To start the episode, Sam tries to plan out his Gen Con experience, a most pointless task if ever there was one.

In news this week, an Olympic gymnast performs her routine to a musical Zelda medley and Valve makes Team Fortress 2 even more awesome.

In games this week, Jonathan has finished Dynamite Jack and The Act and recommends them both.  Alex ends his sabbatical and dives back into gaming with Ghost Recon, Symphony, and Nexus: The Jupiter Incident.  Sam busts out some sweet moves in Lollipop Chainsaw, and watches someone else play Metal Gear Solid 4.

In the topic, we decide to discuss something that won’t be contentious at all: the best game music.  Each of us picks three songs and then we discuss why it’s the best.  There are some surprises.  There are some fantastic choices.  There are some questionable choices.  Whatever you think about our favorites, what are yours?

Next week, Sam will no doubt have drunk Gen Con tales to relate.  Fun!

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Mark the Game: Retro/Grade

It’s a music rhythm game played with a guitar controller that looks like a side-scrolling shoot-em-up played in reverse. *brainasploded* It’s currently only slated for a 2012 PS3 release, though I hope it’s announced for the 360 as well, mostly because I don’t want to have to buy yet another plastic guitar.

Jet Set Siempre – by Clive Tanaka

This is probably my favorite new album of 2011. The music is like a laid back, island Daft Punk. Its perfect pop and super infectious, with the just the right dashes of cool and dark to make you feel like a superstar as your rock back and forth to the beat. My favorite song by far is Neu Chicago, possibly the slickest track that’s ever glid through my ears.

The album was originally released on cassette(!), and later vinyl– but you can download it from the link above. That will take you to the free version– the A and B sides of the tape, mixed together into two MP3 files. This is not a bad way to hear these songs, and they’re well worth the download. For $5, you can get the full album, with all the songs separated and in higher quality.

This is fantastic music, and more than worth the tiny amount being charged. No matter what, you should hear this. And now you can.

You have no excuse.

Enjoy!

This past weekend was Harmony, Inc.‘s International Competition and Convention (IC&C). Celebrating its 50th anniversary, Harmony is a society of women dedicated to the enjoyment, education, and promotion of Barbershop a capella. Choruses and quartets from across the eastern United States and Canada (as far west as Chicago, Illinois, and London, Ontario) gathered in Providence, Rhode Island, to share their love of music and compete for gold medals and sparkling crowns.
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