Halo - Ending Piano Solo
The piano solo at the end of the Halo 1 theme song. This is my first transcription, and I'm pretty happy with it. The .zip contains a .midi, a .pdf and a NoteWorthy Composer project file.
Unyielding for Piano Only
My first attempt at transcribing music,
There are a few bits which I cut down for the fact it sound boring without a full orchestra and it's emotion (they are just repeating, apart from dynamics). Then, there is a section where I could not complete the rhythmn properly and the final outro I there's something slightely wrong with the rhythmn but I couldn't work out what the real rhythmn was on paper. The expression marks could be better... But if you've listened to the song you shouldn't have trouble working thing's out (as goes for the outro).
Hail To The Chimp Seriously Fun, Seriously Funny
WorthPlaying has a quick preview of Wideload's upcoming Hail to the Chimp party game, and despite a couple flubs ("GNN" instead of "GRR" for instance) they did like the game. Story includes a half-dozen screenshots as well.
Try To Be More Respectful
Michael Mann's latest Hail to the Chimp blog entry answers fan mail and talks a bit about the game's multiplayer features. Try to keep your missives clean, though!
Marathon Is Eternal
Twelve years in the making, the full version of Eternal, a 'near full conversion' for the open source version of the Marathon 2 engine, Aleph One, has been released:
Picking up from the end of the Marathon trilogy, you find yourself suddenly ninety-four years in the future, in the year 2905. You are on the S'pht moon K'lia, hanging in orbit over a desolate and ruined Earth.
Cyclomite To Be Unveiled At GDC
PrimeNewswire has a press release up that says that attendees at next week's Game Developers Conference Expo will be among the first to see Wideload's first casual game, Cyclomite:
2:00 Cyclomite: Alex Seropian and his team at Wideload Shorts team present Cyclomite. This is the first ever showing of this innovative multiplayer party game. Don't miss your chance to play it. If you miss this one, it's repeated on Thursday at 11:30 am.
Stubbs Will Return
John Olin at Xbox Evolved interviewed Wideload Games' Matt Soell about how he came to Wideload, about Hail to the Chimp, and also about Stubbs the Zombie. Stubbs, it seems, may be getting a sequel:
This Article Is Coercing You
jayWHY and EA sent word that the HBO-COERCE Halo PC server is coming back for a special Thanksgiving event. Dust off your Halo PC discs and jump in!
Cyclomite Confirmed
The Wide Load points out the latest newspost at Wideload (boy is that going to be a hard distinction to keep making) that confirms the announcement of Wideload Shorts' web-based game Cyclomite debuting on GarageGames' InstantAction site early next year and already previewed by 1Up.
Wideload Goes From Short To Instant
GameDaily Biz has the story of Wideload's first game from its Wideload Shorts division, Cyclomite:
In Wideload Shorts' Cyclomite players pilot a round object called a Cyclomite through meteor storms "in order to save the universe." A multicolored Cyclomite ring in the center of the field is used to catch meteors as they fly toward the center of the storm. The game will also offer two multiplayer modes, hundreds of co-operative multiplayer levels, and a versus multiplayer game.
PlayMyth Shuts Down
Those of us steeped in Halo 3 and Bungie Breakaway news might be forgiven momentarily for forgetting that online communities for Bungie's Mac and PC RTS games, Myth, are still hanging in there a decade after the game was released.
Unfortunately one of them, PlayMyth, has now shut down. Server administrator Blades, apparently posting as elusivemind, says he no longer has the time or energy to keep up with it.
Retronauts Does Marathon 2
Retronauts continues its contributions to 1Up's ongoing Halo 3 coverage by taking a look back at Marathon 2. In case you've been under a rock since July, Freeverse has ported the game to XBLA as Marathon:Durandal.
Thanks to chewpathingy in the HBO forum.
Retronauts Explore The Marathon
1Up's Halo 3 coverage continues; this time, the Retronauts Blog is traveling further back in time to the colony ship Marathon. There's also an indication from Bruce "Hippieman" Morrison from Freeverse in the comments to that entry to the effect that if there's enough interest, that Marathon Infinity and even the original Marathon can also be brought to Xbox Live, just like Marathon: Durandal has been.
Syndrome De La Page Blanche
In French, the phrase "syndrome de la page blanche", or white page syndrome, is intended as an expression of writer's block; the inability to begin a project faced with an empty page.
Myself, I always viewed it as an expression of the usefulness of limitations, boundaries, and direction: one of the reasons why so many works are derivatives and combinations is because it is easier to start with what you know and then change it than trying to tilt at the windmill of creating something truly unique. When faced with a boundary or limitation, you are teased into approaching it and testing its strength. If one was truly free to do or say truly anything without limit, it seems likely one would find nothing to say.
It is this thought that runs through my head while playing Freeverse's Xbox Live Arcade conversion of Marathon: Durandal. One is given to wonder if there is any value in such an object beyond nostalgia; a chance for those who played the game a decade ago to relive that experience. For some, a chance to recapture youth, or a chance to remember good times.
However, it is a good deal more than that; and comparing it to other games in the genre that make better use of the modern hardware in today's console provides an object lesson on the usefulness of limitations and boundaries.
Marathon Is Resurrected
No, I don't mean an XBLA release of Marathon, as it seems that is not to be; but rather, what was thought to be a long-dormant project to make a total conversion of Marathon 1 for the Unreal Tournament engine-- Marathon Resurrection-- has finally been released as a Final Candidate.
If you find the open source version of Marathon, Aleph One, still too low-tech for your tastes, but still want to sample Bungie's pre-Halo SF trilogy, have a look.