In other news, next week's show will be a special: TV Cop! Think Peter Gunn, Ironside, and possibly a cheesy Casio cover of Hawaii Five-O.
For now, here's the playlist for this week.
01. Bernie's Tune - Curley Hammer / Milt Buckner - Saxophobia (from the Ultra-Lounge series)
02. Jump, Jive & Wail - Louis Prima
03. Spooky - The Classics IV - Mood Mosaic 4: Retro Active
04. Dark Rapture - Count Basie - Exposure
05. Keep Loose - Jimmy McGriff - The Worm
06. Rough Nut - The Zodiacs - The Sound of Funk vol.6
07. Soul Mission - Brian Bennett - Into the Blue
08. Dog Pound Hop - Ren and Stimpy
09. Let it All Hang Out - Los Hombres - Sampled vol.3
10. Malaguena - Chico Arnez & His Latin American Orchestra - Sounds From the Lounge: Latin Lounge
11. Midnight Swinger - Mel Torme - Wild, Cool and Swingin' Too! (another Ultra-Lounge collection)
12. Katamari on the Swing - Matsuzaki Shigeru - We Love Katamari
13. Take All - Boogaloo Joe Jones - My Fire
14. The Same Love That Made Me Laugh - Bill Withers
15. Jenny Kissed Me - Peter Wyngarde - When Sex Leers Its Inquisitive Head
**Original poem by Leigh Hunt**
16. Keep Searchin' (We'll Follow the Sun) - Del Shannon
****
COMPETITION TIME!!!
17. ?????
If you can tell me which video game that music was from, contact me
You're up for the chance to win a goodie bag packed with lots of random stuff! Don't miss this great opportunity!
Last week's music was the theme of Hyrule Castle from The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker (I would have accepted simply Zelda).
****
18. Greensleeves - Ray McVay & His Orchestra - Ray McVay Plays
19. El Matador - Peter Nero - Peter Nero Plays A Salute to Herb Alpert
20. Bugle Call Rag - Benny Goodman
21. Return to Spanish Harlem - Tony Middleton & Bobby Matos - Yo! Hot Latin Funk From El Barrio
22. Taima No Kemuri Ga Me Ni Shimiru - Yasushi Ishii - Hellsing OST 2: Ruins
23. You've Been Talkin' 'bout Me - Donald Byrd
24. For Jammers Only - Johnny Hodges - On The Way Up
25. Joe Chin's Shopping Now! - Masaya Matsuura - Um Jammer Lammy OST
26. All Your Goodies Are Gone - The Parliaments - Testify! The Best of the Early Years
27. Fool's Paradise - Tsuneo Imahori - Trigun OST
28. Super Car (Street Live Version) - Harebare - One Piece Movie: Norowareta Seiken
29. Friendship Train - Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - Cold Shoulder
30. You've Lost That Lovin' Feeling - Alan Haven - Sound From The Lounge: Pop Covers, Lounge Style
31. It's Your Thing - The Invaders - Mood Mosaic 8: Funky In A Minor Mode
32. E O Cide - Ed Lincoln - Ed Lincoln
33. Kelly Watch the Stars - Moog Cookbook - All I Need EP
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( 3.1 / 84 )Click on the 'Listen Again' image to hear this week's competition music:
If you know which video game it's from, contact me!
If you're the lucky winner, you'll get an amazing goodie bag full of stuff as a prize!
**This competition is now closed**
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( 3 / 101 )Another week, another show - enjoy!
