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Show Notes:

Pre-Show

• The glEnd() of Zelda: Automatic 3Dification of NES Games

This about an emulator that renders NES games in 3D (with some manual steps), and techniques that can automate those manual steps. It’s a sidebar to my work on Nintendo AI.

Follow Up / Catch Up

This Theme Makes Qt Apps Feel at Home on GNOME – OMG! Ubuntu!

Adwaita-Qt is (as you might guess from the name) a theme that helps make Qt apps look like GTK apps by themeing them to match up with Adwaita, the default GNOME GTK theme.
+ GitHub – PapirusDevelopmentTeam/arc-kde: Arc KDE customization

Debian is shutting down its public FTP services

This decision is driven by the following considerations:
* FTP servers have no support for caching or acceleration.
* Most software implementations have stagnated and are awkward to use
and configure.
* Usage of the FTP servers is pretty low as our own installer has not
offered FTP as a way to access mirrors for over ten years.
* The protocol is inefficient and requires adding awkward kludges to
firewalls and load-balancing daemons.

Linux Academy

• Linux Academy | Linux and AWS Online Training

Wait – we can explain, says Moby, er, Docker amid rebrand meltdown

DockerCon in Austin, Texas, on Tuesday, the container bellwether _announced_the _Moby Project— a new name for the open-source software from which the commercial versions of Docker are derived. Moby also serves as a starting point to create customized container software for specific infrastructure._

Announcing LinuxKit: A Toolkit for building Secure, Lean and Portable Linux Subsystems – Docker Blog

LinuxKit includes the tooling to allow building custom Linux subsystems that only include exactly the components the runtime platform requires. All system services are containers that can be replaced, and everything that is not required can be removed. All components can be substituted with ones that match specific needs. It is a kit, very much in the Docker philosophy of batteries included but swappable. Today, onstage at Dockercon 2017 we opensourced LinuxKit at https://github.com/linuxkit/linuxkit.

Proposal to start a new implementation of Thunderbird based on web technologies

Summary:

• Our base goes away. Gecko will change dramatically in the future, and dropping many features that Firefox does not need anymore, but that Thunderbird relies on.
• Our codebase is now roughly 20 years old. It heavily and intrinsically relies on those very Gecko technologies that are now being faded out, more or less aggressively.
• JavaScript and HTML5 have evolved dramatically. Entire applications in JS are now realistic, and have been done. There are several existing JS libraries we might leverage. JavaScript is an efficient language, which allows fast development. A rewrite in JavaScript makes sense now.
• We will learn from shortcomings of existing Thunderbird, and solve them, for example a more flexible address book, and cleanly supporting virtual folders without overhead.
• The goal of the rewrite is to be close to the existing Thunderbird, in UI and features, as a drop-in replacement for end users, without baffling them. They should immediately recognize the replacement as the Thunderbird they love. It will install and run as normal desktop application, like Thunderbird does today. It keeps user data local and private.
• We can also make a new, fresh desktop UI, as alternative to the traditional one, for new users. The technology also gives us the option to run it as mobile app.
• While we implement the new version of Thunderbird, the old codebase based on Gecko will be maintained until the rewrite is ready to replace the old one.

• I expect this effort to take roughly 3 years: 1 year until some dogfood (usable by some developers and enthusiasts). 2 years until a basic feature set is there. 3 years until we can replace Thunderbird.

• Thunderbird Redesign by Krystian Polański – Dribbble

We wanted to achieve more clarity and in effect reduce cognitive load making Thunderbird more friendly, especially for new users. Also, we based the redesign on FirefoxOS Style Guide to keep the identity somehow coherent.

There will be no logo decision

Seems that community is too stupid and irresponsible to decide even for the simplest things like a stupid logo, as there are many votes coming from random usernames like “dsfsdfsdf sdsdgdsfg”.

