Let’s Talk Data

Tetris — Data?

Hypnotic — the only way to describe it. It gets in your brain and it’s almost impossible to shift thoughts without a radical distraction.

So tonight, I was scanning the news, just catching up, and I don’t know what triggered it, but I thought about Tetris. In particular, that Nintendo 64 game. (Doesn’t that seem like lightyears ago when it came out?) Ever since Tetris was released, I’ve been addicted to the simplicity and incredibly challenging nature of that game. Worse, I’m addicted — to the music.

So, I was trying to wrap up a project tonight and I was listening to some internet techno station (Green Lounge, great for writing) and I started thinking about that music. And, I was afraid to get up and plug the game in. Sure, that would stop my Tetris jonesing — but I wouldn’t get any work done.

Yeah, right. As if I’d get work done sitting at this pc with that music in my brain.

So, I sat here, and searched, and searched, and searched.

And it is facinating. I found several interesting threads by programmers/hacks trying to break the code. Apparently, the soundtrack is built into the game — some midi specially encoded data stream. Not easy to “decode”. (This is way beyond me. Demographics, mapping, I know. Even a little Basic I can handle.) I have learned that there are lots of people (which is scrary in itself) who have taken Neil Voss’s soundtrack and reworked it…painstakingly.

To their defense, once you hear that soundtrack, none other will do.

Anyway…if like me, you have some game that you spent too many hours playing and have an urge to get the soundtrack — here’s a great resource. http://gh.ffshrine.org