(01. Trey of Hearts - Count Basie - Count Basie and the Kansas City Seven)
02. A Sangue Quente - Guilherme Vergueiro - Brazil Boogie
03. Penguin's Umbrella - Sun Ra & The Blues Project - Batman & Robin
04. Sweet Darling Think it Over - Junior Wells - You're Tuff Enough: The Blue Rock Studio Recordings
05. Summertime Blues - The Lebron Brothers Orchestra - The NuYorican Funk Experience - Salsa Caliente De Nu York!
06. I Can't Stand the Pain - Dee Irwin - The Soul of Minit Records
07. Tra La La Song (Banana Splits Theme)
08. Midnight Train (Demo Version) - The Monkees
09. Mexican Flyer (Swing it Black Mix) - Toshiya Arai - Space Channel 5 Part 2: Non Stop Mega Mix
10. Soulthing - Tony Newman - Mood Mosaic 6: Funky in a Minor Mode
11. Silent Hill (Otherside) - Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill OST
12. The Vulture - Labi Siffre - Remember My Song
13. Love Ritual - Al Green - Al Green Is Love
14. Skyscrapers - Eumir Deodato - Skyscrapers
****
COMPETITION TIME!!!
15. ?????
If you can tell me which video game that music was from, contact me.
You're up for the chance to win a goodie bag packed with lots of random stuff! Don't miss this great opportunity!
Last week's music was the Big Boss Confrontation music from Super Metroid (SNES)
****
16. Hold It - Bill Doggett - From Latin...To Jazz Dance vol.3
17. Sunny - Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass - The Best of Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass
18. High Society - The Les Reed Piano - The Easy Project
19. I Wanna Know - Mongo Santamaria - Mongo Santamaria's Greatest Hits
20. Scratchin' - Magic Disco Machine - DJ Pogo Presents Block Party Breaks
21. Instructor Mooselini's RAP - Masaya Matsuura - Parappa the Rapper OST
22. I'm A Sign of Changing Times - Chairmen of the Board - Bittersweet
23. Zone - Rhythm Makers - We Got the Funk
24. Put Love in Your Life - Parliament - Osmium
25. Pense a Moi - J.J. Johnson - Goodies
26. Hand Clapping Song - The Meters - Struttin'
27. Hit or Miss - Odetta - Odetta Sings
28. Twenty-Four Robbers - Fats Waller
29. Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Chuck Berry
30. Naruhodo Ryuuichi - Objection! 2001 - Masakazu Sugimori - Gyakuten Saiban + Gyakuten Saiban 2 OST
31. Naruhodo Ryuuichi - Objection! 2002 - Akemi Kimura - Gyakuten Saiban + Gyakuten Saiban 2 OST
32. Naruhodo Ryuuichi - Objection! - Masakazu Sugimori, Noriyuki Iwadare - Gyakuten Saiban Orchestra Album
33. Gyakuten Saiban (Phoenix Wright) Court Suite - Masakazu Sugimori, Noriyuki Iwadare - Gyakuten Saiban Meets Orchestra
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( 3 / 75 )
There now follows a joint entry from Richie (thatguys.co.uk) and Kaiser Tia (diversionprojects.org), regarding a favourite gaming franchise...
As you may or may not know the Silent Hill series is getting a fifth instalment. Hurrah! However, this chapter in the series will NOT be developed by Konami Japan's Team Silent. Instead It will be developed in the US by The Collective, inc., the company responsible for such gaming classics as The Da Vinci Code and Star Wars: Episode III (ugh).
Konami made a similar decision when they outsourced the PSP's Silent Hill Origins to Climax US, who did such a bad job that most of the game's mechanics were scrapped and production handed over to Climax UK, who were deemed more capable of delivering a 'Silent Hill experience'. Now we don't claim to be a Japanimaniacs or USAphobes, but we have all seen what happens to good Japanese things when they get Westernised. Subtlety generally goes out of the window in favour of easy scares and plots that treat intelligence with contempt. Be it films (Ring, Grudge), Anime (One Piece), and of course, games (see the horrible things done to box art here).
The Silent Hill series is very dear to our hearts. We'd rather Team Silent give the franchise a break for a few years rather than churn out third-party sequels, which may lead to a dip in quality and vision. Climax UK altered its development for Origins when fans of the series voiced concerns. This little list is for The Collective, inc.
Things that we really don't want in Silent Hill 5
1. Thousands of Pyramid Heads
Richie says: Pyramid head is a unique character to Silent Hill 2 because he is an anthropomorphic representation of the main character, James' guilt. Fair enough you may get people's own anthropomorphic representation of guilt similar to Pyramid Heads, that's part of the charm of Silent Hill. But be careful guys, the last thing we want is Pyramid Head as a Mascot (a la Sonic) of the Silent Hill series.
