Older News - January to March 1999



Wednesday, March 31

new-files Index Change

       To cut down on server usage, the new-files index will only be updated every two hours. As a side effect, the sort buttons have been removed from the new-files page.

(Powerlord)

Sunday, March 21

IRC Channel Change

       Our IRC channel has moved to irc.esper.net #vgmusic now. Point your IRC client to the new server, or use the new Java Applet.

(Powerlord)

Saturday, March 20

Small Sister Site Update

       RPGStuff has moved to a new address.

In other news, I am asking for input about our IRC channel. The network our channel is currently on is very unstable, and we are considering moving it to Esper Net, which seems to be faster and be more stable.

(Powerlord)

Tuesday, March 16

Sister Site Update

       I've finally added all the new graphics for the various sites. Two sites were added to the sister site ring yesterday evening: RPGCentral and SSTrax.

(Powerlord)

Monday, March 15

Final Fantasy 8 Soundtrack is Out!

       The official Final Fantasy 8 Soundtrack is now out! It is a 4 CD set. For information about the soundtrack, including its track lists, click here. The soundtrack is available for sale at Gamecave.com

(Mike Newman)

Tuesday, March 9

More Choice at the VGMusic Store

       VGMusic.com has now also become the affiliate of Gamecave.com
Gamecave has not only all the videogames you ever wanted, including some good Japanese imports, but it also has tons of videogame soundtracks, Anime, Art Books, posters, DVDs, and my favorite: videogame character action figures!!! Various Gamecave products will be listed, in addition to the Amazon products, on the VGMusic Store page.

(Mike Newman)

Monday, March 8

Makers of "The 7th Guest" out of business

       Trilobyte software, known for the games "The 7th Guest" and "The 11th Hour" is now out of business. Apparently, Trilobyte's troubles began earlier this year, when iD Software hired away Trilobyte's lead designer, Graeme Devine. This brings up another question: What effect will Graeme Devine have on iD Software? He is known for making puzzle games that use Full Motion Video (although the implementation in "The 7th Guest" was not that good. :/). Only time will tell.

       In Game Music news, it seems that Megadeth is doing the theme music for Duke Nukem Forever.

(I found these articles when browsing The Adrenalin Vault earlier today.)

(Powerlord)

Saturday, March 6

Gargantuan Update

Dear VGMusic Fans:

       Today, I have added a record-breaking amount of MIDIs to the archive: 317! Also, because of this, our total amount of MIDIs is now over 7,000! Isn't that great? Please let me know if there are any broken links or other such problems. Thanks! `^_~-

       Yours truly - -
                          Princess Toadstool (Peach)

Cleanup of Sistersite links

       I commented out the two buttons for the sites that are down right now. The buttons will be restored when (if?) the sites come back online. Currently the sistersite ring is at 8 active members, down from 11 a few months back.

(Powerlord)

Monday, March 1

Andy's New Site

       In case you haven't noticed, Andy's Website (Bahamut's Domain) has been down for some time. Well, Andy and Firehawk (From tiamat.net) have opened a new site, named OmniGear. Same owners, new site, and most importantly, New Music.

(Powerlord)

Friday, February 26

New Neo-Geo Section and SPC File Archive

       Yesterday I added a Neo-Geo section to the archive. Also, an FTP directory has been set up for our SPC Collection.

(Mike Newman)

U.S. Visitors, please read

       The Federal Communications Coalition (FCC) had a vote yesterday that decided that internet access isn't intrastate commerce, but is interstate commerce. This basically makes it so that all Internet access is under Federal jurisdiction as opposed to state jurisdiction. There is a provision in this vote that still makes calls to ISPs local calls, but the FCC can remove that provision at a later date.

       In case you've read the article about this on Zophar's Domain, I did a little more research on the FCC's page, which states:

"But the decision preserves the rule that exempts the Internet and other information services from interstate access charges. This means that those consumers who continue to access the Internet by dialing a seven-digit number will not incur long distance charges when they do so. In a notice of proposed rulemaking, the Commission also asked for comment on proposals governing future carrier-to-carrier compensation for handling this traffic." (Text quoted from this article)


(Powerlord)

Thursday, February 25

In Focus, banners, and buttons

       If any of you visit the Telefragged Homeworld, you would have noticed that our site is in the new "In Focus" box. They will have an article on us and interviews with some of the staff later on, as well as a new contest coming sometime soon...

       On a related note, a few things have been moved around at the top of the page to make room for the Telefragged Telenation Internal Banner. This will have logos from various sites on the Telefragged Telenation (the same sites that are on the leftmost pulldown menu). Hopefully everyone likes the new look a little better than the old one.

(Powerlord)

Saturday, February 20

Quiz Updated... and related news

       Well, Amber decided that she doesn't want to run the quiz anymore, so I have taken it over (at least for now). You can go play Quiz 5 right now.

(Powerlord)

Friday, February 19

MSX Music Section Added

       The MSX Music section of the archive has been added. Just a reminder that we support all systems, and we simply add new sections as they become necessary (i.e. - we get files for them). If the upload script doesn't have the name of the system you want to upload a file for, just let us know and we'll add it ASAP.

