My biggest problem is the synthetic choir. That’s used for just over a third of the song’s total length, and when you’ve got a human voice that you could be utilising instead… :roll: The singing quality is technically a greater problem, but since a lot of the singers who work in the eroge industry don’t come with any real vocal technique I’ve kind of learnt/been forced to overlook it. (example - Kira Kira is renowned for its songs, but compare a live performance of the title song Kira Kira here with the one in the game’s OP. Granted it’s live and the sound quality’s poor, but there’s so much bad and out of tune ‘singing’ that you wonder how much editing and how many takes the game’s version required.)
Heh… I wish someone would issue out an edict that forbid dark eroge movie intros to include the following: chains, electrical static, blood splats, open fields full of crosses/tombstones, dark fire, fences, classrooms in night time, and water drop effects. Would that mean they’d never have movie intros again? 
ugh
I see what you mean. Although I have to give her major props for not lip syncing. Sadly it’s becoming more and more common, that a lot of “professional singers” sound horrible in live performance, without a team of sound engineers doing real time corrections.
Agreed. I think that increasingly people are chosen for qualities other than true singing ability because of pitch correction.
She didn’t sound particularly off to me when I listened to her at the convention. There were a few places during the entire set of MangaGamer’s performances where I thought someone really screwed up. However, not only is this live, but this is being done by people who just arrived from Japan a day or two ago. Lastly, it is true that she isn’t singing exactly on pitch like if you were to run her through autotune, but I find that’s part of the charm of a human singer, especially one representing a rowdy rock group. Perhaps people have listened to autotuned music so much that they’ve started treating that as the de facto standard for human singing, since it seems to have become really rare for big studios to produce without using autotune.
It’s been in the last 20 years or so, that “big time” singers can’t live without it. There wasn’t pitch correction for Mary Wells, The Supremes, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, etc. And if you visit the underground blues and jazz bars of Louisiana, there’s no artificial pitch correction there either. There’s also no artificial pitch correction for 'ole school singing or religious choirs and classical choirs.
I keep saying “artificial” because, technically speaking, a tempo keeper or conductor is a pitch corrector.
I’m not trying to say everyone can sing - but real singers can sing without the need of machines. That’s what makes them singers.
Anyone here ever seen AKB48 live at the theatre in Don Qijote?
I’ve enjoyed some of the music videos of their songs but never been to a live performance. I read somewhere that the theatre is the source of a significant amount of their income just wondering if the songs are edited to hell and back for MVs and CDs.
For me it was kind of the opposite - I grew up listening to almost nothing but classical music, and once I began to listen more widely, I was surprised by the general lack of technique out there. (a bit off topic, but I’ll throw this out there, as an example of live ‘crossover’ singing)
On YouTube there’s a live performance of them at AX:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_JS6YxN1gw
They lipsync’ed their songs. 
I went to see the Sakura Taisen Budoukan some time ago, to support for the release of a ST6, and found they did alright. As the show dragged on, some of the girl’s singing quality started taking a serious hit, but as someone explained to me later, these are the real actresses, singing a live performance in their character’s voice - for some it’s not their real singing voice. So considering that, they were doing more than expected.
There’s going to be a new MinDeaD BlooD Drama CD:
http://www.cyc-soft.com/b-cyc-pro/mdb_ce/privilege.html
yawn
I don’t think BCyc is gonna release any interesting info about additions in the game itself, until after Great Hunting has been released.
Makes more sense than a drama CD for Cthulhu, which they’re also releasing.
Finally. They posted something new worth talking about. :o
Expiate Sin – the new theme song. As expected, it’s performed by Denkare (aka New Wave Of Death Neko Metal, aka Karen, aka Fairy Yui, etc).
It’s a good song IMHO - just not something I expected for MinDeaD BlooD. Hard to explain… it just doesn’t have the same “feel” as Vampire, Inochi, or [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vOSMkvGiLw]Sakura[/url].
I still prefer those other three more.
Maybe it’s the lack of a violin piece or something.
