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PlayStation (Games) Entertainment Games

Mojib Ribbon Game Promises Musical Spam 139

Posted by simoniker from the potential-obscenities-ahoy dept.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to a Gamers.com report discussing the bizarre Japanese PlayStation 2 game, Mojib Ribbon, from the creators of Parappa The Rapper and this title's cult prequel, Vib Ribbon. The article says, "Like its predecessor, [Mojib Ribbon] ..is a simple rhythm game, but ..the game takes any text file and converts it into a Parappa-style rap, which players must then follow through stick inputs." Furthermore, the game uses the network adaptor and "..lets players send game data back and forth between each other. Players could e-mail especially inspiring raps to each other, or simply use their morning spam to generate a new game challenge." There's more info available via a preview at The GIA and pictures from this year's GDC.
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Mojib Ribbon Game Promises Musical Spam More

Mojib Ribbon Game Promises Musical Spam

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  • Great, just what I needed (Score:4, Funny)

    by Ankle ( 633399 ) <jan,pingel&me,com> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:34PM (#6458729) Homepage
    Someone rapping would I like to enlarge my penis or get bigger breasts or would I like a new credit card with a 'low' apr...

  • What if... (Score:4, Funny)

    by crazysim ( 669230 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:35PM (#6458732)
    I put a text file containing the DMCA in it? Would a updated version of "Don't copy that floppy" play?

  • What about program text files? :) (Score:4, Interesting)

    by gabec ( 538140 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:36PM (#6458739)
    I wonder what kind of rap it would come up with if I were to pipe in my latest PERL/Python/Java/C++ program. ;) I'll bet it could do COBOL pretty well, as the creation of COBOL was to make easily readable code...
    • COBOL - easily readable code?

      I'm laughing. I'm pissing my pants. I'm dancing up and down like a monkey on crack with a "I LOVE COBOL" hat on.

    • I'll bet it could do COBOL pretty well
      COBOL+rap=Crap?

  • Damn. (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by Valar ( 167606 )
    You know those ideas you have, and don't bother recording anywhere, but then someone else goes and makes money off of it? ... I wanted to do something like this using libsdl. Ergad. Oh well, maybe I'll start actually doing something about my ideas one of these days...

  • I wonder... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Pig Hogger ( 10379 ) <pig@hogger.gmail@com> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:43PM (#6458759) Journal
    I wonder what it would yield when fed with viking sagas...

    (Remember the reason why spam is called "spam")...

  • so that means (Score:4, Insightful)

    by lingqi ( 577227 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:49PM (#6458785) Journal
    if i can rap DeCSS code to neo-trance tunes, it will be a form of expression and protected under the first admendment?
    • Well, you'd think that what you're suggesting is a novel idea, but consider this [joeysmith.com] A guy already did that. Apparently, the song was removed from mp3.com though, as they wanted to avoid any legal issues.

  • Personally... (Score:5, Funny)

    by darkitecture ( 627408 ) on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:51PM (#6458792)

    Personally, I think that this simply goes to show that "no one ever went broke underestimating the taste of the Japanese public".
    • Oh please! Are we forgetting the teen-craze Dance-Dance Revolution? No public has taste...except when cooked at 350 degrees for 8 minutes per pound and garnished with relish ;)
    • don't tell me about it heh, have you guys seen the trailer to "Shaolin Soccer"? ...and it says on imdb [imdb.com] that is was a box office hit in Asia hehehe.. It even looks more stupid than Kung Pow heheh..

      • Yeah, a friend of mine figured she'd rent a movie she'd already seen so we could play cards during the movie. Not too bright since the damned thing was subtitled.

        It's the worst movie I've ever seen! You should watch it, if only to say that you've seen a movie worse than Manos: Hands of Fate. It has to be some over-my-head Chinese culture parody for it to have been a box office hit.

        I'm told they're going to dub it and release it in the US.

  • I wonder... (Score:1, Redundant)

    by kisielk ( 467327 )
    what "extend your penis size by up to 3 inches!" sounds like as music.

