Thursday, June 6, 2013

Video Game Delights

Want to hear a joke?

What fabric are Mario's overalls made of?
Denim denim denim.

It's not so funny when written down. The trick of this joke is that the punchline is sung to the tune of the background music in the underground level of the Super Mario Brothers video game. To people who (like me) grew up playing video games and hearing the music of these games this joke is somewhat hilarious. To those who aren't familiar with it.... maybe not.

Original video game soundtracks, like movie soundtracks, seem to be of growing interest to a certain group of people (myself included!). As video games begin to earnestly take their place in social and cultural consciousness they are also beginning to receive mainstream treatment.


For those of you who grew up with video games you have probably at least noticed a progression from the simple 16-bit midi compositions to the complex orchestral scores that accompanies game play. Video game composers now garner fan following much like bands and musicians, and popular bands are now being brought in to write songs to be featured in or to serve as tributes or adaptions of video game music.

We have limited access to video game music in the library collection, but for the the curious I have found a few great examples of the versatility of video game music:





Batman Arkham Asylum features music by popular artists like Panic! At the Disco, the Duke Spirit and Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, developed as to accompany game play.



The Greatest Video Game Music features re-orchestrations of famous video game themes by the London Philharmonic. 



The Halo Trilogy: the Complete Original Soundtracks is a collection of three soundtracks from the Halo games, and is the only one of these selections which feature original orchestral compositions for a video game- Great for fans of classical music or original film soundtracks looking for something new. 




Insert Injun Head Coin (no picture available) is an album featuring tributes to video game themes by a band native to Arizona.

Check out these titles for a taste of video game music and don't forget to search for retro video game hits by artist Video Game Music Orchestra in Freegal!

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