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[PR]上記の広告は3ヶ月以上新規記事投稿のないブログに表示されています。新しい記事を書く事で広告が消えます。
Finally we get to see it and we get to listen to it. New single from Jarre's upcoming album called "Téo & Téa" is released and premiere date for the album is set to March 26th.
Usually I'm glad when an artist like Jarre releases something new. He's been around for ages and he was, and still is, a huge influence within the world of synth music. This time around I'm a bit pissed to be frank. Why?
Jarre IS synthetic music. The guy basically commercialised electronic music, and re-invented it a few times since. And don't give me no Wendy Carlos, because I don't care.
It's 2007 now and Jarre is all good to go, once again. He's been recording his new album during the last year and now we got to listen to the first single. Now is it just me, or does "Téo & Téa" sound like an avarage club track? On top of that, the main motif bares a striking resemblance to that of "Oxygene 8".
Come on Jarre! The album following your '97 "Oxygene" was called "Metamorphoses". Doesn't that mean you're supposed to be making something new? It does. So where did this club track come from? And did you have to copy your own work from ten years ago? Are you really out of ideas? Next time steal someone elses music, not your own.
And by the way, the photo of Oxygene vinyl is the actual 1976 french release, first pressing, in a mint condition. And yes, I am a total nerd.
PR
As you may have already noticed, I just got my hands on some new and exciting stuff. Well, not new per say, but new in my ever growing collection of videogames and videogame related crap.
It feels really good when you score some rather pricey items really cheap, and that was the case this time around. Five titles in total, all bought from a collector who probably was in dire need of some cash. All in nearly mint condition.
Final Fantasy II 『ファイナルファンタジーII』 - Wonderswan
Final Fantasy II for Wonderswan Color could pass for a Super Famicom game if it wasn't for sound. As you may or may not know, Wonderswan sound quality can be compared to that of Famicom or GameBoy. I kind of hoped they would upgrade the sound hardware when they released the Color version, but they didn't. And it didn't happend when Crystal was released. Nonetheless, the game has some amazing music, concidering the hardware limitations.
It plays like any other 2D Final Fantasy game. If you played the original version on Famicom you'll feel at home. I guess the best feature of the game would have to be the platform it was released on. Yes, I know, years later it was "kind of" ported to the PlayStation in Final Fantasy Origins, but to play it on a handheld back then was really something.
Wonderswan would have to be one of the most underestimated handheld platforms of all time. It had some great games, big ass screen, colors and more colors [Color and Crystal] and yet, it wasn't a match for GameBoy. And I'm not even talking about Advance. Oh well.
If you never had the chance to try out a Wonderswan, here's a video of Final Fantasy II, just to give you a sample of how it looks and sounds like. This sure is one platform that didn't deserve to die by Nintendo's hand.
Bahamut Lagoon 『バハムート ラグーン』 - Super Famicom
Now this is what you want when you buy a used oldie. Complete box with manual and every little piece of paper that came with the original package.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Super Famicom
『フロントミッションシリーズ ガンハザード』
Seiken Densetsu 2 『聖剣伝説2』 - Super Famicom
This game doesn't need much introduction. After all, it's one of the most popular Square RPGs that have actually made it outside of Japan. Being an action RPG, Seiken Densetsu 2 [Or Secret of Mana] uses a battle system similar to that of Zelda. Which is a pleasant change. For once you can run around and attack enemies only when you feel like it, and not when the game wants you to.
Soul Edge 『ソウルエッジ』 - PlayStation
Not to mention the intro, which even today beats most of game openings hands down. Just check it out, and don't forget to press stop on the jukebox [the Fogma music player on the right] if you didn't do that already.
Some may argue that Soul Edge lacks the gameplay depth of Tekken. This might be true, but depends on how you think about it. PlayStation got three Tekken games. First one was good, but only when it came out. Today you just can't stand the slow moves and getting up from the ground takes ages. Not to mention the character design and Law with his mouth open at all times.
The second Tekken was okay. Vastly improved gameplay and tons of CG movies everybody loved so much. Still, characters did look kind of blocky, and getting up from the ground was still a major pain.
