The Mashup Revolution
by ted2112, HSM guest contributor
My daughter asked me the other day what my favorite video game of all time was.
“That’s easy,” I replied. “Kingdom Hearts.”
When she asked why Kingdom Hearts was my favorite, I told her all the big reasons; it is a great video game, story, graphics, playability, but there was also another reason — and the word is: mashup.
We live in a multitask world. Just ask anyone with kids, and they’ll tell you the age of doing one thing at a time is over. Ask their kids and they’ll tell you the age of doing one creative thing at a time is over!
The digital mashup age is here, my friends; it’s everywhere. Turn on your radio, and you hear modern music that used to be parts of several older songs all brought together to make a new unique piece of music. DJs brought the technique up from the clubs and now even my grandmother can make her own music using software you can download free on the Internet.
You Tube has served as a major platform for video mashup’s growing popularity. Creative editing on the PC of popular culture all serving as the raw materials for some incredibly entertaining works. Remember the singing cats?
The literary world has crossed over to the art of the mashups as well. If you ever find yourself stuck for a book, try Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith. It’s a great and gory lampooning of the Jane Austen classic,with zombies thrown in for good measure. The mashup created a wonderfully fun read.
Okay, so back to Kingdom Hearts. In 2002, the first major video game mashup happened when what was then known as Square Soft (now Square Enix) and Disney – two very unlikely partners – came together to make a masterpiece of gaming. The game combined the worlds of Disney lore with the story foundation of Final Fantasy. Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse stood side by side with Cloud and Yuffie. Not only did it work, but it was a blockbuster and remains one of the top selling video games of all time.
PlayStation Home perhaps exonifies the concept as a game-within-a-game-within-a-platform, with social gaming at its heart brilliantly. I put Home on the same level as Space Mountain. When Walt Disney took the rollercoaster and put it indoors and in the dark, he changed the whole concept. Home has done this as well. We can use the processing power of the PS3 and meet friends, play games within the virtual world itself. A platform holding up another platform; what can you say but wow!
The mashup is more than a concept; it seems to be a fundamental change in the way we live and interact with each other and technology, and who’s to say they’re all that different? I rely on my iPhone to make calls, take pictures and to go on-line. One small palm-sized piece of plastic and glass.
Doing just one thing is passé. Just ask the guys who made the flip video camera: hot one day and cold the next. Why? It just did one thing. Televisions now surf the web, books now are interactive; your video game console now lets you watch movies. Let’s not forget to mention those jars of peanut butter and jelly all in one.
The mashup, however, is more than multitasking; it’s taking the best of something and expanding that with the best of something else. It’s here, and it’s staying. With all this information at our fingertips we can – as never before – create and expand an older idea or concept to new heights. What’s old is new again. The mashup has raised the bar so high we can’t even see it anymore, the sky’s the limit.
I heard a song today my daughter was playing – don’t ask me what the name of it was, I’m old and in the way now – but it combined the rhythm tracks of Michael Jackson’s “Billie Jean” with a whole new medley put on top. I loved it, but don’t tell my daughter; that would only embarrass her.
August 6th, 2011 by ted2112 | 7 comments
ted2112 is a writer and a Bass player that has been both inspired and takes to heart Kurt Vonnegut words...."we are here on planet Earth to fart around, and don't let anyone tell you different."
Twitter
Nice article Ted, welcome to HSM! I loved the Kingdom Hearts games, I still own the first 2. They are RPG’s and PlayStation titles, so of course I have enjoyed them, I have pretty much played every RPG that they had one both previous consoles. I love the look you had at something like mashups. I have really never thought of things in this way, so it opened my eyes to a new way of looking at things. Thanks for that, and for giving us all a new way to look at this fascinating place we call Home.
Mashup, eh? Works for me. Nice article, Ted.
In reference to his own works H.P.Lovecraft called this verisimilitude,but the end results are basically the same.An otherwise probably unbelievable story is given a life that can seem real or at least much more enjoyable than it would have been without the added content.I view this kind of thing like adding condiments to a burger,sure a burger is fine on it’s own but add the extra’s and it becomes great.
“IN THE GRIM FUTURE OF HELLO KITTY THERE IS ONLY WAR.”
Most awesome mashup quote ever.
Gotta admit, when I saw this article pop up in the queue, I actually joyfully proclaimed aloud, “Finally! I can use this picture! At long last!”
Wouldn’t you just love to see a mashup of “The Birdcage” and “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner?”: “The Bird That’s Coming to Dinner” (with Arnold Schwartzenegger playing the Nathan Lane role).
This opens up some great possiblities!
This is an awesome article. I love all your points of view. I as well loved Kingdom Hearts. I think bringing Mickey, Goofy and Donald into the game and the various other Disney movies, made the game something I had to play. I think anything tied into Disney, would rope me in.
Keep up the great articles! I love reading what you have to say!