Somebody took a copy of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo and hex-edited the levels so that instead of requiring a human player, the game's built-in physics propels Mario through the level. And, the levels were designed so that the various sound effects caused by Mario stomping on and bumping into things vaguely approximate the music to Don't Stop Me Now. AND four entirely different levels were created, each attempting to reproduce the part of some particular member of Queen. AND they occasionally sync up for the more spectactular parts of the song.
More specifically, this is one of the Nico Nico Medleys, a series of fan-made medleys of memetically popular songs. There are quite literally thousands of arranges of each of them.
It never ceases to amaze me what people are doing with these "classic" video games. I have immense hope that the current generation of video games, ten or twenty years on, will have fostered the same degree of love and devotion in their fans, leading to such astounding mods. I can't wait to see how the more advanced physics and rendering technologies in recent games are twisted by the brilliant and insane minds of hackers and digital circuit-benders.
There are some good examples already (the GTA4 negative wheel friction hack (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I0cUkU9rZyE) or some of the Mario64 Tool-Asisted-Speedruns come to mind), but we're not yet anywhere near these beautifully orchestrated sublimations of classic Mario, Zelda and Super Metriod.
I think contemporary videogames are too complicated to do this with. Older, simpler games have a minimalistic beauty all of their own; newer, complex games are more of a spectacle but lose a lot of the simple elegance. It's similar to the difference between the deliberate, minimalistic, kendo-style lightsaber battle in Empire Strikes Back and the hyperactive, flashy lightsaber battles in the Star Wars prequels.
But perhaps you're right. There does seem to be a sweet spot in the balance of 16-bit era games, where the technical complexity wasn't so constrained as to force a boring outcome (as with 8-bit and earlier), nor so complex as to require a herculean amount of effort.
Time will tell. I would rather err on the side of being hopeful.
I think it's possible to use newer technology more tastefully and minimalistically. I was going to add a huge analogy to the end of my comment about the subdued use of color in recent films, comparing that with earlier color films which were more vivid and gaudy, but I don't think I have enough of a grasp of film history to really tell whether that was the case.
I was tempted to post some Halo examples (not to mention Morrowind!), as I was really big into the Halo:CE jumping community back in, oh, 2001/2002. I have many, many fond memories of halo.bungie.org and the like — in fact, I remember seeing sneaky Halo-related hints on Bungie's website before they even did the famous reveal during a Macworld keynote (with you-know-who): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2obYHzJ3n8.
Then, Halo 2 came out with off-the-shelf Havok physics replacing the (wonderfully) "buggy" penalty springs-based physics from H:CE. Because Havok was "more-realistic", it was extremely difficult to do the sort of insane physics-stunting the first game allowed. It was this single change that turned me off of the rest of the Halo series.
Like Super Metroid, H:CE was a magnificent case of the weaknesses in code allowing for brilliant system-breaking ingenuity on the part of users. And as long as video game devs are forcing themselves to the very bleeding edge of technology under a merciless deadline, we're bound to see more "glitchy" games offering plenty of opportunity to enterprising and creative sequence-breakers, speedrunners, stunters, and the like.
I don't think Google posting a Google Doodle tribute is akin to shilling (is it shilling when they have doodles for other world figures?).
I will agree that there is some commercial benefit to Google for this sort of thing, but even I'm not cynical enough to think that's their rationale for doing this.
Freddie Mercury was one of my biggest heroes growing up, and I thought this was really nice (and maybe will cause a whole bunch of young people to ask "Who the hell is Freddie Mercury?").
I don't think you know Freddy Mercury or Queen all that well. Considering they provided the score for two films (Flash Gordon, Highlander) and allowed their music on scores of commercials (e.g. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Zr5lZWx9X0 ) yeah, he'd/they'd shill.
Highlander still had a traditional orchestral score alongside the Queen songs. The Highlander TV series also liberally used some of the songs, most prominently the album recording of the title song "Princes of the Universe" as the theme song, but also variations on "Who Wants To Live Forever" in the score.
There's no question Queen was a fully-sold-out pop band at the end. With their talent they could have easily pursued a less commercial path--and in their early albums, had a fair deal of influence from heavy metal and progressive rock--but for whatever reasons, they didn't. Not a criticism, just a fact.
Versus a small corporation?
Or versus his image not being used at all?
It is a tribute, with at least some degree of creativity and effort put into making the video. I don't see this being exploited to gain Google any more users than, let's be honest, they would have anyway. Especially since it is on Google Japan, I would anticipate people going to the main page, watching the video, and then not even performing a search. And in instances where that does occur, Google is gaining nothing financially from something which, again, is a creative tribute.
How many times does the google logo appear in various forms during the "tribute"? If you don't think google gains anything financially from this, then you don't understand how advertising works.
The Google Doodles have historically intertwined Google and whatever the day's message was. Just as in pre-interactive Doodle days where they would morph images into the Google name, here they are extending that into their new style of logos.
Plus, keep in mind that Google created the video. As a photographer and someone who enjoys art in general, I can tell you that it's not uncommon for artists to incorporate their name (or, in this case, their company's name) into a piece of work. It's a nice way to make the art something with which one can personally connect.
You are joking right? You think google inserts their logo into this video three or four times so they can "personally connect" with it? It is so when you watch it, you associate google with the "fun" feeling you are getting from watching the video.
I never said that was the entire reason, but if I were one of the artists involved (not that I'm any good with video), that would be part of my reason. When I take or edit a photo, although representing myself individually, I incorporate a part of me or my family in it–my name, somewhere, or sometimes even something that alludes to my company.
Now, I'm not saying that you are incorrect in what you perceive to be some of their reasoning for this. Of course Google wants to associate the work they do with their brand identity, and this video is indeed advertising. Anything a company does is advertising, to be fair.
That said, I don't personally believe that advertising and showing support for something are mutually exclusive. Just as a company is able to get their name out there while also donating to charity, Google is capable of spreading the Google name while also paying tribute to Freddie.
Yes he would. Queen was one of the most "commercial" bands ever, constantly rehashing their music to sound like the mainstream-of-the-day and selling out to the highest bidder. They knew that being a pop band is just an act, and what matters is how many records and tickets you sell. Freddie was quite happy to get money to be a showman, and would probably laugh at modern "indie" sensibilities like you wouldn't believe. Hell, they happily sold "We are the Champions" to any sport organization willing to pony up some cash.
That is really nice mix of several genres - anime, video games, that new crazy trend to design everything like screenshot from a ZX Spectrum game, and, of course, that vocal and drive. Really nice work of a modern art. ^_^
Somebody took a copy of Super Mario World for the Super Nintendo and hex-edited the levels so that instead of requiring a human player, the game's built-in physics propels Mario through the level. And, the levels were designed so that the various sound effects caused by Mario stomping on and bumping into things vaguely approximate the music to Don't Stop Me Now. AND four entirely different levels were created, each attempting to reproduce the part of some particular member of Queen. AND they occasionally sync up for the more spectactular parts of the song.