Old Games: Encyclopedia Bombastica: Amplitude

FREESTYLE

@Alex I can't really hear the game at all. If you can turn up the game audio in future installments, that would be great!

Quarashi are from Iceland, if no one has mentioned it yet.

This needs more wrestling.

I have fond memories of that Quarashi song...

However, "What's goin on Mekon?" made me want to murder people.

That looks like a Murder City Devils shirt to me. Hells yes.

Your finding your rhythm! Look forward to seeing more from you.

Rock music is still big in Japan. Even J-Pop has a very "Rock" feeling, with Guitars or a real Drum track backing the instrumentals.

Awesome! Love Alex doing these EB vidz.

Garbage is a great band, Alex.

@Alex

i hear what you're saying. the internet, the affordability of DAWs (and related recording technology), and the consequent degeneration of the major-label-machine has brought about the mass democratization of music- and that's usually interpreted as a wholly positive thing. and i'd agree- i think for the most part, we're in place now where the barrier to success and enjoyment has never been lower. but like you were alluding to- i think there's unintended consequences to that paradigm shift as well. gone are the days of waiting for a record store to open to get a new release, the notion of multi-platinum, zeitgeist-defining release. the oppressive nature is gone, but so is the communal experience. so there's something to be mourned there- at least a little bit.

in any event- here's a unsolicited recommendation for you. this band exists as a love-letter to the distortion pedal and all forms of aggressive rock and roll. they're simultaneously very modern and very retro (listen for the inevitable tambourine and jerry lee lewis piano). give'r a shot:

All the characters at the beginning are doing the Shepard.

Edit: Oh wow, Rock Band Blitz is just this game. I didn't know that.

@HaltIamReptar said:

Garbage is a great band, Alex.

I second this. All of their albums are amazing. :)

@shodan2020 said:

@HaltIamReptar said:

Garbage is a great band, Alex.

I second this. All of their albums are amazing. :)

Oh Garbage is probably one of my favorite bands, but I wouldn't say that. You could never convince me Beautiful Garbage is any good.

I think alex you need to listen to more rock/metal internet station since there are good bands that have not been around ages.

That soundtrack seems... terrible. Makes me appreciate the Blitz setlist, ugly as that is in spots.

All pop music is junk, just, it's getting lazier and thus worse.

I was hoping this feature would be, at least for the time being, Jeff's little thing. Having other members of the staff doing this feature feels weird since Jeff seems to be starting much earlier in game history.

Jeff has sort of chosen to pick games that he thinks people should know about and that are probably unknown to a lot of the GB audience. Amplitude is well known whether those who think its a tiny cult game want to think so or not.

I really like the idea of this feature, I just don't want it to get watered down with a lot more recent well known games instead of highlighting the lost games of yesterday.

Man, love the Frank Ocean mention. I think that was my favorite album last year.

@MrOldboy: You do know that the tagline for this feature is "QUICK LOOK EVERYTHING", right? Jeff's said that he wants to get all the other guys involved as soon as possible. Which is fine by me: the more people doing these features, the more Quick Looks there'll be out there. And it's not like Alex' videos are taking away Jeff's videos, so if you don't like Amplitude... stick to Jeff's games? :P

@JEC03 said:

Rock is so mediocre and horrible ever since Brittany Spears hit in the late 90's then you had the boyband bullshit that was the beginning of the end around that time rock really has lost it's edge.Sure there was and still is underground bands that are out there that are good but nothing like the late 80's to the mid 90's when there where so many unique style of bands to listen to.Now the bar seems so low anyone on youtube can get a record deal.It's really sad how generic and dull music has become in over the past decade I really hope rock makes a comeback the music industry more then ever needs a kick in the ass.

You should stop watching MTV, kid. Music is great now a days. Give me one genre, I'll tell you what to listen. There are so many good bands now a days, maybe you're not looking for them in the right places.

@Thomper: I understand what the intent was, but what Jeff ended up doing wasn't really "QUICK LOOK EVERYTHING". It felt more curated, whether Jeff wanted it to seem that way or not. It has nothing to do with Alex's videos taking away from Jeff's. It has nothing to do with me liking Jeff's games more. I like Amplitude, its a fine game and an influential one albeit recent. I just don't want this feature to run off the tracks and just become a bunch of one-person QL Throwbacks.

To be honest though I would much rather see these games presented as a QL Throwback, with at least two people. You get more insight that way and a lot of older games deserve that insight.

