zircon

I gotta say that for me personally, I have the most fun when the match is challenging. If I just steamroll someone, I don't get much satisfaction. If they're much better than me, it's more fun than playing someone much worse than me, but still not that fun. However, losing a match to someone worse than me due to my own execution problems is the least fun of all.

Nah, it's all legit, but like I said the people that compensate me for this type of thing move sloooowly. Here's how it works. Antigravity is licensed to a music library/publisher, Pump Audio, who basically makes it available to anyone who is interested. They also shop it around a bit directly. Once someone selects a song from it, they pay an upfront fee (for a "synchronization license") which is split 50/50 with me. I get my checks from Pump twice a year, along with a statement about who bought what. Otherwise, they don't contact me at all. Thus, I could have 1000 placements this month and I wouldn't hear about any of them until about 3 months from now when the check comes in. Sometimes, it takes even longer... for example, my music was used on some UK TV show DVD release which came out in April, but I wasn't officially notified until December of that year. The other channel of revenue is ASCAP, the performing rights organization of which I am a member. Basically, anytime ANYTHING is broadcast on TV, the producers of each show or ad are supposed to report what music they use to the appropriate PRO. So, the people behind Heroes would tell ASCAP, "Hey, we used this song 'Warhead' for about 45 seconds on NBC at 9pm." This would happen for any subsequent broadcasts as well. ASCAP then uses some complex formula to determine a royalty for EACH broadcast, which is billed to the Heroes guys. Then, about four times a year, they would pay out those royalties to myself and Pump (another 50/50 split).

How did you even do that??? Thank you! That's really awesome. In fact, thank you to everyone who has posted. I appreciate it. Ironically, I wouldn't have heard about this for another... 6-9 months because ASCAP and Pump Audio (the two organizations who would collect for this usage) are on the slow side.

Uh... what?! What episode was it? I gotta check this out online...

Pole doesn't sound quite like that (there is a scraping sound attached) but there are plenty of metal sounds like this in various percussion sample libraries.

Haha, very cool sir. Great job.

The music isn't quite melodic enough to remix for the most part.. and those that ARE melodic seem so good already that I wouldn't touch them. Still, maybe.

Absolutely sick, wish I could have been there. The OCR pimpage was awesome too. What was AE playing? Looked like some sort of MIDI guitar...?

Thanks! OK, so I get a dongle and set ad-hoc to 1, but do I need any PC software after that?

I don't have a PS3 - could you elaborate more on the wifi card/dongle solution? I found stuff like this; http://good4shopping.ecrater.com/product.php?pid=4044232 But what do you do with it? Do I need some sort of other software/hardware or mods for the PSP?

Anyone get this game yet? It's (apparently) a PSP adaptation of the sequel to Phantasy Star Universe. The last PSO game I played was Episode I & II for Gamecube, so I decided to pick this up on a whim. I gotta say, I've been having a blast so far. The music is strong (in general), there is just a massive wealth of content in terms of items, the skills are varied, and it's easy enough to level up. Plus, the story is at least halfway-decent and there are actual plot events, rather than the original PSO, where there wasn't much of anything. Character customization is pretty intense and you can even change classes (but not races) if the conditions are right. This makes it easy to experiment with lots of different fighting styles. My character is a Human Ranger/Gunmaster, so he focuses mainly on ranged fighting, but uses some magic and melee as well. Plus, he's black, has an afro, and is named Rufus, so that's always fun. The party system is solid too - you can invite almost any NPC you meet to your party, OR go solo, enabling you to mix and match combat types to your liking. I prefer using mostly females My only gripe is that there is no true online multiplayer. You can play local games, but that requires someone else with a PSP and Phantasy Star Portable. What are the chances of that? For me, zero, unless I go to Otakon or something. It would have been nice if the game actually connected to the 'net since the PSP is capable of that.

Huh? Spamming a move is what any pro would do if the move is working. It's not like there is an "honorable" way to play Street Fighter. For example, if someone doesn't know how to deal with Hadouken spam, then you ought to use Hadouken spam and win. If you're on the receiving end, then you need to figure out a counter.

Ah yes! At one point, I went to the GameStop at the Baltimore harbor and I heard some music that sounded familiar. They were playing tracks from Voices of the Lifestream! I asked to speak with the manager, whom I then asked about the music. He said "Oh it's this great stuff from OverClocked Remix!" (or something to that effect). Then I told him that I actually directed VotL and that pixietricks was my girlfriend (she was with me at the time). Really cool guy

You just gotta learn counters. If someone is spamming a move and beating you with it, you just gotta learn how to get around it. What character are you playing? Maybe I can help.

I don't think they're comparable. In FF7, Shinra is drawing energy from an inanimate object - the planet. The Espers are actually people, and they're not part of the planet at all. The world of FF6 doesn't need Espers to function. It's more a theme of racial oppression.. or something. They're not comparable.

Yeah, Nintendo World has been playing OC ReMixes every time I've been there - it's pretty cool. They've even played my stuff.

Yeah, Seth isn't invincible... he's much harder as a boss character than his playable self. Still, if anyone would be banned, it would PROBABLY be him (though I doubt that would happen).

Agreed. Pure damage dealt per attack and damage taken aren't really that important if the character has a lot of tools. SF4 is a very defensive game compared to Super Turbo, so the ball is really in Seth's court.