TING

• Ting – mobile that makes sense

The Linux Foundation launches IoT-focused open source EdgeX Foundry, Ubuntu-maker Canonical joins

The Linux Foundation launches the open source EdgeX Foundry — an attempt to unify and simplify the Internet of Things.

DigitalOcean

• DigitalOcean: SSD Cloud Server, VPS Server, Simple Cloud Hosting

Devuan GNU/Linux 1.0.0 “Jessie” Just Around the Corner, Release Candidate Out

The Devuan project continues its vision of providing a libre Debian fork without using the systemd init system, and the Release Candidate (RC) version brings the GNU/Linux distribution closer to a final release. The interesting fact is that this RC appears to be stable enough to be used for production work.

The post Internet of Troubles | LINUX Unplugged 194 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

MP3 Feed | OGG Feed | iTunes Feed | Video Feed | Torrent Feed | WebM Torrent Feed

Become a supporter on Patreon:

Show Notes:

Pre-Show:

• xkcd: xkcd Phone 4

Follow Up / Catch Up

MySQL 0-day could lead to total system compromise

“The vulnerability affects all MySQL servers in default configuration in all version branches (5.7, 5.6, and 5.5) including the latest versions, and could be exploited by both local and remote attackers,” Golunski has explained in an advisory published on Monday.

This drone kit doubles as a Ubuntu Linux PC

A development kit from Parrot is designed to create drones that can avoid obstacles

Ubuntu Torrent Removed from Google for ‘Infringing’ Transformers Movie

Cited in a DMCA takedown request filed against Google on behalf of Paramount Pictures, and spotted by TorrentFreak (and tipped to us by reader ~nonanonymous) is an innocuous link to a 32-bit alternate install image Ubuntu 12.04.2 LTS.

Look what happened today. #unity3d #linux #Vulkan pic.twitter.com/Q2vwfsUr4B

— Na'Tosha Bard (@natosha_bard) September 12, 2016

BTRFS status on Linux 4.7 https://t.co/ihpJpkd6Dq The world is already moving to ZFS on both Linux and Unix. pic.twitter.com/OGfyYKnsS0

— nixCraft # (@nixcraft) September 13, 2016

Nextcloud Conference Program Live | Nextcloud

DigitalOcean

• DigitalOcean: SSD Cloud Server, VPS Server, Simple Cloud Hosting

Kimchi: An HTML5 management interface for KVM

Kimchi is an HTML5 based management tool for KVM. It is designed to make it as
easy as possible to get started with KVM and create your first guest.

Experiments with disabling the ME on Sandybridge x230

• About Intel Management Engine firmware

• Trammell Hudson’s Projects

• Intel ME – Two Years Later.pdf at master · skochinsky/papers · GitHub

Fixing a broken or forgotten Gnome Keyring

• GNOME/Keyring – ArchWiki

If you get a password prompt every time you login, and you find that passwords are not saved, you might need to create/set a default keyring.

Ensure that the seahorse package is installed, open it (“Passwords and Keys” in system settings) and select View > By Keyring If there is no keyring in the left column (it will be marked with a lock icon), go to File > New > Password Keyring and give it a name. You will be asked to enter a password. If you do not give the keyring a password it will be unlocked automatically, even when using autologin, but passwords will not be stored securely. Finally, right-click on the keyring you just created and select “Set as default”.

USB/IP Project

The USB/IP Project aims to develop a general USB device sharing system over IP network.

TING

• Ting – mobile that makes sense

Difficulty or Ease of Making Linux Pretty

• Looking At Loki | LAS 434

Linux Academy

• Linux Academy | Linux and AWS Online Training

Mail Sack

• WARNING Meizu Pro 5 Ubuntu manual suggests formatting external sdcard

• Ubuntu Touch / Wayland / Nexus 7

• Bitcoin Linux Details

• Electrum Bitcoin Wallet

Post-Show:

• Sengi IT – Big Brother needs to be stopped! | Indiegogo

The post Linux Flying High | LINUX Unplugged 162 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Linux Mint 17.3 proves you can based a Linux desktop on a stable core (Ubuntu 14.04) & still deliver an innovative and polished desktop. We take back some of our concerns about Linux Mint & discuss the areas where they are pushing user experience forward.

