Song of the Week. 100 Weeks and counting.
Week 119 Voting is closed.
Week 120 Nominating is closed.

Week 119 Voting
The rules for voting can be found here.

Final Result:
1st: R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
2nd: Wiz 'n' Liz The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry
3rd: Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR

Notes:
If you are a member at more than one of the forums in which this event is being held, please nominate and vote in only ONE of the forums. You may, however, comment in the threads at any of the other forums.

Week 120 Nominating
The Nominations Queue can be found here.
The rules for nominating can be found here.

Here is the link to the corresponding thread in the other forum:
- Gamingforce

Okay, here's my vote:

3 pts. - R-Racing Evolution - Mars Landing.
     This one took awhile to get deeply nestled inside my head, but once it did, it's not leaving.  I suppose I shouldn't have expected any less from the person responsible for Katamari Damacy's "The Moon & The Prince."  You can even hear some of the same samples used in both songs.

2 pts. - Hook - Neverland Tundra
     Fantastic SNES synth combined with a decent melody.  Call me a softie for SNES stuff.

1 pt. - Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
     Decent. 

I'm throwing out a nomination for this week.

20th Anniversary A Tribute to Game -Sounds for Music-
Catalog Number AYCM-610 
Release Date May 21, 1998 
Release Type Official Release 
Release Price 3200 JPY 
Media Type CD (1 disc) 

Track 3:  Always on Target (Xevious)
download here:  http://www.megaupload.com/?d=0A6OD3W8

[03] Always On Target (Xevious)
Composed, Arranged & Guitars: Yoshio Nomura
Electric Bass: Tetsuo Sakurai   
Drums: Kazuhisa Takahashi

Please let me know if this is how it's done.  I'd like to keep the SOTW alive and well here at STC.

Hm, I'm not able to get into GFF at the moment. Anyone else having that problem?

...it'd be freaky if the boards crashed, since we were just talking about eliminating the SotW mirror here.

It's down for me too.  I think I'm gonna retract on my previous position and say we keep SotW running here.

2 points - Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
2 points - R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
1 point - beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - in the Sky
1 point - Space Quest III - The Pirates of Pestulon (PC Game Rip) - Closing Medley

Hey guys. What's this "Song of the Week" thing? Seems pretty cool.

I was actually in the process of updating the votes on the wiki when GFF's hard drive failed. I'd gotten the first page done, and clicked the link to go to the second when I got the connection error or whatever it was. Rather than doing the smart thing and saving the data immediately, I decided to wait it out and hope GFF would be back shortly. But it never did and my browser crashed a few hours later, so I lost everything.

Yeah yeah.

There are two courses of actions with regard to this week. The latest GFF backup is from December, so the first option is to wait until Miles gets the hard drive and the data recovery joint has its way with it, which could take a week or more. Then, all the old votes can be recovered. The alternative is to just get people to recast their votes here, which has the side issue of actually getting everyone over here. I'm definitely leaning toward the latter option, because who knows how long it'll be before the data is recovered, if it's recovered at all. So, if you voted at GFF, please, recast here. Tell your friends to also! Tell everyone!

Reposted nominations would be fantastic also.

Optimistically, voting will only be extended at most a week, but I suppose that's turnout dependent. If we get tons of voters in the next 12+ hours, I could close tonight as usual.

I did notice the discussion on GFF regarding removing SotW from STC before it crashed (I haven't been active much at all there lately, but I hope for a quick and painless revival). While I was inclined to agree with shutting it down here, but with allyourbaseare's latest post, there does seem to be interest, and nobody really has objected to it being here, so... Well GFF and VGMdb are both down, so I guess we'll see when they return.

3 points: Field of Screams
2 points: Mars Landing
1 point: in the sky

When I learned that Happy Hardcore was an actual genre, I cried for 3 weeks straight.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd be in favor of an extension. I don't think I'll be able to vote today due to circumstances (long story short: no speakers on the computer I'm using right now).

