There aint a problem I can't fix...
I spent a little time doing a remix of
The Faders single 'No Sleep Tonight' - last night. Doing remixes on single edits with little instrumental breaks and no accapella track is quite a challenge - but a fun challenge.
Anyway - a messed up, Dante Jones remix can be found
HERE.
File under 'more experiments with Live'. Now go buy the normal single.
Nic.
More System Rush...
A little more info about the new game I'm working on, System Rush.
There's going to be a lot of web based stuff that links in with the game. For example, getting passwords in the game to unlock stuff online etc.
The first of all this 'stealth marketing'/'community' sites is now online.
http://www.whitehatz.net - is a hacker site that has infomation on how to gain access to hidden areas of the main
http://www.systemrush.com website.
Find the password on whitehatz and then click on the alien head on main System Rush site.
Entering the password gives you access to
http://www.kgbxsystems.com - one of the corporations in the game.
Have a look - have a play. Theres some nice little easter eggs about and there is going to be a lot more of this stuff over the next few months.
System Rush is due for release in the summer. I'll post some new screens soon.
Nic.
I fucking knew it!!!
| You scored as Satanism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Satanism! Before you scream, do a bit of research on it. To be a Satanist, you don't actually have to believe in Satan. Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. Do some research if you immediately think of the satanic cult stereotype. Your beliefs may also resemble those of earth-based religions such as paganism.
Satanism | | 96% | atheism | | 92% | Paganism | | 71% | Buddhism | | 71% | agnosticism | | 58% | Hinduism | | 33% | Islam | | 29% | Christianity | | 25% | Judaism | | 21% |
Which religion is the right one for you? (new version)
created with QuizFarm.com |
Sod the 'spiritual advancement of the self' - I'm off to go bleed some virgins and run naked around dececrated churches.
Nic.
[Edited - fixed links... seems Blogger likes to snipe the links when you paste html :) ]
The Faders gig...
You know the last time I was in a club at 3pm on a Saturday afternoon I must have been 14 – dressed head to toe in Nike, and battling rival break dancing crews to Paul Hardcastle’s “19” at Wakefield’s ‘Rooftop Gardens’.
Anyway – today I’m in a club at 3pm in the afternoon to see ‘The Faders’ – a new, all girl ‘guitar band’ – play some tracks off their forthcoming (and first) album.
Regular readers will remember me waxing about seeing them on ‘Pop World’ about a month ago and making comparisons to ‘Josie and the Pussycats’ (swooooon). Well – back then I signed up on their website – and today they put on a show for their first batch of fans.
But Nic – really? You’re really off to see some obviously put together, pop punk, teeny, ‘Busted’ type group?
You see, I have pretty varied music tastes. My Zen Xtra has pretty much everything from ‘Prefuse 73’ to ‘The Smiths’ to ‘Tujiko Noriko’ to ‘Simon and Garfunkel’ on it. This week alone I’ve jumped between ‘David Lee Roth’ – ‘Boom Boom Satellites’ – ‘Aphex Twin’ – ‘The Carpenters’ to name but a few. One thing strings all this together – I like a good tune, regardless of genre.
And that’s what ‘The Faders’ have – a great tune in ‘No Sleep Tonight’.
If it sounds like I’m excusing myself – that’s pretty much what I am doing because going into this I had no clue what to expect. Would I be the only person over 20 (and then some) there? Can they play or will they just mime? Damn it – were the trains even running?
These questions weren’t gonna answer themselves, so I decided to try and dress ‘rock’ and head for the station.
[Satan is good. Satan is out pal]
Okay - so I didn’t try very hard to dress rock. This is kinda what I wear every day. Just thought I’d throw on the ‘Fender’ T since it’s about the most rock thing I own, and then pout a lot (which is also something I do most days). Zero out of ten for effort there.
Onto the gig.
I’d forgotten how busy Oxford Street is on a Saturday – I switched my ‘commuter mode’ to 11 and walked through people to get to the 100 Club.
Question 1 was quickly answered. I’ll explain with a graphic.
[an acurate recreation of the 100 Club]
Basically – a mix. Phew. I was, of course, with the old enough to know better group. But it was somewhat validating to know I wasn’t alone.
The answer to question two shortly followed.
No – they didn’t mime. Yes – they CAN PLAY.
