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Honestly, I don't listen to MIDI files enough any more to care (and this is coming from someone who runs a MIDI website).

For ScummVM, I already have the appropriate files for the MT-32 emulator.

A sexy default look. I think Opera generally looks much sleeker, and the smooth-scrolling is worlds better (parabolic instead of linear, I think). It's a tiny aesthetic change that makes a big difference in ease of use (I don't lose my place) and feel of the app.

So, Opera went back to the pre-9.5 look? I switched from Opera as my main browser to Firefox shortly after Firefox 3 came out. I was NOT happy after upgrading to Opera 9.5 and finding out that it went from OK looking defaults (I had it set to the Windows style theme, the *other* default) to "Gothpra."

Seriously, Opera 9.2x had nice looking buttons and everything; Opera 9.5x had black and white buttons with a handful of exceptions (3? 4?). I really should screenshot both with menus open so readers can see better examples, particularly the mail or favorites menu.

A sexy default look. I think Opera generally looks much sleeker, and the smooth-scrolling is worlds better (parabolic instead of linear, I think). It's a tiny aesthetic change that makes a big difference in ease of use (I don't lose my place) and feel of the app.

So, Opera went back to the pre-9.5 look? I switched from Opera as my main browser to Firefox shortly after Firefox 3 came out. I was NOT happy after upgrading to Opera 9.5 and finding out that it went from OK looking defaults (I had it set to the Windows style theme, the *other* default) to "Gothpra."

Seriously, Opera 9.2x had nice looking buttons and everything; Opera 9.5x had black and white buttons with a handful of exceptions (3? 4?). I really should screenshot both with menus open so readers can see better examples, particularly the mail or favorites menu.

(By the way, does the VG stand for Video Game?)

Open Office pushes the its file format agenda inadvertently by not pointing out to users that it can behave more like Microsoft Office and default to using Word's format for saving files.

Maybe, but midi RINGTONES rule; it's just about the perfect way to capture an 8 or 16 bit console tune since most of them were made in midi or midi-like formats anyway. I call BS on this article because ever since handsets have been able to support polyphonic ringtones I've had all my as-obscure-as-you-like-8-bit-theme-tune-ring-tone needs more than met by The Video Game Music Archive. I've currently got the theme from Baloon Fight (NES) as my ring tone and a pre-match jingle from Mega Bomberman (Genesis) as my SMS, and they sound absolutely perfect. I've been through all sorts, mostly Gameboy stuff over the last 7 or 8 years and, while there's a small amount of chaff to sort (in terms of piss-poor renderings by dedicated but clueless game fans), when you get the right one it's SOOOO satifying. (Of course, YMMV depending on your phone's midi card!)

I know it's dumb responding to a troll, but I will anyway.

NEWS FLASH! I've been around Slashdot longer than Jombeewoof, and my existance as a separate person can be independently verified.

Chemical Plant Zone is actually already on my iPod - you can get a MIDI remix of it, and most older games, from VG Music. Spend a few hours on that site and relive some of the best games of all time.

Of course, w3schools is a site for web designers, rather than people who blindly use whichever browser is on their system.

My own site's statistics show the following browser numbers for November, spread across 19,983,489 hits:
(numbers are rounded to the nearest percent)
56% Internet Explorer (5, 6, and 7)
27% Firefox (1, 1.5, and 2.0)
3% Safari
1% Generic Mozilla/4 browser (possibly a search engine)
1% Opera (9.2)
1% Netscape 4.8 (I'm guessing this is a spoof, but I can't really say)

The remaining 11% are made up of a number of other browsers, downloaders, spiders, and media players (it's a media site) that each have less than .4%.

All statistics like this are prone not only to errors, but to user agent spoofs, including those from search engines.

1. Encryption adds overhead.
   
2. A certain popular protocol's encrypted version's clients pop up all sorts of warnings if the server certificate is not signed by a known entity.
   
   Of the three most popular browsers these days, a site with a self-signed certificate shows the following:
   
   1. IE6
      
   2. Firefox 2
      
   3. IE7
      
   
   While the average person may know that this is not necessarily bad, mom and pop are probably going to avoid sites that bring up these errors, particularly if they're using IE7.
   

1. Encryption adds overhead.
   
2. A certain popular protocol's encrypted version's clients pop up all sorts of warnings if the server certificate is not signed by a known entity.
   
   Of the three most popular browsers these days, a site with a self-signed certificate shows the following:
   
   1. IE6
      
   2. Firefox 2
      
   3. IE7
      
   
   While the average person may know that this is not necessarily bad, mom and pop are probably going to avoid sites that bring up these errors, particularly if they're using IE7.
   

1. Encryption adds overhead.
   
2. A certain popular protocol's encrypted version's clients pop up all sorts of warnings if the server certificate is not signed by a known entity.
   
