Game Center Review

Back in the days when the best video games were in dimly lit arcades, I don’t remember being that big of a fanatic about getting the high score. It was pretty pointless to me. The game would just be turned off and my record would be lost. Even after game makers got creative, adding batteries to store the score, the arcade game wouldn’t be around forever. Eventually the local pizza place, deli or video rental store would replace old games with new ones. My high score would be loaded into a truck or a van, shipped to parts unknown.

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Free .WAV Wednesday — Boop #3

“The Princess Bride” is a great movie. It’s one of those classic films from the 1980’s. It has adventure, comedy, romance and lots of great quotes. The lines from that movie are memorable. It’s something that I think is lacking in today’s movies. What does that have to do with today’s free .wav file? I was reminded of a quote from Vizzini, “Go back to the beginning.” When something went wrong with a plan, they had to go back to the start. Nothing’s wrong here today, but starting at the beginning is a great place to learn. That’s why I chose Boop #3 for this week’s free sound effect.

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Pac-Man Championship Edition DX Review

30 years old for a video game is like counting in dog years. Pac-Man, born in 1980, might as well be 210 years old. But with the recent revision of the franchise, Pac-Man is better than ever. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX is an absolute gaming classic. The game is near flawless in almost every way. It’s fast, it’s fun, it’s colorful and it loaded with adrenaline pumping action. It’s amazing how a game could stay so retro, but become such a brand new experience. It is my absolute favorite version of the entire series, with no offense to Ms. Pac-Man.

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Free .WAV Wednesday — Coconut Hit

While creating the “Sound Effects — By Photics” collection, I researched Hollywood style audio techniques. Quite often, I would see references to coconut halves. Even from just watching old Bugs Bunny cartoons, I knew that a coconut could be an excellent way to mimic the sound of a horse galloping. I attempted to recreate such an effect, but I was unsuccessful. It’s a lot harder than it looks. I was especially astounded by the sheer difficulty of splitting a coconut in half.

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Free .WAV Wednesday — Heart Monitor

After creating 500 sound effects, available for the mere price of $10, do I just kick back and relax? Do I become instantly rich? Do I get to retire to my private island? HA… no! Instead, the tedious part of game development begins — marketing. Just because I created an amazing product, it means nothing if the world doesn’t know about it. That’s the idea behind a new Photics.com  series — Free .Wav Wednesdays. At least for the immediate future, I’m planning to add a free sound effect to this website every Wednesday.

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