1.
Video game music
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Video game music is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was limited to simple melodies of early sound synthesizer technology. With advances in technology, video game music has now grown to include the same breadth and complexity associated with television and film scores, while simple synthesizer pieces are still common, game music now includes full orchestral pieces and popular music. Music in video games can be heard over a title screen, options menu. Today’s soundtracks can also change depending on a player’s actions or situation, Video game music can be one of two options, original or licensed. In order to create or collect this music, teams of composers, music directors, today, original composition has included the work of film composers Harry Gregson-Williams, Trent Reznor, Hans Zimmer, Josh Mancell, Steve Jablonsky, and Michael Giacchino. The popularity of game music has expanded education and job opportunities, generated awards. At the time video games had emerged as a form of entertainment in the late 1970s, music was stored on physical medium in analog waveforms such as compact cassettes. Such components were expensive and prone to breakage under heavy use making them less ideal for use in an arcade cabinet, though in rare cases. Sound effects for the games were also generated in this fashion, an early example of such an approach to video game music was the opening chiptune in Tomohiro Nishikados Gun Fight. The first game to use a background soundtrack was Tomohiro Nishikados Space Invaders. It had four descending chromatic bass notes repeating in a loop, though it was dynamic and interacted with the player, the first video game to feature continuous, melodic background music was Rally-X, released by Namco in 1980, featuring a simple tune that repeats continuously during gameplay. The decision to any music into a video game meant that at some point it would have to be transcribed into computer code by a programmer, whether or not the programmer had musical experience. Some music was original, some was public domain music such as folk songs, Sound capabilities were limited, the popular Atari 2600 home system, for example, was capable of generating only two tones, or notes, at a time. As advances were made in technology and costs fell, a definitively new generation of arcade machines. This was further improved upon by Namcos 1982 arcade game Dig Dug, Dig Dug was composed by Yuriko Keino, who also composed the music for other Namco games such as Xevious and Phozon. Home console systems also had an upgrade in sound ability beginning with the ColecoVision in 1982 capable of four channels. However, more notable was the Japanese release of the Famicom in 1983 which was released in the US as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985
2.
Electronic music
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In general, a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound producing devices include the telharmonium, Hammond organ, purely electronic sound production can be achieved using devices such as the theremin, sound synthesizer, and computer. During the 1920s and 1930s, electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions for instruments were composed. Musique concrète, created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds, Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953. Electronic music was created in Japan and the United States beginning in the 1950s. An important new development was the advent of computers for the purpose of composing music, algorithmic composition was first demonstrated in Australia in 1951. In America and Europe, live electronics were pioneered in the early 1960s, during the 1970s to early 1980s, the monophonic Minimoog became once the most widely used synthesizer at that time in both popular and electronic art music. In the 1980s, electronic music became dominant in popular music, with a greater reliance on synthesizers, and the adoption of programmable drum machines. Electronically produced music became prevalent in the domain by the 1990s. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music. Today, pop music is most recognizable in its 4/4 form. At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments and these initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances. The audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for the instruments, while some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium accurately synthesized the sound of orchestral instruments. It achieved viable public interest and made progress into streaming music through telephone networks. Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments, ferruccio Busoni encouraged the composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments. He predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music, futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery. They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in the influential manifesto The Art of Noises, developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller, amplified, and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin, ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s, from the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger to adopt them
3.
Symphony
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A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often written by composers for orchestra. Symphonies are scored for string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30–100 musicians, Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the music for their instrument. A small number of symphonies also contain vocal parts, the word symphony is derived from the Greek word συμφωνία, meaning agreement or concord of sound, concert of vocal or instrumental music, from σύμφωνος, harmonious. The word referred to a variety of different things, before ultimately settling on its current meaning designating a musical form. In late Greek and medieval theory, the word was used for consonance, as opposed to διαφωνία, in the Middle Ages and later, the Latin form symphonia was used to describe various instruments, especially those capable of producing more than one sound simultaneously. Isidore of Seville was the first to use the word symphonia as the name of a two-headed drum, in late medieval England, symphony was used in both of these senses, whereas by the 16th century it was equated with the dulcimer. In German, Symphonie was a term for spinets and virginals from the late 16th century to the 18th century. 16, published in 1607, Lodovico Grossi da Viadanas Sinfonie musicali,18, published in 1610, and Heinrich Schützs Symphoniae sacrae, op. 6, and Symphoniarum sacrarum secunda pars, op,10, published in 1629 and 1647, respectively. Except for Viadanas collection, which contained purely instrumental and secular music, the opera sinfonia, or Italian overture had, by the 18th century, a standard structure of three contrasting movements, fast, slow, fast and dance-like. It is this form that is considered as the direct forerunner of the orchestral symphony. The terms overture, symphony and sinfonia were widely regarded as interchangeable for much of the 18th century, when composers from the 17th century wrote pieces, they expected that these works would be performed by whatever group of musicians were available. A performance of the piece might be done with a basso continuo group as small as a single cello, during the 18th century, the symphony was cultivated with extraordinary intensity. It played a role in areas of public life, including church services. Since the normal size of the orchestra at the time was quite small, laRue, Bonds, Walsh, and Wilson trace the gradual expansion of the symphonic orchestra through the 18th century. At first, symphonies were string symphonies, written in just four parts, first violin, second violin, viola, occasionally the early symphonists even dispensed with the viola part, thus creating three-part symphonies. A basso continuo part including a bassoon together with a harpsichord or other chording instrument was also possible, the first additions to this simple ensemble were a pair of horns, occasionally a pair of oboes, and then both horns and oboes together
4.
Piano
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The piano is an acoustic, stringed musical instrument invented around the year 1700, in which the strings are struck by hammers. It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. The word piano is a form of pianoforte, the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument. The first fortepianos in the 1700s had a sound and smaller dynamic range. An acoustic piano usually has a wooden case surrounding the soundboard and metal strings. Pressing one or more keys on the keyboard causes a padded hammer to strike the strings. The hammer rebounds from the strings, and the continue to vibrate at their resonant frequency. These vibrations are transmitted through a bridge to a soundboard that amplifies by more efficiently coupling the acoustic energy to the air, when the key is released, a damper stops the strings vibration, ending the sound. Notes can be sustained, even when the keys are released by the fingers and thumbs and this means that the piano can play 88 different pitches, going from the deepest bass range to the highest treble. The black keys are for the accidentals, which are needed to play in all twelve keys, more rarely, some pianos have additional keys. Most notes have three strings, except for the bass that graduates from one to two, the strings are sounded when keys are pressed or struck, and silenced by dampers when the hands are lifted from the keyboard. There are two types of piano, the grand piano and the upright piano. The grand piano is used for Classical solos, chamber music and art song and it is used in jazz. The upright piano, which is compact, is the most popular type, as they are a better size for use in private homes for domestic music-making. During the nineteenth century, music publishers produced many works in arrangements for piano, so that music lovers could play. The piano is widely employed in classical, jazz, traditional and popular music for solo and ensemble performances, accompaniment, with technological advances, amplified electric pianos, electronic pianos, and digital pianos have also been developed. The electric piano became an instrument in the 1960s and 1970s genres of jazz fusion, funk music. The piano was founded on earlier technological innovations in keyboard instruments, pipe organs have been used since Antiquity, and as such, the development of pipe organs enabled instrument builders to learn about creating keyboard mechanisms for sounding pitches
5.
Composer
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A composer is a person who creates or writes music, which can be vocal music, instrumental music or music which combines both instruments and voices. The core meaning of the term refers to individuals who have contributed to the tradition of Western classical music through creation of works expressed in written musical notation, many composers are also skilled performers, either as singers, instrumentalists, and/or conductors. Examples of composers who are well known for their ability as performers include J. S. Bach, Mozart. In many popular genres, such as rock and country. For a singer or instrumental performer, the process of deciding how to perform music that has previously composed and notated is termed interpretation. Different performers interpretations of the work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting, just as much as those who perform the music of others, although a musical composition often has a single author, this is not always the case. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or, in the 20th and 21st century, a culture eventually developed whereby faithfulness to the composers written intention came to be highly valued. This musical culture is almost certainly related to the esteem in which the leading classical composers are often held by performers. The movement might be considered a way of creating greater faithfulness to the original in works composed at a time that expected performers to improvise. In Classical music, the composer typically orchestrates her own compositions, in some cases, a pop songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music. The level of distinction between composers and other musicians varies, which issues such as copyright and the deference given to individual interpretations of a particular piece of music. In the development of European classical music, the function of composing music initially did not have greater importance than that of performing it. The preservation of individual compositions did not receive attention and musicians generally had no qualms about modifying compositions for performance. In as much as the role of the composer in western art music has seen continued solidification, for instance, in certain contexts the line between composer and performer, sound designer, arranger, producer, and other roles, can be quite blurred. The term composer is often used to refer to composers of music, such as those found in classical, jazz or other forms of art. In popular and folk music, the composer is usually called a songwriter and this is distinct from a 19th-century conception of instrumental composition, where the work was represented solely by a musical score to be interpreted by performers
6.
Pianist
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A pianist is an individual musician who plays the piano. Most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, consequently, pianists have a wide variety of repertoire and styles to choose from, including traditionally classical music, Jazz, blues and all sorts of popular music, including rock music. Most pianists can, to an extent, play other keyboard-related instruments such as the synthesizer, harpsichord, celesta. Perhaps the greatest pianist of all time was Franz Liszt, whose mastery was described by Anton Rubinstein, In comparison with Liszt. Modern classical pianists dedicate their careers to performing, recording, teaching, researching as well as learning new works/expanding their repertoire and they generally do not write or transcribe music as pianists did in the 19th century. Some classical pianists might specialize in accompaniment and chamber music while others perform as full-time piano soloists. Mozart could be considered the first concert pianist as he performed widely on the piano, composers Beethoven and Clementi from the classical era were also famed for their playing, as were, from the romantic era, Liszt, Brahms, Chopin, Mendelssohn and Rachmaninoff. From that era, leading performers less known as composers were Clara Schumann, however, as we do not have modern audio recordings of most of these pianists, we rely mainly on written commentary to give us an account of their technique and style. Jazz pianists almost always perform with other musicians and their playing is freer than that of classical pianists and they create an air of spontaneity in their performances. They generally do not write down their compositions, improvisation is a significant part of their work, well known Jazz pianists include Art Tatum, Duke Ellington, Thelonious Monk, Oscar Peterson and Bud Powell. Popular pianists might work as performers, session musicians, arrangers most likely feel at home with synthesizers. A single listing of pianists in all genres would be impractical, the following is an incomplete list of such musicians. As a result, there are prominent communities of amateur pianists all over the world play at quite a high level and give concerts just because of their love to music. The International Piano Competition for Outstanding Amateurs, held annually in Paris and it was only after the competition that he started pursuing a career as a classical pianist. The German pianist Davide Martello is known for traveling around conflict zones to play his moving piano, Martello has previously been recognised by the European parliament for his “outstanding contribution to European cooperation and the promotion of common values”
7.
