If there's anything video-game geeks hate, it's interacting with other people — at least, that's the common perception. However, it's a perception that is routinely shattered by the live chiptune music scene — and where better to go multiplayer than at this weekend's Blip Festival Tokyo, which celebrates the genre that emulates 1980s 8-bit video-game consoles.
"I'm not a fan of chiptune made to be 'of the chiptune genre' and nothing else," comments James York, better known as Cheapshot, an Ibaraki-based British solo artist who uses old game technology to make dubstep tunes. "I prefer it when an artist uses the Game Boy or whatever as a musical instrument."
Cheapshot is one of 16 acts who will perform at Blip on Oct. 15 and 16 at Koenji High. The festival, staged annually in New York since 2006 and in Tokyo since last year, is a summit for all things bleepy and bloopy.