Composer News, Tips, Tricks & Ideas

Bethesda has released an hour-long concert of Starfield music.

Yu-Peng Chen, the lead composer for most of the music in Genshin Impact, is leaving HoYoverse to pursue his own dreams.

Genshin Impact’s soundtrack is huge, with a shocking number of tunes that span across the game’s current five regions. Battle themes, town themes, and even character themes, every Genshin Impact player probably has a favorite track of theirs they can hum on command. Many of these iconic themes were composed by Yu-Peng Chen, a composer for Genshin Impact, who unfortunately announced plans to leave HoYoverse and pursue other endeavors.

The latest Star Wars Lego set is a massive version of the Venator-Class Republic Attack Cruiser. Priced at $649.99, Lego Insider members will have priority access to this new set starting on Oct. 1, with the set becoming available to the general public on Oct. 4 exclusively from the Lego Store.

If it hasn’t been made clear by now, Masahiro Sakurai takes every aspect of video game creation very seriously. We’re not just saying that because of his beloved “Creating Games” YouTube Channel, but instead, we’re saying that because the videos within that channel highlight many experiences he’s had that indicate just how seriously he takes things. For example, he’s talked multiple times about music on his channel, and his latest video highlighted a pair of songs that required both his input and a true understanding of music. An understanding that even Sakurai admitted he misunderstood for one piece he wanted in Super Smash Bros Ultimate.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Positives: The gameplay mechanics are fluid and satisfying, the music is amazingly composed, the general aesthetic wonderfully captures thePositives: The gameplay mechanics are fluid and satisfying, the music is amazingly composed, the general aesthetic wonderfully captures the retro feel of the megaman X series while injecting its own personal flair, the abilities and power-ups are creative and varied, the the quasi-random level generation provides good replay value. Negatives: This game does a pretty poor job of explaining itself and how it works. The power-ups, for instance, oftentimes have descriptions that do not explain how they work or what they do effectively at all, opting instead to provide some tongue-in-cheek one-liner, leaving you to piece together what the power does.

From Netflix to Crunchyroll and beyond, there’s a ton of different services to watch the latest and greatest in anime. One of the most underrated streaming services in terms of anime is Hulu, which boasts not only a selection of popular older titles but is also the simulcasting destination for new releases that are licensed to distribute through Disney.

Sonic Superstars is one of many big titles scheduled to release in October. In the lead-up to the game, we’ve slowly been learning more about what Sonic Team is preparing. There’s a new rival called Trip who’s going to have an interesting backstory. Although Sonic Superstars is ditching the pixel art style of Sonic Mania, it’ll retain the gameplay of classic Sonic titles.

Guillermo del Toro gave a surprise introduction to Hayao Miyazaki's The Boy and the Heron, which premiered at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival on September 7.

We have our first look at the Amirdrassil Raid weapon models coming in Guardians of the Dream Patch 10.2! The new raid features nine bosses composed of corrupt defenders of the Emerald Dream to smoldering servants of the Elemental Plane of Fire, culminating in a showdown with the Primal Incarnate of Fire: Fyrakk the Blazing. Besides the weapon appearances, we've also previewed the special effects on the upcoming raid weapons and Fyrakk's legendary axe model.

The Patch 10.2 PTR is now available for testing, and while the encounter journal is not fully complete, it includes a full raid boss list for Amirdrassil: The Dream's Hope! The new raid features nine bosses composed of corrupt defenders of the Emerald Dream to smoldering servants of the Elemental Plane of Fire, culminating in a showdown with the Primal Incarnate of Fire: Fyrakk the Blazing!

While the upcoming Sonic Superstars is still a little over a month away, Sega has revealed new level music to give fans a taste of what’s to come. Sonic the Hedgehog has always been known to bring fresh sounds from a myriad of genres that give life to gameplay — funk, rock, dance, ambient and more have always found their way into Sonic titles. While long-time fans may not have always positively received every Sonic game that’s ever been released, it is generally agreed upon that the franchise’s music always delivers on sweet sounds.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak here and learn more about sponsorship opportunities here. At the event, we will also announce 25 top game startups as the 2024 Game Changers. Apply or nominate today!

Intel has given a close-up of its next-gen Meteor Lake client and Granite Rapids data center CPUs which utilize advanced packaging technologies.

Zoom will offer users an AI assistant that can tap large language models from companies including OpenAI to summarize your video meetings and compose chat messages for you. 

The Spyro Reignited Trilogy has sold more than 10 million copies since launch.

The developers behind Patapon spiritual successor Ratatan have thanked the project’s backers after it reached the end of its successful Kickstarter campaign.

