Video Games Live

Haven't stopped by this thread in a while... I'll throw my reccomendation in there for Xenosaga tracks, as well. Hepatica~(Kos-mos) of Disc 2, Track 1 of Xeno III is a very favorite song of mine. It might even be interesting to have the vocal theme transcribed to an unusual set of instrumentation, perhaps trumpet and english horn or something. As the vocals in that track have a sort of unearthly yet succinctly harmonized sound, which is why a nonstandard instrumentation might work.

Some of the main themes for the Xenosaga series would be fantastic to the hear with the sonic power of live string playing. I'm thinking mainly of "Gnosis" from Episode I, or "Xenosaga II opening theme" and "The Image Theme of Xenosaga II", from Xenosaga II respectively.

"My Village is Number One!" or track #4, Disc 1 from Xenogears might also be entertaining as a theme and variations type thing. But that piece is nothing more than a guilty pleasure of mine.

FELIPE NO

Yo!,

Just wanted to let everyone know we've been signing up a ton of cities all over the world and will be making lots of announcements at the beginning of the new year. Recently we've added a bunch of cities to the site and have been putting tix on sale. So far we have 11 shows announced already in places like San Fran, New Zealand, Calgary, Arizona, Edmonton, Columbus, Ft. Wayne and even a performance at Yale University (with the Yale Symphony) in New Haven, CT. Here's the complete list: http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates

We are booking a ton of dates all over the world right now so please recommend cities that we should travel to.

Thanks!


Tommy






Double Post:

Originally Posted by Diversion

Hey Tommy, I'm hopping in this thread again.

As an alumni and soon to be returning student at University of Michigan (oh graduate school woes), I've had the privilege and distinct honor to sing and perform at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, MI.

http://www.umich.edu/~urel/hill/

Hill is one of the largest auditoriums in the region, seating 3,710. Ann Arbor itself is a great city for the performing arts with multiple orchestras and choirs available (I was in the Men's Glee Club, which is about a hundred strong male chorus). For concerts in upcoming years there is still plenty of available time for possibly adding it as a venue, though there may be limitations with the visual aspect. I know the building has strict codes, though if many of the set pieces are independent entities that don't require extensive connections to walls and such, it may be a possibility. I've contacted George Winston's agent 2 years ago and, no lie, he performed there the following year after contacting the box office.

If that doesn't work out, DTE in Detroit would be excellent!

It'd be awesome to see you come to Michigan: it's a strong venue with a great turnout potential! Lookin forward to the 2007 season!

We are definitely looking at Detroit right now and should have news in Jan. (hopefully). Thanks for the info!


Tommy






Double Post:
Thanks for all of the Xenosaga input.

Please let me know what other games you would like to hear that we don't currently have. Here is our current franchise list (although we don't play all of these during every show):

Mario™, Zelda®, Halo®, Metal Gear Solid®, Warcraft®, Myst®, Final Fantasy®, Castlevania®, Kingdom Hearts, Medal of Honor™, Sonic™, Tron, God of War™, Civilization IV, Tomb Raider®, Beyond Good & Evil™, Advent Rising, EverQuest® II, Monkey Island, Earthworm Jim, Headhunter, Splinter Cell®, Ghost Recon™, Rainbow Six® and a special reetro Classic Arcade Medley featuring over 20+ games from Pong® to Donkey Kong® including such classics as Dragon's Lair, Tetris, Frogger, Gauntlet, Space Invaders & Outrun.


Thanks!


Tommy

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If you are seeking recommendations (and I have already spoken of Metroid), I would personally love to hear Earthbound, which has some beautiful music and a cult following surpassing even Beyond Good & Evil. It's been orchestrated before, and quite effectively (on the Orchestral Game Concert vol 2 CD). Also, if you are willing to try jazz renditions, Simcity would be great to hear. You can even download the original soundtracks from the game's site.

I am glad to see you are finally performing in the northeast; the region hasn't gotten much so far and now we can hear your stuff. I do have a personal request for the New Haven concert, though: please, please play your Beyond Good & Evil suite. It is single-handedly paying for my ticket. I would love to hear the other works, but Beyond Good & Evil is half the reason I am still paying attention to these dates.

How ya doing, buddy?

