by Dan | Aug 3, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
The rumors are true. If you have listened to either Episode 14 of the Community Voice Podcast or TalkRadar 112, I spilled the beans about why we felt it was so important that everyone attend California Extreme this year: We secretly shot a video for “Arcade Gaming Shrine” and were quietly inviting friends and supporters to be in it. Kat also took some photos that we’ll soon be posting around to Facebook and whatnot as our “official” shots. Here’s a small version of one:
The show was a blast anyway, but the video shoot made it extra special. I don’t want to give too much away about exactly what is in the video because I want it to be a surprise to anybody who wasn’t there. I can say that we made good use of over 400 classic arcade machines — everything in the song was on the show floor except for just two games (Daytona USA and Ladybug). Also, several members of the GamesRadar/TalkRadar crew helped us out and stayed up in the wee hours of the morning while we lip-synched with the best of them. We are forever grateful to the CA Extreme gang for trusting us when we came to them with this crazy idea and we hope the final video will do them proud.
The video is being edited now and we are picking up a few shots we didn’t get during the weekend. I figure it will be online sometime in the next six to eight weeks. Hopefully sooner but realistically, we have a lot going on in real life.
by Dan | Jul 5, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
I’m happy to say that we have a new partner for our t-shirts, Spreadshirt. Go back a few posts and you’ll see some of the problems we had with Zazzle, so we wanted to find a better online outlet for shirts. And we found it — not only is the Spreadshirt quality very high, but the shirts prices are actually lower than they were at Zazzle. We only take a minimal cut anyway, because we want people to wear our logo — so an even cheaper shirt price is good news all around. Click on the image and take a look at our designs; we now have shirts for women, kids, babies, and very large guys, and in most cases, the colors are yours to choose.
Also, after talking with Spreadshirt about how they handle issues of copyright infringement, we feel confident they will not pull our designs without a clear notification. For that matter, we don’t think they’ll tell us that our original designs belong to someone else the way Zazzle did, but that almost goes without saying.
However, we are keeping our embroidered hoodies and caps up at Zazzle for the time being. There was a significant setup fee for us to make those items available, and Spreadshirt does not yet offer embroidered items, so those are the only items that remain in our Zazzle store. As soon as we find an alternate vendor for those, the Zazzle store will close.
Everything is available through our Merch page, of course. Thanks for your support.
by Dan | Jun 20, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
Next month around this time is California Extreme. It’s the best arcade show I’ve ever been to — tons of pinball and arcade collectors bringing their prized possessions out of their basements and home game rooms, only to set them on free play for everyone to enjoy for a weekend. Jude and I have gone every year we’ve been able to for the past several years; one year, Jude brought his Gauntlet and gave a little something back. It’s well worth the price of admission, and the show has recently moved to an even better location.
Now it’s tougher for us both to make it to CAX — Jude’s on the east coast, I’m in SoCal — but we’re still planning to attend this year. And we are going to make the most of it. We are not doing a live concert (sorry), but we are doing something special beyond just enjoying the expo — and, depending on how crazy you are, you may be invited to participate. Remember how we solicited for people to sing along on “Learn to Spell?” I think this is cooler.
If you have any desire to be involved, buy your tickets now and comment below when you do.
by Dan | May 13, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
TalkRadar — the internet’s filthiest, ramblingest, drinkiest podcast — hit its centennial episode recently and they named us one of the 100 things that makes the show special. And that’s “special” as in “unique and awesome,” not “special” as in “Olympics” — but nobody would blame you for making the mistake, because, come on — it’s TalkRadar.
Anyway, we debuted “Wii Christmastime” on episode 29, and the whole TalkRadar crew has been very supportive of us, playing our songs and giving us exposure to all their perverted little fans. And we really, really appreciate that.
So the very least we can do is return the favor. Go listen to TalkRadar 100. It’s only six hours long.
by Dan | May 9, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
First, thanks to everybody for feedback on Arcade Gaming Shrine. It really seems to have gone over quite well, and we are both proud of it. We suspect there will be some interesting fan videos using MAME footage before too long.
The lyrics are posted at YouTube and Entertonement but I’m trying to figure out how to best post them here too — with the song, on their own page, just in the blog? Dunno. But I did realize that there were some lines that didn’t make it that you might find interesting.
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by Dan | Apr 30, 2010 | Music
Palette-Swap Ninja is proud to announce the availability of our latest song, “Arcade Gaming Shrine,” a loving parody of “1985” by Bowling For Soup. You can download it here — just right-click the link and select Save File As or Save Target As or whatever your browser tells you to do.
For details on this track, click the link below.
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by Dan | Apr 25, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
One of the questions we frequently get is “when will I be able to play Palette-Swap Ninja songs in Guitar Hero/Rock Band/Insert Music Videogame Franchise Here?”
