This show is amazing, I watched it in Vancouver.

Props to Chris for taking the time to meet fellow joystiq readers. This really shows how much this blog cares about the video game scene. Have fun, and tell Tommy T. that he is the man.

For us Europeans, what is Video Games Live?

Someone promise to secretly record the Chrono Trigger performance for me! My cousin didn't get to go, and it was the best song there. :-)

@ Armin (#3)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PLAY%21_A_Video_Game_Symphony
http://www.play-symphony.com/

And if you go to the site, you can hear the fanfare that Nobuo Uematsu composed. They said at Chicago that the fanfare's "world premiere" was at Chicago. I guess they didn't visit the website. ^^

VERY excellent show, btw. Also, if you're in Europe, I don't know how long of a flight it is to Germany, but Mr. Uematsu mentioned something about performing Dancing Mad from FFVI over in Germany sometime in the future, so you might check that out.

Hey "Not Impressed (Dmitri)" is your gamertag "Demitr1"? If it is, I played call of duty 2 with you yesterday night :-)

Man, stuff like this never comes near where I live. Have fun Chris and everyone else going.

You guys are covering this right? I want to hear all about it.

"but Mr. Uematsu mentioned something about performing Dancing Mad from FFVI over in Germany sometime in the future, so you might check that out."

Yeah, he said he's going to play Dancing Mad from FFVI with lots of organs for the concert in Germany. Hah.

From what I've read from all around, PLAY! seems to be the superior one in terms of vibe and music quality compared to VGL. And Tommy Talarico has nothing on Arnie Roth.

I'm heading to Monk's afterwards. Rocking MarioKart and even some Animal Crossing.

Help me pick some weeds if your in the pub.

I'm going can't wait.

Nah. Whoever asked (too lazy to look)... My gamertag was not Dmitri1... or w/e the hell you said.

When I played Call of Duty (UO) and Call of Duty 2 my name was ScopeShot. Every FPS game I play my name is ScopeShot. As far as MMO's are concerned it is usually Selgan; Therald; Raminel.

Have a nice day!

Btw... I believe that person you were referring to actually spells his name "Demetri". As I obviously spell it "Dmitri".

w00t!

I was there but didn't see any Joystiq people at all, although I have extreme coverage of the show for those of you who want to know what it was like at my website. www.followingrevolution.com. It's the top news on my site right now so its on the home page.

Philly is the Mecca of East Coast gaming? uhh...ok.

Sorry for the double post...

Did you guys speak with Becky Young (aka Aktrez...aka VGL's Marketing Coordinator...aka Tommy's g/f) at all?

Philly a mecca for gaming? Ha, that's funny. Philly is not the best place for anything along the lines of gaming. Try New York instead

any more news on that FF thing in germany. im in the land of the world cup for the next few months. any on holiday or expat DSers about give me a shout.

There's a DS Lite on ebay with an hour left.

http://cgi.ebay.com/Nintendo-DS-Lite-Polar-White-New-US-Version_W0QQitemZ8291033132QQcategoryZ62054QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I put together my own observations from last night's VGL show. They might rub some people the wrong way, but thats not why I wrote them. For a different perspective, feel free to check it out on themediabunker.com:

http://www.themediabunker.com/blog/?p=31

Hey, Chris, it was nice meeting you. :) (And thank you for the shirt!) Hope you enjoyed the concert. I thought the Video Game Pianist was the best part by far.

Hey, chris, don't mind me. I'm disgruntled. I used to go to the Gamerary that used to be on 12th and Walnut. It was the best place that Philly ever had for videogame fans. We had tournaments there, get togethers, debates, imports, arcade games, a spare 64 in the back that was strictly for anyone who wanted to play goldeneye...it was the best. When the owner moved the store outside of Philly, People who used to frequent the place literally could be seen wandering around Center City with no where to go. It was a depressing time for gamers who know the place.

Now, another friend of mine tried to create the same atmosphere using his house (which is huge)to host gaming sessionsm tournaments and get togethers. Many of the people from the Gamerary would attend as well as even older friends from the Spaceport arcade days. The move was made online at meetup.com to try and make it easier for the gamers from that era to keep in contact and have a place for Philly gamers to call there own. It didn't work. Finding gamers to share in the news and discuss the latest topics was and still is, impossible. Finding gamers in philly that will take the time to show up at a gathering to just play on a consistent basis proved to be useless. This is under the pretense that Philly is supposed to be such a great gaming area. I don't see it. I grew up in the Funtown era when there were four different FT arcades between chesnut and market, spaceport was on chestnut, I lived through the supercade era, the gamerary/Game Gallery era up to the present. It's not even close to being as good as it used to be. Maybe you're seeing something that I'm not but thank goodness for online. The golden era of gaming in Philly ended long ago IMO. The last hope was the Gamerary which is gone never to return. Gamechamp is a joke and Game Gallery was sold to EB games which got sold to Gamespot. Got Game is average at best.

