Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
From Asteroids to Guitar Hero, World Video Game Hall of Fame finalists draw from four decades
ROCHESTER, N.Y. | The 12 finalists for the World Video Game Hall of Fame this year draw from four decades of gaming, from Atari Asteroids, played on coin-fed consoles in arcades, to Guitar Hero, for living-room rockers who compete on a plastic guitar.
Asteroids, which debuted in 1979 and Guitar Hero, which arrived in 2005, are nominated alongside 1980s launches Elite, Metroid, SimCity and Ultima, and from the 1990s: Myst, Neopets, Resident Evil, Tokimeki Memorial, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and You Don’t Know Jack.
Fans are invited to vote online until March 21.
The Hall of Fame recognizes games for their longevity, geographic reach and influence on video game design and pop culture.
There is no shortage of contenders, according to Jon-Paul Dyson, director of International Center for the History of Electronic Games at The Strong Museum in Rochester, where the Hall of Fame is located. Thousands of nominations come in each year for electronic games of all types — arcade, console, computer, handheld, and mobile.
“Asteroids is an icon of the late 70s arcade. Myst showed the potential of CD-ROM technology in the 90s. Neopets became a staple of browser-based, free games as we entered the 2000s. And Guitar Hero, which is less than 20 years old, has already proven its staying power,” Dyson said in a news release revealing the finalists.
The three games that receive the most public votes will form a “Player’s Choice” ballot, to be counted with other ballots submitted by members of a committee of journalists and scholars with video game expertise. The top vote getters will be inducted May 9.
More about the finalists, according to The Strong:
— Asteroids sold more than 70,000 arcade units, becoming Atari’s bestselling coin-operated game. A home version became available on the Atari 2600.
— Elite, developed in Great Britain, pioneered innovative 3D graphics and the idea of open-world games by allowing players to control ships that roamed the galaxy.
— Guitar Hero, with its licensed music and social gameplay, has sold more than 25 million units, earning more than $2 billion. It was launched by Harmonix and acquired by Activision.
— Nintendo’s Metroid with its protagonist, Samus, gave the gaming industry its first playable human female character in mainstream video games. The franchise has sold more than 20 million units worldwide.
— Myst, released by Broderbund, became the best-selling computer game in the 1990s, selling more than 6 million copies. Early CD-ROM technology offered high storage capacity but slow loading times that fit the slow-paced, contemplative style of the game.
— The browser-based, free-to-play Neopets offered a social component that allowed players to chat with each other and form guilds. With 25 million active users at its 2005 peak, it served as a testing ground for cyber safety mechanisms and immersive advertising.
— Resident Evil, known as Biohazard in Japan, was the first game to popularize the “survival horror” genre. Created by game director Shinji Mikami and released by Capcom, Resident Evil inspired a franchise of films that have grossed more than $1.2 billion.
— SimCity, released by Maxis, helped expand the audience for video games by offering an urban design simulator that appealed to both children and adults.
— Konami’s Tokimeki Memorial elevated the dating simulator genre, offering a cohesive narrative, colorful graphics and engaging gameplay.
— Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, launched by Neversoft/Activision in 1999, led to sequels that have generated about $1.4 billion in sales. The real-life skateboarder Hawk said the game “simultaneously ignited my career and overshadowed it.”
— Ultima, designed by Richard Garriott, is credited with helping to define and inspire the computer role-playing genre.
— You Don’t Know Jack reimagined the television game show for the home video game market. Streaming versions of the multiplayer game saw a boost during COVID-19 lockdowns.
Dua Lipa, SZA and Shania Twain to lead this year’s Glastonbury Festival in June
LONDON | Whatever the weather, the 200,000 or so music fans heading down to this year’s Glastonbury Festival are going to get something different.
For the first time since the festival started in 1970, two female acts will be performing the headline spots on the main stage on two of the three nights. British singer Dua Lipa will play the headline spot on the Pyramid Stage on Friday night and American artist SZA will close it out on Sunday.
Festival organizers announced Thursday the lineup so far for arguably the world’s most famous music festival, which takes place at Worthy Farm in the southwest of England from June 26 to June 30.
British rock ‘n’ roll band Coldplay will headline the main stage on Saturday, their first appearance since 2016. Coldplay will become the first act to headline Glastonbury five times, one ahead of The Cure.
