In New Super Mario Bros Wii, Nintendo has brought back the long dormant “Koopalings.” These seven characters are supposedly Bowser’s children and appear as stage antagonists in several Mario games. It is said that during the production of Super Mario Bros 3, Shigeru Miyamoto based each of them on a member of the design team.
But when Super Mario Bros 3 was released in 1988 to Japan, the kids were not given names. Only a year and a half later when Nintendo Of America released the game did they get names. The localization team did their best to match their appearances with some obvious, and less obvious names. See how obscure they get!
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According to gaming site Aeropause, and followed up on Resident Evil/Silent Hill fansite The Horror is Alive, word has it that long-time Konami composer Akira Yamaoka has left the big-name game publisher after 16 years of dedicated duty.

Yamaoka is most well known for his work done for the Silent Hill series of games, having almost single-handedly worked on everything from the first game right up to the yet-released re-make ‘Shattered Memories’. Combining haunting ambient melodies with soft rock tunes, Yamaoka has been praised for helping make the survival-horror series what it is today. He is also credited with having worked on the soundtracks to Gradius III & IV, Contra: Shattered Solider, and Rumble Roses.

One can only hope that this is just heavy rumor, as no official word from Konami has been released thus far, though this could be in an attempt to smooth things over. Speaking as a avid fan of the Silent Hill series, I can say with certainty that if these rumor do indeed prove true, then Konami has lost one of their pinnacle members, as well as the last remaining key of Team Silent. That is a truly devastating thing to think about for this little fan.

This one took the internet by storm last week, but if you didn’t see it, you missed a viral classic. The Muppets perform the Queen song “Bohemian Rhapsody”

This isn’t the first crack at Muppet Music. Weezer featured the Muppets in the video for “Keep Fishin” which you can watch HERE. Universal disabled video embeds, but if you got to this website you know how to click a link, so just click this link.

I probably could’ve posted this on Friday so you would’ve been armed with some good music to go into your weekend, but then we’d have this problem of ruining the wordplay of “monday mashup” and its only the second week of this feature so I don’t want to kill it too quickly.

Anyway, Party Ben is a San Fransisco DJ with a highly successful career of mixing songs together to give away for free on his website. Actually that probably doesn’t earn him much money at all, but he still does it and thats cool. [Read the rest of this entry…]

Since the alphabet is the building block of our language, the Powet Alphabet is the building block of what makes us geeks.

This series is in its 17th week and we’re finally addressing music. Its not that we didn’t have ideas for bands those other weeks, we just needed the first one to be special. Queen is that band.
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Newbury Comics is a small chain of retail outlets in the northeast. While most notable for its music sales and selection, it also sells, comics, toys, clothing, and various other items relating to pop culture. Over the past decade, their core business, music sales, has over gone a dramatic shift. Mike Dreese, co-founder, occasionally sends out updates in the Newbury Comics email newsletter with a general status of the company, current strategy, and general musings of being in the business over the years. I find the updates fascinating in both a business perspective and a personal perspective. As someone, who is familiar with many aspects of business and the need to adapt to your environment, I love to hear what goes on behind the scenes. I also feel a certain attachment to the chain, in that its small and local. I’m a native to the New England area and with that comes a certain pride in local businesses. I want to see them succeed and strive for excellence.

I have posted one of these updates before here.

You can read the update after the jump.
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So I was able to catch the Video Games Live stop in Lewiston, NY this past Friday, on its North American Tour. Video Games Live, if you have been under a rock in terms of gaming culture, is a roaming show that features live orchestrated music from all the most popular video gaming series, including Sonic, Halo, Mario and others. Co-created by Tommy Tallerico and Jack Wall, both game composers in their own right, the show has traversed the U.S. and Canada and several other countries since 2003 and has gained popularity amongst gamers and music enthusiasts alike. A perfect blend, if you will.
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Zac Shipley and Sean Orange team up with friends Keith and Dawn on Madison’s WYOU cable channel for the 2nd annual Virtual Band competition.

The first performance, originally aired on May 6th 2009, is highlighted here. More videos from our later performances will follow, as well as links to the complete show when it becomes available.

Enjoy “Pump It Up” and “Psycho Killer!”