Now that the insanity of the holidays is over (until New Year’s, at least), I finally have a chance to update all of you fine folk on the status of Ein and the album. It’s been a long couple of weeks, but they were better than any two weeks I could have asked for. What initially was a whole lot of worrying for my dog, managed to become that kind of story that you tell people, and they want to go out and do a lot of good for others. That’s rare these days, and I have every one of you to thank.

For those just tuning in, here’s a quick chronilogical series of events to catch you up.

• December 2, 2008 – I released a 9-track preview of a christmas album WIP, entitled 8-Bit Jesus.
• December 9, 2008 – my server is overloaded from all the visits and album downloads.
• December 10, 2008 – I move my VG Art forum, Pixelgasm, purchase a new domain, host, etc.
• December 15, 2008 – I found out my dog, Ein, needed to have surgery.
• December 16, 2008- I post about Ein, install a donation button for those who want a physical copy of the full album, set to release on December 20th.
• December 20, 2008 – I release the full 8-Bit Jesus album, with new cover art by Jude Buffum, by which point I received 23 donations toward the physical album, plus other donations for the download.
• December 22, 2008- Ein has his surgery, and everything goes great.
• December 23, 2008- We pick Ein up from the vet, and he is happy to come home.

Currently, Ein is healing up nicely and back to his old self, terrorizing us and our roommates. Thanks to all the generous donations, the surgery was paid for in full, and went off without a hitch.

To show my thanks, I am having the physical album professionally pressed. The original plan was to do everything myself (produce, print, package, mail, etc.), but because of the number of donations I have gotten, I am going to have one thousand copies made. This is not a limited time deal or anything, and I will continue to accept donations for the download, as well as the physical copies. If I run out of copies from the first press, I will have more made, because I want to make sure that everyone who wants a physical copy of 8-Bit Jesus can get one. I will most likely begin mailing these mid-January, and most of you should receive them before February.

On a side note, I have to mention the original 8-Bit Jesus, www.8bitjesus.com. The guy who started this fantastic t-shirt site emailed me to congratulate me on the success of the album, donated towards it, and showed no sign of being upset that I had pushed his search results to page 30. I definitely feel bad about the fact that I happened to choose the same name for my album that he had for his website, so I have to encourage everyone who reads this to check it out and buy an 8-Bit Jesus t-shirt.

Just to clarify, there is no connection between the 8-Bit Jesus shirts and my 8-Bit Jesus album – it is just straight up coincidence.

Also, next year, I’ll make sure to do a search for “8 Bit Santa” before naming the album…

Just in time for Christmas, it’s the full version of 8-Bit Jesus: Classic Christmas Songs in the Style of Classic NES Games. This full release contains 18 tracks total, including improved variations of a few of the original nine! Please be sure to check out the new amazing cover art for the full release, designed by Jude Buffum.

*EDIT: To listen to the full album right now, please visit the official 8-Bit Jesus page. You can also download the original teaser from this post.

*additional content removed

I’m going to keep this short because I’ve been posting about it all day…

Last night, my girlfriend and I were up all night with our 6-month-old Pembroke Welsh Corgi puppy, Ein, who was in excrutiating pain, trying to pass an unpassable bladder stone.

After a Vet visit, more stones were found, and out of all the options, surgery is the only option that can get rid of the stones now, not put him in potentially more pain, and also help the doctor find the cause of the stones/infection, and ways to prevent it from re-occuring.

Many of the visits to my blog lately have been due in large part to the free release of the 8-Bit Jesus album preview, and I must thank everyone who has downloaded the album and left amazingly positive feedback (so much that my server overloaded). I’ve had a number of people ask why I was just giving it away, and many others who would have bought it were it for sale. I am planning a full release (which will also be free to download, $15 donation for the full version) come December 20th, but with the surgery, I may not be able to afford to pay my bills next month, let alone the costs to produce even a limited number of copies of the album.

Basically, i’m asking anyone who would donate money for the full album, or even for the preview (as some have mentioned they would have), to do so now. It’s the same deal as the official release, and those that donate $15 or more will receive a physical copy of the album as well as access to the free download of the full album along with everyone else on December 20th. Include a note that mentions that you read this post before donating, so I can make a list of people who I owe big time for helping my puppy.

EDIT: I had to take my dog to the vet today (12-15-2008) for bladder stones. At only six months, the only realistic option is surgery. For anyone that has said to themselves, “I would pay money for this album”, please visit my most recent post about the situation, and how you can help and get a physical copy of the full version of 8-Bit Jesus.

I’ve been working on a new album for the past few months and am releasing a free MP3 download of the first half – sort of a preview, I suppose. The album is entitled 8-Bit Jesus and contains 9 tracks thus far. Each one is a chip-tune version of a classic Christmas song done in the style of a different NES game.

Below you will find links to download the full album as a .rar or .zip, or each track individually.

Due to the recent increase in downloads, my server is apparently unable to handle it all! If you experience problems, please visit one of the following mirrors for the 8-Bit Jesus download. A Huge thanks to those that have volunteered their precious bandwidth and server requests to accomodate this!

Download the entire Album in RAR
Download the entire Album in ZIP

We Three Konami
Ryu the Red Nosed Ninja
Silent Knight Man
Carol of the Belmonts
Joy to Commando
Deck the Kremlin
Little Drummer Nemo
The Legend of Noel
Super Jingle Bros.

I hope you enjoy. Feedback would be wonderful.