My favorite video game of 2023 involves a portly, balding pizza chef named Peppino Spaghetti scaling a medieval tower to defeat a sentient floating pie threatening to blow up his pizzeria. It was developed by a small independent studio named Tour de Pizza, led by a designer named McPig. Its soundtrack was largely composed by a first-time composer and a high school student. Its art style is at once expressive and grotesque. It’s called Pizza Tower, and it is, in all seriousness, one of the best 2D platformers I’ve played in a long time.

It seems Joker 2 is shaping up to be an all-out musical after the latest tease from the sequel’s composer. Hildur Guðnadóttir was quizzed recently about how the musical nature of Joker: Folie à Deux will impact the score. 

I was first introduced to Bucky O’Hare through the NES game. This was back in 2010, long after the cartoon was off the air. It’s an interesting game, which I’ll get to in a bit. However, I quickly grabbed the cartoon to watch and maybe gave up after two episodes. I know that two episodes is a pretty brief amount of time to try and form an opinion on a show, but I couldn’t stand it. It was a horrible maelstrom of bad attempts at wordplay and nauseating self-righteousness.

If you’ve been playing Bethesda's massive new space RPG or watching gameplay online and have been wondering who composed its songs – which have been garnering all sorts of praise – this Starfield soundtrack page is the place to be.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has imaged the SN 1987A, a distant supernova remnant in the Large Magellanic Cloud, 168,000 light-years away. Webb Telescope's NIRCam has uncovered intricate structures, outshining prior observations. With international collaboration from NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, Webb aims to unravel cosmic mysteries using high-resolution imagery. Check out the highlights below:

Gaming history has its share of stories where parents get in the way. Where computers, arcades, and consoles are misunderstood by an out-of-touch generation, and where passionate young designers and coders get into the hobby–and even become famous–in spite of their parents' wishes.

Imagine Dragons has released its official Starfield song, called Children of the Sky (a Starfield song).

There is plenty of hype and excitement over Starfield. This game was unveiled years ago, and being one of the first new RPGs from Bethesda in a very long time, it had fans eager to play it. Of course, since that grand initial reveal of Starfield, Microsoft had acquired Bethesda. Now, this mega RPG release is only coming to the PC and Xbox Series X/S platforms. Despite that, those who want to dive into the game will get it this coming week. 

While you’ll have to wait until 2024 to see Dune: Part Two on the big screen, Fandango is giving us all a great excuse to go out to the movies this Sunday. To commemorate National Cinema Day, Fandango is offering $4 tickets to any movie screening happening across the U.S. on Aug. 27, giving you the perfect excuse to complete the Barbenheimer challenge for just $8.

No anime is complete without a character song or an episode-closing bop — One Piece included. Between over 1,000 episodes and a handful of movies, the animation adaptations of Eiichiro Oda’s manga have spawned over 50 singles over the years. So when it came time to write music for Netflix’s live-action take on One Piece, composers Sonya Belousova and Giona Ostinelli (who previously composed for The Witcher and wrote “Toss a Coin to Your Witcher”) knew they had to whip up at least one total banger, even if no one asked them to.

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With Sea of Stars only a few days away, developers Sabotage Studios have decided to treat fans to the sounds of the game with a newly released website, featuring music, sounds, and details on the game’s sound design and its composers.

Gaming merch company iam8Bit has reissued vinyl LPs for the amazing soundtracks to Hades and Bastion. The double LP soundtrack to Bastion is now available for $42.99, while the larger, four-LP set for Hades is $89.99. Purchasing either soundtrack also entitles you to digital downloads of the score in the FLAC lossless audio format.

Payday 3 is shaping up to be another fantastic heist game in the mold set by the series, but there’s a new challenger in the wings – and it’s somewhat of an inside job. At Gamescom 2023, PCGamesN spoke to former Payday and Payday 2 leads Ulf Andersson and Simon Viklund about the upcoming co-op game they’re working on with their new studio, GTFO developer 10 Chambers Collective.

Craig Mazin, showrunner and co-creator of HBO's The Last of Us adaptation, is open to series spin-offs «in principle».

Hardcore WoW Classic launches globally on August 24, 2023 at 3:00 PM PDT and we've prepared a Hardcore Leveling Tier List. This Tier List will rank each Class based on how well that class performs leveling from 1 to 60, taking into consideration things such as gear dependency, downtime, escape tools, and utility. If you'd like to read more about why classes were ranked a specific way for this Tier List, we've got the full guide linked below -- Hardcore WoW Leveling Tier List

A video games showcase or event hosted by Geoff Keighley has been subject to stage invaders once again — for the second time in less than a year.

Geoff Keighley hosted Gamescom Opening Night Live today, and much like Summer Game Fest before it, the event was dominated by new looks at previously announced titles.

Gamescom 2023 is finally here, and to kick off the event, Geoff Keighley's Opening Night Live event, filled with new announces for upcoming games, including Alan Wake 2, Mortal Kombat 1, and Assassin's Creed Mirage, along with some new game reveals.