   Of the three most popular browsers these days, a site with a self-signed certificate shows the following:
   
   1. IE6
      
   2. Firefox 2
      
   3. IE7
      
   
   While the average person may know that this is not necessarily bad, mom and pop are probably going to avoid sites that bring up these errors, particularly if they're using IE7.
   

That only works if your website is large enough to actually attract advertisers.

Google Adsense, on the other hand, while not paying a lot, pays you per thousand views for displaying text ads that are determined by your site's keywords (as determined by Google... go figure).

For instance, it's not a secret that I'm a volunteer on a game music site which uses Google Adsense. The ads showing for me right now are text ads for Nintendo Ringtones and a PC game.

As a side note, I've noticed that Adblock subscriptions tend to block Google Adsense, despite their ads not being popups, animations, or flash. This isn't relevant here, but it is to comments further up that I don't have time to reply to before I leave, thanks to /.'s enforced 1 minute wait between comments.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

Menus look weird and act weird.

Then take C# which is a nice programming language and has a normal GUI and you've got a winner.

To register at the Video Game Music Archive Forums you must complete something similar: We have pictures of both Mario and Sonic up, and one is asked to checkmark the pictures of Mario. Additionally, the image sizes are randomly generated each time so the checksums of the image files will differ each time.

As much as I hate IE, it still bugs me how I stumble into Firefox rendering bugs (or in the case of map not accepting id tags under text/html, "features"), usually with something that works just fine in IE6.

I don't use Mozilla/Firefox because of weird HTML bugs in valid HTML 4.x Strict pages.

There's something wrong when Firefox renders something incorrectly that IE gets right. Particularly for a 9 year old standard (published 18 December 1997).

I brought this up in a previous article about Open Office, but I think it's relevant to what you said, so I'm bringing it up again. I know this example isn't exact, since it's actually OO.o running on Windows, but this dialog is going to panic a lot of normal users.

"What do you mean it doesn't save my documents right?"

Or, if they click No, then anyone they send this document to that uses MS Office ends up replying with "I couldn't open the document you sent. My computer says it's invalid."

I've never done much with MIDI sequencing, but I love my video game MIDI music. :-)

My biggest beef with OpenOffice is the FUD box I get whenever I try to save a file in .doc format.

If your average user saw this screen, what conclusion would they draw?

Heck, I work in programming, and the conclusion I drew after I started to read this dialog is that OO.org doesn't work well with .doc files and I probably shouldn't switch to it.

My biggest beef with OpenOffice is the FUD box I get whenever I try to save a file in .doc format.

If your average user saw this screen, what conclusion would they draw?

Heck, I work in programming, and the conclusion I drew after I started to read this dialog is that OO.org doesn't work well with .doc files and I probably shouldn't switch to it.

I wish I could get my family to appreciate video game music, but they won't. They refuse to even listen to it, let alone appreciate it.

Disclosure: I'm the current webmaster of VGMusic.com, and have worked for the site as far back as 1997.

In OS X that is one check box and takes 15 seconds to do. I have a sheet of paper somewhere around here with all the steps needed to promote a user in Windows, I was astounded by what the PC tech said had to be done.

"Google's site, Google's rules. Don't like it? You have other choices."

Sure we do. And one of those choices is: Get pissed off. Loudly. Complain. Say... Fix this shit or we're leaving.

Well, I don't think you can fix HTML rendering errors with Firefox extensions. I recently ran into this one.

Compare it with Forever Rachael, here: http://www.vgmusic.com/music/console/nintendo/snes /index-af.html

TJ&E Rocked. I grabbed the midi versions of the music, converted it to WAV with timidity and a decent soundfont, and occasionally listen to it. It still brings back memories. :)

TJ&E Rocked. I grabbed the midi versions of the music, converted it to WAV with timidity and a decent soundfont, and occasionally listen to it. It still brings back memories. :)

I'm the founder of the Videogame Music Archive, one of the largest online midi archives. We have a FAQ page which has an entry addressing this issue. For your reading pleasure:

"What is a remix? What is this site's policy on them?"

A remix is any song that is intentionally altered to sound dramatically different than the original. An example of a remix would be the theme to Super Mario Bros. redone into a Death Metal/Techno song. Usually a remix involves changing notes, inserting new music in the middle (Or music from another game), or a major change in style. Music redone to take advantage of the MIDI format, such as a song from the original Final Fantasy sequenced to be played by a full orchestra, probably wouldn't be considered a remix, as long as the song itself remains intact (But rather would be considered an "Arrangement").

We'll accept well done remixes. It is entirely up to us to decide what is a well done remix. It must be musically coherent and flow well, and it must be more than a simple changing of instruments and addition of a drum beat. The ZHQ Zelda Dance Remix is a good example of the type of file we're likely to accept (Although that particular song is one we will not accept, so please, STOP UPLOADING IT!).

