Gaming, Star Trek Style: Starfleet Academy September 8, 2016

Today is the fiftieth anniversary of the broadcast of the very first episode of the groundbreaking Star Trek television series.  Not too many classic staples of science fiction get to say that they’re still going strong fifty years later, but today Star Trek gets to say that.

On this website we’ve talked about our past with the franchise, particularly when it comes to gaming. This is after all a gaming website.  Earlier this week, we discussed a Star Trek game that never came out, Secret of Vulcan Fury. Today, we want to talk about the game I played that made me aware of Secret of Vulcan Fury in the first place, the PC flight sim Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.

I first became aware of Starfleet Academy after completing Star Trek: Borg for the first time.  In 1997, I was becoming an enormous Star Trek fan. After being one of the first tourists to check out Star Trek: The Experience in Vegas, I found myself enjoying reruns of Star Trek: The Next Generation and post-season 3 episodes of Star Trek Voyager.  However, even though I had a decent PC at the time, I didn’t have much money to spend for new games, due to the fact I was still in grade school. One day, after celebrating my birthday, I saw a copy of Starfleet Academy for sale at Circuit City and I happily put down some birthday money for a copy of the game and its official strategy guide.

I installed the game as soon as I got home and was greeted by this trailer once the installation concluded, and I couldn’t imagine a better way to fire myself up.  I watched the game’s live-action introduction cinematic and got through the first simulator mission.  With the first mission complete, I saved my game and selected what I thought would be the next simulation mission only to find myself watching another live-action cinematic. The game was putting a heavy focus on the personalities of the crew I would be directing through these simulations and it turned out I would be making major decisions for these trainees as the school year went on!

Starfleet Academy‘s live-action component was no small undertaking. Heck, these FMVs were so detailed they deserved to be their own game and to this day I’m shocked they haven’t been rereleased on DVD.  They included a great cast of original actors for the training bridge crew, and William Shatner, George Takei and Walter Koenig all returned to their iconic roles of Captain Kirk, Pavel Checkov, and Mr. Sulu.  These three served as the experienced mentors they needed to be, a perfect fit for a game focused on the next generation of Starfleet.

The game’s story was so fleshed out it was later adapted as a novel by Diane Carey.  I actually used the book as the basis for an oral presentation in my sophomore English class. If you want to know how well I did on the presentation, most of my peers put the class to sleep droning on about their books, but the class enjoyed my presentation, as I weaved them a complex story about a group of students dealing with a difficult year while tragedy strikes.  My peers liked it so much they wouldn’t let me step off my podium until I told them how the book ended.  I’m pretty certain I got an A.

However, unlike Star Trek: Borg, which was an interactive FMV game with a fairly linear narrative, decisions you made in Starfleet Academy could have an enormous effect later in the game. Heck, halfway into the game you could make the wrong decision in a cinematic and lose the whole game.  Cinematic decisions could also affect your simulator scores, which I later learned would have an effect on the game’s ending.  My strategy guide had no information about these cinematic sequences, only the simulations, so I had to trust I was making the right decisions as I went on.

I was never much of a flight-sim player growing up and this game’s simulation had a really steep learning curve. In fact it took me months to figure out how to complete the final mission in the Alshoff campaign. After what must have been the hundredth attempt, I was finally able to beat the mission.  Once I had that level beat, I was able to complete the rest of the game in less than two days.

If you want to know my favorite missions I fondly remember a mission based on the plot of The Wrath of Khan, a mission taking place in a nebula (where sensors were limited), the final mission and of course the mission where you actually got to play the Kobiashi Maru no-win scenario. I totally won that.

In fact I remember the night I beat the twentieth mission and saw the game’s credits roll. I was puzzled as hell that the game was over because the strategy guide listed strategies for one more mission. That’s when I realized that the final mission would only be playable depending on if you got the game’s best ending.

What can I say about getting this game’s last mission?  To this day I don’t think anyone has come up with a strategy on how to unlock it, which is a real shame because it puts the player in control of the real USS Enterprise NCC-1701-A.  The only advice I could offer is to make decisions in both the simulator and the cinematics that keep your team’s scores as high as possible, and devote as much time as you can to further studying the McClanty during that story arc in the last few missions.

In my case, I may have lucked into the best ending because of some kind of bug. After the game’s credits finished rolling, the game immediatly started rolling one of the earlier cinematics. Apparently I had been sent back to replay the last three or four missions. I figured further study of the McClanty was important to unlocking the last mission so I decided to choose to investigate the McClanty as much as possible. Of course this is not a guarantee to earn the ending because your crew still needs to have high simulator scores, and tons of different variables can affect them.

Regardless of if you can unlock the last mission or not, this game still has the best presentation of the Kobiashi Maru no-win scenario, hands down. If you want to hear more about my thoughts on it, you can read them here. I actually played this game before I watched most of the Star Trek feature films. Imagine my surprise when I saw Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan on VHS for the first time.  I felt like I was experiencing the fandom the game’s developers had for the franchise in reverse.

I know Interplay later released an expansion pack for Starfleet Academy called Checkov’s Lost Missions but by the time I finished the original game I could not find a single software store selling it, and to this day I’ve never played it.

I’m afraid I’ll have to end this article on a down note. After talking all this time writing about this triumph Interplay published I’m afraid to say that earlier today I’ve just read that Interplay is planning to sell off their assets. My question is what happens to Run Like Hell?  I think Bawls should get it.

