The best classic game music and more
Just read this article on Wired and thought it was funny. I love how these guys are always bashing each other:
http://www.wired.com/entertainment/musi … symphonies
It's so lame, because the shows are both trying to do two different things. It's too bad they can't just co-exist peacefully!
Oh, and FEUD, too. 
Ego versus ego in a fight to the... the... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...
Some day, I would like to see an article with Tallarico's name in it, that does NOT contain the phrase 'bleeps and bloops'.
And man, that entire article is DRIPPING with prejudice, isn't it?
Where are they getting their information from, a DeLorean?
today he hosts The Electric Playground on G4 TV, a cable network devoted to gaming.
(a) Is that show even still on? It has a website, but Tommy's not listed as a host (thank God, he was so obnoxious)
(b) G4 is hardly devoted to gaming. If anything it's a Spike TV wannabe.
And yeah, feud, lo...l? It's a little hard to read "Our show is a lot more popular, we're invited back places, and they're not" and remember it's coming from a fully grown adult.
Well, G4 is totally messed up in the US. In Canada, the studio that produces Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run (Judgement Day here) produces about five shows that are aired in Canada regularly. Tommy still films episodes in blocks, and I think G4 in the US still runs episodes of Electric Playground every once in awhile...? I was actually able to meet Victor Lucas at the Video Games Live Nokia Theater show, and it all sounded really complicated and confusing.
By the way, was "bleep and bloops" even a Tommy quote this time? I think it was the author or the article who included that in there!
Anyway, from what I've been told, a lot of game audio industry people have been talking about this article all day! Fun!
I like how Tallarico talks about being a rockstar in one quote and then it's supported it with this collection of little nuggets:
As for the music itself? "I like it," he (one of the violin guys) says. "I think of it more like movie music."
If classical musicians are won over to the joys of videogames, well, great. But the reason bookers love these shows is that they do the reverse — they introduce videogame geeks to the symphony. "It's an entryway," says Kim Witman, director of classical and opera planning for Wolf Trap, an outdoor concert site near Washington, DC, which hosted Play! in 2006. "It's bridging the gap — taking something that they know and using it to ease them into something unfamiliar." Indeed, for anyone who hasn't hit middle age, classical concert halls are pretty unfamiliar: Only 23 percent of classical music audiences are younger than 35. Video Games Live and Play!, on the other hand, pack every venue with twenty- and thirtysomethings, each paying up to $125 a ticket.
"Opera was invented to bring young people into the symphony," Tallarico says. "They said, Let's build sets and use costumes and tell stories.' We consider ourselves the opera of the 21st century."
*flush*
Arc, I'm going to go out on a sarcastical limb and assume the bleeps and bloops part was at the least inspired or suggested by Tallarico or by something he had written on a site or as part of a press release. If I'm wrong, I just wasted about 300 keystrokes I'll never get back, but only one self-promoting asshole I know sticks to that line of thinking enough to readily bust it out as a promotional tool. In any case, they're talking about a sound effect here, making it slightly less irritating than talking about the actual music (although...would it really hurt to use the term "sound effect"?)
(and seriously...they play the original music over the PA at VGL...That's beyond lame if it's true).
I think Tallarico is full of shit. I think I laughed about five minutes over his "opera of the 21st century" comment. There's a lot of terrific opera out there (old and new) and his concept of the genre is amusingly misguided. Invented to bring young people to the symphony, my ass...
I'm actually going to a Play! event early next year here in Seattle. The program isn't anything particularly special but it will certainly be a change of pace from the repertoire I usually hear at the Symphony. Then again, I did greatly enjoy a program a few months ago that was dedicated to film music (emphasis on John Williams).
IMO, Play! > VGL. I don't care about the personalities behind them. This is just re: the show itself.
"Unlike in Japan, where videogame soundtracks like Final Fantasy VII are made into top-selling albums, US fans who want to hear their favorite scores have to dig their old cartridges out of storage."
Sure.
Personally, it feels like I can't bother to summon up the energy to be really annoyed by Tallarico anymore... He's just a loser and a poser, and I often find myself being amused by his silliness, like for example in this video interview:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neiqFm9rJ5E
My favourite part is when he shows his Spiderman shoes.
I've heard about 5 VGL shows. The most recent one was at the Nokia Theater in Los Angeles, and it sounded so good that I had to ask Jack how many players were on stage. He said 33, suggesting to me that there had to be music pumped over the PA to provide such a rich sound. There are also elements, though, like percussion and other things that are not performed live, and are obviously being played from a recording. I think the fact that VGL uses a click track to coordinate the lights, video, and music makes it easier and more acceptable to have some of the music being pumped through, but then again, VGL is meant to be an event more than it is a traditional orchestral experience.
Regarding the Seattle performance of PLAY!, I wish I could go. Just be sure to watch the news, as I think there's a good chance something very cool will be announced.
Anyway, from what I've been told, a lot of game audio industry people have been talking about this article all day! Fun!
What, they don't have anything else to do?? That's all soap-opera fluff, not an article. I couldn't stomach to finish reading it.
VGL/PLAY is a big deal for a lot of these guys. An opportunity for their music to be played live in front of thousands of people. It's also a huge honor for people who worked on the sound teams for games that are featured at these events, even if they didn't compose the music.
I think it's amusing to see how they go back and forth with each other.