Video game
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A video game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface to generate visual feedback on a video device such as a TV screen or computer monitor. The word video in video game referred to a raster display device. Some theorists categorize video games as an art form, but this designation is controversial, the electronic systems used to play video games are known as platforms, examples of these are personal computers and video game consoles. These platforms range from large mainframe computers to small handheld computing devices, the input device used for games, the game controller, varies across platforms. Common controllers include gamepads, joysticks, mouse devices, keyboards, the touchscreens of mobile devices, and buttons, or even, with the Kinect sensor, a persons hands and body. Players typically view the game on a screen or television or computer monitor, or sometimes on virtual reality head-mounted display goggles. There are often game sound effects, music and, in the 2010s, some games in the 2000s include haptic, vibration-creating effects, force feedback peripherals and virtual reality headsets. In the 2010s, the game industry is of increasing commercial importance, with growth driven particularly by the emerging Asian markets and mobile games. As of 2015, video games generated sales of USD74 billion annually worldwide, early games used interactive electronic devices with various display formats. The earliest example is from 1947—a Cathode ray tube Amusement Device was filed for a patent on 25 January 1947, by Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann, and issued on 14 December 1948, as U. S. Written by MIT students Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanens on a DEC PDP-1 computer in 1961, and the hit ping pong-style Pong, used the DEC PDP-1s vector display to have two spaceships battle each other. In 1971, Computer Space, created by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, was the first commercially sold and it used a black-and-white television for its display, and the computer system was made of 74 series TTL chips. The game was featured in the 1973 science fiction film Soylent Green, Computer Space was followed in 1972 by the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home console. Modeled after a late 1960s prototype console developed by Ralph H. Baer called the Brown Box and these were followed by two versions of Ataris Pong, an arcade version in 1972 and a home version in 1975 that dramatically increased video game popularity. The commercial success of Pong led numerous other companies to develop Pong clones and their own systems, the game inspired arcade machines to become prevalent in mainstream locations such as shopping malls, traditional storefronts, restaurants, and convenience stores. The game also became the subject of articles and stories on television and in newspapers and magazines. Space Invaders was soon licensed for the Atari VCS, becoming the first killer app, the term platform refers to the specific combination of electronic components or computer hardware which, in conjunction with software, allows a video game to operate. The term system is commonly used
8.
Video game industry
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The video game industry is the economic sector involved in the development, marketing and Monetizing of video games. It encompasses dozens of job disciplines and employs thousands of people worldwide, the computer and video game industry has grown from focused markets to mainstream. They took in about US$9.5 billion in the US in 2007,11.7 billion in 2008, sound cards were developed for addition of digital-quality sound to games and only later improved for music and audiophiles. Early on, graphics cards were developed for more colors, later, graphic cards were developed for graphical user interfaces and games, GUIs drove the need for high resolution, and games began using 3D acceleration. They also are one of the pieces of hardware to allow multiple hookups. Product and talent layer, includes developers, designers and artists, production and tools layer, generates content production tools, game development middleware, customizable game engines, and production management tools. Distribution layer, or the industry, involved in generating and marketing catalogs of games for retail. Hardware layer, or the providers of the platform, which may be console-based, accessed through online media. This layer now includes network infrastructure and non-hardware platforms such as machines, or software platforms such as browsers or even further Facebook. End-users layer, or the users/players of the games, the game industry employs those experienced in other traditional businesses, but some have experience tailored to the game industry. Some of the specific to the game industry include, game programmer, game designer, level designer, game producer, game artist. Most of these professionals are employed by video game developers or video game publishers, however, many hobbyists also produce computer games and sell them commercially. Recently, game developers have begun to employ those with extensive or long-term experience within the modding communities, prior to the 1970s, there was no significant commercial aspect of the video game industry, but many advances in computing would set the stage for the birth of the industry. In 1947 Thomas T. Goldsmith Jr. and Estle Ray Mann filed a patent for a cathode ray tube amusement device and their game, which uses a cathode ray tube hooked to an oscilloscope display, challenges players to fire a gun at target. One of the first known examples is Spacewar, developed by Harvard and MIT employees Martin Graetz, Steve Russell, and Wayne Wiitanen. The introduction of easy-to-program languages like BASIC for mainframes allowed for more games to be developed. In 1971 the arcade game, Computer Space was released, the following year, Atari, Inc. released the first commercially successful video game, Pong, the original arcade version of which sold over 19,000 arcade cabinets. That same year saw the introduction of video games to the market with the release of the early video game console
9.
Osaka College of Music
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Osaka College of Music is a private university in Toyonaka, Osaka, Japan. The predecessor of the school was founded in 1915, and it was chartered as a university in 1958, singer Aiko Yanai studied here in 1995 along with Ringo Shiina. Composer Yoko Shimomura graduated from university in 1988
10.
Capcom
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Capcom Co. Ltd. or Capcom, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. Originally established in 1979, it has become an international enterprise with subsidiaries in North America, Europe. Capcoms first predecessor, I. R. M Corporation, was founded on May 30,1979 by Kenzo Tsujimoto, Tsujimoto named I. R. M after his other company Irem Corporation which he founded earlier in 1974 and remained with until 1983. In January 1989, the old affiliate company Capcom Co. Ltd. merged with Sambi Co. Ltd. resulting in the current Japanese branch. While Capcoms first product was the coin-operated Little League from July 1983, its first real video game, since then, Capcom has created 15 multi-million-selling game series, the most successful of which is Resident Evil. Capcom has been noted as the last major publisher to be committed to 2D games, the companys continued commitment to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as its platform of choice caused them to lag behind other leading publishers in developing 3D-capable arcade boards. In 1994, Capcom adapted its Street Fighter series of fighting games into a film of the same name, while commercially successful, the production received almost universal criticism. A2002 adaptation of its Resident Evil series faced similar criticism but was successful in theaters. The company sees films as a way to build sales for its video games, Capcom partnered with Nyu Media in 2011 to publish and distribute the Japanese independent games that Nyu localized into the English language. In August 27,2014, Capcom filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Koei Tecmo Games at the Osaka District Court for 980 million yen in damage, Capcom claimed Koei Tecmo Games infringed a patent it obtained in 2002 regarding play feature of the video games. Later, games developed internally used to be created by several numbered Production Studios, in addition to these internal teams, Capcom also commissions outside development studios to ensure a steady output of titles. It also has the Ueno Facility, an office in Iga. The international Capcom Group currently encompasses 15 subsidiaries in Japan, North America, Europe, affiliated companies include Koko Capcom Co. Ltd. in South Korea, Street Fighter Film, LLC in the United States, and Dellgamadas Co. Ltd. Suleputer, a marketing and music label established in cooperation with Sony Music Entertainment Intermedia in 1998, publishes CDs, DVDs. Capcom also owns numerous arcade game known as Plaza Capcom, including one in Narita, Futtsu. An annual private media summit called Captivate, renamed from Gamers Day in 2008, is used as a platform for new game. Capcom launched its Street Fighter franchise in 1987, the series of fighting games are among the most popular in their genre, and have sold over 30 million units. That same year,1987, the company introduced its Mega Man series, selling nearly 30 million units, the series serves as Capcoms flagship franchise
11.
Final Fight (video game)
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Final Fight is a side-scrolling beat-em-up video game produced by Capcom. Originally released as a game in 1989, it was the seventh title released for the CP System hardware. Final Fight was ported to home consoles such as the Super NES and was followed by a few sequels. Final Fight can be played by up to two players simultaneously, before the game begins, the player chooses between the three main characters, Haggar, Cody, and Guy. Each has his own fighting style and attributes, health gauges are displayed for both player and enemy characters. The controls for Final Fight consist of a joystick and two buttons for attacking and jumping respectively. Pressing the attack button repeatedly when attacking an enemy or multiple enemies will cause the character to perform a combo. The final blow of the combo can be changed to a if the player moves the joystick in the opposite direction just before landing it. The player can also perform jump attacks, pressing the attack and jump buttons simultaneously allows the player to perform a special attack that strikes all surrounding enemies, but will drain a small portion of the players health. Enemies can be grabbed simply by walking into one of them, when an enemy is grabbed, the player can perform a grab attack by pressing the attack button or perform a throw by tilting the joystick left or right. A thrown enemy can be tossed at another for additional damage, items such as weapons, health recovery items, and items awarding extra points can be picked up by standing over one and pressing the attack button. Weapons have limited uses and will if the player is disarmed by an enemy too much or when the player moves to a new area. Final Fight consists of six stages or rounds, as well as two bonus rounds, each round takes place in a different section of Metro City such as the Slums and the Subway, with most rounds featuring more than one level. At the end of round the player will face a boss character unique to that round. The game is set in a city in the United States named Metro City. According to the intro, in 1990, the citys crime rate reached alarming levels. But since the election of pro wrestler turned politician Mike Haggar as the new Mayor, under his run, Haggar managed to suppress the crime rate of the city to its lowest points. While the citizens of Metro City were thankful for Haggars hard work in curbing crime, one gang, under the leadership of the crooked businessman, Belger, the group attempted to bribe Haggar with a large payoff to keep him from going after them, which Haggar refused
12.
Street Fighter II: The World Warrior
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Street Fighter II, The World Warrior is a competitive fighting game originally released for the arcades in 1991. It is the entry in the Street Fighter series and the arcade sequel to the original Street Fighter released in 1987. It is Capcoms fourteenth title that runs on the CP System arcade hardware and it was then ported to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System platform, for which it became a long-lasting system-seller. Its success led to a sub-series of updated versions, each offering additional features and characters over previous versions, by 1994, the game had been played by at least 25 million people in North America, at home and in arcades. By 1995, gross revenues of Street Fighter II and Street Fighter II′, Street Fighter II follows several of the conventions and rules already established by its original 1987 predecessor. The player engages opponents in close quarter combat in a series of best-two-out-of-three matches. The objective of each round is to deplete the opponents vitality before the timer runs out, in the first Street Fighter II, a match could last up to ten rounds if there was no clear winner, this was reduced to four rounds in Champion Edition and onward. If there is no clear winner by the end of the final round, after every third match in the single player mode, the player will participate in a bonus stage for additional points. Between the matches, a Pacific-centered world map is seen, showing the participants home stages, when the upcoming match and its location have been chosen, an aeroplane moves across the map. Like in the original, the games uses a configuration of an eight-directional joystick. The player uses the joystick to jump, crouch and move the character towards or away from the opponent, there are three punch buttons and three kick buttons of differing strength and speed. The player can perform a variety of moves in any position, including grabbing/throwing attacks. Like in the original, the player can perform special moves by inputting a combination of directional, Street Fighter II differs from its predecessor due to the selection of multiple playable characters, each with distinct fighting styles and special moves. According to IGN, the concept of combinations, linked attacks that cant be blocked when theyre timed correctly, Street Fighter IIs designers didnt quite mean for it to happen, but players of the original game eventually found out that certain moves naturally flowed into other ones. This combo system was adopted as a standard feature of fighting games. The original Street Fighter II features a roster of eight characters that could be selected by the player. The roster initially included Ryu and Ken—the main characters from the original Street Fighter game—plus six new characters of different nationalities, playable characters, Ryu, a Japanese karateka seeking to hone his skills. E. Honda, a wrestler from Japan
13.