News of Dua Lipa’s first appearance on the Pyramid Stage comes a day after she revealed that her first album in four years, to be released in May, would be titled “Radical Optimism.”
She seems to be excited about the prospect, if her post on Instagram is anything to go by.
“I have dreamt of this moment all my life. Something that lived only in my wildest dreams and highest manifestations!!! I am so excited to see you all in my favourite place on earth and make it a night to remember!” she wrote.
Another major female performer will be Canadian singer Shania Twain, who will play the legends slot on Sunday afternoon. The five-time Grammy winner has sold more than 100 million records.
“It’s going to be gorgeous, at sunset time, it is stunning. I’ve watched some of the other performances and I’m already planning what I’m going to wear. You know, all that exciting stuff,” she told the BBC.
It’s quite a comeback for Twain, who for 15 years did not release new music following a bout of Lyme disease that caused her to lose her voice. She returned in 2017 with the album “Now.” The following year, she underwent open throat surgery after her voice was damaged by the effects of the debilitating illness. This year will also kick off her third Las Vegas residency.
Other planned acts are U.S. rock band LCD Soundsystem, British rapper Little Simz, Nigerian singer Burna Boy, 1980s chart-topper singer Cyndi Lauper, and British soul star Olivia Dean.
There are plenty more to be named over the coming weeks. The festival is already sold out, but canceled or returned tickets — which cost 365 pounds ($465) — will go on resale in April.
Everyone turning up will be hoping this year’s Glastonbury will be one of the searingly hot ones rather than the mud baths that have dampened some in the past.
Zimmer talks about first
North American tour dates in seven years
LOS ANGELES | For generations, German composer Hans Zimmer’s film scores have soundtracked magic movie moments in “The Lion King,” “Gladiator,” the “Dark Knight” trilogy, and most recently, “Dune” and “Dune: Part Two.” This fall, Zimmer will bring his award-winning scores to the live stage.
His “Hans Zimmer Live” tour, which sold out in Europe, will make its way to the U.S. and Canada this fall, marking the first time Zimmer has performed in North America in seven years.
The last time, as some fans may recall, was a 2017 Coachella performance.
Over Zoom from New York, Zimmer said he was inspired after “refusing to get onto a stage for 40 years” because of something his friends, The Smiths’ Johnny Marr and Pharrell Williams, told him.
“You have to look your audience in the eye. You can’t hide behind the screen forever. You know, you owe it to your, you know, audience,” he says they told him. And after Coachella, he realized: “I can do this,” he said.
Having done the run in Europe, “we’re at the top of our game at the moment,” he says of his orchestra.
Don’t expect a traditional, classical music setting or a piano concerto — at “Hans Zimmer Live,” there is no conductor, no sheet music in front of each musician, and not a single frame from any of the films he’s referencing.
“I come from rock and roll and I believe in putting on a show,” he says. “People stay with us because we give them an experience which they’ve never had before… Life is hard. Life is tough these days. And people worked hard to go to pay for these tickets, so we better pull off a show that is absolutely worthy of them coming and seeing us.”
“Hans Zimmer Live” kicks off at the Gas South Arena in Duluth, Ga. on Sept. 6 and will hit 17 cities across the U.S. and Canada before concluding at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia on Oct. 6.
The tour includes stops in Hollywood, Florida; Raleigh, North Carolina; New York; Baltimore; Boston; Montreal and Toronto; Minneapolis; Chicago; Fort Worth, Texas; Denver; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Oakland, California, and Seattle.
Zimmer says attendees can expect a diverse audience. “I’ve looked out at the audience and there’s a mom with her grandson sitting next to a guy with a mohawk, sitting next to a man in a business suit, sitting next to another bunch of, you know, bikers,” Zimmer said. “So, it’s not just multi-generational, it’s multicultural.”
In more ways than one: Zimmer’s orchestra is from Ukraine; “Two weeks after the invasion started, we managed to get about half of them out of Odessa,” he says. Lebo M, who sings “The Lion King” theme, was a political refugee from South Africa when Zimmer first met him. Pedro Eustache, his woodwind player, is from Venezuela, “and he thinks he can probably never go back home,” says Zimmer.
“I have this very, very international group of players and … part of what makes them such emotionally committed musicians is that they all have a story to tell you.”
