When it comes to artwork in videogames, most people think of the stunning visuals and the graphical content it has to offer and they tend to overlook the other major artwork: the audio. With the sophistication of modern games and computer generated visuals, no one seems to stop and think about the audio and to truly listen to it. But when you truly listen to it, you can discover another side of the game that you never knew. The problem with society is that we are trapped in the mentality of thinking that art only pertains to visuals like performance and illustrations and has nothing to do with music and audio. Nowadays, composers are trying to prove to the rest of society that music is a form of artwork and that it should be respected and treated the same way a painting should be treated in a museum. One of the ways in which they are doing this is through videogames. An excellent example of this is the Halo: Reach Soundtrack written, composed and produced by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori.(released digitally on September 14, 2010) Sample Music (from Youtube) "Lone Wolf" Part 1-Lone Wolf Part one"
Lone Wolf" Part 2-Lone Wolf Part two"
Lone Wolf" Part 3-Lone Wolf Part three"
Overture"-Overture
"Tip of the Sphere"-Tip of the Sphere"
A Spartan will rise"-A Spartan will rise"
Uphill both ways remix"-Uphill both ways Remix
The reason why the Halo: Reach Soundtrack interested me is because I love music-especially instrumentals- and I also like to play video games. The Halo: Reach Soundtrack had the most well composed music out of all the video game soundtracks I have heard. My favorite 3 instrumentals are; “Tip of the Sphere”, “Overture” and “Lone Wolf part 2”. I feel that the Halo: Reach Soundtrack is an excellent example of composers trying to prove to society that music is truly another art form because this music appeals to a vast community of not just gamers, but also to people that share the same love of music as I do. Video Games Live is an actual concert where different musical compositions from video games are performed live on stage by an orchestra- like a concert. So far, this is the first real recognition of music from video games as an artwork that is to be enjoyed by its respected fans. Hopefully in the future, musical compositions will get the same recognition as visual artworks do.
