Video Games Live
Wow, a month since the last post? Well, the past week or so I haven’t felt the greatest so I’ll go with that.
Last night, Allison and I drove down to Birmingham to attend the Video Games Live concert performed by the Alabama Symphony Orchestra and the UAB Choir. The concert was created by two game composers, Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, that features music from video games. That was probably obvious by the title of the concert. My Vegas friend, Ross, attended the concert when it was in Vegas and loved it.
He would since he’s a total geek.
I liked it as well but I’m not a total geek.
Our show seemed similar to what Ross had attended, although since his was in Vegas it was a little more spectacular in nature, I’m sure. Three guys dressed as Pong (two bars and the ball) won the costume contest and some guy played Guitar Hero on stage totally devastating the high score of Aerosmith’s Sweet Emotion on Expert beating the previous score by at least 50,000 points. I was tempted to give the GH contest a shot but I haven’t played in quite a long time and there is no way I could have competed with that guy. A young lady of 20 years got to play Space Invaders on stage with the whole shirt gag and had absolutely no idea how to play Space Invaders. It’s almost as if it needs to be law that you have to play some of the classics before they let you buy the latest and greatest consoles.
The music was excellent and brought back some old memories. I have played video games pretty much all my life and fully expect to be playing them when I’m barely able to manipulate the controller or mouse. In a way a concert like this lends a bit of adult credibility to my hobby. By the numbers it is the entertainment choice of the modern era. I actually owe my career to video games since I went into graphic design from a desire to make the games that I enjoyed playing. Granted I don’t do that anymore nor went very far with it but I am here today because of that desire.
Another element to this concert is that it at last gives some credit to video game music composers. These are people who compose beautiful and compelling music that millions of fans adore for years if not decades. Yet these people get little or no credit outside of their industry. No tuxedo award ceremonies with celebrities nor any time in the limelight. Most of them go through their entire careers without their biggest fans even knowing their names.
I have to say that my favorite music of the night was from Warcraft. With an excellent use of the choir with the orchestra it was music that was rather moving. The next one would have to be from Metal Gear Solid which had an exciting action-adventure feel to it. Most of the music was rather console heavy which bothered me a bit since I’ve always been more of a PC gamer. It would have been good to hear something from Neverwinter Nights, Baldur’s Gate, Diablo, Knights of the Old Republic, Half-Life and… I’ll stop there because the list is too long. But the show was excellent and if it comes to your town I highly recommend it.
In other news, Anya celebrated her fourth birthday this past Tuesday. In a way it is still amazing to me that I have a child with another on the way and yet it also just feels right. And I’m loving every day of it. We kept the birthday a low-key affair this year opting for small things like a party with her gymnastics friends and Allison’s parents who watched her last night so the two of us could go to the concert.
Also, people who make children’s DVDs that do not allow you to skip all the intro crap to just get to the movie either do not have children or hate people who do.