The answer is both “never” and “now.” It’s never for the same reason that we do not charge for our songs: we only own partial copyright. The recording, the lyrics — those are definitely ours. However, the music/songwriting? Clearly the work of the original band. We pay a licensing fee for each song we record, but we do not have the rights to give our masters to the Rock Band Network or the Guitar Hero team and say “Thanks, have fun.” If we ever write an original song, then we’ll have the rights to do with it as we see fit, and we could approach the games about it. But until that time, the nature of what we do is derivative, and therefore we must respect the people who created the original works.
However…the answer is also now. All you need is a copy of the lyrics and you can sing whatever you like when you play the original songs by the original artists. So, here’s what we know is available so far:
ROCK BAND FRANCHISE
“Halo (All I Play-Oh”) – “Snow ((Hey-Oh))” by Red Hot Chili Peppers, as Rock Band DLC
“Vista Drivers” – “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, on the Rock Band 2 disc
“Learn to Spell” – “Gives You Hell” by All-American Rejects, as Rock Band DLC
GUITAR HERO FRANCHISE
“Vista Drivers” – “Eye of the Tiger” by Survivor, on the Guitar Hero World Tour disc
“Learn to Spell” – “Gives You Hell” by All-American Rejects, as Guitar Hero DLC
As long as you hit the right pitches, the games do not care what words you sing. Have a few drinks and try singing the words “fruitcake” and “pants” to every song; as long as you are still hitting the notes, you’ll do well.
by Dan | Apr 14, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
If you have ever wanted some Zazzle merchandise, now is your chance. I think we’re going to be parting ways very soon.
I personally had an issue with Zazzle a few months ago when they told me that photos we’d taken for a calendar infringed on copyright. I lost that battle and had the calendar made elsewhere, but vowed I would find a new place for PSwap swag too.
When we uploaded the first PSwap designs to Zazzle, we were immediately challenged on ownership — strange, since we had already legally asserted our ownership by uploading, per Zazzle’s own terms of service. But we went through the extra red tape anyway and life went on.
These lyrics belong to us.
We are not using any imagery of Halo or its properties. We are not claiming affiliation with Bungie. We are Halo fans. We used the word Halo. That, says Zazzle, is infringing.
The lyrics are copyright of Palette-Swap Ninja. We wrote them. This is not even open to debate and we have the legal right to put them on a t-shirt and sell that t-shirt. The whole reason we went with a text-based shirt was because we knew we had to use something we truly owned; we did not want some overactive lawyer to make it an issue.
Zazzle’s overactive lawyers have made it an issue.
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by Dan | Apr 2, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
The meeting went off without a hitch. We got to have lunch with a handful of our supporters who were able to make it to the show, including JugglerOfGeese, Xiantayne, HeartbreakRidge, SitSamBry, and Kdorff. We took over a section of the food court and LAID WASTE TO IT. Total irresponsible rock and roll behavior. Okay, we really just sat there and talked for a good 90 minutes, and then we bussed our tables politely. But it was great to meet people face to face and talk about stuff. Thanks to everybody who could make it!
More details about what you REALLY missed after the jump, including incriminating photos.
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by Dan | Mar 18, 2010 | Ninja Stuff
I am happy to say that Jude and I will be at PAX East 2010 at the end of the month. Specifically, we’ll both be there on Sunday. We’re not performing at or near the show because we didn’t have time to put something together; we aren’t really currently equipped for live performances anyway. I am thinking it might be fun to sing our lyrics over one of the Rock Band editions of the real songs. I might be able to pull of “Padding Your Gamerscore” live, if I can remember the words, and if it exists in a music game…which for some reason I do not think it does.
But even if we don’t perform, we do like pizza.
So the idea is that we say “Hey, Sunday at 1pm, we’re going to get lunch at Regina Pizzeria, which is right outside the convention center; any PSwap fans are encouraged to stop by and say hi.” We don’t have the cash to buy everybody lunch, sorry. But we would like to meet some of you folks and shoot the proverbial breeze.
What do you think? I mean, we’ll be eating pizza at 1pm there whether you come or not, but it’d be nice to see you.
UPDATE: No more “maybe” about this — we’ll be at the Boylston Street Regina Pizzeria at 1pm, telling making-of stories about the tracks and geeking out about PAX itself. Dan will be wearing his burgundy Palette-Swap Ninja shirt. But you probably know what we look like anyway.
UPDATE 2: I have scoped out the joint and the pizzeria in question is actually in the food court at the Prudential Center, which is the mall directly linked to the Convention Center. So you don’t even have to leave the complex to join us, and you are not required to eat pizza — there’s also Chinese, burgers, and many other options. And now we know there will be ample seating. Palette-Swap Ninja: We’re Cheap Dates!
