ReMix:Zombies Ate My Neighbors "Heart Beats" 3:08

The news broke today that Disney has shut down the legendary LucasArts studio; while apparently the name will still be used to license titles, the studio itself will no longer develop games. This is a gut punch to the world of video games & the art of storytelling, and feels like the end of an era - probably because it is. LucasArts is a name I grew up with, a company that has produced so many great games and made such a name for itself that even if you ignore every Star Wars game they've developed, the depth, breath, and creativity of their worlds & characters is still quite mind-blowing. ReMixer, composer, and fedora connoisseur bustatunez did some amazing audio work for them (they were lucky to have him!) and zircon & some1namedjeff both contributed to LA projects as well. At a moment like this, you've gotta quote Old Ben:

"I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced. I fear something terrible has happened."

It has; I can't write a love letter to the LucasArts of my past that would truly capture the totality of what they meant to gaming and what they meant to me, but OC ReMix will continue to shine a spotlight on the music that so many talented composers have contributed to their games over the years. In a pinch, to mark the solemn occasion, we've gone out of cycle to bring you this Mazedude ReMix of Zombies Ate My Neighbors - published by Konami but developed by LucasArts - from days of yore. It's quirky not ONLY in the traditional Mazedude sense of the word, but also in the instrumentation employed, which is rather heavy on organ, you might say:

"An experimental track for a 'Zombies Ate My Neighbors' remix contest, this track consists of samples made entirely from heart beats. Won 3rd place!"

We actually posted Mr. Pacaud's winning mix back in 2006 (!), and it's still quite the hotness, but Chris always delivers, and the range of timbres he's able to coax from cardiac cycles is a testament to his ingenuity & sample-mangling prowess. One can only imagine what this guy could do with the entire spectrum of human bodily noises, but that could get ugly fast, plus the purity of concept here is part of the point. We've now got a mix made from beer bottles and a mix made from heart beats, so let it never be said that zillion-dollar sample libraries are required to please the judges panel - all you need is a Heineken or a pulse ;) Chris' arrangement is swirling, spooky, percolating, and makes the most of the reduced ventricular palette.

Great, completely unpredictable stuff from Mazedude, marking the end of an amazing run for a studio that stepped out from the shadow of its largest license and made an indelible dent in the medium - for all the artists who worked at LucasArts up until today, or in years past, we at OC ReMix appreciate the heights that you elevated the art form to, the wonderful music you wrote, and the adventures you took us on.