Video game composers need to be worshipped in the west as well...

[Peter_20]

I understand that video games are accepted as a serious medium in Japan, and the same goes for video game music: people would pay to watch orchestras with Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda and company, and they're loved by pretty much everyone.
Meanwhile, many countries in the West refuse to accept video games in any shape or form, and the older generation tends to think of video game composers as dull nerds that lack talent, and only compose blip-sounds.

I've always found this very frustrating, and I look forward to the day when the Japanese composers actually are taken seriously; and their orchestras should be introduced as "video game music from Japan" so the prejudiced crowds know what they're listening to.

[edczxcvbnm]

Let me know when movie composers get that same sort of worship with concerts and stuff :P

[Renmiri]

You guys should have seen Uematsu and others get a standing ovation on a full concert hall here in Chicago last year. They were threated like rock stars

[Karellen]

I don't really know how much I blame symphony orchestras for choosing Beethoven and Strauss over video game background music.

[Hazzard]

You guys should have seen Uematsu and others get a standing ovation on a full concert hall here in Chicago last year. They were threated like rock stars

Coincidental enough, the Black Mages are basically rock stars...

[JKTrix]

Naturally, rock stars have guaranteed support in their hometown. Uematsu and FF are fortunately popular enough to be able to branch out into 'the west' and get some good recognition. There was a tour in the US in '05 called 'Dear Friends' where they went to various cities performing music from Final Fantasy.

Today, there is "Video Games Live" which takes music from various video games (not limited to Japan) and performs them in concert.

That said, the culture is different in Japan. In entertainment, particularly in anime as far as I know, there are "live events" that feature the voice cast of the anime. These are pretty popular events (naturally based on the anime's popularity), so there is already the idea of 'if they like your stuff, they'll come out for it'.

In the US (and I know the OP is not from the US) they're starting to spread that. Not so much for anime outside of conventions, but for games. For the Xbox360 games Dead Rising and Lost Planet, Capcom's Keiji Inafune was in new york signing copies of the game. It's a far cry from a full blown Mega Man concert (Inafune created Mega Man as well), but closer to the real-life fanservice that those kinds of events are.

That's what it really boils down to, fanservice. If there are enough fans to warrant something like this happening and to continue supporting it, then it's more likely to happen. Korea can have huge Starcraft tournaments in national stadiums--where people pay decent amounts of money just to spectate in the stands--with fireworks and million dollar prizes and such like that, because Starcraft is freaking huge in Korea. To use Korea again, they can hire Yoko Kanno (who is Japan's best composer*, sorry Uematsu) to make music for their game (Ragnarok 2) and then fly her to Korea to have a huge concert, because Ragnarok is freaking huge (and Kanno is a freaking goddess). Sufficient fanbase is the key.

Right now, "Video Games Live" is a pretty major project. It is a worldwide thing, with the most recent performance being in London. From what I understand it's very successful. By incorporating several different games instead of just FF, they have a much wider fanbase to draw into their crowd. I wouldn't worry about adults 'not taking it seriously', they have their audience and it's obviously not all-inclusive.

*opinion, duh

[Sephex]

I was at the Dear Friends concert in Chicago in 2005. It was ****ing awesome.

[Old Manus]

I thought it was obvious. Nobuo Uematsu isn't as good as the likes of Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, etc. Besides, most video game music is designed to just be ambient background stuff, not grand symphonies. It generally doesn't go hand in hand with an orchestra.

[Vivisteiner]

^Yeah, I think he's better. Mainly because he is able to use modern equipment, which the likes of Mozart could never use.


Speaking of Mozart, Ive sung and played in a lot of his music, and I think its definitely overrated. Uematsu is better.

[Jessweeee♪]

I would die if someone were to come to Corpus Christi! I'd have to force my family to go, of course...well, my grandparents, at least n.n

[Heath]

I thought it was obvious. Nobuo Uematsu isn't as good as the likes of Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, etc. Besides, most video game music is designed to just be ambient background stuff, not grand symphonies. It generally doesn't go hand in hand with an orchestra.

I agree entirely. When I listen to music by Uematsu, Mitsuda or whomever, it's always in the background because that's what I see the music as. As pleasing to the ear and impressive as it is and despite the presence of grander tracks like FFVIII's The Oath (not a terribly great example, but first one off the topic of my head) and FFVII's Bombing Mission, which I have seen videos of performed live, it's generally background stuff. Compare listening to something like The Planets by Holst to computer game stuff; I think I'd be more inclined to go see a performance of the former, to be honest, as would most people.