Well I posted this before Tommy, but I like to hear some actual Kingdom Hearts pieces by Yoko Shimomura, not just Utada's theme songs. Please read my previous post for details. I also nominate Silent Hill music.

Thank you! Looks like VGL will be back at LA again next year! Awesome!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

We are definitely looking at Detroit right now and should have news in Jan. (hopefully). Thanks for the info!


Tommy

This is wonderful news. I live in Michigan and would love to see this come here. Hopefully you can get a date set up around here.

Quote:

Thanks for all of the Xenosaga input.

Please let me know what other games you would like to hear that we don't currently have. Here is our current franchise list (although we don't play all of these during every show):

Mario™, Zelda®, Halo®, Metal Gear Solid®, Warcraft®, Myst®, Final Fantasy®, Castlevania®, Kingdom Hearts, Medal of Honor™, Sonic™, Tron, God of War™, Civilization IV, Tomb Raider®, Beyond Good & Evil™, Advent Rising, EverQuest® II, Monkey Island, Earthworm Jim, Headhunter, Splinter Cell®, Ghost Recon™, Rainbow Six® and a special reetro Classic Arcade Medley featuring over 20+ games from Pong® to Donkey Kong® including such classics as Dragon's Lair, Tetris, Frogger, Gauntlet, Space Invaders & Outrun.


Thanks!


Tommy

Metroid has always been a favorite of mine. And a lot of people love the classic Mega Man tunes.

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Here are some musical highlights from the Super Nintendo's Donkey Kong Country Series, and my personal favorites. I personally believe them to be among to be among the best VG soundtracks ever composed.

Donkey Kong Country - David Wise (75%), Eveline Novakovic (20%), Robin Beanland (5%)

Donkey Kong Country Title Theme - OST Track 01

DK Island Swing - OST Track 03

Aquatic Ambiance - OST Track 08

Life in the Mines - OST Track 12

Game Over Fanfare - OST Track 22

Donkey Kong Country 2 - All composed by David Wise

Welcome To Crocodile Isle - OST Track 02

Forest Interlude - OST Track 10

Hot Head Hop - OST Track 14

Stickerbush Symphony - OST Track 17

Krook's March - OST Track 22

In a Snow-Bound Land - OST Track 25


For reference's sake, "DK Island Swing & Aquatic Ambiance" were arranged in Orchestrated Game Concert Vol. 5 track 03, but I've never been a personal fan of that arrangement. It doesn't really capture the feel of the music. Aquatic Ambiance seems to plod along too slowly, and Jungle Swing is missing the whole buildup sequence.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

-Resident Evil (yeah, I love RE arrange albums, I admit it.)
-Star Wars: KOTOR (Some good stuff in there)
-Oblivion or Morrowind (Nice main themes, but...)

I was speaking idiomatically.

I'm putting in another positive word for Earthbound!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Wow, Tommy T's actually in GFF?! Haha, this is so cool! Hi Tommy! haha, anyways, wow. Firstly, I have to say that gaming music has gone a long way, seriously. One wouldn't have thought back in the era when gaming music were just sound generated by electric synthesizers, that we'll be seeing full scale orchestras playing those very same songs we've heard a thousand times before. Ah, pure bliss.

Anyways, just came back from Eminence's Passion (I'm from Singapore, by the way..) a few days back..and all I can say is that I'm seriously addicted to this. It was totally surreal! VGL's going to Tokyo in a date TBA right? I believe I speak for a LOT of people when I say this: Please please drop by sunny Singapore! It has one of the world's best performance venues (The Esplanade: http://www.esplanade.com ) and you DEFINITELY wouldn't be disappointed with the view! ^^;

FELIPE NO

Hi Tommy,

I was at VGL at GDC earlier this year in 2006 (no I don't have a myspace profile ), and it was definitely the highlight of my visit. I was totally stoked afterwards, this is a must go-to event for *any* gamer. Any word on DVD's/CD's soon? My girlfriend (at the time) would have really enjoyed it too but she couldn't come and youtube videos do a really bad job of showing what it's like, makes me wish I'd bought a program.

