Video Games Live – LEVEL 3 Review February 27, 2014

What can I say about Video Games Live?  Created by Tommy Tallarico, it is a worldwide concert series which brings the greatest music ever composed for video games to the masses.  There are huge production values, through special video effects, smoke and lighting.  You actually feel like you’re in the game as you’re listening to this great music being performed by the professionals in your area.  As a gamer, gaming journalist, and music lover, I always hoped I would get the chance to check it out for myself.  Sadly, I was never fortunate enough to get to witness a Video Games Live concert firsthand.  It only came to my neck of the woods once and unfortunately it was a time that I could not check it out.  A few years ago, when the organization announced they were planning to release the next concert album (dubbed Level 2) in High-Definition on Blu-Ray Disc, I picked up a copy on day one.  After watching Level 2 with a 1080p HDTV and top of the line HD surround system, I thought it would be the only way I would get to hear this fantastic performance for myself and I was not disappointed, and I sure knew I wanted to hear more.

Now, thanks to Kickstarter, Video Games Live has just released their third album, LEVEL 3, exclusively as a digital download.  I have to say, it has been quite a treat.  Like with the Video Games Live concert series itself, the new album features an eclectic smattering of video game songs across many different game genres.  There are some old favorites that concert regulars may remember from earlier performances, like Chrono Cross, and The Legend of Zelda, but they are presented on this album in new arrangements.  As for new stuff, PC gamers will appreciate the inclusion of songs from Secret of Monkey Island and DOTA 2, and console gamers will appreciate new arrangements from Journey, Shadow of the Colossus, Beyond Good and Evil, Final Fantasy VIII and Pokémon. The Level 3 album also features some surprises as well, including a new version of one of my favorite video game songs of all time, the “Theme of Laura” from Silent Hill 2, an orchestral performance of the theme to Street Fighter II, and to top it all off, a live performance of the ending theme to Portal, “Still Alive”.

The album opens with “Liberi Fatali” from Final Fantasy VIII. Let me tell you, the track sounded identically to how I remembered it from the game.  In fact, as I type this up, I’m going to look up the part in the game the song was used in just to see how close the Video Games Live version was to the original one.  It’s an energetic and powerful song that many gamers will fondly remember, and a great track to start the album with.

The next track is a slower ballad, “Scars of Time” from Chrono Cross, a beautiful musical piece I remember fondly from the Level 2 concert.  In fact, it is a game one of my site contributors believes has one of the greatest soundtracks from the PS1 era, and the track included in the Level 3 album was used in what is (in his opinion) one of the best opening cutscenes to any game, period.

Moving on, the album continues with the theme to The Secret of Monkey Island, an updated version of the original soundtrack designed to be played by early PC speakers.  Once again, the orchestra does a great job performing the song exactly as you would imagine that theme would be played.  Every bip and bloop from the original MIDI track is presented here by live real-world instruments, making me feel like I was listening to it for the first time all over again.  If I ever planned to take a vacation someplace tropical, I would probably have this song as my soundtrack.

As a recent Pokémon convert, I was pleased to see the Pokémon theme song was included in the album.  When I heard the Pokémon theme on the album for the first time I thought for sure that I was listening to the same orchestra performing it as I had heard perform it in the Pokémon TV show and feature films, only now they had the chance to truly let loose without being pressed to time constraints.  If you’re a fan of the Pokémon games, TV show, or movies, you’ll love hearing this track.

As I stated earlier, this album also offers some surprises.  One of the biggest surprises I found on this album was their version of the main theme to Silent Hill 2, the “Theme of Laura”.  Since I first heard this track several years ago, it has been one of my favorite video game compositions of all time.  Unlike some of the other songs on the album, the VGL version of this song was not a straight pitch for pitch port of the song, but a slightly adjusted version with a tad bit more improvisation in it. If you ever wondered what the “Theme of Laura” would sound like if it were performed by a band like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, you should give this one a listen.  I loved it.

If you want to hear something more recent, look no further than the theme to the 2012 Game of the Year, Journey.  The music in that game was just beautiful, and a great choice for that album.  It was performed so perfectly, as I listened to that song I immediately felt myself flashing back to the first time I played that game’s final moments.  Maybe I saw you at the top of the same mountain.

