The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

I recently downloaded a random game that I’d seen mentioned on one of the tech sites that I read, and was amused to find that it includes a phonograph...

...which is used in the greenhouse bonus feature in the tower defense game Plants vs. Zombies (for Mac and Windows).

(The phonograph can be yours for just $15,000—unfortunately, it does not come with made-up history at that price...)



(It’s definitely worth every penny, since how many external horn machines can play underwater? )



(And your plants demand that you play records for them.)

I’m not sure if I’ll have any other games to add to this thread, but I figured I’d make it anyway.

You never know.

— MordEth

Ian't it amazing that all these decades later old horn phonos feature in a modern computer game amongst lots of other common household items. I wonder why the game designer chose a horn phono instead of say a cd player.

Thanks for posting Mordeth. See if you can find any more. As an aside its amazing how many phono relics are to me found in modern life. Your probably aware that Fallout 3 features "old" music. Here is an example

RJ
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PENd0co436E[/youtube]

Wow. I was surprized to see that posted Richard. I thought my post of Civilization was the only one left with audio on youtube. I guess this ones still there because of the spaceship noises during the song.
That song is enormously popular with teenages. My videos been getting about 700 views every day for the last 6 months solid!
I think we can thank that game for sparking a lot of interest in vintage music with they younger generation, and I'm sure we've got a few more machines collectors coming up too. I've had numerous comments & PMs asking for recommendations of similar style music & artists, and quite a few about where you can get wind-up machines, prices etc. At the moment there's a discussion/argument happening about whether the song is racist or not lol. I've found it very interesting I must say. The overwhelming majority say no, but occasionally some bright spark will say using words like Spears & Coconuts are racist & offensive
I think we'll be seeing a lot more old music in video games in the future- especially when the developers work out they can be using public domain recordings.

Any idea what the game is that accompanies that video Richard? It sure isn't Fallout 3, and looks about as interesting as Pong
Fallout 3 looks like an awesome game, & I just love the trailer.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYZpR51XgW0[/youtube]

gramophoneshane wrote:Any idea what the game is that accompanies that video Richard? It sure isn't Fallout 3, and looks about as interesting as Pong

Shane,

I may not be Richard, but I can answer your question—the game shown is Audiosurf, which can be played with most DRM-free audio files (e.g. mp3 and other formats, which they list on their website). It’s currently Windows-only, but you can play it in WINE or one of its derivatives if you don’t run Windows. For a small ‘independent’ game, it’s quite popular.

I was just thinking that Clive Barker’s Undying may well have had a phonograph in it also, although I’m probably not likely to play it again in the foreseeable future to see if I’m right.

— MordEth

LOL. I guess I should have figured that one out from the title