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The days of the stunted,
electronic, jingles which cued
up with the drop of each quarter
or token into those hungry,
little, metal slots seem like a
century ago. As the world of
video games has become
increasingly sophisticated (not
to mention lucrative), so has
the music associated with it.
While the musical jingles from
Donkey Kong, Dig Dug, or Ms. Pac
Man have become icons
themselves, an increasing amount
of today's video game music is
sharing more in common with many
of the iconic film scores of the
last thirty years.
The world of film music
continues to ebb and flow...to
evolve. Post-modernism,
minimalism, and electronic
instrumentation are ever-present
in today's soundtrack landscape.
Some of film music's stalwart
composers are well into their
twilight of their careers -
"matured" sound and all, and yet
their names still dominate
credit rolls. Such observations
can leave a fan wondering when
and where the next Raiders of
the Lost Ark, Conan the
Barbarian, or Braveheart will
come from...if at all. There
are, of course the Brian Tyler's
and Klaus Badelt's, those from a
new generation of composers, who
offer a bright future for such
film music fans. Yet, for other
daring up-and-coming-composers
like: Michael Giacchino, Jesper
Kyd, Bill Brown, Christopher
Lennertz, Inon Zur, the new
medium of video games is opening
wide to showcase their talents.
Some of today's most captivating
scores are written, not for the
big screens and
blockbuster-Summer-films, but
for the slightly smaller screens
connected to Xboxes,
Playstations, Wiis, and personal
computers. Tracksounds is
thrilled to help turn the
spotlight on this maturing genre
of music through this feature,
High Score: The New Era
of Game Music.
Here you will find full reviews
of some of the most recent video
games soundtracks to cause a
stir within the circles of
soundtrack enthusiasts and also
interviews with those who
painstakingly create this music!
(by Christopher Coleman)
Playable Cinema
by
Christopher Coleman
(September 21, 2007)
As I finished up both my
review of BIOSHOCK and my
interview with the composer
of the game's score, GARRY
SCHYMAN, that phrase
"playable cinema" kept
running through my mind.
That is where the gaming and
film industries have been
moving toward for a number
of years now. With the
release of games like
BIOSHOCK and perhaps even
moreso, HEAVENLY SWORD, we
might just be there. I can't
say that I've ever seen any
game like the visuals of
HEAVENLY SWORD or been as
enveloped by a games
atmosphere like BIOSHOCK.
I've been addicted to the
short animated back-story
shorts presented at the
HEAVENLY SWORD site. I've
been swept up in the depth
of 2KGames' official sites
for BIOSHOCK. Both of these
games and LAIR as well, have
created new, detailed
worlds, that are as
interesting as the games
themselves. For as long as
movies have been made,
audience members have said
to themselves "I wish I
could do that!" ...and the
day has come where they can.
If you look at the history
of it - the two mediums have
been on a collision course
for decades. We first saw
game-spin-offs of movies and
more recently movie
spin-offs from games. As
processing power continues
to exponentially increase,
the merging of the two seems
only natural...if not
inevitable. I, for one, am
ecstatic at seeing this
media evolution continue. As
I've remarked elsewhere,
with the storage, bandwidth,
and processing power
available for game
development ever on the
increase, this affords game
producers what they need to
hire grade-A composers and
grade-A orchestras for these
game scores. And we won't
even speak about the
budgets. They certainly have
plenty of bucks now-days.
Let's not underestimate the
power of symphonic music in
these games. While the
visuals cause our jaws to
drop, just how much less
impacting would the game
play be without the
contributions of a MICHAEL
GIACCHINO, INON ZUR, or
JESPER KYD? As it's been
said before "Audiences will
put up with bad picture, but
they won't put up with bad
sound." 128-bit+ graphics
with 16-bit sound would be
unforgivable. So as we are
witness to "playable cinema"
emerging before our very
eyes, I hope you'll join in
the anticipation for where
this will lead musically. If
the music matters within
film and it matters within a
game - just how much more
when the two become one? As
gross as it sounds...my ears
salivate at what's to come!
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