Content by Games

...and what they are not doing is investing in original intellectual properties.

Actually I think that entire phrase is a contradiction in terms, at least in terms of how Microsoft can invest in something. Invest, in their case, means buy, and once something has proven itself worth buying it's no longer original.

Take a look at Halo. Microsoft bought Bungie in 2000. Bungie developed three Halo games and Microsoft published them. Now Bungie has been spun off, and Microsoft kept Halo.

Is Halo an "original" intellectual property now? Microsoft no longer has an "investment" in Bungie, which is going to do one more Halo game (ODST) and then move on to other things. Knowing Bungie, those "other things" are probably underway as we speak, and the latest podcast mentions things that may not be mentioned. These unmentionables are (drumroll please) original intellectual properties that Microsoft has not invested in, and presumably did not want to invest in. Instead, they kept Halo.

UPDATE: Microsoft is reorganizing Rare now, too. Rare has created aan "original IP" for Microsoft-- namely, Viva Pinata. PDZ was a sequel, but it doesn't look like it's getting another sequel anytime soon.

Reader Cryptic of the Bungie Community Group club writes to let us know of that group's unofficial Community Forge Contest. The contest is for map variants based on the Mythic Maps due out soon; purchasers of the Limited Edition of Halo Wars will get access to them on that disc. The contest winner will get a year of Xbox Live or $50 worth of MS points, and the top three maps (one for each Mythic Map) will be featured on Bungie Favorites in the Bungie Community Group spotlight. Deadline for entries is March 3, 2009. There is no entry fee. For complete details, visit the Bungie Community Group.

Thank goodness Sony is a Japanese company, because they can at least claim that English isn't their native language when someone points out the nonsense in claims ilke the latest regarding PlayStation 3 sales.

Things start out fairly innocuously:

"In terms of units, it is true that PS3, as compared to last year, is slightly worse, but on a full-year basis we believe we are on track to sell the 10 million units that I said at the beginning of the year."

Okay, that's not so bad. Specious perhaps, but possible. After all, the fact that 2008 was not as good a year for them as 2007 doesn't necessarily mean that 2009 won't be as good as they are planning. It would strongly indicate that, given that presumably they predicted that 2008 would be as good or better than 2007 (which they did); and if that prediction turned out to be wrong, might not this one, too?

Then they start digging:

"...Relatively speaking, [compared to] the growth of other platforms, we are behind, but it's not the case that we are not meeting the target."

If they are behind the other platforms but still meeting their target, this means they were planning to be behind at this stage? I think that's not true. I seem to recall that initial projections from Sony for the PS3 included catching up to MS and the Xbox 360's one year head start fairly quickly, and in no way included getting trounced, month after month, quarter after quarter, by Nintendo, a competitor that many commenters gave up for just about dead last generation, myself included.

This in a transcription of Last Spartan from halo 2 , for full orchestra.
This song can be heard when the the Master Chief jumps out of cairo station with the bomb.

Includes all the standards :
.mus
.pdf
remember to use finale (reader or notepad)2009 to open it

BioWare CEO Ray Muzyka's advanced the possibility that someday gamers would play games on one ubiquitous console. There are "valid reasons," he says, why the market would trend that direction, with the exception of "Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo maybe having some issues with that [as] they might want to continue their platforms."

You think?

This has come up before, and I'm pretty sure that it was Muzyka behind those earlier remarks also. I find it hard to consider the idea anything but the most fanciful of wishful thinking. Bioware makes great games with huge amounts of content, and their efforts would be greatly simplified on a number of levels if they could target a single ubiquitous platform.

The problem is that the benefits for such a scheme are asymmetric, and skewed sharply in the direction of the content producer, offering little or no benefit to platform owners or gamers. If BioWare makes its games for several different platforms-- say, Xbox 360, Windows, and the Sony PlayStation 3, it means that gamers have a reasonable amount of choice for gaming platform and can still assure themselves of access to BioWare games. Reducing the number of platforms BioWare has to target might make developing their games less expensive, but it seems extremely unlikely that this savings would be passed on to gamers in terms of lower title prices. After all, with only a single ubiquitous console platform, there is no longer any choice-- if you want to play a BioWare game you'd have to use that platform. If you don't want to, tough luck. If anything, standardizing on a single platform would likely increase prices (although the higher prices rose, the greater an opportunity there would be for someone to enter the market and therefore blow your "single platform" market right out of the water by undercutting you.

Jonathan Blow, One man creator of the oh-so-pretty Braid platformer, as amazing for its interesting gameplay as its surreal visuals, says, essentially, that videogame stories are bad and probably wouldn't get much better with better writers since trying to tell a story in a game is a bad idea. One might wonder whether he's paraphrasing film director John Huston, who famously remarked, when asked about the "message" in one of his movies, that if one wanted to send a message, one should use Western Union.