One thing I kept thinking about after the show though, was the # of seats being taken by.. well essentially non gaming spouses, there were many "The Girlfriend/Wife" 's, in the back seats who looked pretty bored when things started and throughout the first half. By the time the concert concluded though, many were pretty shocked and I think a lot of them enjoyed themselves and were thinking "Wow, game music is this good? what have I been missing out on?". Still I cried for every gamer that would have loved to attend, but couldn't that would have really gotten the most out of it. The price was also a steal considering the venue was in California. Kudos for that!

Thanks for keeping in touch with the hardcore community like OCRemix and GFF. Dont know if you've ever thought about forum time as being a waste of time, but I can tell you it wasn't. Why? I had no idea that VGL was coming to my town of Mesa, AZ until I saw this post. Definitely time well spent and I'm definitely glad I came in looking for the Crimson Skies soundtrack today lol.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yo Everyone!,

First of all... thanks for the great suggestions and comments. I am making notes of all of them and will be looking into getting the rights.

Today GameTrailers.com just put up a teaser trailer for a 3 episode "Making of Video Games Live" series that will run once a week for the entire month of January.

Please feel free to check it out. It's right on the front page... or you can follow this link: http://www.gametrailers.com/gamepage.php?id=2016
and click on the top trailer.

There will be three 10 minute episodes coming once a week... starting next week.


Tommy

Originally Posted by KaneSlayer

Wow, Tommy T's actually in GFF?! Haha, this is so cool! Hi Tommy! haha, anyways, wow. Firstly, I have to say that gaming music has gone a long way, seriously. One wouldn't have thought back in the era when gaming music were just sound generated by electric synthesizers, that we'll be seeing full scale orchestras playing those very same songs we've heard a thousand times before. Ah, pure bliss.

Anyways, just came back from Eminence's Passion (I'm from Singapore, by the way..) a few days back..and all I can say is that I'm seriously addicted to this. It was totally surreal! VGL's going to Tokyo in a date TBA right? I believe I speak for a LOT of people when I say this: Please please drop by sunny Singapore! It has one of the world's best performance venues (The Esplanade: http://www.esplanade.com ) and you DEFINITELY wouldn't be disappointed with the view! ^^;

Yo KaneSlayer!,

Thanks for stopping by! We plan on making it to a lot of different locations throughout Asia. Singapore being one of them. Not sure of the exact dates just yet but it's on our list.

How was the Eminence show? I really like what those guys are doing. I can't wait to catch one myself!! I've spoken directly with a few of the guys from the Eminence team. Really nice guys with a lot of passion!

Tommy

Originally Posted by fathamburger

Hi Tommy,

I was at VGL at GDC earlier this year in 2006 (no I don't have a myspace profile ), and it was definitely the highlight of my visit. I was totally stoked afterwards, this is a must go-to event for *any* gamer. Any word on DVD's/CD's soon? My girlfriend (at the time) would have really enjoyed it too but she couldn't come and youtube videos do a really bad job of showing what it's like, makes me wish I'd bought a program.

One thing I kept thinking about after the show though, was the # of seats being taken by.. well essentially non gaming spouses, there were many "The Girlfriend/Wife" 's, in the back seats who looked pretty bored when things started and throughout the first half. By the time the concert concluded though, many were pretty shocked and I think a lot of them enjoyed themselves and were thinking "Wow, game music is this good? what have I been missing out on?". Still I cried for every gamer that would have loved to attend, but couldn't that would have really gotten the most out of it. The price was also a steal considering the venue was in California. Kudos for that!

Thanks for keeping in touch with the hardcore community like OCRemix and GFF. Dont know if you've ever thought about forum time as being a waste of time, but I can tell you it wasn't. Why? I had no idea that VGL was coming to my town of Mesa, AZ until I saw this post. Definitely time well spent and I'm definitely glad I came in looking for the Crimson Skies soundtrack today lol.

Yo Fathamburger!,

Thanks so much for recommending the show! One of the reasons we have chosen to present the music in the unique way we do is exactly the reason you mentioned. We believe that putting on a fantastic visual production as well as showing off the incredible music has an extremely positive effect on the "non-gaming" crowd. We are extremely pleased and proud to get so many non-gamer or casual gamer e-mails and letters after each of our performances stating... "WOW!! I never knew video game music was so powerful and emotional... I never knew that the visuals and storylines were so incredible... Now I understand why my kids are so much into this stuff. Thank-you for helping us to understand the industry. It truly is amazing and the music was incredible!"