Interesting, though, that these giant crashes always seem to happen in the January-March period, and always during a song contest that is then crippled.

It's a good thing I'm hosting SotW on my own site, where I do DB backups at least once a month, and keep the entire backlog of nominees (and winners) on my personal computer. Now if I could just instill the importance of data redundancy into the leaders of GFF...

Here's a repost of the votes I casted on GFF:

(2 points) Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation Game Rip) - Holland [Field of Screams]
(2 points) Wiz 'n' Liz  The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry
(1 point) Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
(1 point) Space Quest III - The Pirates of Pestulon (PC Game Rip) - Closing Medley

I didn't get a chance to vote over at GFF before the crash, so here are my votes:

2 points : Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
2 points : Grim Grimoire Soundtrack CD - BOOK OF DAYS
1 point : Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation Game Rip) - Holland [Field of Screams]
1 point : R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing

Quick comments and voting:

beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - in the Sky Sounds pretty much like the trance that usually pops up in these games. The piano is a nice addition, but it's not used nearly enough. Also: sugar rush.

Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR Nice if more than a little vanilla action music.

Grim Grimoire Soundtrack CD - BOOK OF DAYS Why Book of Days? The opening/closing themes are far superior tracks, IMHO. This Indian-inflected track isn't bad, but it feels very underdeveloped and S L O W, like they took the tempo down a few notches after it was in the can.

Hook (SNES Game Rip) - Neverland Tundra The SNES sound chip was capable of some pretty amazing stuff when people pushed it and wrote complex stuff, but in the wrong hands it can sound awfully thin and tinny, as is the case here. I don't remember there being any tundra in the movie, either...

R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing Pretty dull trance. The first remotely interesting thing doesn't happen until the song's 1/3 over.

Space Quest III - The Pirates of Pestulon (PC Game Rip) - Closing Medley I thought this might be the Sierra game with the Craig Safan score, but that's actually one of the Leisure Suit Larrys. Cute and quirky with a vague Earthbound feel at times, and far better in the synth department than most games of its era.

Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation Game Rip) - Holland [Field of Screams] Fairly mundane country-style rock. Bluegrass and country stylings are of course the first things that come to mind when thinking of Holland.

Wiz 'n' Liz  The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry Decent if unmemorable bouncy synth.

I guess if there was one week to almost miss, this was as good as any.

The Point Spread
Space Quest 3 - 3 pts.
Twisted Metal - 2 pts.
Wiz n' Liz - 1 pt.

I missed posting my votes on GFF so here they are (finally). There were some clear standout tracks for me this week. Would have wanted to give them 3 points each. And finally, some comments:

(2points) R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
Somehow, this track gels very nicely for me. Sleek and smooth.

(2 points) Grim Grimoire Soundtrack CD - BOOK OF DAYS
I loved this piece when I heard it in-game. Very enchanting.

(2 points) Wiz 'n' Liz  The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry
Bubbly and chirpy. A great listen after another long day in the office.

My point spread that was posted on GFF before the crash:

3 points: Wiz 'n' Liz: The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry
2 points: Space Quest III: The Pirates of Pestulon (PC Game Rip) - Closing Medley
1 point: Hook (SNES Game Rip) - Neverland Tundra

2 Points ~ Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
Far from memorable, but the rockin' listening experience is good while it lasts. Probably wouldn't throw it a bone in any other week, but since I'm not impressed by much in this batch, why not?

2 Points ~ Space Quest III - The Pirates of Pestulon (PC Game Rip) - Closing Medley
Also unmemorable for the most part, but a fairly catchy song as well. The tune somehow bestows this pleasantly nostalgic feeling on me, so it deserves a little something.

1 Point ~ R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
On the first listen, I was so so sure this was going to be an awesome racing tune. Turns out it's got groove in spades, but not much in terms of development. I'm sure this track works fantastically in context, but it fell a little short of my expectations.

