think back to the 8 bit generation. You sat down on your shag carpet in front of the old TV that looked like a big wooden box. You pressed in the power button on your NES and booted up Super Mario Bros or Final Fantasy. You played level after level after level and finally you reach the end. Hooray. You shut it off and go eat supper, your gaming experience over for that day. But was it? As you take your sunday bath, you catch yourself humming that catchy tune from when you entered a boss fight. Or on the bus to school you start whistling the main theme from your recent gaming adventure. My point? Even when you weren't able to dissect a game and realize what was so great about it, the music, whether it be classic 8-bit, or nowadays powerful digital tracks, always stuck with you.

Today, when graphics are powerful enough to produce an extremely realistic city, the music in the game can be easily overlooked. But the truth is, music is a very important piece in the ability to immerse a gamer into a game for a long period of time.Take a look at the recent games that you've been sucked into. Katamari Damacy. How many times have you been sitting at your desk, looking over your production report and started singing: Na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na-na. Or with the recently released Lumines, just have nothing on your mind but the faced paced techno style music?

The game series that has always stuck in my mind has been the Metal Gear series. No matter what you were doing in the game, the music always set the mood and anticipation of it. On the back of the game case for Metal Gear Solid 2, it even mentioned the composer for the game and some of his previous works. Having played the game, and loving the music, I decided to do a bit of research on this man, this Harry Gregson Williams. Upon reading his previous works, I realized that he wasn't a no name guy. He was the go to guy for music such as on The Rock, Shrek, Shrek 2, and many others. This piked my interest as these were some of my favorite movies. With a new level of interest, I re-watched these movies, this time paying attention to the music, and not the story. I did fail at parts, because it was hard to try and pick the movie apart, but then I realized why: All of the sad parts or the action fillled parts, the music drew me in. I was in awe of this. The scores for these movies were amazing and did their job completely. Next I listened to the MGS3 soundtrack. That's all I listened to for a few weeks. Every track, even when not related to the game, still had a certain something to draw you in and toy with your emotions, the way a good song should.

My point of all of this? Next time you play a game, and you feel yourself totally immersed, ask yourself why? Look at the graphics, controls, but most importantly, sound. I bet that the music going on with these parts is of the best video game music you've ever heard, if not music in general.

Journal in point form!

-I had a migraine today. Very lamesauce.
-I had another question answered on On The Spot. I'm now 2rd in the standings.
-My union was on On The Spot. Mods rule. If you want in there, PM me.
-Katamari Damacy is a fun game.
-I've developed a keen like for cigars.
-PSP will own the DS.
-God of War will own.
-The Simpsons has gotten progressively worse in the last few seasons.
-Chuck Norris owns.
-The new mods smell funny.

Got a job writing for a website! IGO? No way Jose. I got mine at Advance Gamer as a writer. Just a step closer to what I want to be in a few years.

http://www.retrojunk.com/media/06tsdwuwee/freshprinceintro.wmv

Pure uncut ownage.

I got to play WoW today on my friends account. Wow, this game has an addictive quality along the lines of cigarettes. I kept telling myself that I would get off in 10 minutes, but then it turned into 2 hours. I also can play it pretty decently with basically everything under min Requirements. I stole my friend's guest pass so I'll be playing this game for hours at a time over the next 10 days. When I get a name, I'll tell you guys so I can play with joo. :)

That is all. Carry on.

After a recent incident around these parts, it got me thinking, what would possibly drive a person to copy and paste someone else's review and take credit for it on a gaming website? Maybe it's just me, but I see no point. You might get a emblem in your profile or something that says that people like your reviews. You don't get money, or a higher grade, or anything worth while (Even in those cases it's still a terrible thing to do.)

I don't know about you people, but I love writing. Game reviews, short stories, everything. There is almost no better feeling to me than looking down at what you've written and knowing that you did some of your best work. That's why I did a D4aD plan, that's why I did a few reader reviews. I look at my Top 100 emblem and know that I earned it, and the audience I wrote it for liked it. I feel sorry for the people that plagiarise, because they don't know the feeling when you earn the Top 100 badge. They don't know the feeling when another person trusts their reviews. I feel sorry for them, having to steal someone else's work to get a cheap thrill, as it has to be an empty experience.