Plus Mozilla plans to dump Thunderbird, the big release that completely ignores Windows & more!

Thanks to:

• Get Paid to Write for DigitalOcean

Direct Download:

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• LAS SWAG for the Holidays

— Show Notes: —

Brought to you by: Linux Academy

New features in Linux Mint 17.3 Cinnamon

Linux Mint 17.3 is a long term support release which will be supported until 2019. It comes with updated software and brings refinements and many new features to make your desktop experience more comfortable to use.

Linux Mint 17.3 available for download.

• Simplify Command-Line Package Management with APT instead of apt-get

APT, the Advanced Package Tool from the Debian project, is for managing packages by using a lot of separate tools to accomplish various tasks. In the past, users needed to know multiple command structures like apt-get, apt-cache, apt-config, and many more to utilize the full feature-set of APT.

— PICKS —

Runs Linux

Race Cars Runs LINUX!

Sent in by: Nathan S.

Hi guys, I found a cool project run by castrol edge. They are racing two cars on a race track with the drivers wearing virtual reality helmets. Cameras and sensors on the cars feed information into an Ubuntu laptop inside the car and generate the VR display. Thanks for producing the great content that gets me through a 300 mile a week bus commute to school.

Desktop App Pick

Free Astronomical Observatory Software

Alexander Wolf has had the great pleasure of announcing the immediate availability for download of the first maintenance release of Stellarium 0.14, the best free and open-source astronomical observatory software.

According to the internal release notes, which we’ve attached at the end of the article for reference, Stellarium 0.14.1 is mostly a bugfix update that resolves some of the issues reported by users since the previous release of the software, Stellarium 0.14.

• Stellarium

Weekly Spotlight

$276.00 worth of Raspberry Pi / Arduino

Humble Books Bundle: Learn Raspberry Pi and Arduino

Treat yourself to Raspberry Pi (and Arduino too)! Have an appetite for making? Satisfy your craving with these Make: books and magazines while serving up support for Maker Ed too!

Pay what you want for Make: Raspberry Pi and AVR Projects, MintDuino: Building an Arduino-compatible Breadboard Microcontroller, Make: Getting Started with Adafruit Trinket, Make: Getting Started with Adafruit FLORA, Make: Making Simple Robots, and Make: Arduino Bots and Gadgets.

Pay more than the average price to also receive Make: A Raspberry Pi-Controlled Robot; MAKE 38: High-Tech DIY; MAKE 36: Boards and Microcontrollers; Make: The Maker’s Manual; Make: JavaScript Robotics; Make: Getting Started with Sensors; Make: Getting Started with Arduino, 3rd Edition; Make: Getting Started with Raspberry Pi, 2nd Edition; and Make: AVR Programming.

Pay $15 or more for all of that plus Making Things Talk and Make: Sensors.

Plus, everyone who buys the bundle receives $10 off a print and $5 off a digital Make: Magazine subscription

Choose the price. Together, these books cost up to $276. Here at Humble Bundle, though, you choose the price!

Read them anywhere. These books are available in PDF, ePUB, and MOBI formats, meaning you can read them anywhere at anytime. Instructions and a list of recommended reading programs can be found here.

Sent in by Avatar C.

LAS Jacket Returns!

• LAS Jacket Returns! | US

Celebrate your new year with Linux on your mind and on your body!

• LAS Jacket in the EU!

We are excited to offer this LAS zip up hooded jacket that will ship from the
EU!

