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It’s that time of year again! With the start of a new year, we have all of 2010 to reflect upon, and we’re doing things a little differently this year. If you recall, last year OSV’s editors rattled off their individual top 5 picks for soundtrack of the year [2], with separate articles for doujin/arrange [3] and chip music [4] releases. This year, however, we’re streamlining things by putting all of our heads together here at OSV to come up with a comprehensive list of nominees and winners that we can all agree upon.
After the jump you’ll find our official OSVOSTOTY (Original Sound Version Original Soundtrack of the Year) Award nominees for 2010. These are soundtracks for games that were released in 2010, and are not listed any in particular order. Please feel free to chime in on our list of nominees, and watch for our picks for winner and runner-ups for each category in the coming weeks!
Hit the jump to see this year’s nominees.
Soundtrack of the Year
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow [5]
Final Fantasy XIII [6]
NieR Gestalt & Replicant [7]
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty [8]
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together [9]
Valkyria Chronicles 2
Best In-Game Soundtrack
* This category refers to the soundtrack in the context of the game and how it enhances the gameplay experience
BioShock 2 [10]
Metroid: Other M [11]
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle [12]
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty [8]
Super Mario Galaxy 2 [13]
Red Dead Redemption [14]
Best Handheld Soundtrack
Etrian Odyssey 3 [15]
God Eater [16]
Ragnarok DS [17]
Shantae: Risky’s Revenge [18]
Valkyria Chronicles 2 [19]
Ys SEVEN [20]
Best Arrange Album
Benyamin Nuss Plays Uematsu [21]
Distant Worlds II [22]
Etrian Odysssey 3: Super Arrange Version [23]
Piano Collections: Final Fantasy XIII [24]
NieR Gestalt & Replicant 15 Nightmares & Arrange Tracks [25]
Symphonic Fantasies [26]
Best Rhythm Game
Dance Central
DJ Hero 2
DJMAX Portable 3 [27]
Green Day: Rock Band [28]
Rock Band 3 [29]
Best Sound Design
Call of Duty: Black Ops [30]
Fallout: New Vegas
Metroid: Other M [11]
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle [12]
StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty [8]
Super Mario Galaxy 2 [13]
Best Chip Music Release
Control Me [31] by Jay Tholen
Dark Void Zero [32] by Bear McCreary
Derecha by minusbaby
PPPPPP [33] by SoulEye
The Best Music [34] by George & Jonathan
The Space Years [35] by Starscream
Best Doujin Album
Contra 4: Rocked ‘n Loaded by Klub Konchadunga
Expansion Pack [36] by Metroid Metal
Ninja Gaiden: Beat Blade / Steel Dragon by ESJ
Serious Monkey Business [37] by OCR
Super Mario Kart [38] by The OneUps
Vinyl Fantasy 7 [39] by Team Teamwork
Best Album Presentation
* This category recognizes excellent packaging and the continued dedication of record labels to produce physical soundtrack releases
Akumajo Dracula Best Music Collections BOX [40]
DJMAX TECHNIKA 2 Original Soundtrack [41]
Final Fantasy XIII Original Soundtrack [Limited Edition] [42]
Final Fantasy XIV Battle Tracks / Field Tracks [43]
Granado Espada Renaissance Original Soundtrack Volume 3 [44]
Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together Original Soundtrack [45]
Best Live Concert
Distant Worlds Returns Home
Symponic Legends [46]
JDK Band Live 2010, Live!
Best “Other” Release
Ge-On-Dan Rare Tracks Volume 1
Makara [47] by E.S. Posthumus
Prescription for Sleep [48] by Norihiko Hibino
Rocky IV [49] by Vince DiCola
S-Mode [50] by Hiroto Saitoh
Songs for the Cure ’10 [51]
Composer of the Year
Garry Schyman
Hitoshi Sakimoto
Masashi Hamauzu
Russell Brower
Best Indie Game Soundtrack
Bar Oasis [52]
Protect Me Knight! [53]
SoulCaster [54]
Super Meat Boy
Tower of Heaven
Best Anime Soundtrack
Fairy Tail
Gundam Unicorn
Letter Bee
Sora no Woto
Vanishment of Haruhi Suzumiya [55]
Comments Disabled To "2nd Annual OSVOSTOTY Awards: 2010 Nominees Announced"
#1 Comment By Jak On January 13, 2011 @ 11:17 am
FFXIII and Hamauzu all the way!
