Video games - most definitely an art form

Today I thought I'd have a break from politics and diplomacy (and from revision) on my blog and rant about video games as an art form, through music.

Too often I've seen the cultural contribution of video games being sidelined by, well I was about to say the masses, but the masses (especially the under 30s) are increasingly using video games. Games are taking over from films, especially as part of pop culture for many various reasons I won't go into right now. Think of the most epic movie music you can think of, and most people would not smirk or laugh if you said you appreciated those scores, e.g. any John Williams masterpiece, the Lord of the Rings music, Requiem for a Dream, Bernard Hermann and countless others. There are magnificent movie scores everywhere, and are recognised as great parts of their respective cultures.


The musical beauty of some games is going unrecognised, except in niche markets or concerts such as Play! or Video Games Live. Here's an example of a great orchestral score written for a video game:


That was 'Baba Yetu' by Christopher Tin, which featured in Civilization IV. Although a bit simplistic, it is powerful and complements the character of the video game perfectly.

Here's another example:


That was 'To Zanarkand', from Final Fantasy X by Nobuo Uematsu (also known as the John Williams of the video game world). Like the video game, this piece of music (among countless scores within the game) is fraught with emotion and the feeling of unavoidable tragedy.

Talent, emotion and thinking has gone into many video game scores, and over the years more and more full orchestras are being hired to perform. This is only good for classical music, which I do enjoy. This will introduce thousands (if not millions) of people of all ages across the world to the beauty of dozens of men and women playing an amazing symphony together.

Here's another great example:


'Operation Market Garden', from Medal of Honor: Frontline by Michael Giacchino (since then he's gone on to do movie soundtracks, such as The Incredibles). The early Medal of Honor games were the first to use a full orchestra to the entire soundtrack of a video game. What you got was one of the best series of WWII games ever made with great emotional depth.

These are but a few examples. They do show how far video game soundtracks have come in the past 20 years, when it was still a matter of bleeps.