One of the most enjoyable things I remembered from the Level 2 album was Tommy’s updated arrangements on classic tunes not originally performed with traditional instruments, like his rockin’ arrangements of the themes to Sonic the Hedgehog, Mega Man, and Castlevania. People looking for tracks like that on the Level 3 album need look no further than the second to last track on the album, the theme to Street Fighter II.  It’s a classic rockin’ tune that really picks up your heart rate.  And yes, it does go with everything.

The album’s final track is a live recording of “Still Alive” from Portal.  It sounded a bit like it was being captured by a tape recorder during a live performance, but I’m certain that’s what the creators were going for.  The performance itself was less about the performance by the orchestra, and more about the audience’s love for this great song.  Throughout the track, the audience is heard cheering, clapping and singing along.  Never having attended a performance of the show myself, listening to the live track made me feel like I was sitting in one of those seats just for a few moments.

The production values on this album couldn’t be higher. In fact, Video Games Live boasts that the Level 3 album features several well-known musicians, as well as several independent performers known for their love of the source material.  Regardless of what kind of gamer you are, you’ll find something in this album that you will enjoy.  Sadly, simply describing this music in words does no justice to how it actually sounds or how it made me feel.  The album is up for download today and if you are interested in picking it up you should be able to find it in the usual places, such as iTunes or Amazon.  Anyone who funded the album through Kickstarter will probably have alternate download arrangements.  Load the songs onto your Smartphone or MP3 player, stream them to your Stereo and enjoy.

I can’t think of anything better to listen to as I wait for Quinni-Con.

McDonald’s One Hot Holiday Xbox One Giveaway Review December 10, 2013

During the Xbox One launch event, Microsoft announced they were partnering with McDonald’s to do a major Xbox One promotion during the month of December.  Well, the promotion has launched, and as I write this McDonald’s restaurants across the country are giving away Xbox prizes in celebration of the One Hot Holiday promotion and boy, have I got a lot to say about it.  So, lets take a look and see how it stacks up, shall we?

First off, the rules to enter the promotion are pretty simple to understand, and McDonald’s had signs all over my local branch to inform me what I needed to do to play.  If you order any Quarter Pounder sandwich, Medium French Fry, or Premium McWrap you will be given an entry piece eligible to win a prize in the promotion.  The contest pieces are affixed to the item wrapper and can be pulled off as easily as the contest pieces from McDonald’s yearly Monopoly promotion can.  Pull the game piece off the wrapper and it will inform you what you won.

Immediately this promotion scored points with me as my local McDonald’s was participating in it starting exactly when their website promised they would.  This is in complete contrast to the Every2Minutes Mountain Dew promotion where nearly none of my local retailers offered marked Mountain Dew or Doritos products on shelves at a time when I needed to bank points early to be competitive in an auction system.  The fact my local retailers sat on their hands twiddling their thumbs as the promotion went on was a huge detriment to the odds of me winning a prize.  McDonald’s on the other hand wasted no time starting their promotion and marked promotional wrappers were readily available to interested players on time.  All I needed to do was purchase a participating food item at my local McDonald’s and pull a game piece off the wrapper.  It couldn’t be more convenient.

To redeem your winnings, you will need to go to McDonald’s One Hot Holiday official website from either your PC or portable device and submit to them your name, e-mail address and mailing information along with the unique code written on the game piece.  Once McDonald’s verifies your contest entry is genuine, they will send you the download codes for whatever you won via e-mail.  The website worked really well on my smartphone, and while I felt it asked for a bit too much personal information (for some reason it needed my entire mailing address), this only made the form longer to fill out and I was still able to submit my entry without issue.  Collecting your winnings on the other hand can be an exercise in patience.  McDonald’s does say it can take anywhere from 72 hours to ten days to verify a contest entry.  It took about four days for me to receive my winnings via e-mail, but when they did eventually arrive they worked perfectly.