  • Will not work (Score:3, Interesting)

    by czion3 ( 612261 ) <czion3@comcast.net> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:57PM (#6458808)
    This is a fairly cool feature for a video game. The problem is that it requires people to own extra hardware. A tool called the Dex Drive had a similar idea but it never caught on therefor the community never grew. For this game to work there has to be a universal site where people could share raps like rapsharer.com or something and learn from the mistakes of the Dex Drive.
    • Do you mean the network adapter? Well, sure that's extra hardware, but lots of people own it. Some games even require you to have it (see Everquest Online Adventures). And true, according to the article it will also make use of the Hard Drive. I think hard drive sales will be pretty brisk with the release of FFXI over in Japan. I know I'll be getting one when it comes over here.
    • True, games that require extra hardware never ever get popular. Like the Playstation DDR that requires the extra mats, or that weird Rez vibrator game. Nope, games like that never make it big... especially not in Japan...
  • ...to use the ASCII-animated Star Wars as an input source? That way you could combine two inexplicable Japanese obsessions into a single tarball of inscrutable geekiness! Now if there was only a way to add tentacle porn to the results...

  • Will this ever see the U.S.? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by mcc ( 14761 ) <amcclure@purdue.edu> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:58PM (#6458815) Homepage
    This game looks absolutely awesome.

    Now, here's the problem: Will we ever actually see this game in the U.S.? Or, like its brilliant predecessor Vib Ribbon (i still want to find a copy of this, somehow, i've just no idea where to look), will this game never be released to us?

    I guess there's really no way of knowing right now.
    • You can usually get imports from places like Video Game Depot [videogamedepot.com] and the like. I know they import lots of japanese games into the US, not sure about those sticks though.

      *I"m not affiliated with VGD in any way, I just read about them on Penny Arcade..
    • Europe/Australia got the first one, subtitled in five languages. It's an amazing game but I have no idea how difficult it might be to mod a US console to play PAL games. (I know it can be done for the PSone.)

      Mojib-Ribbon is interesting because it's actually tied to the writing of text, making for some interesting problems in translation. Other sites have actually shown screenshots of early Mojib demos but I think everyone forgot about them. :P

      I hope we get this sequel in English. The first one was an extr

      • Europe/Australia got the first one, subtitled in five languages. It's an amazing game but I have no idea how difficult it might be to mod a US console to play PAL games. (I know it can be done for the PSone.)

        The problem with this is that PAL games are usually in 50Hz, and that produces a nasty vertical scroll for us with 60Hz TVs. Although patches are usually released to resolve this issue, it throws off alignment on the Y-Axis, something that is difficult to correct and can't be done via a generic patche

        • The problem with this is that PAL games are usually in 50Hz, and that produces a nasty vertical scroll for us with 60Hz TVs

          I don't know if this is true for the PS2 (which is shocking since I own one) but certainly the PAL Gamecube is capable of doing a 60Hz output if the TV and game support it. The bonus disk that comes with GC Zelda is 60Hz only. The Dreamcast was also capable of 60Hz output. I would imagine that most games these days support the 60Hz option unless the developer is too lazy to bother
          • ... unless the developer is too lazy to bother with it.
            Bingo. Back in the days of Dreamcast, developers frequently added 50/60Hz selectors on their games, but that doesn't really happen in the PS2 scene. A long time ago, someone made a website called 50Hurtz that detailed the problems with using 50Hz and why PS2 developers should start adding selectors to their games. That obviously didn't have much of an effect, unfortunately. =\
      • Modding them to play the games is relatively easy (I have a chipped PS2 so I can play European games). Unfortunately, as another poster mentioned, the PAL signal can't be displayed on North American TVs without a converter or patching the game.

        If you've got an svideo or composite input on your PC's video card though, you can view it that way. I use iuVCR [iulabs.com] in full-screen preview mode because it's cheaper.

  • I wonder... (Score:5, Funny)

    by Twintop ( 579924 ) <david@twintop-tahoe.com> on Wednesday July 16, 2003 @11:59PM (#6458821) Homepage Journal
    Would a pr0n spam message make a rap that sounds like most pr0n music?