The dream of owning the first Metal Gear games in one location will soon come to fruition with the Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection. Now, a new platform is getting on on the action. In addition to current-gen consoles and PC, Konami announced plans to bring the first volume of the Metal Gear Solid bundle to PlayStation 4.

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A PC demo has been released for Berserk Boy, an upcoming retro-inspired action platformer.

A lot of video games come out every month, even during slower months like August. If you gave the game release calendar a thwap with the ol’ broom, a few huge AAA-tier games would likely drop to the ground like anvils. Games like Madden NFL 24, the rerelease of Red Dead Redemption, Immortals of Aveum, and Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon kick up a cloud that overshadows the arrival of smaller games — potentially great ones, even, from developers you might’ve heard of and new indie creators alike. Like, some that may actually end up on your GOTY list.

Overhype, the studio behind the really rather good Battle Brothers, is beating its swords into plasma rifles for its next game. Called Menace, it's another turn-based «brutal tactical RPG» in the vein of its predecessor, but it's trading in grim low-fantasy for a «grounded sci-fi strategy experience». I think grounded might just be another way of saying grim, judging by the number of people howling and turning into clouds of vapour in the trailer.

Did you know that your iPhone has some cool tricks hidden right inside the spacebar on your keyboard? Well, it does! If you want to text lightning-fast, you should check out these handy iPhone tips and tricks.

Dimension Shellshock, the first paid DLC expansion for Tribute Games' acclaimed brawler Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder's Revenge, launches for all platforms on 31st August.

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A few renders of what a possible AMD Navi 4X Halo GPU based on the RDNA 4 architecture have been published which should us a glimpse of what this flagship gaming chip could've been.

Mahindra Electric Automobiles Limited, a subsidiary of Mahindra & Mahindra, has announced its collaboration with Padma Bhushan and Academy Award-winning music composer AR Rahman to craft Mahindra's sonic identity in its fleet of electric vehicles. Unlike ICE vehicles, electric vehicles do not produce any sound since they have a battery-powered motor under the hood. While this has a positive impact on the environment as it helps reduce the use of fossil fuels, these ‘sound-less' vehicles can become quite dangerous for pedestrians. Therefore, companies add artificial sounds to raise the safety quotient of these electric vehicles.

Bradley Cooper’s directing journey has taken its most ambitious turn yet with his new Leonard Bernstein biopic, Maestro. The teaser trailer for the Netflix movie arrived on Tuesday and gave us our first preview of Cooper’s portrayal of the composer, along with Carey Mulligan as Bernstein’s longtime wife and friend Felicia Montealegre.

Listen up, theater kids: Stephen Sondheim has one last posthumous wish to grant. Prior to his death in 2021, the famous musical theater composer was collaborating and advising on spatial audio remasters of some of his most famous works: Company, Sweeney Todd and Into the Woods. He also consulted on plans for an audio reissue of Assassins. Co-produced by Didier C. Deutsch and Peter E. Jones, the remasters of those four famous Sondheim musicals are now available for your listening pleasure.

The first trailer for Maestro is here – and it promises a biopic told through the lens of a decades-spanning love story.

When Captain Marvel made over a billion dollars at the box office back in 2019, a sequel was made a certainty. Four years later, that follow-up finally arrives – and to make up for any lost time, Brie Larson's hero is returning with extra firepower; she's joined by her famous fan Ms. Marvel and WandaVision's Monica Rambeau. 

Composer Austin Wintory has a secret that might surprise you. For years, his work in games like Journey, Assassin's Creed Syndicate, and Aliens Fireteam Elite has consisted of sweeping scores populated with orchestral swings and emotive choirs. You'd be forgiven for thinking his musical passions were strictly inspired by cinematic soundtracks or the symphony.

Flashback 2, the sequel to Delphine Software's classic 16-bit sci-fi puzzle-platformer, now has a release date and is launching for PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, and PC on 16th November. And to celebrate the news, developer Microids has shared a fresh look at the game in action, this time showcasing its sprawling city of New Washington.

NatsumeAtari and ININ have announced that the next retro revival from Tengo Project will be Shadow of the Ninja – Reborn. This is described as a “completely new production” but is based on the 1990 NES game, Shadow of the Ninja, also known as Blue Shadow in Europe and Yami no Shigotonin Kage in Japan. It’s set for release in Spring 2024.

We're thrilled to announce the return of GamesBeat Summit Next, hosted in San Francisco this October, where we will explore the theme of «Playing the Edge.» Apply to speak  here  and learn more about sponsorship opportunities  here . 

Baldur’s Gate 3 takes sidequests to a whole new level — it’s sidequests within sidequests. When aiding Asterion on his Pale Elf companion quest, prepare for a surprise detour into the mysterious Gauntlet of Shar. Much to Shadowheart’s content, this quest concerns her beloved Mistress of the Night and will require players to solve puzzles, fight some undead and solve three of her trials. Even after all that’s done, Shadowheart will briefly mention that this Spear of Night might also come in handy.