This (for us) is the biggest pay-off of all and exactly the reason we started this whole thing in the first place and continue to watch it keep growing to bigger and brighter proportions.

Thank-you again for your kind words of support. Please spread the word! I hope to meet you face to face in Arizona! We have a couple of really incredible "special guests" who will be attending that show... I'll be bringing them on stage and they will be a part of our meet & greet. Details to be released next week.


Tommy

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Hi!,

I was wondering if anyone had a .wav or .mp3 file of the communicator sound from the Metal Gear Solid series. It's the sound in the game when somebody is buzzing in to talk to Snake on his communicator.

I have a really funny part I'm working on for our 2007 performances and need that sound. Thought I would check here first.


Thanks!


Tommy

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

Hi!,

I was wondering if anyone had a .wav or .mp3 file of the communicator sound from the Metal Gear Solid series. It's the sound in the game when somebody is buzzing in to talk to Snake on his communicator.

I have a really funny part I'm working on for our 2007 performances and need that sound. Thought I would check here first.


Thanks!


Tommy

I've attached a .zip archive contaning lots of sound effects from the original Metal Gear Solid, including a few different variations of the codec call sound.

Hope this will be of use to you =)

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Perfect!!

Thanks seanne!


Tommy

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

So I'm guessing David Hayter recorded stuff for the concert? His Live voice acting kicked ass at the LA concert this year.

Its also great despite your busy schedule you can still find time to post here.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

So I'm guessing David Hayter recorded stuff for the concert? His Live voice acting kicked ass at the LA concert this year.

Its also great despite your busy schedule you can still find time to post here.

Shhhh!! You're giving away the David Hayter surprise!! Hehehehehhee!!
j/k

Thanks Kairi Li...
I love posting and being a part of the game music community from both sides. As a fan... and as a composer myself.



T.T.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

Thank-you again for your kind words of support. Please spread the word! I hope to meet you face to face in Arizona! We have a couple of really incredible "special guests" who will be attending that show... I'll be bringing them on stage and they will be a part of our meet & greet. Details to be released next week.
Tommy

Hey any word on those special guests? I know you said next week and scheduling can usually be a bitch but the reason I ask again so quickly is because I'm getting a pretty lukewarm / "mehh it's just game music" response from most of my friends. If some devs from some of their favourite games could be there and they could meet them and maybe get something signed etc they might be more enthusiastic.

I see this as being symptomatic of a lot of "core gamers" in general who usually don't pay attention to game music and will play their own mp3s instead (one of my personal pet peeves, but we have games that skimp on audio/dont pay attention to loops to blame). We both know if they attended the concert they'd change their opinion so maybe instead of a meet the devs thing being a bonus or a last minute thing, it could recieve the same billiing as the concert itself and convert more of the ermm.. ignorantly indifferent? lol. I know this means that you essentially would be guaranteeing that they'd be there and making a commitment which could open another can of worms, but it's something to think about.

Anyhow I hope to meet you face to face too. By the way, I had a Metal Gear moment myself a couple of weeks ago, walking out for a midnight snack just in time for the sprinklers to come on. In my mind I could see the exclamation mark popping over my head and the "encounter" theme starting as I heard them starting to go off and straight away I could see the sprinkler radius circles, spray patterns etc and had to wait on walking to avoid getting wet etc. I still managed to get wet however, so that was a "Snake??! SNAKE??!! SNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!!!!" moment

FELIPE NO

Now you know the kind of things I have to deal with on a daily basis!



Even convincing some gamers that video game music is great is sometimes difficult.

The only reason I haven't released the info about the "special guests" is because I'm not sure yet if they can come on both nights.

I suppose I can let you know the names... we're releasing the info next week...

It's Don Bluth & Gary Goldman the creators and animators of Dragon's Lair & Space Ace. Don is a HUGE name in the animation world and also created the films Titan AE, Anastasia, Thumbelina, Land Before Time, American Tail, The Secret of NIMH, etc.

He worked at Disney for many years and his first film was Sleeping Beauty in 1959! Robin Hood, Winnie the Pooh & Pete's Dragon were some of his others.

