Regular visitors will be aware that I’m quite a fan of a band called I Like Trains (formerly spelt iLiKETRAiNS). Quite a while ago now, they recorded the follow up to their debut album Elegies To Lessons Learnt. News went very quiet on the I Like Trains front at that point, which is perhaps no surprise given that they were no longer attached to a label, thus needed to work out how they were going to release the new album. Fast forward to earlier this month and the band announced that they were to raise money for the creation of a label ILR, but also the mixing and release of their second album He Who Saw The Deep and an accompanying tour. They are raising the money through the Pledge Music website and a portion of the proceeds from the fundraising for the project go to Friends of the Earth. The band weren’t simply asking for donations though, they were offering exclusive gifts, goodies and rewards to those willing to hand over their money. If the project target wasn’t met within a given timeframe, no money would be taken from anyone. They met their target in not much over 24 hours. Personally I pledged to purchase a signed personalised album and a hand bound and hand illustrated hardback lyrics book; both personalised to my other half. There were a number of offers which were, and are, difficult to turn down – not least a vinyl box set featuring all their releases to date and a b-sides and rarities disc. If I find myself with £100 to spare before pledges are halted, I know what I’m spendind it on…
It strikes me that this might be a very sensible way forward for smaller bands in the modern music industry. There are a number of bands with solid fanbases who might either struggle to be signed in the traditional label model, or not enjoy working within that framework. This kind of website allows bands to allow fans to purchase something which they’ll really appreciate and in the process fund the release of new material.
Since I started composing this post Grammatics not only announced that they were splitting up, but that they were funding the release of their final EP via Pledge Music due in part to the success of the I Like Trains project. For my part I snagged their new EP and also a rarities CD. In addition to the release of the EP they’re going to tour for a final time, I’ll aim to catch them when they’re in Scotland. Pledge Music has enabled this release, something which might not have happened otherwise. It seems like a lot of bands are repaing the benefits of this business model already.
I come to this game late, as with most others these days. This is much later than I usually get to games though and there are a number of reasons for that. First and foremost, I failed to get on with any of the previous 3D GTA games. In fact, the last GTA game I enjoyed was GTA: London. Secondly – when I was about to buy the game when it was cheap, I heard that the game hadn’t aged well in the year since its release; so decided not to buy it. Now nearly a further year on again, I couldn’t resist it in the Steam sale. Yes, I bought the much maligned PC version.
Issue number one with the PC version. I’m an avid 360 gamer and love the implementation of LIVE on the 360. The PC implementation is truly horrible. It does nothing but detract from the experience and given that I bought the game on Steam, I have all of Valve’s community options already running in the background. It is still nice to see my Live friends online, but the implementation is so crusty as to make it dis-interesting. Issue number two is that despite having a pretty good gaming rig all round, my ageing graphics card is really letting the side down. It seems an 8600GT just doesn’t cut it for the game and I’m not about to buy a new graphics card any time soon.
Despite these issues – and a few others – I’ve enjoyed what I’ve played of the game so far. The car handling is as cumbersome and floaty as usual in a GTA game and it definitely seems to have that classic GTA weird lock-on combat. However the issues have been smoothed to the point where they impact on the game to a much lesser extent than in previous GTA games. Tellingly though it’s the characters which have drawn me in so far. Without having a chance to learn too much about the character of Niko Bellic, I’ve already grown to like him. He hasn’t been particularly likable as yet, but I really feel for him having to put up with his cousin Roman. Rockstar have pulled off a brilliant trick by placing your vaguely reprehensible main character / avatar next to a truly disgusting character, you feel sorry for him. Previously I’ve never had empathy for the main character in these games, making it difficult to become engrossed in the story and action. I’ve heard that characterisation is a particular strength in GTA IV and I look forward to this greatly.
I’m going to be posting more on GTA IV as I play more of it. Partly as an assessment of one of the biggest games of the past few years – and how it holds up today – and partly as an exploration of my enjoyment (or lack thereof) of this style of game.