Tom Fulp of Newgrounds recently put together a collection of music that was featured in The Behemoth game, Castle Crashers. The collection of music was composed by various users of Newgrounds, and is actually quite good.

You can download all of the featured songs on the collection page, which is located here…

http://www.newgrounds.com/collection/castlecrashers.html

Fans of game composer Sota Fujimora (Gradius, Contra, Rumble Roses, & various BEMANI games) will be happy to know that a 2 disc cd is coming out in late August.  The 1st disc of his cd will feature extended versions of some of his most famous works.  The 2nd disc will be a remixing album featuring remixes from various Japanese producers.  You can check out more details about the disc here…

 http://www.konamistyle.jp/sp/sota_1st/

This page features some samples as well…

http://bmf.i-revo.jp/beatnation/music/albums/synthesized.html

TRACKLIST

CD1
01 SYNTHESIZED / New Song
02 Kind Lady (2008 Extended Mix) / from DDRMAX2 -DanceDanceRevolution 7thMIX-
03 together 4 ever (Album Edit) / from pop’n music 15 ADVENTURE
04 I Need You (Nu Platinum Mix) / from DanceDanceRevolution Party Collection
05 Saturday Night Love (Phunk Disco Mix) / from DanceDanceRevolution STRIKE
06 Look To The Sky (Cyber True Color Extended) / from beatmaniaIIDX13 DistorteD
07 Back Into The Light (Feelings Won’t Fade Vocal Mix) / from beatmaniaIIDX 10th style
08 Star Gate Heaven (Album New Mix) / from DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA
09 The Hope Of Tomorrow (Extended Mix) / from beatmaniaIIDX11 IIDX RED
10 Cyber Force (Extended Mix) / from beatmaniaIIDX14 GOLD
11 minimal synthesizer / New Song
12 Electrified (Album Extended) / from DanceDanceRevolution SuperNOVA
13 i-revolution (Album New Mix) / Theme Song for i-revo
14 ANDROMEDA II (Extended Mix) / from beatmaniaIIDX14 GOLD
15 State Of The Art (Album Extended) / from beatmaniaIIDX15 DJ TROOPERS
16 Fly Above -Album Extended- / from beatmaniaIIDX16 EMPRESS

CD2
01 ??? / Remixed by dj TAKA
02 ??? / Remixed by DJ Yoshitaka
03 ??? / Remixed by L.E.D.
04 ??? / Remixed by wac
05 ??? / Remixed by TOMOSUKE
06 ??? / Remixed by 猫叉Master
07 ??? / Remixed by DAJI
08 ??? / Remixed by AKIRA YAMAOKA
09 ??? / Remixed by kors k
10 ??? / Remixed by Ryu☆
11 ??? / Remixed by SLAKE
12 ??? / Remixed by SADA
13 ??? / Remixed by good-cool
14 ??? / Remixed by Shoichiro Hirata

The band Weezer recently released its new internet meme-themed music video for it’s new single “Pork & Beans”.  The video features a slew of internet celebrity references and it worth checking out, even if you believe that the whole internet celebrity craze is passé.

Nippon Ichi is a company known for RPGs that involve big numbers and big prizes.  They also pride themselves on their quirky Japanese sense of humor.  What could be more Japanese than Idol Singers?  How about a blog dedicated to Nao and Hiro, two pop stars that NIS America is hoping will make it big.  For more info about the duo, check out their blog or continue on after the jump for the full press release.

From the press release:

Hello everyone,

We hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday; wherever you may be, we hope everything is filled with love, joy, and … videogames!

Today, we’d like to introduce you all to our new staff, Nao&Hiro! They are from Japan, and they are working their way to becoming international “Pop” stars! They are even aiming to be on the big screen one day…

So, now you may be wondering why NIS America is supporting these two strangers. Well, our mission is to bring high-quality RPG games over for the US fans, and we thought it wouldn’t hurt to support two Japanese girls who want to spread their “love” to American people.

To start off, they’ve started Nao&Hiro blog!

They will be updating their blog everyday, and they will also teach Japanese to their readers. As you can see, they are young and Japanese, so expect to learn “real” young Japanese phrases and words!

Even though they’re Japanese, they can speak English. Well, maybe not perfectly, but they are understandable, so you won’t have any problems communicating with them!

Nao&Hiro are dying to say hi to you guys, so here they are!

What does Blinky’s R Us hold for the future? I can’t be sure about everything, but I know dang well we are just getting this party started over here. So our debut of BRU-FM is here today! Hope you enjoy it!

