Monday 20 February 2012
My Life in DDR (no, not the RAM...)
For reference, I am using the original name DDR. In europe, the game became known as Dancing Stage.
To some people, this may not be a surprise but I used to play video games a lot when I was younger. I became a fan of music games when I got introduced to DDR. I was given a dance mat for the PS1 when I was 12 (before DDR came out in europe) as a way of keeping fit (as if that wasn't enough rubbing it in that I was fat when I was a kid). At first, it didn't make sense hitting the arrows and I felt like a prat dancing in a 3x3 square but after a while, it got pretty interesting and as a natural competitive gamer, I was determined to beat every single song. All 11 of them. At the time, completing the last song seemed like a massive achievement especially given how tiring I thought it was.
I stopped playing it after 3 months since there wasn't that many songs. I occasionally bought new mixes but the harder songs I cheated and started to play on pad. It's funny how game developers make things more physical yet gamers always find a way to find it more lazier (see Wii Sports and how to cheat on it :P)
I then stumbled accross the TV segment on CITV. It was quite interesting how people were surprisingly better than me and it made me want to try and get this good! So after a bit of searching on the internet, I came across a website called DDRUK. It was a DDR fansite that had a forum which I began chatting to. I started making friends on there and began meeting up to local events.
At first, I didn't realise how good everyone was then I realised there were much harder songs in the arcades so I was encouraged to learn to play harder songs (in particular, passing a catastrophic song aka a 9 footed song). These took a lot of time to actually pass these songs. Even passing a 9 and 10 footed song was a huge achievement at the time since not that many people in the area could do them.
Eventually, I started getting better and even began playing competitively in tournaments. Mostly for casual knowledge and getting to know people since the standard of skill was near and far. It became easily distinguishable who would win and who would lose.
I started playing the new copies of DDR and dancing stage when they came out and became a lot better at them but a year later, In The Groove (ITG) came out. What I felt was a knock off to DDR. It was mostly in the arcades and while I did play it for a while, I couldn't get into the game even though it was exactly the same gameplay but with different songs. In my opinion, the steps were harder and the songs sounded more awful. I couldn't get into the game both physically and mentally.
I still continued playing Konami's dancing games in the arcade and still had certain achievements to beat such as achieving a perfect score and completing some of the incredibly hard songs. I still played tournaments but the standard was becoming higher and higher and I wasn't getting as good as the rest.
There was a point where I was filmed playing DDR in 2005 as part of a TV show I was in. It was such a niche thing the producers found that they filmed me for national TV. I was even asked to appear on the Paul O Grady show at one point! (True Story! But couldn't do it at the end because I lived too far away)
I qualified for the UK tournament in 2007 (only because all the other entrants in the north east couldn't head there and I was the closest to London) and was knocked out in the first round. It was then I realised I can't play this competitively anymore and decided to play on a more casual basis and concentrate on other things.
I still headed to events after then and meeting up with friends during then. But the DDR scene went to a frigid state about 3 years later. Arcades were closing, regular sites I haunted shut down and people moved on to other games and other things. I still speak to everyone and throughout the whole scene and I made a ton of friends and still stay in touch with everyone. The DDR scene wasn't just about the game but was also about meeting other people that had the same and similar interests as I did. I've always enjoyed the meetups and events I went to and they're experiences that I will never forget :)
Friday 13 January 2012
BRIT Award Nominations and Bet Making!
The Brit award nominations are out this week and after a few years of realising I've been correct with about 95% of the winners, I reckon I should put a few quid down on each of the winners as well as my own opinions on who is going to win and who deserves to win. The majority of the winners are fan based or what's popular at the moment but occasionally there's a few odd slips that gets through (although they are the good kind of odd slips that bring out groups/bands that are good but no one's heard of)
Incidentally, I don't think these awards give justice to artists except that they won an award that's based on their popularity at the moment. The credibility of the awards was lost to me when I found out about the Mercury Music Awards. Nevertheless, I will use this to my advantage and make a little money out of it.
British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran
James Blake
James Morrison
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Professor Green
I reckon Ed Sheeran has got this one pretty safe given the list that's up. I respect Noel Gallagher's work and it's a decent album. Professor Green is a little late and probably would've got it last year. The only main contender against Ed is James Morrison since both have been in the limelight for a while.
British Female Solo Artist
Adele
Florence & The Machine
Jessie J
Kate Bush
Laura Marling
Huge respect for Laura Marling for winning it last year. Great albums. But this one is a no-brainer for obvious reasons since Adele is scooping this one. Even the bookies won't let my bet on her because she's that far ahead!
British Breakthrough Act
Anna Calvi
Ed Sheeran
Emeli Sande
Jessie J
The Vaccines
It's a tossup between Ed Sheeran and Jessie J. Ed's already been mentioned above but Jessie J had a fantastic year. She's not going to win best female in my opinion due to Adele and if so, will more likely be winning this instead. Nice to see The Vaccines get a mention though. I saw them live at Glastonbury and were fairly decent.
British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Chase & Status
Coldplay
Elbow
Kasabian
Interesting choices. All 5 are respectable. My money's on Coldplay but it wouldn't surprised me if any of these got them.
British Single
Adele - Someone Like You
Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me
Jessie J Ft B.o.B. - Price Tag
JLS Ft Dev - She Makes Me Wanna
Military Wives/Gareth Malone - Wherever You Are
Olly Murs Ft Rizzle Kicks - Heart Skips A Beat
One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Pixie Lott - All About Tonight
The Wanted - Glad You Came
Okay, this one is normally voted by the public with a phone-in vote. This means that the winner will be almost, if not entirely, based on their fanbase. Therefore, from what I constantly see on trending topics (which I am sick of by the way), the winner will be One Direction, probably The Wanted second and probably JLS third.
