Top 50: Technology

It's time to start talking about a new show, and a good one too. Sherlock. Awesome.

RP 18 - Sherlock Part 1

A track from the official God of War: Ascension soundtrack.

God of War: Ascension - The Marked One

The full version of "We All Become" from the Transistor Original Soundtrack. Get it here: http://bit.ly/TransistorOST

Transistor - We All Become

Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture - Dust and Shadow

Phones and computers and internets and other things. That’s what we do here.

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144. Breaking News

inFAMOUS Second Son | Delsin's Ringtone

For promotional use only. (c) & (P) 2015 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Buy Bloodborne

Bloodborne: Cleric Beast

Music for the announcement trailer of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, composed by Michael McCann @michaelmccannmusic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2kd7F3YFz8

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Announcement Trailer Music

Until Dawn: Mountain Theme

Music for the 101 Trailer of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, composed by @sonicmayhem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGGaVCCMgfw
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided is coming August 23rd, 2016 on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - 101 Trailer Music by Sonic Mayhem

Music for the launch trailer of Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - System Rift, by @sonicmayhem - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zwT6s-GxDkw

Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - System Rift by Sonic Mayhem

Original Soundtrack for Deus Ex: Mankind Divided - Breach, by @ed-harrison
Vocals on Pool performed by Annalivia Keaveny 
Guitars on Rippers performed by John Dekker

www.deusex.com
www.ghostiq.com

Palisades

Three themes from Detroit: Become Human, each focusing on one of the title's main characters, and each scored by a different composer.

Detroit: Become Human launches May 25, 2018 on PS4.

Detroit: Become Human — Markus Main Theme By John Paesano

Detroit: Become Human — Kara Main Theme By Philip Sheppard

Detroit: Become Human — Connor Main Theme By Nima Fakhrara

with Ryan Caldbeck (@ryan_caldbeck), Jeff Jordan (@jeff_jordan), and Sonal Chokshi (@smc90)

It's clear that all kinds of commerce companies and consumer products have been disrupted -- or enabled -- by tech. Yet for certain categories, like consumer packaged goods (CPG), it seems like tech hasn't changed things very much. How is the rise of so-called "micro-brands" (or emerging brands) playing out here?

And, how is it possible that "real" -- different -- innovation isn't really happening in the CPG industry, despite the tremendous legacy of brand, talent, and more in the space? How are CPG companies tackling grocery, which represents the perfect end-capsule and case study of challenges -- and opportunities -- in going from offline to online, from online to offline, and more? As for grocery itself, stores themselves (in the U.S. at least) haven't changed very much due to tech, either... is it a last-mile delivery thing; could we also possibly move to distribution-only centers in the future?

Finally, while the holy grail of performance marketing and personalization remains elusive for the industry -- let’s face it, most brands are still guessing in the dark (and forget trying to customize offerings!) -- even going direct-to-consumer (DTC) hasn't been shining as much of a light here as one might expect. Or so argue the guests in this episode of the a16z Podcast, featuring Ryan Caldbeck of CircleUp, along with a16z general general partner Jeff Jordan, in conversation with Sonal Chokshi. Cuz this episode is all about CPG, DTC; micro-brands, yah you know, all kinds of commerce.

a16z Podcast: Who's Down with CPG, DTC? (And Micro-Brands Too?)

Bobby Kotick is the CEO of Activision Blizzard (a merger he engineered); it's one of only two video gaming companies in the Fortune 500, and the largest game network in the world. The company is responsible for some of the most iconic entertainment franchises, including Call of Duty, Candy Crush, Overwatch, and World of Warcraft -- as well as its own professional esports league.

So in this episode of the a16z Podcast, Marc Andreessen interviews Kotick on everything from the evolution of video games in the 1980s to gaming trends more broadly. What changes as gaming goes from "just for nerds" to "just for kids" and spreads more broadly into entertainment and cultural phenomena (esports, Fortnite, Pokemon Go, etc.)... both online and offline?

The conversation originally took place at our annual innovation a16z Summit in November 2018 -- which features a16z speakers and invited experts from various organizations discussing innovation at companies small and large. You can also see other podcasts and videos from this event here: https://a16z.com/tag/summit-2018/

a16z Podcast: Gaming Goes Mainstream

Watch The Co-Optional Podcast live at http://www.twitch.tv/gennabain on Tuesdays at 3pm ET.