“Hans Zimmer Live,” which has been recently rearranged, includes works from “Gladiator,” “Pirates of the Caribbean,” “The Dark Knight,” “Interstellar,” “The Lion King,” “The Last Samurai,” and “Dune.”
“Each piece is connected with the adventure of actually creating it, the adventure of actually making that movie, the adventure of the collaboration, the adventure of, you know, ‘How did we get here?”, he says. “Where did this journey start? And how can we make sure that it never ends?
“Each one of those movies is painted in color and affected by what is going on around us. And they have all been extraordinary journeys.”
All of these films and their scores are vastly different, but Zimmer’s idiosyncratic approach and arrangements should be considered the connective tissue. That, and a certain je ne sais quoi that makes an effective — and affecting — score.
“You need to be committed. You need to be honest. You can’t be sentimental,” he says of a successful score. “The other thing is, it’s the people who are performing it. Because if you think about it, the last actors that really get hired, the last actors that perform in a movie, are the musicians. So, I’m very careful about picking the people I work with.”
Tickets for “Hans Zimmer Live” will become available for purchase at www.hanszimmerlive.com, starting at March 22 at 10 am local time.
Carmen, the Raspberries frontman and ‘All by Myself’ and ‘Hungry Eyes’ singer, dies at 74
NEW YORK | Singer-songwriter Eric Carmen, who fronted the power-pop 1970s band the Raspberries and later had soaring pop hits like “All by Myself” and “Hungry Eyes” from the hit “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack, has died. He was 74.
His death was announced on his website by his wife, Amy Carmen, who did not reveal a cause, saying only that he died “in his sleep, over the weekend.”
“It brought him great joy to know, that for decades, his music touched so many and will be his lasting legacy,” the message read.
Carmen had 13 songs in the Billboard Hot 100, including three in the Top 10. The Raspberries, which formed in Cleveland, had four Top 40 singles, including the Top 5 hit “Go All the Way.”
Formed in 1970, the Raspberries made four albums for Capitol Records and were known for their matching suits at a time when most bands had abandoned them.
“Almost every band had hair down to their waist and beards and ripped jeans and they looked like a bunch of hippies, and I wanted to get as far away from that as I could,” Carmen told the Observer in 2017.
The Raspberries’ second album, “Fresh,” released in 1972, would be their highest charting, hitting No. 36 and featuring two Top 40 hits, “I Wanna Be With You” and “Let’s Pretend.”
The Raspberries ended their first run in 1975, two years after creative differences hastened the departures of drummer Jim Bonfanti and bassist Dave Smalley.
Carmen then launched a solo career and his self-titled debut included the soaring hit “All By Myself,” which sold more than 1 million copies in the U.S. and reached No. 2 in 1976. His other hits included “Make Me Lose Control” — a No. 3 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1988 — and he co-wrote “Almost Paradise,” sung by Mike Reno and Ann Wilson, which peaked at No. 7 in 1984.
Carmen’s albums include 1977’s self-produced and autobiographical “Boats Against the Current,” 1978’s “Change of Heart” and 1980’s “Tonight You’re Mine.” His songs “Nowhere to Hide” and “Desperate Fools” are soft rock classics.
In 1984, he released a second self-titled album, teaming up with Bob Gaudio from Frankie Valli & The Four Seasons. It had the single “I Wanna Hear It from Your Lips.” In 1987, he had another massive hit when his recording of “Hungry Eyes” was featured on 1987’s “Dirty Dancing” soundtrack, reaching the Top 5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and propelling the album to sales of over 32 million copies.
Carmen was born in Cleveland and was musical early, taking violin lessons at 6 and later learning piano and guitar. He was a student at John Carroll University when he joined a local group called Cyrus Erie. He and another Cyrus Erie member, guitarist Wally Bryson, joined forces with former members of a band called the Choir to form the Raspberries, combining melodies, guitar riffs and lush ballads.
He and the Raspberries reunited for a couple of shows in late 2004 at Cleveland’s House of Blues, which led to dates around the country the following year and the album “Live on Sunset Strip,” which included liner notes by no less a fan than Bruce Springsteen, who hailed the Raspberries as “THE great underrated power pop masters.”
“It’s more satisfying now to go onstage and play with these guys than it ever was,” Carmen told The Plain Dealer in 2007. “It’s also nice that after 30-some years, we finally seem to be eliciting the respect of the media and people who maybe the first time around didn’t quite get it.”
—From AP reports
