Bionic Commando

Finally!!!

After jumping through internal hoops and contractual nonsense, we have finally been able to make the music from Bionic Commando Rearmed available for purchase (huge hi-five to the licensing team and to Frankie F for making this a reality).

I love the music. It's one of the best parts of Bionic Commando, and that's saying a lot. I particularly love the style that Simon adapted for Rearmed which seems to mix in the actual 8-bit chords with a more modern (relevant) back-beat. It's unlike any other remix styles that I have heard because the 8-bit beeps are actually in the music itself.

It really hits a sweet spot for me as a long-time gamer because it really has just enough retro with just enough new beats to make it work. We are still trying to implement the functionality into the website so that you can purchase songs directly from the music player but for those of you who cannot wait, please go to the following link:

https://www.sumthingdigital.com/AlbumDetails.aspx?albumid=3664

I'm told the songs should be on iTunes as well (this link will take you to the US iTunes store - your mileage may vary).

I know that once something hits the net it can be pirated very easily but I hope you can see the amount of time and money we have put forth to make this a reality. Just so that you don't see us as the evil corporation that is rolling in money and sticking it to the end-user, let me break down some costs:

We are charging 99 cents per song of which we usually make about 60% or so. That's 60 cents. Additionally there are server management fees, the internal staff hours it took to get the contract up and running, and of course a license fee to create the initial contract. All in all, it probably costs us around 10K just to get the product up and running. We would need to sell 15,000 songs to break even and when it comes to game soundtracks that just isn't a number that you can easily hit.

Odds are we will take a loss.

But still, I believe in the music. I believe in making it available to the fans. And I believe that you can't always look at the bottom line (although my boss disagrees).

So please, if you have been a fan of some of the stuff on the music player, check out the site. If you like what you hear, make your opinion count in the only way you can as a consumer -- vote with your dollars.

You should notice a few new songs on the list and I have got so say the "Rise of the Albatross" song (Area 12) is friggin fantastic! I myself wasn't even a fan of the original but without a doubt this is my favorite song on the list.

We've even included some nice bonus tracks for those who purchase the whole album like a special Capcom Japan created Area 01 piece so hopefully it will be something that you guys think is worth the money.

Vegas starts soon so hopefully this announcement will kick it off right!

Cheers,
Ben