One similarly might imagine that if you were to ask Blow about the story in his games, he'd say that if you want to tell a story, you should make a film. Or, perhaps, write a book. Seeing at what some triple-A titles have become-- long cutscenes with repetitive gameplay inserted instertitially-- one can't help but admit to at least some truth in the idea that there's something suboptimal about the way narration and gameplay are currently being combined. The flaws of the method get a pass when the separate elements are well executed in otherwise popular products. When either or both is weak, the combination itself makes the whole enterprise seem foul. In some games, one so dominates over the other that it is a wonder that anyone bothers; I tried the demos of a couple of JRPGs over the holiday break, the first ones I've ever played, and was amazed to find that the first hour or so of each of them consisted of scripted, in-engine cutscenes with no choices and player interaction limited to pressing the green button to advance to the next scene. Where's the game, I wondered.

this is about halo 3 guide to get recon armor and ideas to be in the bungie favorites

Heard about Marathon or Myth, but haven't played them? Played some solo Marathon or Myth, but haven't had a chance to check out multiplayer?

Then check out For Carnage, Apply Within, a group of fans dedicated to arranging regular multiplayer games of these classic Bungie titles.

Thanks for the heads-up to urk on Bungie.net.

Rockslider, who skipped Halo 2 to spend a few more years working over megabattles in Halo 1, has found Halo 3 a little more to his taste. His latest entry is on rocket and sniper action on The Ark. Thanks to Rockslider for the heads-up in the HBO forum.

Normally I avoid even commenting on the intersections between violent real-world crime and fantasy videogame violence. There's really little point. There's not much more than can be said on the matter than what is already out there.

However, the remarks of Judge James Burge following his conviction of Daniel Petric are simply so ridiculous that I can't let them pass. From story coverage at, of all places, a PS3 website:

The boy was finally convicted of the crime earlier today, but Judge James Burge wasn't happy with the sentencing. He told the press that he blamed the video game developers more than Daniel for the crime committed. Burge accused Halo 3 developer Bungie of creating a "delusional environment" where the normal rules of reality didn't apply. "[In Halo 3] you can shoot these aliens, and they're there again the next day. You have to shoot them again, and I firmly believe that Daniel Petric had no idea, at the time he hatched this plot, that if he killed his parents they would be dead forever," Burge explained.

It's really hard to take that seriously. It's also really hard to swallow the idea that this is a person who is a judge-- who is in a position of education and authority. That's frightening. What is surprising is that despite blaming the videogame more than the perpetrator, he still found the latter guilty, which I suppose is also encouraging.

However, let's play reductio ad absurdum a bit with this. It won't be hard; there's not to much reducting to do before things get pretty damn absurdum.

Wideload Games, developers of Hail to the Chimp and Stubbs the Zombie, is developing a new game: Texas Cheat'Em for Xbox Live Arcade and the PlayStation Network, due out this spring. Later it will come to PC. No details yet on the Wideload site, or an indication of whether this is either "Hot Sauce" or the "Rainbow Space Car", still listed as "coming soon" on the site.

UPDATE: According to GameSpot, this is actually a production of the Wideload Shorts division, which previously produced Cyclomite.

In Amber Clad transcripted for piano by B.B. Another beautiful piece by Marty and Mike. It's the 12th track in the Halo 2 Soundtrack v1. And you can hear it during the level "Delta Halo". Hope you enjoy!
lvl 1-5: 3.62

Note: In measure 6 and 16, you might want to hold that 'e' with the left hand instead.

Remember to comment and rate!!

I have finally finished updating all of my transcriptions. If you still happen to notice a mistake in the sheet music then by all means let me know. I have also updated my blog on how to open .mus files. People were complaining that I was not specific enough on the walkthrough. Well, it is now very specific and you should have no trouble getting through it at all. Once again, if you are still having trouble understanding anything that I've said, say, or will probably say, then send me a private message, email, or just leave a comment...understand???

Note: It is best if you send me a private message because I do not read all the comments and I only check my email from time to time.

Now that I have downloaded Printmusic 2009, I am now able to do many things that I was not able to do before with Notepad. I am able to make the sheet music look more professional. I will try to update all of my past submissions into this format of Finale.

Some features to look for in Printmusic 2009:

-Change Time Signatures
-Change Key Signatures
-Change Clefs and Staffs
-Specific Tempo Marks
-More Expression choices
-More Articulation choices
-More Note Choices
-Grace Notes

These are some things you can look forward to when you download Printmusic 2009 instead of Notepad 2009. If you would like do download it, read my blog on opening mus files and select Printmusic instead of Notepad.

http://rampancy.net/blog/spartan182/12/11/2008/Opening_MUS_Files_0

Still ten shopping days left, but Aleph One has left all the old school fans a present to open early: a new version of the open source Marathon engine for playing Marathon 1, Marathon 2, Marathon Infinity and third-party scenarios on PCs, Macs, and Linux computers.

Heretic Hero for piano. Hope you enjoy!

1|2|(3|4)|5

If you can't see the file, please do not post the problem here!

Remember to rate and comment!

Ok I am certain that this piece is now as accurate as it can get without being the real deal. I have taken all of my transcriptions as well as Halo Dragon's transcription and combined them together to create one perfect Never Forget. I fixed all areas that sounded wrong from Halo Dragon's transcription and also added my fixed parts to the song. Some parts are marked as optional as they are not actually in the song and unneccessary to play. I have included them in the transcription because they make the overall song sound much better. Again these parts are marked as optional on the sheet music and do not need to be played.