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0089940/

They live in the Pheonix area. We're also having people from the Postal team there as well (also in Pheonix)... pretty wide spectrum there. Disney to Postal! heheheheehee

Still not sure which composers are coming but it's been tough nailing people down over the holidays.

Hope that helps.

Tommy

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Hey Tommy,

I saw your conversation on gametrailers about Nintendo Wii. You have some solid arguements and I agree with them, it was nice to watch.
I really like your work, keep doing it! Thanks
By the way, I would love to hear a Battlefield 2 theme from you ... PLEASE.

Rick

How ya doing, buddy?

Oh.My.God.

Don Bluth is gonna be there?! Argh How I wish I can go to the Arizona concert! I love his movies! Land before time is my all time fav childhoon film, and Anastatcia was a great comeback for him!

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Happy New Year, TT. Looks like VGLive is going to be touring for a long time after checking the websites. Still waiting on Boston but I go to college in Ohio close to Columbus so I'll probably check that one out.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

Oh.My.God.

Don Bluth is gonna be there?! Argh How I wish I can go to the Arizona concert! I love his movies! Land before time is my all time fav childhoon film, and Anastatcia was a great comeback for him!

ROAD TRIP!! It's not that far (if you went to the Hollywood Bowl show)



Here... I'll sweeten the pot for ya (cause you always give us such great comments). If you come I'll get ya backstage passes so you can meet Mr. Bluth in person by yourself.

Ooooohhhhh!!! You know it's tempting!!




Tommy

Originally Posted by Hydelloon

Happy New Year, TT. Looks like VGLive is going to be touring for a long time after checking the websites. Still waiting on Boston but I go to college in Ohio close to Columbus so I'll probably check that one out.

Yeah! Boston has been a tricky one to nail down because of high costs. NYC is another one we've been working on for a LONG time and still have a little work to do to make it affordable.

I'm from Mass. too! Spent the first 21 years of my life there before moving to California 17 years ago. (Crap! Just gave away my age. hehehehe) The New Haven, CT/Yale University show in March would be somewhat close but if you go to school in Ohio then Columbus would probably be just as close.

Looking forward to meeting you. Make sure to tell me ya met me here!


Tommy

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Hahah!. New Haven, here I come! I've been watching this thing sine you first started touring, just waiting for a location near enough for me to get to. New Haven... close enough. 3 and a half hours of driving is a small price to pay to get to see this. I'll probably go to the Boston one, too, since that's even closer. I imagine that this is the sort of thing I'll want to experience more than once.

I just paid the full $70 for two of the best tickets in New Haven for me and my girlfriend to go to the show. I can't wait. I look forward to meeting you there if I can manage it. Is that likely? I can't imagine you're that accessible at these things - you've got to be one of the busiest men alive on show day.

Quote:

even a performance at Yale University (with the Yale Symphony) in New Haven, CT.

So it would be a different orchestra at the New Haven show? Or do you usually switch the orchestra around a bit from location to location?


I'll keep spreading the word - I'd hate for my readers to miss out on this because they didn't realize it was happening.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Tommy Tallarico

ROAD TRIP!! It's not that far (if you went to the Hollywood Bowl show)



Here... I'll sweeten the pot for ya (cause you always give us such great comments). If you come I'll get ya backstage passes so you can meet Mr. Bluth in person by yourself.

Ooooohhhhh!!! You know it's tempting!!

I currently reside in LA Tommy, hence why I was able to go to the Hollywood Bowl one, the Arizona one isnt feasible...

And trouble is I may be moving to another country soon... Mostly due to college education and Visa issues. (Any immigration is a pain in the neck.)

Thank you so much for offering though, I would love to meet Mr Bluth, but my situation wont allow it I'm afraid, in fact I'm not sure if I can go to the next Hollywood Bowl Show... Especially since the last one was September, which will be during school semesters, meaning I can't make some vacation trip to see it. (Though I'm sure my boyfriend and his pals will go for me, and there will be DVDs)

However, if VLG never dies, then in about 2-4 years time I will return here, for my boyfriend, VGL (along with various Cons) and future career and will be able to attend again.

And if for some horrible reason I can't, well, I went to one of the greatest showings ever! WOOT!

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Just got a really expensive ticket (compared to student prices for SF Opera and SF Symphony, at least) for the March San Francisco show, hope it lives up to the hype

FELIPE NO