Kaiser Tia says: Damn right, Pyramid Head is a fearsome character, and a lot of his mystique would fade with over-use. Since he's part of the Silent Hill mythology, I wouldn't mind learning a little more about him through books or paintings (the Silent Hill series has always been quietly self-referencing). It's also the sign of an unoriginal developer to simply recycle older, better ideas (see below).
The New International Track & Field cameo was genius, though.
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2. Sexy Nurses
Richie says: Silent Hill is about normal and usually safe places and people gone very, very wrong. The most obvious example being the messed- up twitchy-head nurses, but this only works in context. Silent Hill 2's nurses were sexualised (as were all the other enemies in the game) to represent James' own problems (and boy, did he have a lot of them). Unfortunately, it's the sexy nurses of Silent Hill 2 that seem to have been adopted as standard (thanks for that, movie). For the love of god please don't give them massive boobies, lingerie, sextoy weapons and cheeky poses.
Kaiser Tia says: It's true that there's always nurses in Silent Hill games, but that's because there's always a hospital stage in the games. Silent Hills 4's nurses were anything but sexy - which was a representation of the villain's attitude to his own mother. The protagonist of Silent Hill 5 is meant to be a war veteran (how original), so why not use that as a theme for the nurses instead of simply raising the hemlines?
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3. Combo system
Richie says: Keep the HUD to a minimum! Do not flash up "3x Bonus Multiplier" or "Kill Frenzy"
Kaiser Tia says: Combat has never been a focal point of the Silent Hill games. Sure, you have weapons and enemies, but this isn't Devil May Cry, people. The fact that you're controlling a character that isn't combat-ready makes things a lot more tense. I hope anyone on the development team who has mentioned 'Xbox Live' has been laughed out of the studio, and the games industry in general.
****
4. Film References
Richie says: For the love of Heather, just stay away from the film, don't make it a sequel the movie; do not tack on a "Real World" sub plot, and DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT make Silent Hill populated!
Kaiser Tia says: Did people actually like the movie?
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5. Explanations
Richie says: The wonder of the series is how the themes of guilt, lust, and the other darker emotions are prevalent and the "plot" weaves around it. Stick to one protagonist so that the player can feel the story from his/her point of view.
Kaiser Tia says: The plot of the original Silent Hill needed an faq and now a prequel to explain it. Everyone loves a mystery - plus, it's easier to make interesting sequels when the rules of Silent Hill are vague (hence Silent Hill 4 taking place outside of the town itself).
****
Final comments
Richie says: All I can say Is that it better be fucked up and creepy. If I cringe, just once, due to any of the above points... I... I... I'll take a nose full of that White Claudia stuff, trip out into my own Silent Hill and use the lead pipe to beat-up any Silent Hill 5 references in there (Except maybe the army of Pyramid heads... Then I would just Run!)
Kaiser Tia says: I would be really disappointed to play Silent Hill 5 and get a generic blood and rust experience. I know it's early days yet, but the footage released so far shows little imagination (Wheelchair? Check. Main character searching for someone? Check. Child? Check, check, yawn). Silent Hill 4 pushed the series in a really interesting direction, and also felt like Team Silent had hit their design stride. It would be a real shame for the next generation of Silent Hill games to become a diluted version of the excellence served to us so far.
At least Akira Yamaoka is doing the music.
It had better be good, Akira, you hear?
Luv 'n' hugs,
Richie and Tia.
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( 3.1 / 121 )Click on the 'Listen Again' image to hear this week's competition music:
If you know which video game it's from, contact me!
If you're the lucky winner, you'll get an amazing goodie bag full of stuff as a prize!
**This competition is now closed**
**This music was the Big Boss Confrontation music from Super Metroid (SNES)**
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( 3 / 93 )Not got much to say, except here's the playlist for this week...