The Star Trek Game That Never Was, Secret of Vulcan Fury September 4, 2016

This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the incredible Star Trek Franchise.  Created by the late Gene Roddenberry, Star Trek started as a television series that took place in the 23rd Century where an international crew of explorers solved modern day problems during their trek through the stars.

While the initial series only lasted three seasons, it was a cult hit, especially among young people.  In the fifty years that followed, five television series (with a sixth on its way), thirteen feature films, numerous books and countless video games have been released under the Star Trek name.  I’ve already talked about my first experience playing a Star Trek video game, but I thought that in honor of Star Trek‘s 50th anniversary I would tell you all about a Star Trek game that never was, a game called Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury.

In the late 90s I was quickly becoming obsessed with the Star Trek brand after watching the film Star Trek: First Contact. This was a great time for Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation had ended its run but the entire series was being actively rerun in syndication. Star Trek: Voyager and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine were airing some of their finest episodes, and companies like Interplay and Simon and Schuster were releasing  all new Star Trek games for the PC.  Heck, I even visited Star Trek: The Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton twice. After enjoying the CD-ROM FMV game Star Trek: Borg I decided the next Star Trek game I would play would be the PC flight-sim Starfleet Academy.

I got a copy of Starfleet Academy for my birthday and quickly installed the game on my Windows 95 PC.  After the game finished installing, this trailer immediatly autoplayed.  Enjoy this first look at Star Trek: Secret of Vulcan Fury.

What you just saw was a trailer for a fully CGI-rendered Star Trek game based on the original series. Not only did the game’s art style perfectly match the look and feel of the original Star Trek tv series, veteran Star Trek writer D.C. Fontana was penning the script and the cast of the original show was preparing to donate their likenesses and voice work to the game.  Interplay was essentially making an all-new interactive episode of Star Trek in time for Christmas 1998. Sounds too good to be true doesn’t it?  In a way, it was.

As I’m sure you all know by now, the game was never released and that trailer was the only thing most gamers have seen of the game in twenty years. So what went wrong?  A few years ago someone asked about the cancelled project on Interplay’s official forums.  That’s when I discovered there had actually been a second trailer produced for the game, which premiered what would have been the game’s opening. I think this trailer was included with copies of Fallout 2, but I’m not totally sure about that.  Take a look.

That brief scene would have made a great opening for the game.  The CGI was top of the line at the time, James Doohan and William Shatner sounded great back in their iconic roles, and the trailer ended with some amazing teases including a promise to give players an interactive tour of the planet Vulcan.  How could this game fail?

Essentially Interplay had bit off more than they could chew with this game and you could see some of that when you look at all the features the trailers promised. Interplay was experimenting with fully pre-rendered CGI at a time when the technology for fully-CGI movies like Toy Story was only in its infancy. In fact the game was expected to feature even more CG footage than Toy Story, making it the most ambitious project to use prerendered CGI of its day.  While the technology was available to them, time was just not on their side.  Other development issues were mentioned including incomplete actor performances due to poor health.  This all spelled out bad news for not only the developers trying to complete the game but also for gamers who wanted to play it.

Christmas 1998 came and went without the game’s release.  Eventually information about the game was removed from Interplay’s website. Several reports have stated the game was only 5% complete when it was cancelled.  The publisher eventually lost the rights to the Star Trek license and would go on to weather financial turmoil during development of a new Fallout game.  Interplay bounced back and they currently license their properties for outside development while rereleasing their back catalog on modern distribution networks. 

With all that development turmoil happening I had no expectations anyone would ever see any more from Secret of Vulcan Fury. Then, YouTube user Ken Allen published this footage online.  It was originally shown behind closed doors at E3 1997 in Atlanta, but thankfully it is now available for the public to see!

I’m just going to say right now this footage is incredible.  It looks like it takes place right after the events depicted in the second trailer, and while the animation is still a little rough the art style matches the original sets perfectly.  He even posted up a closer look at the game’s interactive interface.

This looks like a pretty intuitive interface, and this is coming from someone who remembers the oversimplified scan and decision interface from Star Trek: Borg.

It’s a shame we never got to play this game back in the day but I want to thank Ken Allen for giving us this look at it.  Ken did mention on one of his YouTube videos he was considering releasing the game’s original design document online. Please do, Ken, we would be more than happy to report on it here.  It’s a shame this game never came out, but I would love the chance to read what is essentially a lost Star Trek episode.

As for my thoughts about how I liked the game Starfleet Academy, well that is a story for next time.

You Can’t Register Codes in Pokemon TCG Online for iPad June 10, 2016

We are really busy over here on the site and now that we had the chance to publish today’s video content, we wanted to devote some time this weekend before E3 to talk about what’s going on in the Pokémon community. What better way to start than by giving an introduction to the incredibly popular Pokémon Trading Card Game!

The Pokémon Trading Card Game has become a phenomenon since it first launched.  The game can even be played online without ever needing to open up a physical card deck.  That’s right, trainers who choose the TCG can sign up for the game at the official Pokémon website and use their skills, experience and wits to play online against other TCG trainers from all over the world.

Like with the physical TCG, players can purchase new card packs to improve their play decks. Online codes for digital cards can be obtained in physical game packs or through occasional promotional campaigns. This latter option is how many players preferred to get new cards online, and since the official application launched on the iPad (with Retina screen) last year, it was a popular option.