While McDonald’s and Microsoft has said they are giving away Xbox One consoles as a grand prize, that isn’t all you can win.  McDonald’s is also giving away downloads for Xbox Live games, movies, and TV shows.  In fact, McDonald’s promises that anyone who participates will win something.  Typical lower tier prizes for the contest can include download codes for Xbox Live Arcade games like Ms. Splosion Man or The Maw.  This also will score them some points with me, as I haven’t seen a promotion like that offer giveaways to everyone who played since the Subway Uncharted 3 contest a few years ago where everyone who played got access to the Uncharted 3 multiplayer beta.  By offering free Xbox Live Games as a potential prize, this could end up being one of the most generous video game promotions in video game history!

If you’re interested in playing, head on down to McDonald’s right now!  This is a fantastic promotion that offers Xbox players the chance to win an entirely new next-generation gaming console and some great downloadable titles.  Check it out!

AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable Review November 5, 2013

I’ll be the first person to admit it took this site far too long to obtain our own video game capture device.  There were a myriad of excuses I could give you as to why we waited two years, with cost and technical limitations being the biggest factors.  The truth is I was just simply unimpressed by most of the game capture devices that were available at market.  I’ve been able to shoot video in 1080p for well over three years, I’ve owned several different HDTVs for the past seven years, and yet when this site started out in the year 2010, most of the game capture devices I saw on the market couldn’t even capture in HD!  I knew that a capture device was a big investment and if I was going to get one to use for this site, it had to meet all the requirements I had for it, high as they may be.

I wanted a capture device that could capture in HD (720p and 1080p), be able to function independently of a PC either through the use of a Hard Drive or Memory Card for storage, and be able to capture game footage using either component video or HDMI.  Sadly, no device on the market at the time could meet those standards, so instead of buying something in the interim I decided to wait.

Earlier this year, I heard about the AVerMedia Live Gamer Portable.  It had EVERYTHING I wanted in a capture device.  It was small, it could independently capture video without the need of a PC, but could still capture with a PC if I wanted it to, and it could capture footage in HD through HDMI.  It fit all of the requirements I had for a site capture device.  For a price of less than $200 US, it looked like this would be the best purchase I could do for the site in quite a while, and I immediately put one on order.  I’ve had the capture device for six months, and I believe I have truly used that time to use the device to its fullest potential.  I’ve recorded many hours of content on a wide variety of different platforms, using different resolutions, bitrates and file formats.

So how does the AVermedia Live Gamer Portable hold up?  Lets start from scratch and look at how it’s packaged, shall we?

First off, the first thing you’re going to notice is the device is small.  REALLY small.  Heck, I would love to be able to take this to the next E3 and plug this into a development kit before playing the latest early game demos.  In fact it comes with a travel case in the package so you can bring the LGP anywhere you want.  I’m sure I wouldn’t be allowed to rig it up on any demo units, but I would certainly ask if I could.  Anyone able to use something like this at E3 would get a lot better video quality than if they had recorded a video of the demo offscreen using a 1080p video camera.

The LGP is so simple to use.  You do need to have a Class 10 or faster SDHC card formatted to FAT32 in order to make use of the PC-free capabilities of the device, but cards that fit those specifications are so unbearably cheap right now it isn’t an issue.  I was able to get my hands on a 32GB SanDisk SDHC card which could capture at 45 Mb/s for under $30 US on Amazon.  All I had to do was insert it into the LGP’s card slot and flick a switch in the front of the device.  The LGP has clear visual cues to let the user know which mode it is in.  If it’s in PC-mode, the lights will be a solid blue.  PC-free mode lights are solid red.  If you want to start recording, just push the single button on top of the device, and tap it again when you want the recording to stop.  When recording, the device pulses red, and if there’s an issue with the device, like it can’t record due to HDCP encryption, it has a very distinctive red and blue light flash to warn you something is wrong.  Otherwise it will pulse and record your video content quietly in the background while you play your games.  If a video it is capturing happens to hit the FAT32 file size limit, it will automatically create a new video file and continue recording on its own.

Without using a computer, on the default firmware, the LGP will capture video in 720p at 60 frames.  If you are able to upgrade your device’s firmware to the most recent version, you can enable 1080p recording at several different bitrates.  Take a look at the video below to see the picture quality.

You’ve probably noticed that digitally captured HD content looks near perfect, but there’s a minor bit of noise on any analog captured footage.  Fortunately this is only an issue on the PS3 or any other component connected device.