My name is Thr33. I’ve been a Sony gamer since the original Playstation, and quickly adopted the Playstation 2 when it came out. But now I hear about this new portable coming out from Sony. It’s supposed to be like a mini Playstation with PS2 like graphics and a huge screen. But that’s not all. It can also support MP3s for all your music deals. But that’s still not all! The UMDs the PSP games come out for supports movies so you can watch them on the go. No price or release date has been announced, but it’s supposed to be under $200 to complete with the Nintendo DS. Sony will finally be able to take the over the portable from Nintendo. What a joyous time to be alive. That was I a few weeks ago. Nothing at all was wrong with the PSP and I was saving every penny I had to buy the PSP at launch and a few games. But many things have changed since then. The release date has been announced as March 24th, around the time that everyone has been expected. But at the same time as the date, the price was announced, and that was what got everyone’s attention. $250. This came as a large shock to the main PSP fan base. That was somewhere over $100 what most people thought it would be. It seems to me that the price may be a little steep for an admitted flaw in the control system, as well as a slew of other problems that will sure come up as with all Sony first generation products. How could Sony possibly justify this price? Well, it comes with a value pack. The thing that puzzles me is the value of the value pack. So you get a memory stick, headphones, AC adapter, Spider-Man 2 and a soft cover. Let’s look at this. The AC adapter and memory stick should come with the system alone, not as the main sellers of a value pack. The soft cover should come with the system as well. Headphones? By now, most people already have a decent pair of ear buds either from their iPod or other musical device. They don’t want a cheap pair of iPod rip-offs. Spider-Man 2? I don’t know about you people, but I’d rather watch that movie on my 42” Widescreen TV with 5.1 surround sound than a small portable. Not to mention that most people already have that movie. That leads me to my next point: Announced this week was the prices of the UMD movies. Expected price? The same as DVDs, if not lower. Instead, Sony says that new movies will probably come out to 30 bucks, American. So after taxes and everything, 28 bucks Canadian. This puzzles me and brings me back to my above point. I have a big TV with great surround sound that can play all DVDs in crystal clear clarity and sharp-as-a-tack sound. Why, oh why, would I even think about putting down an extra $20 to watch a movie on my handheld? Why would Sony even think about doing this?

I’ll tell you why. It’s Sony. They possibly have the largest and most loyal fan base out of all of the big three. Sony knows this, and has relied on it for a long time. Two control ports in the PS2? Sure, that’s all right. They have made several moves that have been questionable; most of the true fan base stays loyal. But with the current announcements of price of the unit and the movies, their fan base has wavered. Diehard Sony fan boys are starting to lose faith. The PSP was pushed beyond the normal price tag of a portable and it shows. People in the PSP board have came out and said that this price was absolutely ridiculous, and as one of them, I agree. I was ready to shell out $300 for the system and a few games and maybe a movie or two, or a larger memory stick. But just the system with a few things I don’t really want? No thanks. Sony’s ego has gotten to big that they think they can shove it down our throats. Sony followers aren’t stupid. They have a price range and know what they want, and for the most part, it had been Sony products. I hope that the PSP doesn’t do as well as expected. I hope that Sony gets the message that they can’t force us to buy this overpriced crap. I hope that somehow Sony gets taken down a peg and realizes they have competition and they shouldn’t worry so much about making money.

Again, this is not a weekly thing, it just sounds cool. This second edition is brought to you by Dilly bars. They taste great, and have a fun name to say. Anyways, this edition is all about Matt Rorie.

First of all, read his journal entries. They all own. He also reveals a very high up Gamespot secret in how they get free hot chocolate. But yeah, read them all. If by some reason you aren't satisfied, read a gameguide on basically any game. Matt wrote it. All are well done and helpful whenever you need it.

Second, he posts like a regular forumer. I've seen him around SWII sometimes and he blends in there so well. He's actually the only admin I've seen or heard of that can actually stand that place, so for that, he owns even more. He is flat out one of the best admins that has ever graced these boards. Matt, we are not worthy.

Yup, bought a Gamecube today along with Resident Evil 4. Pure. Frigging. Ownage. RE4 is definately one of the best game I've played recently. Everything in Greg's review is right one and on top of it all: It owns. I can see myself enjoying this little cube for the next while. Any game recommendations?