DarkeSword   Administrators 🎮

I totally jumped for joy when they ended up in Rapture. So awesome. Really loved the ending, and the overall theme, especially in the context of the biggest criticism of the original Bioshock ("You said the choices would matter! They didn't actually matter!"). It's almost like this game was designed as a direct response to that.

I've updated the first post with information for competition runners.

They do actually. Battle Network and Starforce still carry on the anime aesthetic of other Mega Man games.

Um, what? I said in the first post that this is from a few years ago. Capcom already dropped this. Did you even read the article?

This is insane. http://www.polygon.com/2013/4/9/4179628/mega-man-fps-maverick-hunter Apparently Capcom was developing an FPS reboot of the Mega Man franchise years ago. Video and images in the article.

Ha! Actually not a great deal, IMO, because it's all #1s. You're not getting full-story arcs, just the first issues of Marvel series and mini-series. It's their way of getting you hooked into the stories so that you'll buy the other issues in whatever story-arc you're interested in. And a lot of Marvel's recent books are overpriced, IMO.

Yeah, no.

Hm. Didn't receive anything today. Let's try for April 13.

Audition WIPs due today. Send 'em in.

Nothing hard yet. ASAP is always a given though. You got it.

Basically just send me a WIP and I'll determine whether or not your treatment has potential.

Basically exactly how I feel. NO

Delay on that piano doesn't really work in the opening. It's very mechanical and the delay is just causing a lot of overlapping notes that don't need to be overlapping. That lead synth you've got initially just does not work. You really ought to consider changing it. This whole piece feels like it's on auto-pilot, like you just jump from one idea to the next without a lot of thought given to transitions. You've also got this thing happening where the lead instrument will just try to embellish itself by going on of a melodic tangent when there's any sustained note. It sounds very weird. Try to separate embellishments from the lead and learn to balance them accordingly. This isn't bad but it needs a lot of work. NO

I actually like this. I think it'd be better with vocals but when you've got all the elements in there there's some really nice synergy. A nice take on a classic theme. YES

Oof, distortion on the vocals is killing me. Very unpleasant. Larry hit the mark with the vocal crits. Not crazy about that performance. A bit weak; needs more personality and emotion. There's some orchestra stuff in the back there that sort of gets lost and sounds really weak behind all the guitars. Should take a look at that too. Needs some work I think. NO

Yeah what is up with that brass? It sounds categorically awful. Weak attacks, sits in the mix really poorly. Strings are also strangely exposed and sound really fakey. Beats are great but Larry's right, they hit the cruise control and basically just coast. You gotta think about the soundscape here; you've got some wicked beats starting things off and then this anemic trombone playing sitting in the back of the auditorium just starts playing? It just doesn't work. I don't feel like this arrangement goes anywhere. Like the beats, it just coasts. Needs a lot of work. NO

Nice approach, but yeah, things are getting lost. Balance is off, pads are HUGE, percussion is super basic, lead is just sort of in the background, and it's pretty repetitive. Hit the Workshop and workshop this piece. It's rough, but with some work you could really get something nice out of it. NO

That just about sums it up for me. Personally I really like a lot of the ideas here but like Larry says, some of the mixing is not great and the source usage needs to be bumped up a bit. I don't think Vig's assertion that it's "cookie cutter" really brings it down; trance is a genre that's got its own characteristics just like rock or symphonic. To do a straight genre adaptation is not necessarily bad, and I think this does a good job of working towards a great genre adaptation. NO, resub

Oh man I love Phendrana Drifts! I really like how this piece evolves. Jesse and Wes are right about the structure and dynamics; really excellent stuff. I don't have as much a problem with your sounds as the other Js do, but I will agree with Jesse on the idea that your droning, sustained bass and chords kind of pull the energy down a bit. Some subtle pulsing and maybe some stronger rhythmic ideas could really help with that, I think. This is really almost there. Just a little more... NO, resub

Timing issues definitely should be looked at. Vig is also right about it being really bright. That piano in particular sounds really bright. There's a really bad crunch/clip on the cymbal at the end too, that definitely needs fixing. This is a personal favorite source tune, and I really love your arrangement; the guitars are really joyous at times, which is exactly how this source should be approached IMO. I'd love to see this tightened up and on OCR. Hopefully you can clean things up. NO, definitely resub

I agree with basically everything Jesse said. The rhythmic looseness doesn't bother me as much but it is a little iffy. There's a real balance problem here; there's too much going on all the time that I don't really know what to pay attention to. Vocals are a bit odd around 2:50, watch the intonation on that entrance. Really ambitious arrangement. Would be nice to see on OCR someday. NO, resub

Great start but it feels REALLY conservative and that dubstep breakdown is just so boring; nothing really happens there. Percussion fills are killer. I like that. I'd replace the dubstep section with some really groovy soloing or something; go crazy nuts over the chords and build some real energy. NO, resub

This year's TT2 mix used a track from TT and they didn't care that much, BUT since we have a lot more time I'd prefer it if we used a song specifically from TT2.

Apex 2014 January 2014, NJ, USA http://apex-series.com So at PAX East I met up with the Apex folks and we got to talking about doing another album for the Apex tournament that's going on next year. I wanna get a jump on this and start WAYYY earlier. There's a big time restriction on this because physicals have to be done for the event. Here's a list of games for confirmed for Apex 2014 as of June 23, 2013. Remixers: final mixdowns of your tracks are due Nov 30. Finished Tracks Super Smash Bros. - Amphibious Super Smash Bros. Melee - Flexstyle and OA Super Smash Bros. Brawl - Benjamin Briggs Super Street Fighter IV: Arcade Edition - Neblix Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - Hakstock Mortal Kombat 9 - Jivemaster Pokemon X & Y - timaeus222 Injustice: Gods Among Us - DarkeSword Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 - WillRock The King of Fighters XIII - Jason Covenant Super Smash Bros. Series Part I - OverClocked Assembled Super Smash Bros. Series Part II - OverClocked Assembled Super Smash Bros. Series Part III - OverClocked Assembled Open Tracks None As with Straight to the Top, I'd like high energy, groove-oriented tracks. For Smash Bros. games, original Smash tracks are preferred, but not required (e.g. Metal Mario theme is better than Kirby Gourmet Race). I'll consider anyone for the project but you gotta be good. This isn't the album to be cutting your teeth on. Let's hear what you got, folks. If you're interested in doing a track, PM me a WIP and I'll see if it's a good fit.