Video Games Live - Something for Everybody

February 1, 2008

I had the great fortune of being able to attend a Video Games Live (VGL) concert. For the uninitiated, VGL is a concert where game music is played. Some people may think it's nerdy, however, but I see it as something that can be appreciated by gamers and non-gamers alike.

People see the words "video game music" and probably automatically think of the bleeps and bloops (more accurately, triangle and square waves) of the Atari and NES days of yore. These may not have sounded great, but because of the limitations more effort was placed on making themes easily recognizable and pronounced (i.e. Mario, Zelda, Metroid). However, since the days of the SNES, video game music has been approached more like a movie score. At the forefront of this movement was Nobuo Uematsu and his work in the Final Fantasy series.

Final Fantasy serves as an excellent demonstration of the similarities between game and movie music. Final Fantasy VI, and SNES game mind you, has one of the best scores of any game. Each character has their own theme, or leitmotif, and these themes are woven throughout every piece of music in the game. The same went for FFX, though the motifs weren't character specific, but specific to certain cultural elements. Star Wars takes this kind of approach: the Empire has a theme, the Force has a theme, etc. It's this kind of music that has the ability to evoke emotions in the listener and, at its core, that's what music is all about.

Of course, not all game scores are orchestral. Koji Kondo dabbles in a little bit of everything, and there are rock and techno type stuff out there. I lean towards the orchestral myself because I find it to be more powerful. I will admit that most of my childhood was spent listening the classical music and John Williams and as such I have a soft spot for this kind of music, but I know die hard fans of vastly different genres who appreciate the vocals of Halo or the trumpet heavy Zelda. Even my mom, a dedicated 80s gal, enjoys much of my game music library.

So, there you have it. The conception that game music is various beeps and just for nerds is a complete fallacy. Video game music these days can be just as powerful, if not more so, than latest blockbuster. At that, it can be appreciated by all walks of life. And I think it should be.

Oh, the concert was awesome (I scream before the rest of the crowd at about 0:31).

(Like the bumper at the top? I'm going to start including these in more of my posts as a design challenge for myself.)

Tags: games music concert

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Video Games Live - Something for Everybody

February 1, 2008

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