Noriyuki Iwadare

• Featured, Game Music

  Game Soundtracks For Your Soul: Level Eight

  June 12, 2015 | Ryan Paquet | Comments Off on Game Soundtracks For Your Soul: Level Eight Share this Game Soundtracks For Your Soul: Level Eight

  

  This week I am looking back at the music of three games I played on the Sega Dreamcast, one of my favorite consoles and *SPOILER ALERT* one of the winners of Wired’s Video Game Console Wars which had me floored in laughter and a huge grin on my face.

  The music of these games are at all from different ranges of the sound spectrum.  The first soundtrack is beautiful, awe inspiring, and epic in scope and a great score by two composers Tim Follin and Attila Heger.  The second is much darker and has a unique creepy, abandoned carnival grounds sound composed by the late Betrand Eluerd.   The third is an cover EP album by Stemage of Noriyuki Iwadare’s music from a masterpiece of a JRPG which is coming soon in remastered form on Steam!

  These are my thoughts of the soundtracks to Ecco The Dolphin: Defender of the Future, Evil Twin: Cyprien’s Chronicles and Stemage’s Frets of Valmar: Grandia II .

  (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  Video Game Orchestra: Live at Symphony Hall (Review)

  July 21, 2014 | Michael Hoffmann | 2 Comments Share this Video Game Orchestra: Live at Symphony Hall (Review)

  

  If you’ve been around the gaming convention scene on the east coast, chances are that you have heard of the Video Game Orchestra. Not to be confused with the Video Games Live concerts, the Video Game Orchestra (or VGO, for short) is a Boston based group that combines a unique sound of rock and orchestral genres for their videogame covers. It’s a genre that they often refer to as “rockestral game music.” The VGO has had a number of performances at events like PAX East and MAGFest, but they have also performed a number of stand alone concerts in the New England area. Depending on the venue, the group can consist of anything from a small rock ensemble to a much larger rock band and orchestra combination.

  Back in 2012, the VGO launched a Kickstarter campaign for an album featuring their larger ensemble. The Kickstarter was a success and enabled them to record a live concert performance at Boston’s Symphony Hall on October 7, 2012. Thanks to the Kickstarter funding, they were able to have the performance recorded, mixed, mastered, and released to their backers and eventually to the public. The album officially received its public release earlier this year. The end result is the album Live at Symphony Hall. So what music did they cover and how does it sound? Read on to find out. (more…)

• Featured, Game Music

  VGO’s “Theme of Grandia” Video on YouTube

  November 13, 2013 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on VGO’s “Theme of Grandia” Video on YouTube Share this VGO’s “Theme of Grandia” Video on YouTube

  There were a lot of fantastic moments at last year’s VGO concert, “Live At Symphony Hall.” While we all eagerly await the album release, GameArts gave permission for the “Theme of Grandia” to go up, for free, on YouTube for your consumption. This may have been my favorite moment.

  There was a lot of emotion involved with this one. The piece was self-arranged by composer Noriyuki Iwadare, who was in attendance. Also in attendance was Hiroko Miyaji, widow to Grandia creator Takeshi Miyaji (who passed away in 2011). This performance was a perfect tribute to a great man who created one of the finest RPG adventures ever.

  Watch this video and get yourself psyched for the album release. I know I’m ready!

• Featured, Game Music, Interviews

  OSV/RPGFan Team Interview: VGO Guests

  November 14, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on OSV/RPGFan Team Interview: VGO Guests Share this OSV/RPGFan Team Interview: VGO Guests

  
  [Left to right: Dennis Rubinshteyn, Patrick Gann, Noriyuki Iwadare, Damian Thomas, Hiroko Miyaji]

  The four guest composers at the VGO show in Boston on October 7, 2012, each managed to squeeze into their busy schedules some time with myself and some of my old friends from RPGFan. Above you’ll find a photo we took with Noriyuki Iwadare and his own guest, Ms. Hiroko Miyaji (wife of the late Takeshi Miyaji, creator of Grandia).

