow each person a few minutes to speak to Nobuo if they wish. Then again, if you're the last person in line, you may get extra time!

What you do with your meet time is up to you. They won't give you an unlimited amount of time, so be prepared. Many people get a photo, get autographs or I've seen some girls sing a FF song, or give Nobuo a kiss on the cheek!

If you bring a lot of CDs to get signed, have the discs opened in a stack, or the liner notes stacked, ready to give to Nobuo. I usually use this time, when he is signing, to thank him, or make jokes, or whatever.

I always think, "this may not ever happen again, so I better make use of it!"

I have been fortunate to meet Mr. Uematsu on five different occasions, so I've garnered a little experience in that time.
If the theater staff is rushing you, my advice is to ignore them. They may not understand that Mr. Uematsu's appearance outside of Japan is rare. He is a patient and very kind person, and is looking forward to meeting his international fans. Remember you paid a lot for a chance to meet him, so get your money's worth!

I invite you to take a look in my archives of the first US Distant Worlds show last year.

click!

see you later!

Update 4-7-09

Hey all! I have been drowned in working two jobs for the last several months, so Updating this page became increasingly difficult. It seemed every time I was set to go with somehthing new, something else came up! After this week I'll be back to regular posting (it seems I lost what little readers I had!) *laughs*

The Play! CD giveaway I mentioned in my last post is going to happen, I just ask for your patience while I get back on track. *Hint* It will probably be in a Youtube video of some sort. See you soon!

Play! CD/DVD releasing on January 9th!

This is too awesome, and it's finally here! Play! A Video Game Symphony has just announced that their first CD/DVD will begin shipping on 1-9-09. I have a long history with this concert, and this news is just what I needed! You can order the CD/DVD set from the Play! site now as well! *I will buy extra copies for a random giveaway event, so stay tuned!*

Click!

This month marks the third anniversary of this blog, and it has been a lot of fun. Thanks to those of you who have stopped by, I appreciate it!

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009/ Ys V Video Playthrough in progress...

Happy new year! I'm looking forward to making it one of the best. Some Christmas goodies I got were: Valkyrie Profile 2, Chrono Trigger DS, Dragon Quest IV DS, and Capcom Classics Collection & Gitaroo Man for the PSP. Playing Chrono Trigger again brought back some awesome memories from the 90's, it's still a blast!

If you've never played Ys V, I've been working on a video playthrough of it for youtube. Please check it out!

Ys VII is lurking somewhere on the horizon, and I truly hope it comes out sometime in '09. Below is a link to the cool interview Music 4 Games did with HItoshi Sakimoto.

Music 4 Games Interview with Hitoshi Sakimoto

Music 4 Games recently conducted an interview with Mr. Sakimoto, one of everyone's favorite composers. It can be found

Right Here!

More soon!

New Boss Rush Album at 16 Dimensional Records!

I have to mention them again! Anytime I need something new to listen to, I check out the 16 Dimensional Records Site. It's a site dedicated to preserving the art of chiptune and electronic music composition, and it's amazing! The site contains imaginary soundtracks and music from homebrew games, original music and it's all geared toward the chip music lover. All the talented individuals there have made their music available for free as well. I encourage all game music fans to head over there and check out the music, these guys need more exposure. The latest album is called ExHale~Boss Rush, and it's a collaborative effort by Takahiro Kato and Gaii. It's a fantastic combination old chiptunes and all out electronic weirdness! Here is your ticket to old style game music greatness!

16 Dimensional Records

Now, I've been working a lot, and I'm sorry for the long absence but...


It's great to be back! I'm happy it's December, the Winter season is my favorite time of year. Lots of cool things are going on in the Game Music world. Did you see all those X Box Soundtracks getting legitimate releases in retail stores? The packaging might need a little more work, but when I walked into a Fry's Electronics store and saw a real Blue Dragon English OST, I just couldn't believe it. Sure, the Music 4 Games newsletter mentioned that release long ago, but there was just something about seeing it there with my own eyes. The price was only $13.99. No added importing fees, and no extra charges for secure shipping. There is great potential there, I hope they keep it up! Thanks to Sumthing Else Music Works for making it happen, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they continue on. Who knows, we could get more older or previously unreleased soundtracks out of this.

You can check out what they have available here:

Sumthing Distribution

I have lots more to chat about, but I'll leave that for tomorrow.

BEST OF YS MUSIC CONTINUES...

