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History Of Video Game Music Explored

Posted by simoniker on from the beep-to-bleep dept.

Thanks to GameSpot for its feature discussing the history of video game music as an artform, as they point out: "Once an afterthought in terms of game design and overall pop-culture consciousness, video game music is now a legitimate industry of its own." The feature goes on to chart game sound from 1972's Pong ("The sonar-blip sound that's generated as a digital ball is batted back and forth is the first true video game sound effect"), through the 1980s and Tetris ("...millions of glassy-eyed players endure endless loops of vaguely martial Russian Muzak playing in their heads"), right up to new titles such as Frequency ("notable in that it reduces visuals to a near-abstract level... and provides a gameplay experience that is primarily aural.")

8 of 109 comments (clear)

  1. Obligatory Link by Gothic_Walrus · · Score: 5, Informative
    No discussion of video game music is complete without a link to OC Remix, a site that hosts thousands of remixes of video game songs.

    See? Video game music is an art form!

    --
    Goo goo g'joob.
  2. Re:Star Control II by Leffe · · Score: 2, Informative

    The remixes in the new version are pretty nice too ,)

    http://sc2.sourceforge.net/

  3. No Minibosses? by RustyTaco · · Score: 2, Informative

    The article forgot to mention the Minibosses. Tisk tisk.

    - RustyTaco

  4. Re:Chrono Cross by Bagels · · Score: 2, Informative

    It's by a guy called Yasunori Mitsuda... he also did the music for much of Chrono Trigger (along with Nobuo Uematsu, who's already been mentioned), Xenogears, and Xenosaga. Awesome stuff - my favorites are "On the Banks of a Dream" from the Chrono Cross soundtrack, "Melkaba" from Xenogears, and pretty much any of the overworld themes from Chrono Trigger ("Memories of Green," "Enhasa").

    --
    --- Bwah?
  5. Re: A game that IS music. by Nefarious_Hat · · Score: 5, Informative
    I'm dismayed by the omission of Rez from this list. It's understandable, considering the lack of publicity the game has gotten. If you want to learn more about it, here's Gamespy's review
    • http://archive.gamespy.com/reviews/january02/rez ps2/
    P.S. Please forgive not hyperlinking it, as I'm new to the whole HTML deal.
  6. Re:Chrono Cross by May+Kasahara · · Score: 2, Informative

    The only other name I've heard for "Frog's Theme" is "Kaeru's Theme", Kaeru being the Japanese name of the character.

  7. Re:Nobuo! by May+Kasahara · · Score: 2, Informative

    There's also Nobuo Uematsu's official site, brought to you by Square-Enix and the man himself.

  8. No discussion in game music should ignore Soule by DarkFencer · · Score: 3, Informative

    No discussion about game music should ignore the incredible composer Jeremy Soule. He doesn't get nearly as much attention as Nobuo Uematsu (sp?) of Final Fantasy fame, but is just as good IMHO.


    Some of his credits include:
    Icewind Dale (my favorite of his)
    Morrowind (my second favorite of his)
    Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
    Neverwinter Nights
    Unreal II
    Dungeon Siege
    and many more.

    If you haven't heard his work, check his website: www.jeremysoule.com