Ok, so we’re a bit behind in content for the 5 days of Fanart.  Let this be a lesson to you 5 dayers out there, it can be tough to get it all together.  No matter, with Friday coming directing after Thursday, I thought it would be a good opportunity to roll them together.  What?  You say they always do that… hush…

Anyhow, please do enjoy this great selection from Thursday and Friday.  These pieces will round out our coverage of the fanart for Sonic and the Black Knight Fanart Contest.  If you are interested in seeing the winning submissions, you’ll have to grab the full game on March 3rd!

And lastly, highlighting fanart is something we’ve fallen behind on with Sonic Central.  We recognize this and wholeheartedly apologize to the fans who have submitted art in hopes of seeing it appear on the site.  The good news is that we’ll be moving to support artists across the blogs until another solution can be found on Sonic Central.  More about this will be posted next week when we finalize our plans, so if you have art that you want to have featured, save it up and we’ll show you how to get it in next week!

If you made it this far, you are a true Sonic fan! Thanks to everyone who submitted amazing art for this contest. Have a good weekend!

“Do you ever wish you could dream? Like when you sleep?”

At some point during the story missions of Phantasy Star Portable, this is what Vivienne asks my character. My character is a CAST—if you aren’t familiar with Phantasy Star, the CAST are a race of sentient (but apparently, dreamless) robots—and so is Vivienne. I liked the idea of a shared moment of artificial intelligence introspection. While Phantasy Star Portable for the PlayStation Portable lacks something of the sprawling MMO-space offered by Phantasy Star Universe, it replaces this with the intimate, character-based interactions of RPGs. It’s a delight to see the story unfold in this world.

My first few hours of gameplay were filled with “Oh! I’m so glad they did that!” moments. More weapons drop with a lot more varied (and higher) elemental percentages. Also, you can now upgrade your weapons on any planet—not just the one where it was manufactured. You’re also given grinders to upgrade your weapons after every mission, and there is no chance of “breaking” your weapon, either. If you’ve ever sweated out upgrading an S-rank weapon from 7 to 8 grinds in Phantasy Star Universe, then you know what a boon this is.

Ultimately, Phantasy Star Portable has the joyous “wilderness/town” dichotomy that makes RPGs so much fun: you kill monsters, you get new weapons, you talk to NPCs, you get new missions. PSU’s player economy & trading mechanics have been stripped away from Phantasy Star Portable, and the game has been adjusted for this, in a big way—the end result feels like a game which has been truly tuned for solo & small-group play. I was surprised at how well it translated to the portable system while still feeling like all it kept all the fun things about Phantasy Star. It is exceedingly easier to get (and upgrade) weapons and items, but in a way that feels fun & well-paced—you’re not overpowered, and your progression matches the items you find in a way that mimics a good RPG more than a grind-it-out MMO.

Without spoiling too much—we’ll go into more depth about this at a later date—one of the coolest changes to Portable are the character classes. Classes can use many more types of weapons, and much higher ranks of weapons, than in Phantasy Star Universe—the classes have, essentially, been condensed & streamlined, making solo & party play both a ton of fun, since you can specialize or generalize in whatever way appeals to you.

Of course, I will invariably pick a class with melee specialization and the capability to dual-wield—that’s just how I roll. I have a long history of similar characters, from the current incarnation of Phantasy Star Universe to World of Warcraft to KOTOR to Baldur’s Gate, so imagine my joy when within several hours of gameplay I was wielding the much-ballyhooed Twin Beefedge (cooked to a crispy 10/10). While ordinarily I prefer a pair of sleek katanas or something similar, the Twin Beefedge weapon, though bulky, has the added bonus of setting enemies on fire. I considered myself mollified.

