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Meet Diablo III’s Sound Team, Samples Included

May 17, 2012 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on Meet Diablo III’s Sound Team, Samples Included Share this

[Originally posted on Destructoid]

Diablo III has easily been one of my most anticipated games of the past five years (c’mon, we all knew it would be coming someday), and now it’s less than a week away. A lot has changed at Blizzard Entertainment since the release of Diablo II: Lord of Destruction in 2001, and we wanted to delve into the audio with Blizzard Entertainment’s audio director, Russell Brower, as well as with some of the composers and sound designers who have been toiling away on the game’s sound.

Although Diablo and Diablo II composer Matt Uelmen has long since left the company, the sound he crafted for the first two games in the series is still alive, and I think fans will be surprised by just how much respect that the entire team has the groundwork he laid down for Diablo III. As always, we also have some samples of the soundtrack for your enjoyment, so sit back, stay awhile, and listen. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

Your Ears, Torn Asunder: World of Warcraft Cataclysm Soundtrack (Review)

December 13, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 3 Comments Share this

The day more than 10 million people around the world have been waiting for is finally here. While there has been a lot of excitement about what the Cataclysm expansion pack would mean to the World of Warcraft experience, players were finally able to dig in last week to re-explore new areas, discover new ones, and enjoy over 8 hours of new music that was added to the game.

Included with the Collector’s Edition version of Cataclysm was a soundtrack album, and you probably know from our past reviews of these limited edition pack-ins as well as the BlizzCon exclusive albums that we’re huge fans of the music from the game. Cataclysm has a lot to live up to, not only in terms of being the newest addition to the franchise, but also in that it revisits several themes from the past.

Does the Blizzard Entertainment sound team live up to the challenge? Find out in our review after the jump. (more…)
Game Music, Reviews

StarCraft II: Being Liberated Never Sounded This Good (Review)

July 30, 2010 | Gideon Dabi | 3 Comments Share this

“If Raynor can seem to pull his revolver a little faster, or if Tychus Finlay’s presence can feel more imposing due to a theme or flourish in the music, then the composers and musicians have truly called down the thunder.” – Russell Brower

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, arguably the most anticipated game of the year, arrived in stores and digital download this week and ActiBlizzard/Blizzardvision is sure to have another monster success on its hands. Although it is quite in fashion to bash the gaming evil empire, I must say that the treatment the soundtrack has received is exceptional from all fronts. The production values, sound quality, and iTunes LP treatment (digital liner notes with videos, track descriptions, etc.) are all top-notch and make the listening experience truly an experience. A tremendous amount of dramatic energy is added to the tracks as a summary of the contextual inspiration for the tracks is presented for each track.

But, even with all the pomp and circumstance of a wonderful presentation, a soundtrack is not much without quality music. So, do Russell Brower, Derek Duke, Glenn Stafford, Neil Acree, an co. deliver us with a soundtrack of rich minerals? Or has it come and gone like a bad case of Vespene gas? Read on as we conquer the galaxy! (more…)
Game Music

StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty Soundtrack Included in Collector’s Edition

April 12, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

Dear Blizzard, oh how we love thee. It looks like there will be a soundtrack release for StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty which will come packed in with the impressive collector’s edition of the game that will also include a 176-page art book, a 2 GB flash drive, a behind-the-scenes DVD, a comic book, an in-game pet for World of Warcraft, and exclusive Battle.net content. Sounds pretty sweet to me!

From what we know, the disc will contain 14 tracks mostly composed by Glenn Stafford, who’s handling the core Terran themes. With only 14 tracks, however, I do wonder if all of the music from the game will be featured, but we’ll have to wait and see. I also take the announcement of this disc to mean that there will likely be similar releases for the upcoming chapters in the StarCraft II series, and this announcement is made even more great by the fact that the original StarCraft didn’t even receive a soundtrack release until 10+ years later, and was distributed in such limited quantities that it’s one of the most sought after game music albums to this day. Not this time!

You can check out our impressions of some of the game’s preliminary music in our BlizzCon 2009 coverage along with an interview with Russell Brower that touches on the game. Are you looking forward to the game and its soundtrack?
Game Music

World of Warcraft Raid Bosses Make For Killer Techno Remixes?

January 14, 2010 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on World of Warcraft Raid Bosses Make For Killer Techno Remixes? Share this

I’ll come right out and say I’ve never played World of Warcraft, and likely never will. It’s not that I have anything against the game, it’s more that I know I’ll quickly become addicted and sink all my time into it. So when former OSV contributor Dan Carew sent over an email to our tips line that he’d been working on some World of Warcraft remixes, I wasn’t sure what to expect.

What he’s done here, however, is taken vocal snippets from raid bosses in Wrath of the Lich King and created some impressive electronic backings for them. I have to say that the one above is probably my favorite of the bunch, as I really dig the chillout track in the background, and of all his videos, the vocals in this one are the least obnoxious. He’s garnered quite a following on YouTube and has even been featured on Blizzard’s official WoW Twitter feed, so feel free to check out his other videos on his YouTube channel.

Are any of you playing much World of Warcraft these days? Have you faced the raid boss that’s featured in the above video?
Game Music, Reviews

Another Blizzard Soundtrack You’ll Never Own: World of Warcraft Mosaic Soundtrack (Review)

September 4, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 2 Comments Share this

BlizzCon just wouldn’t be complete without some super-rare CD release to leave all of you who couldn’t attend jealous, right? This year it was the World of Warcraft: Mosaic Soundtrack which we briefly discussed in our interview with Russell Brower at BlizzCon. As he stated, the album contains tracks from the various free updates that occurred between expansions, and were selected by the team as well as by the fans through polls on the Blizzard forums.

So, is it any good? It’s actually quite good (unsurprisingly), with some great production values that put it up there with the Collector’s Edition releases that we’ve seen in the past. Similar to those releases, the tracks here all flow into one another, creating a flowing musical journey that takes you through mostly tense territory. I admit I don’t play the game, but titles like “Black Temple” and “Fury of the Sunwell” definitely jump out at me as I know they were sizable updates.

Hit the jump for our review of the BlizzCon 2009 exclusive World of Warcraft: Mosaic Soundtrack. (more…)
Game Music

BlizzCon 2009: Closing Ceremonies Impressions of Ozzy Osbourne and TAFKAL80ETC

August 24, 2009 | Jayson Napolitano | 1 Comment Share this

You’re likely asking what the hell a TAFKAL80ETC is. That’s okay, you’re just going to have to read our impressions to find out. But yeah, there were two acts this year, and while I missed the comedy act and VGL performances that they’ve had in recent years, I agree with what Director of Audio and Video Russell Brower’s assessment that doing the same show three years in a row would be lame (my words, not his).

Anyway, Ozzy Osbourne. I suppose that should more than make up for the lack of anything else that they’ve had in previous years. It was a pretty standard set of songs, but it was awesome. It was also kind of hot, loud, and stinky. Oh, and wet.

Hit the jump for our write-up and answers to all the burning questions I’ve likely sparked in your head! (more…)