"I've always loved the soundtrack to these games so hearing them live is pretty amazing." The concept began in the United States under the direction of Tommy Tallarico, a video game composer and industry promoter. He said video game music, once considered only an accompaniment to feverish button-pushing, has evolved into a legitimate art form - and it's growing in popularity every day.
"Video game music has changed drastically over the last ten years," he explained backstage. "It's not a bunch of bleeps and bloops anymore. We created this show specifically for those non-gamers to understand and appreciate what this music is and what this industry has become.
" Rob McLear, the symphony's artistic director, said he agrees with Tallarico's thinking because it extends an olive branch to audiences that have typically steered clear of the orchestra format. "When you're a small-market symphony, you have to develop programs for a number of difference audience streams, and video game fans had never been serviced before," he said. "In fact, I don't think this kind of audience even existed until a few years ago.
" Experimenting with different formats is nothing new for Edmonton's symphony. Back in the 1970s, McLear said, they were among the first orchestras to work side-by-side with a rock band when they recorded a few tracks with Procol Harem. Prior to the two-hour concert, which included the themes from Final Fantasy and Halo, concert-goers got a chance to try out new video game systems set up around the theatre's lobby.
"This is actually my first time ever at a symphony," said Tali Oppelt, 17, flanked by a group of friends dressed as characters from Xenosaga 3. The five of them drove from Calgary for the experience. "We've all been waiting for something like this for a long time," she said.
When home video game systems were launched in the 1980s, game developers focused almost exclusively on graphics. Game cartridges could store only a limited amount of data, so music or sound effects were considered an afterthought. But that's all changed as technology has raced ahead.
Gone are the endless one-minute loops that used to accompany games - full orchestra arrangements and Top 40 hits now follow the story's arcs. "Video games have become the radio of the 21st Century," Tallarico explained. "Bands like Green Day had their Grammy award-winning song 'American Idiot' first heard in a video game, not on the radio or MTV.
That's how much things are changing." There was more than polite clapping Monday night as fans waited for their favourite game's soundtrack. Cheering often echoed throughout the auditorium.
"I just remember walking in and hearing the theme to Sonic (the Hedgehog) play," said Andrew Gaimen during the intermission. "I played that game for so long as a kid. You never really think about the music in the game .
. . and then you sit here the focus on just on the music and you realize how cool it is.
"There is just so much more to the game.
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