However, I was extremely disheartened to discover that Apple forced The Pokémon Company to disable the online code redemption for the iPad version of the game.  The Pokémon Company claims no credit at all for this policy change and say the decision was forced on them by Apple.

So what can you do if you are an iPad player with some card codes you would like to redeem?  I’m afraid you have no choice but to play the game on another platform. I personally would recomend the PC or Mac option. The computer interface is identical to the tablet version, barring the portability options offered by a tablet.  There’s no touchscreen support for the computer versions, but I still remember how to use a mouse, and that works fine.

I don’t blame The Pokémon Company at all for this decision as Apple has had a track list of dictating to developers what they will and will not allow on their digital marketplace, often to the detriment of the consumer. If you ask me Apple should reverse this decision immediately. Up to this point, there have not been widespread reports of issues with code redemption on the iPad, this new Apple policy is in my opinion an enormous mistake.  If you leave out an important feature of the game that your rival platforms will allow, players will switch gears and choose to use your rival’s platforms. It could inspire loyal players to trade in their iPad and switch to an Android tablet for their next upgrade.
The Pokémon Trading Card Game Online is out now and can be played on PC, Mac, Android Tablets and iPad.  You can download the game to your desktop or laptop for free right here or at your tablet’s digital marketplace.

New Pokemon Video Announcement Coming Tomorrow, What Could it Be? May 9, 2016

The Pokémon Company has confirmed that there will be an official announcement tomorrow on the Pokémon YouTube Channel.We currently know for a fact that at least two new Pokemon games are in development as I consider GEN 7 (Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon) one title, but we also know Pokémon Go is in development for smartphones. Chances are the video tomorrow could be about either of these titles, but which one, and what would the video be about?
So here are my theories about what The Pokémon Company could show us tomorrow:

1. It could be a trailer for Pokémon Sun and Pokémon Moon that shows actual gameplay.  The game’s official announcement trailer showed very little game content, and it would be nice to see actual gameplay and a look at the new game’s environment.

What are the Odds?: 75 percent. In all likely I would consider this the most likely option. GEN7 is just a few months away from release so actual game footage would be a good bet.

2. Pokémon Go Update. This could take multiple forms. The game is currently in a closed beta testing phase in limited regions. I know for a fact that people have been begging the developers to open the beta for worldwide testing, so we could see an announcement about that tomorrow. Or, if developer Niantic wanted to skip worldwide testing and go straight to releasing the game, we could get a release date announcement.

What are the Odds?: 50 percent chance Pokémon Go would simply get shown, 20 percent chance we could get an official release date, 15 percent chance it would be a Beta announcement. Pokémon Go‘s Beta testing announcements have been pretty hush hush (not counting the leaks) and I honestly wouldn’t expect Pokémon Go to greatly expand to a worldwide beta test unless they were very close to releasing the app. However, Pokémon Go is expected to launch this summer and it would make sense for The Pokémon Company to announce an official release date.

3. It could be an all new announcement for some new game we have no idea about.  This option just covers too broad a spectrum for me to fully investigate.  We see a new game in one of the Pokémon spin-off series, an English port of the Detective Pikachu downloadable game, or a Virtual Console announcement.

What are the Vegas Odds?: 10 percent. I would think the most likely candidate for a new announcement would be 3DS Virtual Console releases for GEN 2 (Gold/Silver/Crystal). GEN1 did VERY well in 3DS sales, and if Nintendo had any intelligence they would fast track re-releasing GEN2 as soon as they could.

So those are just my ideas, and I want to end this article by saying that I have no insider information about what is planed to be announced tomorrow, but I’m greatly looking forward to whatever may be coming next!

What do you think is coming tomorrow?  I want to hear your thoughts! Post a comment below.

Could Alan Wake 2 Be Remedy’s Next Project? April 15, 2016

Quantum Break is out now on Xbox One and Windows 10 systems and if you want my opinion you should pick it up as soon as possible.  The game was developed by Remedy, an independent game developer from Finland famous for creating the first two Max Payne games, Death Rally, and the cult classic Alan Wake.  Now that Quantum Break is out Remedy is free to produce whichever game they want, and after playing Quantum Break, I have a sneaking suspicion Remedy might be planning to make the game their fans want them to make most, Alan Wake 2, as their next game.

Now before we go any further I’d like to preface this article with a bit of a disclaimer. I have absolutely no insider knowledge inside Remedy or Microsoft (and that joke video I did a few years ago doesn’t count), I am simply a well-informed gamer who has kept his ear low to the ground whenever Remedy and Microsoft have publicly released information about their future plans.  Secondly, my ego is nowhere big enough to give me the desire to presume what I feel Remedy should do with their company, and if Remedy decides to take their company in a different direction than the one I predict here, I will have no problem with that.

So now, after getting all of that out of the way, let’s get started with some background information, shall we?  Alan Wake was developed by Remedy Games for the Xbox 360 during the later half of the last decade and they still own the rights to the game’s Intellectual Property (IP).  While Microsoft was involved with the games’s production, they merely published the title and did not fund it. Remedy actually self-funded Alan Wake’s development and that gave them a lot of flexibility to make the best title they could.  Alan Wake‘s sales met its expected projections, and while the game has a reputation of being merely a cult classic, it not only sold well, it was received very well by critics and gamers alike.  Other than publisher apathy, there’s nothing stopping Remedy from making another Alan Wake game, and I’d like to break down some of the recent hints Remedy has been dropping that a new Alan Wake game might be Remedy’s very next project.