haha I didn't mean it seriously, and I meant mecca of EAST COAST gaming. All the cool stuff happens over in California, and now with VGL, and VideoGameExpo all in Philly, Philly is definately the place to be on the east coast for gaming

oh yea #14 we did speak to aktrez/becky. shes pretty cool, along with geoff kneighly, the halo composer (cant remember his name right this sec), tallarico, jack wall, and more.

I dunno...just b/c it had the concert and VGE I wouldn't consider it the "mecca" of east coast gaming. I would consider that to either be NYC or Chicago instead.

lol chicago isnt on the east coast, and whats in NY?

True Chicago isn't on the East Coast but its pretty close though and there are quite a few game developers/publishers in Chicago...and in NY. How many are in Philly?

haha whatever, i have no clue. philly may not be the mecca, but its certainly a nice place. i wasnt even that serious when i first made the comment

haha...np. :-)

My girlfriend's brother went to this event last night. Wish I had gone but I had plans that fell through anyway, but too late to attend. He said it was awesome. The Video Game Pianist sounds amazing (I'm assuming that's the guy he was talking about, blindfolded Mario Bros. playing). Not many gaming events come this way, shame I had missed it.

Hey striderhayasa, I wish I had known about the Gamerary back when it existed. I remember going to Game Gallery here in Roxborough many years back (mid to late 90's). It was nice to enter a video game store and not be viewed as a potential member or magazine subscriber with every purchase (meaning you will likely be hassled). A place to meet with fellow gamers that doesn't require and admission feee sounds quite nice. And I agree, Game Champ is a joke (I often wonder how they afford the high rent there). Got Game isn't anything special... and their signage on the front is quite lame. Not much for gaming in Philadelphia that I know of (except for Starcraft Sundays that my girlfriend's brother occasionally holds, 'tis a private affair).

So, looks like a ticket for Play! in Toronto are $65 at their best, and $125 at their worst. You guys are getting ripped off.

Yeah... I think I'll be checking out Video Games Live instead. Besides, goddam was Uematsu's fanfare boring.

hey kevin, I hear ya. The EBgames/Gamespot in the lower level of the gallery close to the 8th and market street L station is still pretty good for casual gamer convo. The only reason that store is still similar to the old game gallery is because the manager has been around since the Game gallery days. He's a good friend of mine and we chill and compare notes and news about the industry all the time. The great debates lol! I'm going there tomorrow as a matter of fact. I buy most of my titles and hardware from there including my reserved DSlite.

Anyway, I had a friend that went to the performace at the merriam on Sat. I was going to go but decided not to at the last minute. I just wasn't interested. I'm more excited about the ARtists' Alley at the Wizard world festival. Even if the rest of the convention is crap, Artists' Alley always have cool art to look at.

haha I have no clue what you guys are talking about, a EB Games in Philly? I'm moving to Philly for college in September (Drexel U) and I have to find a new EBGames to cling to haha.

First came Tony Luke's, then ECW, and now this. Philly is the mecca for yummy greaseball eats, indy wrestling, and now video games. Philly rocks, they have it all! The only thing I don't get is that Philly closes earlier than Maple Shade, NJ. Go figure...

Yo Christopher!

It was great meeting you and hanging out. Thanks for coming to the show and I hope you enjoyed it. Looking forward to seeing your write-up on the experience.

There seems to be a little confusion in some of the information I read in some of the comments so let me take this time to better explain some of the questions.

Comment #1 (NamePending): Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the Vancouver show. That performance was the first game music concert in Canada. We were proud of that one! We're making plans to come back to Vancouver sometime in the fall.

Comment #3 (Armin): The concert that Chris is referring to is Video Games Live. You can find out tons of information at our website: www.videogameslive.com
We created two trailers that try to describe the experience and what you'll see. Those links are...

San Jose trailer:
Hi-Res: http://www.videogameslive.com/trailer/vglsanjose2006.wmv
Lo-Res: http://www.videogameslive.com/trailer/vglsanjose2006.mov

Hollywood Bowl trailer:
Hi-Res: http://videogameslive.com/video/vglpromo2.wmv
Lo-Res: http://videogameslive.com/video/vglpromo2.mov

Hang tight. We are planning to come to Europe in the fall!