  • Names (Score:1, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward
    The sequel's visual style has been vastly upgraded from the first game. Where Vib Ribbon went with simple vector graphics, Mojib Ribbon employs cel-shading to create an effect somewhat like sumi-e ink artwork. Sadly, charismatic mascot character Vibri won't be returning; Mojib Ribbon has a new and currently unnamed onscreen avatar.

    Hmmm

    How about "Mojo"?

    That seems like an utterly appropriate name
  • I would turn on MTV or VIVA.
    • That was awesome!! On another note, soon I am to mark the deaths of both MTV X and MUCH Music here in Cox-land. The 2 decent music video stations in existence (and Kudos Kanada for MUCH) and they drop MUCH for nothing and MTV X for MTV JAMS (it up their ass side-ways). I got nothing against rap and hip-hop, but I stopped watching MTV 1&2 cause that's all they played (that and Fake World and Road Rash). So let's all give a great big FRAG YOU to the good folks at (e)M(p)TV and the RIAA!

    • Re:If I would want musical spam (Score:1, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Dude, excellent!

      I hate MTV. Nothing but main-stream R'n'B and rap 24/7, and successfull people dancing at a beach house -- everything stirred together with commercials. The same commercials, over and over again.

      And by the way, I don't get MTV's philosophy - The censor cursing (the word "drugs" is censored, even in sentences as "don't use *bleeep*, it'll kill ya") -- but they play commercials for alcohol?
  • I saw the intro movie for vib ribbon game a while back - I would totally buy that game if it were in stores. As it stands, I'm waiting for a hastle-free ps2 mod so I can import the sucker. It is totally cool.
  • Use to do the same kind of things in Apple's Simple Text for the mac.

  • Groovin with the dot matrix (Score:4, Interesting)

    by MichaelCrawford ( 610140 ) on Thursday July 17, 2003 @12:35AM (#6458937) Homepage Journal
    I used to type out text files that I would print with a dot matrix printer so I could listen to the rhythm as the pins struck the paper.

    To bad I don't have any of them around anymore. That was a longer time ago than I would care to admit (see my sig).

    Inkjets and laser printers just don't present the kinds of opportunities that inkjets and line printers did.

  • The sooner this thing is ported to linux/unix the better.

    Until the game can recive its input from stin which is in turn piped from fortune, zippy or the aspell dictionary file piped through a sed routine based on /dev/random it will fall short of the nessicary geekiness required to captivate a slashdot audience.

  • Old news maybe?

    I only ask, because the Gaming Intelligence Agency (GIA) closed it's site over a year ago... (The site was www.thegia.com [thegia.com]) (The link in the story is just a mirror...)

  • Spamradio (Score:3, Interesting)

    by CausticWindow ( 632215 ) on Thursday July 17, 2003 @02:11AM (#6459198)

    Been there, done that.


    Check out Spamradio [spamradio.org].


    Great fun, with great music from Mono.

  • So they finally figured out what to do with spam emails...

    they need to instantly file for a Business Process Patent on this one!

    Watch out, Microshaft is watching and they might get one in before you have a chance then monopolize it via a new browser plugin using DirectX that only works with Passport in conjunction with a Hotmail account and Internet Explorer.... or maybe Apple will append one of their many patents to show that THEY invented it in the 90s as part of the Sosumi project in response to Apple

  • SPAM RAP (Score:5, Funny)

    by Aexia ( 517457 ) on Thursday July 17, 2003 @02:25AM (#6459232)
    You've tried the rest;
    Now try the best!
    Here's a natural way
    to enhance your breasts!

    This is great:
    Low mortgage rates!
    With deals like this,
    how can you wait?

    Credit good or credit bad
    We'll give you money, you bankrupt lad!

    This offer here is just the neatest;
    an all-natural way to enlarge your penis!
    • There once was a nigerian named Vishmay,
      Who's money was locked away.
      I tried to help out,
      I shared my bank account,
      And none of my money did stay.
  • From the GDC Pictures link [northwestern.edu]:


    "*This game uses only the right analog joystick for control."

    If you're gonna make a game you can play with one hand, put some naked chicks in it for chrissake!
  • Couldn't this be used to trade encrypted files, like with newsgroups?