And then we got Tekken 3. Tons of additional features, CG movies, great design [no 3D backgrounds though, and a few less polys than in the arcade version]. You could even pop in your Tekken or Tekken 2 discs and check out the multimedia content. The gameplay was rock solid too, and everybody was happy. But is it fair to compare Soul Edge to Tekken series thinking mainly of Tekken 3?
Soul Edge came out of nowhere, in '96 mind you, and it didn't have to evolve into the game we now remember. This was the game. Bang! There it was! Nearly flawless, stunning gameplay and graphics. If you still thing Tekken is better it terms of achievements, think of the three games it took to make it as deacent as Soul Edge was from the very beginning.
It feels really good when you score some rather pricey items really cheap, and that was the case this time around. Five titles in total, all bought from a collector who probably was in dire need of some cash. All in nearly mint condition.
Final Fantasy II 『ファイナルファンタジーII』 - Wonderswan
Final Fantasy II for Wonderswan Color could pass for a Super Famicom game if it wasn't for sound. As you may or may not know, Wonderswan sound quality can be compared to that of Famicom or GameBoy. I kind of hoped they would upgrade the sound hardware when they released the Color version, but they didn't. And it didn't happend when Crystal was released. Nonetheless, the game has some amazing music, concidering the hardware limitations.
It plays like any other 2D Final Fantasy game. If you played the original version on Famicom you'll feel at home. I guess the best feature of the game would have to be the platform it was released on. Yes, I know, years later it was "kind of" ported to the PlayStation in Final Fantasy Origins, but to play it on a handheld back then was really something.
Wonderswan would have to be one of the most underestimated handheld platforms of all time. It had some great games, big ass screen, colors and more colors [Color and Crystal] and yet, it wasn't a match for GameBoy. And I'm not even talking about Advance. Oh well.
If you never had the chance to try out a Wonderswan, here's a video of Final Fantasy II, just to give you a sample of how it looks and sounds like. This sure is one platform that didn't deserve to die by Nintendo's hand.
Bahamut Lagoon 『バハムート ラグーン』 - Super Famicom
Now this is what you want when you buy a used oldie. Complete box with manual and every little piece of paper that came with the original package.
Front Mission: Gun Hazard - Super Famicom
『フロントミッションシリーズ ガンハザード』
Seiken Densetsu 2 『聖剣伝説2』 - Super Famicom
This game doesn't need much introduction. After all, it's one of the most popular Square RPGs that have actually made it outside of Japan. Being an action RPG, Seiken Densetsu 2 [Or Secret of Mana] uses a battle system similar to that of Zelda. Which is a pleasant change. For once you can run around and attack enemies only when you feel like it, and not when the game wants you to.
Soul Edge 『ソウルエッジ』 - PlayStation
Not to mention the intro, which even today beats most of game openings hands down. Just check it out, and don't forget to press stop on the jukebox [the Fogma music player on the right] if you didn't do that already.
Some may argue that Soul Edge lacks the gameplay depth of Tekken. This might be true, but depends on how you think about it. PlayStation got three Tekken games. First one was good, but only when it came out. Today you just can't stand the slow moves and getting up from the ground takes ages. Not to mention the character design and Law with his mouth open at all times.
The second Tekken was okay. Vastly improved gameplay and tons of CG movies everybody loved so much. Still, characters did look kind of blocky, and getting up from the ground was still a major pain.
And then we got Tekken 3. Tons of additional features, CG movies, great design [no 3D backgrounds though, and a few less polys than in the arcade version]. You could even pop in your Tekken or Tekken 2 discs and check out the multimedia content. The gameplay was rock solid too, and everybody was happy. But is it fair to compare Soul Edge to Tekken series thinking mainly of Tekken 3?
Soul Edge came out of nowhere, in '96 mind you, and it didn't have to evolve into the game we now remember. This was the game. Bang! There it was! Nearly flawless, stunning gameplay and graphics. If you still thing Tekken is better it terms of achievements, think of the three games it took to make it as deacent as Soul Edge was from the very beginning.