Hello all! I continued my Best of Ys music playlist on Youtube. It's up to part 9 right now, with "To Make the End of Battle" from Ys II:

When you haven't heard it in a while...

I started listening to the Final Fantasy X Soundtrack again, after literally years without doing so. I'm a big fan of FF X, and when I first got the soundtrack and finished the game, I listened to the music constantly! That kind of wore it out for me, but one thing I do when I don't have anything new to listen to, is check out something older I haven't heard in a while.

Wow! I had forgotten how much I loved this music, and now I regret not taking it to the Distant Worlds concert with me in March to get the OST autographed! Now it seems like it's brand new again, and wonderful memories have come flooding back into my mind.

Once piece in particular I would like to give a special mention to is "Illusion". I listened to it so much a few years ago, it literally ended up becoming sort of a theme for me when I would take a walk somewhere. Then I forgot about it. Most every RPG has a Wintery theme, but this one really struck a chord with me, even more than "Buried in the Snow" from FF VII. I got chills upon hearing it again.



I remember cool, foggy mornings filled with light drizzle and mist, wet roads, and dodging new puddles created by the rain. I find it hard to believe that I could have forgotten such a wonderful piece of music that I had really gotten attached to!

Now it's fresh in my mind again, and Winter is coming up just around the corner, and I look forward to attaching new memories around this wonderful music.

Sorcerian Megadrive Album out soon!

Today it is very rare for music from a an old game to get a new release like this, and this is one album to look out for! The Sorcerian Megadrive album is available for pre-order at Play-Asia right now! Due out on October 10/29/2008 (10/31 at Play-Asia), it's sure to be one of the best soundtrack releases this year! If you have ever played any version of Sorcerian, you know it has awesome music.



Containing two discs with 43 tracks, it's truly a can't miss album for Falcom fans. Beware, the price of $39.90 USD is a little steep at Play-Asia, but since Falcom is not releasing this album, it may not be available at CocoeBiz.

If you would like to know more about Sorcerian, I recommend checking out the hardcore gaming articles on it:

Hardcore Gaming: Sorcerian

Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia news:

In Castlevania news, the Order of Ecclesia soundtrack will be sold from Cocoebiz in a special bundle with the DS game (in Japanese). They are selling it from the Konami Style shop. Quantities will be limited, and the pre-order has not opened as of yet. I'm expecting the price to be in the $40-$50 range, maybe even higher. I'll update again when it's available to order, so for now the release date is October 23rd.

I don't know if this is the same type of promotion Konami did for the Contra DS soundtrack, where the OST was only available with the game bundle. That seems unlikely since this is a Castlevania game, but you never know.

Moore soon!

Thanks for 11,000 HIts!!

Here's my "Scooby-Doo meets Adol Christin" piece as a thank you for visiting my page! It has never been seen outside a couple forums, but it's now on my art gallery page.
Is that really a 1970's Adol? It couldn't happen any other way :)
Thanks again, I'm waiting for my Megaman 9 soundtrack to arrive and I'll have my review of it up when it gets here.

Profile: Mercer Friendly

Mercer Friendly is a NYC based duo who were commissioned to do music and sound design for the Wii game, "Groovin' Blocks".



Music from the game is available for purchase!

Let me start right off and say the soundtrack for this game is really awesome! Entitled Jetpak: Music For Groovin' Blocks, it's outstanding and breathes new life into the "old school chip-tune" style of game music that we don't get to hear too much in video games anymore. Think, "Splash Lake with a lot more depth," and you'll know what I'm talking about. The Jetpak album, containing 6 wonderful electronically charged songs, is available to purchase from the Mercer Friendly website and is also available from Amazon.com.

I have been allowed to share the official press release from Mercer Friendly:

September 13th, 2008 (NY, NY) -- Mercer Friendly is releasing their debut album featuring music from Groovin' Blocks. "Groovin' Blocks, is a music-based game like no other. It adds innovative musical gameplay to an addictive action/puzzle game. The game features 27 different stages for everyone, from casual to hardcore. It also includes 15 levels of unlockable bonuses, cooperative play and a head-to-head mode."

The album, JETPAK, drops today on http://mercerfriendly.com and Sept. 15th via Amazon.com.







For more on Mercer Friendly, please visit:

Mercerfriendly.com

and
Mercer Friendly's Myspace

Congratualtions on your great debut album, Mercer Friendly, and best of luck for the future!

P.S. The album really is great, drop by and get it, you won't regret it!