First, I’d like to remind you that digital copies of Alan Wake were bundled with Quantum Break and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare was Quantum Break‘s preorder gift.  Not only did this add a great value to gamers’ wallets, it speaks volumes about Remedy and Microsoft’s faith in the Alan Wake games.  On top of that, both Alan Wake and Alan Wake’s American Nightmare are now fully playable on the Xbox One using Backwards Compatibility, an honor only a few other Xbox 360 titles have right now. This is an obvious attempt to grow Alan Wake‘s fanbase, since both opportunities offer new players the chance to play both of the original titles, and to remind long-time fans of how great the original games were.  New players might be interested to finally see the games people have been talking about for years, and any pre-existing fans who already had either game could just gift their download codes to other potential players interested in finally playing the games themselves.

I spoke to a long time Remedy superfan recently about this and I wanted to share their thoughts with you. They said, “..if more people are interested [in Alan Wake 2] from playing Quantum Break, [Microsoft] might change their mind [and publish it].

Then there was this next development.  A few months before wrapping up Quantum Break, Remedy released this video through the press organization Polygon:

If you’ve already seen this video or not, I think we need to discuss the context behind its creation and its release. This video was produced in 2010 to pitch Alan Wake 2 to various game publishers.  According to information published in Quantum Break: The Secret History of Time Travel, Remedy planned to develop a sequel to Alan Wake immediatly after the original Alan Wake was released, but Microsoft was more interested in the concept behind Quantum Break, and Remedy decided to make Quantum Break next. It would later become the first game ever announced for the Xbox One console.

This footage turned a lot of heads and made gamers from all around the world write to the major game publishers, especially Microsoft, just to ask why they wouldn’t green light this project.  I have to complement Remedy for releasing this footage to the public when they did, because they put it out at the perfect time. A well managed  development studio would want to have another project in line once their current project ended.  If they wanted their next project to be Alan Wake 2, Remedy could use the pressure from the franchise’s fans (rallied by the release of the original pitch footage) to convince publishers to back the project they want to make.

Finally, I’d like to put on a tinfoil hat and talk about one particular Alan Wake Easter Egg hidden in Quantum Break.  In the new game’s first act, players will come across a television inside a tent. If you turn it on, a live-action movie will begin to play on the screen starring some actors long time Remedy fans might be familiar with.  While a good source for the video doesn’t exist yet, here’s a different video confirming its inclusion in the game.

If you watched my Let’s Play of the first act of Quantum Break you would know we stumbled onto the Easter Egg early on during the first half of our playthrough. I’m sure anyone who watched the video could see how much that video affected me  just based on my reaction while I watched it.  This was not just some simple joke, Remedy went to the trouble to put the actor who played Alan Wake in it.  The narration hinted directly at the events of Alan Wake, and at possible ideas for the future of the franchise.  The video ended with the word RETURN, the title Alan chose for his next manuscript, the same manuscript meant to free him from the prediciment he found himself in at the end of the first game.  This was an incredible video, which could best be described by both myself and another superfan as just “awesome”.  Unfortunately, while Alan Wake’s Return has been recently trademarked by Remedy, Remedy later told the press that the trademark was filed specifically for that video and only that video.   Alan Wake Easter Eggs were not just limited to that specific video, the game had plenty of other connections to Alan Wake’s universe, giving some credence to the theory that the games take place in the same universe.  Quantum Break also broadcasts the television show Night Springs, a signed copy of one of Alan’s books can be found in the game, and the information left on a lecture hall’s chalkboard gave a great boost to the hearts of fans that a new Alan Wake game was coming!  Heck, I think I even caught William wearing an Old Gods of Asgard shirt for a split second.  Why include all of this along so many other nods to Alan Wake in Quantum Break if not to lay the groundwork for an eventual return?

That’s just my thoughts but I want to hear what you think. Feel free to post your thoughts in the comments section below. Of course, this is all speculation and while I am greatly looking forward to seeing an Alan Wake sequel, Remedy is free to make whatever game they want.  If you’d like to see Alan Wake 2, my advice would be to write to anyone at Microsoft or any other major game publisher and tell them you’re a fan of the franchise and you’d like to see them work with Remedy to release another one.  Now please excuse me so I can take this tin foil hat off.

Video Game Songs Deserving of a Grammy February 12, 2016

All content in the following article is protected as free speech under the First Amendment.

On Monday night, a farce will take place where a bunch of old people will give meaningless awards to musicians who just happen to be popular this year.  You may know this event as the Grammys and whether you’re a music enthusiast or not, you know that the event which claims to award outstanding music achievements is hardly a mark of actual quality. This is compounded by the fact that the event just will not get with the times.  Several years ago, a Grammy was awarded to the song “Baba Yetu”, a great song certainly deserving of the award, but how was the song even eligible for the award that year, since it was nominated nearly five years after it was produced for the game Civilization IV?

