Gaming

Somebody Played The ‘Montero’ Video On A Game Boy Advance And Lil Nas X Is Blown Away

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Wikimedia Commons / Lil Nas X / Derrick Rossignol

Lil Nas X and “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” have been everywhere lately, and now, that includes the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo’s handheld video game console that was discontinued over a decade ago.

A Twitter user known as pynnion shared a 36-second video of some of the “Montero” video playing on a Game Boy Advance system and wrote, “My mom took my phone so I’m watching the call me by your name music video on my gameboy @LilNasX.” The rapper was amazed by what he saw, as he shared the post and tweeted, “how is this real.”

As pynnion noted, this was achieved by using specialized software to convert the original video into a file format the Game Boy Advance can read and then putting the converted file on a “flash cart,” which is essentially a blank Game Boy Advance game cartridge that users can load their own game files onto. Presumably, the video format used is the same one Nintendo used back when they used to make Game Boy Advance Video cartridges that contained movies and episodes of TV shows. Somebody else did this recently when they converted Tenet for Game Boy Advance playback.

Watch “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” playing on a Game Boy Advance above.

Lil Nas X Shakes His Jiggly Butt In The New Video Game ‘Twerk Hero’

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YouTube

Lil Nas X is diversifying his empire. Aside from music, he recently released a best-selling children’s book, C Is For Country. Now he’s getting into video games, as he has released a new one based on his “Montero (Call Me By Your Name)” video, called Twerk Hero.

In the browser game, the player controls a 3D model of Lil Nas X, facing backwards with his hands on his knees, in full twerk position. The player is instructed to “grab the booty and hit the incoming temptations,” and when players drag Lil Nas X’s rear end around, there are some impressive jiggle physics at play as his butt hits incoming quad-directional indicators, much like Guitar Hero or Dance Dance Revolution.

“Montero” has generated a ton of attention, enough to where it just debuted in the top spot of the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it Lil Nas X’s second No. 1 single following “Old Town Road.” He also got parodied on Saturday Night Live, where he was portrayed giving a lap dance to God. His “Satan shoes” also led to some controversy, as Nike took legal action against the maker of the limited edition shoes, to which Lil Nas X has a characteristic reaction.

Play Twerk Hero here.

Rod Wave Launches A Video Game In Support Of His ‘Soulfly’ Single ‘Street Runner’

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Getty Image

Rod Wave is about to release his third album Soulfly, but before it arrives, he’s delivered a unique treat to fans. Following the release of “Street Runner,” the lead single from his upcoming full-length effort, the Florida native has teamed up with Krool Toys for a collaborative project tied to the track that delivers an arcade-inspired game.

Rod also spoke about the new song and game, saying it’s “a personal song about the sacrifices I made to pursue this career that I have now all while never forgetting about the family and loved ones I’m doing it for. This video game brings my story to life beyond the music.”

In a statement to Complex, Stefan of Krool Toys explained the inspiration behind the game: “When building out this game we really wanted to give people the feeling of being back in an arcade getting behind one of those old school sit-down racing games, as well as incorporate some elements from Rod’s home of Florida.”

Street Runner can be played through Krool Toys here. Rod is also offering a chance to win a one-of-one Street Runner Game Boy box, as well as a customized Game Boy Advance, which one can enter in here.

As for Soulfly, the album will arrive on March 26 and feature 19 songs, with a sole guest appearance from Chicago rapper Polo G.

Post Malone Covered A Hootie And The Blowfish Classic For His ‘Pokémon’ Partnership

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The Pokémon franchise is commemorating its 25th anniversary this year; While Pokémon Red and Blue, the first games released in the US, came out stateside in 1998, the original Japanese games, Red and Green, were released in 1996. Anyway, part of the celebration has included collaborating with Post Malone on a couple things. Malone is performing a virtual concert for Pokémon Day this weekend, but ahead of that, he has released a new cover tied to the partnership: a rendition of the Hootie And The Blowfish classic “Only Wanna Be With You.”

Malone keeps the cover mostly stylistically faithful to the original version, and even though the song doesn’t have any clear preexisting connection to Pokémon, Malone has turned in a fun recording nonetheless. He slightly tweaked the lyrics, shifting the focus of one line from the Miami Dolphins to his favorite NFL team, the Dallas Cowboys, as he sings, “I’m such a baby ’cause the Cowboys make me cry.” Longtime Pokémon fans may have also noticed that the song has a sample from the second-generation Game Boy/Game Boy Color games Pokémon Gold, Silver, and Crystal, specifically the music that plays in Ecruteak City.

Darius Rucker, who of course sang and co-wrote the ’90s classic, is over the moon about Malone’s rendition, tweeting of it this morning, “The smile in my face will not leave for a long time. This is awesome. My bro @PostMalone bringing it. Hell yes man!!!!!!!!!”

Listen to Malone’s rendition of “Only Wanna Be With You” above.

Metallica’s Twitch Concert Audio Was Apparently Replaced With 8-Bit Music To Avoid Copyright Issues

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Metallica played a concert to kick off BlizzCon on Twitch, but apparently not everyone got to actually hear the music they were playing at the online event. The first day of the annual Blizzard event streamed on Twitch on Friday night, and with it came a special performance by Metallica. But the actual audio that played on some channels got caught up in one of the music issues that often plagues streaming content.

On Friday, Twitter lit up with videos from the performance where, instead of Metallica classics, nondescript 8-bit music seemed to be playing instead.

And it wasn’t a dub; multiple people shared clips of varying length where Metallica is clearly on the Twitch channel but some other music is playing. Though that moment spread online like wildfire, it apparently wasn’t what happened on the main Blizzard Twitch page. Rather, it was the front page of Twitch Gaming which had to replace the music.

Still, it’s an interesting bit of irony at the complicated state of Twitch and the music copyright issues that often plague the platform. And as many people pointed out, DCMA takedowns are an issue in internet content creation that came directly from Metallica’s decades-old fight with Napster that set the tone for music copyrights.

No one seemed to have any sympathy for Metallica here, mostly because they’ve dealt with these sorts of issues in the past. Anyone who has streamed a video game that has original music in it has likely encountered takedown or muting issues, and game makers have had to introduce music elimination options to help streamers prevent their content from getting taken down.

It’s unlikely the moment will change much of anything, but it certainly felt like things came full circle on Friday night.