Jul 5, 2010

Chosen Words: N is for Nintendo

formerly known as the World Cup Distraction Exercise: Fat Roland's A-Z guide to the most important words or phrases in electronica and their associated "facts"

Where was I?

Video games and electronic music are as inextricably linked as Justin Biebpipe and scurvy.

The link is most prevalent in the phenomenon of 8 bit, or chiptune, which is music designed to sound like it has been produced by computers or game consoles from the 1980s.

This musical movement draws on nostalgia for old Nintendo theme music, including the themes from Super Mario Bros (for the NES) and Tetris (for the Nintendo Gameboy). There are other old games systems by different companies, but no-one is arsed about them any more.

Modern computer game music might be forgettable tosh, but it will return with a futurist 8-bit style revival in the year 2027 in a movement to be known as '60 gigabyte'.

The most successful proponent of 8 bit in the charts is, well, no-one. Crystal Castles come close, but they've as much chance of having a crossover hit as Justin Biebpipe has of getting to his 18th birthday without the inevitable stomach pump / rehab sesh / involuntary euthanasia by public vote.

Top five non-computer based games:

- backgammon
- reverse backgammon
- strip backgammon
- backgammon roulette, with real guns
- a massive argument over backgammon in which the board is shredded and we fire up the PS3 instead

For more Chosen Words, click the tag at the bottom of this post.

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