Video Game Music

[Hlao-roo 389]

Hi again all!

I was just listening to some music which just happened to be (surprise!) Video game music. Some of this stuff is quite good. What do you all think of video game music? Hopefully this is the right place to talk about this and I also hope this thread lasts a long time because I find this to be an interesting topic. Everyone put in their input please!

-Edag88 "Dark World" from Zelda (btw, does anyone know which Zelda the dark world theme is from?)

On Saturday, NPR's All Things Considered featured a story called "The Evolution of Video Game Music". At one point, violinist Joshua Bell weighs in:

[Video game composer Tommy] Tallarico explains that video game music isn't a passive experience, but an integral part of the foreground. "It's for this reason that I've always said that if Beethoven were alive today, he'd be a video game composer."

Laughing, concert violinist and self-described "video game addict" Joshua Bell says, "Uh, well, that's quite a statement to say that about Beethoven. I would not go so far."

"I have a hard time imagining that," Bell adds. "I mean, Beethoven changed the world as we know it, and I doubt he would have done that through video games. Actually, I think one of the problems with video game music is — at least with film music — yes, you have your restrictions, but of course, video game composers have their restrictions, too. They have to write three minutes here or two minutes there or... with video game music, because it's so interactive, it's actually more of a slave to what happens externally, because one doesn't know what's going to happen in a video game. So for a composer, I would have thought it was quite the opposite."

Still, Bell does see the field as becoming "more cinematic and more interesting," and he says he hopes to play on a video game score someday.

[Hlao-roo 389]

Some reactions to the story: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.p...toryId=89604729

[Giftheck 916]

I didn't think Medal of Honor: AA's "score" was too bad. Giacchino's work was fine, but it needed to be overdone with a Williams score. Of course, I think with Spielberg in charge of making the game, I think it got a Giacchino re-interpretation of the same Williams score from the movie that MoH itself is an interpretation of: Saving Private Ryan.

I found that Allied Assault's score is mostly combined from the first Medal of Honor and Medal of Honor Underground. I liked them both so I have no issues with this one.

[Pieter Boelen 740]

There's quite some pretty good game music I like:

- Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb (Clint Bajakian) - Great nazi theme and uses the Raiders March in interesting new ways

- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (James Hannigan)- Actually uses Hedwig's Theme and Nimbus 2000

- Lair (John Debney) - Absolutely great

- The Lost World (Michael Giacchino) - Some fun stuff; no John Williams theme though

- Medal of Honor (Michael Giacchino) - Very good; I've been listening to this for the past few days. This applies to all four scores

- Pirates of the Caribbean 2003 PC Game (Yuri Poteenko) - This doesn't have anything to do with the film scores. It doesn't use the themes at all and is completely orchestral

- Age of Pirates: Caribbean Tales (Yuri Poteenko) - Similar to PotC above

Also there's some fun stuff in:

- Age of Mythology (Kevin McMullan) - Great main theme and original trailer music

- No Man's Land (Unknown Composer)

- LEGO Island 2 (John Hancock) - Bet you didn't see that one coming. I ripped the music from that game myself.