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Original SotN version: CV Judgement version: (For legal reasons I can't make this song available for download directly.)
Castlevania: Symphony of the Night is perhaps one of the awesomest games in the long-running Castlevania series. It was released in 1997 back on the original Sony Playstation, and later in a special Japan-only release for the Sega Saturn. SotN, aka Akumajo Dracula X: Nocturne in the Moonlight in Japan (Which is what I used for the banner's artwork) was a huge hit when it was released for consoles... with its epic soundtrack, great hand-drawn 2D visuals, and a massive world to explore.
After a brief opening sequence (The game starts off at the closing curtain to the previous title, Dracula X: Rondo of Blood), the game puts you in control of Alucard, the Dark Prince and son of the legendary evil Lord Dracula. You arrive at the castle, the lights come on and as you're slaying giant bear-like creatures, this song starts playing. It's really one of my favorites, which makes me sad that the opening area of the castle is the only place you hear this track (It's different in the respective same area in the 'inverted castle' which unlocks later on in the game.)
Additionally this song was remixed for the Wii exclusive, Castlevania Judgement. While I'd heard the game itself wasn't that great, the remixed soundtrack is pretty awesome, I really liked it. (I featured it above directly underneath the original remix.)
News of a new Silent Hill game, Rush N Attack and a new entry in the Saw franchise all come out of a Konami press event. All of these announcements strike us as surprising in their own unique way, but do the chatters agree with us? Also announced is Gears of War 3, and some Doctor Who games for sci-fi fans. Warhammer Online makes a huge faux-paux in billing, what could the long term effects of this mean, and who will pay all those overdraft fees? In Part B of the show, we talk about an expansion of Games for Windows LIVE into some very familiar games, and we also talk about a brand new gaming network for the iPhone. A classic game gets translated into a classic language, and we have some updates on FEAR 3, Red Dead Redemption & Splinter Cell Conviction. Of course, it wouldn't be OLR without the live chatters, phone calls, e-mails, twitter topics and all the ways we give gamers a voice every week. It also wouldn't be OLR without some food discussion... you wouldn't believe what Loki brought with him to the show this week. Tune in to find out!
Ok, enough with the memes, Ridge Racer is actually a pretty awesome arcade-type racing game. And probably has one of my favorite soundtracks ever (especially Ridge Racer V), Rare Hero is my favorite song of the whole list though. It feels like a car, it starts slow and steady and then it starts building up turning out to be a very happy and energetic song. It really helps you keep focus on the track and what you're doing, and I really like that in a racing game soundtrack. It has a lot of remixes through out the series and it was also featured on Taiko No Tatsujin (Taiko Drum Master in America) and it shows, it's a really awesome song.
If you enjoyed this song and have any comments or suggestions for future "I love that song" segments, please click the "Add new comment" link or contact us via Twitter: @olr, @Darktetsuya or me, @act_deft!
If you have kept an eye on the entertainment blogs this week, then surely you have heard that the late night talk show host beloved by nerds and dorks everywhere, Conan O' Brien, has found a new home at TBS. What is more interesting, however, is the news now coming out about where he might have ended up, which includes a gaming console in many of your living rooms.
A report from entertainment blog deadline.com earlier today reports that “Team Conan”, which included Coco's executive producer, manager and attorney, were thinking “way outside the network box.” This included discussions with Microsoft on a possible XBOX deal for Conan O' Brien's show that would have “broken new ground.”
Those small tidbits are all that we were offered, but it certainly gives the game console fans something for their minds to wander about. What could this deal have possibly entailed? Could it have been a nightly show distributed through Xbox's Live's marketplace? After all, we know that the XBOX is already set up to distribute nightly programming such as Comedy Central's popular late night shows like “The Daily Show” and “The Colbert Report”.
It is possible though, that this idea could have been taken a step further. After all, we already know that the XBOX is set up to handle streaming video through features such as “Inside Xbox” and the Netflix application. What if CoCo's show had played out live every night on Xbox for an audience watching from their couches?
If you wanted to really go outside the box, look at the type of live setup that Xbox has for a show like 1 vs 100. Could an outside the box idea have involved interactive elements from an audience with Xbox 360 controllers in hand? Imagine it: Press A to bring out the Walker Texas Ranger Lever! Okay, perhaps a little too hokey, but certainly a live audience could be polled about interest in a guests upcoming movie, or possibly submit questions to be asked to the guest.
We may never know all the details of the Xbox and Conan deal, but one thing is for sure-- this probably isn't the last you will hear of Microsoft trying to get into regular programming on it's console, as our gaming consoles slowly evolve into the all-in-one entertainment console. More live content? More interactive programming? Perhaps when Conan was dreaming “In the year 2000....”, some of these predictions weren't too far off.