BRU-FM Variety

The link is also now in the menu bar up above on the site.

Who know’s? Maybe this is just one step closer to our own Video Game talk show? We’ll just have to see…

This year’s Penny Arcade Expo was probably the best ever. With over 30,000 attendees this year, the Seattle convention center was packed and overflowing with nerd musk.

Internet Overlord and Starship Ensign Wil Wheaton delivered the keynote speech, where he regaled the crowd with humorous stories of his youth spent gaming in arcades (remember those?).

The concerts were great with performers such as indie synthpop band Freezepop and nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot. And the Minibosses were there of course, playing about a bajillion Castlevania songs and for some extremely annoying reason, interspersing their songs with the Excitebike tune over and over and over. I Probably heard it 30 times.

On the gaming side of things, all the big names were there. Several unreleased games were available for play. Naturally, the Penny Arcade RPG was demoed, and I have to say it’s the funniest game I’ve seen in years. Along with the expertly crafted dialog, there was some very un-PC, humorous, gory hobo killing that cracked me up. The battles, however, look rather boring and traditional. Hopefully the Mario RPG-esqu elements with keep things feeling fresh.

My number one pick goes out to Culdcept Saga for the 360. The PS2 Culdcept was largely ignored thanks to zero marketing and one of the worst translations in gaming history. In Culdcept you make decks of creatures items and spells and battle it out Monopoly-style on a board. The new version offers full online support, tons of new cards, and I must say, the jump to 3D actually looks pretty spiffy. The cards still have gorgeous 2D art though and many old cards have had their art replaced. Not to mention, many old cards have been changed, mostly for better balance. But some changes are questionable. The Hurricane now gets +30 str in battle which seems absurd.

Okay, that’s enough reporting for the three of you out there who’ve actually played the first Culdcept. Let’s see, what else? Uh, Sabertooth (the UFS guys) were there and I soundly thrashed developer David Freeman with my Rose deck. They were giving out some preview cards from their Darkstalkers expansion, but the cards aren’t tourney legal so you didn’t miss much if you didn’t get any.

There was a bunch of other stuff too, but we’re reaching the end of what ol’ Mad Mage here cares about. I guess you should have gone to PAX yourself if you wanted to know more. So there!

According to a rep on their message board, Capcom USA will be releasing two Phoenix Wright soundtracks, titled “Ace Attorney Meets Orchestra” and “Ace Attorney Meets Jazz”.

I humbly speculate that one is an orchestrated arrangement and the other is a Jazz remix.

Well, they’ve been out in Japan for some time, but it’s great to see Capcom catering to their U.S. fans.

Konami recently opened up preview sites for Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party, an upcoming DDR game for the Nintendo Wii.

The sites feature Mildly amusing comments giving words of praise for the game from various Bemani artists and staff. A sign of things to come? In addition to the added Wii controls, the game will also feature Sync Mode, a mode that was introduced in the Ultramix series for the Xbox. In this mode, 4 players share one giant stepchart. Hopefully more information about this game will be revealed at E3.

US Site
Japanese Site

It looks like on June 27th, Q Entertainment is releasing a couple new download packs for Lumines Live on the Xbox 360. The first pack is a standard booster pack for 600 Microsoft points. This pack will feature 20 new skins, new designs, and a new collaboration between Lumines and Japanese visual artist Masakatsu Takagi. Should be interesting!

The second pack, for 360 Microsoft Points, is known as the Tokyo Club Mix Pack aka SOS Charity Campaign Pack. This pack brings you the beats and visuals from four of the hottest Japanese DJs, artists and VJs, this Pack is truly one of a kind. Pack includes “Heavenly Star – SOS Remix” by Genki Rockets, “House66″ by Sugiurumn, “4×4 Bricks” by Techriders and “Cosmic Humming” by Muku.

Proceeds from the latter will go to charitable organizations that help fight global warming. A bit strange, but eh… whatever. Also, for anyone interested, here is a preview clip of a new track from the upcoming Genki Rockets album.

Click Here to view movie

Okay, I don’t know how many people care, but I’ve decided to release my new animation. This piece is for a group known as Melody & Mezzo

http://www.myspace.com/melodyandmezzo
http://www.melodyandmezzo.com

Hopefully you guys enjoy this piece! I really enjoyed making it. This release will also mark the opening of my new portfolio…

- Radio Gosha -

Here is the video on youtube too!