01. Daddy Grapes - Grant Green
02. Sunny - The John Schroeder Orchestra - Sounds From the Lounge: Pop Covers, Lounge Style
03. Charade - Henry Mancini
04. Balinese Bongos - Les Baxter - Bongo-Land (an Ultra-Lounge Album)
05. Bert's Apple Crumble - The Quik - Blow Up A Go-Go
06. We're Dance Team - Naofumi Hataya - Space Channel 5 Part 2: Chu!
07. I May Be Right, I May Be Wrong - Mill Street Depo - All Platinum Funk
08. Island - Pleasure Beach - Exile on Hammond Street
09. Allah Wakabarr - Ofo the Black Company - World Psychedelic Classics, Vol. 3: Love's a Real Thing
10. Rock El Casbah - Rachid Tera - Tekitoi
11. Starlight Jamboree - Shogi Sugiyama, Yu Miyake - We Love Katamari
12. Luffy's Theme - One Piece
13. Super Castlevania 4 (SNES) Medley
14. Jet Stream - John Gregory - The Sound Gallery vol.1
15. Battle Theme - Queen - Flash Gordon OST
****
COMPETITION TIME!!!
16. ?????
If you can tell me which video game that music was from, contact me.
You're up for the chance to win a goodie bag packed with lots of random stuff! Don't miss this great opportunity!
Last week's music was from one of the early areas in Secret of Mana on the SNES.
****
17. Cold Shoulder - Pucho & His Latin Soul Brothers - Cold Shoulder
18. Agua De Beber - Quarteto em Cy con Tamba Trio - The Bossa Nova Exciting Jazz Samba Rhythms
19. Vehicle - Ray McVay & His Orchestra - Let's Singalong and Dance to Ray McVay's 50 Great Party Hits
20. Jason King - Laurie Johnson - The Return of Cult Fiction
21. Music to Interrogate By - Lalo Schifrin - Bullitt OST
22. Dun Maro Dum - Bollywood Funk
23. Music For My Mother - Funkadelic - Funkadelic
24. It's Your Thing - The Temptations - Puzzle People
25. Hard to Handle - Otis Redding
26. I Got The... - Labi Siffre - Remember My Song
27. Woman Made the Devil - Bongos Ikwue - Nigeria 70
28. Fever/Comin' Home Baby - The Ernie Freeman Group - Organs in Orbit
29. Don't Turn Around - Fingathing - Superhero Music
30. Terror in the Depths of the Fog - Akira Yamaoka - Silent Hill 2 OST
31. BGM2 - June 'Chiki' Chikuma - Super Bomberman 3 OST
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( 3 / 75 )This is an interesting site - you play a thesaurus-y word game, and the advertisers donate rice for every correct answer you give. You don't have to log in, just click on the link and play. Etymological knowledge an advantage, although some of the alternative definitions are a bit questionable.
Not sure if it's the ultimate solution to world poverty and all that, but every little helps, eh?
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( 2.9 / 148 )
All the way back in show 27, I mentioned this curiosity. About time I wrote about it...
Enemy Zero was developed by WARP, the company headed by Kenji Eno, a maverick designer who had originally worked as a music producer. The company is probably best known for the FMV adventure D, but the game that really laid the foundation for Enemy Zero's sound-based combat was Real Sound: Kaze no Regret (Wind of Regret), which was played from the perspective of a blind person, the player using only sound to navigate the game. Since the audio was all in Japanese, the game never saw a release outside the region.
Originally planned for the Sony Playstation, somewhere along the line WARP (or perhaps more specifically, Kenji Eno) made a surprise decision and moved development of the game to the Sega Saturn.
Enemy Zero was released in 1997, and though its blend of FMV adventure and first-person shooter was unique enough to warrant mention, the most noteworthy aspect of the game was the fact that the alien enemies were invisible and you could only hunt them through sound. This led to some unbearably tense encounters where you were stranded in dimly-lit spaceship corridors, charging up one of the worst handguns in video game history while sonar-like beeps became faster and faster as the enemy ran towards the protagonist, Laura.