Comment #5 (Magnus): You're thinking of another game music concert that came after us. Chris is referring to Video Games Live which is a very different experience than any of the other concerts being done out there.


Comment #7 (Sense): Where do you live? We may be coming close to you. Here is a current list of the places we'll be going soon. There is a lot more on the way, but here is what we have announced so far: http://www.videogameslive.com/index.php?s=dates


Comment #8 (Zero):
http://gonintendo.com/?p=2918
http://wii.advancedmn.com/article.php?artid=6556
http://www.gamedaily.com/features/?id=949
http://www.followingrevolution.com


Comment #10 (KoЯn Untouchables): Did you make it? How did you like it?


Comment #12 (ElChibo): Thanks so much for the kind write-up on your site! I'm glad you loved the show so much! I'll be contacting you shortly about doing that podcast.


Comment #20 (Patrick): Yo Patrick. I read your blog and it seems that you may have misunderstood the information that was given to you doing the rehearsal. I'm not saying it was your fault for the misunderstanding... I'm just saying that the information you have in your blog which you believe to be true...is incorrect. I apoligize that it seemed like this misunderstanding of information seemed to affect your experience. Let me quickly explain so hopefully you can understand a little better. During rehearsals EVERYONE is so crazy that info can be told in a hurry or come across incorrectly if not taken the time. The music (Pre-recordings) that you heard during rehearsals is a place-holder for the orchestra during rehearsals so they know how the song is suppose to go with the video. They HAVE been hearing and practicing the music for over a month (by themselves) but have never ALL played in the same room together WITH the synchronized video. We use guide tracks for the orchestra during rehearsals. I think you mistook this information and thought we just play a CD with the orchestra during the actual show. This couldn't be farther from the truth! In fact you may have noticed that there were a few notes in Medal of Honor that weren't perfect as well as the middle of Castlevania getting a little off. As far as the 2-D/3-D mixing thing. I think what Becky was trying to say (and she isn't 100% aware of how we do what we do from a techinal standpoint) is that during the rehearsals is when the audio engineer can compare the recordings (which are stereo) with the mix that he is trying to acheive on stage (as close to the recordings as possible). You see... every room/venue sounds different acoustically so great time and care is taken to get it to sound great from every seat in the house. That's why during the rehearsals you constantly saw me running back and forth like crazy all over the venue listening to the mix and then talking it over with the engineer. I'd just like to stress to you that we do NOT play a CD and fake it!! Sorry that you took the info that way and I will make sure in future rehearsals that we explain this in more detail. Sorry again that the misunderstanding seemed to take away from your concert experience.


Comment #21 (Karen): Yo Karen! Those shirts ROCK don't they! Chris gave me one as well. I had fun trying to figure out what the systems were that all of the controllers came from. I impressed Chris with my VECTREX knowledge! Although for some reason I couldn't remember the name "Taiko Drum Master". I'll be wearing that shirt a lot!

Comment #23 (ElChibo): We also have shows coming up in Toronto, Indianapolis and a few other East Coast surprises which we'll be announcing soon! If anyone is interested in finding out all the info before anyone else (as well as getting VIP seating, special offers, invites to the rehearsals, etc.) please sign-up to our mailing list on the front page of www.videogameslive.com


Comment #24 (ElChibo): Mike Salvatori! Him & Marty wrote the Halo music. Unfortunately Marty had to cancel last minute because his 83 year old mom took ill and he had to fly out to be with her. We wish Marty & his family well and hope for a speedy recovery.


Thanks again for the comments everyone! If anyone ever has any questions or comments about the show you can e-mail info@videogameslive.com and someone will try to get back to you ASAP.

thanks,


Tommy Tallarico

Me and my friend went to buy tickets but they were sold out of the cheap ones, so we bought some old xbox games with the money we would have spent. Cheers, hope it was a good show!

Wow I wouldn't have expected Tommy to post on here...dunno why but though but glad to see he posted. ^_^

4 months and counting until the Hollywood Bowl performance...*tick*tock*

Hey guys. Thanks SO much for coming to the show (for those who did!) For those who didn't, try to catch it next time we come around!

Chris, I LOVE my shirt! The design is AWESOMNESS squared.

Sorry for the misunderstanding in information. As you could tell by my crazed expression a thousand things were going on at once and I may not have made myself clear. Thank you Tommy for clearing up those misunderstandings!

Hope to see more of you at the next shows!

Becky Young
Marketing Coordinator
Video Games Live

So what did you say about me Chris...

:-P