— NEWS —

Mozilla Wants To Split Off Its Thunderbird Email/Chat Client, Says Mitchell Baker Memo

“I believe Thunderbird should would thrive best by separating itself from reliance on Mozilla development systems and in some cases, Mozilla technology,” Baker wrote in her open memo, posted on Mozilla’s public governance forum. “The current setting isn’t stable, and we should start actively looking into how we can transition in an orderly way to a future where Thunderbird and Firefox are un-coupled.”

• Mozilla’s conundrum: What to do about Thunderbird?

Baker, who says she uses Thunderbird to organize vast parts of her life, now believes that the email client will thrive best if it does not rely on Mozilla for development resources and, in some cases, on Mozilla technology. “The current setting isn’t stable, and we should start actively looking into how we can transition in an orderly way to a future where Thunderbird and Firefox are un-coupled,” she wrote in Mozilla’s public governance forum on Monday.

Mozilla ends the advertisements in Firefox new tab tiles

Apple’s Swift programming language is now open source

As promised earlier in the year, Apple’s Swift team has now posted source code for the Swift compiler and standard library functions and objects.

• Apple releases its Swift programming language with explicit Ubuntu support

• Here’s why an open source Swift doesn’t support Windows (yet)

MATRIX – The World’s First Smart Home App Ecosystem by AdMobilize —Kickstarter

Feedback:

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• Local(host) DNS Server from LinuxActionShow

• How to set up Dolphin as default file manager? – Ask Ubuntu

I’ve recently came back to Ubuntu from Kubuntu, but I really like Dolphin. Is there any way how to set it up as default file manager?

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Trine 3 Stream Giveaway

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Watch the adventures, productions, road trips, trails, mistakes, and fun of the Jupiter Broadcasting mobile studio.

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Chris Fisher (@ChrisLAS) | Twitter

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• https://jblive.tv
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The post Linux in Mint Condition | LAS 394 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

Hating on Gnome is the popular thing to do, and it’s fantastic link bait. We’ll come to the defense of this bold shell, and why 2014 could be big year for Gnome.

Plus: We’ll breakdown the major security issues plaguing X, the UK “porn” filter that’s blocking Fedora downloads, a little Enlightenment 18 talk…

AND SO MUCH MORE!

All this week on, The Linux Action Show!

Thanks to:

Download:

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Support the Show:

— Show Notes: —

In Defense of Gnome 3:

Brought to you by: System76

• REALTALK about GNOME 3 and the Linux community

---

– Chris’ Full Disclosure –

• The majority of my work week recently has been spent in KDE.
• Chris’ desktop
• The future for Qt looks bright, and like most geeks, I want to ride the wave and try to live in the future.
• Gnome Extensions concern me in the long run. Some important functionality for me in Gnome 3 is provided via extensions. The long term viability of that is quesentonalbe.
• Every time an extension works, it feels like a tiny and temporary merical.

---

– Summation of Common Gnome 3 Complaints –

• The problem with GNOME 3

---

– Gnome Developers Step Into the Spotlight –

William Jon McCann, Files developer:

Someone smart once said “Linux is just a kernel”. I couldn’t agree more. But in this age, it is going to take more than adding on a few tools to make a compelling operating system. It is going to take thinking seriously about the end result and making hard decisions to get there. A result that I believe the world needs more now than ever. A real choice for freedom. A choice for everyone. Time to step out of the dark ages. We, the technological elite, have been holding on to freedom too long. Effectively preventing others from enjoying it. Perpetuated by hostile dogma like the “unix way”. We need to be clear. Those days are over. And it is time to share.

• source

Sri Ramkrishna, Tizen dev, long time Gnome Contributor:

Changes to Nautilus have been met with universal unhappiness – the changes that have been made have made a lot of people unhappy. There just hasn’t been anybody I’ve met both who are fans of GNOME 3 and critics alike who like what the current nautilus have become. People have either been silent or have encouraged the use of the 3.6 fork of Nautilus.

People have really been down on GNOME designers. While they have made some great community outreach, specifically Allen Day and Jakub Steiner have always been available to talk about their designs. Regardless, there is always this sense that whatever feedback is given will be ignored that everything is inevitable.