To reiterate, since people don't seem to grasp the concept, adding a drum beat, changing an instrument, and slapping a lame title (As in "TiWanaKu TapF00t Remix") on it DOES NOT MAKE A REMIX. Don't send us garbage like that. Got it? Furthermore, the word "Intentional" in the first sentence is an important one. The dramatically different sound cannot be a result of your musical incompetence. If you have to call a song a "Remix" to justify the criminal action you've taken against the melody, then your file is not welcome here. Come back when you can tell the difference between a C# and a G.

If you care to discuss this topic further, check out the VGMusic Forum.

I'm the founder of the Videogame Music Archive, one of the largest online midi archives. We have a FAQ page which has an entry addressing this issue. For your reading pleasure:

"What is a remix? What is this site's policy on them?"

A remix is any song that is intentionally altered to sound dramatically different than the original. An example of a remix would be the theme to Super Mario Bros. redone into a Death Metal/Techno song. Usually a remix involves changing notes, inserting new music in the middle (Or music from another game), or a major change in style. Music redone to take advantage of the MIDI format, such as a song from the original Final Fantasy sequenced to be played by a full orchestra, probably wouldn't be considered a remix, as long as the song itself remains intact (But rather would be considered an "Arrangement").

We'll accept well done remixes. It is entirely up to us to decide what is a well done remix. It must be musically coherent and flow well, and it must be more than a simple changing of instruments and addition of a drum beat. The ZHQ Zelda Dance Remix is a good example of the type of file we're likely to accept (Although that particular song is one we will not accept, so please, STOP UPLOADING IT!).

To reiterate, since people don't seem to grasp the concept, adding a drum beat, changing an instrument, and slapping a lame title (As in "TiWanaKu TapF00t Remix") on it DOES NOT MAKE A REMIX. Don't send us garbage like that. Got it? Furthermore, the word "Intentional" in the first sentence is an important one. The dramatically different sound cannot be a result of your musical incompetence. If you have to call a song a "Remix" to justify the criminal action you've taken against the melody, then your file is not welcome here. Come back when you can tell the difference between a C# and a G.

If you care to discuss this topic further, check out the VGMusic Forum.

I'm the founder of the Videogame Music Archive, one of the largest online midi archives. We have a FAQ page which has an entry addressing this issue. For your reading pleasure:

"What is a remix? What is this site's policy on them?"

A remix is any song that is intentionally altered to sound dramatically different than the original. An example of a remix would be the theme to Super Mario Bros. redone into a Death Metal/Techno song. Usually a remix involves changing notes, inserting new music in the middle (Or music from another game), or a major change in style. Music redone to take advantage of the MIDI format, such as a song from the original Final Fantasy sequenced to be played by a full orchestra, probably wouldn't be considered a remix, as long as the song itself remains intact (But rather would be considered an "Arrangement").

We'll accept well done remixes. It is entirely up to us to decide what is a well done remix. It must be musically coherent and flow well, and it must be more than a simple changing of instruments and addition of a drum beat. The ZHQ Zelda Dance Remix is a good example of the type of file we're likely to accept (Although that particular song is one we will not accept, so please, STOP UPLOADING IT!).

To reiterate, since people don't seem to grasp the concept, adding a drum beat, changing an instrument, and slapping a lame title (As in "TiWanaKu TapF00t Remix") on it DOES NOT MAKE A REMIX. Don't send us garbage like that. Got it? Furthermore, the word "Intentional" in the first sentence is an important one. The dramatically different sound cannot be a result of your musical incompetence. If you have to call a song a "Remix" to justify the criminal action you've taken against the melody, then your file is not welcome here. Come back when you can tell the difference between a C# and a G.

If you care to discuss this topic further, check out the VGMusic Forum.

hmm... maybe that explains why last week at work i downloaded the super mario bros theme and put it on my cellphone. it must have been something hardwired in my genetic code. for those who need the midi's my site of preference is vgmusic

Some of the "older" (pre-2000) games have pretty incredible soundtracks, I think. I've made a few ringtones from the midi files at the Video Game Music Archive. It has content from almost every system, including the newer ones. I don't like the trend of licensing popular music, but oh well.

Indeed. TECHNICALLY, derivative works such as these aren't supposed to be produced without permission from the original artists. Or, rather, they cannot be produced if the artist doesn't want it produced. However, to my knowledge (I could be entirely incorrect), none of the DooM music is an exact copy of an existing work, and Bobby Prince is the copyright holder. If Prince doesn't want OCRemix to distribute The Dark Side of Phobos, he can let djpretzel know, and he'll be forced to stop. He's already stopped http://www.vgmusic.com/ from accepting midis of DooM music, even though a great many have been submitted.