The LGP outputs PC-free videos in a .ts file format, which is pretty similar to an MPEG compression.  This file format can be read by a pretty wide array of devices, including Sony Blu-Ray Players, although I couldn’t get it to work on my Playstation 3.  I have noticed that Mac editing software has a bit of a problem working with .ts video files, but I’ve had no problems at all being able to view or edit .ts files on my Windows 7 PC.  All I need to do is drop them in my editor and manipulate them as I see fit.  If you prefer using an MP4 format, AVerMedia’s PC tools do provide alternate compression options, and even streaming capabilities, if you prefer to have your game footage streamed live on the web.  I really like all the different options that the AVerMedia RECentral software offer.

So lets move on to some of the issues shall we.  Honestly, I can’t really name that many.  Although the device has given me a few headaches in the six months I’ve owned it, I have been able to fix or discover workarounds for my issues.  Much of the help I’ve gotten with the device has come from the Official AVerMedia Forum (which is currently down), but a lot of the solutions to problems I’ve had with the device were solutions I was able to figure out on my own.

So first off, if you’re having an issue doing a direct video capture for Wii U content, and your device is crashing after about eight or so seconds of video recording, you don’t have a broken device.  For some reason, Nintendo underpowered the Wii U’s USB ports.  Depending on your resolution and local power standards, the Wii U’s USB ports may not meet the minimum power requirements to operate the LGP.  If that happens, simply connect the LGP to a USB port that does, like one on your PC or Xbox 360.

The second problem I had with the device came from whenever AVerMedia updated their software.  I noticed that my PCs would have a bit of an issue loading the device driver for the LGP if I had installed a previous version of the program.  No matter how many times I wiped the old program and reinstalled it and the official driver, Windows just would not recognize the device.  If I couldn’t get Windows to recognize the device, I couldn’t capture longer files using my PC, and I couldn’t update the device’s internal firmware.  After a few months of not being able to capture content with my PC, eventually I figured out some way to force the driver to install.  It turned out I needed to have the device connected to my PC while I ran the device installer.  I don’t know if this was an issue with Windows or the AVerMedia driver, but my PC just would not recognize it until I had the device connected to my PC during the driver installation process.  When the driver installed, Windows finally recognized the device and installed its driver, allowing me to finally be able to use AVerMedia’s RECentral capture program.

Another problem is the LGP can only capture game footage at its native resolutions and is not be able to upsample its content.  So if you happen to have an original Wii and would like to record game content from it, you will notice black bars on the sides of your video.  This is because unfortunately the Nintendo Wii cannot output video content in a native widescreen aspect ratio, and is not an issue with the LGP.  If you want to record Wii game footage on this device, I recommend picking up a Wii U and playing your Wii games on it instead.  The Wii U’s backwards compatibility mode will output Wii games at the proper aspect ratio and they look a lot better in HD.

The final problem with this device lays entirely on Sony.  I’ve already done an entire rant on this issue, so I don’t feel it essential to reprint any of my grievances here, needless to say I do think Sony made a bad decision when they chose to HDCP encrypt game footage on the Playstation 3, as its made any PS3 captured content I’ve done look poorer in quality than it otherwise would had I been able to capture it using HDMI.  However, there is a sad post script to that story I learned after writing that article.  For anyone interested in picking up a Playstation 4 at launch, Sony has said that HDCP encryption will still be in place during the PS4’s launch period, and not even the Day One Firmware will remove it.  Since the PS4 lacks any analog video output capability, that means that the PS4 will not allow separate devices to capture game footage for the time being.  Sony has stated they do intend to reverse this policy, but for now, unless they’re doing a live stream, players will have to do offscreen PS4 lets plays.

So what’s my final verdict?  In short, this device has been a godsend.  It has met all the high requirements I’ve had for a capture device, and costs a hell of a lot less than its competition while offering just as good or better capabilities than everything else on the market.  The fact that it can digitally capture in 1080p through HDMI makes it essential equipment for any PS4 or Xbox One owners, as those consoles lack any analog output capabilities.  If you’re looking for an easy to use convenient device that can meet all of your HD capture requirements in the next console generation, look no further.