The Grammys, for some reason which completely escapes logic, does not have a catagory for Best Song Produced for a Video Game, and because of that, “Baba Yetu” did not win its award until the song was eventually released on CD.  How can this be?  Video game music is far more than just a series of beeps and bloops. Folks like Tommy Tallarico have made their careers composing and performing music for video games.  In fact, the budget to score a video game’s music rivals the budget of Hollywood films, and exceeds television production budgets.  They deserve an award category!

So, since the Grammys won’t do it, I thought I would award the outstanding songs over the past two decades which were overlooked by that organization. Hypothetically, “Baba Yetu” would have deservingly won that award in 2005, but what about every other year?  There were a lot of great songs produced for games over the past twenty years, and I think its time for me to do what the Grammys won’t and award the best video game song of each year!

Before we get started, there are a few rules I need to make clear. First off, we’re only going to name one song per year, and the song MUST have been produced exclusively for a video game. That means licensed tracks of existing songs do not count, but tracks that were produced for a game that later got included on a separate album are okay. That also means the song must contain a vocal track with lyrics, otherwise it could be considered part of the game’s background score, and that would be an entirely different award!

On a side note, If you would like to hear thoughts about The Grammys from someone who has an actual background in music, I recommend watching a review of the song “Walking in Memphis” by Todd in the Shadows.  Apparently, even actual musicians think the award show is a joke, and he could explain why better than I certainly can.

So without further ado, let’s get started.  We’re going to start this list in the year 1998, with a song that you’re all probably familiar with.

“The Best is Yet to Come” – Rika Muranaka – Metal Gear Solid (1998)

Metal Gear Solid is one of the greatest games ever produced, and the song “The Best is Yet to Come” is the perfect track to close out this amazing game.  It’s hard to explain just how this song is as great as it is without spoiling the ending, but depending on which ending you earned in the game, it could either work as a bittersweet symphony of your failure to save the life of someone you care about, or as a triumphant song to cap off a job well done.  Regardless, in both cases the song serves as a reminder that the possibilities the future held for these characters, and for the player, were bright.  When Metal Gear Solid was remade for the GameCube in 2004 as Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes, almost everything from the original game was replaced, except for this song.  “The Best is Yet to Come” remained completely untouched.  It’s not hard to imagine why.

“Eyes on Me” – Faye Wong and Nobuo Uematsu – Final Fantasy VIII (1999)

This song would probably not be my own decision to include on this list since as of the time this article is being written I haven’t actually played Final Fantasy VIII (since it hasn’t been ported to PS4 yet), but it’s overwhelming popularity alone merits its inclusion on this list.  The hate of the reviewer known as The Spoony One aside, this love song begins after an emotional moment where the game’s hero does something truly stupid to save the woman he loves. It’s a great moment that has a reputation of bringing grown men to tears and that is why it deserves an award.

“Melodies of Life” – Emiko Shiratori and Nobuo Uematsu – Final Fantasy IX (2000)

Square Enix follows up Final Fantasy VIII’s “Eyes on Me” with Final Fantasy IX’s “Melodies of Life”.  Whether you prefer the English version of this song or the Japanese version, there’s no denying this song’s impact in popular culture.  Final Fantasy IX was intended to be a love letter to fans of the original Final Fantasy, directly from the creator of the franchise.  The song perfectly captures the ideals of this game, and this song in particular has become something of a theme to the entire franchise.  Now that this game has just been re-released on iOS and Android SmartPhones and Tablets, a new generation finally has the chance to play this game for the first time and hear this wonderful song.

“Can’t Say Goodbye to Yesterday” – Rika Muranaka – Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (2001)

We’ve got another track from another Metal Gear Solid game, and one that truly deserves a place on this list.  If you were like me and watched the trailer for MGS2 back when it was first announced at E3 2000, you heard the first few seconds of it as the Konami logo faded onto the screen.  Like “The Best is Yet to Come” before it, this song served two purposes.  The first was to bookend the story of an amazing title, which in my opinion surpassed its predecessor, and the second was to remind the player of all of the possibilities the future held for these characters.  What can I say about the song itself?  The lyrics are magical, the piano medley was charming, and Rika’s vocals were incredible!  Its a great song deserving a spot on this list!

“Simple and Clean” – UTADA – Kingdom Hearts (2002)

On its surface, you would assume a song like “Simple and Clean” does not match well with a video game, and you’d be wrong.  This song’s strength is just how flexible it is. Throughout the first Kingdom Hearts game, you’ll hear this song played at several different tempos, with each one setting the mood of each scene its found in.  While the first version you hear of the song during the opening sequence is fast paced and sets a mood perfectly for the player to start exploring this exciting new world, the slower tempo of the version played during the game’s ending invokes a sense of wonder and accomplishment, signifying that the player’s difficult journey has ended for the time being, bringing it perfectly in line with the Disney animated classics I remembered from my childhood.  In fact the song was so flexible it would go on to get used in several other Kingdom Hearts games including RE: Chain of Memories and Birth by Sleep.  Its even woven into portion’s of the game’s orchestral score!

“1000 Words” -SWEETBOX – Final Fantasy X-2 (2003)

I love this song. From its haunting lyrics about two lovers trying to make their relationship work to its powerful vocal performance capable of emoting just as much as singing, this song belongs in every top ten best video game song list.  Its melody perfectly matches the in-game location it is being performed in, and it comes at an integral part of the game’s story, setting the stage perfectly for the game’s epic climax.  In fact, there’s a controversy over which version of this song is better, the original Japanese version, or the dubbed English version. Personally, I prefer the English version, because the English version was performed as duet and seeing the in-game duet featuring the characters Lenne and Yuna in the English version (opposed to the Japanese version where only Lenne sang) worked better for me.

