Yoko Shimomura

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…)
Game Music, Reviews

Hearts of Hearts: Kingdom Hearts 3D OST (Review)

November 13, 2012 | Haroon Piracha | Comments Off on Hearts of Hearts: Kingdom Hearts 3D OST (Review) Share this

Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance has been a highly anticipated game by many Kingdom Hearts enthusiasts such as myself. Aside from being a game for the Nintendo 3DS, I thought that this game was a continuation of Kingdom Hearts 2 due to its name. The game is actually said to be a prequel to Kingdom Hearts 3 with its gameplay and plot previewing the next installment. Its soundtrack is the first in the Kingdom Hearts series to be a collaboration between composers. I was excited by the idea of a collaboration; it gives soundtrack multiple approaches to the same idea or the same theme for the game, much like Mass Effect, God of War, or Final Fantasy X have done. So how did Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance OST cope with three composers? Find out after the jump! (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Battle of the Genres? Battle SQ (Review)

October 16, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 3 Comments Share this

Purchase Battle SQ (LE): CDJapan | Play-Asia
Purchase Battle SQ (Standard): CDJapan | Play-Asia

Though a somewhat lesser “controversial” album than Secret of Mana Genesis, this summer SQ release saw both high praise and heavy criticism thrown upon it.

What’s the deal? What expectations weren’t met? And to what extent is the encroaching fad of modulated bass (dubstep) dominating this album?

For answers to those questions and more, I humbly give you my take on the July 2012 release “Battle SQ” from Square Enix. (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

[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…)
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

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)
Game Music

VGO Boston ~Live At Symphony Hall~ Exclusive Giveaway!!

September 24, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on VGO Boston ~Live At Symphony Hall~ Exclusive Giveaway!! Share this

Alright people, we’ve been telling you every last detail we can squeeze out of VGO founder and concert organizer Shota Nakama at every turn of the way. We even have a special episode of Original SoundCast going up tomorrow with more details on the October 7 show, the guests, MAGFest 11 plans, and more.

But today, I have something EXTRA special. Two VIP tickets (great seats plus access to the meet-and-greet with Shimomura, Sakimoto, Iwadare and Yamashita), courtesy of OSV, to anyone who would be able to attend the show on Sunday, October 7 2012 in Boston.

To enter: email me ([email protected] with subject line “VGO Boston Tix!” telling me what, if you got the chance, you’d want to say in person to these four special guests and to the Video Game Orchestra and its founder Shota Nakama. The winner will, of course, get that chance. We’ll be giving both tickets to the winner, who is free to bring a friend or give the ticket to another VGM fan. Please, NO re-selling! These tickets combined are worth $200, making them the most valuable giveaway OSV has done to date.

Start sending those emails, and good luck! We’ll announce the winner on Friday, so the window of opportunity to win is tight!

Meanwhile, you’ll also want to check out the latest announcements at the VGO Kickstarter, which includes the setlist for the show and the expected tracklist for the CD.
Game Music

VGO Updates: Shimomura Special Guest!, Discount, KS Campaign Update

September 17, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 2 Comments Share this

We have a couple of very important bits of information regarding the upcoming VGO concert on Sunday, October 7 in Boston. You’ll notice, first of all, that we’ve added a banner for the concert in our site header that will stay in-place until the show has taken place. That’s because we are really excited about this show and want to see it succeed!

Second, and this is really exciting … a fourth guest has been confirmed. We already know that Hitoshi Sakimoto, Noriyuki Iwadare, and Kinuyo Yamashita will be at the show. Now, the above video from Shota Nakama confirms for us that Yoko Shimomura (Kingdom Hearts, Legend of Mana, Radiant Historia, Parasite Eve, Super Mario RPG, Xenoblade, and many many others) will be attending the show as well. This is very exciting news!! A reminder that anyone who purchases VIP tickets will be able to attend a special meet&greet after the show to talk with the composers and have items signed.

Speaking of purchasing tickets, there is a discount available that we’d like everyone to know about. If you enter “rockestralgamemusic” as a promotional code while doing online checkout for your tickets, you will receive a 10% discount*!

Finally, we’d like to note that the VGO Kickstarter campaign to have this show recorded and pressed as an official CD (and digital album) is currently at over $10,000, which puts it more than 1/3 of the way to its goal of $30,000 with 21 days left to go in the campaign. If you can’t make it to the Boston live show (or heck, even if you can), do yourself a favor and support this Kickstarter! $10 for the bare-bones digital album, $20 for the CD, and some very interesting rewards the higher your pledge goes! Please check it out! (I’m urging you for very selfish reasons: I want this CD!)

*note: this discount is only applicable for non-VIP tickets.