It’s very important that we are up front on regressions. The gnome-terminal incident is a good example of this. There is no doubt that transparency is a popular feature in terminals.

I will ask module maintainers to be upfront to the release team when there is a significant regression like this. In turn, release team needs to tell the engagement team as well so that we are also ready to talk about it when it comes up.

The conclusion is, we are creating a product. But we need to act like we are creating a product. That will require closer teamwork between the various teams that we have before. I’ll talk about this in another post. But we don’t have everything set up for that. We have gaps, and they should be addressed.

• Strip the Soul « Sri Ramkrishna
• Sriram Ramkrishna (sri) – Google+

---

– New Generation of Desktop Apps Inspired by Gnome Design –

• Corebird

• Polari A new IRC Client for GNOME

• Gnome Software

---

– Making Gnome Work for You –

• Gnome Extensions really help

• GnomeTweakTool

• dconf

• GNOME Theme + HTitle = native-looking Firefox in GNOME Shell!

• Changing Gnome 3 Icons

• How To: Install GNOME 3.10 on Ubuntu 13.10 Without Stuff Breaking

• Using Marlin File Manager As Your Nautilus Alternative

• Marlin FIle manager

The sexiest fish in the large sea of file managers, Marlin is well-designed with a focus on speed, simplicity, ease of use.

• QuickLook Function called Globulos Preview

---

– Favorite Gnome Extensions –

• Dash to Dock – GNOME Shell Extensions
• Caffeine – GNOME Shell Extensions
• NetSpeed – GNOME Shell Extensions
• Skype Integration – GNOME Shell Extensions
• Media player indicator – GNOME Shell Extensions
• SystemMonitor – GNOME Shell Extensions
• Bitcoin Markets – GNOME Shell Extensions

---

– Community Reaction –

• Gnome and Gnome Shell Defence / Rant

• Gnome 3.10 and the importance of touch support

---

– Picks –

Runs Linux:

• RUNS LINUX: NSA’s Sparrow mobile Access Point.

Desktop App Pick

• gdiskdump

Weekly Spotlight:

• XServer XSDL

Best of Linux and more at 2014 International CES:

• Annual best of Linux @ 2014 International CES, January 7–10
• Chase from Unfilter joins Matt and Chris next week for CES Coverage.
• On our January 12th episode LAS s30e05

Git yours hands all over our STUFF:

• Jupiter Broadcasting Affiliate Extensions
• Callisto-app – Google Project Hosting
• Quick Update to the Jupiter Broadcasting Android App

---

— NEWS —

• One of the UK porn filters block Fedora download-page, and linuxtracker.org

• Jolla outsells iPhone 5c and iPhone 5s at Finnish carrier DNA

• KDE On Wayland To Be Focus For Next Few Months

• X Security – It’s worse than it looks [30c3] – YouTube

Ilja van Sprundel, Professional Pen Tester

• Talk at 30th Chaos Communication Congress [30c3]

• Spent a year researching X.org code and bugs.

• Found trivial memory corruption bugs with many opportunities to insert random/malicious data.

• Very awesome response from xsecuirty@xorg developer, 80 of the bugs fixed asap. He was very responsive and worked super hard.

• Some of these bugs exist because hard drives were so tiny when X was created, they never thought about some of the interesting ways folks could load/inject data into memory.

• LWN comment from OG X dev: https://youtu.be/2l7ixRE3OCw?t=11m29s – 12:41

• X Client Summary: https://youtu.be/2l7ixRE3OCw?t=25m57s

• One major issue on the X client side is so many X apps run with setuid to root. Making it trivial for a client side X application to abuse X flaws.

• SUID (Set owner User ID up on execution) is a special type of file permissions given to a file.

• Normally in Linux/Unix when a program runs, it inherits access permissions from the logged in user. SUID is defined as giving temporary permissions to a user to run a program/file with the permissions of the file owner rather that the user who runs it.

