The Growing Link Between Video Games and the Music Industry

When one thinks of video games, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Graphics, sound, etc., but certainly not music. Because of the major technological advance within the 10 years, video games and music is something that now walks hand in hand. The more complicated and realistic, the better the music will be.

In the early days of videogames, music played no great part when it
came to playing a game. Sounds were used simply to illustrate actions.
Take for example Pong, one of the original commercially available
computer games, developed in the 1950’s. It comprised of two ‘bats’
represented on screen as rectangles and a ball. The object was to play
a kind of tennis game, while bleeps represented the ball hitting the
bat. The game was basic but it caught the imagination of players
around the globe. In 1972 the Magnavox Odyssey was released in the US,
the first games console ever made. However it was a completely silent
machine. It was not until Atari released the Atari Video Computer
System in 1977 that sounds really made impact upon games. These were
still only very basic sound effects though.

What came next could be described as the beginnings of video game
music. Space Invaders, a basic arcade game arrived with a menacing
tune set to put fear into its players. The tune actually became more
frantic as the ‘Invaders’ came closer to their goal, while the player
tries to destroy them. This had the effect of raising the blood
pressure and heart rate of its players, absorbing them fully into this
world. The game was phenomenally successful due to the fact it was the
first interactive audiovisual game that made its players feel an
adrenalin rush.

Over the next 10 years, games were to become more sophisticated along
with their sound tracks. Through the eighties, well known games such
as Pacman, Donkey Kong and Tetris all arrived with unique soundtracks
played through low-tech sound processors. Individual composers, such
as Shigeru Myamoto, creator of music for the Zelda series of games,
became recognised through their work on games, and in 1989 Michael
Jackson saw the potential video games had for promoting music,
releasing his own title, Moonwalk. It featured synthesised versions of
Billie Jean and Beat It. He was to pave the way for many artists who
have contributed to computer games in more recent times.

It is indisputable that since the release of the Playstation, Sony has
dominated the games industry, with Nintendo lagging behind. The newest
console from Sony, the Playstation 2 does everything the PSX did, but
with much improved graphics and sound, and a DVD player. It can be
connected to the net for online gaming and web browsing. This machine
is a true multimedia system. Nintendo has caught up slightly with the
game cube, and Microsoft has made their entrance with the X-Box, both
offering high quality sound and visuals. Sony’s success can be put
down to the fact they applied quality music and video to their games
from the start.

With CD quality sound now commonplace on consoles, the music within a
game is no longer limited to synthesized sounds. This allows the game
environment to become more atmospheric. This also means well known
music can be placed within a game. When Sony released the play station,
it was not long before they released their groundbreaking title,
Wipeout. This game was a high energy racing game, accompanied by a
fast and thrilling soundtrack featuring such artists as the Chemical
Brothers, Orbital and Leftfield. Within the game it was possible to
select the track you wished to be heard as you raced through winding
tunnels and over vast canyons. The music in this game was possibly
more important than the game itself, and indeed the soundtrack was
released as an album. This illustrated the soundtracks importance
within a game, akin to film music, and paved the way for musicians’
involvement in the games industry. The follow up titles in this series
also involved acts such as Prodigy, Underworld and in the most recent
version, DJ Sasha. A host of acts have appeared on games since. Mogwai
created the soundtrack for Actua Ice Hockey 2 and Ash earned ?600,000
in royalties for their track on Gran Turismo. Grand Theft Auto is
known for its in game radio stations, and Grand Theft Auto 4: Vice
City, Interactive eighties themed version of the game boasts several
selectable radio stations with a variety of artists from the Eighties
including Gary Newman and Blondie Again the soundtrack to this game
will be released as an album. So it seems that, as the case is with a
good film, the soundtrack to a game provides as much of the experience
as any graphics.

The music industry is set to benefit from this relatively new medium.
Artists being heard on games are able to promote their music directly
at their target audience, 18-25 year olds, while collecting royalties
from the sale of the game. The artist’s appearance also works as
promotion for the game, meaning the two industries work well together.
Music is also significant as far as determining the quality of a game.
The soundtrack plays a very important role; similar to the way it
works in film. However, there are of course, major differences between
games and film In fact it seems the music within a game is more
important than it is in film, interacting with the players reactions
and completing the full experience.

Over the next few years, consoles such as the Playstation 2 will start
to integrate more in homes, becoming as common as items like video
players or stereos. This new entertainment system encompassing
audio-visual playing with multimedia capabilities will replace the
need for such items. It is important therefore the music industry
keeps up with this medium in order to continue benefiting from it

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A Guide To Starting A Career In Video Games - Prepare Yourself For A Break-In!

Starting a career in the video game industry used to a difficult thing; there were very few options and very few schools that could teach the required cutting edge skills. If you wanted to choose this path you had to be self taught. Today this dilemma has been turned upside down. You now have a plethora of schools to choose from and lots of programs and specialties to decide amongst. Here is some advice on what the industry has to offer and what you can do to prepare yourself.

The video game industry has changed over the past ten years. It has matured and is now a full-fledged industry. This means that there are plenty of opportunities to find a rewarding career without being a hot-shot game programmer. As a matter of fact, the days of the hot shot developer are pretty much over. In today’s world the creation of a state of the art video game now requires a dedicated team of employees with a wide range of skills and interests.