(Mike Newman)

Thursday, February 11

Sister Site link reorganization

       I reorganized the sister site links up top... I put our button on it's own row, and made the 6 open sites the next two rows, followed by the sites that are currently down on the last row.

(Powerlord)

Monday, February 8

500,000 hits!

       Well, we finally hit a half million visitors on the counter. Thanks to all the visitors who made this possible.
We plan on being around for another few half million. :)

(VGMusic.com Staff)

Saturday, Febuary 6

Yet Another Update

Dear VGMusic Fans:

       I finally finished the next update. This time, all of those arcade MIDIs have been added. If there are *any* problems with this update at all, please let me know! Toodles! `^_~-

       Yours truly - -
                          Princess Toadstool (Peach)

Friday, February 5

VGMusic Store

       VGMusic has opened up our own Amazon.com Associate Branch Store with listings of videogame music, games, hint books and other products. VGMusic makes a tiny commission if you turn out to be a first time buyer for Amazon.

(Mike Newman)

Wednesday, February 3

Mega-MIDIs?

Dear VGMusic Fans:

       It's that time again! Time to update VGMusic and clear out the new-files directory! I've noticed that someone uploaded Smash Brothers MIDIs which I had to delete from the new-files directory for three reasons. Number one, I've never seen an 8 megabyte MIDI before. I honestly don't think a browser can handle loading that. In fact, the 1.7 megabyte one crashed my browser after trying to load it. Number two, Smash Brothers hasn't even been released in Japan yet, so this leads me to believe that these MIDIs were fake. The third reason why I deleted these MIDIs is that such unusually large MIDI files may be potentially damaging to people. Why? Well, have any of *you* seen an eight-meg MIDI before?

       In other news, I'd like people to please inform me if there are any more problems in the new-files directory in relation to the MIDIs and/or SPCs which have been uploaded. Gratzi! `^_~-

       Yours truly - -
                          Princess Toadstool (Peach)

VGMusic Staff Changes

       It is my sad duty to announce that Cyberkhan has decided to leave the VGMusic staff. His contributions to the website, especially the build up of the Commodore 64 section, are very much appreciated.

Chiba has joined the VGMusic staff as the new Japanese Collection Editor. Chiba was suppose to join the staff much earlier, but he had some computer problems resulting in the purchase of a new computer.

(Mike Newman)

Tuesday, February 2

Video Game Stamp

       The US Post Office is conducting an online vote to pick stamps to commemorate the 1980s. Be sure to visit their online voting website at http://stampvote.msn.com/ and vote for the video game stamp under the "Lifestyles" category!!! What better memory of the 1980s is there?

(Mike Newman)

Friday, January 29

The Java IRC client

       As some people had noticed, the Java client hasn't been working for some time... Well, I finally replaced it with a new one. This one actually *works*.

The last Java IRC client was actually located on www.dal.net, but it seems when they updated it, it had a flaw in it: It would only run on the Server it originated from: irc.webmaster.com. The new client also runs from dal.net, but from webzone.dal.net, and since it works the same as the old one, I'm not complaining.

A word to the wise: Don't scroll up! Everytime I did, It seemed to forget how long the scrollbar should be, and I couldn't scroll down to where the current text was.

(Powerlord)

Sunday, January 24

As much fun as Lavos is....

       ...we don't want to leave that page on there forever. The page is now located here, if you want to see what it looks like. :-) Oh, you might want to visit RPGamer... Their page is still "Toasted" after meeting Lavos.

       That reminds me, I forgot to mention that quiz 2 was up on Friday. From now on, quizzes will be put up on Fridays.

       Oh, one last thing: Since the links page has not been updated in so long, I'm going to do some major cleaning on it. If you would like us to put a link to your page, please fill out this form.

(Powerlord)

Saturday, January 23

DAY OF LAVOS

       If you couldn't tell, today is the Day of Lavos, according to the game Chrono Trigger. Lavos came out of the Earth and destroyed the world. I don't think it's going to happen, but I decided to have a little fun with it. :-)

(Powerlord)

Friday, January 22

Massive Update

Dear VGMusic Fans:

       Today, I have added 251 MIDIs to the archive for your listening pleasure. Please let me know if there are any broken links or other such problems. Thanks! `^_~-

       Yours truly - -
                          Princess Toadstool (Peach)

Thursday, January 21

The Day There Was No Lyrics

       The NY Times recently came out with the following article: Lyrics Site in Copyright Dispute Is Closed. Bad news indeed.

(Mike Newman)

Tuesday, January 19 / Wednesday, January 20

New File Types

       As of 12:20AM CST (server time), the new-files directory and the upload script now process SPC and GYM files correctly. We are now accepting uploads of these two filetypes.

The look of new-files has changed slightly. There is a new column that lists the filetype (MIDI, SPC, GYM, MIDI ZIP, SPC ZIP, or GYM ZIP). It is the 2nd column from the left.

