Recommended Readings: Related Links from Around the Web (July 22, 2009 ed.)

It seems that every blog has a weekly roundup of sorts, posting related (or semi-related) links from around the web.  So, to give this blog validity, I think it’s a good idea to follow suit.

It’s been a busy week for me, as I’ve mentioned before: I’ve been staying up ’til midnight or later working on music for Brandon Irwin, got sick, built a fence (where, during clean up, I was able to source out a couple BEAUTIFULLY squeaky hinges), and got right back to writing music.  Game Design Concepts has taken a back seat to a heavy workload at my 9-5 (I’m taking a break from that, right now, just to write this), and PARPG and the GAME have followed suit against the approaching Churches deadline.

I can’t pretend it’s been all work, though, and to accent that, I present to you this weeks links.

Music to Listen To:

• He Who Brings The Night. A sweet song I stumbled upon today, by Thomas J. Bergersen.  Give it a listen, and let him, and me, know what you think. ( @ nemesisII )
• Peace Piece. A set of videos related to Peace Piece, by Bill Evans. I’d love to play piano like that, and I’d never heard a bowed vibraphone before. ( @ the music of sound )
• Fun.  My brother, Steve, mentioned this band to me, claiming I wouldn’t like them because they’re too eclectic. (This’ll show him!) Fronted by Nate Ruess of the now-dead Format, this band is super… um… fun. ( @ Fun )

Music to Read About:

• DRM is Dead.  In the early 2000s, I ripped all 200+ CDs I had onto my computer, trying to get with the times of moving to digital media, using Windows Media Player, which added DRM by default.  A few years later, those CDs were stolen, and the computer I was holding my music on died (the motherboard, anyway)… A few years after that, I hooked up the old hard drive to retrieve my old music and found the DRM had expired, and I could no longer use music that I rightly owned.  Long story short, if DRM  had never happened, I’d have a lot of music I’ll never have again.  This couldn’t come soon enough. ( @ Gizmodo )
• Trent Reznor: What To Do as a New / Unknown Artist. The music industry has changed, and is changing; Nine Inch Nails’ frontman lays it all out how he feels new and unknown artists should do to get themselves out there. ( @ hypebot )
• Why the Academy is Scaling Back Best Original Song.  Not only has the music industry changed, and DRM died, but the film industry is moving away from original compositions in favor of paying rights for popular songs. (Even when they don’t fit. I’m looking at you, 21 Guns, by Green Day, in Transformers 2).  John Piscitello sums it all up pretty nicely, and even throws in a Marylin Monroe video to spice things up. ( @ Film Composer Blog)

Game Design

• Game Criticism, Pollock, and Taste. Brenda Brathwaite explains that game critics try to judge games using odd, often outdated or unrelated, methods, and often rely completly on their particular taste for the game. ( @ Applied Game Design )
• Well Played 1.0: Video Games, Value, and Meaning.  A free eBook discussing how video games can both be “well played” as a book can be “well read”, as well as it can be “well played” in a sense of “well done.” ( @ lulu )
• Weapon Balancing Based on Gameplay Situations (part 1). Daniel Helbig introduces us to a way of balancing weapons within video games. ( @ Rational Game Design )
• Designing Games that Don’t Suck. Jason Bay breaks down the use of in-game weapons, objects, and puzzles, suggesting how this can help everyone make better games. ( @ Gamasutra )
• How to Pick Indie Game Collaborators.  If you’ve worked at all on indie games, or really ANY project, you’ve run into the the types of people within this article.  Russ McMackin lays it all down as a way for us to know, up front, who to avoid working with and how to avoid them. ( @ Game Career Guide )

And here I thouht I wouldn’t have anything useful to share.

Related posts:

1. Recommended Readings: Related Links from Around the Web (Finances and Freelance Ed.)
2. The Road So Far
3. Time to start taking myself seriously.
4. XACTing Siphon Spirit
5. Churches, Finale