• Users will get file owner’s permissions as well as owner UID and GID when executing a file/program/command.

• X server is in good shape, and the X11 protocol.

• GLX is broken “beyond repair”. (OpenGL Extension to the X Window System)

• X extensions have quite a few bugs too, but not all systems have the same extensions. Trickier.

• tl;dr: 80 bugs in xlib, most of them fixed. 120 bugs in the server, going to be fixed but not disclosed yet to avoid 0-day exploits. Tons of stinky code in extension modules, potentially full of bugs, but no investigations have been done, yet.

• Aksed about Wayland: https://youtu.be/2l7ixRE3OCw?t=55m17s – 56:00

• YaCyPi – Turnkey Raspberry Pi based Internet Search Engine by Obsidian Security Services — Kickstarter

---

– Feedback: –

• Twitter / TeespringHelp

• Archlinux with enlightenment18(from AUR) : LinuxActionShow

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Minecraft Faux World Competition

• Faux World Competition | FauxShow 158

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— What’s Matt Doin? —

• Check out LINUX Unplugged

• Join our virtual LUG on Mumble to debate: Does groupthink / management by consensus tamper open source innovation. Does backlash to aggressive and sometimes new or “risky” ideas inhibit bold invitations?

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The post In Defense of Gnome 3 | LAS s30e04 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]> https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/11343/best-of-mmo-music-mmorgue-13/ Fri, 19 Aug 2011 23:01:02 +0000 https://original.jupiterbroadcasting.net/?p=11343 Today’s episode is dedicated entirely to the men and woman that create the rich tapestry of music that makes up the soundtracks to the games we love.

The post Best of MMO Music | MMOrgue 13 first appeared on Jupiter Broadcasting.

]]>

Today’s episode is dedicated entirely to the men and woman that tirelessly fill the earholes of us gamers with the rich tapestry of music that makes up the soundtracks to the titles we love to experience.

Later on, I’ll share my top picks for the best MMO soundtracks, as well as dedicating some time to talking about a few noteworthy composers working in the realm of video game and MMO music. Before that, however, we’ll also go over some music-related innovations from the MMO market!

Direct Download Links: HD Video | Large Video | Mobile Video | MP3 Audio | YouTube

MMOrgue iTunes Feeds:	MMOrgue RSS Feeds:
HD Video iPad & Apple TV Video iPod Video MP3 Audio	HD Video RSS Large Video RSS Mobile Video RSS MP3 Audio RSS

Show Notes:

T-SHIRT: “Die, noob!”
Available at ThinkGeek

Innovations:

APB – Import your own soundtrack!

• This one is pretty straight-forward, but is also a first for MMOs as far as I’m aware…
• While it’s always an option to simply turn off the in-game soundtrack, load up iTunes and jam to your own custom playlists, APB instead allows you to put your favorite tunes right into the game world itself.
• This means that, by using their import functions, you can suddenly be treated to your fellow gamers riding around in stolen vehicles with Monty Python’s “I’m A Lumberjack” blaring out their windows.
• Unfortunately, you’re still the only one that can hear it.

APB – Create your own theme!

• APB also features a somewhat unintuitive interface option that allows players to compose their own “themes” which play through their victim’s speakers when they successfully kill another player in combat.
• It’s a nice thought, but it’s pretty difficult to compose anything using the built-in interface without spending hours and hours at it.
• On the upside, if you get good at it, you can also SELL those creations to other players.

LOTRO’s music system

• This innovative and powerful mechanic is based around a scripting language that engages any time your in-game avatar equips a particular type of instrument.
• Once these are equipped, your keyboard BECOMES an instrument, and by mashing different keystrokes, you can treat yourself AND ANYONE NEAR YOUR CHARACTER, to whatever cacophonous musical diarrhea you can manage to fumble your way through.
• Not much of a musician? Fear not! For included with this mechanic is an easy-to-use macro language called “abc” which allows for anyone with the ability to type, the option of loading up pre-scripted recordings of any song they can manage to bash together in Notepad.
• Also an option is downloading pre-made ABC scripts, written by people far more talented than you.
• However, be forewarned that the general population of LOTRO is a bit … elitist when it comes to in-game musical performances, and using ABC scripting may net you more jeers and flames, than applause.

