I notice this more with sounds than graphics. Sometimes a film will have the goblin sound from Elder Scrolls: Arena, or that one futuristic door opening sound that exists and I’m transported back. Although somehow I’m annoyed every time I hear the Wilhelm scream.
One common cash register in the US uses the exact sound from Sonic the Hedgehog that plays when you collect a ring. I haven’t determined if it was ripped from it or they simply share a common source.
Edit: found this summary:
> “Did some searching, and found out there's actually a story behind this. "Sega sold their intellectual properties to a company called Sammy, who used those sounds to make Pachinko machines. Pachinko isn't as popular as it used to be now, so Sammy has been licensing out those intellectual properties to Chinese manufacturers who make most of the cheap electronic devices for 'Merica, registers included."
I'd perhaps be slightly suspicious of the explanation as Sega didn't sell IP to Sammy, the companies merged (the general holding company for the group is Sega Sammy Holdings, but in the west we mostly only see the Sega side of the business). If they got that wrong, would the rest be right?
AFAIK the ring effect is FM synth generated (it's not like the Mega Drive is very good at digitised audio), so it's probably original to the game, but I suspect random cash register manufacturers are just ripping it off myself, rather than actually licencing it (are two notes and some synth parameters copyrightable in the end? probably depends on how much you can spend on lawyers...).
This is incorrect. While some sound effects in the Sonic games on the MD/Genesis do use the PSG, the ring sound is not one of them. I double checked just now using the oscilloscope view in my emulator. Looks like the ring sound effect alternates between channels 3 and 4 depending on which way it's panned (unclear why it's done that way since any FM channel can be panned left or right).
Some kind of fast-food order management software common at least in Russia uses the ICQ incoming message sound to notify someone about something. Back in the day I used to think it was the actual ICQ they use in the kitchen.
Something I learned when working on the Sonic the Hedgehog movie is that SEGA doesn’t own that ring sound. They have a license to use it in video games but it’s owned by a 3rd party. It had to be relicensed for use in the movie.
The Motorola FLEX computer-aided dispatch (read: 911) software uses AOL Instant Messenger sounds in its built-in IM client. It messes with my brain whenever I hear it being used. I think about conversations with old friends late at night…
Tip for anyone who enjoyed that particular type of video - scroll through that user decino's videos looking for thumbnails with bright yellow backgrounds. Those are the ones where he digs into tech behind Doom and Doom II, usually with some really nice, simple, visualisations.
He also played through a few interesting wads - Going Down and Overboard were two of the most creative I've seen (by same author iirc)
I’m honestly surprised they get away with it, given that these days there must be a fairly large audience that‘s familiar with it (and thus anyone who screens the movie with authority to demand changes, like the director, might notice and want that audience reaction).
Just comes across completely hackish when I hear that in a movie now. Cringe for the poor editor being forced to put it in as the director is giggling away to themselves about it.
There is an electricity sound clip that I hear in many places, including model Sci-Fi when something is arcing. Always puts me in mind of the AfterDark screensaver with the monkey powered clock, which used that sample when it would electrocute the chimp when it slowed down.
I don't think I've heard it in there. Though there is another common one from games that also makes its way into films. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0dD_TACPx0#t=5m51 is one of the ones I'm thinking of.
I'm tired of hearing the same exact bear stock sounds every time a bear appears on screen in any media. I swear the fx guys have been using the same 4 sounds for at least 30 years.
Ahh yes!! I hear the simcity police sound in police procedural shows all the time. I wonder what the original source is, come to think of it, it’s clearly not sim city…
The sound-texture of my adulthood is desktop and mobile notifications from Slack. [0] and [1] (first sound).
There is some perverse ad that incorporates a subtle version of the first sound from [1] into its jingle, and I stiffen up every time I hear it. Also, Slack TV commercials incorporate [0], and many complain about it on Twitter and elsewhere, it's a "traumatizing" sound.
Yeah, I can imagine that’s painful. But I hope joyful sounds balance it out! One that I always notice is the TiVo bi-bip - every time I hear it on a TV show I have happy memories of a great device.
Not sure if it's the same sample, but Minecraft has a 'wolololo' tribute in the 'Evoker' enemy. They chant it and turn nearby sheep to different colors.
To me its "that chair creak" that often gets used for people siting down or getting out of chairs, also makes an appearance as the creak of a rusty gate hinge but to me it stands out as part of the soundbyte for exiting the Command Chair in the Goldsrc mod Natural Selection.
I think the modern equivalent that every kid growing up now will subconsciously recognize for the rest of their lives will be royalty-free music from YouTube. Like this banger "Spring In My Step" by Silent Partner:
It's not just the kids growing up now. I'm sure plenty of millennials who watched YouTube when AudioSwap was a thing will recognize "Dreamscape" by 009 Sound System:
Ok, the non-proportional fonts gets an unqualified thumbs down. But the warm beige and teal — I could chill out to this instead of the endless cool expanses of 100% white and 98% white featured in today's desktop operating systems.
The computer where this application ran probably looked like this:
Seeing "cobble stone" and "childhood", I thought it was about Counter Strike.
Set in a medieval castle, Cobblestone is one of the oldest Counter Strike map, dated back in CS Beta 6.5, and is also one of the most iconic map in Counter Strike, that not only this map spanned across the whole CS competitive scene, but that this map is also designed by David Johnston, who is otherwise more well-known for his work in de_dust2, the most iconic map in CS.
I've noticed this to hold over the years, almost always. I actually end up laughing a bit when I see cloud depictions in design specs these days because it's the same damn cloud every time.
They're not all the same. They're just trying to pad their list.
This story about finding assets in common across various forms of media is so old and it's always the same examples despite there being way more out there.
The only people lazier than those who used these assets are the ones parroting stories about them almost word for word.
I am curious which one you thought were a different texture. I was looking for the center brick with the cut corner and the one adjacent to it that touched a brick with a notch, and I was able to find these features on all of them.
I'm not sure lazy is entirely correct word. Using textures that are known to work well and make the world somewhat familiar to players of other games is probably the art version of "use boring tech".
I'm 25 and don't have any memory of this texture. Maybe more like 30-35? Although I didn't play a lot of games growing up, but these graphics older than what I was playing when I was young enough to feel nostalgic for. I don't know any of these games.
Looks like Silicon Graphics was bought by a company that was then bought by Hewlett Packard. Does that mean HP owns the copyright now, and it's probably impossible to buy or license?
