The Economizer

Game Music

Pocket-Sized Economizer: iGMB Is Out!

September 6, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 4 Comments Share this Pocket-Sized Economizer: iGMB Is Out!
Nestled between Indie Game Music Bundle 3 and the upcoming IGMB4 is a special bundle, the iGMB. Yes, you know what that lowercase “i” is for. It’s not for Indie, it’s for the iOS platform. Well, it’s soundtracks for games on the iOS platform. You don’t need an iAnything to play this music!

For $1, you get a ridiculous pile of fantastic music:
Increase that amount from $1 to $10 (or more) and get access to .flac audio in addition to the 320k mp3 versions, and all these bonus albums:
This is just insane. Every GMB has been good, but this bundle exposes you to some great musicians you may have never heard of, while also giving you music from established composers like Wintory, BGC and zircon. And Squids Wild West? Wow. Exciting! We’ll have a review of this one for Monday.

What other special things will we do to cover this bundle? We’re stirring the pot for fun ideas now, but we’d love to hear your ideas as well, so leave a comment!
Featured, Game Music, Indie Music

The Economizer: Indie Game Music Bundle 3 is out NOW!

May 28, 2012 | Patrick Gann | Comments Off on The Economizer: Indie Game Music Bundle 3 is out NOW! Share this

And it’s looking GOOD!

Head to gamemusicbundle.com right now to check out the wares and make the purchase. I’ll also give you the album details here.

For the $1 minimum, you get five high-profile soundtracks. They are:

Terraria | Plants vs. Zombies | DustForce | ilomilo | Frozen Synapse

Pay $10 or more and the rewards get even sweeter:

Offspring Fling! | Noitu Love 1+2 et al | Cardinal Quest | inMomentum | _ensnare_’s “Impeccable Micro” | Protodome’s “Bluescreen” | George & Jonathan’s “Beautiful Lifestyle” | Disasterpeace’s “Rise of the Obsidian Interstellar” + “Deorbit” | GunGirl 2 | Astroman | The Blocks Cometh | Fittest | Songs for the Cure ’11: Remedy | Songs for the Cure ’10

Editor’s Note: this post will be updated with URLs to our reviews as they’re posted for the duration of the GMB3 sale!

We’ve been informed that, this time around, there won’t be any “unlocked” soundtracks over time. Though there could be some surprise bonuses anyway. Top bidders will also be privy to all sorts of neat goodies, including the vinyl soundtrack for Indie Game: The Movie. So what are you waiting for? In the infamous words of Fry (and half the Internet these days), “Shut up and take my money!” (Editor’s Note: such a great phrase, I decided to use it in the header image for our next post!)
Game Music, Indie Music

The Economizer: Indie Game Music Bundle 2 is OUT!

February 9, 2012 | Patrick Gann | 8 Comments Share this

We try to stick to a tidy schedule here at OSV. But if you’re reading the site right now, you’ll notice we’ve posted something at midnight. It’s a special something.

If you head over to gamemusicbundle.com right now, you can get in on a massive and wondrous sale. The details are below, but first a special plug: again, if you saw this post live, you’ll want to head to 8bitx.com and listen to the livestream, where Josh Whelchel and a host of other guests are just now revealing the bundle.

So here’s how it works. If you’re sheepish (or cheap-ish), pay the minimum of $1 and you get 320k mp3 versions of five absolutely fantastic albums:

Aquaria
Sword & Sorcery
To The Moon
Jamestown
Machinarium

Now look. For one dollar, that’s an incredible selection of music. Even if you have some of these already, any one of them is worth at least a dollar. Now, true to form to the previous bundle, there are all sorts of perks if you go above $10. At that point, all albums become available in FLAC and mp3. And the bonus albums are…

8-Bit Pimp
Mighty Switch Force
Tower of Heaven
Shatter
Cat Astro Phi
Passcode
Eternal Daughter
Songs For the Cure ’10
…AND MORE!…

Yeah, that’s right. When certain sales milestones are reached, more albums become available to everybody who purchased. I can’t name names, but at least one of the albums in the “unlock” zone is an album recently reviewed here on OSV. And it’s good.

Oh, and here’s the best part. If you’re a real charitable person, or want to think of this as some sort of crazy auction, there are incredible bonus items waiting for the top donations. I won’t give you all the details here, but I do know that the top contributor will receive the Shatter OST on Vinyl, signed by Module, and everyone in the top 20 gets the physical 2CD release of Aquaria among other fabulous prizes. So, it will pay to give more.

Well, what are you waiting for? Go buy good music!
Chip Music, Demoscene, Game Music, Indie Music

The Economizer: This Black Friday Special Can’t Be Beat!

November 25, 2011 | Patrick Gann | 3 Comments Share this

Yeah, see those 17 albums above? You can have all of them for only $10.

And if you don’t like the bottom seven (or you already own most of them), the first two rows (that’s 10 albums) you can get for a mere $1!!

Of course you can (and should, if at all possible) give more. But in the same format as the Humble Indie Bundle, the Indie Music Bundle site is giving you tons of content for an extremely small amount of money. Do not miss this sale. It’s one day only, that most unholy consumer’s holiday, Black Friday.

We’ve covered many of the albums above in previous reviews, and many of them reviewed favorably. There’s no reason not to grab this. We have Minecraft, Binding of Isaac, Ravenmark, Tree of Knowledge, and so much more in the sale. Crap, they even got Jimmy Hinson’s “Impostor Nostalgia” album. Get it. Get all the music. Now.
Game Music

The Economizer Part Deux: Soundtrack Deals You Shouldn’t Miss

June 9, 2009 | Patrick Gann | 3 Comments Share this

Alright folks, I have two absolute “steals” in terms of good deals that you’ll want to check out.

The first one caught our attention via board member “Crash” at Soundtrack Central. Nihon Falcom regularly has special clearance sales, and this week’s sale is a big, big deal. For 980 yen (that’s about $10), you get the import game Ys: The Oath In Felghana, alongside an eight disc soundtrack set which includes music from all previous forms of Ys III. Now, if you live in North America (or anywhere outside of Japan), they’re charging a hefty shipping fee (over $30). But, considering everything that comes in the box (and it is one heavy box), it’s probably worth the price. The bad news is that this deal ends in only a few days (June 11), so act fast! Check out this thread for all the details on how to special order from Falcom.

Also, GameMusic.com is clearing out the vast majority of their inventory with one awesome clearance sale. Plenty of Square Enix soundtracks are going for $15 or less (some are as few as $8). This is a good chance for you to help fill out your own personal collection. The caveat on the site is that they do not plan to restock after this stuff is gone, so again, act fast.

Also, thanks to contributor Carl for the photo of the Felghana box set.
Game Music

The Economizer: Soundtrack Deals You Can’t Pass Up

June 23, 2008 | Jayson Napolitano | Comments Off on The Economizer: Soundtrack Deals You Can’t Pass Up Share this

We all know the pains of importing music from Japan. At a typical $30 a pop plus shipping, we have all had to make tough decisions as to which items to pick up and which ones to leave behind. Well, I’m hoping to point you towards some amazing deals that won’t make you late on next month’s rent. I’ll call this feature “The Economizer” after the FFVI accessory that lets you cast any spell for a single MP. While I can’t promise this will be a weekly feature, be assured that I’ll pass along any sweet deals that I come across in the future.

This time around we have some game music deals from around the globe, hitting up Japan, Europe, and the United States. Click the jump to find out what they are! (more…)