A MAZE. Interact is a festival about the convergence of computer games, art and music analyzing computer game culture from cultural, aesthetic and social angles. With a focus on structural changes within the computer games area, reaching out its arms further towards pop culture, music and art, the festival gives both parts of the scene a voice, the more art-related approach on the development of games and the business behind this entertainment industry.
On Sunday, the one-day symposium featured a high-profile roster of international speakers giving insights on different view points of the blending between games and music and music games as such. Hosted by multitalented Barbara Lippe, Keiichi Yano (creator of Gitaroo Man, Elite Beat Agents and Lips) foresaw the future of music games being more physical, social, narrative and educative. Austrian game developer Martin Pichlmaier (creator of the upcoming iPhone techno shooter Radio Flare Redux) traced the history of synaesthetic video games and media artworks. Leonard J. Paul (musician, composer, video game audio coder) analyzed the use of audio in modern games. Michael Harenberg (professor for sound design and media theory at the University of Arts, Bern) prototyped synthetic acoustic spaces to create new structures in digital mediality and Julian Oliver (game developer) abstracted computer games as musical instruments themselves.
To close the A MAZE. Interact festival the Jump’n'Run Bonus Cheat Club night at Transmediale’s club outlet WMF showcased a mix of game-inspired music, live acts, and DJ-sets combined with interactive installations, playful visuals, and exhibits based on computer games. But due to technical problems Julian Oliver’s game-based audio-visual performance and composition engine Fijuu2 could not be presented and the presentation was postponed to a later date.
WiiJ Timski (aka Tim Groeneboom), one of the first Wii Remote DJs, used Nintendo wireless controllers to cue up tracks and samples, and to control pitch and volume. All your base are belong to us, I guess.