New Final Fantasy Distant Worlds Concert Dates Announced!

Two more shows have been announced in the Final Fantasy Distant Worlds concert tour!

1. October 8th, 2008 -

Denver, Colorado at 7:30pm in the Boettcher Concert Hall
For tickets, call (303) 623-7876 and on sale online September 8, 2008. *NOTE: THE OFFICIAL SITE DOES NOT LIST MR. UEMATSU AS A GUEST FOR THIS SHOW* Conducting again will be Mr. Arnie Roth.

2. April 14th, 2009 -


Grand Rapids, Michigan at 7:30pm in the DeVos Performance Hall
For tickets, call (616) 454-9451, Ext. 4. They have been on sale now online since September 3, 2008.

*MR. UEMATSU IS SCHEDULED TO APPEAR IN GRAND RAPIDS, WITH A MEET SESSION AFTER THE CONCERT.*
If you would like to meet Mr. Uematsu, this is your chance. Take it from me, paying the extra price for the ticket is so worth it, you won't regret it!

More information at the Distant Worlds site:

Official Distant Worlds Site

See you next time!

Drawing Heavy Metal Megaman

I needed an excuse to make a video featuring more of Dangerous Mezashi Cat's awesome Megalomania Megaman rock CD, so I threw this together. The armor was mostly improvised in the video, but I had some idea of the look I was going for prior to drawing it. Hope you enjoy the video!

Megaman 9 Soundtrack/ Arrange Album Release Dates

According to CD Japan, the Megaman 9 soundtrack will be released on 9/12, and a Megaman 9 arrange album the following month, on 10/10. I was hoping they would immediately release the music on CD, instead of having to wait a long time like the original MM 1-6 NES music. I expect pre-orders to begin at CocoeBiz soon too, but for now I'll post the CD Japan link. Cool!

Pre-order link for Megaman 9 OST at CD Japan

More soon, but in the meantime here's some new art:

Megaman and Superman team up!

RIZ-ZOAWD Looks Promising...

It looks like a fantastic game, doesn't it? Many sites have screen shots, but only a few name the composers for this game, and I wanted to spread the word. It's Hitoshi Sakimoto and Michiko Naruke! I went to the official site and listened to the music there, and got really excited. I hope it comes out in English. There are trailers on youtube, but the official site is really neat. I am looking forward to seeing more!

Visit the Official RIZ-ZOAWD site!

Legend of Xanadu playthrough video Progress:

I've been working on the Legend of Xanadu Video Playthrough series for my youtube channel, and will post parts 23 & 24 soon. As I'm playing through, I am enhancing the Legend of Xanadu help page with all new hints, chronological orders of events and sample videos to help with some of the difficult puzzles in the game. When complete, the game will be much easier for those who would like to play it, but don't know Japanese.

*If you had tickets for the August 23rd Play! concert that was canceled, and your tickets were being held for will call:

I called the box office regarding my refund on August 8th, and noticed no action was taken yet as of today. So I called again today and was informed that they will have all refunds processed within five days. I hope that information will be useful to you.

THANKS FOR 10,000 HITS!!

Thanks to those who visit my page! I will post the traditional drawing soon. I just have to finish it... If you look at the site counter at the bottom of this page, you'll see I changed the Megaman up with a new drawing which was just completed today. In the links section I added links to the CocoeBiz Youtube Channel as well as my own.

See you next time!

Play! concert scheduled for August 23rd in San Francisco canceled

I was planning on attending this show, and even bought a ticket, however I checked the Play! site yesterday and noticed the August 23rd concert date was missing from their upcoming shows list. I figured it might have been re-scheduled or canceled, then I got an e-mail from the box office:

"Dear Patron,

Thank you for your recent ticket purchase for PLAY! A VIDEO GAME SYMPHONY. Unfortunately this event has been canceled. The presenters of this event have promised to reschedule for a date most likely in 2009.

Please return your tickets for a refund to the address below.

City Box Office
180 Redwood Street, Suite 100
San Francisco, CA 94102

Attn: Refunds

If your tickets are being held for will call you will be automatically refunded and need to take no action.

Please keep an eye out for the rescheduled date. We are sorry for the news of the cancellation.

Please feel free to contact us if you have any questions regarding this email."

City Box Office

(415) 392-4400

Lauren A. McQuade
General Manager
CITY BOX OFFICE
(415)392-4400

Believe me, as a veteran of game music concerts, this means when the show does happen it will be incredible! If I get any updates I'll let you know.