Wired recently interviewed Bill Gates, and Mark Zunkenburg in an article entitled Geek Power. The basic premise being that they rule the world, which in a certain way they kind of do. It got me thinking of what it must have been like to watch your ideas, and your geeky, basement, RPG ridden world explode into a ‘change the world forever’ invention. I had a small taste of being at the cutting edge while I was indeed in someone’s basement watching them make some 8 Bit music on their iPad, Gameboy, and PSP. Alright, it’s not going to change the world forever, but it is an invention. To the geeks I was with, it is the coolest thing that’s happening in music right now, and it felt like I was witnessing something that was about to explode into popular culture.
In San Francisco the event was poorly attended, which is surprising (although I was glad I had front row seats) as I have heard that in NYC it commands lines around blocks and people being turned away. I hope the next one I attend will be bigger, and better publicized. Watching these geeks in action is really impressive and they aren’t hipster pretend to be geeks. These kids are skinny, baggy t-shirt wearing, budding engineers who are super socially awkward and completely brilliant.
For those who don’t know what 8bit is, it’s the format that all music on old game devices came in, nowadays you can easily recreate it on any computer but to be truly authentic you need to use the right equipment. Here’s a quick overview:
You take an old console, like the Gameboy (or any other console) you download some software (nanoloop) onto a Gameboy cartridge, then you mod your Gameboy so it has audio in and out, and you play the most awesome music using what looks like a digital game board. You can also mix in another Gameboy loop, or even use your iPad as a mixer just to give it that extra spin of geek music heaven.
I plan on making some visuals using my old console collection for a friend of mine, so let’s see if I can actually make that happen!
Here is a pic from the event. And a few link to Chiptune events on You Tube.
Joshua Davis is of course at the forefront of the movement.
Live Gameboy night
iPhone Nanoloop (cheese but impressive)
May 18, 2010 • 4:32 pm 0
Facebook And Zynga Enter Into Five Year Partnership, Expand Use Of Facebook Credits
Facebook and Zynga announced today that they have entered into a five-year strategic relationship that increases their shared commitment to social gaming on Facebook and expands use of Facebook Credits in Zynga’s games. The agreement provides a solid foundation for both companies to continue to work together to provide millions of people with a compelling user experience for social games.
“Facebook was a pioneer in opening their platform in 2007 and in just three years tens of millions of Facebook users play our games everyday, from FarmVille and Cafe World to Treasure Isle and Mafia Wars,” said Mark Pincus, founder and chief executive officer at Zynga. “We are excited about Facebook’s long-term commitment to social gaming and Zynga, and look forward to working with them and other platform providers to bring the best social gaming experience to users worldwide.”
“We are pleased to enter into a new agreement with Zynga to enhance the experience for Facebook users who play Zynga games,” said Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook. “We look forward to continuing our work with Zynga and all of our developers to increase the opportunities on our platform.”
Zynga is currently testing Facebook Credits in select games and will expand to more titles over the coming months. Terms of the agreement between Facebook and Zynga were not disclosed.
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