In addition to a surprising array of meat based weapons (I was also able to pair a “Beefedge Wellda” single-handed ‘blade’ with a ‘Master System’ ranged combat support unit–see above!), the game has the same delightful range of creatively designed weapons as its Phantasy Star predecessors; the ease of acquiring and using a varied palette is a big part of what made Phantasy Star Universe fun, and here it works that into a RPG environment. Ruby Eclipse has educated me on the Phantasy Star Online lineage of a lot of the Phantasy Star Portable items and it’s great to see so many creative weapons to mix-and-match in your character’s palette. This is one of the rare games where the individual items and weapons available deserve their own blog articles.

For me, the customization of a character is at least as important as the gameplay itself. The levels in Phantasy Star Portable are fast and furious and I love the gameplay to be sure, but it’s the options for character loadout that really draw me in. Even just getting up to level 20 or so, I noticed a huge amount of leeway in how I could customize my weapons and armor: my CAST, I believe, dreams of a full pallette of dual S-Rank sabers.

Earlier this week we posted a look at the music in Let’s Tap!, and more than a couple of you asked us if the tracks from the Japanese version of the game would be making it over to the US. It was a fair question, as some publishers and developers end up changing things to make their game more appealing to the Western markets.

I did some digging and asked around in the offices, and there’s good news to be had – it’s now official that SEGA of America will be staying true to the Japanese feel of the game, and all Japanese music tracks will be included in the US version!

In short: Sweet.

So, whether you’re down for the Kung Fu beat like we showcased last time, or for an upbeat techno rendition of Microsoft Sam singing the theme song (linked above), you’ll get to enjoy them all when the game releases here in the states.

I can totally see this theme song becoming the next big internet meme.

We’ve just release the third and final Superior Tactics trailer for Empire: Total War. In this video, designer Jim Whitson and associate producer Mark Sutherns take you through naval groups and formations, to guide you through the naval battles that are new in Empire: Total War. Enjoy!

Two very cool MadWorld videos have gone up in the last couple of days – the first, which went live this morning, is the third in the series of DeathWatch TV trailers – check it out here or at the link below:

MadWorld: Death Watch Trailer #3

The next video is a little something that Platinum Games and their community manager, JP, put together  – a look into the offices of PG, how they created parts of the game, our best-friend-with-a-chainsaw Jack, and the multitude of action figures they have on their desks. (Seriously) It’s a really cool video and if any of you are interested in the gaming industry, I highly recommend checking it out for a special behind-the-scenes look at how things work in a development studio. Our thanks to JP and the PG team for putting it together!

Platinum Games Studio Tour Video

A brand new Stormrise trailer has gone live today, this time with a look at the Line of Sight in the game; essentially a very nifty introduction about how the camera controls work and can add a lot of depth to play – especially considering most RTS games have you locked in an overview setting from high above. Check out the massive Sai Matriarch, featured above – and the trailer itself here!

Following our 5 days of Fanart, we have another batch of Sonic art from the Sonic and the Black Knight fanart contest.  I don’t have too much to add for Wednesday, however today does bring one of my favorite pieces that I wished was selected- see if you can guess which it is. Remember, if you like the art, head to our Flickr page and comment on it!

What?  You say it’s not Wednesday, well, … it must be Wednesday somewhere in the world…

What? You say it doesn’t work that way, well… then hush – we can pretend!

Enjoy today’s fanart, look for another update later today for Thursday art.  If  you’ve missed the past few days, you can view them here:

Monday Art

Tuesday Art

With the release of Empire: Total War just one week away, it’s time for our 12th and final faction feature — the United States of America.

The United States of America is a nation forged in the fires of revolution and rebellion against a British monarch seen as distant, foreign and tyrannical.

After the French and Indian Wars, the British government took an entirely unreasonable line: the American colonists should pay taxes to contribute to the navy and army that helped defend them. After all, those colonial fellows enjoyed the benefits of peace, protected by Britain’s expensive soldiers and sailors. The colonists had other views. The British responded with political stupidity and military ineptitude.