When they hit the stage - no messing, straight in there with the first single ‘No Sleep Tonight’. I hate it when a band holds the track you really want to hear till the encore – so thanks girls for rocking that one out first.
[click on the bad celly pic for an even worse celly video]Musically really tight. Vocally – totally on the money. I huge smile hit my face. Legitimacy was theirs, and mine.
They blitzed through about 6 or 7 songs (I lose count). All sounded pretty good and with a few repeat plays I’m sure they’ll stick in my head. Stylistically the single is a great benchmark for what they do. And I did have a number of Josie and the Pussycats flash backs during the set. (swoooooon)
They broke from the electrics to do and acoustic version of one of the songs. Really nice it was too. I guess I just haven’t been to see a band that ‘plays instruments’ in ages. Only concerts I really ever seem to go to are electronic acts like ‘Mouse and Mars’ and ‘Boom Boom Satellites’. So for me it was kind of a novelty to hear people play unaccompanied. (hangs head in shame)
[do the same with this one]I was especially impressed with Cherisse’s drumming. Very natural and incredibly tight. Really seemed like an ability to play beyond her years and physic. And she was really having fun.
The songs over, the girls left us wanting more and came back to jam out the single once more time.
Will they be huge? I hope so. Manufactured or not (and frankly I couldn’t care less) they proved that they weren’t just picked cos they looked pretty. They work together as a band. They seem to be having a lot of fun. And they were sweet with us early adopters.
The single is out Monday in the UK. I haven’t bought a single in years – so I’ll throw them my support and take a trip to HMV next week. After all – they did just put on a free concert.
And so finally to the raised eyebrows of my friends – I got to say you missed a treat. And I’m officially proud to be a fan.
Nic.
I'm a WINNER!!!
I won tickets to see 'The Faders' live on Saturday :) Regular readers will remember me talking about them in the blog a while ago. I think they could be big - so because I think that I give them six months. I'll write a gig review when I get back.
For more info: http://www.thefaders.co.uk
Nic.
There's a Japanese Horror movie in this somewhere...
Look - a sweet and innocent NES!!
Or is it... read on:
"I've been an eBay seller in the field of vintage games for close to a year. I've exchanged hundreds of video game related items, new and used, and still do till this day, but I have never experienced anything like this or even remotely similar.
I don't feel threatened by this, supernatural or whatever it may be, but I do not feel exactly comfortable with it either.
Up for auction is what I would call a haunted, Vintage, Video Game System, The Nintendo NES. I don't really like using the word 'haunted' when describing this, considering the first thing you would think about is something from a horror movie, but I really can't come up with another way to explain it.
There is a local thrift store here in Brooklyn, NYC, that I've been doing business with for some years now. About a month and a half ago I made one of my visits to the shop and found this '80s Nintendo System. When I purchased this Unit I asked the owner of the shop about who brought the System in, and what he actually told me was that a gentleman had donated it that same morning and said "It was just sitting in his attic", and according to him, it supposedly belonged to his son who passed away years ago.
At first I thought the guy was just joking with me like he usually does, so I really didn't think much about it at the time. Unfortunately, that's all I know about the background of this system. I do not know any specifics about anything else as far as the previous owner is concerned. I went back there about 2 weeks ago to try to find out more since what has been happening, but he doesn't know anything else. But I do know something is not so right with this.
As far as technical functioning, the Nintendo System has its occasional 'blinking' screen if a game is dirty, like any other Nintendo System, but for the most part it functions pretty well.
However, that's not what I mean about something not being right with this... I brought this System home, and on the first night of playing, about 10 minutes into the game, I began hearing sounds similar to human voices, mumbling to the background music of the television.
Naturally I thought it may have been static or something to that effect, or maybe it somehow interfered with a truck driver's CB Radio System, so I didn't pay much attention to it. But it continued through-out the entire time I was playing, stop for a minute or two, then start again. It got to the point where I went really close to the TV, I paused the game to try to hear it a little better, but then it would get silent. When I would unpause it, there it would go again. I know it sounded like there was a conversation going on but I couldn't make out any of the words.
I have my beliefs but I've never really been one into believing so much about Spirits and Crossover-Communication, but repeating the conversation I had with the guy in the shop wasn't helping at all. And until this day, I go back there and this man still sticks to the same exact story.