1 Point ~ Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation Game Rip) - Holland [Field of Screams]
I can't deny that this a well-produced and catchy track, even if it's melodically simple. However, something about the instruments turn me off, making it almost inherently annoying (but not quite). Still, good enough for a point.

'Twas a little tedious this week - in spite of enjoying most tracks to some extent, there weren't any that blatantly encouraged my support. Choosing a point spread was the real killer, since very few songs demanded points in this group.

3 Points: Twisted Metal - Field of Screams
  1 Point: Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
  1 Point: Racing Evolution - Mars Landing
  1 Point: Wiz 'n Liz - Name Entry

  I know I didn't give Twisted Metal any points when I voted on GFF, but in a way, it's fortunate that the server crashed. I thought about my votes later on that evening and felt a bit silly in not voting for my own track. Whether I win or lose, it doesn't really matter. But the truth is, I truly love "Holland (Field of Screams)", so why shouldn't I support it?

  Also, my new nomination stands:

Album: Quilt Original Soundtrack
Track Title: Into the Yonder Blue Sky ~ from Greensleeves ~ (karaoke ver.)
Track Number: 21
Composer: Noriyasu Agematsu (feel)
Year: 2006
Catalog Number: HBMS-034
Source: GMR Online

Eh, had forgotten to repost this here. =/

(3 points) Gran Chaser - KNIGHT GEAR
(2 points) R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
(1 point) beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - in the Sky

2 points: beatmania IIDX 14 GOLD ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK - in the Sky
2 points: Wiz 'n' Liz  The Frantic Wabbit Wescue (Sega Genesis Game Rip) - Name Entry
1 point: R - Racing Evolution (Game Rip) - Mars Landing
1 point: Twisted Metal 2 (PlayStation Game Rip) - Holland [Field of Screams]

Obviously feeling the ^_____^ this week. Neverland Tundra was very close to taking the last point away from Mars Landing.

KNIGHT GEAR is nice, but incredibly, well, generic and uninteresting for something that Hayama wrote.

Tentative last-minute (er, day) nom:

Album: The Witcher Soundtrack
Artist: Adam Skorupa
Song Title: Peaceful Moments
Track #: 12
Year: 2007
Source: Witcher wiki

I'm not as attached to this as I usually am to my SotW noms, but it was in my Noms queue, and since my game music drive isn't working right now (hopefully not gone for good), it kind of limits my options. It's a good song, though.

EDIT: Points!

3 pts. - Name Entry
2 pts. - Neverland Tundra
1 pt. - Mars Landing

"Eh" week; I had a really tough time distributing that last point because none of the remaining songs really grabbed me. Book of Days is pretty much the most boring song ever.

I was going to close up voting and just use the votes from here to determine this week's winner, but what do people think about moving on to the next week of voting, but postponing the results of this week until the old votes from the dead GFF hard drive are recovered or determined to be a lost cause? That way, if they are recoverable, they'll be counted. But that means waiting for an unknown amount of time for something that's not guaranteed (and possibly nonexistent, because I don't remember how many people voted there but didn't repost their votes here), and I'm perfectly fine with just wrapping up everything here and now.

To be fair, some folks DID vote at GFF. They got in before the deadline, so it's not exactly right to dismiss their votes entirely because of hardware issues.

  I'm fine with suspending the results of this week until the other votes can be tabulated (if at all). We can move onto the next week and perhaps try to spread some word of mouth contact that this is continuing here for the duration.

  At any rate, I think we see that it's a good idea to have SotW run concurrently elsewhere, even if the traffic is somewhat low.

Well, I'm not sure if I'm still on time, but let's vote anyway:

3 points ~ R Racing Evolution
2 points ~ Wiz'n Liz
1 point ~ Beatmania IIDX 14

I agree with Crash. Suspend the results of this week until the other votes can be counted, and move on to Week 120.

I forgot to mention that voting is closed and nominations are restricted, so there it is. In the interest of fairness, I will count your votes.

It doesn't matter to me whether the results are suspended or not. As long as we move on to Week 120 and keep SotW kicking, I think things will be fine