Monday, April 19, 2010

Video Games Live!

Last Saturday, I went to watch the Video Games Live at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center (Plenary Hall)!




So, What is Video Games Live?

Video Games Live™ is an immersive concert event featuring music from the most popular video games of all time. Top orchestras & choirs perform along with exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists, live action and unique interactive segments to create an explosive entertainment experience!

This is a concert event put on by the video game industry to help encourage and support the culture and art that video games have become. Video Games Live™ bridges a gap for entertainment by exposing new generations of music lovers and fans to the symphonic orchestral experience while also providing a completely new and unique experience for families and/or non-gamers. The show is heralded and enjoyed by the entire family. It's the power & emotion of a symphony orchestra mixed with the excitement and energy of a rock concert and the technology and interactivity of a video game all completely synchronized to amazing cutting edge video screen visuals, state-of-the-art lighting and special on-stage interactive segments with the audience.

If you or someone you know is into video games you won't want to miss this highly acclaimed one-of-a-kind concert experience. Or maybe you are looking for something cultural and exciting that the whole family will enjoy? Video Games Live™ is not just a concert, but a celebration of the entire video game industry that people of all ages will adore.

Video Games Live™ is created and produced by industry veterans and world famous video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall.

Video Games Live™ features the best music and exclusive synchronized video clips from the most popular games from the beginning of video gaming to the present. Game franchises include:

Mario™
Zelda®
Halo®
Final Fantasy®
Warcraft®
StarCraft®
Diablo®
Sonic™
Metal Gear Solid®
Kingdom Hearts
Chrono Trigger™
Chrono Cross™
Mega Man™
Myst®
Tron
Castlevania®
Metroid®
Interactive Frogger
Interactive Space Invaders
Interactive Guitar Hero™
Interactive Donkey Kong™
Medal of Honor™
God of War™
BioShock™
Civilization IV
Tomb Raider®
Beyond Good & Evil™
Advent Rising
EverQuest® II
Mass Effect™
Shadow of the Colossus
Silent Hill™
Crysis®
Monkey Island
Earthworm Jim
Portal™
Pac-Man
Lair
Conan
Command & Conquer: Red Alert
Headhunter
Splinter Cell®
Ghost Recon™
Rainbow Six®
Jade Empire
Contra
OutRun
Gears of War
Need For Speed®: Undercover
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix™

Classic Arcade Medley featuring over 20+ games from Pong® to Donkey Kong® including such classics as Dragon's Lair, Tetris, Duck Hunt, Ghosts 'n Goblins, Gauntlet, Punch-Out, OutRun and MANY MORE!


Whether it’s the power and passion of the more recent blockbusters or the excitement of remembering the sentimental classics you played growing up, Video Games Live™ will truly be a special night to remember. Meet and bond with new friends as you help to celebrate a pastime which has truly evolved into our culture. Even if you have never played a video game you’ve never heard or seen an orchestral performance quite like this. Show includes synchronized performances of the music, video and specially designed special fx & light sequences showcasing over 60 different games in a wide variety of styles.


History & Accomplishments

Video Games Live quickly became the biggest and most popular game concert in the world. The debut performance was launched on July 6th, 2005 at the world famous Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles with the LA Philharmonic. Over 11,000 people attended making it the biggest video game concert in the world. Most of the game music played (Halo, Sonic, Metal Gear Solid, Mario, Zelda, Warcraft, Tomb Raider, Myst, Kingdom Hearts, Tron, God of War, EverQuest II, Medal of Honor, Headhunter, Beyond Good & Evil, Advent Rising, etc.) had never been performed live. On October 30, 2005 they broke new ground once again by putting on the very first video game concert in Canada (Vancouver). They followed with groundbreaking first ever game concert performances in countries such as England, Brazil, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Portugal, France, Taiwan and China. Video Games Live was also the very first American video game concert to perform in Asia (Korea). In 2007 they were recipients of a major industry award in Brazil for "Special Breakthrough Achievement" following their performances in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo the year before. On October 22, 2007 Video Games Live was the FIRST and ONLY show to sell out the Royal Festival Hall (Philharmonia Orchestra) since the refurbishment earlier in the year.

The Video Games Live: Volume One album (EMI Classics) was released worldwide in the summer of 2008 and debuted on the Billboard Charts at #10. It was the first video game compilation album to be released worldwide and by a major label. The Video Games Live: Volume One album received the “Best Soundtrack of the Year” and Editor’s Choice Awards from IGN.com as well as the BEST SOUNDTRACK ALBUM from the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.).

Video Games Live was inducted into the Guinness Book of World Records in 2008 for having performed the most video game concerts in a one year period (43). They are currently in the midst of breaking their record!


Come early!

As part of the experience, special festival events surround the show for those who want to come early where guests will enjoy interactive game demos, a costume contest, prize give-a-ways, game competitions and the very popular meet-and-greet with top game composers and designers.

Music
Hear your favorite video game music played live for the first time ever right in front of your ears by a full orchestra and choir.

Video
See exclusive footage of your favorite games synchronized perfectly to the music and lights on giant interactive screens.

Theatrical Stage Show
Certain performances and segments will include live action, stage performers, special fx and a fully designed synchronized laser show.

An Interactive Video Game
A handful of lucky audience members will be selected to come up on stage and actually play a video game while the orchestra plays interactively with them for a chance to win valuable prizes!

Pre-Show Festival
Each show features meet and greets with top composers and game designers in select cities as well as a costume event, gaming competitions and more! Unlike other concerts, the entire pre and post show festival is completely FREE OF CHARGE and open to ANY ticket holder.


The PC Fair was also being held there to traffic was slow. I decided to head over to Traders Hotel to have a nice steak dinner at Gobo Upstairs Lounge & Grill before walking over to the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center.

Yummy yummy!


Tickets.


This really brought a rush of nostalgic feelings, watching clips of video games I use to play when I was a kid as well as listening to the orchestra play the music.

Metal Gear Solid composer Norihiko Hibino from Japan performed his hit song "Snake Eater" (from Metal Gear Solid 3) with our prestigious National Symphony Orchestra!


I went nuts when they performed 'One Winged Angel', a piece composed by Nobuo Uematsu released with the Playstation game by Squaresoft (now Square-Enix) called 'Final Fantasy VII', one of my most favorite games ever!

Here's a clip of it being played at Video Games Live 2009, São Paulo.


Johan went nuts when they played music from one of his all time favorite games, Chrono Trigger!
Here's a clip of it being played at the Video Games Live 2009, Kitchener.


Here's a short trailer of Video Games Live...


I had so much fun! Later, we dropped by Rootz at Lot 10 for a bit to meet up with the gang, popped opened two bottles of champagne and a couple of bottles of whiskey to top off the night. (^_^)

For more information of Video Games Live™, visit their official website.

4 comments ¨¨¨¨¨:

Anonymous said...

What an awesome event! I kind of regret ditching my friend for not going... and they actually played One Winged Angel! It's just too bad i missed it.. argh.

DJ.Winter Freezer said...

Leonard you went. Never knew that you are a big fan of Video Game as well as orchestra(sorry if i don't know) Should go together next year.
cheer ^.^

Leonard Foong said...

Calvin's BLOG !!,
Yeah man. It was good. Could have been better but I think it was a good first time. Hopefully they'll come again next year and it will be better!

DJ.Winter Freezer,
Yeap. Use to play a lot of video games but now I hardly have the time. (^_^)

DJ.Winter Freezer said...

Well they will be coming back next year n will be at istana budaya, same host. Looking forward to it? well play when you have the time.

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