Kickstarter: NES, by Richie Palys

Some of my best childhood memories are of me and my friends playing on our Nintendos, breaking personal records, and imagining that we held the power of saving the universe in our hands.  During our missions, whether swimming away from an electrified squid or standing toe to toe with a mystical demon while exchanging blows turn-by turn-, the soundtrack of our summers and weekends was played out via the music of the game.

I can remember that we would, at times, discuss creating a band that plays the game tunes in a way that would please the ears of non-gamers.  However, we did not play instruments, so the talk never got much further than a conversation or two.  However, being the dreamer that I was, I was able to create a vivid symphony from the solid base that the gaming music provided, hearing something much more intense and sensational that what exhaled form my television speakers.  Even today, when I play the old games, I can hear so much more than was actually there.  When I hear a piano, violin, or any other combination of musical instruments creating the sounds that I heard in my head as a child, it brings back many memories.

When I heard about the NES album, from Richie Palys, I was beyond excited for the opportunity to see the Kickstarter come to fruition.  I was even more ecstatic when I found out that the album would be "The first of a trilogy of Nintendo albums arranged in the style of synth-infused live jazz."  This is definitely an album that I am anticipating, and I encourage you to check it out.  If you cannot give monetary support, please consider sharing it with your friends via facebook, twitter, a personal blog, or anywhere else it might reach the masses.  I believe it deserves all the attention it can muster from fans and friends of fans.

Check out what Richie has to say about the project:

"My name is Richie Palys and I’ve been a lifetime video game player and musician. I've been playing trombone and piano, in both jazz and classical styles, for 14 years. I’m in Chicago right now where I’m working on my master’s in composition because I aspire to be a video game composer. Throughout my life I've played games of every genre from every console getting my hands on anything retro I can find. The music from these games has instilled a great sense of nostalgia in my mind so as I began my musical journey, video game music was always influencing the way I compose and perform. I always figured I'd write some simple covers to my favorite Nintendo tunes, but about six months ago I decided on doing something spectacular. I decided on making a trilogy of albums, one for the NES, one for the SNES, and one for the N64. So I began writing for the first album, the NES album. All the music for this album is finished now and ready to get recorded. Because I grew up playing jazz and falling in love with it, the album is going to be in the style of jazz with a heavy emphasis on synth and production. So this is where things get amazing :) Writing the album was a huge success but the coolest part about the album was how many unbelievably talented musicians wanted to be apart of it!

So let me go into detail about who's on the album. To start, we have Matt Ulery, Marquis Hill, Makaya McCraven, Rob Clearfield, and Corbin Andrick, 5 of the hands-down best jazz musicians in Chicago recording on the album. The recording session will take place at a professional studio called Transient Sound here in Chicago. After that, an incredible musician and producer John Norman will be doing synthesizer work on the album, giving it that nostalgic, crunchy, 8-bit flavor. It will eventually get sent over to the UK where it will get mastered by Mark Dobson, who’s part of a group of producers, ’Ambassadeurs’, who are a huge deal in Europe’s electronic scene. And for our biggest news, mixing our album will be the grammy award winning James Auwarter, who’s gone triple platinum with Kanye West, gone platinum with Rihanna, gone gold with Ludacris and Lupe Fiasco, and has 30 grammy nominations on top of that! The amount of musicians on board and the high level of professional quality recording and production involved is what this Kickstarter is paying for. This is not going to be your run-of-the-mill cover album, this is going to be a huge production because I believe this is the way to truly honor Nintendo’s music!"

here is the track listing:

Super Mario Bros. 2 - Level 1

Duck Tales - Moon Level

Bionic Commando - Level 1

Marble Madness - Level 2

Megaman 2 - Airman

Little Nemo: The Dream Master - Level 1

Ninja Gaiden - Mineshaft

Startropics - Dungeon Theme

The Legend of Zelda II: Link's Adventure - Temple Theme

Iwata Addresses the Managerial Staff

If you have seen my work over at Infendo.com, there is no doubt that I am a huge fan of Nintendo. However, my gaming love does not stop there, in fact it extends to all consoles.

It is no secret that the Wii U has not lived up to its expectations in sales.  I attribute this to the lack of advertisement around why it is different from the Wii. regardless, it is a fantastic console that has a bright and prosperous future ahead of it, which can be foretold by Nintendo's refusal to give in to the pressure of the competitors.

Today, Iwata spoke to his managerial staff regarding Nintendo's plans in the future.  Nintendo UK has provided the following following topline summary:

"We can confirm that on Jan. 30 in Japan, Mr. Iwata made several announcements at Nintendo’s Corporate Management Policy Briefing regarding the short- and long-term plans for the company. Some of the topics covered in Mr. Iwata’s presentation include: 

Plans to drive momentum for Wii U, which includes launching Mario Kart 8 globally in May and releasing new software titles and services in 2014 that use the unique strengths of the Wii U GamePad.The global installed base for Nintendo 3DS has now exceeded 42.7 million units, and the company is well-positioned to drive strong profits from that business moving forward.While Nintendo does not have plans to port existing games from its library to smart devices, it will begin using smart devices in the near future to form stronger ties with its consumers and communicate the value of its entertainment offerings. This includes launching a dedicated smart-device service by the end of this year and considering if services previously implemented on Nintendo platforms could offer greater consumer benefit if moved to smart devices.Plans to expand Nintendo’s global character licensing business, including proactively finding appropriate partners and looking for new ways to expose global consumers to Nintendo characters. This approach will give consumers an opportunity to experience Nintendo outside the realm of video games.In the next few years, Nintendo will establish a new platform business that is independent of our existing video game platforms. This new venture concerns “quality of life,” and will focus first on health. This will leverage Nintendo’s history of creating engaging, nontraditional entertainment experiences such as Brain Training and Wii Fit. More details will be revealed in 2014, with the new venture scheduled to launch during the fiscal year ending in March 2016 (April 1, 2015 – March 31, 2016)."

The rest of the translated speech can be seen at the following link:

http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/140130/index.html 

The contents of the link are pretty telling in regards to Iwata's passion for Nintendo and his refusal to be bullied by the competitors.  What are your thoughts about his presentation, and the future of Nintendo?