Summary: This 14th episode of Insert Coin Theater features a very special guest: Ben Burnes of abstractionmusic.com! He brings his own POV on games and joins in our discussion to bring some much-needed class to the show. Music from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (Koji Kondo), Uniracers (Colin Anderson) and of course, The Maker's Eden, Act I (Ben Burnes)! We discuss games as art, what makes classic games timeless, and potential resurgence of Rare titles from Microsoft. We talk a bit about No Man's Sky (no surprise there), and also talk with Ben Burnes and learn a bit about him, his experience, and what makes him tick. Also we get to meet Trey, our newest addition to ICT, as Managing Editor. Please visit Ben's site at http://www.abstractionmusic.com and follow him on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ben_burnes. Video games as art topic came from http://www.lookingoutmyownwindow.com - thanks for sharing, and giving us the opportunity to explore such a diverse and varied topic. What makes classic games timeless topic was from Xenotechie on http://www.reddit.com/r/truegaming. The No Man's Sky soundtrack article Ben mentioned can be found here: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2014/12/22/creating-the-infinite-soundtrack-of-no-man-s-sky.aspx. The speed-run from AGDQ 2014 he mentioned can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jU0fEc2PeSI The rest of the show notes are after the break! Music The Maker’s Eden, Act 1 - A Lost Soul By Ben Burnes Ben introduces this. The Maker’s Eden is a game available on Steam and the first official soundtrack he completed. He is working on act 2 right now (which is set to be released in a few months, hopefully!) The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask - Deku Palace By Koji Kondo Majora's Mask has the least number of dungeons of any game in the Zelda series, containing only four on the main world. While there are technically four more on the moon, they are small, contain no bosses, and are completely optional, requiring a set number of happy masks to access each one. Uniracers - 1st Race By Colin Anderson Uniracers, which is called Unirally in the EU, is a Super NES game centered around riding unicycles around a 2D track. It was developed by DMA Designs, which later became Rockstar, developers of Grand Theft Auto and the Red Dead series. DMA Designs was sued by Pixar shortly after game launch as the unicycle allegedly copied the design from their 1987 short Red’s Dream. Pixar won, and the game was pulled from shelves by Nintendo after only shipping 300,000 copies. Chiptune: Abstraction - Sanctuary By Ben Burnes Ben introduces this. Discussion Topics Talk to Ben a bit about himself, his works, favorite shade of blue (just kidding!), etc. Another interesting topic from Lookingoutmyownwindow.com discussing video games as art. Some games, it happens naturally, and is widely imitated: Zelda, GTA, Halo are some examples. Sometimes, it’s a unique one-off: Okami and Rez come to mind. Others, it’s forced and trite, and is unappreciated: can’t really think of an example here. Finally, there are some poorly designed in all and not necessarily forced, but rushed and it shows: Shadow the Hedgehog, the original ending to Mass Effect 3, the new SimCity. So, what makes a game art and what makes it not? Once more on the nostalgia train, Xenotechie on reddit asked the question: what makes a classic game timeless? When revisiting some games, we get that sinking feeling that we could be playing something better. Is this a product of “nostalgia goggles” or is it something else? Gamespot says that Microsoft has renewed the trademark on Rare titles such as Banjo-Kazooie, Perfect Dark, and others will return in the near- and long-term future. This not only means those games will come back, but we may see Viva Pinata, Blast Corps, and Battletoads return as well. Is this positive or negative?
