Noggins Week Off

After an unexpected absence I'm back and I'm looking forward to writing many more blogs, starting with this one! So what's been happening?

We've been clearing space to make way for an office/studio, and progress has been going really well, in about 2-3 months I'm hoping to have the space and the kit to start recording videos for YouTube. It's all going to be gaming related but I'm wanting to do something really different as YouTube's gaming scene is really over-saturated, I have some ideas in mind but you'll have to wait to find out. ^_^

We also looked into picking up some microphones last week with the view to starting a podcast however, the local music shop changed it's name to PMT (seriously) and won't be open again for some time. Unfortunately this was the only local shop that offers an extensive range of microphones, so we went off and bought ukulele's instead!

I'm really enjoying playing the uke; as it feels much more relaxing than the guitar. I'm currently learning to play the Last of Us theme, the theme from the Cat Returns and of course, the FUN song from Spongebob Squarepants.

There's also been some decorating going on; my wife has taken some of the Club Nintendo Hanafuda Cards and made this amazing display!

Check back tomorrow for a quick look at Sega's Outrun for Nintendo 3DS!

It's Finally Here!

After nearly 3 months of waiting the Super Smash Bros. Soundtrack has finally arrived!

This double CD set contains a selection of 72 songs from the 3DS and Wii U versions of Super Smash Bros. In order to get the soundtrack you had to register both versions of the game on Club Nintendo by 31st January 2015.

Best track? In my opinion... Gerudo Valley from the Legend of Zelda. I'm going to play that on loop until the disk wears out. :P

A Link Between Worlds Soundtrack

I was surprised to find the soundtrack to The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds had arrived in the post yesterday. I'm playing it while I write this blog and the quality is absolutely stunning.

Since 'A Link Between Worlds' was the sequel to the phenomenal 'A Link to the Past' released back on SNES in 1992, there's delightful mixture of nostalgia balanced with entirely new music. 

The composer, Ryo Nagamatsu, mentions in the liner notes that he felt 'A Link Between Worlds' should be equally enjoyable for fans of the original SNES title; as well as those who were being introduced to the series.

Here you'll find very dark and exciting battle themes, uplifting orchestral arrangements and melodious ditties guaranteed to make you smile. ^_^

The only criticism I can make of this double CD set is the score excerpts, it would have been so much better to have a separate booklet for these rather than printing them on the back of the CD inlay.

Now I just need to find out where my Super Smash Bros. Soundtrack has got to?

Hey! LISTEN!

Good news for European Club Nintendo members as we see a new item added to the Stars Catalogue; The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds soundtrack!

The double CD soundtrack is made up 89 tunes, plus 16 Milk Bar Musician pieces. Not only that, but for all you musicians out there the game's composer, Ryo Nagamatsu, has thrown in 12 score excerpts for you to play.

Club Nintendo is set to vanish for good this September. Will you be picking up this desirable soundtrack? Or will you risk saving your Star points for a future item?

A Change of Plan

The plan for the weekend was to get some new music arranged with a 'work in progress' uploaded to Soundcloud. Unfortunately there were some unexpected occurrences; meaning I didn't get the chance to work on anything. ( ; _ ; )

On the bright side however, I have got a tune that I'm working on at the moment which is sounding pretty good, so I may get that uploaded to Soundcloud once I've tidied things up.

By the way if you're wondering what the 'unexpected occurrences' were... well, someone made me an offer I couldn't refuse. ^_^

YouTube Video Coming Soon ^_^

Plans for the Weekend

If all goes to plan I'm hoping to get my head down and make some music this weekend.

As I mentioned just before the New Year I have a whole pile of recordings with ideas for new tunes, so perhaps I'll get a 'work in progress' posted on Soundcloud before the weekend's out.

I hope you enjoy the drawing of Jules listening to his walkman too. ^_^

Blogging, Work, Gallifrey and 2015

100 Happy Gaming Days are finally over and to be honest I'm quite relieved. It wasn't that I wasn't enjoying writing it, it's just after a numerous delays I wanted to move on to something else. It was also difficult to keep up with posting on a daily basis when I already work 40 hours a week, plus I got hooked on watching Doctor Who and reading Batman comics so that set things back a bit.

If it wasn't for 100 Happy Gaming Days however, this blog may not have even lasted this long because when I started I had no idea what to write about. There's some things I could/should go back and fix, for instance the Strawberry Cheesecake Mochi on Day 5, so when I get some time I'll go back and get things into some sort of order ... although it is nice to see how things developed.

So, what's next?

I've got hundreds, if not thousands, of short recordings waiting to be turned into full songs. I have the necessary kit to compose the music, I just need somewhere permanent to mix/master the tracks. I ideally want to produce retro game inspired soundtracks, perhaps I'll finally pick up a Prosound Gameboy and use LSDJ. (^_^)

The Bobby and Jules comic is also waiting to be done, I haven't done much drawing since the summer so it'll be great to get started on that again.

And sometime in 2015 we'll be renewing our PC's and whatnot, so hopefully my YouTube channel will return. \ (^_^) /

Day 98 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Animal Crossing Soundtrack

Just before Christmas Nintendo were flogging this Animal Crossing OST for an astonishing £2!!! I think this CD was once a Club Nintendo exclusive, making it even more surprising they were selling it for such a low price, they must have had tons left.

There's a whopping 39 tracks on here from Animal Crossing: Let's Go to the City, a game I didn't spend too much time playing so every track here is pretty new to me.

