Hope rides alone.

So we all know bands doing video game music covers aren’t exactly new anymore, but how about a band that creates original music based on a game?

A few days ago I got a CD by The Protomen.

What these guys wrote is a “rock opera” focused on Megaman and characters from the series. An opera because it’s written like a story and characters have speaking parts, which are of course, sung by the band. The story spans 8 songs, and It’s awesome. Kind of hard to figure out who’s speaking to whom sometimes, but a look at the booklet lets you know and expands on the story even more.

Now, you’re either intrigued by that description, or you’re laughing. Thing is, it’s not a joke, it all carries an incredibly serious tone and the world they create through these songs is almost like a George Orwellian type deal. It’s dark and awesome and most importantly, IT ROCKS.

Seriously. I’m a Megaman nut, so I love it, but I think even people who don’t care, and are looking for something different could also like it. It’s like a concept album of sorts.

They also recorded and printed everything themselves and sell it from their website, which is another thing you gotta admire. Nerds who know how to rock out are my heros.

Check it out.

In other game related news I purchased both Half Life 2: Episode one and Sin Episodes: Emergence a few days ago.

Episode one picks up directly after the end of Half Life 2 and continues the story, and so far it’s as awesome as one might expect. The new Graphical touches are fucking nice looking, too. It’s like a continuation to one of the best games ever. Man those developers are brilliant.

Sin took me by surprise because it got some average reviews, but I’m really loving it as well. Lots of good shootouts with humans and mutants. Less problem solving than, say, Half Life, but it's still tons of fun.

These games are the first part of the series which are going to be released in “episodes” so they are around 5-6 hours supposedly, and for $20 each, it’s not a bad deal. It’s quality entertainment and I’m starting to warm up to the idea of more games being released like this.

So that’s what’s new in “shit you don’t need, but is totally awesome” news.