ReMix:Street Fighter II: The World Warrior "Clamato Fever" 2:30

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, hopefully those of you with PS3s and 360s have downloaded and are enjoying SSF2THDR by now. I've played a few matches online - won a few, lost a few more - and Vinnie and I played through the game on medium just to get to the credits, which we later discovered were easily available right from the main menu. I'm literally floored by the job Backbone and Capcom did on the rebalance and mechanics, Udon's artwork, and the overall presentation, especially relative to the limited beta that was giving some, including me, cause to worry. I'm not worrying anymore, just PLAYING... which makes it hard to coordinate the album release. The torrent is live, but we're still working on HTTP downloads for MP3s and some sort of dedicated informational page. Thanks for all the feedback you've given us so far - keep it up!

For me, the release of this game - and the quality that reviewers are acknowledging - is like one, big, giant exhale. When this first appeared on our radar, I was ecstatic for maybe... three days. For more than a year, though, while I've definitely been psyched as well, I've mostly been worrying. Worrying that the game could be canceled, that there could be some sort of contractual hangup with the music, that there'd be bugs or that some aspect of the final product would turn reviews sour, etc. Rational fears? Not really... we're talking Capcom, Backbone, and Udon, here - that's a damn solid foundation. Working with Rey Jimenez was smooth sailing and - given the number of artists involved, and some pretty extensive requirements - a significant feat of coordination. My game plan from the beginning was to make it as easy as possible on him, at the expense of doing most of the coordination myself. I've got hundreds of back-and-forth emails, gdocs with a gazillion revisions, and a boatload of WIPs to show for it. And of course, all of this transpired while we continued running OC ReMix... at a time when we're (still) working on a lot of behind-the-scenes improvements... while also maintaining the status quo. I think my brain might be permanently fried - if the next ReMix I do sounds like a Rick Astley cover played on kazoo, I blame cranial complications as a result of working on HDR and OCR simultaneously. But am I complaining? No. Well... yes. But I wouldn't have done things any differently, or trade OC ReMix's involvement in this game for... anything. This is truly awesome, and I've never been prouder of this community.

Of course, working with Capcom - and just about everyone in the entertainment business - is much easier if you're out on the West Coast. AE got to hang w/ Capcom, play some SF4, and meet some of the folks involved... even José and Shael got to chill with the big C when they visited NYC... but alas, our nation's capital was slighted yet again: here in DC I didn't get invited to anything at all. Of course, they all earned it. Mr. The Bronx Rican ended up doing almost a third of the tracks involved, as he covered most of the endings, Shael was my partner in crime coordinating everything, and AE chipped in with some fantastic new material. I love what he did with Akuma, Chun Li, and especially Blanka, but his collab (with Prozax on guitar!) on the Ken theme that Capcom used for the title screen is my favorite. If you're playing this game, you're gonna hear this theme ALL THE TIME, as it's the title theme AND menu music... but if you're like me, you'll never get sick of it. AE writes:

"DJP (thankfully) let me squeeze in a few tracks at the very last minute.  This one was a call to my good buddy Prozax to supply me with some nasty guitar work to compliment my Drum & Bass take on Ken's theme.  I was (and still am) really into Pendulum during the time this track was made, so you can hear the influence.   Capcom is REALLY kicking butts right now, and this is sort of our love letter back to them.

Seriously, if you haven't played this or Street Fighter 4 yet, get on it!"

Capcom are indeed doing far more than most to acknowledge, reach out to, and - dare I say - capitalize on Internet culture, their diehard fanbase, and 21st century mediums. This is a true "Game Company 2.0," to buzzphraseify it, and I hope others follow the example they're setting. This is a kickass mix; Pendulum seems to be influencing everyone and their grandma these days, but it's a positive influence. The bassline here is downright diabolical, the drums hot & heavy, and Dan's shreddage the perfect compliment. It's a new sound for a classic theme, and does a good job of representing the overall ideology behind HD Remix - taking a revered classic, keeping EVERYTHING that made it classic in the first place, and upgrading the context. It's good to see Prozax back on OCR; spoke with him a bit and asked him when we'd see a solo mix, which he seemed to think was doable, so hopefully that'll happen at some point. Bottom line, I don't need to tell you why to download this mix - it's AE, Prozax, Ken, Capcom, SSF2THDR, and several helpings of awesome all rolled into one delicious Thanksgiving stuffing.