Videos about music games where you never hear any music.  Part of what made frequency and amplitude unique is that you "build" the song, and you could be creative or strategic in how you introduced instruments.

Alex, DJ Lethal brought it on and John Otto took it to the Matthew's bridge

Who cares what these videos become. They could have never done a video look at amplitude and then where would we be. IN THIS THREAD: WHINING ABOUT CONTENT

This was so an "OH YOU KIDS" speech =P

@Artso said:

Thanks for doing this Alex!

1) I understand going Brutal when you are talking about the game... but hit some combos man... I'm twitching every time you miss one lol.

2) During Football Two a Days, my friends and I would go to my place after the first practice, eat incredible amounts on Chicken and Tater Tots, and play Frequency, Amplitude, and Mortal Kombat Tetris.

3) I love David Bowie... but fuck that song (and it's big fat dog). Took a million tries for me to get 4 bars.

4) I miss Quarashi. Stick Em Up was the anthem of my freshmen year of highschool.

@MrOldboy: Man, I am so the opposite of you. I want everyone on the site making videos of all their favorite games. Or at least stuff they find interesting. It provides a fun balance to the regular Quick Looks on the site.

Oh, man. This came out when I was too young to have any amount of game-buying money, but I literally scratched the demo disc I had for it to pieces just playing the same two Garbage and Quarashi songs over and over and over for months.

@Alex I found bands!

Also: Rivers Cuomo is in his 40s and has hilarious problems, cool current rock acts that I could rattle off all days are alive and well (if not dominating the Top 40), and Quarashi is cool / the song you're thinking of is "Mr. Jinx".

@aurahack said:

Quarashi on the front page? Fuck yes! Baseline is an awesome, awesome song. I'd recommend checking out their full Jinx album if you haven't already. Really, really fun music.

This is the game that got me into Quarashi.

@DeadDorf said:

@Alex I can't really hear the game at all. If you can turn up the game audio in future installments, that would be great!

so you'd like youtube to pull it for content violation?

I loved this game when I was younger! I should go play it again.

@Alex Turn up the game volume and re upload it if you can, never played this game and would love to hear the music.

@mellotronrules said:

@Alex

i hear what you're saying. the internet, the affordability of DAWs (and related recording technology), and the consequent degeneration of the major-label-machine has brought about the mass democratization of music- and that's usually interpreted as a wholly positive thing. and i'd agree- i think for the most part, we're in place now where the barrier to success and enjoyment has never been lower. but like you were alluding to- i think there's unintended consequences to that paradigm shift as well. gone are the days of waiting for a record store to open to get a new release, the notion of multi-platinum, zeitgeist-defining release. the oppressive nature is gone, but so is the communal experience. so there's something to be mourned there- at least a little bit.

in any event- here's a unsolicited recommendation for you. this band exists as a love-letter to the distortion pedal and all forms of aggressive rock and roll. they're simultaneously very modern and very retro (listen for the inevitable tambourine and jerry lee lewis piano). give'r a shot:

I second this recommendation. Norway knows what's up.

Quarashi is Icelandic, and they kind of quit after not really making it in america. They weren't very popular in iceland when they were around but had a growing cult following after they quit. If I remember correctly, one of the members of Quarashi is currently working for CCP the developers of Eve Online.

I hear you Alex. It does seem like bands are going out of style. My girlfriend's brother is only two years younger than me and I feel like an old man next to him. Here I am listening to the strokes, the white stripes, the black keys, etc. And ALL he listens to is dubstep. None of his music has lyrics, and I just don't understand the appeal at all.

need more alex vids

@TheDigitalistic said:

The lack of game audio here is such a bummer.

Yeah, I have to agree. Fun to hear and see Alex though.

Ah yes, Amplitude. Aka my favorite PS2 game.

Haha, love your Simpson's references.

this is siiiiiick!

Harmonix games are the best games.

What about Indie Rock and Indie Pop? They have bands, don't they? Imagine Dragons. They sound like a band

Dope Nose isn't a Weezer album

It's a single

Get your fucking facts straight Alex

Ugh

lol

Alex is killing it with these Bombasticas. He's clear, incredibly informative, and entertaining so far. Great stuff.

I really liked this, but it would have greatly benefited by having the game audible. More please, but PUMP UP THE VOLUME!

We've had more Alex content in the first month of 2013 then we had all of last year. This is shaping up to be a good year.

I really loved Frequency and Amplitude, they got me into rhythm themed gaming.

Thanks for doing this Alex, I had no idea about this game.

I like the take on "modern" retro games, great job. Looking forward to the next one.