Genna, Jesse & Dodger are joined by Diction in this episode of the Co-Optional Podcast. Enjoy!

Diction
https://www.twitch.tv/diction
https://www.twitter.com/diction

Dodger
https://www.twitch.tv/dexbonus
https://twitter.com/dexbonus

Jesse Cox
https://www.twitch.tv/jessecox
https://www.twitter.com/jessecox

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#CoOptionalPodcast #GennaBain #Diction #JesseCox #DexBonus

The Co-Optional Podcast Ep. 241 ft. Diction

Alexander Brandon & Jimmy Hinson - Siren Synapse
Remastered by Torley Wong
Source: Deus Ex - The Synapse (Hong Kong Streets)
Original Composer: Alexander Brandon

Artist's Note
Jimmy Hinson: So I had been following Alex's blog for a while, and since he seemed so down to earth and approachable, I kept thinking how cool it would be if I could get him to collaborate on a remix. When I purchased Era's End, I actually had a brief e-chat with his wife and told her as much, and she said he'd probably think it was cool, so I should just ask him. So long story short, I did, and Alex was mad cool about the whole thing, even in spite of my initial lengthy, gushing, fanboy email, haha. For the remix, I knew it had to be "The Synapse (Hong Kong Streets)" from Deus Ex - that entire OST is amazing, but it was that track in particular that turned me onto the game a few years back when a friend emailed it to me like, "Man, you gotta check this song out." It also seemed appropriate since Alex once said he was partial to that particular track. All in all, this was a truly humbling (and exciting!) experience for me. Alex was not only very cool, but also very humble, and that in turn was humbling for me! I can't thank him enough for the collab, and I earnestly hope that perhaps we'll see more of this sort of thing (collabs with original game composers) in the future.

Alexander Brandon: John Romero introduced me to OCR about nine years ago. Since then I've been continually amazed by this whole "ReMix" thing, and to collaborate on this piece was a hell of a lot of fun. I'm so proud of it (with the little that I did, BGC deserves a huge lion's share of the credit) that I'm going to tell BT about it and see what he says. It's the first electronic piece that really feels like it'd be right at home as a major release. So Jimmy and David, thanks for bringing so much awesome music into the game industry and giving me the chance to be involved.

Torley: Almost whenever I'm exploring cyberpunk cityscapes in Second Life, I put on Alexander Brandon's Deus Ex soundtrack. It never gets old and captures the seminal nuances of such vibrant, immersive nightlife.

Big Giant Circles did the "Siren Synapse" remix which takes the original majesty of the Hong Kong theme and uplifts it with clubbier beats, percolating arps, and lots of changes and even a sweet 1-bar stutter break @ 3:32 — just what I need, and makes me wish BGC (a.k.a. Jimmy Hinson) remixed the entire soundtrack.

Needless to say, Alex enjoyed it, and I thought the best parts — including the smooth bassline and swirling percussion — would bask in more punch + spark. So, I remastered it to amplify the awesome.

Sonic Augmentation 3 - Siren Synapse (The Synapse (Hong Kong Streets) & Main Title)

Vig (Jesse Taub) - The God Machine
Sources: Deus Ex - "Liberty Island," "Lebedev's Airfield," "NYC Streets," "UNATCO," "DuClare Chateau," "Return to NYC," "Enemy Within," "Versalife"
Original Composers: Alexander Brandon, Michiel van den Bos

Artist's Note
Vig: Deus Ex was a landmark first-person-shooter. Its ground-breaking incorporation of RPG elements, sprawling open-ended environments and epic storytelling made Deus Ex a truly enduring and immersive release. It came out in 2000, but it is still one of my two favorite games of all time.

I don't play video games very much these days, but I keep coming back to this particular soundtrack. Composed by the incredibly talented Alexander Brandon, the music in Deus Ex struck me from the very first time I played as one of the most immersive and memorable video game scores in recent memory, and now years later, I still listen to it regularly. For years, I've wanted to make my own arrangement of some of my favorite themes from the game.

This song was two years in the making, and I'm incredibly excited to finally be finished. I can't remember all the different incarnations this remix has had, but I'm finally satisfied with the finished product. I hope you enjoy it.

Top 50: Technology

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