“Snake Eater” – Cynthia Harrell – Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater (2004)

This song is a great blast from the past, and perfectly sets the stage for the game.  Let’s be honest, every James Bond movie can count on having a rocking opening credits sequence featuring a song produced strictly for the film.  It sets the tone for the movie and lets the audience know what kind of style they’ll be witnessing.  Hideo Kojima chose to open Metal Gear Solid 3‘s main story the exact same way.  As a game which serves as a prequel to the previous Metal Gear games, set in an entirely different era, Kojima needed to make the player clear that this was going to have to be a different kind of game, and I think the choice to use this song and its accompanying James Bond-esque credits sequence was the perfect decision!  Not only is the title sequence which accompanies the song perfect, but Harrell’s performance is great, and the lyrics fit perfectly with the game’s themes.

“Baba Yetu” -Christopher Tin – Civilization 4 (2005)

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“Take Me Home” – After Midnight Project – Prey (2006)

I have a deep soft spot for this song, as I loved the game Prey, and am probably only one of few people who actually remember it.  Following up on Max Payne 2‘s decision to end with an original song, the next game to be produced by 3D Realms would also end with an original song, and I think “Take Me Home” was the perfect choice.  In Prey, you’re abducted by aliens and must use the powers of your ancestors to free yourself and return to Earth.  What better song to embody this than “Take Me Home”?  On top of that, the melody is catchy, timed perfectly with the game’s end credits on the Xbox 360 and PC versions, and the lyrics are heartbreaking, fitting perfectly with the heavy personal losses Prey‘s protagonist must endure during his journey to free himself.  My only complaint?  Personally, I think I did a better job editing a music video for the song than the people who actually were paid to produce a music video did, but that’s not a mark against this song.

“Still Alive” – Ellen McClain and Jonathan Coulton – Portal (The Orange Box) (2007)

I’m sure this song’s inclusion will not surprise anyone, everyone loves this song!  This song is a perfect combination of everything just going right.  It plays at the best possible moment, serving as the end credits song for the game.  Its lyrics are hilarious, in fact, game journalist Geoff Keighly actually called it the “best song ever written for a video game”.  The vocal performance is incredible, sung masterfully by the actress who plays the game’s antagonist. Her deadpan delivery of the threatening lyrics just works so well.  Now, you can debate which version of the song you like best, but personally, I prefer Coulton’s version (which he will frequently perform live in concert), but the original version cannot be ignored.  In fact, Coulton was asked to perform the song on national television at the end of 2007, it was that popular and was a great way to cap off the year.

“Still Alive (Theme to Mirror’s Edge)” – Lisa Miskovski – Mirror’s Edge (2008)

In Mirror’s Edge, a city of glass is your playground.  Inspired by just a single screenshot from the game, this song was produced and its melody is just perfect.  Like “Simple and Clean” this is another one of those kinds of songs that is very flexible.  In fact, a whole album was published just for this one song…and remixes of the song in every different way imaginable!  On top of that, the song had an epic music video featuring vocalist Lisa Miskovski which literally shattered the wall between our world and the game’s.  When Mirror’s Edge was eventually released on iPhone and iPad a few years ago, “Still Alive” was still in the game, and remixes would play in the game menu and during levels, giving me hope that this song would become the theme song of the entire franchise.  I have no idea if it’ll be included in the next Mirror’s Edge game, but here’s to hoping!  If you haven’t heard it yet, you might still be able to download this song on MP3 or WAV on your PS3 from the PlayStation Store.

“Girlfriend” – Kabbage Boy – Brutal Legend (2009)

Roadies can typically fix anything…except this song.  “Girlfriend” was created to parody the overwhelming deluge of “bands” designed by corporate overlords to appeal to certain younger demographics.  It steals elements from other great genres like heavy metal in order to instantly appeal to today’s consumer market trends.  Then it goes on to pander to the cheering girls listening to it by offering them promises of friendship and love.  This song plays at the beginning of Brutal Legend with the intention to show the player what is wrong with music today, and that the music which actually inspired this game was in fact…inspiring.  That all said I love this song because of how freaking absurd it is, and once I unlocked the track in-game I had it in my soundtrack rotation as I drove around the game’s world in my hot rod.  If you want to hear more, I’m afraid I don’t have much to tell you.  Don’t worry about looking up other songs from Kabbage Boy, they don’t exist, although I think Richard Steven Horvitz (Invader Zim, Psychonauts) may have voiced one of the band members.

“Poet and the Muse” – Old Gods of Asgard – Alan Wake (2010)

I could seriously dedicate an entire essay to this song all on its own, it’s just that important.  The song was “inspired” by the love story which brewed between Tom the Poet and his girlfriend Barbara Jagger, and tells the story of their tragic downfall, but its lyrics and melody could just as easily be applied to the game’s protagonist Alan Wake and his wife Alice.  The song is not only beautiful, its integral to the game’s plot.  Alan and the player spend much of the game seeking answers, and after an exhaustive search they find this song.  I’m hesitant to say more, because a lot of players may get the chance to play Alan Wake for the first time through Backwards Compatibility if they buy a copy of Quantum Break on the Xbox One, so you’ll just have to play the game to hear it for yourselves.  If you want to hear more from Old Gods of Asgard, I’m afraid they don’t really exist…but Poets of the Fall does, and they are the band who actually performed this song.