Work sucks and I dare you to disagree. If you're telling me you're doing something you really love, you are most probably lying. Seriously, I can't believe that there actually are people who enjoy their work. And I don't mean the first week or month either.
I'll probably start drinking on the job and I'm not even joking when I write this. As the matter of fact, I'm having a beer right now.
Whether you sit, stand or run around, drill holes in the walls, lick envelopes, serve burgers, clean toilets, do paperwork, more paperwork and some more paperwork, you'll get bored eventually. But hey, no pain no gain, right? Right.
My job is sucking the life right out of me. Few precious hours are often stolen from me by various chores and thinking about how bad the next day at work will suck. On top of that you have to be nice to everyone and often even SMILE! ArRrrrgh!
I swear to God. One day I'll go berserk, turn green, rip my clothes off [except for the pants] and trash the place.
I'll probably start drinking on the job and I'm not even joking when I write this. As the matter of fact, I'm having a beer right now.
Whether you sit, stand or run around, drill holes in the walls, lick envelopes, serve burgers, clean toilets, do paperwork, more paperwork and some more paperwork, you'll get bored eventually. But hey, no pain no gain, right? Right.
My job is sucking the life right out of me. Few precious hours are often stolen from me by various chores and thinking about how bad the next day at work will suck. On top of that you have to be nice to everyone and often even SMILE! ArRrrrgh!
I swear to God. One day I'll go berserk, turn green, rip my clothes off [except for the pants] and trash the place.
Some time ago I've decided to release, or re-release a couple of good old PC DOS classics. Current freeware status of the games pushed all the legal issues aside and so, two classic titles earned a new package full of good old retro fun.
First one up was "Ugh!". Developed in 1992 by Bones Park Software Artistic and published by PlayByte, the game features a caveman, who's trying to impress his love interest by flying a stone age helicopter taxi.
The new edition of the game features all of the original content, plus a nice intro and a cool installer. Just run the executable and unpack the game into the specified folder.
Game works fine under both Windows 9X and XP. I didn't get the chance to test it on Vista, but I can't see why it shouldn't work with Vista aswell. A little hint: If you poke around the intro window, you might just find a secret!
First one up was "Ugh!". Developed in 1992 by Bones Park Software Artistic and published by PlayByte, the game features a caveman, who's trying to impress his love interest by flying a stone age helicopter taxi.
The new edition of the game features all of the original content, plus a nice intro and a cool installer. Just run the executable and unpack the game into the specified folder.
Game works fine under both Windows 9X and XP. I didn't get the chance to test it on Vista, but I can't see why it shouldn't work with Vista aswell. A little hint: If you poke around the intro window, you might just find a secret!
So I got myself a blog jukebox. As if the visuals alone weren't enough, from now on you'll have some sound too. It might not suit everybody's taste [hell, it doesn't even suit mine, for the most part], but it's just something I wanted to take for a test spin. As far as I know, the jukebox should start by itself. If the music bothers you, you can always turn it off. Just check out the essential features on the picture below [click to enlarge], if you haven't worked all that out by yourself already.
The music is played at random, but sticks to trance, ambient, house, progressive and alike. I totally dig the melodic ambient tunes. That's why I got the jukebox in the first place. If you're into death metal, grind metal, trash metal, punk metal, heavy metal, light metal or metal metal, just mute the thing and pop your favorite CD into the stereo.
* * *
In other news, my bonsai tree is feeling a bit weak lately. Despite the proper watering and care, it started to lose leafs. This condition is most likelu caused by the fact, that it stands on my window with the radiator directly under it. During the colder days it takes all the heat the radiator produces. Bummer. I hope it gets better.
The music is played at random, but sticks to trance, ambient, house, progressive and alike. I totally dig the melodic ambient tunes. That's why I got the jukebox in the first place. If you're into death metal, grind metal, trash metal, punk metal, heavy metal, light metal or metal metal, just mute the thing and pop your favorite CD into the stereo.
In other news, my bonsai tree is feeling a bit weak lately. Despite the proper watering and care, it started to lose leafs. This condition is most likelu caused by the fact, that it stands on my window with the radiator directly under it. During the colder days it takes all the heat the radiator produces. Bummer. I hope it gets better.