While neither of these games have attracted much widespread attention for these features alone, I think it’s worth lauding them for the efforts that they’ve made to allow their players to express themselves in artistic ways. And to potentially add to the enjoyment of their fellow players, through music.

Up next, let’s focus briefly on a few of the creative individuals that have contributed to the world of MMO music.

And they are BOTH Free-to-Play!

Download Lord of the Rings Online

Download APB Reloaded

Noteworthy Composers:

Up first is Tracy W Bush

• Bush was one of the composers for the original World of Warcraft soundtrack, having first honed his knowledge of this universe by contributing compositions to Warcraft II and Warcraft III.
• He later worked as audio director on Tabula Rasa, Auto Assault and DC Universe Online.
• Although Bush is an accomplished musician and composer, he is perhaps most famously known as the voice of murlocs in World of Warcraft.
• He’s also performed the voice of many of the characters in Starcraft, Warcraft III, and in DCUO (Ambush Bug, Booster Gold, Calculator and more)

Next I’d like to introduce you to Inon Zur

• Although known in the MMO world for his compositions on the Lineage II and RIFT soundtracks, he is perhaps more well-known for his iconic contributions to some of the most beloved single-player games of all time, including:
  • Baldur’s Gate 2
  • Icewind Dale 2
  • Crysis
  • Fallout 3
  • Fallout: New Vegas
  • Dragon Age Origins
  • Dragon Age 2
• His work on these titles and more have helped to shape the current image of video game music as something MORE than just the bloops and bleeps that we once tolerated. His compositions have been nominated for dozens of awards, and earned recognition and respect far beyond just us gamers.

The full soundtrack of his work on Lineage II used to be available for streaming from their official site, but has since vanished.

Here are a few examples:
Dion Castle / Aden Theme / Shepard’s Flute

The next artist really needs no introduction, so I apologize if I butcher his name… Nobuo Uematsu

• He is single-handedly responsible for the almost entire Final Fantasy series (including the MMOs, FFXI and FFXIV) – he did not write the music for XII or XIII
  • Opening Theme / Rolanberry Fields
• Uematsu’s distinctive sound has left a mark on the Final Fantasy franchise that cannot be mistaken.
• From his horn-heavy fanfares and percussive psuedo-tribal tributes to village life, to chant-like laments featuring full vocal choruses, almost every piece evokes memories of past adventures in the various worlds he helped create.
• His work on FFXI was lauded for its cinematic emotional depth, while FFXIV has frequently been accused of sounding derivative and lazy compared to his earlier work.
• Nonetheless, his contributions to video game music in general cannot be denied.

Best MMO Soundtracks:

Guild Wars

• Featuring the genius of Jeremy Soule (also ES:Oblivion, ES: Morrowind, NWN, and over SIXTY others)
• 2007 GameSpot interview // 2007 ArmChair Empire Interview
• He’s been described as the “John Williams of video game music.”
• He is one of the most acclaimed video game composers still working in the business, with more than half a dozen prestigious awards decorating his shelves, and several more nominations as well.
• Each of the expansion packs for GW have featured complete soundtracks, all of which Jeremy Soule has created. To date, this library spans hundreds of hours and includes rich and diverse compositions that vary from soaring orchestral epics, to simple 1- or 2- instrument compositions… some of which were even performed by Jeremy himself.
• And… as if all of that music wasn’t enough of an offering for Guild Wars fans, he is also selling musical “Expansion Packs” for GW via DirectSong.
  • Almost 10% of overall GW subscribers have purchased at least one expansion song.