  • In other news, Konami... (Score:5, Funny)

    by ihatesco ( 682485 ) on Thursday July 17, 2003 @03:35AM (#6459429)
    to win a sleeping and important market has announced to be launching Slashdot Slashdot Revolution (also known in the european market as: DDR Nerd-News Rave)

    It will come with the following and already beloved hits:
    1. (Hot Grits) I want a petrifying gun. Natalie Portman Lovers
    2. D.M.C.A. Village People remix starring Fritz Holling and Orrin Hatch
    3. Boom Boom Dollar - Spam Attacks! (Enlarge your penis, merchant accounts)
    4. Imagine (Beowulf Cluster Techno Trance Edition) Schyld Corporation
    5. Paranoia: Spamassassin Edition.
    6. Left out in the Blizzard Bnetd+FreeCraft
    7. In soviet russia you are belong to all your base The Marx Sisters
    8. (Wednesday Trollday) The ballad of Anonymous Cowards Anonymous Cowards Commitee

    The deluxe edition will contain two green/grey dancepads designed by Italian designer Pininfarina, a replica of CowboyNeal's hat, and a T-Shirt with a random quote from memorable collection including "I'm with Taco ->" "I was flamed on /. and all I got was this lousy T-Shirt" and "Would you like to pour hot grits down my pants?".

    Preorder your copy now!

    • SSR-expansion pack comes with:

      Can't copy that floppy - PowerMac 8600
      Goodbye Horror's Rose (Mourning Stephen King) - Trollaxor
      Return of the mac as rapped by the Slashdot staff
      Fear the Slashdot Effect! - Servers of the Universe (SSR to a new level with death metal!)
      BSD is Dead - Dead can dance
  • But how long would it be before the spammers are using this game to send spam to other players? I can think of nothing more annoying than turning on my little game object only to find hours of clips from Bambi Jenkins about her excapades (rhymed of course) with her friends and/or pets. And I don't want to know what you can rhyme 4.9% with.
  • if the GIA hadn't shut down over a year ago.

    That means information about the game is at LEAST a year old, if not more.

    Way to go, guys =)

  • Great... (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Another "use" for spam.

    When spam can mow my lawn, wash my car, and take my wife out shopping, THEN I will be happy =)

  • Actually (Score:2, Interesting)

    by chill182 ( 591443 )
    The first Vib Ribbon game didn't use a text file. Once you loaded the game you would replace the game disc with a music cd. Then the game levels would be created based on your music. The levels would be different for every song. I don't know where this whole text file thing came from.

    I'm hoping the sequel is the same way. Then you have a rhythm game that's only as good as your music collection.

  • I played this at GDC this year (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Chris Carollo ( 251937 ) on Thursday July 17, 2003 @09:04AM (#6460434)
    It was demoed at the Experemental Games Workshop, and two of the guys that help run that got to borrow a copy for a couple days.

    It was all in japanese, so none of us could read/understand anything, but it was STUNNING. Its simplicity is amazing (literlly it uses ONE AXIS of ONE STICK), but it still remains a completely compelling experience.

    First of all, the art is amazing. The calligraphy is beautiful, the backgrounds are softly moving watercolors, and the inky partical effects add to the feeling of frantic, rhythmic writing. This game is as much a work of art as any I've seen.

    Second, the music/raps are totally infectious. We'd regularly have seven or eight people in the room, with one playing, and everyone's heads would be unconsciously bobbing up and down to the rhythm. Add to that a love story (including duets and an anger-rap level when their love is on the rocks), and you have a music game with a surprising amount of variety.

    Finally, it just FEELS RIGHT. There's something about the rhythmic nature of the game, the spinning of the letters, the bouncy walk of the character, that just come together to making an amazing experience.

    If we ever get this game here in the states, I'm buying it in a heartbeat. You should too.
  • To use this as your standard E-mail program? I, for one, wouldn't mind spam that much anymore..
    Are you in financial problems? (Yo, Yo) Guaranteed low rates *scratchy, scratchy* Just press this link! (Peace Out)
  • So this means that I can randomly grab a story from www.asstr.org and produce some reeeeealy filthy rap?

    Oh wait, nevermind. This has been done already. Albums made and T-shirts sold.

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