Laura deserves special mention, as Enemy Zero was the second of three games to feature her. WARP created her as a 'virtual actress' to star in their games. Those wonderful Wikipedia writers have even created a page for her. Links below.
Enemy Zero is in no way a perfect game, though it plays well enough to be more than just a curiosity. Its downfalls are its generic storyline (ripped straight from the Alien movies), and the dated graphics. In it favour are the unique enemies and the tension created by the sparse encounters with them.
WARP disbanded in 2005, and Kenji Eno has recently announced that his new company, From Yellow to Orange will be developing games for an unspecified console. Hopefully their new output will be as creative as Enemy Zero showed they can be.
For anyone who wants to see what the game is like, but has trouble either getting hold of the game or finding time to play it, some lovely person has posted this video that compresses everything into 13 minutes of FMV and gameplay.
There are, of course, many, many spoilers.
More from the net
A short history of WARP
More on Real Sound: Kaze no Regret (including packaging shots)
A summary of Kenji Eno's odd projects
More on Kenji Eno's distinctive style
More from Wikipedia
Laura
Enemy Zero
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( 3 / 143 )Click on the 'Listen Again' image to hear this week's competition music:
If you know which video game it's from, contact me!
If you're the lucky winner, you'll get an amazing goodie bag full of stuff as a prize!
**This competition is now closed**
**This music was from Secret of Mana on the SNES**
[ add comment ] | [ 0 trackbacks ] | permalink |
( 3 / 94 )Wow, 30 shows in! I'll have to do something special if I make it to 50...
01. Christopher Colombus - Benny Goodman
02. Classical Gas - Hugo Montenegro - Good Vibrations
03. No More Water in the Well - The Temptations - With a Lot O' Soul
04. Withered Earth - Miki Higashino - Genso Suikogaiden vol.2: Last Duel at Crystal Valley
05. Way of the Bomberman - June 'Chiki' Chikuma - Saturn Bomberman
06. Humanize - Big Boss Man - Humanize
07. Warning Blues - Mandrill - Mandrill
08. Horsin Up - Orchestra Harlow - The NuYorican Funk Experience
09. This is My Happiness (Tom Jones A Go Go Mix) - Tetsuo Yoshida - Space Channel 5 Part 2: Non-Stop Mega Mix
10. Options Beat - Gitarooman
11. Theme From Route 66 - Nelson Riddle & His Orchestra - Bachelor Pad Royale
12. Back in Love Again - L.T.D. - Something to Love
13. Walk on the Wildside - The Alan Tew Orchestra - The Easy Project
14. Listen My Children and You Shall Hear - Count Basie - Exposure
15. Top Cat (Underscore)
16. Tiger Rag - Jimmy Dorsey
****
COMPETITION TIME!!!
17. ?????
If you can tell me which video game that music was from, contact me.
You're up for the chance to win a goodie bag packed with lots of random stuff! Don't miss this great opportunity!
Last week's music was from Dragonball Z: Budokai 2 on the PS2 (and other formats, most likely).
****
18. Ah Ha - Mongo Santamaria - Greatest Hits
19. In The River - A Hawk and a Hacksaw - The Way the Wind Blows
20. Baby-T - Guitar Vader - Jet Set Radio Future / From Dusk
21. Back in the U.S.S.R. - Ramsey Lewis
22. Agent Double O-Soul - The John Schroeder Orchestra - Sounds From the Lounge: Fast Cars, Secret Agents, Go Go Chicks
23. There'll Be No Next Time - Louis Prima & Sam Butera
24. The Funky Buzzard - James Bell & The Turner Brothers - The Funky 16 Corners
25. Cause I'm A Man - P Reno (sung by Pretty Things) - Unreleased Soundtrack Music From George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead
26. After Eating, Grand Line! - One Piece
27. Riders on the Storm - Senor Coconut - Fiesta Songs
28. Tagore Street Blues - Debashish Battacharya & Bob Brozman - Mahima
29. Hotel Daniels - Lalo Schifrin - Bullitt OST
30. Breakdown - Parliament - Osmium
31. Child of My Kingdom - Arthur Brown - The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
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( 3 / 93 )
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