If you’re playing smash hit Baldur’s Gate 3 but have never played a game like it or Dungeons & Dragons before, you may find it difficult and overwhelming.

Baldur’s Gate 3, the Dungeons & Dragons-based role-playing game from Larian Studios, hit a peak of 814,666 Steam players on Sunday — the ninth highest ever recorded on the platform.

Immortals of Aveum is an upcoming action game that mixes a fantasy world and its magic with first-person shooting. We've played a chunk of it and enjoyed it – read our full hands-on preview thoughts here – but now, we've heard a track from the game's score. And you can too because we can exclusively reveal that track today. 

Devcom has announced measures to guarantee a safe environment at its conference this August, with the organisers detailing plans to bolster its inclusivity and create a “safer space.”

Hades expert Jade ‘AngeL1C’ has just made history by becoming the first Hades player to beat the game on its hardest setting with no mods or prior seeding – a challenge that was previously considered to be basically impossible. The incredible roguelike game took over when it was released in September 2020 following two years in early access, and ever since then its top players have been striving to defeat its ultimate challenge.

In one Eon's Fringe questline, we help a Vulpera composer named Pedgi get over a creative slump. This questline rewards the cosmetic Gilded Sunglasses — dark-tinted glasses with golden frames.

Ubisoft has confirmed that David Gasman will return to voice Rayman in the "Rayman in the Phantom Show" expansion for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

Fantasian, the Apple Arcade game written and produced by Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, appears to be coming to Steam.

Twitter's rebranding exercise is complete and the platform is now known as X. But owner Elon Musk is not done yet. After renaming the social media platform, he is now renaming all the associated assets of the platform as well. Twitter Blue has already become Blue, and there were some reports that tweets can be renamed as ‘posts' after some users briefly saw the name change on the platform on Monday. Now, the latest victim of the renaming exercise is TweetDeck, the dashboard application for managing multiple accounts of the microblogging site. TweetDeck is going to be renamed to XPro, and the new branding has begun appearing in some places, including the top of the landing page.

Famed FromSoftware composer Yuka Kitamura has announced that she's leaving the company.

Longtime FromSoftware composer, Yuka Kitamura, has announced via Twitter that they will be leaving FromSoftware to work as a freelancer.

FromSoftware composer Yuka Kitamura has left the company and is now pursuing freelance work. She's worked on games such Dark Souls III, Bloodborne, and Shadows Die Twice.

Nintendo has released a new trailer showing off the upcoming Rayman DLC for Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope.

Yuka Kitamura, composer at FromSoftware, announced that they've exited the game studio.

Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

The existence of asteroids has been a big concern for Earth and Scientists from all over the world try to track these rocky objects moving around the Sun. According to scientists, there can be possible threats to Earth from asteroids and that is why they should be tracked by us.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, Team Reptile's upcoming action-adventure game heavily inspired by Jet Set Radio, is coming to Xbox and PlayStation on September 1 – two weeks after the game releases on PC and Nintendo Switch.

Bomb Rush Cyberfunk, the heavily Jet-Set-Radio-inspired adventure from developer Team Reptile, launches for PlayStation and Xbox on 1st September, two weeks after Switch and PC.

It may not seem like it, but it’s already been over a year since Xenoblade Chronicles 3 hit the Nintendo Switch. Monolith Soft put everything they had into this 4th entry into their series, which showed. Oh, and we didn’t make a type there. It is the fourth game despite the numbering, as the Wii U had the “X” title, remember? Anyway, the game was the franchise’s best-selling title and was nominated as Game of the Year at The Game Awards, which many felt was well deserved. But one of the things that people remember most about the game was the music.

Investors on Wall Street and beyond are betting that the great tech rally of 2023 has staying power, even as they appear skeptical that the artificial-intelligence era will live up to the hype.

Miraculous 'AI-infused' surgery restores movement and sensation in a paralysed US man; Goa Shipyard and IISc collaborate to implement AI in shipbuilding; Japan aims to accelerate scientific discovery with generative AI development- this and more in our daily AI roundup. Take a look.

Bungie composer Ella Feingold, who has been orchestrating Destiny since 2015, has posted an image on Instagram of a score sheet with a notable name on it: P. McCartney (spotted by VGC). The title of the composition has been obscured, while the orchestration is credited to Feingold and Jordan Cox, and lest there were any doubt, Feingold's caption reads «Yeah that P. McCartney. That's all I can say for now.» 

Elements of Paul McCartney’s Destiny 1 theme will seemingly be incorporated for new music coming to the game.

Chrono Trigger is a legendary Squaresoft (now Square Enix) JRPG that is long overdue for a pixel remaster treatment.