Reprints, compilation albums, and previously unreleased material. Generally, we love all of these things. When great music becomes unavailable, it’s a problem. On the other hand, a glut of reprints and compilation albums can be too much, so we’re not in the business of celebrating or honoring all of them.

But we have three out of our six nominees that we want to give special awards to. Again, our nominees are:

Bare Knuckle Original Soundtrack
Donpachi / Dodonpachi / Dodonpachi II Soundtrack
Shinji Hosoe Works Vol.1 ~Dragon Spirit~
Eternal Daughter 10th Anniversary Original Soundtrack
Live A Live Original Soundtrack
Rockman EXE Transmission Sound Track

Without further ado, the winners… (more…)

Our “Other Release” category — a catch-all miscellaneous category for stuff that isn’t technically game music, but close enough that you all probably know about it — had some great nominees. There were plenty more than six albums to choose from. But we narrowed it to six, and now we’re going to give the bronze / silver / gold medals. Well, digital medals. Still pretty sweet, though (thanks Connary!).

So, in case you’ve forgotten our nominees for Best Other Release:

Black Ocean (IMERUAT)
FX4 (virt)
Indie Game: the Movie (Jim Guthrie)
Make Music, Throw Music (SleepyTimeJesse, et al)
Preschtale (C-jeff)
SOUNDSHOCK 2: FM FUNK TERRROR!! (Various Artists)

And the winners are… (more…)

2012 featured a host of emerging game composers. Some have come from television and film, and others from the ground up. The most important takeaway from all of this: these guys are good and we’re thrilled to have their music.

Read on for our list of nominees for Composer of the Year! (more…)

We’ve spent the entire week unveiling the OSVOSTOTY 2012 nominees, and it’s with great pleasure that we finally present to you our top picks for Soundtrack of the Year. This is always one of the hardest categories to come to a decision on, as you can imagine each staff member was fighting for their own personal favorites. We do, however, stand by our final list and think it represents the best of what 2012 had to offer.

I also wanted to take a moment to comment on the change in format for our fourth annual awards. In the past, we had separate categories for Soundtrack of the Year, Best Handheld Soundtrack of the Year, and Best Indie Game Soundtrack of the Year. With advances in technology and the rising prominence of indie games to the point where it’s difficult to discern what’s indie and what’s not, we believed it was important to combine these categories into a single Soundtrack of the Year category to level the playing field. We’ve opened the category up to eight nominees to accommodate, and you’ll find it interesting just how many “indie” games made the cut.

As always, chime in and let us know your favorite soundtracks of the year and who you’re rooting for. So without further ado…
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Have you ever experienced music whilst playing your favorite games that made the dramatic moments so tense and the action so lively? And then, you bought the soundtrack, skipped over to that same part and – yeah, it was cool. But, you knew there was something missing from that listening experience. What was missing was living the moment in the context for which the music was written.

These moments are no less important than those that work just as beautifully separate from the game. It is for this purpose that we, here at OSV, choose to acknowledge those fantastic mood-enhancing and beautiful moments in a game’s soundtrack. Included in this category may also be games that did not receive a formal soundtrack release. Read on for the nominees! (more…)

Among the more overlooked aspects of game development from the common fan is that of sound design. Although we know that so many people choose to play their games blaring their own music or blathering to friends, there are still a great many of us who choose to take in the game’s ideal presentation with good, quality sound and music. Here at OSV, these unsung heroes of the gaming world who slave to create the perfect sound effect and music cease to go unrecognized!

Read on to find out the nominees for Best Sound Design of 2012! (more…)

We’re marching forward with OSVOSTOTY 2012! Today’s category, “Best Arrange Album,” is one of my personal favorites. There were a lot of great arranged albums this year, though (as you’ll see in our nominations list) one publisher put the money and time behind this category of music, and they’re reaping the rewards.

After the jump, the six nominees!
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It’s day 2 of OSVOSTOTY 2012! For today’s category, “Re-Issue” can also cover “Previously Unreleased” territory, and even sound upgrade versions that don’t quite fit the category of “arranged album.” Basically, we’re talking about music written a long time ago, published in 2012.

Can you identify these six albums we’ve nominated for best re-issue based on the image above? If not, you’ll want to keep reading for details on each of the six albums. Remember to check back next week to see which album won top honors!
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Welcome, dear readers, to OSVOSTOTY 2012! This year is our craziest year yet. Every day this week, we will reveal the nominees for seven separate categories. The categories are:

Best Other Release
Best Re-Issue Soundtrack
Best Arrange Album
Best Sound Design
Best In-Game Soundtrack
Best Soundtrack (Overall)
Composer of the Year

After the first week is over, we will announce the winners for each category each day of the following week.

We’re starting with “Best Other Release.” This miscellaneous category covers any original music not written for a game. In this way, we’ve collapsed previous categories such as chiptunes or film soundtracks into this category alongside the usuals: original concept albums. Our nominees for “Other” after the jump!
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MAGFest 11 had, without a doubt, the largest lineup of special guests and band performances in it’s history so far. The event has progressively upped the ante each successive year it’s been put on, and this year pushed the envelope with 3 notable composers from across the globe with extensive resumes of musical compositions to their names.  One in particular was the German composer most notable for his several Amiga and Commodore 64 compositions, Chris Huelsbeck.

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It’s late, it’s great, it’s our MAGFest 11 recap and review! Even with illness cutting our team down, we still managed to take it the sights and fresh sounds of at least a portion of what this great event had to offer. From slick chiptune beats to shredding duels within dwellings to blowout rave parties, MAGFest 11 had a little bit of something for everyone.

Miss out on MAGFest goodness? Looking to recap good memories of the event? We have our scoop below the cut!

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Do you like synth rock? Do you like video game guy bands? Do you like guy bands that may dress up like Pokemon trainers? Well, if you don’t, then you probably don’t want to even bother with these guys because that’s kind of their thing.

Hailing from Baltimore (and close to the current MAGfest capital), the guys from Rare Candy don’t want to be just another video game cover band. They want to be a video game cover band that defies your very conception of video game cover bands! And by that, I mean they do more keyboard and synth-heavy work rather than the straight rock or metal that a lot of other video game bands do. Featuring the talents of Chris Baines  (Bass/Guitar), Matt “PokeMatt” Baros (Rhythm Keyboard, Dominic Cerquetti  (Lead Keyboard), and John “JD” DeCampos  (Drums), the band makes yet another appearance and has become one of the many mainstays of the MAGfest experience.

But they don’t do just Pokemon-themed music, oh no. They bolster their musical repertoire with themes from across the spectrum of gaming!

So if you like a whole lot of keyboard-tickling and some variety in your gaming music covers, then check out Rare Candy performance Saturday on the main stage at MAGfest 11!