Surprisingly Bad

Recent events has led me to post about something not strictly vgm-related, although still related to OverClocked ReMix. This hardly updated blog has been a watchdog for the site featuring teenagers posting diverse electronic remakes of the music in their favorite daily time waste, but now it’s time to take a step up and cover something else. Namely, gaming force. dot org.

gaming force. dot org is a site that from my extensive research appears to be a site that derails threads in order to rant on other websites, and is run (or overrun) by people so pretentious and inbred that they make DarkeSword seem humble and ocremix diverse. Respectively.

To gaming force. dot org’s merit, they have not only pretentious users but use of pretentious language. However, a well phrased uninformed rant remains a rant, something I know very well. What surprises me is neither the ignorance or the prententiousness, but the blind faith that one’s own community is the one true way. The disciples of Drunkard gang up like retarded zealots for a self-proclaimed messiah of a site that from my research hardly seems worth the domain cost.

As a result, a lot of idiots revealed their idiocy, some of whom appeared to be proud of it; a site other than ocr revealed the merits of ocr through their own epic fail, a few humorists revealed they should have a TV show, and the great and mighty Ass pretentiously plunges beneath the level I once held Bleck. With that I don’t mean in any attempt to drown him, as it’s something I reserve for biased jurors and lawyers.

Let me show you a quote from the highly prestigious and on gaming force. dot org revered master of language:

“Either that or just rip off some of the fucking awful efforts from ocremix.”

Yes, high marks for excellent language, kid. It strikes me as odd that someone old and wise such as yourself resides in a thread concerning a Sonic video game.

While the efforts of zircon, starla, and others were wise, some ocr regulars were less than constructive in their argumentation. Larry Liontamer’s efforts seemed to worsen the situation. However, the entry that made the thread worth it has to be that of DrumUltimA, who spitefully provides a rendition of To Zanarkand.

The Craze Is Out There

The winners of OCReMix’ Voices of the Lifestream AMV content are announced and their works are filling up the front page. While regulars might go straight for the forum, or just log into the irc channel and get direct links to new developments (threads, remixes) via associates on #ocremix, people new to OCR likely come by the front page, making them exposed to the emo virus.

 

The Final Fantasy craze never seems to be over. By the time this has finally been shoveled away, some other final fantasy content or fan work appears. At the time of writing, there are three final fantasy remixes on the OCR front page “latest remixes” list. That’s a quarter of the total number of remixes in the list. While 25% may seem little, consider that Nintendo’s three main franchizes have less, only two remixes in the list.

 

It’s alarming to see the craze like this, knowing it’s actually at a low point at the moment. Numerous great games are omitted due to the game bias of the nostalgic idiots that remix. Casual gamers that played Mortal Kombat, Excitebike, Starcraft… Those games are found represented by an empty list, and many games do not even have that.

 

If my lawyer hadn’t told me to stop speculating about large corporations, I’d suggest that somewhere, the presidents of Square Enix must be sitting, petting their cats, twirling their moustaches (not the cats’), blowing the smoke from their cigarettes in the faces of the contract-bound video game industry-equivalents of director Skinner (note: not principal Skinner).

 

As a site that appreciates video game music, OCR should be able to ask “where’s the love?”, and not be met by an answer implying inbreeding.

 

The Mandatory Genre Bias Post

Since my lawyer had advised me not to speculate in the dealings of humongous companies with prepostorous resources and lawyers enough to fill an oil tanker, I thought I’d get back to OCReMix, since my lawyer suggested I focus on a “non-profit organization” with less legal resources. I’ve come to believe OCR is responsible for a significant amount of “music” that is meant to be felt while high.

 

It goes without saying that video game music has evolved from bleeps and bips to quality electronica, but here lies the crux. Trance artists like Blind make their living on recruiting “agents” among people who “want to help out another remixer” in an attempt to buy themselves some higher status through association with celebrated remixers in the inbred community. The result is that the artist gains gigs and fame, while his “agents” remain insufferable sycophants pestering others on the OCR boards.

 

Let’s test this hypothesis by listening to three random remixes from OCR. The first one is a Chrono Trigger piano piece by Suzumebachi, called Forever. The second one is a Breath of Fire piece by Ghetto Lee Lewis. The third is a Mega Man X4 remix by the artist formerly known as DJ Terra.

 

The mixes speak for themselves.

 

OCR has previously been accused of being a techno site, and is often found favoring electronica over, say, viking metal. No doubt numerous remixers rely on electronica to produce their works, but when the focus goes from audible harmonic vibrations in the air to vibrations in the floor and in the spines and hearts of all junkies soon to suffer from arrhythmia and whatever the drugs themselves cause.

 

I’ll give OCR one more chance to redeem itself, one last random remix. What does that tell you?