Aided, once they had rebelled, by the French Bourbons (who, for reasons of their own, had every wish to see Britain pre-occupied with war and then humiliated by seditious rebels), the Americans faced down Britain. The struggle split counties, cities, towns, even families, but it united the nation.

In its wake, the revolution left a new kind of nation, a republic where men choose their own destinies, and are not subject to the whims of kings. This spirit of independence is a source of strength: it is an idea worth defending! It is also a source of weakness, for Americans cherish the right to do as they think best. This is not necessarily a good thing in an army.

America now has a future of boundless possibilities. A continent stretches away to the West, and no one is entirely sure what is to be found there. The Atlantic swell washes against the eastern seaboard, and beckons American seamen onwards: trade and adventure lie that way too. There may still be scores to settle with the British in Canada, or ambitious nations from Europe to discourage. There is much to do, if this newest and boldest of nations is to survive and prosper!

Visit the factions section of the Empire: Total War site to see the names, flags, and histories of all 12 factions.

Earlier this week, our colleague ArchangelUK posted the first part of an interview with Tommy Tallarico on the Sonic Blognik. Here’s part of the interview, and you can read the rest on the Sonic Blognik. We’ll also post some of part 2 when it’s ready.

Tommy Tallarico is a busy man, you only need to see his email signature to get a bit of an idea as to how busy. Host/writer/co-producer, The Electric Playground & Reviews on the Run television shows. Founder, CEO and Chairman of Game Audio Network Guild [G.A.N.G.]. Executive Producer and CEO of the legendary Video Games Live show – oh, and he’s also the President of Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. let’s not forget that.

He’s also an absolute pleasure to talk to incidentally.

Last month we asked you to provide us with some questions to pass on to Tommy, a long time Sonic fan, who was invited to produce some music for Sonic & The Black Knight. You sent the questions in your droves, asking this composing superstar everything from the technical to the personal and then there were the others… is Tails playable in the multiplayer of SBK and would Sonic ever marry Amy. Riiight…. Anyway after making some choices and sending Tommy a slew of them he’s come back with some very full answers to your questions, so big in fact that I’m having to split these up.

So let’s start shall we?

ArchangelUK: First up a question that was discussed on the forums a fair bit actually…

Alex Tomalty: How did you become a Sonic fan and what Sonic games to you own?

Tommy Tallarico: I’ve been a Sonic fan from the very beginning. The Genesis/Mega Drive was always one of my favoite platforms… both to play games on and to write music for. The first time that drew me to Sonic was the amazing music. Hearing Green Hill Zone for the first time just blew me away. It’s one of those songs that you just instantly like the first time you hear it. I was also drawn in by the amazing speed of the character. I remember just being in awe that a character, level and graphics could move that fast. What were they calling it at the time?? Blast processing or something? Whatever it was… it was damn cool.

I had the privilege to work on a lot of really fun games for the Genesis/Mega Drive back then. Games like Global Gladiators, Cool Spot, Aladdin, Earthworm Jim 1 & 2… and that first Sonic was always our standard for excellence. We all adored and worshiped that game.

That being said, I’d be lying if I said I’ve been happy with where the Sonic games and franchise have gone. Maybe I’m just more of an old school type of guy, but I always thought the 2-D Sonic games had more playability and fun factor than the 3-D stuff. I hope that statement doesn’t offend anyone, it’s all just personal opinion and taste I suppose. But I really have a fond place in my heart for the 2-D Sonic stuff.

Stomp224, Urtheart, Leslie Wai: What made you want to compose for games, and how do you think it differs from composition for other media such as film?

TT: My whole life, my two greatest loves and passions were music & video games. But growing up, I never thought to ever put the two together. Of course, when I was growing up in the late 70’s, early 80’s… there was no such thing as a video game composer! Music had always been around my family – my cousin is Steven Tyler from Aerosmith. His real name is Steven Tallarico, so I always kind of grew up idolizing him and the work that he did. So, I never thought it would be out of my reach to do something similar. My parents were products of the 1950s so I started playing piano when I was three years old, to Great Balls of Fire (Jerry Lee Lewis), Elvis Presley and stuff like that – but I always played by ear. It wasn’t until the late 70s, when I started to hear these amazing film scores from things like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Rocky that I felt like I wanted to be a composer. That’s when I started getting into classical music – my favourite being Beethoven – and that’s how I learned to write scores for symphonies and orchestras, by listening to the masters such as John Williams and Beethoven.

