If you happen to like the music from the Final Fantasy series, then please check out this video on YouTube. It is a performance of One Winged Angel from Final Fantasy VII by The Black Mages and a philharmonic orchestra. In it, Nobuo Uematsu, composer of the Final Fantasy soundtracks, has managed to combine the peanut buttery tastiness of a symphony with the chocolaty goodness of electric guitar solos. Awesome.

And if you liked that, then may I suggest a few CDs for you to purchase.

20020220 Music from Final Fantasy is a two disc recording of a symphony orchestra performing music of every title in the series from the original Final Fantasy to Final Fantasy X. (Although it is not of the performance in the YouTube video.) It is simply incredible from start to finish. It is quite moving to hear songs that you came to know and love only as MIDI recordings, now fully realized with actual instrumentalization and a chorus.

The aforementioned The Black Mages is an instrumental rock band put together by (and including) Nobuo himself. They play, not surprisingly, the music from Final Fantasy series reformed into good 'ol rock and roll. They have released three albums so far, a self-titled debut, The Black Mages, followed by The Skies Above, and finally Darkness and Starlight.

I own the first two albums, which are both fantastic, and just found out about the third one (which was released only last month) while compiling links and pictures for this post. I'll be ordering that third release very soon!

I recently received some more Japanese imports. I scanned the box covers, posted them in the Collection Missing Games Thread, and Dracula68 was kind enough to add them to the site. Thank you, Drac!

Click on an image to jump to the GameSpot summary page.

The Developer for a Day 5 contest finalists were just announced by Adam_B.

I entered, but did not qualify as a finalist. I'm disappointed, but certainly not surprised, to be honest. Although I think I had a decent entry, "decent" certainly didn't cut it this year. According to Adam's blog the competition was thick; as was the stack of entries Adam had to read through to choose finalists.

Ultimately I blame my own procrastination, but who knows, even if I finished my design document to my satisfaction, I probably would not have made finalist anyway. There undoubtedly were many superb entries to contend with.

I hope the contest returns next year - I would really like another shot at it. I even have another idea in mind already. Unfortunately, it seems that the contest has outgrown what one person can handle. And I don't blame Adam for wanting to back away from it.

One thing's for sure: I can't wait to read the finalists' documents!

And a BIG thank you to Adam himself for running the contest.

In case you didn't know, consider this your heads up.

There's a great thread in the GameSpot Technical Support Forum where you can submit images of game cover artwork if GameSpot is missing them. 

I sifted through my collection of games, scanned in, and submitted these beauties which were accepted and now reside on the site.  (All images below link to each game's summary page; click away!)

Now I don't feel all that bad about not being a GameSpot subscription member yet.  At least I've given a little something back.

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to meet one of the most revered artists in the world of video games.  And I owe it all to my wife, as it was she who found the article in the Friday, October 13th newspaper.  The cover of the entertainment section featured a beautiful full-page image of artwork with the title, "Living In a Fantasy: ‘Final Fantasy’ artist gives one-man show in Sarasota". 

If you haven’t guessed yet, we’re talking about Yoshitaka Amano, who provided the character designs for each of the first six Final Fantasy games and concept artwork for all of the following sequels.  The article stated that Amano would be in town that night to kick off an art gallery show of his work.  I knew I had to attend; this was too incredible of an opportunity to miss.  Once again, I have to send up thanks to my wife who greatly facilitated my ability to make it to the show that night; not only did she drive me to the event (as I am new to the area), but she also convinced me to go when I thought it would be too late to make it on time. 

Thankfully, I did arrive in time, although not long before Amano had to leave.  In the short amount of time I had, I was able to admire (and snap some pictures of) the amazing pieces of his artwork on display.

Some of his work was instantly recognizable from the Final Fantasy game manuals.

There was a gift shop in the lobby, with books of Amano’s artwork for sale.  I purchased The Tale of Genji, his stunning visual interpretation of the famous one-thousand year old Japanese novel.  Thrilled to find that Amano was signing books, I patiently waited in line with my newly acquired hard-back. 

I took note of the time, and got worried.  He was only supposed to be there from five o’clock to eight, yet it was well past eight-thirty, and there were still about ten people ahead of me in line.  I know that ten doesn’t sound like much, but it was sure taking long enough for each of those signings he was doing.  What was he doing?  Then I realized that he was not only signing his name, but drawing full page sketches for each as well! 

Now I was really excited!  And to round out such a brief but unforgettable evening, I did make it up to Mr. Amano …

… and get my book signed!

After he handed the book back to me, I was able to earnestly make use of some of the only Japanese I know: “Domo arigato gozaimasu”!