Finally, we do not have a player page up for either SPC or GYM files, so I suggest visiting Zophar's Domain to get players. I know the SPC player are on this page, but check out the rest of the site, too!

In other site new, Mike and I set up a little voting booth just for fun. :)

(Powerlord)

Monday, January 18

Pseudo MIDIs?

Dear VGMusic Fans:

       Lately, people have been writing in telling us that there are false MIDIs in the New-Files Directory. Sometimes it is hard for us to keep up with these fake uploads. But I am doing yet another update for VGMusic and I ask that people please inform me of any current pseudo MIDIs in the New-Files Directory, so that I can avoid adding a lot of 'junk' to the archive. Thanks for your cooperation! `^_~-

       Yours truly - -
                          Princess Toadstool (Peach)

Saturday, January 16

Massive Wishlist Blowout!

       For some reason, many of our VideoGame Music Archive fans have been posting a lot of Zelda 64 requests. Well, as a result, another Zelda 64 MIDI Voting Booth has been placed in the Wishlist Message Board, as well as the General Message Board so you can vote for what you think the next Zelda 64 MIDI should be. Please read the rules carefully. Do enjoy yourselves! `^_~-

(Princess Peach Toadstool)

Friday, January 15

       As part of the current message board ban system I'm working on, the 45 day ban on X-Warth's ISP on the message board is now gone.
To be more coherant, all bans created by me because of something on the message board are removed after 45 days to be fair.

(Powerlord)

       I was doing some random surfing and come across a great site of hilarious, zany and badly translated Videogame Quotes. I suggest you drop by the site, called Zany Videogame Quotes and have a good laugh.
Oh and the rest of the site looks nicer then the main page :)

(WildKard)

Thursday, January 14

       I accidently altered some of the percussion instruments in the file I uploaded yesterday. Another new version of it is up. FF7 Awe zip file and single file.

(Powerlord)

Wednesday, January 13

       That lb2_choir.mid has been updated (by me, since I "modified" it to add the choir) and added to the FF7 Awe zip file by myself, and the updated single of it is available in my directory. You need an AWE32/64 or SBLive to use it, as well as the LB2 soundfont for the voices (instead of the other FF7 soundfonts).

In other news, the game music quiz is expected to reappear sometime tonight...

(Powerlord)

Monday, January 11

       VGMusic's host, Telefragged.com, now has a search engine which covers the hundreds of pages they host (including VGMusic). Give it a try!

I've really been big into Java applets lately. I found one recently streams decent audio over the web. While I don't plan to use it on VGMusic, I thought I'd share it with you: WebSynth Streams Player Demo. Try the "Java Jingle" track. Its hillarious. I hope some midi java applets will be available someday. (Mike Newman)

Sunday, January 10

       We must be taking Turlis's advice seriously, the news has been updated every single day.

If you want a comprehensive list and review of game music sites, I suggest you visit Palace Nu, run by Noi Gren.

Get your sheet music! After heading over to the home of the Game Music Ring (of which we are a part of), I noticed that There is sheet music at Rabite Man's site. (Powerlord)

Saturday, January 9

       VGMusic needs a 125x125 banner. If you would like to submit one, please send it in by email to me. (Mike Newman)

Friday, January 8

       The news just keeps coming. I suppose I should take the time to announce that we have a new person taking over the quiz: Amber Ritchie, also known as MissSchala, who also has her own website. There will be a new quiz up either this week or next week. (Powerlord)

Thursday, January 7

       Project Majestic Mix Update - Stephen Kennedy reports that the Majestic Mix CD is projected to be done by December 1999 by the latest (definitely sometime this millenium...). There will initially be only a limited number of 1000 copies sold. Each copy will be hand signed and contain a written number on the inside, which will correspond to its genealogy in production. Each CD will feature a foil cover which will have the words 'Limited Edition' written at the bottom and a 'making of' booklet as well as other special items^_^ (Also, the first 100 CDs will contain 'additional' items not included in the others.) Not only will the CD contain over 70 min. of music, but will be sold at $15 even. (This includes shipping and handling.) Everyone on the Project Majestic Mix mailing list will be the first to hear news regarding the project, as well as be the first and 'only' people to be able to preorder the CD before release. To learn more about the project, and to get onto the mailing list, Click Here. Project Majestic Mix is a LEGAL CD-Audio compilation of remastered Squaresoft music.
(Mike Newman)

Wednesday, January 6

       Big things are brewing at our hosted site, SSTrax... They just unveiled a RPG Module archive on their site, and are working on a new project codenamed digis.VGM Terra X (changed 01/08). The plan behind digis.VGM Terra X (changed 01/08) is to have all the members of SSTrax work on a single OSV to complete the whole thing in record time. Visit SSTrax for more details.

In other news: I'm probably going to be getting a new HD this Friday, as my old one decided to quit on me... I'm also going to retire my 420MB system drive, as I'm having problems with one of my power cables. (Powerlord)

Monday, January 4

       Bill Machrone, from PC Magazine, wrote another computer music related article. This own entitled: Do You Sing to Your PC? (Mike Newman)



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