Xbox 360 Karaoke App by The Karaoke Channel: Impressions, Opinion

The Xbox Karaoke App by The Karaoke Channel was released in December of last year and somehow I totally missed it.

I didn't really become aware of the existence of the game until I saw some Raptr tweetage of "I'm playing Karaoke (360)" from one of my friends. I had to go googling around to find out what it was and talk to some of my other friends who play karaoke style games.

After learning what it was and working to get it downloaded on my xbox (which turned out to be a real pain of trying to find it first of all), I gave it a shot and decided instantly that I really wanted to be able to upload videos from the game. I also have been wanting to write about the game since having played it, but due to recent events (that I honestly am happy for, so I won't complain about it), I haven't really had the time to sit down and write a blog about games as I had/have other priorities.

Anyway, on to the game!

Skyrim: Tale of the Tongues Vocal Cover by Anex

After beating the main storyline in Skyrim (which I had put off for a REALLY long time intentionally), I found a new song available at the bards called "Tale of the Tongues". When I first heard it I was really moved, and fell in love with the song.

Days later it was still playing in my head and I was humming it and stopping by bards on purpose just to hear it. I decided I wanted to do a vocal cover.

Around this same time I had a friend who posted on facebook a cover of a girl singing this very same song. I said to myself "damn, it has been done, people will think I'm a copy cat".

When I looked at the video I was discouraged with the idea that I could make something people wouldn't make fun of. The video I saw was by Malukah which surely almost everyone knows by now.

She clearly has experience with recording/mixing/mastering all skills that I just don't have. Her track is semi-professional quality with many vocal layers and obviously took several takes to get something the quality she did. She also went "above and beyond" by adding backing vocals and other things. I felt pretty stupid to even bother. The more I thought about it though, the more I decided not to care. Good for her that she could do these things, I didn't want to make something like this.

I just wanted to sing the song simply as it was in the game. I just was annoyed at the idea of people coming across my video telling me "wow this is crap, you are not as good as Malukah" or something to that equivalent. But if there's one thing I have learned from 3 years of uploading videos of my singing youtube, it is that there are always people who will give you crap and there are always people who won't like your singing. So screw it. I do what I want.

So here it is, my vocal cover of Tale of the Tongues. My husband provided the guitar track so at least it wouldn't be so empty.

My point is not to impress you with my studio recording and mixing/mastering prowess (as I have none), nor to wow you with an elaborate cover, nor am I going to pretend I can speak the dragon tongue outside of Skyrim + kinect. I also don't claim to be an amazing singer.

If you're looking for something with more production, and a bit more fancy you can check out SabrinaValenzuela, Malukah, and many others on youtube (there's a ton!).

I'm just a girl who likes to sing and loves Skyrim. This is one of my favorite bard songs in the game and I wanted to keep it as close to the original as possible to maintain that simple, tavern bard feel.

Skyrim Video Capture Test: Recording NTSC with PAL Dazzle

I've been pretty busy the last month and it hasn't given me the option to update my blog as much as I like nor with the content that I actually HAVE to update it with.

Today I am bringing you two Skyrim related videos. One is a vocal cover by me of "Tale of the Tongues" and the other is just a Skyrim Video Capture recording test.

I really debated whether or not to make these 2 videos in a combined post, but as I feel I can say quite a bit about both, I decided to give them their own space. The first is the Video Capture Recording test.

Previously, I have been unable to bring videos or screen capture to my blog (outside of Rock Band) because I was unable to record any game that required PAL 60 in order to play. This is because I am the owner of a Dazzle DVC 100 series capture device.

Skyrim: All Achievements Progress

Given the release of Dragonborn DLC back in December and my progress, I felt it was time (once again) to clean up my progress post.

My current achievement standing is 71/75.
http://raptr.com/_Anex_/wall

By this point is is quite simply easier to list my missing achievements.

Vampire Mastered- Acquire 11 Vampire Perks: Currently in progress on Malyce (my secondary character). I think I have 3-4 more perks to get. It's actually pretty tricky when your follower KSes you and since this character is rather weak, I need a follower :/

Legend- Defeat a Legendary Dragon: Legendary Dragons are confirmed at level 78. I am currently level 60 on Raewyn, my primary character. I have been working up other skills to level up and have currently switched from light armor and 1 handers to 2 handed weapons and heavy armor. This will be the achievement that takes the longest to acquire due simply to grinding boredom (I have completed Dragonborn along with all the side quests)

Stalhrim Crafter- Craft an item out of Stalhrim: I have a lot of Stalhrim, sadly one of the required NPCs of the village died during the quest to cleanse the stone. It was "funny" because I remember seeing him dead and saying "I hope he wasn't important" as I walked away. Turns out he was, but I didn't find that out until 30+ hours later and defeating Miraak. I wasn't going to go back. It will be up to Malyce to complete this one.

Dragonrider- Tame and ride 5 dragons: Pretty simple, just gotta find dragons. I think I need like 2 more.

The Elder Scrolls Online Beta: Sign Ups Open!

Chances are if you're interested in The Elder Scrolls Online, you have already heard about it and if not, you're freaking out, opening another window and looking for it right now. Needless to say I dropped everything I was doing and went right away to work on signing up as soon as I saw it pop up in my facebook news feed and then watched the cinematic trailer that was released with the announcement after.

The beta sign up page is pretty straight forward and had the nice touch of offering a "current closed beta selection chance rating" meter that increased depending on the amount and information you gave.