What does this mean for you? It means opportunity in a lot of different disciplines and it means that you have to specialize within a subgenre of the big picture of “Making Video Games”. But before you pack off and go to a video game school or dish out the dollars for an online school there are some things you should do and some things you need to know.

1. Learn the basic concepts of game design

Have an understanding of video games, how they’re played, and what they’re all about. You should have a feel for the game industry; know what games are out there, what styles of play they have, and how they handle the game playing experience. Chances are good that you already fulfill this requirement.

Have an understanding of the underlying principles of game design. There are several ways that you can do this. I recommend one or both of these methods to get you started in this:

Build Mods - Mods are modifications of existing games. Quake is a famous game for this approach. You use the mod builder software and you build levels or worlds that can be added right into the game itself. The Mod sub culture is very vibrant and you can find a lot of support and help. To gain even better experience that translates well into a corporate environment you should join a volunteer Mod development team. This gives you good teamwork experience and gives you insight on how a video game project is broken down into pieces.
Get a free or inexpensive Game engine development suite and build your own games. You can build adequate and fun to play games on your own this way. I recommend you do this with the Genesis 3d Game development software. It is completely free.

2. Get familiar with some of the professions in the industry and the tools that are used.

There are a whole host of tools that game design teams use. And the tools you would use are dependent on what role you would play on the team. Here is an overview of some of the different jobs in the industry and what software tools they would use.

If you like drawing and painting with traditional tools you might want to consider being a concept artist. They do all their work with off computer art tools. They would conceptualize and draw the scenes and the creatures in a game.

If you think you might like computer designing worlds and scenes in a video game you should consider being a 2-dimensional artist. They create all the structures, textures and backgrounds in game worlds. Photoshop is the de-facto program for this job. If you can afford a copy of this program you will get a definite insight into this career path. If you cannot afford Photoshop you should consider getting Paint Shop Pro. It is less expensive and very similar to Photoshop and it will give you a good foundation into the world of 2-dimensional artwork.

If Characters and models are what you are enthusiastic about you should consider becoming a 3-Dimensional Model Artist. This type of artist is concerned with making the characters, monsters, creatures and objects that inhabit a video game world. In this area of game art the choice of software is not as straight-forward as in the 2d art. The most accepted software is 3D studio Max. Two other popular programs are Maya and SoftImage. If you are looking for a free 3d modeling tool that will get you started you may want to get Milkshape. It is a tool designed for the game Half-Life.

The concepts of modeling are universal so the skills will transfer from one tool to the other. You will just have to learn the specifics of the new tool which will be easy enough.

Animator - This is the person that makes the characters and objects in the game move. It is a very specific skill and it takes good understanding of animation to get things right. There are many software programs that are used for animation and they include Macromedia Flash, Alias/Wavefront, 3D Studio Max and Lightwave 3D.

Programmer - This is something that is a little more traditional when we think of video game making “Programming” and it is a very wide field that can find you doing almost anything in the video game making arena. A programmer could be called upon to do any number of things from managing a database to designing the artificial intelligence within a game or creating specialized software tools that other designers use to create the game.

Other Opportunities in Video game design - There are many other jobs in the video game industry ranging from Script and story writer to even network administrator or computer maintenance and repair technician.

Today there are many different career paths that can be taken into the video game industry. This requires you to specialize in a set of skills. Understanding what these different skills are and getting a head start now will increase your marketability in the very competitive video game industry.

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The Irony of Sports Video Games

Most people will agree that playing a sport is one of the best ways to keep active and healthy. It’s exercise with a more entertaining purpose. And there is no denying just how popular sports are. They are a bit part of the American culture and a good part of many other countries’. It’s also then no surprise just how popular sports video games are, either. Of course, there’s a lot of irony in that. They are complete opposites.

Sports video games do promote some things. If played with friends, there’s the social interaction of them. It would be like watching a game with buddies. But even watching the game lacks activity that playing it in real life provides.

The good thing is that a lot of kids that do play the sports video games also play the sport or a sport in real life. They’re active young athletes that just like to have a little fun at home or a friend’s house. It’s also a great thing for rainy or snowy days. It could even help improve their own play and understanding of the rules.

The bad thing is that there are some parents that don’t promote the real thing enough. They might just think that because it’s a sports game that it will get the kid excited about going outside to really play it. This isn’t always the case. A parent doesn’t have to stop allowing his or her child to play the game, but the parent should promote outdoor activities too.

It’s quite funny when you think about it. The fascination and fixation of many outdoor sports has lead to the creation of indoor activities and ways to experience them. There are even video game tournaments. You can’t blame these people though. Sports has just grown a part of their life as it has for many others.

I may not understand the fascination with playing a sports game or watching it on TV over playing it in real life, but it’s still good. Everyone has their own preferences. I just hope we don’t become too unattached from the real world as a society and start making simulations of other things. It’s bad enough we already watch too much TV, a lot of it pointless and repetition of already successful things. I’m not the most active person in the world, or biggest sports fan, but I still believe its more fun to play it in real life than do anything a video game or TV can about the sport.

Jake Rose is an artist and an author on http://www.Writing.Com/
which is a site for Fiction Writing.

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