Pixelated Audio is back from a wonderful weekend at VGMCon in Minnesota! Gene was slated to represent us but along the way drummed up a party including Pernell from Rhythm and Pixels, Carlos from Heroes Three, and Thomas Kresge head of the Game Brass (check out their new album Barrel Brassed)!

When in Minnesota do as the Minnesotans do, as the saying goes. We had a fun time talking about all manner of VGM related to the Midwest; the region itself, games about the area and made there, as well as composers from the area.

Getting more specific we cover pinball and edutainment in some level of depth before the panel devolves into talking about Shrek, cheese, and endless trips cross country. It's a fun journey through a diverse range of VGM and we hope you enjoy the show we put together. Pardon the noise in the background, it was the best we could do with a portable recorder.

If you'd like to follow along with the slides we used during the talk, feel free to click through. If the presentation doesn't show up below, click here.

Track list

0:00:00 (Bedding) "The Creek" WolfQuest (Minnesota Zoo & Eduweb 2007) by Tim Buzza, additional music by Ben Woolman

0:14:52 (Excerpt) Suzanne Ciani Creates the Soundtrack for a Pinball Machine YouTube

0:15:51 (Excerpt) Xenon gameplay (Bally 1980) all audio by Suzanne Ciani (video courtesy of London Pinball)

0:18:19 "Main Theme" Pin-Bot (Williams 1986) by Chris Granner

0:22:24 "Speak Softly, Love" feat. Slash from The Godfather Pinball (Jersey Jack Pinball 2023) by Thomas Kresge

0:26:38 "New York City (Action)" X-Men Legends (Raven Software 2004) by Rik Schaffer

0:33:34 "Title Theme" Oregon Trail Deluxe (MECC 1993) by Lon Koenig and Larry Phenow

0:36:47 "Gimme Mo' Torque" Vigilante 8: 2nd Offense (DC version, 1999 Luxoflux) by Christian A. Salyer, Eric Klein, Javier Marquez

0:40:26 "Tracking Trouble" Puzzle Agent (Telltale Games 2010) by Disasterpeace / Richard Vreeland)

0:47:04 "Granny Cream's Hot Butter Ice Cream" Hypnospace Outlaw (Tendershoot 2019) by Hot Dad / Erik Helwig / "Chowder Man"

0:49:11 "Kitchen Music" I Am Bread (Bossa Studios 2014) by Black Heron (Leo Chilcott and Murugan Thiruchelvam)

0:54:48 "Protector's Enclave" Neverwinter (Cryptic Studios 2013) by Kevin Manthei

0:58:44 “Let's Break Physics (Main Theme)” Unstable Scientific (Studio Castle Soodalkov TBD) by Super Marcato Bros

1:04:29 "Exploration" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza

1:21:09 "The Creek" WolfQuest by Tim Buzza

Additional things mentioned during the talk

Minnesota Educational Computing Consortium (MECC)

The Story of The Oregon Trail - Gaming Historian YouTube

Trailheads: The Oregon Trail’s Origins - Twin Cities PBS

Ben Hanson travels the roguelike Oregon Trail - Video Game History Foundation

R. Philip Bouchard (lead designer of the 1985 Oregon Trail)

Personal website | died-of-dysentery.com | Died of Dysentery book, history of the game

Minnesota things!

Level with Emily Reese podcast home | PA episode with Emily

VGMCon

Games Done Quick

Other things mentioned

Airport CEO - game | soundtrack

Fight'N Rage - game | soundtrack

SML Podcast