Glancing through the booklet the tunes have been divided into categories. You have the Main Themes from Animal Crossing, Happy Room Academy, Gracie Grace etc, then KK Sliders most requested songs (apparently there was a vote to determine which tracks would be included), and 3 bonus tracks have also been thrown in.

At this low price I'm certainly not complaining. I've got the CD on now and it's sounds brilliant, I'm going to keep it on while I tidy up the mess left over from Christmas.

Day 62 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Super Smashing Soundtrack

Great news for Nintendo fans!

If you pick up Super Smash Bros on 3DS and Wii U, and then register them on Club Nintendo within a specific timeframe, Nintendo will send you a free copy of the Super Smash Bros soundtrack in the post.

It's not often that freebies appear on Club Nintendo in the UK, at least not to my knowledge, and considering this a double soundtrack I think this is a pretty sweet deal.

If you want to hear some samples of the soundtrack just follow this link.

Day 23 of 100 Happy Gaming Days: Wii U

I thought I'd use this blog to let you know my first impressions of the Wii U, as I know it hasn't been the most successful of Nintendo's systems, but I've been pleasantly surprised at what I've seen so far.

The first thing many people have been quick to criticise is the Gamepad (the funny tablet thingy), but Nintendo have actually used the Gamepad in a number of creative ways; which makes you begin to wonder how you've ever done without one.

The Gamepad has two small speakers that have really let developers get imaginative with their audio design. For instance your TV speakers may play the bass and drum beats of a soundtrack, whilst your Gamepad covers the melody lines, offering a fresh perspective that really immerses the player into a game. A lot of in-game sound FX are also played via the Gamepad speakers, something the original Wii console experimented with using the speakers on the Remotes, but with the enhanced audio quality available on the Gamepad it really does feel like a natural evolution.

The navigation of menus feels a lot more fluent thanks to the Gamepad as well, gone are the days of pointing Remotes at screens, replaced with your trusty stylus and touch screen proving far more reliable. It basically feels like you've got a home-console version of the DS, which is what I feel Nintendo was aiming for with this console, maybe it should have been called Wii DS instead of Wii U...okay, maybe my name isn't any better but whatever.

The Wii U's dashboard is pretty much identical to the 3DS, a smart design choice as it makes things uniformed and everyone will be familiar with it, and it looks better than the panels on my Xbox dashboard. Each menu and application seems to have their own soundtrack as well, so it's fun to explore and discover everything that your Wii U comes bundled with.

I feel the best application has got to be MiiVerse, basically a Nintendo themed Facebook, where users can discuss their favourite Nintendo games with a passionate and positive community. You can also post pictures you've drawn on the Gamepad and share them with the community, also by playing certain games you can unlock stamps you can use if drawing isn't your thing.

I mentioned yesterday that Mario Kart 8 seems to have started a Wii U revival, and rightfully so because Mario Kart 8 is superb, but Nintendo really have to keep the momentum going if they want the Wii U to be the success it should be. With E3 just around the corner hopefully we'll see some big announcements that'll not only attract potential buyers, but also the third party support that the console needs.

Day 15 out of 100 Happy Gaming Days: LSDJ

Little Sound DJ is a music workstation intended for use with the original Nintendo Gameboy. The software was developed by Johan Kotlinski and is designed to make full use of the audio capabilities of the Gameboy and is used by many chiptune artists.

There is a slight learning curve due to the whole piece of software being controlled by the Gameboy's 4 buttons and a D-Pad, but if you persevere for a few hours you should be able program a piece of classical music with relative ease. Included is an in-depth sequencer, arpeggiator, a nice selection of samples from various drum kits samples from machines such as the TR-808 and the ability to sync two Gameboys via link cable for added polyphony. 

Obtaining the software isn't too difficult, just wander over to the LSDJ website and pay for a license to use LSDJ. This however, only gets you the file as Johan no longer flashes the ROM onto Game Paks, so you'll need to find someone offering this service unless you know how to do this yourself. I used kitsch-bent and they were awesome, got the cartridge over to me very quickly for a reasonable fee.

Alternatively you can use plugins like the Magical 8bit Plug from YMCK, that can be used with most popular DAW's, or Rhythm Core Alpha 2 on Nintendo eShop for 3DS which is pretty much based on LSDJ and is a great title to have installed on your console for when you're feeling creative. 

Day Six: We Love Katamari

We Love Katamari is so bonkers it's brilliant.

The idea is simple, roll a ball into various objects and try and make the ball grow as big as you can, but why would anyone find that fun? Well, the game starts off in a very modest way as you pick up small objects like sweets and paperclips...eventually you'll be rolling up planets and universes. 

You can also add to the fun by playing the whole game in co-op mode with a friend, which really adds to the challenge as you have to be in sync with one another to perform the various moves required to progress through the game. Myself and my wife spent many hours playing We Love Katamari and even though the concept of the game is very simple it never gets old.

The game also has a ton of characters to unlock, the only thing that differs about them is their appearance, but it's still fun seeking out where the characters are hiding in each level. You can also unlock outfits and accessories for your characters by completing various challenges, for instance rolling up a certain number of objects in the fastest time possible, which adds to the replay value as you try to break your previous record.

The last thing I feel I need to mention is the soundtrack. It is possibly the most eccentric soundtrack I've ever found in a video game because you find a mixture of everything. J-Pop, J-Rock, Disco, Orchestral Music, Scat Singing and Beat Boxing, the tunes are seriously catchy and you'll be singing them for months on end. To be honest if you weren't interested in the game I would strongly advise you to pick up the soundtrack, it's that good.