Square (company)
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Square Co. Ltd. was a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became Square Enix, the company also used SquareSoft as a brand name to refer to their games, and the term is occasionally used to refer to the company itself. In addition, Squaresoft, Inc was the name of the companys American arm before the merger, after which it was renamed to Square Enix, Square was founded in Yokohama in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto after he graduated from Waseda, one of Japans top universities. Back then, Square was a game software division of Den-Yu-Sha. Squares first two titles were The Death Trap and its sequel Will, The Death Trap II, both designed by part-time employee Hironobu Sakaguchi and released on the NEC PC-8801. Despite an initial reluctance to develop for video game consoles, Square entered the Nintendo Famicom market in December 1985 with the porting of Thexder, in September 1986, Square spun off from Den-Yu-Sha and became an independent company officially named Square Co. Ltd. Sakaguchi then became an employee as the Director of Planning. With 400,000 copies sold, Final Fantasy spawned multiple sequels over the years, by late 1994 they had developed a reputation as a producer of high quality role-playing video games. Final Fantasy VII was one of games, and it sold 9.8 million copies. On February 8,2001, due to its first quarterly loss since going public, three key figures have been moved around in the company ranks, resigning from their current positions in order to take responsibility for the losses, and have been reassigned to different positions. Hironobu Sakaguchi, the father of the Final Fantasy series, will no longer be vice president, additionally, company president Tomoyuki Takeshi will become a contractual consultant for the company, with director Masahi Hiramatsu now taking the role of executive consultant. With the company in its year of financial loss, Square approached Sony for a capital injection and on October, 8th 2001. In an interview with GIA. com in 2001, when asked Are you ever worried that Square will become too dependent on the Final Fantasy name. Hironobu Sakaguchi responded that Avoiding that has actually been one of Squares goals for a long time and it is our aim to try and develop a few more major franchises for the company, that has always been on our minds. Source codes and resources will be shared for efficiency, and employees will receive varying bonuses depending on the profit of their division, by settling developers into groups, Square also aims for the developers to re-use the titles they have developed, making game development more cost efficient. Development costs- originally 2-3 Billion yen, are expected to fall to 1 Billion yen, in addition, the company revealed plans to release two Final Fantasy X spinoffs that would later become Final Fantasy X-2. Following the success of both Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, the company recovered to stability and the company recorded the highest operating margin in its history in fiscal year 2002. It was announced on November 25,2002 that Square and Enixs previous plans to merge were to officially proceed, as described by Yoichi Wada Square has also fully recovered, meaning this merger is occurring at a time when both companies are at their height
14.
Kingdom Hearts (video game)
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Kingdom Hearts is an action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation 2 video game console. Its the first game in the Kingdom Hearts series, and is the result of a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company, the game combines characters and settings from Disney animated features with those from Squares Final Fantasy series. It follows Sora, who fights against the forces of darkness and he is joined by Donald Duck, Goofy, and other classic Disney characters who help him on his quest. The game was a departure from Squares standard role-playing games, introducing a substantial action-adventure element to the gameplay, Kingdom Hearts has an all-star voice cast and includes many of the Disney characters official voice actors. It was longtime Square character designer Tetsuya Nomuras first time in a directorial position, Kingdom Hearts was praised for its unusual combination of action and role-playing, as well as its unexpectedly harmonious mix of Square and Disney elements. It was a presence in the 2002 holiday season, receiving numerous year-end game awards. Since its release, the Kingdom Hearts series has sold over 20 million copies worldwide, Kingdom Hearts is influenced by its parent franchise, Final Fantasy, and carries gameplay elements over into its own action-based, hack and slash system. The main battle party consists of three characters, Sora, Donald Duck and Goofy, Sora is directly controlled by the player from a third person camera angle. All other party members are computer-controlled, though the player can customize their behavior to an extent through the pause menu, Donald and Goofy comprise the party in most areas but nearly every level features a character who may replace them. For instance, Jack Skellington can join Soras party in Halloween Town, like traditional role-playing games, Kingdom Hearts features an experience point system that determines character development. As enemies are defeated, the characters gain experience and grow stronger. Unlike other games of its type, Kingdom Hearts allows a degree of character development customization through a short tutorial found at the beginning of the game. The tutorial allows the player to select one of three main attributes―strength, defense, or magic―for Sora to excel in and one to lack in. By choosing certain options, the player may manipulate how Sora learns abilities, grows statistically, Donald, Goofy, and any other additional party members are assigned specific areas of strength from the outset. Donald excels in magic, while Goofy excels in defense and special attacks, the game progresses linearly from one story event to the next, usually presented as a cutscene, though there are numerous side quests available that provide benefits to the characters. Players may also choose the order in which they tackle some areas, most of the gameplay occurs on interconnected field maps where battles take place. Combat in Kingdom Hearts occurs in time and involves pressing buttons to initiate attacks by the on-screen character. As players progress through the game, they can receive certain Disney characters as summons, such as Dumbo and Tinkerbell, there is also a context-sensitive option at the bottom of the menu, usually used for interacting with the environment or performing special attacks
15.
Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga
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Mario & Luigi, Superstar Saga, known in Japan as Mario & Luigi RPG, is a role-playing video game developed by AlphaDream and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. The game is the first in the Mario & Luigi RPG series, the game was later re-released for the Wii U Virtual Console on the Nintendo eShop in 2014. The setting of the game begins in the Mushroom Kingdom, in the game, Mario and Luigi combat Cackletta, the primary antagonist. The quest begins when Cackletta, with the aid of her assistant Fawful, a role-playing game, it centers on a battle system different from that of traditional games of the genre, with emphasis on timing and more elaborate attacks. The game is whimsical in tone, with various in-game jokes, Superstar Saga was generally well received by critics, and IGN named it the twelfth best Game Boy Advance game of all time in their feature reflecting on the Game Boy Advances lifespan. The gameplay of Mario & Luigi differs from most other role-playing games due its focus on controlling Mario, the game begins with them being able to jump independently, though they will soon gain access to hammers and a variety of other techniques as the game progresses. Various enemies roam the overworld, and coming contact with these enemies initiates a battle. Landing a hit on the enemy while on the overworld allows the player to deal pre-emptive damage, battles in Superstar Saga are turn-based. Mario and Luigi can attack either by jumping, which can deal multiple hits but when used against enemies covered in flames or with spikes, Mario or Luigi will get hurt. Another attack option is the hammer, which is powerful, introduced in this series is the way in which Mario and Luigi can defend themselves during an enemys attack. When an enemy attacks, the brothers will be able to jump or use their hammer which. Throughout the game, players can unlock Bros, points which requires players to cooperate between Mario and Luigis actions to perform powerful combination attacks. Players can also use such as mushrooms for healing, peppers for boosting stats. Defeating enemies earns points which help the bros level up and increase their stats. Players can further improve their stats by equipping new gear to the Bros. or making them wear badges that give them special attributes, like other Mario titles for the Game Boy Advance, Superstar Saga features the enhanced remake of the Mario Bros. arcade game. The game also supports rumble functionality when used with the GameCubes Game Boy Player accessory, unlike most games in the Mario series, this game is not set in the Mushroom Kingdom. Instead, Superstar Saga introduces the Beanbean Kingdom, a monarchy to the Mushroom Kingdom. Despite this, traditional enemies such as Goombas are present, as well as new enemies exclusive to the game, the predominant race are the Beanish, although there are other species such as the Hoohooligans and Yoshis
16.
Square Enix
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The Square Enix headquarters are in the Shinjuku Eastside Square Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and the company employs over 3800 employees worldwide. The original Square Enix Co. Ltd. was formed as the result of a merger between Enix Corporation and Square Co. Ltd. on April 1,2003, with Enix legally absorbing Square. Each share of Squares common stock was exchanged for 0.85 shares of Enixs common stock, at the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square employees. As a result of the merger, Square Co. Ltd. was dissolved, in addition to its flagship subsidiary, Square Enix Holdings owns the arcade gaming corporation Taito, known for games such as Space Invaders, Bubble Bobble, Arkanoid, Darius and Lufia. Square Enix Holdings also owns game publisher Eidos Interactive, which has absorbed into Square Enix Europe. Square Enix Europe now publishes all of Eidoss intellectual property and runs Eidoss development studios, Eidos was most well known for publishing the Tomb Raider, Hitman, Deus Ex, Legacy of Kain, and Thief series of games. Square was founded in Yokohama in September 1983 by Masashi Miyamoto after he graduated from Waseda, at that time, Square was a computer game software division of Den-Yu-Sha, a power line construction company owned by Miyamotos father. In September 1986, Square spun off from Den-Yu-Sha and became an independent company officially named Square Co. Ltd, with 400,000 copies sold, Final Fantasy spawned multiple sequels over the years and became Squares main franchise. By late 1994 they had developed a reputation as a producer of high quality role-playing video games, Final Fantasy VII was one of these games, and it sold 9.8 million copies, making it the second-best-selling game for the PlayStation. Enix was founded on September 22,1975 as Eidansha Boshu Service Center by Japanese architect-turned-entrepreneur Yasuhiro Fukushima, key members of the developers staff consisted of director Koichi Nakamura, writer Yuuji Horii, artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama, among others. The first game in the Famicom-based RPG series was released in 1986 and this caused a significant rise in stock for both Enix and Sony. By November 1999, Enix was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchanges 1st section, with the company facing its second year of financial losses, Square approached Sony for a capital injection and on October 8,2001, Sony Corp purchased 18. 6% stake in Square. Following the success of both Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, the companys finances stabilized, and it recorded the highest operating margin in its history in fiscal year 2002. As described by Yoichi Wada, Squares president and CEO, Square has also fully recovered, the combination of the two provides no negative factors but would bring little in the way of operational synergies. The merger was set for April 1,2003, on which date the newly merged entity Square Enix came into being, at the time of the merger, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square employees. As part of the merger, former Square president Yoichi Wada was appointed president of the new corporation, the founder of Enix and the largest shareholder of the newly combined corporation, Yasuhiro Fukushima, was made its honorary chairman. In July of that year, the Square Enix headquarters were moved to Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, since its foundation, Square Enix has acquired a number of companies, as well as creating several subsidiary companies. In January 2005 Square Enix founded Square Enix China, expanding their interests in the Peoples Republic of China, the acquisition of Eidos was completed in April 2009, and in November the publisher was merged with Square Enixs European publishing organization to form Square Enix Europe
17.
