History Of Video Game Music Explored

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.")

Comments

Star Control II

[NanoGator]

Anybody who played SCII back in the DOS days instantly knows the contribution they brought to the table. The music was all done using '.mod', and it was pretty damn cool. Not bad given it came on what, 3 floppies?

I imagine Amiga users wouldn't be so enthralled by it, but .MOD was so much better than .MIDI.

Re:Star Control II

[NanoGator]

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

Ah yes, the 3DO music. When SC2 was ported to the 3DO, they redid the music using CD audio. Did an awesome job, if you ask me. They also added CG rendered full-motion video to the intro and ending. It was a pleasant upgrade from the Dos version. I was fortunate enough to be one of the 3 people that had a 3DO so I could play that game!

You know, to this day, I still can't get over how tasteful the 3DO port of that game was. It's not all that often a game is updated and good sense is used about which pieces to update and which to leave as it was.

Re:Obligatory Link

[Rallion]

Ah, but it doesn't compare to the Black Mages, redefining the music of Final Fantasy with the help of the FF musicman.

Quake and NIN was the best ever

[Nice2Cats]

If ever there were a marriage made in hell (and we mean that in a good way), it has to be Quake plus Nine Inch Nails.

That game with that music was so spooky, it made me want wet my pants. Nothing, not even Half Life has come close to that feeling of running around in a place where I shouldn't be with the ammo counter way down and monsters just around the next corner, for sure, and that music that you just couldn't get out of your head...

I could have been born in a different age, but then growing up with id Software has been a real kick.

Audio Games

[Nomihn0]

I'd have to say that the best videogame "music" is in the games for the blind. Music has served only an aesthetic purpose in game development up until fairly recently when it began to be used as the primary output device in games for the disabled.
One recent example is Terraformers, a game playable by both the sighted and the blind.
An archive of audio games can be found at thissite

Re:Ignored earlier on?

[Kethinov]

All the Final Fantasies, and many other RPGs, have excellent music. I classify it as "RPG music" which in my view far surpasses regular video game music classification. Comparing FF6 to Tetris is like comparing Mozart to trendy-MTV-of-the-day imho.

Chrono Cross

[Q-Mont]

I remember seeing a preview for Chrono Cross before it came out. It was playing the song "Scars of Time" with various cutscenes from the game. I thought that it was one of the better songs that I've heard for a video game. I went on to buy the game and subsequently the soundtrack. While the game sits on my shelf now, I still find myself listening to the soundtrack on a regular basis. It's definitely my favorite game soundtrack overall.