8 Bit Weapon for Project White Rock
IGN has picked up another piece of the puzzle regarding Project White Rock (also on Pocket Gamer, Gamespy, and WarCry), this time revealing the composer of the game’s soundtrack. They write:
“Finally, we have some exciting information about Nokia Games Publishing’s secret Project White Rock! Renowned chiptune artist 8 Bit Weapon will be creating a custom retro soundtrack for Senior Producer Scott Foe’s latest endeavor that will take players back to their gaming roots.”
8 Bit Weapon is a musical act that creates original music using classic computer and videogame sound chips as sampled instruments, which are then mixed into new compositions, a genre of music known as “chiptune.” And while 8 Bit Weapon has created original music for the videogame industry before, most notably the soundtrack for Xbox’s exclusive Halo 2 preview event, White Rock will be the first full videogame to be scored by the band.
The article quotes Seth Sternberger, leading force behind 8 Bit Weapon:
“Scott made a dream come true for me when he asked me to score a game,” said Sternberger of 8 Bit Weapon. “But for it to be this game: Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine that I would get to work on something like Project White Rock.”
These articles also link to a media page on the For the Love of Gaming website, which includes a download link for the entire(!) soundtrack to the game, for free.
I’m listening to it right now.
March 18th, 2008 at 12:14 am
I’m a guy who started gaming in the early 80s, and is very familiar with this kind of music. I still often listen to music from the Commodore 64 and love it. Martin Galway and some others from that time are chip music gods.
But I still find it hard to be enthusiastic about this. After listening thru the songs a bit quickly, I say that the Project White Rock Anthem (normal and Sinister mix versions) are good, as is Krafty Noob, but it’s still not “great”. Nothing really stands out for me, and most of them are rather meh. For me it’s just average chip music.
So I wonder why? Why was it decided to use this kind of style of music, when the phones of today are capable of so much more? Unless the graphic design of the game is similiar to the 80s too, this was totally the wrong move in my opinion.
While I find it bearable, I’m not sure how many others will. Most gamers out there now, don’t have any experience with this kind of music. If it had been decided on retro music, it would have been better to go with the mod tracker route (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MOD_%28file_format%29). There is a mod tracker player available for S60 too (http://www.pygmyprojects.com/scenetone.html), so it’s fully possible.
I was hoping that Project White Rock would push the limits of the N-Gage hardware, but now it just seems like it gonna be some retro game. A disappointment indeed. Or maybe I just overanalyze things :p
March 18th, 2008 at 5:00 am
This is very good news! I’ve been a fan of 8bit Weapon a long time (although only been to 1 small performance) and I’m always excited to hear (and download) new music from them. Kinda weird actually, there still isn’t anything really known about the game, but we can already download the soundtrack.
Oh and, release N-gage for the other phones too dammit!
March 18th, 2008 at 11:17 am
Scott Foe is just a little bit overrated, dontcha think?
March 18th, 2008 at 1:38 pm
l arrive pas à télécharger et en plus c pas en français
March 18th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I have just found out I have three weeks to live. Will I see the full N-GAGE application before I die???
March 19th, 2008 at 7:46 am
OMG!! please nokia release ngage before shane dies!
March 19th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Shouldn’t the fact that nobody else has approached 8 Bit Weapon to score a game indicate that maybe they’re not suited to score full games? If they were any good, a real producer would have scooped them up a long time ago, no?
March 19th, 2008 at 2:02 pm
I dont want him to DIE either!!!!!!Nokia please HELP!!!!!
March 20th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
I love that 8 Bit Weapon did the soundtrack. It’s really good! I’ve been a big fan of their music for years now and I’m excited that the game’s music was composed by them. It’s unfortunate that people expect big producers to be involved in everything when in reality most of the time big producers ruin games and the music! it’s too over the top ridiculous! 2 thumbs up for 8 Bit Weapon!
March 23rd, 2008 at 11:59 am
It’s quit a good idea, only that hard work sh’d be done.
April 3rd, 2008 at 11:46 am
I don’t know why this is such a big deal? The anthem is basic and horrible. 8-Bit Weapon has really gone downhill.