British Album of the Year
Adele - 21
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Ed Sheeran - +
Florence & The Machine - Ceremonials
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
I feel that PJ Harvey is only there because she won the mercury music award in september so it's unlkely she will win this one. Coldplay have won the award with all of their albums except Viva la Vida, Florence won it before and Adele is basically the one everyone has bought. I reckon Adele is a clear favourite here but I think I can get good odds for Coldplay, I will place some money down.
International Male Solo Artist
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Bruno Mars
David Guetta
Ryan Adams
Bon Iver is great. I still play his first album a lot. Winner will probably be Bruno Mars though.
International Female Solo Artist
Beyonce
Bjork
Feist
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
Tough to split between Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. All three have had massive selling singles and it's probably going to be close. Rihanna had that really annoying 'We found loaves in a homeless place' song, Lady Gaga had that Blades of Glory one as well. Money's on Gaga but I don't think I'm that overly confident on it.
International Group
Fleet Foxes
Foo Fighters
Jay Z / Kanye West
Lady Antebellum
Maroon 5
First of all, two rappers collaborated constitute an international group category? How odd. Anyway, Foo Fighters' Wasting Light album was brilliant and is a great listenb but the award is probably going to go to Maroon 5 and their droney generic sound. With that odd one or two hit single.
International Breakthrough Act
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Foster The People
Lana Del Rey
Nicki Minaj
Honestly, I can't stand her but Nicki Minaj is probably the winner here. Even though she has a really annoying singing voice and sounds like a chipmunk being whisked in a blender. Also, why Bon Iver is being nominated as a newcomer baffles me since he's been around well before last year.
Incidentally, I don't think these awards give justice to artists except that they won an award that's based on their popularity at the moment. The credibility of the awards was lost to me when I found out about the Mercury Music Awards. Nevertheless, I will use this to my advantage and make a little money out of it.
British Male Solo Artist
Ed Sheeran
James Blake
James Morrison
Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds
Professor Green
I reckon Ed Sheeran has got this one pretty safe given the list that's up. I respect Noel Gallagher's work and it's a decent album. Professor Green is a little late and probably would've got it last year. The only main contender against Ed is James Morrison since both have been in the limelight for a while.
British Female Solo Artist
Adele
Florence & The Machine
Jessie J
Kate Bush
Laura Marling
Huge respect for Laura Marling for winning it last year. Great albums. But this one is a no-brainer for obvious reasons since Adele is scooping this one. Even the bookies won't let my bet on her because she's that far ahead!
British Breakthrough Act
Anna Calvi
Ed Sheeran
Emeli Sande
Jessie J
The Vaccines
It's a tossup between Ed Sheeran and Jessie J. Ed's already been mentioned above but Jessie J had a fantastic year. She's not going to win best female in my opinion due to Adele and if so, will more likely be winning this instead. Nice to see The Vaccines get a mention though. I saw them live at Glastonbury and were fairly decent.
British Group
Arctic Monkeys
Chase & Status
Coldplay
Elbow
Kasabian
Interesting choices. All 5 are respectable. My money's on Coldplay but it wouldn't surprised me if any of these got them.
British Single
Adele - Someone Like You
Ed Sheeran - The A Team
Example - Changed The Way You Kissed Me
Jessie J Ft B.o.B. - Price Tag
JLS Ft Dev - She Makes Me Wanna
Military Wives/Gareth Malone - Wherever You Are
Olly Murs Ft Rizzle Kicks - Heart Skips A Beat
One Direction - What Makes You Beautiful
Pixie Lott - All About Tonight
The Wanted - Glad You Came
Okay, this one is normally voted by the public with a phone-in vote. This means that the winner will be almost, if not entirely, based on their fanbase. Therefore, from what I constantly see on trending topics (which I am sick of by the way), the winner will be One Direction, probably The Wanted second and probably JLS third.
British Album of the Year
Adele - 21
Coldplay - Mylo Xyloto
Ed Sheeran - +
Florence & The Machine - Ceremonials
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
I feel that PJ Harvey is only there because she won the mercury music award in september so it's unlkely she will win this one. Coldplay have won the award with all of their albums except Viva la Vida, Florence won it before and Adele is basically the one everyone has bought. I reckon Adele is a clear favourite here but I think I can get good odds for Coldplay, I will place some money down.
International Male Solo Artist
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Bruno Mars
David Guetta
Ryan Adams
Bon Iver is great. I still play his first album a lot. Winner will probably be Bruno Mars though.
International Female Solo Artist
Beyonce
Bjork
Feist
Lady Gaga
Rihanna
Tough to split between Beyonce, Lady Gaga and Rihanna. All three have had massive selling singles and it's probably going to be close. Rihanna had that really annoying 'We found loaves in a homeless place' song, Lady Gaga had that Blades of Glory one as well. Money's on Gaga but I don't think I'm that overly confident on it.
International Group
Fleet Foxes
Foo Fighters
Jay Z / Kanye West
Lady Antebellum
Maroon 5
First of all, two rappers collaborated constitute an international group category? How odd. Anyway, Foo Fighters' Wasting Light album was brilliant and is a great listenb but the award is probably going to go to Maroon 5 and their droney generic sound. With that odd one or two hit single.
International Breakthrough Act
Aloe Blacc
Bon Iver
Foster The People
Lana Del Rey
Nicki Minaj
Honestly, I can't stand her but Nicki Minaj is probably the winner here. Even though she has a really annoying singing voice and sounds like a chipmunk being whisked in a blender. Also, why Bon Iver is being nominated as a newcomer baffles me since he's been around well before last year.
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