The videogame music concert Video Games Live sold out the historic Beacon Theatre on New York’s Broadway. Writing for NY Times, Seth Schiesel observes the cultural ramifications of the show and how it represents an ever growing, and ever maturing gamer culture.
Schiesel notes that in his attendance at dozens of sold-out rock concerts at the theatre, he has never seen crowds show up early to mingle with strangers. With a scant activities such as “Guitar Hero” stations, he observed how hundreds showed up an hour before the concert, some in cosplay. He calls the sense of community in the audience as impressive as anything on stage. He also notes that besides a small crowd of parents with young children, the majority of the audience that turned out to hear the concert s treatment of game music was made up of young men and women.
Schiesel draws a line between his experience at “Video Games Live” not just to changing gamers, but also the changing role of music in games. Game music has come full circle, evolving from programmer-produced primitive sounds to licensed popular music. The medium now has a dedicated music game genre. In an interesting side note, Schiesel mentions comments from Harmonix’s Alex Rigopulos at a recent DJ Hero event. Rigopulos predicts an open platform for future music games, one that allows artists to independently publish their music for use in games such as Guitar Hero.
Read more at NY Times.
