Left 4 Dead 2

I was actually planning to write about Left 4 Dead earlier this year, as for me it was the game of 2008. So addictive that I actually had to sell it, because it was disorganizing my life. I finally didn't write anything, because everything worth writing had already been written and also because with all the things happening in the meantime it was already summer.

Today, however, I have to post the trailer to the sequel, even though I promised not to copy-paste trailers anymore - simply because it's great and it got me all excited about Left 4 Dead 2:

Not sure about you, but I can't wait to kill some zombies. Unfortunately, this will have to wait as I have incoming important exam in December, as well as some other extra work that Left 4 Dead 2 would successfully undermine. Still, I know what I will be getting for Christmas this year...

Free places to get three music (or vice versa)

I don't write too much about music on Barts News, but I do like to share some nice tracks available for free download every now and then, especially if they can be qualified as chiptunes or are otherwise game related. Today I would like to point you out to three interesting places where you can get quality music for free.


The first place is the great website of a very cool band called Machinae Supremacy. Rock, metal, chiptunes, game music and free downloads - if you don't think it's extremely cool, then you probably should be reading some other blog right now. I have found theim by following a really cool remix of The Great Giana Sisters theme, quite possibly the only C64 game I have played (it can be downloaded from here, as well as a remix of Bionic Commando theme). Be sure to browse their homepage, as there's a lot of goodies and info to be found there, such as for example full game soundtrack from Jets'n'Guns available for free download.


The second place is the website of She, who, on closer inspection, actually turns out to be a he. But don't fret, no transsexuals here, it's just a man with a passion for creating music and intriguing choice of pseudonym. What's interesting is that he is Polish (from the town where I live now), is quite young ('83) and his music just got published in Japan (Digipak CD), iTunes and AmazonMP3. Way to go! I just love it when people fulfill their dreams, excel at what they love doing. I also like it when my fellow compatriots grow beyond the limits of our small, backwards potato country and are gaining well-deserved worldwide recognition, like for example Andrzej Sapkowski. Or She, toutes proportions gardees. Back on the subject of music, there's a choice of chiptunes and very Japanese-like modern pop (don't hit me, I am not a specialist on music and am struggling with words here) so it definitely deserves a try.


The third place is this page on SoundCloud. Bearing a clever nickname of Jinja Ninja (something along lines of ninja from a shrine), the gentleman behind it is Alex Gemmell, a London DJ who was kind enough to share with us his remixes. Not exactly chiptunes and not exactly game related, but it's free, cool, trancey music. Be sure to listen to at least some of it (you can do it online, streaming), although if you have a slow connection, chosing to download large files might turn out to be somewhat problematic.

So there you have it - three places, loads of free music. Like it? Don't like it? Don't give a damn? Let me know via comments.

Barts is back!

My Japanese travel is over. As I have mentioned before, I did not manage to go to Tokyo Game Show this year, but reading various coverages over the internet I get the impression I shouldn't be too worried about that.

Surprisingly, there are not many game-related information that I am bringing from Japan this time. I had very aggressive visiting schedule and a lot of meetings with old friends, and hence not much time for slipping into game shops and parlors. The highlights of my trip include chilling in New York Bar at the top of Shinjuku Park Tower, the bar in which "Lost in Translation" movie was filmed, as well as visiting Gunkanjima, the so-called Battleship Island:


You can read more about this spectacular place on Wikipedia and Cabinet magazine, as well as on Shibuya 246. Interesting observations and photos can also be found here, here, here and here. But why do I even bring it up here? Is it a blog on games or on my personal travels? Well, first of all, this is related to Japan (notice the blog subtitle) and secondly...

When I was visiting the island, I was thinking that it would make a great Unreal Tournament map, had I some better modding skills. I also asked myself how is this even possible that it has not yet been used in a game, but it turns out it was! Gunkanjima has starred in a game, namely famous killer7 and you can see it in this Youtube video.

...so now you see, I just had to bring it here.