Community Skratch Games 2009 part 2

We continue our series of video podcasts looking at the recent Community Skratch Games 09, held in Galway, Ireland in April this year.

Part 2 picks up where 1 left with more live footage from the events as well as footage of various practice sessions. Featured in this video are Lone Wolf, Clockwork, G.O.D, Blam and Plato and Vince Mack Mahon.

More videos are incoming as well as a special guest mix from our man Clockwork and other tba specials. For now though, sit back and enjoy.

For more info on the Community Skratch Games check their myspace. Be sure to also check the NozL shop where you can pre-order copies of the forthcoming Vince Mack Mahon and Grandeurs of Delusions releases.

Many thanks to Rich Nozl and all those involved for letting us air these videos and doing all the hard work.

As with all our video podcasts the file is optimised for iTunes/iPod and viewable on all platforms with standard players including WMV, Quicktime and VLC.

File type is .mp4, 71mb, 10 mins.

Download the video here (right click and save as)

Community Skratch Games 2009 part 1

As promised we continue our series of video podcasts courtesy of the Community Skratch collective with the first part of the 2009 Community Skratch Games, which were held in Galway, Ireland, in April this year.

The four day event saw showcases and workshops take place in various venues of the city with artists from Ireland, the UK and Sweden including Vince Mack Mahon, Nozl, Grandeurs of Delusion, Blam and Plato, Tuki, Gem and more.

The guys filmed the entire proceedings and very kindly put together some short edits of the weekend for us including a couple of exclusive bits just for the Turntable Radio viewers and listeners. This is part 1 of a three part series of video podcasts which will then be followed by some more special podcasts, details of which will be announced soon.

In the meantime enjoy ten minutes of skratch action from some of Europe’s finest at what looked like a very lively event.

For more info on the Community Skratch Games check their myspace. Be sure to also check the NozL shop where you can pre-order copies of the forthcoming Vince Mack Mahon and Grandeurs of Delusions releases.

Many thanks to Rich Nozl and all those involved for letting us air these videos and doing all the hard work.

As with all our video podcasts the file is optimised for iTunes/iPod and viewable on all platforms with standard players including WMV, Quicktime and VLC.

File type is .mp4, 68mb, 10 mins.

Download the video here (right click and save as)

EDIT: I’d mispelt GOD as Delusions of Grandeur not Grandeurs of Delusion. Note to self: working when tired results in stupid mistakes.

DJ Hero, Scratch: first guitars, now DJing and turntablism.

Its been tough to ignore the monumental rise of the Guitar Hero franchise and its various copycat incarnations (Rock Band etc). As befits these Fear & Loathing times for the music industry, games have now proven a better earner for some bands than the albums their tracks were licensed from. Aerosmith are one fine example, notoriously making more money from their branded Guitar Hero game than they ever made from any of their albums to date. Not bad when you consider their multi-platinum-selling status with records like Pump.

The guitar format was always going to wear out though, and so inevitably games developers have turned their attention to DJs, DJing and turntables in particular (though “Laptop DJ” is one franchise I’d love to see launch… and fail). Enter two new titles: DJ Hero and Scratch. DJ Hero, as the name implies, is from Activision, makers of the Guitar Hero game. Scratch, meanwhile, is being developed by a far smaller company, but is noteworthy for tablism fans for one simple reason: Mixmaster Mike is helping develop it. In fact, it seems Scratch was such a strong product that Activision tried to buy the company just to remove the competition it might present.

What I’m curious to know though, is what you readers all think about this. Personally,I think its easy to shoot these things down as exploitative and undermining an artform that takes years of dedication. Hell, I play guitar and I’m no fan of Guitar Hero in many respects. However there is a flipside to this, in that these Guitar Hero-type games have seen a good upsurge in kids learning guitar – no bad thing in my view. Could DJ Hero and Scratch do the same? Pure exploitation or is there really no such thing as bad publicity – even for artforms??

Comments below please!

Further reading: ‘DJ Hero’ Vs. ‘Scratch’ As Music Game-Makers Turn To Turntables