Kingdom Hearts
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Kingdom Hearts is a series of crossover action role-playing games owned by Disney Interactive Studios and developed and published by Square Enix. It is a collaboration between Disney Interactive and Square Enix, and is under the direction of Tetsuya Nomura, a longtime Square Enix character designer, Kingdom Hearts is a crossover of various Disney settings based in a universe made specifically for the series. All characters original to the Kingdom Hearts franchise are owned by The Walt Disney Company, the series consists of eight games across multiple video game consoles, and future titles are planned. Most of the games in the series have been critically acclaimed and commercially successful. As of October 2013, the Kingdom Hearts series has sold over 25 million copies worldwide, a wide variety of related merchandise has been released along with the games, including soundtracks, figurines, companion books, novels and manga series. Kingdom Hearts is the first game in the series, released in Japan on March 28,2002 for PlayStation 2, Tetsuya Nomura has served as game director, his first time in this position. Kingdom Hearts introduced the characters of the series, and established the plots framework involving hearts. It also established the role of Disney characters in the series, Kingdom Hearts was released in North America on September 17,2002, and featured additional content that was not in the original Japanese version. The game was later re-released exclusively in Japan as Kingdom Hearts Final Mix on December 26,2002, Final Mix includes the content from the North American release and additional enemies, cutscenes, and weapons. Kingdom Hearts, Chain of Memories is a sequel to the first game. It was released on the Game Boy Advance in Japan on November 11,2004, Chain of Memories was touted as a bridge between the two PlayStation 2 titles, introducing and previewing plot elements that would be explored in the next game. The gameplay system is a departure from the original and employs card game mechanics in real time, players construct decks out of cards that correspond to different actions in battle, such as attacking or using magic. It was remade into a PlayStation 2 game titled Kingdom Hearts Re, Chain of Memories, which contains polygonal graphics instead of the sprites used in the original game. The remake was released in Japan as a second disc packaged with Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix on March 29,2007, Kingdom Hearts II takes place one year after the events of Chain of Memories. It was released for the PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 22,2005, the game further explores the heart concept by involving a new group of enemies, the Nobodies, which are the cast-off shells of those who have become Heartless. The gameplay is similar to that of the first Kingdom Hearts game, with the addition of the Reaction Command, Kingdom Hearts II was revised into Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix, which contains more material than the original release, such as additional cutscenes and bosses. Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix was released with Kingdom Hearts Re, Chain of Memories in a collection titled Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+, Kingdom Hearts Coded is an episodic mobile phone game that picks up directly after Kingdom Hearts II. The preinstall episode was released exclusively in Japan on November 18,2008, the game was remade for the Nintendo DS as Kingdom Hearts Re, coded, and features updated gameplay combining that of two later titles in the series, 358/2 Days and Birth by Sleep
18.
The 3rd Birthday
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The 3rd Birthday is a third-person role-playing shooter co-developed by Square Enix and HexaDrive, and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation Portable. It was released in 2010 in Japan and 2011 in North America, the game is both the third entry in the Parasite Eve video game series, based on the titular Japanese novel, and a spin-off, having only a loose connection to events from past games. The game features a third-person shooter-based combat system with role-playing mechanics, a key mechanic is the Overdive ability, which allows the player to possess pre-positioned human allies and inflict damage upon enemies. The game takes place in 2013, a year after creatures known as the Twisted have appeared from beneath Manhattan, to fight back against the Twisted, an investigatory team called the Counter Twisted Investigation is formed. Among their number is series protagonist Aya Brea, who was found unconscious, using her Overdive ability, Aya travels into the past to alter the outcome of battles against the Twisted. At the same time, Aya attempts to out the origin of the Twisted. Among the staff were Hajime Tabata, Yoshinori Kitase, Motomu Toriyama, Isamu Kamikokuryo, originally announced as an episodic title for mobile phones, the game was later changed into a PSP exclusive. Upon release, the game reached sixth place in Japanese sales charts, several reviewers have also made negative comments on Ayas portrayal. The 3rd Birthday is a third-person role-playing shooter, the player controls series protagonist Aya Brea through rendered-to-scale environments in from a third person perspective. The game plays out as a series of missions, between which Aya rests at the Counter Twisted Investigation headquarters, which acts as the main hub. In the hub, Aya can receive briefings for missions, view additional documents, buy and she also has the option to transport back there should she die during a mission. The game can be saved both at the hub and in safe zones within missions, at the end of each mission, Aya is given a grade based on performance, enemies killed, and the number of times she died. Depending on her score, she will earn differing amounts of Bounty Points, during missions, players navigate a series of linear linked areas fighting off multiple enemies. Items can be picked up during missions, such as grenades, Aya has access to multiple guns for use in combat, including handguns, assault rifles and shotguns. By holding down a button on the controller, Aya automatically aims at an enemy, taking cover behind objects or shields, or standing idle outside of battle, allows Aya to regenerate health. While in combat, a meter is charged and can be activated when full. When activated, Aya entered Liberation Mode, a state enabling her to move around the battlefield at high speed for a period of time. In most battle situations, Aya is accompanied by a group of allied NPC soldiers that the player can direct around the battle area, available commands include offering supporting fire, directly attacking enemies, or staying behind cover
19.
Final Fantasy XV
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Final Fantasy XV is an open world action role-playing video game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One home consoles. The game is the fifteenth installment in the Final Fantasy series. Final Fantasy XV takes place on the world of Eos. All the worlds countries, bar the kingdom of Lucis, are under the dominion of the empire of Niflheim. Noctis Lucis Caelum, heir to the Lucian throne, goes on a quest to retake his homeland and its magical Crystal after it is seized by Niflheim on the eve of peace negotiations between the two nations. However, he discovers that the Crystal is at the heart of a much greater threat to Eos. The game shares a connection with Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy. Development of Final Fantasy XV began in 2006, when it was a PlayStation 3-exclusive spin-off titled Final Fantasy Versus XIII, Tetsuya Nomura served as the original director and character designer, creating the characters and original concept. In 2012, it was rebranded as the next mainline title in the series and shifted development to eighth generation platforms. Final Fantasy XV is an open world action role-playing game where players control of main protagonist Noctis during his journey across the world of Eos. The world is a large connected landmass that can be explored on foot, or by using the partys car Regalia or chocobos, recurring galliform birds in the Final Fantasy series. Both the Regalia and chosen Chocobos can be customised by the player, while Chocobos are controlled manually, the Regalia can be either manually or automatically controlled. The party can also fast-travel to areas unlocked on the world map, the Regalia must be refueled periodically at petrol stations. Side quests are available from individual NPCs found in towns. During some story sequences, dialogue choices appear for Noctis, with the selected option altering the response from NPCs, the game also contains two difficulty modes, Easy and Normal, with players being able to switch between the two. In Easy mode, the summon Carbuncle will appear once per battle to heal Noctis whenever he is in danger, the game uses an action-based real-time battle system, dubbed the Active Cross Battle system. Instead of using an interface, the player selects commands directly mapped to buttons on the controller, such as Attack, Defend, Magic. Battles take place within the current environment rather than transitioning to a separate arena, when approaching enemies, a threat meter appears on the top of the screen, growing in intensity the closer the party gets to the enemy
20.
Video game console
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A video game console is an electronic, digital or computer device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game that one or more people can play. The term video game console is used to distinguish a console machine primarily designed for consumers to use for playing video games. An arcade machine consists of a video game computer, display, game controller, a home computer is a personal computer designed for home use for a variety of purposes, such as bookkeeping, accessing the Internet and playing video games. There are various types of game consoles, including home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, microconsoles. Although Ralph Baer had built working game consoles by 1966, it was nearly a decade before the Pong game made them commonplace in regular peoples living rooms. Through evolution over the 1990s and 2000s, game consoles have expanded to additional functions such as CD players, DVD players, Blu-ray disc players, web browsers, set-top boxes. The first video appeared in the 1960s. They were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions, Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the late 1960s, while working for Sanders Associates, Baer created a series of game console designs. In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home game console which could be connected to a TV set. Magnavox replaced the switch design with separate cartridges for each game, by autumn 1975, Magnavox, bowing to the popularity of Pong, cancelled the Odyssey and released a scaled-down version that played only Pong and hockey, the Odyssey 100. A second, higher end console, the Odyssey 200, was released with the 100 and added on-screen scoring, up to four players, almost simultaneously released with Ataris own home Pong console through Sears, these consoles jump-started the consumer market. All three of the new consoles used simpler designs than the original Odyssey did with no board game pieces or extra cartridges, in the years that followed, the market saw many companies rushing similar consoles to market. Most of the consoles from this era were dedicated consoles playing only the games came with the console. These video game consoles were often just called video games, because there was reason to distinguish the two yet. While a few companies like Atari, Magnavox, and newcomer Coleco pushed the envelope, Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System in 1976. The VES, however, contained a programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions, RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based consoles, the RCA Studio II and the Atari 2600, respectively. The first handheld console with interchangeable cartridges was the Microvision designed by Smith Engineering
21.
