Hello, dear readers!
You’ve probably popped in on our site a few times in the last few months, expecting new content but getting virtually nothing.
“What gives?” You might say to yourself, exasperated by the disparity in content regularity from prior years to this year. “Is OSV dead?”
Well … not exactly. Some quick history:
In late 2011, Jayson Napolitano accepted a position as a music-focused editor at Destructoid. At that time, I (Patrick Gann) accepted an “Interim Managing Editor” position. Throughout 2012 I wrote 70% of the posts of OSV myself and worked with some great new writers such as Brenna Wilkes and established OSV bloggers such as Audun Sorlie and Gideon Dabi.
But I told Jayson that the “Interim” in my job title meant something. There was a ticking clock, and a line in the sand where I would need to stop generating regular content. The reason why will be revealed in my next post here.
So, the site has gone leaderless. There was talk of merging OSV content with other sites, or vice versa, but that all fell through.
Here’s the deal: OSV will continue to exist with its legacy of great content (seriously, I’m so proud of all we’ve done here in the last 5 years!). All of our writers are free to post here as needed, but there will be no scheduled content or expectation for regular posts. We are open to guest posts, and if there are responsible writers out there interested in taking up the mantle, just contact myself or Jayson; we’re willing to hear your case!
Before I finish out this little announcement post, I would like to say that among the great music released in the past 6 months that we haven’t had the chance to review, I’ve very much enjoyed the following on a personal level, in no particular order:
Me and My Dinosaur 2 OST
Fire Emblem: Kakusei OST (5 discs, easily the best Fire Emblem soundtrack yet)
FZ Sides F and Z (the new FEZ arrange albums coinciding with the PC/Steam release of the hit game)
The Binding of Isaac Piano Collection
Ys ZANMAI
Final Fantasy XI Seekers of Adoulin OST
Final Heaven: A Melancholy Tribute to FFVII (among many other Joypad releases, this has been my favorite from the Spring season)
Ginga Force Complete Soundtrack
MONACO soundtrack / “Gentlemen’s Private Collection” (hurray Austin Wintory!)
A bummer, but thanks for the hard work though! Wasn’t around here often, but when I came over it was always a pleasure!
A good run all the same. I’d been rubberbanding between here and Nubuwo when I realized it seemed there was a ghost town vibe lingering around here as far as new content was concerned. Never truly gave up hope though and if nothing else even without a managing editor hopefully those remaining contributors can still get some stuff out there on a semi-regular basis.
Jacob —
Personal differences with the site’s lead aside, Nubuwo is a solid resource for up-to-date news and info in the VGM scene.
I am personally looking forward to Jayson’s continued contributions at Destructoid, as well as the long-term plans of SEMO to take on a domain change and continue their strong, in-depth coverage of VGM (IMO they have some of the best interviews out there, lots of great details).
As for this site, I too hope that we are able to keep bringing the occasional bits of worthwhile content that I know we can do even without any strict structure or deadlines. We’ll see what happens. More details on my inactivity in the next post, as promised. 🙂
jeriaska vs. Patrick in Game Music Site Slapdown 2014? I wasn’t aware of any friction between you (either you specifically or if jeriaska has trashed OSV at some point) and him. I swear my mention of the site was purely casual though.
I hate to say it but I somewhat gave up on SEMO, which is not to say anything toward the quality of the site or its content (which are both fine, though a less painful layout would be much welcomed but that’s IMO purely) and like you said their interviews are nearly second to none.
In a perfect world there’d be one awesome site dedicated to all the game music news the internet could shake a stick at, where all the contributors passed along packages of unicorn-blessed candy fudge and readers such as myself were up to speed on all the comings and goings/etc. But, a few core sites covering content in different ways is hardly anything to balk at (and most certainly is better than no sites at all).
re: Jeriaska — I have no problem with him, but … he refuses to speak with me. And a whole bunch of other people that one might consider his competition, including pretty much all past and present writers for OSV and SEMO. That’s his deal to work out.
re: SEMO — patience, patience. My hope is that once they get their new name finalized and they get into the swing of things, they’ll be a true force for great game music coverage again. 🙂
re: perfect world — that’s what I also wanted for quite some time. I don’t know that it will ever happen. But I am satisfied with the present state of things, sans my inability to contribute regularly to OSV. vgmdb has all the info anyone could ever want, you just have to take initiative. 🙂
[…] website for game music news and reviews has not been as active lately. A new post on the website, HERE, explains that the managing director of the site, Jayson Napolitano, left some time ago to write […]