In the attachment you will find five files:

Never Forget Piano Main Menu (from the Halo 3 main menu for piano only).
Never Forget Orchestra Main Menu (again for the menu with included parts: 3 violins, 2 cellos, and a piano)
Never Forget Piano Full Version (transcribed by The Halo Dragon and Edited by me for piano only)
Never Forget Orchestra Full Version (Halo Dragons edited transcription with included parts: 3 violins, 2 cellos, and a piano)
Unforgotten Improvision (just for the heck of it I included my friends old improvision of Unforgotten which is still pretty easy and fun to play)

As always, only for Finale Notepad 2009. (These files are actually in Printmusic 2009 but can still be viewed by Finale Notepad 2009)

Get it here: http://rampancy.net/blog/spartan182/12/11/2008/How_Open_MUS_Files

I actually recomend that you download Printmusic 2009 instead of Finale Notepad 2009. It has more features that you would most likely find better than Notepad's features. I also recomend that when you open the orchestra version of Never Forget you should click "window" at the top and select "instrument list". From their you can change the violin and cello's midi output to string ensemble for a more accurate and professional sound.

Update: I actually set the string's default midi output to string ensemble so you can just click play. If you want to change it back then follow the above instructions.

Enjoy the music and leave a comment!

OK, for starters any sheet music that I will be posting from now on will only be in .mus format. This blog will show you how to get the program or programs neccessary to open these files.
You will need either Finale 2009, Finale Notepad 2009, or Printmusic 2009.

Don't have any of these? Download it for free by following these steps:

First of all, if you have not registered for an account on rampancy and VERIFIED it... then don't even continue reading this until you do.

Step 1: Create an account at finale.com. The account is free. Use this link to begin signing up:

https://www.finalemusic.com/store/newaccount.aspx?t=%2fstore%2fmyaccount.aspx&

Step 2: Once you have finished signing up, you can download the demo version of the above programs. The demo gives you all of the programs respectable features for 1 month (30 days) for free. Once the 30 day trial has elapsed, you can no longer print or save music. Click on the link below and then next to the program's name select either Windows or Macintosh to continue:

http://www.finalemusic.com/store/demos.aspx

Step 3: Click on the download button to begin downloading the program's installer. When prompted to save, select "save to desktop". It should begin downloading. The time will vary depending on your computer's speed.

Step 4: Once the installer has finished downloading, you should see one of the two things on your desktop:
1: The Installer Icon
2: A Folder
If you see the icon, then simply click it to begin installing the program. If you see the folder, then open it and click on the installer to begin installing the program. Sometimes you will be prompted to extract all the files in the folder but it is unneccessary as it will only put another folder on your desktop with the same files.

Step 5: Now that you have either Finale 2009, Finale Notepad 2009, or Finale Printmusic 2009, select a transcription and enjoy the music!

I will post a link to this blog every time I submit sheet music in the future. If you are still having problems downloading the program or opening .mus files, then please send me a message or a leave a comment on this page.

This is the song that was played in the Believe trailer for Halo 3. The song is a shortened version of Frederic Chopin's Raindrop Prelude number 15. I made some changes to it to make it sound more like the trailer and less like the actual song. The file is for Finale Notepad 2009 (mus).

Don't have Finale Notepad 2009? Use this link to fin out how to get it:

http://rampancy.net/blog/spartan182/12/11/2008/How_Open_MUS_Files

If you are still having problems opening the file then please send me a message or leave a comment. If you have any suggestions on the transcription then let me know.

Update: With Printmusic's features, I was able to change both the key and time signatures to make it less confusing.

HBO and the HBO forum have both provided links to an editorial by "William Usher" at Cinema Blend about how Halo is killing console gaming.

So now that this specious attempt to nab page hits has worked, there can be little further damage that I can do except to examine the author's premise and see if it holds any merit. For the most part, it doesn't.

When you have to start off your article by saying "this isn't Halo bashing" it's not a good sign. Not because Halo doesn't deserve thoughtful criticism. It does. It is not a perfect edifice placed on Earth by some deity for the entertainment of humanity.

Im pretty new to rampancy. I just have two questions. What are points for and how do you get them? And how do you get a new badge or picture?

Hello i was wondering if anyone had the sheet music for Luck and One final effort it would really help me if any one did.

Bad Cyborg covers some interesting techniques for tackling Tsavo Highway on foot. This is a lot of fun, if you've never tried it, you're missing out. A level that with vehicles and support troops is a quick breeze through the trees with a couple of thorny spots becomes a nice challenge all the way through.

I need to make a band arrangement for my band class to play and its worth a lot of band mark so if anybody can transpose the song.Id appreciated very much.

I just need 8 bars of the halo main theme for these instrument

flute, Clarinet,alto sax,b.sax,french horn,tuba,bass guitar,xylophone/guitar,percussion,bar.tc,trumpet.1,trumpet.2

If anyone did it they can send me through this hotmail iviet@hotmail.com