Arcade game
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An arcade game or coin-op is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are games, pinball machines, electro-mechanical games. While exact dates are debated, the age of arcade video games is usually defined as a period beginning sometime in the late 1970s. The old Midways of 1920s-era amusement parks provided the inspiration and atmosphere for later arcade games, in the 1930s the first coin-operated pinball machines emerged. These early amusement machines differed from their later electronic cousins in that they were made of wood and they lacked plungers or lit-up bonus surfaces on the playing field, and used mechanical instead of electronic scoring-readouts. By around 1977 most pinball machines in production switched to using solid-state electronics both for operation and for scoring, another Sega 1969 release, Missile, a shooter and vehicle-combat simulation, featured electronic sound and a moving film strip to represent the targets on a projection screen. In 1970 Midway released the game in North America as S. A. M. I, in the course of the 1970s, following the release of Pong in 1972, electronic video-games gradually replaced electro-mechanical arcade games. In 1972, Sega released a game called Killer Shark. In 1974, Nintendo released Wild Gunman, a shooter that used full-motion video-projection from 16 mm film to display live-action cowboy opponents on the screen. The 1978 video game Space Invaders, however, dealt a yet more powerful blow to the popularity of electro-mechanical games, in 1971 students at Stanford University set up the Galaxy Game, a coin-operated version of the Spacewar video game. This ranks as the earliest known instance of a video game. Later in the year, Nolan Bushnell created the first mass-manufactured game, Computer Space. In 1972, Atari was formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney, Atari essentially created the coin-operated video game industry with the game Pong, the first successful electronic ping pong video game. Pong proved to be popular, but imitators helped keep Atari from dominating the fledgling coin-operated video game market, taitos Space Invaders, in 1978, proved to be the first blockbuster arcade video game. Its success marked the beginning of the age of arcade video games. Space Invaders, Galaxian, Pac-Man, Battlezone, Defender, by 1981, the arcade video game industry was worth $8 billion. By the late 1980s, the video game craze was beginning to fade due to advances in home video game console technology. By 1991, US arcade video game revenues had fallen to $2.1 billion, the pseudo-3D sprite/tile scaling was handled in a similar manner to textures in later texture-mapped polygonal 3D games of the 1990s
22.
Role-playing video game
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A role-playing video game is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character immersed in some well-defined world. Many role-playing video games have origins in tabletop role-playing games and use much of the terminology, settings. Other major similarities with pen-and-paper games include developed story-telling and narrative elements, player development, complexity, as well as replayability. The electronic medium removes the necessity for a gamemaster and increases combat resolution speed, RPGs have evolved from simple text-based console-window games into visually rich 3D experiences. Role-playing video games use much of the terminology, settings. Players control a game character, or multiple game characters, usually called a party. Players explore a world, while solving puzzles and engaging in tactical combat. A key feature of the genre is that characters grow in power and abilities, RPGs rarely challenge a players physical coordination or reaction time, with the exception of action role-playing games. Role-playing video games typically rely on a developed story and setting. Players control one or several characters by issuing commands, which are performed by the character at an effectiveness determined by that characters numeric attributes. Often these attributes increase each time a character gains a level, role-playing video games also typically attempt to offer more complex and dynamic character interaction than what is found in other video game genres. This usually involves additional focus on the intelligence and scripted behavior of computer-controlled non-player characters. The premise of most role-playing games tasks the player with saving the world, there are often twists and turns as the story progresses, such as the surprise appearance of estranged relatives, or enemies who become friends or vice versa. To a lesser extent, settings closer to the present day or near future are possible, the story often provides much of the entertainment in the game. Because these games have strong storylines, they can make effective use of recorded dialog. Players of these tend to appreciate long cutscenes more than players of faster action games. While most games advance the plot when the player defeats an enemy or completes a level, for example, a player may make the decision to join a guild, thus triggering a progression in the storyline that is usually irreversible. New elements in the story may also be triggered by mere arrival in an area, the plot is usually divided so that each game location is an opportunity to reveal a new chapter in the story
23.
Breath of Fire
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Breath of Fire is a role-playing video game series developed by Capcom. It originated on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1993, the series is notable for its recurring characters and ambiguous continuity, though each game is its own self-contained story, the names of the two lead characters are, invariably, Ryu and Nina. The story commonly involves an adventurer named Ryu who can shapeshift into different types of dragons, over the course of his journey, he befriends Nina, a girl with wings. At its inception, Breath of Fire took place in a medieval fantasy style fictional world, despite these changes, the core structure of Breath of Fire remains largely linear and plot-focused. As of 2016, six Breath of Fire titles have been released, to date, the series has sold over 3 million units worldwide. Beginning in November 2003, Capcom began releasing Breath of Fire titles specifically for mobile devices in Japan. Each game was developed for use on NTT DoCoMo, au, the music of each Breath of Fire games has traditionally been produced by rotating members of Capcoms in-house sound team. Breath of Fire IIIs soundtrack took an approach, and was written by the team of Yoshino Aoki and Akari Kaida. For the first time in the series, the music of Breath of Fire, Dragon Quarter was created by an employee, Hitoshi Sakimoto. As of the game in the series, the Breath of Fire franchise has sold a total of 3.1 million units worldwide, with Capcom calling it their best known. In a December 2008 interview with gaming website 1UP, apart from that, regarding RPG titles, they are very popular in Japan, but only certain RPG titles sell so Capcom doesnt really need to even consider making these titles as an option. Capcom USA Vice President of Strategic Planning Chris Svensson would later claim on the official message boards in June 2009 that the series remains a resting IP. Other companies such as Camelot Software Planning have expressed interest in developing a title for the series if Capcom remained unwilling to do so, list of Japanese role-playing game franchises Breath of Fire Games at DMOZ
24.
Live A Live
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Live A Live is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom, and released on September 2,1994. It was never released outside Japan, but it has been translated into English. It has been released on the Virtual Console for Wii U, Live A Lives story begins with a series of seven seemingly unrelated chapters that can be played in any order, based on popular genres such as Western, science fiction, and mecha. Each chapter has its own plot, setting, and characters, although the basic gameplay is the same throughout the game, every chapter has its own unique gimmick, such as the stealth elements in the ninja chapter. After the first seven chapters are completed, the final sequence plays out, linking the previous chapters together. Live A Live contains the elements of a role-playing video game. The characters explore dungeons, towns, or similar areas, fight enemies, however, the game eschews some elements typical of the genre, such as magic points and money. The game has turn-based, tactical battles that play out on a grid, certain attacks can change tiles into damage zones. More powerful skills often have long times, which commits the character to that single attack for a long time. Characters can be inflicted with status ailments, and certain items, attacks, when a characters hit points reach zero, they collapse and are unable to move, but can be revived by using a healing item or spell. However, if they are hit when in the knocked-out state, in addition to these basic gameplay mechanics, each chapter contains some variations on the standard formula. Live A Live has a number of characters. The main character of the chapter, Pogo, is a young caveman who has just come of age. Oboro-maru is a ninja of the Enma with great potential sent on an important mission, the Sundown Kid is a wandering cowboy famous for his skill with a gun. Masaru Takahara is a wrestler with the dream of being the strongest fighter in the world who possesses a sense of justice. Akira Tadokoro is an orphan in the future with psychic powers. Cube is a robot created by the mechanic Kato aboard the spaceship Cogito Ergosum. Oersted is a knight in the realm of Lucretia, betrothed to the Kings only daughter
25.
Super Mario RPG
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It was originally released on March 9,1996, in Japan and on May 13,1996, in North America. Nintendo ported the game, with differences, to the Wiis Virtual Console service in 2008. It is the first role-playing video game in the Mario series, the story focuses on Mario and his party as they seek to eliminate the games main antagonist, Smithy. Smithy has stolen the seven pieces of Star Road where all the worlds inhabitants wishes become Wish Stars. The game features five permanent playable characters, Super Mario RPG was directed by Yoshihiko Maekawa and Chihiro Fujioka and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto. Yoko Shimomura composed the score, which was released on a soundtrack album in Japan shortly after the games debut. Square did much of the development of Super Mario RPG under direct guidance from producer Shigeru Miyamoto, the game was well-received upon release, praised particularly for its 3D-rendered graphics and humor. Like most traditional JRPGs, there are two sections to the game, adventuring and turn-based battle sequences. There are no random encounters and as enemies are visible in the field. This allows the player to evade unnecessary battles, the player controls only Mario at the journeys beginning. Ultimately, the player gain a party of five characters. Mario is always in the party, but the other two characters can be selected before battles. Each of the five characters has a set of attacks. For example, Princess Toadstools abilities are primarily healing techniques, whereas Geno, the combat is based on a traditional turn based battle system with the addition of action commands that amplify a moves effects. The action command consists of timed button presses during an attack, special move, defense and this is one of the more innovative features of gameplay, becoming a mainstay of later Mario RPGs. The game world is set in a diverse land, which includes mountains. Bowsers Castle is another prominent location in the game, as it holds the portal to the main antagonists home world, as in most Mario series games, the main protagonist is Mario, whose initial goal is to rescue Princess Peach from Bowser. However, the takes on an unusual and very important twist
26.
Tactical role-playing game
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A tactical role-playing game is a genre of video game which incorporates elements of traditional role-playing video games and emphasizes tactical rather than high-level strategic gameplay. In Japan these games are known as Simulation RPGs and this subgenre of role-playing video games principally refers to games which incorporate elements from strategy video games as an alternative to traditional role-playing game systems. Like standard RPGs, the controls a finite party and battles a similar number of enemies. And like other RPGs, death is usually temporary, but this genre incorporates strategic gameplay such as tactical movement on an isometric grid. Unlike other video game genres, tactical RPGs tend not to feature multiplayer play, a distinct difference between tactical RPGs and traditional RPGs is the lack of exploration. For instance, Final Fantasy Tactics does away with the typical third-person exploration to towns and dungeons that are typical in a Final Fantasy game, instead of exploration, there is an emphasis on battle strategy. Players are able to build and train characters to use in battle, utilizing different classes, including warriors and magic users, depending on the game. Battles will have specific winning conditions, such as defeating all enemies or surviving a certain number of turns, in between battles, players can access their characters to equip them, change classes, train them, depending on the game. Tactical RPGs are descendents of traditional games, such as chess, and table-top role-playing and war games, such as Chainmail. The format of a tactical RPG video game is also like a traditional RPG in its appearance, pacing, likewise, early table-top strategy wargames like Chainmail are descended from skirmish wargames, which were primarily concerned with combat. A year later, in 1983, Ultima III, Exodus used a combat system. The game revolves around a king who must recruit soldiers and lead his army against overwhelming forces, while each unit gains experience. It is also considered to be an early prototype real-time strategy game, according to Takahashi, Silver Ghost was a simulation action type of game where you had to direct, oversee and command multiple characters. Unlike later tactical RPGs, however, Silver Ghost was not turn-based and it also featured a point-and-click interface, to control the characters using a cursor. A similar game released by Kure Software Koubo that same year was First Queen, combining the basic concepts from games like Dragon Quest and simple turn-based strategy elements, Nintendo created a hit, which spawned many sequels and imitators. During the 16-bit generation, among the first imitators was Langrisser by NCS/Masaya and it was translated for North American release and retitled Warsong. The Langrisser series differed from Fire Emblem in that it used a general-soldier structure instead of controlling main characters, Langrisser, too, spawned many sequels, none of which were brought to North America. Langrisser set itself apart from other tactical RPGs in its time with larger-scale battles, since Der Langrisser in 1994, the series offered non-linear branching paths and multiple endings
27.
