Jake and I had the distinct pleasure to attend Video Games Live in Austin on Saturday. I can tell you that the experience was nothing more than phenomenal.
First, a little backstory. Video Games Live is a concert event put on by the gaming industry, where an orchestra plays music from the games we know and love, synchronized with videos and a killer light show. The event was founded by Tommy Tallarico, a well-known video game composer and former host of some of the gaming TV shows that used to be on G4, like Judgement Day and The Electric Playground. It was co-founded by Jack Wall, another famous composer, his most recent work is the Mass Effect soundtrack. It was truly an experience meeting both of these guys.
We had originally wanted to go back in 2005, but the Austin and Houston shows were cancelled due to low ticket sales and poor advertising. To make up for it, they sent us signed copies of the show’s program booklet, plus a T-shirt. This time, the show had a full house.
The show took place at the Michael Dell Long Center for the Performing Arts, just off of West Riverside street in Austin. Outside there was a large waiting area, we got there about an hour and a half before doors opened, so we decided to take some pictures.
The merch booth:
There was also a costume contest, so we also saw a few cosplayers. Some were pretty good, you could tell they made it themselves, others were a little less, you could also tell they made it themselves.
Naked Snake and Revolver Ocelot
Admittedly, Jake and I had no idea who they were supposed to be, so we had to ask.
Sephiroth
Spartans
Naturally, these guys won the costume contest. Was there ever any doubt?
Next time we go, Jake wanted to cosplay as a MechWarrior. Who should I go as?
Upstairs there was a Guitar Hero competition, whoever scored the highest on “3’s & 7’s” on Hard would get to go out on stage and play “Sweet Emotion” in the new Aerosmith game. Fun fact! Tommy Tallarico is the cousin of the lead singer of Aerosmith, Steven Tyler.
The setup for Guitar Hero was a little shonky. The video seemed totally out of sync with the audio, and the controller didn’t seem like it was responding. Jake failed at 4%, I failed at 16%. Oh well, at least I beat him. I was setting up the camera to record him playing, but by the time it was ready, he had already failed.
The winner of the contest, apparently a girl, came out to play on stage later, and five-starred “Sweet Emotion,” not on Hard, but on EXPERT. If she scored 175,000 points, she’d win a $2,500 laptop. Naturally, she did.
Enough pre-show stuff. Here’s what the stage looked like. Huge projector screen in the background, orchestra and choir, and a light show which doubles as an epilepsy test.
The start to the show was funny. They started with a screen of two players playing Pong, was the orchestra playing a note every time the ball hit something.
I won’t delve into the details of the show, since it’s different every time, but there were a few big games which they played music from:
Metal Gear Solid
God of War
Mass Effect
Legend of Zelda
Super Mario Bros.
Metroid
World of Warcraft
Final Fantasy
Civilization IV
Castlevania
Halo
When the World of Warcraft segment came on, there was a unanimous and thunderous “FOR THE HORDE!!!” from TOO MANY FUCKING WOW PLAYERS in the audience.
Finally, there was one guest which stood out in particular. His name is Martin Leung, better known as the “Video Game Pianist.” He gained fame from a YouTube video he posted a long time ago, showing him playing the Super Mario Bros. theme on piano, BLINDFOLDED. To this day, that video has been viewed by over 40 million people. He played some Final Fantasy music, and then finally played the Mario theme, blindfolded, live, on stage. This guy was epic.
After the show, we waited about an hour and a half to get signed posters from Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, Martin Leung was also there, I got him to sign as well.
Finally, the geniuses behind it all. On the left, Tommy Tallarico. On the right, Jack Wall. Wall was the conductor for the orchestra during the show.
In other news, the “I’m blogging this.” shirt is now my official Awesome Event Attendance shirt.
Overall, it was amazing show. Hopefully they’ll be back to Texas on their next world tour in 2010 or so. See? I told you I’m blogging this.
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