When I turned 21, I left my parents to go out to California. I was looking for a career in the music industry. I didn’t know anyone, I didn’t have a job, no place to stay, no money, no friends, nothing. I just drove out there, showed up in Hollywood, and—let’s just say it doesn’t look like it looks like on television. The only other thing I knew was Disneyland, so I stopped a homeless person on the street, asked him where Mickey Mouse lived, figuring that must be a pretty cool place to be, and he pointed me down to Orange County. So I drove into Orange County and I picked up a newspaper and saw a job at Guitar Center. I was homeless. I was actually sleeping under a pier at Huntington Beach for the first three weeks I was out in California. But the first day I picked up a newspaper, saw the job, went down there the next day, and they said, “You’re hired, you start tomorrow.”

The first day I showed up for work, I was wearing a video game t-shirt and one of the first people who walked in the store that day was a producer from Virgin. They were starting a video game company right down the street, and he saw my shirt and he was like, “Whoa, you’re into video games?” I’m like, “Yeah, are you kidding me?”—I started reeling off everything I knew. And he says, “Do you want a job? You start tomorrow.” I was hired as a games tester, and I would literally bug the vice president of the company every day, saying, “Whenever you need music, just let me know. I’ll learn how to do it, and do it for free, and if you don’t like it, you don’t have to use it.” So about three or four months later, one of the first games that I was actually a producer and tester on was [the 1992 GameBoy] Prince Of Persia. And I asked him to do the music. They made me the full-time music guy after that.

In regards to how game composing differs from any other media, I think we’re always going to be different from film and television just because of how the medium is presented. Television is a very linear medium for example; you may only get a few seconds where your piece is used in the foreground. The reality is that film and television are by nature… stories, and that story is told through dialogue – because of that music is very much considered as background material to push the dialogue forward. With video games, the action drives the story, concept or main goal, so we get to create music that 80-90% of the time is the big action sequence.

Even great composers like John Williams are restricted in how he creates music, because he still has to sit down with George Lucas who tells him what music to create at which time frame. Because of the linear nature of the medium, the direction will very much be… “At 1:51 the music changes to dark and
moody as Darth Vader just walked into the room, and at 3:42 the music needs to do this because the Death Star blows up”.

In game development, a designer will come to me and say, “Here’s the deal. There are a hundred guys on horseback with swords coming at you, and they’ve all come to kick your butt. Write me a three minute piece of music!”. From there my mind can go wild, as I don’t have the restrictions of a film or TV
composer, and even then the interactivity can send me in different directions. For example, I’ll have this theme for 100 guys kicking my butt, but I may have to do a different interactive branching theme for 10 guys kicking my butt, and another if everyone was gone.

It’s this kind of diverse appeal and approach that we have that I feel that if Beethoven were alive today, he’d be a video game composer.

To read the rest of part 1, head to the Sonic Blognik.

Earlier this morning, SEGA officially announced a partnership with Pyro studios, the team behind the upcoming movie Planet 51! This means that SEGA will be publishing the official video game for the movie, which will be hitting US theaters this Fall.

For what some may call a kids movie, older readers may actually find it pretty entertaining – the team behind Planet 51 also created Shrek, and the voice of the astronaut is none other than Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. There are also some fun references to older movies – like the Alien dog in the trailer below.

As you can see in the trailer, the film is looking really great. Since this is the SEGA end of things, we’ll have more news on both the video game and the movie as we fly closer towards the release.

In the meantime, remember to take your medicine, kids. (Or the big bad monster’ll get’ya.)