#2 Comment By ryo On January 13, 2011 @ 12:31 pm
need more blazblue
#3 Comment By Robb On January 13, 2011 @ 12:49 pm
Symphonic Fantasies for best arrange album without even a shadow of a doubt.
#4 Comment By Electivirus On January 13, 2011 @ 1:54 pm
Aw, no Last Ranker or Pokemon Black and White for best Handheld soundtrack? :C
Very glad that Final Fantasy XIII is nominated, though. Good old Hamauzu.
#5 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On January 13, 2011 @ 2:03 pm
It was a good year for game music, and coming up with the list of nominees was incredibly difficult. We had something like 20 titles in our pre-nominee list for soundtrack of the year. Wish we could have worked in Opoona, but it was released in 2007 or so. Also, I think it would be fun to do something like “Best Packaging of the Year” next year to support physical releases.
#6 Comment By Don On January 13, 2011 @ 4:01 pm
No Dariusburst Remix Wonder World? The concept alone is something quite unique for arrange albums and features a variety of amazing artists and styles (and some damn tasty remixes as well!)
#7 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On January 13, 2011 @ 5:30 pm
Don, think it was a casualty of merging concert recordings with “remix” albums. Only so many nominee slots.
#8 Comment By Atafhael On January 13, 2011 @ 11:25 pm
NMH Desperate Struggle Soundtracks is awesome in so many levels
#9 Comment By Matthew Boone On January 14, 2011 @ 2:34 am
Oh boy, Final Fantasy XIII and Tactics Ogre. I love both Hamauzu and Sakimoto but as much as I love both soundtracks, I have to give it to Sakimoto and Iwata on their beloved scores that is Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together. It’s such a classic. I became a fan of the game in 2007 because I finally snagged a copy for $100 on eBay. Yeah, expensive and now with the complete game coming out next month, i’m very excited.
#10 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On January 14, 2011 @ 3:36 am
Okay, we caved and got together for a quick round of nominations for “Best Album Presentation,” dedicated to packaging.
#11 Comment By Kapik On January 14, 2011 @ 4:59 am
WTF?! No composer of teh year nomination for TEH composer of teh year Yoko Shimomura?? Also teh best indie gaem soundtrack is Return All Robots!1
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#13 Comment By Kristi Kaufman On January 14, 2011 @ 11:10 pm
I had a talk with the husband and we’re surprised with some of the sound design nominations. We suggest taking out Fallout: New Vegas (seriously guys…?!) and Metroid: Other M (that made him go off on a rant).
We suggest Dragon Age: Awakening – Origins and Mass Effect 2.
PS: If he sends you a strongly worded letter, I tried to stop him. :p
<3
#14 Comment By Kristi Kaufman On January 14, 2011 @ 11:15 pm
Oh, I forgot to mention Bioshock 2 for Best Sound Design. I see it under Best Soundtrack, but it was good in both.
#15 Comment By Electivirus On January 15, 2011 @ 4:53 pm
Also, no Sonic Colors nomination for SOTY? v_v
#16 Comment By Jayson Napolitano On January 15, 2011 @ 10:12 pm
Kristi, if you ignored “what” they were saying in Metroid: Other M, I think the voices themselves were well recorded, and the sound effects are always spot on.
#17 Comment By Chris Taran On January 16, 2011 @ 10:58 pm
Nier should be a shoe-in for best of the year.
#18 Comment By Chuck On January 17, 2011 @ 4:32 am
I guess my favorite OST of the year would have to be XIII. There’s something about Masashi Hamauzu music that makes me feel things I haven’t felt before, and i’m a sound → color synesthetic. Nier I would definitely give a ridiculously close second place though, no doubt there.
Also, though I don’t know if it was considered, was the Sonic Colors OST ViViD SOUND X HYBRiD COLORS, which is also a really nice soundtrack.
As for the anime stuff, Sora no Woto surprised me in a good way during its airing.
Either way, looking forward to the results in the coming weeks!
#19 Comment By Patrick Gann On January 18, 2011 @ 9:34 pm
Chuck — Synaesthesia is CRAZY! I knew a girl who I think was the same with sound -> color. Like, each key signature had a different color for her. B was silver. Bb was “chocolate brown.” Wild.
So did you not just feel, but visualize something awesome when you heard Hamauzu’s music? I don’t have any synesthetic qualities (that I know of), but just the association with SaGa Frontier 2’s watercolor art with the music makes me feel all light and giddy.