Wir hatten die Möglichkeit, mit einer wahren Legende der Videospielbranche zu sprechen und ihm einige Fragen zu stellen. David Wise begann seine Karriere in den frühen 80er Jahren bei der damals noch unbekannten Videospielfirma Ultimate Games (später dann Rare) und komponierte im Laufe der letzten 30 Jahre unzählige Musikstücke, die Videospielfans heute noch begleiten. Nach seinem Weggang von Rare im Jahre 2009 machte er sich mit einem eigenen Studio, „David Wise Sound Studio“, selbstständig und arbeitet nun für verschiedene Unternehmen.

Seine letzten Titel waren “Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze” für die Wii U und das iOS/Android Spiel “Tengami” das auch bald für die Wii U erscheinen wird.

In wenigen Tagen werden wir David Wise des Weiteren mit einem Eintrag in unserer Hall of Fame ehren.

GentleGamer: Hello David, thanks again for your time. It is a real honor to speak with one of the people who worked on so many games we came to love over the years. We would like to ask you some questions about your experience in the gaming industry.

GG: What influenced you to compose music?

David Wise: My parents had a piano in the dinning room – and I used to like making sounds with it. I always wanted to be a song writer, so I consider it a privilege to be composing music for video games.

GG: Could you tell us something about your education?

David Wise: I went to school and got enough qualifications to start at college. However, I left after a year and got a job in a music shop.

GG: How did you got your job at Rare?

David Wise: I became a video game composer quite by accident.Whilst at the music shop, I demonstrated a Yamaha CX5 computer with some of my own songs to two people who turned out to be Tim and Chris Stamper of Rare Ltd. After the demonstration they offered me a job at Rare.

GG: What was your first job at Rare?

David Wise: I wrote the music for an Nintendo Entertainment System game called Slalom.

GG: What was your favorite project back then?

David Wise: I liked them all. They were all challenging – but I like a challenge. And because they were a challenge – they were rewarding from a creative point of view.

GG: What was your reason to leave Rare?

David Wise: I started at Rare as a composer for Video Games. But several years after Rare had been acquired by Microsoft – the opportunity to write music for the games I wanted to write music for – simply didn’t exist anymore within Rare. I needed a new creative challenge.

GG: Where do you seek your inspiration?

David Wise: I think there are so many influences to find inspiration from. Life experiences, along with watching films, listening to music, reading books. Every-thing and every-where, really.

GG: What kind of instruments do you play?

David Wise: I play guitar, bass, drums & percussion and the trumpet, which I used to play as a child.

GG: Why did you leave the industry?

David Wise: I didn’t really leave the industry. I took a short break – but mainly to recover after a very difficult personal situation.

GG: So your first “Nintendo-job” was to do the soundtrack for “Slalom”; we recently played it and loved it after all those years. Could you tell us about your experience and the challenge working on the NES?

David Wise: It was a lot of hard work to make it sound musical. A noise channel and 3 very basic, monophonic channels. But it’s amazing what we learn when we have the desire to circumnavigate apparent limitations.

GG: Who contacted you and when did you got contacted to work on Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze?

David Wise: Michael Kelbaugh, President and CEO at Retro Studios got in touch with me initially. We first met when we both worked on the original Donkey Kong Country for the Super Nintendo over in Twycross.

GG: Did you work closely with Kenji Yamamoto (Anmerkung der Red. Komponist von „Donkey Kong Country Returns“ und der Metroid Prime-Reihe)?

David Wise: We met in person for several days over in Austin. We also had regular video conferences too.

GG: He had worked on “Donkey Kong Country Returns” and remixed some of your old tunes – do you like his work?

David Wise: Yes I do like his work – and I really enjoyed listening to his remixes of the “Donkey Kong Country” tunes. It was a real honour to be able to do the same with my remixes of his Rocket Barrel Tunes in “Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze”.

GG: Let’s say if some of your old Rare Ware colleagues would start a new studio and the circumstances would be perfect for you, would you join them?

David Wise: I’m happy to consider all serious musical opportunities.

GG: The 90s were a magical decade for Rare Ware. I think JonTron said it best: “They were like the Beatles of video gaming” because you took a certain genre, made a game and set a new standard while you were at it. So many talented people came together and made gaming history. Could you tell us about a typical day at Rare back in the 90s?

David Wise:

Typically:

I’d cycle 10 miles to work and have breakfast.
Then I’d sit in my office and compose, arrange and program music all day – and probably all night too. Occasionally – I’d get to see some of the gameplay.

Then cycle home.

Repeat….

GG: Please tell us something about the relationship between Nintendo and Rare Ware back than.

David Wise: As an employee, it was my opinion that it was a fairly good relationship.
We certainly produced some very good games – so we must have been doing something right.

GG: Did your work environment change after Nintendo sold their shares to Microsoft?

David Wise: Being part of Microsoft – things did change as we became part of the working environment that makes up Microsoft Games Studios.

GG: Are you still in contact with your old colleagues?

David Wise: Quite a few of them.

GG: What was it like to work with the Stamper Brothers?

David Wise: It was my first real job. I didn’t know any different.
I enjoyed it a lot at the time – and I have many very fond memories of working at Rare.

GG: Do you know what the Stamper brothers are doing currently? Do you know what they think of Rare Ware now?

David Wise: I have no idea what they are doing now.

GG: It’s sad but since Nintendo sold their shares it seems like Microsoft is using Rare for anything but games. The Xbox Avatars and “Kinect Sports” are the last “games” they made.
What do you think about this development and the “new” Rare Ware in general?

David Wise: It’s not the direction I would have taken a talented studio like Rare in – but ultimately – that’s why I decided to move on.
But – it’s an ever changing industry – and Rare could never have survived without change.

GG: Any plans for the future?

David Wise: I have many plans for the future – and fortunately, those plans are keeping me extremely busy right now.

GG: Thank you very much for your time and the interview. We wish you all the best for your future and your upcoming projects.