To my knowledge, there is no technical problem with any vintage Nintendo Gaming System that causes any of these 'symptoms'. Since owning this System, I've experienced hearing sounds of mumbling and laughing in the background music of different games (all sounding Exactly the same and all on numerous occasions).
On 3 separate occasions I've had the game 'Pause' by itself, without having my finger anywhere near the 'Start' button of the controller, and the really suspicious thing about it was the fact the timing of the Pause always happened to be during an intense moment of a game, as if the intentions were made for me to lose.
I even tried different controllers, which I've sold on eBay, thinking it may have been some type of controller glitch with the originals... and yet still have the same exact things happen. Every time I power this unit on is like getting ready for something new to happen. And not only with me.
I've invited close friends and family members over, and some but not all have witnessed something strange happen, like the one time the 'Arrow icon' on the Main Options screen of a game actually moved down to 2 Player Mode, all while the controller was out of my hand. I've had some of my friends accuse me of purchasing this Unit from a Novelty store for the sake of pulling pranks, which I doubt even exists in the first place.
It has gotten to the point where my Fiance never lets me turn the System on when she's in the house and I have friends that refuse to even play a game with me. Even my cat won't go anywhere near this System, unless she's 5 feet away and hesitating to sniff at it, and not only that, she's been running back and forth through the house in the middle of the night during the past few weeks, and that's something she's never done in the entire 8 years that I've owned her.
I sincerely believe there may be some form of strong connection or attachment between this system and its previous owner.The reason I am listing this... to be honest it's starting to freak me out, as well as the people around me. I don't feel threatened, I just don't understand it and I'm not exactly comfortable with keeping this in my home.
So, at the request of friends and loved ones, I'll be going my separate ways with this system, regardless if it's an actual supernatural presence or everyone is just being paranoid. I'll be putting this unit up for 1 Penny without a reserve price, if you're the high bidder, the Unit and everything with it will be yours.
It comes with its 2 original controllers, the original Zapper Gun, a copy of the Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt game, along with its original AC-adaptor which came with black electric tape wrapped around it, but works without any problems, and a naki Rf-switch, which is everything needed to power-up and play."
If you would like to bid for this Haunted NES, click
HERE.
Nic.
New Bugs Bunny cartoon!!!
Think we were all a bit worried when they re-designed Bugs Bunny to make him more edgy and stuff- but there was no need to worry. The new Bugs ROCKS!!
Click on the pic to enjoy the new direction of your childhood icon.
Nic.
What I'm currently working on...
Gamespot did another preview on System Rush, the game I'm working on at Ideaworks3D. Here's the preview:
"System Rush Updated Hands-On
Game Developers Conference Mobile, San Francisco--When last we played Ideaworks3D's System Rush back in January, we enjoyed the game's rapid pace and arcade-style control, but a lot of pieces seemed to be missing from the puzzle. What was the deal with the game's story? How was the online functionality going to work? Will the game start to run slower when the developer puts in more-complicated textures? We didn't know at that time, but after a run-through with a far more advanced version of System Rush, we have a better idea of what N-Gage fans have to look forward to this summer. By all indications, System Rush will be a stellar racing title for the still-developing mobile console.
The first major addition to the new version of System Rush seems pretty elemental: a back story. There were some murmurings about hackers infiltrating corporate system a couple months ago, but nothing too specific. This time around, the two hackers in question have names--Vert and Ikko--as well as specialized attributes. The game also has some graphic novel-style cut scenes that explain their motivation for seeking a so-called "data bomb," which they hope will wipe out the corporate networks of the conglomerates that are trying to set them up.
Said corporate networks have been fleshed out a lot, too. Each network has a unique visual theme: the Russian network, for instance, uses a lot of red (the same red from the USSR flag), complete with Soviet stars hovering in the sky, while the South American network will have a greenish jungle theme. These touches build on this version's generalized addition of visual detail. The textures are now much more visually complicated, and there seem to be a lot more pulsating lights and other effects, too. Impressively, these additions haven't affected the game's performance much. Everything still seems to move at over 20 frames per second. Perhaps this isn't such a surprise, given Ideaworks3D's amazing performance results with its first N-Gage racer, Colin McRae Rally 2005. The game's music is also much further along. The futuristic feel has been greatly augmented by employing some of London's hottest underground Drum n' Bass DJs.