“Want You Gone” – Jonathan Coulton and Ellen McClain – Portal 2 (2011)

Another Coulton classic. While I admit I don’t enjoy this song as much as I enjoyed “Still Alive”, this song is still a hilarious romp which deserves a spot on this list.  Jonathan Coulton and Ellen McClain returned for another song to end another Portal game, and while it is performed in a different style than “Still Alive” was, it’s still a hilarious song which meshes threatening lyrics with deadpan seriousness.  While it took a while for me to get into this song, once the tempo began to pick up, it had me.  No question about it, I prefer Ellen’s version of this song!

“Balance Slays the Demon” – Old Gods of Asgard – Alan Wake’s American Nightmare (2012)

This hard rock song perfectly meshes with the grindhouse feel of the second game in the Alan Wake franchise.  Once again performed by The Old Gods of Asgard, a fictional in-game band responsible for some of the tracks from the first Alan Wake game, this single perfectly captures a battle between darkness and light, which serves as the theme for the downloadable title.  I’m hoping this game may get a resurgence now that Alan Wake’s American Nightmare has just been brought to the Xbox One through Backwards Compatibility.  If you do plan to play the game on your Xbox One, either because you’re buying it as a digital download or because you’re getting it with a preorder of the Xbox One version of Quantum Break, don’t forget to check out the song’s official music video in the game’s bonus section.  It’s awesome!

Special Nominees

We couldn’t just end the article there, could we?  Here’s some songs that just could not make the cut.

“The Late Goodbye” – Poets of the Fall – Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003)

“The Late Goodbye” is the song that revealed the band Poets of the Fall to the entire world.  Based on a poem written by Sam Lake, “The Late Goodbye” is the ultimate tragic love song perfectly suited for a game touting itself as “A Film Noir Love Story”.  The song is occasionally teased throughout Max Payne 2.  A janitor will be listening to it on his headphones, and someone else could be heard singing it in another room before you enter, but you won’t hear the song in its entirety until the game’s credits start to roll.  That makes this song, in a way, a reward for completing the game.

“You’re Not Here” – Akria Yamaoka and Mary Elizabeth McGlynn – Silent Hill 3 (2003)

Whether you know this track from the opening cutscene in Silent Hill 3 or as an unlockable track in Dance Dance Revolution Extreme, this is a great song.  It has a great vocal performance backed up by the legendary musical stylings of Akira Yamaoka.  Unfortunatly, 2003 was a very competitive year for songs with at least two other songs up for nomination, and because of that, we had to choose a different one.

“Blow Me Away” – Breaking Benjamin – Halo 2 (2004)

This song’s inclusion on the list is a little iffy. While the song was included in its entirety with vocals on Halo 2‘s Official Soundtrack (Vol 1), only the instrumental version played during the game, and it is still considered a little iffy if this song was intended for Halo 2 or if it had already been produced prior to it.

“Sanctuary” – UTADA – Kingdom Hearts II (2005)

Since “Baba Yetu” claimed 2005’s Grammy, I felt the year didn’t need to be included in this list. Sadly that meant the elimination of “Sancturary”, the opening theme to Kingdom Hearts II. On first glance, the song was used in the exact same way “Simple and Clean” was in the first Kingdom Hearts game, it was a song which played through the opening cutscene, but there was a big difference between the opening cutscene of the first Kingdom Hearts and the second one. While the first Kingdom Hearts game only had to set the mood, establish the game’s setting, and foreshadow future events in its opening cutscene, Kingdom Hearts II‘s introduction had to do a lot more than that. It had to establish the earlier game’s history for new players, and as a player going into it who hadn’t played the (then) GBA-exclusive game Chain of Memories yet, there was a lot I needed to know.  The song did a great job helping me understand what I missed, without having me get bogged down in endless backstory.

“My Hands” – Leona Lewis – Final Fantasy XIII (2010) 

This one was hard not to include. While the song was used, vocals and all, at the end of Final Fantasy XIII, this song was a pre existing recording licensed by Square Enix to use for the western versions of Final Fantasy XIII. It was not produced exclusively for this game, and is not included in the original Japanese version. That having been said, this song is so fitting I am shocked that it wasn’t made specifically for the game!  I applaud Square Enix’s Western branches for choosing to license it.

“Children of the Elder God” – Old Gods of Asgard – Alan Wake (2010)

I’m going to be honest, this song didn’t win because “Poet and the Muse” did. While this song came up at an awesome moment, (I mean who doesn’t love the idea of a gun battle on a rock stage -ed), “Poet and the Muse” was integral to Alan Wake‘s biggest story reveal, and that is why that song was chosen instead.

And that is the end of our list. In case you’re wondering why we did not include any songs produced in the past three years, it’s because we decided that it is far too soon to make those decisions.  Time will tell what could end up winning, but I feel the benefit of some perspective is important to the selection process.  Feel free to post your thoughts below!

Final Fantasy Wish List Part 2 December 19, 2015

We’re all fans of the Final Fantasy franchise over here and now that the franchise has turned 28, we thought it was the perfect time to list some of the biggest requests that Final Fantasy fans have been asking from Square Enix.

