Play! that Funky Music

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Ok, now this I don’t get, and I’ve actually spent a few minutes trying to get it.

As featured on the World of Warcraft front page this week, Play! A Video Game Symphony is an orchestra playing music from video games like Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, Silent Hill and others. Three gigs are scheduled so far: Chicago, Stockholm (sold out) and Philadelphia.

I checked out the Chicago ticket prices: cheap seats $35, pricey seats $125, with a range of options in between. The $125 seats include a meet and greet with the following:

– Arnie Roth, Music Director and Conductor of PLAY! And The Chicagoland Pops Orchestra
– Rony Barrak, guest artist (percussionist) sponsored by Electronic Arts
– Yuzo Koshiro, One of the composers of Shenmue
– Jeremy Soule, Composer of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
– Jason Hayes, Composer of World of Warcraft
– Marty O’Donnell, Composer of Halo
More special guests to be announced!

I gotta say, I enjoy in-game music as much as the next guy, but I’m not downloading it from game sites and listening on my iPod. In fact, I don’t know anyone that does or would. To actually pay for a ticket, logoff the game, MISS A RAID and DKP, I dunno … seems like quite a commitment.

Maybe this sort of thing appeals to the roleplay crowd, otherwise I have no clue.

You figure it out, you explain it to me.

6 thoughts on “Play! that Funky Music”

  1. Disgusting isn’t it? But I’m one of them fools that DOES listen to some of the game music while working at home.. Vocals are distracting!

    Jeremy Soule is awesome.. Icewind Dale, Dungeon Siege, ya..

    Matt Uelmenn’s Diablo2 music is wicked good, you used to be able to download the MP3’s for the entire game from Blizzard’s site, but I don’t see them anymore.. Huge, dark, dense tapestries of sound, he’s the bomb.

    And the music of AO is also beauty, but as it’s assembled from snippets in realtime, look for soundpeaks dot com to get funcom-approved fan-assembled versions..

  3. Well, as someone who loves videogame music, even tunes related to games that I haven’t played (as long as they sound good), I’d go to such a concert. Last year when they cancelled all those Video Games Live tour dates, I was disappointed, as I had gathered a group of about 10 like-minded friends to go to the event. I’m not averse to spending $50 on a ticket to see a live orchestra play great music. Seeing a musical costs about as much, or more, for good seats, so it doesn’t seem like a big deal for those prices. The $125 ticket that includes a meet-and-greet is practically a bargain if you get to talk to the composers.

    Oh, and Jeremy Soule also composed the music for Guild Wars.

  4. I’ve downloaded and played mp3’s of game music before. It is amazing the associations you’ll have with music that you’d never really payed close attention to. I found it very nastolgic.

    Some of my favorites:
    The D2 cycle, but of course I played entirely too much of this game

    HoMM, if you really can’t stand opera you probably hated this game to begin with (actually I believe it could be disabled in game for the truly dedicated philistine)

    Stuff from Final Fantasy, especially Find Your Way

  6. D2 music is available still just now it’s on fileplanet

    (sorry for dragging up a old topic but it’s a slow-work-day I thought I’d sift through some old bogging favourites :D)

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