Front Mission (series)
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Front Mission is a collection of video games and related media produced by Square, now Square Enix. The series was created by Toshiro Tsuchida and developed by G-Craft, since the release of the original Front Mission in 1995, the series has gone on to encompass several media, including film, manga, novels, radio dramas, mobile phone applications, and toys. The Front Mission video games have achieved success, selling over 3 million units worldwide since the release of Front Mission 5. The main selling point of Front Mission is its storytelling approach, taking place during the 21st and 22nd centuries, the series revolves around military conflicts and political tension between powerful supranational unions and their member states. Although the Front Mission video games use self-contained, standalone stories, in combination with the stories from its other media, the series possesses a level of storytelling depth and continuity comparable to a serial drama. Another major draw of Front Mission is its use of giant mecha called wanzers in battle, there are two types of Front Mission installments, the numbered entries and the non-numbered entries. The numbered Front Mission titles are all structured as tactical role-playing games, all other Front Mission titles that do not have a number assigned to it are genre spin-offs. Each of the four spin-off entries are classified under different genres, Front Mission, Gun Hazard is a side-scrolling shooter video game. Front Mission Alternative is a strategy video game. Front Mission, Online is a multiplayer online third-person shooter video game. The recently released Front Mission Evolved is a shooter video game with rail shooter segments. Since 1995, the Front Mission series has released 11 video games, seven of which are main entries, additionally, the series has spawned a number of video game ports, remakes, and compilations over its 15-year history. On July 12,2002, a port of Front Mission was released for the Bandai WonderSwan Color. A year later, the video game received a Sony PlayStation remake under the title Front Mission First on October 23,2003. Shortly after its release, a compilation titled Front Mission History was released in Japan on December 11,2003, the compilation contained the Front Mission First remake, a modified Front Mission 2, and Front Mission 3. Front Mission First also spawned an enhanced port of the game on March 22,2007 for the Nintendo DS, a second remake for Front Mission 2089 was developed and titled as Front Mission 2089, Border of Madness. This remake was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan on May 29,2008, while all Front Mission video games have seen releases in Japan, only a few been localized overseas. Front Mission 3 was the first entry to both a North American and European localization on March 22,2000 and August 11,2000 respectively
28.
Tobal No. 1
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Tobal No.1 is a fighting video game for the PlayStation developed by DreamFactory and published by Square in 1996. The game was DreamFactorys first release, as well as Squares first release on the CD-based console, Tobal No.1 marks Squares incursion into the fighting game genre, although an adventure-like quest mode is part of the game. The games mechanics were designed with the aid of fighter game designer Seiichi Ishii, the sequel, Tobal 2, was never released in North America and Europe. Tobal No.1 has various modes including a tournament mode. The games controls are unique in that allow full freedom of movement in the ring as long as the player faces the opponent. The player has the ability to dash and jump, and certain buttons execute high, medium, Tobal No.1 also has a unique grappling and blocking system, offering the player a variety of throws and counter moves. Perhaps the most distinctive feature of Tobal No.1 is the Quest Mode, the player must advance down a number of floors, contend with traps, and engage in fights with a variety of enemies including the games playable characters. Several items can be found, dropped by enemies, or bought using crystals, there is no way to save ones progress, and dying means starting over from the beginning. Defeating certain characters in this mode unlocks them as characters in the games other modes. Tobal No.1 takes place in the year 2027 on a planet called Tobal, which has large deposits of Molmoran. The planets 98th tournament is held to determine who has the rights to the ore, a number of humans and aliens compete for the title. The games plot and character backstories are only explored in the instruction manual, all of the initial eight playable characters receive the same ending. The games immediately playable characters include Chuji Wu, Oliems, Epon, Hom, Fei Pusu, Mary Ivonskaya, Ill Goga, bosses include Nork, Mufu, and the emperor Udan. All bosses are unlockable after defeating them in Dungeon Mode except Nork, instead, the game allows the player to select Snork, a pint-sized version of the very large character. There is also one secret fighter named Toriyama Robo who is unlockable if the player can complete the 30-floor Udans Dungeon level in the quest mode, Toriyama Robo is not seen at any point in the game except at the very end of the dungeon. Unlike the common themes of techno and rock found in fighting games. The soundtrack was released by DigiCube in Japan on August 21,1996 and contains 21 tracks found in the game, the album was arranged by GUIDO, who later released their own 7-track remix disc, Tobal No.1 Remixes Electrical Indian. Tobal No.1 Original Sound Track Tobal No.1 sold in excess of 650,000 copies in Japan the year it was released
29.
Parasite Eve (video game)
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Parasite Eve is a 1998 survival horror action role-playing video game developed and published by Square. The game is a sequel to the novel Parasite Eve written by Hideaki Sena, players are allowed to move freely around several open environments while utilizing a pausable real-time combat system along with several role-playing game elements. Parasite Eve was SquareSofts first M-rated game, and the first major American and it was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita. Music for the title was composed by Yoko Shimomura who was acclaimed for her work to create an inorganic. Parasite Eve received positive reviews, critics praised the graphics and gameplay, the original title was also followed by two video game sequels, Parasite Eve II in 1999 and The 3rd Birthday in 2010, and was re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2010. Parasite Eve is an action role-playing video game, movement in the world map is limited to specific destinations. Upon the player walking over a hot spot, theres a chance of a random encounter, enemies materialize and attack players on the same screen that they move Aya around on, with no battle mode or screen being used. In battle, the uses a pausable real-time combat system with an Active Time Bar that sets the time that must be waited till the player can take their next action. While waiting for her turn, the player character Aya can be moved around to dodge enemy attacks, if the player chooses to attack, the battle briefly pauses and a dome/sphere symbolizing the range of the weapon appears, allowing the player to target an enemy within range. Parasite Energy recharges during battle but the players use it. When not in battle, the player has the option of altering the weapon and armor attributes, the player selects the tune-up option, choosing the weapon that will be altered and the weapon from which the attributes or effect will be taken. Weapons have many different properties, including effects like acid. One of the principal RPG elements of the game is that experience-based levels are present, each time the players level increases, his/her attributes go up and BP are given. These points can be distributed to the ATB, item capacity, once the game is completed, a new game plus mode is available called EX game. The items, weapons, power-ups and enemies are more powerful, however, the biggest difference from the normal game is the addition of the Chrysler Building, a brand new location with 77 floors, leading to a final boss battle with Ayas older sister, Maya. The story begins with Aya Brea, an NYPD rookie, attending an opera at Carnegie Hall with a date in New York City on Christmas Eve 1997. During the opera, everyone in the building spontaneously combusts, except for Aya, Aya confronts Melissa onstage, and Melissa says that Aya’s mitochondria need more time to develop. She flees backstage, with Aya giving chase, backstage, Melissa then mutates into a beast and flees into the sewers, declaring that her name is now Eve
30.
Legend of Mana
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Legend of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu, Legend of Mana, is a 1999 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation. It is the game in the Mana series, following 1995s Seiken Densetsu 3. While incorporating action role-playing elements from the games in the series, such as real-time battles. Legend of Mana was directed by series creator Koichi Ishii, designed by Akihiko Matsui, the game had high sales, selling 400,000 copies in its first week of release and 700,000 by the end of 1999. Reviews were less positive than for prior games in the series, like previous games in the Mana series, Legend of Mana displays an angled top-down perspective, in which the player characters navigate the terrain and fight off hostile creatures. The player controls the main character, and is assisted by up to two companions. Both companions are controlled by the games AI, though a second player can take control of the support character if present. The main character and companions each have their own set of attributes including hit points and strength. These stats grow whenever the player advances a level, after gaining experience points from battle with enemies. Battles occur when the character encounters an enemy while traversing the world. Combat takes place in real-time, and in the location the player found the enemy rather than a battle screen. The main character can equip a variety of weapons, armors, weapons let the player perform abilities in combat. Referred to as Special Techs, these abilities are powerful attacks by the main characters and this meter fills as the player damages enemies. Each weapon, such as a sword or spear, has a set number of attacks to learn. Legend of Mana, unlike most action role-playing games, does not feature a set journey through a fixed world. Instead, it features a unique Land Make system where the player generates the structure of the world by placing objects, named Artifacts. This map takes the form of a grid of spaces presented in a viewpoint on a map screen. When an Artifact is placed in a space on the map, it creates a Land, adjacent Lands are not connected, to move from one land to another the player must first return to the map screen
31.
PlayStation
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It is created and owned by Sony Interactive Entertainment since December 3,1994, with the launch of the original PlayStation console in Japan. The original console in the series was the first video game console to ship 100 million units,9 years and 6 months after its initial launch and its successor, the PlayStation 2, was released in 2000. The PlayStation 2 is the home console to date, having reached over 155 million units sold as of December 28,2012. Sonys next console, the PlayStation 3, was released in 2006 and has sold over 80 million consoles worldwide as of November 2013. Sonys latest console, the PlayStation 4, was released in 2013, selling 1 million consoles in its first 24 hours on sale, the first handheld game console in the PlayStation series, sold a total of 80 million units worldwide by November 2013. Its successor, the PlayStation Vita, which launched in Japan on December 17,2011, PlayStation TV is a microconsole and a non-portable variant of the PlayStation Vita handheld game console. The main series of controllers utilized by the PlayStation series is the DualShock, the PlayStation Network is an online service with over 110 million users worldwide. PlayStation Mobile is a framework that provides PlayStation content on mobile devices. Content set to be released under the framework consist of only original PlayStation games currently, 7th generation PlayStation products also use the XrossMediaBar, which is an award-winning graphical user interface. A new touch screen-based user interface called LiveArea was launched for the PlayStation Vita, additionally, PlayStation 2 and original PlayStation 3 consoles also featured support for Linux-based operating systems, though this has since been discontinued. The series has also known for its numerous marketing campaigns. The consoles origins date back to 1988 where it was originally a joint project between Nintendo and Sony to create a CD-ROM for the Super Famicom. However, a day after the announcement at CES, Nintendo announced that it would be breaking its partnership with Sony, opting to go with Philips instead but using the same technology. The deal was broken by Nintendo after they were unable to come to an agreement on how revenue would be split between the two companies. The breaking of the partnership infuriated Sony President Norio Ohga, who responded by appointing Kutaragi with the responsibility of developing the PlayStation project to rival Nintendo. At that time, negotiations were still on-going between Nintendo and Sony, with Nintendo offering Sony a non-gaming role regarding their new partnership with Philips. This proposal was rejected by Kutaragi who was facing increasing criticism over his work with regard to entering the video game industry from within Sony. At the meeting, Kutaragi unveiled a proprietary CD-ROM-based system he had working on which involved playing video games with 3D graphics to the board
32.
