The application template's at the end of the post =x

I see video (and sometimes audio) disasters all the time in the mod community, and sometimes with big companies as well.

Almost every single mod trailer I've seen is either low res, or high res and looks horrible.
For example, there's stuff like this and this (from the Renegade X HD trailer).
The trailer is 150MB big and 4 minutes long... I've encoded and uploaded a sample (Devil May Cry 4, Epilogue 02 scene, 720p & 5.1ch audio (audio directly from the game files))

A couple of screenshots from the sample -


A note about the resolution: DMC4 always adds black bars to cutscenes, even at 1280x720... so I cropped the black bars in my sample - it's actually 1.93:1, and not 16:9.

Anyway, I'll be able to meet all your requirements (codec, file size, containers (AVI/MP4/MKV), standalone/portable/DXVA (PS3, X360, iPod, GeForce 8000+/Radeon 2000+ decoding acceleration), prepared for streaming, and whatever else you may need ;p)

One of my 720p videos in a flash player (though this one isn't "prepared for streaming", somebody who took my encode and put it up):
Streaming (download the mp4)
Compare against GameTrailers' encode: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/36550.html
GameTrailers WMV screenshot / sonicu_ps3.mp4

Anyway, enough ranting
I'd really like to help with compressing all things video (and the audio that comes with it), including the videos to be included in the game itself :p

And now, my application in the required template:

Name: Coma (just in case you didn't catch it already )
Age: 16 :x
Position: Video Audio Compression Tech/Slave/Freak/whatever
Past Projects: Mainly working for anime fansub groups and doing DVD and Bluray rips for myself.
Ties to Mechwarrior: To be honest, I've never gotten the opportunity to play Mechwarrior, but I did hear about it and I love mecha games... there aren't recent good games, and that's why I really want this mod to succeed :p
Other commitments: Nothing really, I doubt it matters in this case since you probably won't have a lot of work to give me anyway =p
SAMPLES: Provided above

Yup, that is why I said I'll meet your requirements
High bitrate WMV or XviD for HD resolutions works too, and people are less puzzled when they see a mp4.
Could offer several versions, and anyway, the only reason the sample was in a MKV was because the 5.1ch audio from DMC4 was Vorbis and I didn't want to re-encode it. (can't mux Vorbis into MP4 and abide the standards)

In any case, the downloadable versions could be XviD or WMV (if I can't use H.264, it's just going to have to be double the file size :p), and the streaming versions could offer HD and very small SD since Flash now supports H.264 and AAC in MP4

I disagree with this, though. Most of the time it is just out of pure lack of knowledge. You don't see anybody complaining on GameTrailers, do you? :p

Usually people just manage to mess up somehow. The Renegade X trailer was 150MB, and it still looked like that D:

I wasn't really shooting for becoming part of the team.
It was more like, "when you need help, ask me"... I've seen too many people who can do amazing things in 3D and editing, but destroy it when it comes to the final stage :x

The 720p video was just a sample. It can be any resolution, and meet all of your other requirements... it doesn't have to be HD - maximizing quality at lower resolutions is something I've seen people fail to do before :\ Oh, and with maximizing quality also comes maximizing compression, which means a smaller file size :p
The HD resolution versions are there for people who want to see the game in "all its glory" :p

You say, "and needed to support a higher quality codec", but there's no reason for your standards to only include a low quality codec in the first place. You can have both at very little cost (= time), so there's no reason not to do both D:

I would've probably given up and left it for Unearthly if he hadn't said he stopped following x264 development, since a lot has changed since then with new features like psy RDO, psy trellis and smart AQ :x

Down is 300KB/s and up is 30KB/s. The upload is a non-issue though, since I can just do the encoding on a server. (though I don't see how releasing f.e. 2 hours earlier would help D;)

>_>? I have access to an octocore with 10Mbit, then a few duals with 100Mbit.