I think the production here is really nice. Reminds me of bLiNd or Jewbei, who have a similar sort of epic/progressive sound. The synths and drums aren't groundbreaking in tone, but they're polished and used very well. The intro is indeed very similar to the intro of the original, but I don't think it's directly sampled from the source; the rhythm and the sustain of the notes are different. Despite the fact that the arrangement is rather conservative overall, I think there is enough variation and original material to put this one over our bar. The harmony writing is varied and there are some new patterns to accompany the melody (which, to be fair, is probably the most conservative part). On a side note, while listening to both the remix and the original, I can't help note the similarity to FFX's "People of the North" which has a very similar progression and arpeggio pattern. All things considered, it's close, but I'm gonna go YES

I definitely get that classic "espionage" feeling here. I love the original writing and the arrangement is very creative. If you told me this was on the soundtrack of a new James Bond game I'd believe you. On the production end, the strings and brass aren't perfectly realistic (could use more reverb, in my opinion, to help them sit in better) but otherwise things sound pretty slick and well-balanced to me. Awesome stuff! YES

I've seen that chart... people on Shoryuken are saying that it's potentially bogus and not really based on solid tournament results. Hence why Fei Long is mostly 5s, for example. The Tougeki tiers are much different, and those are based on tournament results. Seems weird that Blanka would end up so incredibly high when no other ranking had him like that. But still, some of the data looks accurate, such as Seth (he's awesome).

Man, I really like the texture and soundscape here. I agree with Vig that everything sounds a bit "muted" but I think it has a really excellent dreamy feel. The blend of orchestral instruments, processed beats, and synths is really nice. My only complaint on the production level is one that Vig levied about the drums being too far back. You could bring them forward to be sure (Delirium is indeed a good point of reference). More shimmer wouldn't hurt either but I don't think it's absolutely necessary. I love the flow of the arrangement, and while the level of source usage is definitely in a gray area, I feel comfortable enough to say that it's within our standards. Though I won't get into an exact analysis, I felt like the remix masterfully blended the source tunes with original writing. This might be my favorite of the Forerunner series, Nick. YES

The brass here isn't amazing, but it's definitely solid enough. If anything, my only serious production beef is that some of the swells might be getting limited too much. Otherwise, this is very well written and orchestrated. The arrangement and interpretation are quite good - there are clear dynamics, defined and interesting part-writing, and very enjoyable variations and additions to the source material. The samples aren't the very best they could be, but they're used REALLY well here. A definite YES ps. Do I hear "Impact: Steel" being used here?

Let me start with the production end because that's easier. I'm not at my home listening setup at the moment, but I think the mixing/mastering here is solid enough for our bar overall. I agree that the sustained synth is a little grating, but not because it has a bad frequency balance, but merely because it just has a loud sustain. Bring down the sus level on it and have a smooth decay curve. Additionally, it's pretty boring when it sustains like that - some sort of articulation like vibrato would really help. The first solo it plays also seems kind of out of place, in terms of the notes (some sour ones IMO). The dirty organ might be a little too loud, as well as the electric guitar. They drown out the drums! On the other hand, the rhythm guitar and bass sounded good, as did the drum tone. The transition towards the end from the loud to the soft section sounded kinda off, again, some sour notes imo. I could hear what you were going for but it just didn't sit well with me. Otherwise, the flow of the arrangement was quite good. It's the interpretation that is primarily the issue with the writing end here. I didn't feel that there was enough of the source. I could hear it clearly when it was around, but much like that Prince of Darkness "Cyan" mix from FF6, too much of the NEW writing here just has nothing to do with the the source. It feels more like the source is just referenced occasionally, rather than being the foundation of the mix. Even if the interpretation was sufficient from a source usage standpoint, I think that there are enough minor issues to prevent this one from getting a YES anyway. NO

This reminds me of the sad theme from the Nippon Ichi game La Pucelle... at least until the beats come in. I love the smooth vibe. The arrangement here is pretty cool overall, especially when the piano comes in and the chord progression/bassline switches up a bit. Solos were nice too. I wouldn't have minded even more movement in the pad voicings, though. A notable production issue was that the strings which come in at the 'chorus' so to speak sound really mechanical and very loud/dry compared to everything else. They don't sound very good at all - try to find a new sample or finesse your current one so it sounds smoother. One problem that I had with this overall was that some of the sounds didn't fit into the landscape. The bass, piano, and pad all fit really well together, but the beats seemed sort of tacked on, mixing-wise. If you listen to some of Joshua Morse's material for inspiration, I think you'll get an idea of how you can fit in groovy drums into a style like this. In particular, I thought the snares were generally too dry and up-close, and could have used more reverb as well as a lower volume level. Lastly, the synth bell lead sounds pretty dry to me. I would try a different synth bell patch (maybe an electric piano) or perhaps layer it with another instrument. I do like this mix in general, but right now the loud and unmixed strings and loud snare are definitely preventing this one from a YES. Additionally, a more conclusive ending would have been nice, or at least a fadeout, rather than an abrupt stop. Your arrangement and concept here is really good otherwise! I am close to going conditional yes on this but I think there is just more work to be done than a couple knob tweaks. PLEASE resubmit with some of our comments in mind. NO, resub