Every one of my news feeds today is warning about a Muslim "day of rage". Vincent James ran the source video through a translator, and turns out it's just a generic "make your voices heard" sort of rally. Go to the 45:10 segment here to see the translation. Zero Hedge posted a written statement which mirrors what was said in the video. No mention of the word "rage", no call to violence, or anything of the sort. This appears to be Western propaganda, playing out in real-time.
Video Game Music
In other news, I saw this ant-themed game in my feeds today. The graphics look cool, but what in the heck is with the awful music in ninety-five-plus percent of modern video games? For reference, I was a huge fan of SimAnt on DOS in 1991-- it has not the best-programmed OPL synth made by any stretch, but it's at least highly memorable: I almost certainly won't ever forget the theme song, considering it's already been etched into my brain for thirty two years.
Every modern game composer I look up has the identical biographical information: "Known for writing music for commercials." Oh goody. Whereas when I was a kid, video game musicians were classically-trained pianists from age three-- that's why the songs were so good. When a new "Halo" or "Gears of War" or "Spider-Man" game is being made, why don't they call up someone like Yuzo Koshiro? Even if they want orchestra music, I can guarantee someone like him can create something very memorable and interesting to listen to.
The last time I remember one of these style composers being on a major triple-A budget game was Nobuo Uematsu on the Xbox 360's "Lost Odyssey", way the heck back in 2007-- and just listen to it. Who wouldn't want music this good in every video game? All the triple-A developers need to do is pick up the phone and call these guys. Instead they phone the person who made Home Depot commercials. I don't understand it. It can't be a money thing; is it some kind of new "old boys" club, where it's about "who knows whom" versus a meritocracy?
Racing Games
With the enormous disappointment that is the new Forza Motorsport, I started thinking about some other "simcade" racers I could try. One option which came to mind: I wonder what the status is of "Project CARS 2" running on PlayStation 5? I quite liked the original game, but I'm hearing conflicting reports that it "runs fine", or that it has "visual artifacts". I could also buy a license for the Windows version from "CD Keys" for 28 USD, but PC gaming is such a hassle I'd rather just pop a disc into my PS5.
A second option involves the port of Codemasters's "GRID Autosport" that the Switch received four-or-so years ago. Unfortunately it never got a physical release, and I don't really like "buying" digital games. Nonetheless, it would set me back 35 USD if I went that route. It's a "lift and shift" of the PlayStation 3 game, and I recall that it has native 1080p / 720p output in docked / handheld modes respectively, along with a rock solid thirty frames-per-second mode, with all of the post-processing of the original title. It would also be really novel to play that style of game on a handheld.