EDIT
Finally put my finger on it… Expiate Sin doesn’t have a “classical motif” to it like the three earlier songs. Also the opening guitar riff in Expiate kinda sounds like the opening riff of Vampire on a different scale (I’m sure that’s intentional).
EDIT 2
On another note (pun!): my assumption is that they’re going to add another harem ending that has the opposite moral alignment of Vampire Road. Or perhaps an ending that allows Anima to be enslaved.
EDIT 3
MinDeaD Lucky?Star :lol:
Small update the new MDB game. They’ve posted somepicture announcement thing on the front page of the section featuring Mana and Mayu which I can hardly read (damn you handwritten stuff!) and an image page which basically contains 4 screenshots and 1 new (as in not in the original game) CG featuring Mayu. I can only hope for more of the latter
Mana and Mayu!! Your Master has missed his favorite vampire twincest nymphomaniacs! How I will enjoy violating… err… loving you so much again!
Twins share Mayu! Twins share! Let Mana in on some of that stuff! :twisted:
New CG up. The one in game one seems to hint that this new route will involve Eri…now I really want this remake.
An Eri route would be awesome. :o
She was very mysterious in MDB, and Transfusion Box only made it more so. Of all the vampire Shizuru spawned, she turned out to be the most independent. Though at first she was lust driven, over time she began to gain extreme self control, and even turned Shingo into a servant. Plus when the father of the twincest managed to usurp command over Shizuru’s vampires, Eri didn’t show up.
Yea. An Eri route would be awesome. 8)
Not to mention that Eri and Cerberus are a key fixture of the BCyc Universe: they are what connect the various games together. So more info on Eri, is a major plus.
EDIT
Though I had always thought that if BCyc ever got around to making a MDB2, it would be Eri as a returning main character (with an otherwise all new cast).
They still have yet to explain more about the “One True Vampire” as well.
Black Cyc has announced a new title.
I think this series should just be left dead and buried. Complete waste of Metawo’s talents. Oh, and incidentally, for anyone that’s played it, how good did Great Hunting end up being?
Edit: To clarify why I think the Yami no Koe concept doesn’t work, the games are 100% dialogue (which no other eroge I’ve ever come across uses, with good reason), all rather short because of the 100% dialogue, repetitive/frequent reuse of the same CGs, unoriginal (inevitable really, as there are only so many possible degenerations + only so many possible scenes that can result from those), and really short on story (if the other aspects were better, this wouldn’t be a problem, but because the games have little else going for them, it’s the proverbial icing on the landmine cake.) Black Cyc took a huge step forward from Yami no Koe 3 to MinDead Blood, and followed that up with a string of great titles - there’s no need for them to go back and dredge up the past.
Again? WTF. I strongly suspect that a dev meeting in BCyc goes like this…
Dev 1: Hey guys. What’s up? :?:
Dev 2: We just finished another full game, and are trying to think up new ideas for another.
Dev 3: What about a fan disc? 
Dev 1: We’re already doing that with the full game we just finished. 
Dev 2: How about a renewal of some 90’s or 2000 game with 100% voice acting and a new route? :idea:
Dev 3: Perfect! I’ll get the VA’s and Denkare on the phone right now! 
Dev 1: And after that? :?
Dev 2: Yami no Koe! :mrgreen:
Dev 3: Fuck yea! :o
Dev 1: You’re a genius! 8)
Dev 2: Let’s roll. :twisted:
Dev 3: Black Cyc, away! :arrow:
I sort of imagine Black Cyc as a fish in a tiny aquarium, having drained nearly all of the oxygen out of the water.
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:
I suppose the other question is why Metawo left Black Cyc, but is still working for them as an artist for hire. If I was the president of Cyc, I would have done whatever it took to keep him, as his value to the company wasn’t just because of his art, but also his ideas (generally artists don’t seem to get involved with that side of things, and when they do, a lot of the time, the results aren’t too successful). He was responsible for the planning/direction for MinDead/GSS/Gun Katana, and there’s obviously no comparison between the quality and originality of those titles, and the shorter things he’s been involved with as an artist since he left.