Parental leave
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Parental leave or family leave is an employee benefit available in almost all countries. The term parental leave generally includes maternity, paternity, and adoption leave, in some countries and jurisdictions, family leave also includes leave provided to care for ill family members. Often, the benefits and eligibility requirements are stipulated by law. Unpaid parental or family leave is provided when an employer is required to hold a job while that employee is taking leave. Paid parental or family leave provides paid time off work to care for or make arrangements for the welfare of a child or dependent family member. The three most common models of funding are social insurance/social security, employer liability, and mixed policies that both social security and employer liability. Parental leave has been available as a legal right and/or governmental program for many years, a different study showed that of 186 countries examined, 96% offered some pay to mothers during leave, but only 81 of those countries offered the same for fathers. The United States and Suriname, while they do mandate unpaid parental leave, are the other countries that do not require employers to provide paid time off for new parents. Private employers sometimes provide either or both unpaid and paid parental leave outside of or in addition to any legal mandate, nussbaum proposed 10 central capabilities as the minimum requirement for a decent society. In Nussbaums model, states should provide the resources and freedoms to ensure people have the opportunity to achieve a threshold of each central capability. Whether parental leave contributes to gender equality depends upon whether laws consider a child to be the responsibility of parents and whether the leave is equal as to the sexes. Similarly, a 2015 study by Rønsen & Kitterød found that part of the effect of Norwegian parental leave policy contributed to, a more equal division of paid and unpaid work among parents. The advancement of equality has also been on the political agenda of Nordic countries for decades. Although, all Nordic countries have extended the total leave period, Iceland, Norway and Sweden have established equal 3 months quotas for the father. The only Nordic country that does not provide fathers with a quota is Denmark, however, the dual earner/dual care model seems to be the direction of all the Nordic countries are moving in the construction of their parental leave systems. Paid parental leave incentivizes labor market attachment for women both before and after birth, affecting GDP and national productivity, as the workforce is larger, parental leave increases income at the household level, as well, by supporting dual-earner families. Paid parental leave incentivizes childbirth, which affects the future workforce, the neoclassical model of labor markets predicts that if the cost of hiring women of child-bearing years is anticipated to increase, then the demand for women in the labor market will decrease. While gender discrimination is illegal, without some kind of remedy, women may seek out employment sectors that are family-friendly, resulting in occupational sex segregation
33.
Nintendo
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Nintendo Co. Ltd. is a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and video game company headquartered in Kyoto, Japan. Nintendo is one of the worlds largest video game companies by market capitalization, founded on 23 September 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi, it originally produced handmade hanafuda playing cards. By 1963, the company had tried several small businesses, such as cab services. The word Nintendo can be translated from Japanese to English as leave luck to heaven. From 1992 until 2016, Nintendo was also the majority shareholder of Major League Baseballs Seattle Mariners, as of 31 March 2014, Nintendo has cumulative sales of over 670.43 million hardware units and 4.23 billion software units. The company has created and released some of the best-known and top-selling video game franchises, such as Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo was founded as a card company in late 1889 by Fusajiro Yamauchi. Based in Kyoto, Japan, the produced and marketed a playing card game called Hanafuda. The handmade cards soon became popular, and Yamauchi hired assistants to mass-produce cards to satisfy demand, in 1949, the company adopted the name Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd. doing business as The Nintendo Playing Card Co. outside Japan. Nintendo continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes its own contract bridge tournament called the Nintendo Cup. In 1956, Hiroshi Yamauchi, grandson of Fusajiro Yamauchi, visited the U. S. to talk with the United States Playing Card Company and he found that the biggest playing card company in the world was using only a small office. Yamauchis realization that the card business had limited potential was a turning point. He then acquired the license to use Disney characters on playing cards to drive sales, in 1963, Yamauchi renamed Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. to Nintendo Co. Ltd. The company then began to experiment in other areas of business using newly injected capital during the period of time between 1963 and 1968, Nintendo set up a taxi company called Daiya. However, Nintendo was forced to sell it because problems with the unions were making it too expensive to run the service. It also set up a hotel chain, a TV network. All of these ventures failed, and after the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, playing card sales dropped. In 1966, Nintendo moved into the Japanese toy industry with the Ultra Hand, Yokoi was moved from maintenance to the new Nintendo Games department as a product developer. Nintendo continued to produce toys, including the Ultra Machine, Love Tester
34.
Heroes of Mana
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Heroes of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu, Heroes of Mana, is a 2007 real-time strategy game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Brownie Brown and Square Enix and published by Square Enix and it is the ninth game of the Mana series and the fourth entry in the World of Mana subseries, following the release of Dawn of Mana three months prior. Set in a fantasy universe, Heroes of Mana follows a young soldier, Roget. While it contains some small role-playing elements, Heroes of Mana diverges from the prior action role-playing game titles of the series to instead be a strategy game. Composed of a series of battles, the player gathers resources, constructs buildings and units. The Nintendo DSs second screen displays a map of the ongoing battle, players can fight several dozen required and optional battles in the single-player game, as well as local multiplayer matches. Heroes of Mana was produced by series creator Koichi Ishii and directed by Takeo Oin, the story was written by Masato Kato, and the music was composed by Yoko Shimomura. The game was not a success, selling around 180,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2007. Like previous games in the Mana series, Heroes of Mana features a perspective, in which the player characters navigate the terrain. Unlike prior games in the series, which are typically action role-playing games, Heroes is a strategy game. Units are controlled via the Nintendo DS touch screen, selected by tapping on them, the game world is divided into an isometric grid, with one unit allowed per space. The Nintendo DSs second screen shows a map of the current mission, including parts of the map can currently be seen by the players units. Individual units and enemies are shown on the map in the visible areas, some of the units available to the player are characters in the games storyline, while the rest are monsters which can be summoned by the player. Resources, divided into berries and minerals, are gathered from resource nodes by Rabite units, minerals are used to create buildings, while berries are used to create units from those buildings. Both buildings and units are built inside of the players airship, the game features some role-playing elements, characters during the course of the game learn new skills over time, and can be given equipment to increase their attack and defense. New equipment is obtained through completing story and bonus missions and finding hidden treasure, during the course of the games story the player also acquires new summons and heroes. Missions can have different ending conditions, such as destroying an enemy carrier or defeating all enemies in the area, Heroes of Mana features a local multiplayer option, where players can battle against each other using the progress they have made in the single-player game. There is no support on the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service, though players can use it to access the Wi-Fi Heroes Ranking system to download additional maps, missions
35.
Yasunori Mitsuda
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Yasunori Mitsuda is a Japanese composer, musician, and sound producer known primarily for his work in video games, among other media. He is best known for his compositions in the Chrono, Xeno, Shadow Hearts, and Inazuma Eleven series of games, as well as such as Mario Party, Soma Bringer. Mitsuda began composing video game music for his own games in high school, as part of his college course, he was granted an intern position at the game development studio Wolf Team, studying under composer and musician Motoi Sakuraba. Upon graduation in 1992, he joined Square as a composer after seeing an advertisement in an office he was visiting with his professor. Despite his job title as a composer, Mitsuda worked as a sound designer for two years. In 1994, after threatening to quit to Squares vice president, Hironobu Sakaguchi, after the games success and the musics acclaim, he went on to compose several other games for Square, including Xenogears. In 1998, Mitsuda left Square to work as a composer, founding his own music production studio, Procyon Studio, in 2001 as well as his own record label. The company has expanded to six employees, and Mitsuda continues to compose for video games, as well as for anime series, films, documentaries. Mitsuda was born in Tokuyama, Japan, on January 21,1972 and he took piano lessons beginning at the age of five, but was more interested in sports at the time and did not take music seriously, quitting by the age of six. For a while, he wanted to become a professional golfer, while in high school, Mitsuda rediscovered music, inspired by Vangelis Blade Runner and Henry Mancinis The Pink Panther film scores. After watching Railman, he decided to become a music composer and he became interested in PCs after his father bought him one, which was a rare item at the time. He started to program games and compose music for them. After high school, Mitsuda decided to leave town and become independent, with encouragement from his father and sister, he moved to Tokyo and enrolled in the Junior College of Music. At the cost of being used for physical labor, Mitsuda got a first-hand view of the Japanese music world. During this work experience, with his term ending, Mitsuda saw an advertisement for a sound producer at Square in a copy of Famitsu magazine at a game company he was visiting. With no clear plans as to what he wanted to do after school, Mitsuda sent a demo which won him an interview at the game studio. Although his official job title was composer, Mitsuda found himself working more as a sound engineer, over the next two years, he created sound effects for Hanjuku Hero, Final Fantasy V, The 7th Saga, Secret of Mana, and Romancing SaGa 2. Sakaguchi assigned the young musician to the working on Chrono Trigger, telling him that after you finish it
36.
Arnie Roth
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Arnold Arnie Roth is an American conductor, composer, and record producer. His work includes conducting concerts for video game music and he is also a classically trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music group Mannheim Steamroller. Roth is also the conductor and music director of the Chicagoland Pops Orchestra. A Video Game Symphony, and several Final Fantasy concerts, Roth graduated from Bienen School of Music, an undergraduate and graduate institution of Northwestern University in 1975. He has a son and a daughter who are also involved in music, his son, Eric Roth, is also a famed conductor
37.
Stockholm Concert Hall
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The Stockholm Concert Hall is the main hall for orchestral music in Stockholm, Sweden. With a design by Ivar Tengbom chosen in competition, inaugurated in 1926 and it is also where the awarding ceremonies for the Nobel Prize and the Polar Music Prize are held annually. The interior includes work by Ewald Dahlskog, and the walls and ceiling in the minor hall, the exterior is the site of sculptor Carl Milles 1936 bronze fountain, the Orfeus-brunnen. The blue building lies to the east of Hötorget, many pop and rock concerts by famous artists have taken place at the Stockholm Concert Hall. List of concert halls Official homepage
38.
Chris Huelsbeck
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Chris Huelsbeck is a German video game music composer from Kassel, Germany. Huelsbecks music career started at age 14, when he entered a competition in a German games magazine. He took a job in production with the company Rainbow Arts. In 1986, Huelsbeck released the SoundMonitor program for Commodore 64 computer, the program was released as a type-in listing in the German computer magazine 64er. Huelsbeck has written soundtracks for more than 70 titles, the latest being Giana Sisters, many of his scores for the Commodore 64 are regarded as classics among enthusiasts today, most notably The Great Giana Sisters. He is best known for the soundtracks to the Turrican series of games, chriss initial recognition arrived at age 17 when his composition Shades won first place in a music competition for the German 64er magazine. His music from Apidya, Turrican 2, Turrican 3 and The Great Giana Sisters was performed live at the Symphonic Game Music Concert series in Leipzig, on August 23,2008 his music was performed at Symphonic Shades, a concert dedicated to his work exclusively. The WDR Radio Orchestra and a choir performed classics such as The Great Giana Sisters, Turrican, R-Type and others in Cologne, on March 19,2009 it was announced that Arnie Roth will conduct the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra at the concert Sinfonia Drammatica in the Konserthuset Stockholm. Taking place on August 4,2009, the combined performances of Huelsbecks Symphonic Shades. – Mean Ugly Dirty Sport X-Out Z-Out Adrift in a Cobalt Eternity Star Wars, Rogue Squadron ZombieSmash
39.
