Tim Tracy Associate Producer, GameSpot Live

Now Playing: Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA), Viewtiful Joe (GC), KOTOR (XBOX) Desperately Missing: Pocari Sweat, C.C. Lemon (210 Lemons), Beef Donburi, aka Beef Bowl

Chip Off the Old Block

Given the fact that I work for GameSpot, it should come as no great surprise that gaming means a great deal to me, and the fact that I've been able to parlay that into gainful employment is something that I'll always be grateful for having the chance to do. The fact that the work my colleagues and I produce means so much to the people who read our site is one of the most fulfilling feelings I've ever had. (This is beginning to sound like a "Dear John" letter, but trust me, I'm not going anywhere. You're stuck with me, in fact.)

While games are great and all, it should probably come as no surprise that there are things outside of video games that the editors of GameSpot enjoy. Ryan Mac Donald is an avid hunter, Tyler loves to ride motorcycles, and Jeff Gerstmann is a master builder of Gundams, to name a few. Myself, I've always had a lifelong love of music, with a wide-ranging taste that rivals my taste in games. It all started when I was but a few years old when my mother taught me how to lay a needle down on her Beatles albums.

It certainly doesn't look like much, but it makes cool sounds.

I do enjoy many kinds of music, but aside from owning one or two soundtracks, video game music has never been that interesting to me. I can certainly enjoy the music while I'm playing the game, but it normally doesn't go past that. However, just a couple of weeks ago, I came across a Web site devoted to "chip music," which, in a nutshell, is electronic music created with old-school video game and computer hardware. Through reverse engineering, clever programming, and just plain geekiness, people all over the world are coaxing incredible sounds out of Game Boys, Amigas, Atari STs, and 8-bit Nintendos. It certainly sounds like a strange concept, and it truly is. But there's something about this music that really grabs me, and I'm still trying to put my finger on it.

To give an example of how this music is made, one approach is to use a homebrewed cartridge for the Game Boy named "Little Sound DJ"--while Nintendo would probably take issue with its very existence, this clever piece of software turns your average everyday Game Boy into a full-fledged sequencer capable of faithfully reproducing the same sounds you've heard so many times before. This is just the tip of the iceberg, too. If there has ever been a console or computer that has ever made any sort of sound, I'd be willing to bet that there's somebody out there tinkering with it so they can make music out of it.

Insane, sure. Cool, yes.

At its heart, chip music is truly grassroots, truly underground. It's music that anyone who grew up playing video games can appreciate, as it brings back so many memories, but at the same time, it sounds fresh and new. Listen to a few tracks, and you'll instantly be taken on a trip down memory lane--not because the melodies are similar to the games you played so many years ago, but because the raw sounds that made those songs are still there, just rearranged to make something brand new. Another aspect that pulls me in is how the community of artists who make this music certainly aren't in it for the money. They're just out there to relive the same memories we all share, and to that end, you'll find more than enough music to keep you going for a good long while just by doing a Google search and a little bit of poking around. Give it a shot. I think you'll find this stuff pretty interesting.