1. Grab the MIDIs for your favorite game.
2. Grab Timidity++
3. Grab the Musica Theoria 2 soundfont, and the Timidity++ sample map for it
4. Convert your MIDIs to the audio format of your choice.

Videogame music is one of my favourite genres of music. Well at least I think it's a genre. Nobuo Uematsu is just one of the people that come to mind when I think of videogame music. It's just that videogame music comes with a lot of emotion. You remember playing a part of the game, something important happening, and the music that was playing during. It's more interactive that normal music. I don't think I'm the only one that thinks that way either, check out VGMusic.

Video game music: not just kid stuff
They got game

Those are two I know of, for the rest, use google...

If I understand you right, you have a lot of old hardware and cabling.

Before you dispose of them (however you decide), take pictures and send it to a website that archives these pictures. Especially if you have a lot of old hardware or obscure cabling, pictures of these may be a little hard to find, for people who're looking for some exact shape or model of old cabling.

VGMusic.com's Gallery is an example of such a website. (though with a slant toward gaming consoles). For example, if you're looking for a picture of a wire connecting a male 9-pin serial to a male telephone cord, the site has one at wires/w-m_9Serial-m_Tele.jpg.

Or go ahead and make your own website, or look for another one. I'm sure VGMusic's page is not the only such one, nor the most popular. It's just one I happened to notice once and bookmark.

If I understand you right, you have a lot of old hardware and cabling.

Before you dispose of them (however you decide), take pictures and send it to a website that archives these pictures. Especially if you have a lot of old hardware or obscure cabling, pictures of these may be a little hard to find, for people who're looking for some exact shape or model of old cabling.

VGMusic.com's Gallery is an example of such a website. (though with a slant toward gaming consoles). For example, if you're looking for a picture of a wire connecting a male 9-pin serial to a male telephone cord, the site has one at wires/w-m_9Serial-m_Tele.jpg.

Or go ahead and make your own website, or look for another one. I'm sure VGMusic's page is not the only such one, nor the most popular. It's just one I happened to notice once and bookmark.

Not many comments so far, so here's mildly off-topic Fat Man memories...

I look back to the guy's work in the early 1990s for my faves. The top one in my mind is probably Faceball 2000, circa 1991. Here's the Gameboy soundtrack (ripped to MID). The SNES and Game Gear versions are even better if you can find them.

Putting the merits of the music and game into context... This was a pre-Wolf 3D, pre-Doom FPS from 14 years ago that ran on 4 MHz Z80 handhelds that you could cable together for "LAN" play. On-the-fly rendered 3D graphics (on otherwise sprite and tile-scroller platforms) spiced up with some good Fat Man tunes (for the day)... it was a beautiful thing. Okay, so the framerates weren't great.

On contract, Sanger would deliver developers the audio routine (Z80 code, in this case) which would play back his highly compressed audio data (destined for preciously small ROMs), using even more precious cycles in the horizontal and/or vertical interrupts to trigger frequency, volume, timbre, envelope change events. Heady stuff.

Ring tone: "Overworld" theme (Super Mario Bros.)
Text tone: The "beeper" noise (GTA3)
Past favorites include "Go Straight" (Streets Of Rage 2) and "Central Park" (Last Ninja 2).

Old video game themes were written for sound chips with limited range, so they make great polyphonic ring tones. Now if I could only find a phone with a SID chip =)

Maybe I should have several shifts of hamsters, like the 24/7 convenience stores do with their employees...

Man, you're so wrong. The tracker only hosts the .torrent files, if that!

Actually, the tracker has to have the full file available to be the initial seed. So even if there are enough seeds later, I'd say there is a good argument that the person running the tracker is responsible for the initial distribution and subject to the greatest liability.

IANAL, just the paranoid founder of the world's largest video game music archive.

Proposed Experiment for Bored Hackers:

Pipe the text output from a chatbot to a text-to-speech program.

Then, use a speech recognition software package to listen to the audio and see how well it picks up the words.

If you are good, you can have two computers, both with talking and listening capability. See what kind of conversation they have. Perhaps it will mimic the conservation of two people with poor hearing.

Insipration for the above experiment: What Happens When Chat Bots Talk to Each Other

"With over 150 public blocklists out there"

This is a sad state of affairs when a "do-gooder" claims that spoofed e-mail has come from my website. So I have to go to 150 different lists, argue with each of them that my site is not a spam sender?

I've had to deal with "do-gooder" situations too often. Blacklists are a cop-out ("A failure to fulfill a commitment or responsibility or to face a difficulty squarely") by ISPs. They are passing their cost of providing e-mail to their customers onto me.

An Analytical Look at Spam