Symphonic Game Music Concerts
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They are produced by Thomas Böcker and performed by various orchestras conducted by Andy Brick, Arnie Roth, Niklas Willén and Eckehard Stier. From 2003 to 2007, GC in Concert took place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig and was held as the opening ceremony of the GC – Games Convention. Since 1999, Thomas Böcker has been working in the industry as producer. His role as producer and project director of the Merregnon trilogy provided him with many contacts to conductors, orchestras. Inspired by game concerts from Japan, the Orchestral Game Music Concerts from the 1990s in particular, to attract as many people from the target audience as possible, the concert was to be scheduled alongside an established event connected to the game industry. In 2002, he proposed his idea to the Leipzig Trade Fair which agreed to hold the Symphonic Game Music Concert during the GC – Games Convention, Böckers main focus with the First Symphonic Game Music Concert was to honor publishers that had worked with live orchestras before. The majority of compositions had already recorded with this kind of ensemble in the past which reduced the development stage to four months. Following feedback from attendants of the first event, more music from games was added to the programs. The pioneer work done by Böcker and his team resulted in a lot of support for game concerts outside Japan. The Symphonic Game Music Concerts have since become known for its numerous world premieres, some of which have been reused in Press Start -Symphony of Games-. A Video Game Symphony and Distant Worlds, Music from Final Fantasy, Böcker was involved with PLAY. in a leading role from 2005 to 2007, and was working as a consultant for Distant Worlds from 2007 to 2011. Favoring a more atmosphere, the series does not rely on showing game footage or extensive light effects. Starting from 2003, five critically acclaimed annual concerts took place in the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig, the First Symphonic Game Music Concert in 2003 marked the first orchestral video game music event outside Japan. It was the only GC – Games Convention concert to feature the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, whereas subsequent events were performed by the FILMharmonic Orchestra from Prague. At the beginning of 2008, a note at the website of the Symphonic Game Music Concerts announced that no future GC – Games Convention concerts would take place at the Gewandhaus zu Leipzig. Instead, the ceremony in 2008 was replaced by a Video Games Live show in the Arena Leipzig. The disconnection of the opening ceremony with any concerts from 2007 onwards made that requirement feel unnecessary for the Leipzig Trade Fair. In late 2007, Thomas Böcker announced that he is producing Symphonic Shades, the event marked the first live radio broadcast of a video game music concert
40.
Eminence Symphony Orchestra
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The Eminence Symphony Orchestra founded in Sydney, Australia is an independent symphony orchestra which delves into the classical music featured in video games and anime, as well as film scores. Eminence was founded in 2003 by a group of friends. The difference in the cultural backgrounds between these friends as well as their experiences and qualifications contributed to what would be their first concert. Eminence focuses particularly on the music of notable Japanese video games, the orchestras vision is to inject something bold, dynamic and fresh into classical music. Eminence wishes to break down the barriers between the audience and the musicians, and to revive orchestra in todays society, particularly amongst youth. These services were provided through a Sydney-based business entity, Eminence Group Pty Ltd. This facilitated further work in countries, particularly in Japan. Australia continues to be the base for the orchestra, with the majority of recordings being performed in Sydney. A resolution to wind up the company was made on the same day, the Eminence Symphony Orchestra continues to operate through Eminence Artists in Australia, Creative Intelligence Arts, Inc. in Japan and Eminence Group North America in the United States of America. Eminences debut concert, A Night in Fantasia, was held on 31 October and 1 November 2003 and it was born out of the idea that such an event had never been done before in Australia. The first of a series of concerts was mainly composed of music from Final Fantasy and Studio Ghibli films, and took place at Sydney Congress Hall with tickets that sold well before the night. The overall success as well as the support of the first concert proved a point to the organisers that such a concept of cultural music would appeal to a wide range of people. At this point the company running the concert was Infinity 8LUE, in 2004, the orchestra was fully formed, and held A Night in Fantasia 2004 at Verbrugghen Hall at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music on 30 and 31 October. William Motzing became the Chief Conductor and Artistic Director, Daniel Smith became the Assistant Conductor and this concert marked the name change for the orchestra, as they became known as the Eminence Symphony Orchestra. Infinity 8LUE was the company behind the concert, and shortly after finalised the name change by becoming Eminence, Alexey Yemtsov performed the first Piano Stories concert on 15 April, at Verbrugghen Hall. Featuring work from Studio Ghibli, Yoko Kanno and Shirō Sagisu, Piano Stories marked the beginning of a series of concerts celebrating piano scores from a selection of anime,2005 saw Eminence present the World of John Williams concert, held on 8 July at Sydney Town Hall. Phillip Chu and Daniel Smith conducted the Eminence Symphony Orchestra and the Eminence Choir through performance featuring music from one of Hollywoods most recognised composers, John Williams. His work from Harry Potter, Schindlers List, Saving Private Ryan, Star Wars, E. T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Home Alone, Daniel Smith conducted the Australian Premiere of Battle of the Heroes
41.
London Philharmonic Orchestra
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The London Philharmonic Orchestra is one of five permanent symphony orchestras based in London. It was founded by the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham and Malcolm Sargent in 1932 as a rival to the existing London Symphony, the founders ambition was to build an orchestra the equal of any European or American rival. Between 1932 and the Second World War the LPO was widely judged to have succeeded in this regard, after the outbreak of war the orchestras private backers withdrew and the players reconstituted the LPO as a self-governing cooperative. By the 1960s the LPO had regained its earlier standards, in 1993 it was appointed resident orchestra of the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank of the Thames, one of Londons major concert venues. Since 1995 the residency has been held with the Philharmonia. In addition to its work at the Festival Hall and Glyndebourne, the LPO performs regularly at the Congress Theatre, Eastbourne and the Brighton Dome, and tours nationally and internationally. Since Beecham, the orchestra has had ten principal conductors, including Sir Adrian Boult, Bernard Haitink, Sir Georg Solti, Klaus Tennstedt and Vladimir Jurowski. The orchestra has been active in recording studios since its earliest days, since 2005 the LPO has had its own record label, issuing live recordings of concerts. The orchestra has played on film soundtracks, including Lawrence of Arabia. In the 1920s the London Symphony Orchestra was the citys best-known concert, others were the Royal Albert Hall Orchestra, the orchestra of the Royal Philharmonic Society, the BBCs Wireless Symphony Orchestra and Sir Henry Woods Queens Hall Orchestra. All except the last of these were ad hoc ensembles, with little continuity of personnel. This became obvious in 1927 when the Berlin Philharmonic, under Wilhelm Furtwängler, the chief music critic of The Times later commented, the British public. Was electrified when it heard the disciplined precision of the Berlin Philharmonic and this apparently was how an orchestra could, and, therefore, ought to sound. In 1928 they opened discussions about jointly setting up such an ensemble, but after 18 months of negotiations it became clear that the corporation and the conductor had irreconcilable priorities. The BBC went ahead without him, and under its director of music, Adrian Boult, launched the BBC Symphony Orchestra in October 1930, to immense acclaim. Originally Sargent and Beecham envisaged a version of the LSO, but the orchestra. In 1932 Beecham lost patience and agreed with Sargent to set up a new orchestra from scratch, the BBC having attracted a large number of the finest musicians from other orchestras, many in the musical world doubted that Beecham could find enough good players. He was fortunate in the timing of the enterprise, the economy had severely reduced the number of freelance dates available to orchestral players
42.
Abbey Road Studios
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Abbey Road Studios is a recording studio at 3 Abbey Road, St Johns Wood, City of Westminster, London, England. It was established November 1931 by the Gramophone Company, a predecessor of British music company EMI, Abbey Road Studios is most notable as being the 1960s venue for innovative recording techniques adopted by the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Hollies, Badfinger and others. One of its earliest world-famous-artist clients was Paul Robeson, who recorded December 1931, towards the end of 2009, the studio came under threat of sale to property developers. However, the British Government protected the site, granting it English Heritage Grade II listed status in 2010, originally a nine-bedroom Georgian townhouse built in 1831 on the footpath leading to Kilburn Abbey, the building was later converted to flats where the most flamboyant resident was Maundy Gregory. In 1931, the Gramophone Company acquired the premises and converted it into studios, pathé filmed the opening of the studios when Sir Edward Elgar conducted the London Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions of his music. In 1934, inventor of stereo sound, Alan Blumlein, recorded Mozarts Jupiter Symphony which was conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham at the studios, the neighbouring house is also owned by the studio and used to house musicians. During the mid-20th century, the studio was used by leading British conductor Sir Malcolm Sargent. The Gramophone Company amalgamated with Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI and it was under this name that in 1936 cellist Pablo Casals became the first to record Johann Sebastian Bachs Cello Suites No.1 &2 at the command of EMI head Fred Gaisberg. The recordings went on to spur a revolution among Bach aficionados, in 1958, Studio Two at Abbey Road became a centre for rock and roll music when Cliff Richard and the Drifters recorded Move It there, and later pop music material. The Beatles named their 1969 album Abbey Road, after the street where the studio is located, the studio was renamed Abbey Road Studios in 1970 after the Beatles album had made it famous. Iain Macmillan took the cover photograph outside the studios, with the result that the nearby zebra crossing has become a place of pilgrimage for Beatles fans. It has been a tradition for visitors to pay homage to the band by writing on the wall in front of the even though it is painted over every three months. December 2010, the crossing at Abbey Road was given a Grade II listed status. Pink Floyd recorded most of their late 1960s to mid-1970s albums here, the Shadows named their Live at Abbey Road album after the studio, with the cover spoofing the Beatles album. The chief mastering engineer at Abbey Road was Chris Vinyl Blair, in 1979, EMI commissioned the British jazz fusion band Morrissey-Mullen to record Britains first digitally recorded single record at Abbey Road Studios. From July 18 to September 11,1983, the public had an opportunity to see inside the legendary Studio Two where The Beatles made most of their records. While a new mixing console was being installed in the control room, the soundtrack to the video had a number of recordings that were not made commercially available until the release of The Beatles Anthology project over a decade later. The Red Hot Chili Peppers used a photograph of the walking across the zebra crossing naked on the front of The Abbey Road E. P. which was released in 1988