Finally, more light has been shed on the game's online features. System Rush comes with 10 pre-loaded vehicles, but there will be another three to five available over N-Gage Arena once you complete the game. Ideaworks3D claims that there will be six online modes, one of which will be a sort of improved shadow-racing variant called crystal racing. There's also going to be a mode called "bomb run," although the developer we spoke to was mum on the particulars.
Our look at the updated System Rush has only confirmed our belief that this game could be one of this year's breakout N-Gage titles. The project is shaping up into a very slick arcade-style racing game that is starting to look a lot like Nokia's very own version of Wipeout. We'll have more info on the game as it becomes available prior to its release later this year.
By
Steve Palley,
GameSpot POSTED: 03/07/05 08:15 PM"
The link is:
http://www.gamespot.com/ngage/driving/systemrush/preview_6119894.htmlAnd here's a couple of screens of the game running on N-Gage:
Nic.
DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME...
I installed Napster today since they are offering a free 14-day trial at the moment. Basically, just incase you didn't know, Napster is now 100% legal. It's iTunes without the Apple (and I refuse to touch anything they create).
The free trial allows you to stream albums for free - but if you want a copy you have to buy them at roughly 0.79p per song - or around £7.99 for an album.
As I thought, 95% of the stuff I searched for isn't there (that's my taste in music for you) and what was there I already own, but it kinda struck me how easy it is to 'steal' music from Napster if you were so inclined.
It goes something like this - and obviously what I'm about to suggest is illegal and I don't endorse this technique. I'm purely documenting it for the 'interest of science'.
What you need:
1: Napster (with free trial)
2: Sound Forge (or another sound editing package). You can download a free trial from their site.
3: Easy CD-DA Extractor (or another mp3 convertor since the Sound Forge trial doesn't have the mp3 stuff enabled). Again - they offer a free trial.
4: MP3tag (or another mp3 tagging software if you what your mp3s to have all the info stored in them)
Basically - all that stuff will last you on trials for the 14 days of Napster.
Technique:
1: Install Napster and have a search for any tracks you want and cue them up.
2: Check your soundcard is setup to record 'what you hear' or 'wave'. It's a little tick box in the record settings of that soundcard volume control thingy.
3: Run Sound Forge and hit record.
4: Play your music on Napster.
5: Sound Forge should now record whatever Napster is playing. Play with the levels if it's recording too loud or too soft.
6: Once your playlist is done you should have in Sound Forge a large wav (depending on how many tracks you are recording) with all your tracks on it.
7: In Sound Forge copy each individual track to a new file and save it as a wav.
8: Convert the wavs to MP3s in Easy CD-DA.
9: Create tags in MP3tag.
Again - this is all theory. I'm just thinking it through in my head - knowing how all these programs work. If you email me cos you've tried it and it doesn't work - I'll send your email to Napster.
I really don't think there is anything Napster (or iTunes - or ANY of these music sites) can do about this. If you don't let people preview tracks, people won't use the service.
Luckily you have to be somewhat tech savvy to grab music from Napster this way and those people that can get this working will know other ways to get the music they want for free.
I really hope these music services take off - because then they might have more of the music I want to buy on them. The Napster setup seems excellent - and the library for most people will hold everything they want. But for me, I'll re-install it in a years time and see if there's anything I want to buy off it.
Nic.
SPRING IS HERE!!!
I guess I'm working from home today...
And it's still snowing...
Nic.
I'd like to thank God, my Mum, and Pizza Hut...
It was the interactive BAFTA's last night (and I had a very late invite - but couldn't make it) and guess what. WE WON! Ideaworks 3d's port of Colin McRae Rally got the BAFTA for best handheld game - beating Zelda and Pokemon on GBA of all things. Congratulations to the team - and I never knew a BAFTA award weighed SO MUCH!
Full BAFTA results are here:
http://www.bafta.org/interactive/announce.htm In kinda related news - Morpheme won the best mobile phone game for Bluetooth Biplanes. Morpheme is owned by Jez San - who was the CEO of Argonaut where I worked for 10 years as a designer. One of the games I designed there was Croc for the Playstation. Wayne just pointed me at their website and I got to say I'm a little annoyed by this:
Hmmmm.... I donno why - but I'm kinda pissed I'm not involved in this. *sigh*
Nic.