  Before you read the interview, try taking this pop quiz. For one of these composers, we ask about all the action one of their earliest work has seen in the “SQ” arrangement series. For another, they are surprised to learn we know what the game Esper Dream is. For yet another, we find out a peer composer they really admire and respect of late is Michiko Naruke. And finally, one of these composers talks about his partnership with a particular game designer who used to work for Square Enix and is now with Level-5. Can you match up these four composers properly *before* reading the interview?

  After the jump, check out our short but informative interviews with each of the four guest composers. And be sure to check out RPGFan for their questions and respective answers from each of these VGM luminaries! (more…)

• Featured, Game Music

  Standing On Their Own Feet: VGO Live At Symphony Hall

  October 13, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on Standing On Their Own Feet: VGO Live At Symphony Hall Share this Standing On Their Own Feet: VGO Live At Symphony Hall

  
  [rehearsal photo courtesy Damian Thomas]

  We’ve been ceaselessly promoting the VGO in the past month. Full disclosure: VGO founder Shota Nakama is technically an OSV member, as he has provided many translation services for us over the years. But he is much more than a translator. He’s a guitarist, an arranger, an organizer and producer.

  So when the Video Game Orchestra put on their first no-strings-attached show (no Distant Worlds, no association with a convention, no “film and game music in the same concert”), we at OSV were all on board to see it succeed.

  And this past weekend, that’s exactly what I saw.

  Next week, we’ll have our interview with the four guest composers at the show (Noriyuki Iwadare, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Yoko Shimomura, Kinuyo Yamashita). But for now, after the jump, I’d like to give you my detailed report of the concert, as well as some strange and wonderful encounters I had with industry veterans and fans alike. (more…)

• Game Music, Reviews

  It Exists and it’s Huge! Kid Icarus Uprising OST (Review)

  September 26, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 6 Comments Share this It Exists and it’s Huge! Kid Icarus Uprising OST (Review)

  

  Everyone knows Nintendo’s been stingy about retail soundtrack releases for the past decade. It’s hard to get anything out of them.

  Fortunately, the new soundtrack for Kid Icarus Uprising (in Japanese, Shin Hikari Shinwa Palutena no Kagami or “New Light Myth: Palthena’s Mirror”) proved to be an exception. The three disc soundtrack, published by Yasunori Mitsuda’s “Sleigh Bells” label, is about as “complete” as anyone could want. Three discs, featuring multiple musical cues for each stage in the 3DS title, with music from seven different composers, all of whom boast some name recognition among VGM aficionados. Even more crazy, much of the album features performance from a full orchestra, with album credits as big as (or, slightly bigger than) Final Fantasy XIII. Yeah. That’s huge.

  After the jump, I’ll be picking out some of my favorite tracks from each composer and trying to determine how, when or why Kid Icarus earned such a place in Nintendo’s pantheon. (more…)

• Featured, Game Music

  Original SoundCAST: Episode #016 (All Things VGO!)

  September 25, 2012 | Brenna Wilkes | Comments Off on Original SoundCAST: Episode #016 (All Things VGO!) Share this Original SoundCAST: Episode #016 (All Things VGO!)

  

  For today’s Original SoundCAST, we have Brenna as host and Patrick as sidekick as we interview the founder and operator for the Video Game Orchestra in Boston, Shota Nakama.

  We ask Nakama-san about his interest game music, how it originated, etc. We get more details about the coming show in October, the special guests, the set list, and even a special request from Shota for the fans regarding a planned “Sakimoto Medley.” We also talk shop re: musical performance and building talent, the sights and sounds of Boston, our mutual love for Audun Sorlie, and plans for MAGFest 11 (VGO will be there, but in a “band plus chamber music” form — not the full orchestra).

  Download: Original SoundCAST Episode #016

  Intro music: “Polywrath” from Danimal Cannon’s Roots
  Outro music: “Time’s Scar” from Chrono Cross (Yasunori Mitsuda)

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