Music has always served to enhance our gaming experience. I look back on what I think are some of the best game franchise and strongly believe that so much of their grandeur comes from the soundtrack. I have played games with my own soundtrack. Game soundtracks carry with them the ability to take us back to the place and age where we became lost in-game worlds. It’s interesting to me to think about the way music and video games have evolved together.
Today many game production companies spend large amounts of time and resources creating soundtracks for their games. These companies sometimes release copies of soundtracks and even sheet music for purchase by the players. There are bands that range in genre whose music is inspired or derived from classic games. A bunch of these artists are going to be playing at PAX East next weekend.
I was checking out the bands and was disappointed to see that Anamanaguchi is not going to be back this year. If you have not heard of them, they are my favorite 8-bit band. They composed the complete soundtrack for Scott Pilgrim: The Game, the double dragon style brawler. Their music is created using a NES System so they have to keep multiple on stage in case one stops working. It was really cool meeting them at PAX and hanging out a bit last year. Despite this minor setback, there are some acts I am stoked about.
PAX features two nights of nerdy gamer music fun. MC Frontalot, The VGO and Metroid Metal are going to be returning to the stage this year. I am stoked to see these acts back again. I can’t wait for The VGO to tip over their awesome repertoire of video game classics and see what comes pouring out. It’s going to be hard to top last years performance which featured tracks like Yoshi’s Island (Super Mario), Vampire Killer (Castlevania), FFVII Opening/Bombing Mission, and Snake Eater (Metal Gear Solid). You can check out some cool vids of these tracks over on the Youtubes.
I will welcome newcomer Jonathan Coulton to the stage here in Bean Town. JOCO wrote what is probably my favorite video game theme song, the song that marks the finale of a game near and dear to my heart. I would hope that everyone reading this has played through Portal and heard voice actress, Ellen McLain’s singing this insta-cult classic. In case you were wondering, the vid I posted is the coolest kids ever performing this song Still Alive. I haven’t heard anything about whether JOCO is going to try to follow this up in the sequel to Portal.
Well, this all got me thinking. When will Blizz bring some acts like this to their Con? Would it be hard for them to live up to the spectacle and auditory prowess of former players like Ozzy and Tenacious D. Could they fit an orchestra on stage to perform some of the tracks off Cata? I am hoping that Elite Tauren Chieftain will be making a return to the stage this year. I hate that I did not get a chance to see them do their thing. Who would you like to see come to Blizzcon? What are some or your favorite game tracks? I’d love to know.
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