Guild Wars – Eye of the North Overture
Guild Wars – Factions Overture
Guild Wars – Prophecies Overture

The songs of Guild Wars are too varied to review in a one- or two-sentence soundbite, and truly must be heard to be appreciated. I’ve included links to three of the major expansions’ overtures, as an example of some of the diverse introductions players of this title have been treated to over the years, and would highly encourage any music fans to click and enjoy.

Age of Conan

• Rich and completely evocative of the incredible worlds and cultures created in the original Conan novels and comics, this soundtrack was sadly buried by being attached to the substandard launch of one of the biggest disappointments in recent MMO history.
• Sadly, it can be a bit bleak overall, as there are very few happy/upbeat tunes included among the batch, which has turned some off from these compositions in the past.
• The entire soundtrack was composed by Knut Avenstroup Haugen, who won an IFMCA award in 2008 for this outstanding original score.
• It also features the alluring vocal talents of Helene Bøksle – a known actress/singer from Norway – and, in a strange twist, the CD version of the soundtrack also bears 3 bonus tracks performed by the Norwegian punk metal group, Turbonegro, including one they composed especially for Age of Conan.
• Listening to the soundtrack for this game was an absolutely joyous experience, having never actually played the game myself. Now that AoC has moved to a F2P subscription model, I intend to pick it up for another round in the near future, based SOLELY on listening to this jaw-dropping soundtrack. So look forward to a re-review of this game on a future episode of the MMOrgue, inspired entirely by music!

EverQuest II

• Up until a recent expansion pack, this game’s entire body of award-winning work was solely credited to Laura Karpman. Since that time, Inon Zur has taken up the reigns (whom I spoke of earlier, as attached to Lineage and Dragon Age).
• For the purposes of this episode, I’d like to limit my opinions to the soundtrack that accompanied the original game that shipped at time of release.
• Karpman has a masterful understanding for different instruments and the emotions and atmospheres they can evoke in different combinations, and uses this skill and understanding to create some of the most diverse and interesting musical compositions that I’ve heard in an MMO setting.
• I feel as though nearly every piece of music from EverQuest 2 successfully transports players to the locales the music was crafted for… be it a shipwrecked beach beset by goblins, a forgotten city that has become a tomb for ghosts and worse, or a magical shrine of divine origins.

World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King

• I ALMOST did not put this game on the list, for a couple reasons…
  • 1) It’s so obvious, and I was hoping that this episode would open folks’ eyes to games beyond their existing scope, and…
  • 2) More than 3 dozen different composers have worked on WoW over the years. That, in my opinion, lessens the impact that each overall soundtrack can have, when you consider that it’s a culmination of some of the best work that more than 30 different musicians have cobbled together. Meanwhile, games like Final Fantasy and Guild Wars feature soundtracks from a single creative mind. The comparative depth of talent there is astounding.
• NONETHELESS, I’ve got to give credit where it’s due.
• I was invited into the WotLK beta approximately 2 months prior to its release, and over those following 2 months absolutely fell in love with the diverse, cinematic and epic score that was attached to the continent of Northrend. By the time release came around, I went halfsies with a buddy to buy a CE of the game, giving him everything from the box except the soundtrack CD, which I still own to this day.
• The soundtrack features everything from solemn bagpipe hymns punctuated with flowing streams and birdsong, to epic discordant fanfares that would rally the undead into battle, to ethereal dream-songs heralding the mystical dragonflights. While also featuring a heavy dose of both the cathedral-esque choirs of the alliance, and tribal ferocity of the horde.
• This soundtrack has it all, and never fails to wholly embody the content it was created for.

Nostalgia:

Because several older titles were brought up as suggestions to be covered in this episode, I’ve included a “Nostalgia” section in our show notes that includes links to some of the songs from some of the great older titles of the early days of MMOs.

Meridian 59

EverQuest

Ultima Online

Earth & Beyond

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