Video Games Live: Level 2

Video_Games_Live_(2010_TV) ,BR_MKV_H264_AC3 (TwoHandsEntertainment,Eng) 1280x720 - 25 FPS

Tommy and I met, I would say, about...

8, 9 years ago when he asked me to write some music

for some games that he was working on.

My whole life, my two greatest loves and passions were video games and music

but I never thought to ever put the two together because, you know,

growing up in the seventies, there was no such thing as a video game composer

You get so many requests from people all over the world

to hear this music outside the game for video games, that...

you know, we thought, "Wouldn't it be a great idea to do a concert of videogame music?"

I've been a video game composer for over 20 years, and when I first got in the industry

we were dealing with bleeps and bloops, you know, and the history of game music...

I mean, if you go back to "Pong" in 1972, it was...

you know, that was it, for a long time.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage

video game composer and co-creator of Video Games Live...

Tommy Tallarico.

I like to describe Video Games Live as...

having all of the power and emotion of a symphony orchestra...

combined with the energy and excitement of a rock concert...

mixed together with all the cutting-edge visuals and technology...

and interactivity and fun that video games provide.

I know you.

Your past, your future.

This is the way the world ends.

As a composer, I mean, it's one of the most amazing things

to see your music on stage performed live and to hear...

hear audiences cheering for it, and...

I mean, I'll never forget the first time it happened.

Video Games Live was doing a performance at the Hollywood Bowl...

you know, the lights went down and the opening notes to my Civilization music

started playing and the audience already started cheering...

and they had already heard this music, even though this was the first time

it was being played live, and...

it was just an overwhelming feeling.

One of my favorite things in the world when we do the show...

is when parents come up to me and say...

"I am so glad you're doing this for my kid."

"I never knew that video games were this amazing!" and...

"It's such a great thing for me to be able to bring my kid to the symphony

who'd never wanted to see the symphony before."

Advent Rising is probably one of my favorite projects that I've worked on

because my whole life all I ever wanted to do is writing an Italian opera.

And this project, you know, gave me the license to do that!

What is this?

This is the hope of Aurelia, human.

All that we see is noble and good and pure.

All that we aspire to is held in that symbol.

It is held in you.

I, I never understood.

It is a heavy weight you carry, human.

Apox of history, the tides of war, the blood of nations,

all this is laid at your feet.

But, I, I... how can I be possibly held to...

I mean it's not...

It is not easy being God.

Part of the fun of Video Games Live doesn't just happen on the stage during the show.

We really want to create an environment

where people can come before the show and have some fun as well.

So we have a pre-show festival where...

we'll set up game competitions, we'll set up game demonstrations.

We have a fun costume contest where people will come dressed up as characters

and we'll put them on stage, and we'll have the audience decide who the winner is before the show...

you know, things like prize giveaways and things like that.

In fact, one of the cool things we do

is that we have a Guitar Hero competition

where all people will come in and they can play Guitar Hero...

and the person who has the highest score, we'll bring them up on stage during the show

to play along, and they have to score a certain amount of points in order to win a prize...

while the symphony is playing along with them and I'm playing along on real guitar.

Ethan Schmoltz. Ethan? Where's Ethan?

Come on up, Ethan.

So, Ethan, what you have to do is score 200,000 points on hard.

Now, if you can do that and... what?

Expert.

- What? - Expert.

- You want it on expert? - He said expert.

Ok. Ethan, take it away.

Ethan's Dad

150!

160!

Come on, Ethan! Bring it home now! Come on!

170!

180!

190!

Come on, Ethan!

200!

Everyone who's seen Avatar

and has appreciated the beauty of that vision...

World of Warcraft has been doing it for a long time.

Those same visions, those same expansive worlds of color and imagination

exist in World of Warcraft as much as it does in a movie, if not better,

and the next wave is the music, and the music is orchestral.

The music is deep and layered and important.

Some of the greatest comments that we get from our show

are from the grandparents who brought the grandkids to the symphony for the first time,

or the mom who brought the neighborhood kids,

or the girlfriend who's taking her boyfriend out for a night on the symphony.

And those are the people who are most...

taken back by what they're hearing and what they're seeing,

'cause they don't expect it, you know.

You know, a lot of people ask "Where were video games created?"

and "Who created them?" "How did that all happen?"

Well, the answer to that question...

the person considered the father and founder of video game industry

is a gentleman by the name of Ralph Baer.

And Ralph Baer...

Ralph Baer invented something he called The Brown Box back in the 60s

it was the first game, and Mr. Baer went out to create the Magnavox Odyssey and...

remember the game Simon? For all of you old enough to remember Simon...

that was one of his as well, it's still... still being played today.

Well, we happened to find the very first video, we dug it up

it was the first time a videogame had ever been recorded on film.

And this is from back in 1968, 42 years ago.

And we'd like to share that video with ya right now.

oughta

Here's a ball batting back and forth.

*****, best one yet, courtesy of all CATV station.

Here's my partner, Bill and I are going to play ping-pong with you in a minute.

But before we do, I'd like to show you the controls that we're using

which are part the plug-in module, the ping-pong plug module, gaming plug module, I'll be.

All purpose by people ***.

There's a knob here, as you can see, which, when I ****, moves my paddle left or right.

There's a vertical control which moves my paddle up and down.

Right here there's an English knob which allows me to put curves on the ball

control the vertical position of the ball as it leaves my paddle.

When I intercept the ball, if I've not missed it, and bat it back to my opponent

I have control over the ball's vertical position, and that's what the English pad is for

and watch me fake him out with it.

There's another control here, the serve knob, which puts the ball into place

serves it from my side of the ***. If I trick him out of the play

In Bill's position, he's got the same kind but with the button right here

pushing the ball coming from that side.

- Ready? - It's on your side.

Is it on my side? Okay, lets' go.

Let me move away from the net up here. Here we go.

One... two... three...

and down they go! And up they go!

And down they go!

Now watch me fake him out.

Ah, didn't do it.

Ah, did it this time.

One... two...

- You wanna score, Bill? - Sure.

Okay... One to nothing.

Here we go. Up...

and down.

And up... he's getting tricky.

Missed it. One up.

Keep it on the table, Baer. Here we go.

Faked you out again. Two to one. We'll play up to five.

- Good show. - Get close to the net, we will go faster.

Two up.