neonvincent

I present to you the Blue Devils Drum and Bugle Corps playing a brief chorale arrangement of "Duel of the Fates" as a warm up.



That reminded me of a Star Wars/drum corps crossover "music bunny" that had been hopping around in my head the past month. A brief piece called "Mask of Revan" or "Darth Revan's Mask" from "Star Wars: The Old Republic" would also make for a good warmup. Here it is. Listen to it and hear how it might work in the same way that "Duel of the Fates" would. Just imagine the string parts played by trumpets and the harp played by bells.




On the one hand, I'll never be in a position to make this happen. On the other hand, that's a good thing for me. Drum corps is not good for my mental health.  On the other hand, playing this video game with my wife is.  Play together, stay together!

Here's another piece of background music for Alderaan in addition to the one I posted yesterday, This one has the benefit of showing the lovely scenery in addition to playing the music.  And to think this is the planet Moff Tarkin destroyed as a demonstration of the Death Star's power.  Well, he certainly got what was coming to him!

As I mentioned in the first installment of this series.

My wife...is a more avid gamer than I am, but I'm the Star Wars fan. I don't think she's seen more than half the films and none of them all the way through, so it's really interesting watching her reaction to the planets we've visited. She really likes Alderaan, but she was shocked to find out that it gets blown up in the far future. It only happens in first hour of the first movie filmed. To fix that, we'll be watching all the films in the order of the events. In fact, we might be seeing the 3D versions of the films as they come out.

We just finished playing together on Alderaan, at least for now, and it really is a beautiful (virtual, fictional) world, especially in contrast to Tatooine, which is a real pit. My wife reiterated how pissed it makes her that it gets destroyed. I have to agree. In fact, I'm beginning to think that people who have never known any Star Wars other than the full Episodes I-VI and who have played either Knights of the Old Republic or Star Wars: The Old Republic will find the destruction of Alderaan even more traumatic than the people who saw it happen for the first time between 1977 and 1998. Back then, there was no world to know. Now, there are parts of two movies and two games set there. When I saw the Death Star blow up the planet back in 1977, I thought, "Grand Moff Tarkin is such an evil asshole," but I didn't grieve along with Leia. Now, when I see that happen in three years in the 3D edition of A New Hope, I might just cry.  Imagine the reaction of someone who is seeing it for the first time and has watched all the prequels.

And now, a video of Alderaan's scenery.

Since I've been blogging a lot about Star Wars: The Old Republic, it's time I give another video game's music some love.

An acoustic and electric violin cover of two of my favorite themes from Skyrim. Arranged and performed by Jason Yang. Original soundtrack by Jeremy Soule.

In case the violinist looks familiar, it's because I've featured him before.

This week on Versus, Steve and Larson debate which role playing time vampire will suck up more time during their holiday vacation: Skyrim or The Old Republic."

I'm playing SW:TOR. If want swords and sorcery fantasy, I'll play Rift.

While I'm watching my wife play this game, I saw the following on the game's YouTube channel.

Plainclothes warriors join the battle among Jedi and Sith in the first ever lightsaber freeze mob duel in the heart of New York's Times Square. Watch as over 100 fans joined the battle to celebrate the launch of STAR WARS™: The Old Republic on 12.20.11

The launch may have been on the 20th, but my wife has been playing for almost a week. The $5 to start early was worth it, and I'm saying that as someone who is just watching the game.

Still more from yesterday's Overnight News Digest: Science Saturday, the body of which concluded with a series of articles on video games from Michigan State University and Indiana University.

( Michigan State as a video game design center, Guitar Hero as a way to teach kids to create art, and another installment of 'While the World Burns, Farmville thrives' behind the cut. )

Speaking of the connection between video games and the world burning, the servers for Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, and Metal Gear Online are shut down because of the earthquake and tsunami near Sendai.

As part of the efforts to conserve Japan's electricity usage in the wake of the Sendai earthquake and tsunami, Square Enix and Konami are temporarily shutting down servers for Final Fantasy XI, Final Fantasy XIV, PlayOnline, and Metal Gear Online.

Final Fantasy XI and FFXIV's servers were shut down at 3 p.m. PST on March 13 and are scheduled to be down for a week. In addition, players won't be billed for the April billing cycle. The FFXIV Lodestone site, official game forums, and Square Enix support center will provide updates when available.

Metal Gear Online servers have been down since March 12. Kojima Productions is unsure about when they'll be brought back online.

Those games aren't thriving while the world burns!