Yesterday, we started our wish list, and today we are going to finish it. In this part, I decided to forgo my own personal requests and instead decided to share some of the most popular requests from the Final Fantasy fan community.

Before we continue this list I just want to make one more disclaimer. This list is just a humble amalgamation of my personal hopes for the future of the Final Fantasy release schedule, along with the requests of other Final Fantasy fans from all over the world.   I don’t mean for this article to dictate what I believe Square Enix MUST do. All conclusions are not based on any insider information, they are based on my knowledge of the company’s recent history and are entirely my own.

Now with all that out of the way, let’s get started with the second set of requests. After all, it’s almost Christmas.

Bring Final Fantasy X/X-2 to PC

Final Fantasy X was released on the PlayStation 2 over a decade ago, and with the exception of Spoony, the game has been considered by critics and fans alike as one of the finest RPGs ever made. Its become so popular as of late, it has gotten ported to the PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation 4 in just the past few years. With all these ports being released, players have wondered if the game would ever come to the PC.  A lot of PC gamers don’t own the latest game consoles and since PCs can be regularly updated, the games could hypothetically be at the highest possible quality on PC.

What are the odds we’ll see this?  Honestly, I think the odds are next to zero.  With Square Enix bringing all these other Final Fantasy games to the PC as of late, the fact that they haven’t chosen to bring Final Fantasy X or Final Fantasy X-2 to non-Sony platforms says to me that they may not be legally able to do so. If Square Enix has an exclusive contract with Sony, the Final Fantasy X games may never be able to release on PC or Xbox consoles.  Someone should take a deeper look into this, but until they do I’m going to give this a low chance of happening.

Final Fantasy XIII Trilogy on PS4 and Xbox One

When it released, Final Fantasy XIII was a very divisive game but over the past few years it has gained an incredible community of loyalists. Even I have to admit, despite its flaws, I felt comforted by how easy the first game was to just pick up and play. On top of that, the games had amazing graphics with incredible production values. To this day, I believe they are still some of the best looking games of the last generation.  If they were ported to the new consoles, players would be able to take advantage of better game performance, higher resolution textures, and console features like game streaming.  Why doesn’t Square Enix bring the games to the PS4 and Xbox One?

What are the odds we’ll see this?  Even odds, 50/50.  The games have already been ported to the PC, and the textures models and graphics already look phenomenal in 1080p.  However, porting three games to new hardware is no easy task. It took Square Enix a year to port all three of the Final Fantasy XIII games to the PC, it could be very difficult to bring them to the two newest consoles.

Remake the PSP Game Crisis Core Final Fantasy VII in HD

This request is specifically on behalf of a friend of mine. The immense success of Final Fantasy VII convinced Square Enix to branch out the numbered title into multiple spin offs. One of those spin offs was the PSP-exclusive game Crisis Core, which out of all the content released as part of the Final Fantasy VII series, deserves an HD port. The game’s 3D graphics and high end CGI cutscenes would look amazing on modern HDTVs, so why not bring this game to modern home consoles?

What are the odds we’ll see it? I would say 25%. Crisis Core is a pretty old game which unlike Type-0, got a North American release. Because of that, I don’t think it would be very likely we will see this game get an HD remake any time soon.

Final Fantasy XII HD on PS4 or Xbox One

Almost immediately after Square Enix released the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD version, people started asking for Square Enix to rerelease Final Fantasy XII.  I know this game’s gameplay style was a huge departure from earlier single-player Final Fantasy games, but this game has a pretty big cult following. In fact, it also has seen  spin-offs on other platforms including the Nintendo DS.  If Final Fantasy X can come to modern consoles, why not bring Final Fantasy XII?

What are the odds on this one? Hard to say for sure but I would give it at least a 30% chance.  Square Enix did a great job bringing their earlier games to Sony’s newer consoles but it may still be too early for them to consider porting Final Fantasy XII or any of its spin offs to newer hardware.  I think if the Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD sells well, it could become an easier decision for Square Enix to make.

And now, here’s one last request just for me…

Remake Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Wii U

In the early to mid-2000s, Square Enix released the first Final Fantasy game on a Nintendo console since Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the Nintendo GameCube.  The game had a revolutionary multiplayer mode only possible with the GameCube, it required each player connect a Game Boy Advance to their GameCube to play. This did a lot more than just make the GBA into a game controller, the handheld offered a second screen experience years before it would become common in Nintendo systems. Wouldn’t it be awesome as hell to see this game playable in HD on modern hardware?  The Wii U controller makes a perfect fit for the first player, and I’m sure the other three players could connect to the game wirelessly using a modern 3DS-compatible handheld.

What are the odds we’ll see it?  I would say about 5%. It probably wouldn’t be too hard to update a GameCube game to run on the Wii U (Nintendo has already done it for games like The Wind Waker), but Crystal Chronicals has a few more technical issues that would need to be resolved. While it’s true that Nintendo Wii U games can make use of a 3DS/Wii U connectivity, that was used in games built from scratch to take advantage of these features, it may be a lot harder to adapt the complex code from a previously released title.  Because of that, the technical hurdles alone might be too much trouble than it’s worth.

So there you go guys, a complete wish list of all the Final Fantasy content I and the people who love these games would like to see from Square Enix. If I forgot to include anything please post a comment and write what you would like to see below.

Until we meet again, Happy Holidays to all of you!