Not to take anything away from the music because it's of a very high standard, I just don't think you can directly compare the music because a) it's written for a different purpose and b) composers like Mozart, Beethoven and the like are much more popular and loved by a wider audience than computer game music. While forums like this certainly show that there is a strong following for computer game music, it simply doesn't compare to that of classical compositions.

[Renmiri]

You guys should have seen Uematsu and others get a standing ovation on a full concert hall here in Chicago last year. They were threated like rock stars

Coincidental enough, the Black Mages are basically rock stars...

Naturally, rock stars have guaranteed support in their hometown. Uematsu and FF are fortunately popular enough to be able to branch out into 'the west' and get some good recognition. There was a tour in the US in '05 called 'Dear Friends' where they went to various cities performing music from Final Fantasy.

Today, there is "Video Games Live" which takes music from various video games (not limited to Japan) and performs them in concert.

I was at the Dear Friends concert in Chicago in 2005. It was ****ing awesome.

Yeah I went to the first Video Games Live last year. It was called Play! at the time. It had FF, Mario. silent Hill, Shenmue and many other composers there. It was awesome!!

I would die if someone were to come to Corpus Christi! I'd have to force my family to go, of course...well, my grandparents, at least n.n

There weer many parents and grandparents with their kids on the audience, including myself. My kids loved it

[Mirage]

I understand that video games are accepted as a serious medium in Japan, and the same goes for video game music: people would pay to watch orchestras with Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda and company, and they're loved by pretty much everyone.
Meanwhile, many countries in the West refuse to accept video games in any shape or form, and the older generation tends to think of video game composers as dull nerds that lack talent, and only compose blip-sounds.

I've always found this very frustrating, and I look forward to the day when the Japanese composers actually are taken seriously; and their orchestras should be introduced as "video game music from Japan" so the prejudiced crowds know what they're listening to. :D

The average japanese person lols at geeks just as much as in the 'west'.

[Slothy]

I thought it was obvious. Nobuo Uematsu isn't as good as the likes of Mozart, Rachmaninoff, Beethoven, etc. Besides, most video game music is designed to just be ambient background stuff, not grand symphonies. It generally doesn't go hand in hand with an orchestra.

I agree entirely. When I listen to music by Uematsu, Mitsuda or whomever, it's always in the background because that's what I see the music as. As pleasing to the ear and impressive as it is and despite the presence of grander tracks like FFVIII's The Oath (not a terribly great example, but first one off the topic of my head) and FFVII's Bombing Mission, which I have seen videos of performed live, it's generally background stuff. Compare listening to something like The Planets by Holst to computer game stuff; I think I'd be more inclined to go see a performance of the former, to be honest, as would most people.

Not to take anything away from the music because it's of a very high standard, I just don't think you can directly compare the music because a) it's written for a different purpose and b) composers like Mozart, Beethoven and the like are much more popular and loved by a wider audience than computer game music. While forums like this certainly show that there is a strong following for computer game music, it simply doesn't compare to that of classical compositions.

I disagree with your comment on it just being background music. Personally, I find as much value in the tracks by themselves much of the time as I do in listening to them in the scenes they accompany. Yes these themes often have to be repeated often, and loop endlessly, but I think it's rather elitest to claim that that somehow makes them inferior. Many themes done by Uematsu, Jeremy Soule, and other video game composers can convey as much emotion and feeling, and stand on their own as well as any "traditional" composition.

Frankly, to say that one is superior to the other is just plain ignorant. It's music, and more importantly, music created for a different purpose than what the likes of Mozart or Beethoven did. You can't say Uematsu and the like aren't as good, when they obviously create great music. Music is subjective, and more importantly, you do a disservice to people like these who sometimes literally compose more than 100 songs per game, of greater variation in style and feel than most people could manage.

[Heath]

I disagree with your comment on it just being background music. Personally, I find as much value in the tracks by themselves much of the time as I do in listening to them in the scenes they accompany. Yes these themes often have to be repeated often, and loop endlessly, but I think it's rather elitest to claim that that somehow makes them inferior. Many themes done by Uematsu, Jeremy Soule, and other video game composers can convey as much emotion and feeling, and stand on their own as well as any "traditional" composition.

Frankly, to say that one is superior to the other is just plain ignorant. It's music, and more importantly, music created for a different purpose than what the likes of Mozart or Beethoven did. You can't say Uematsu and the like aren't as good, when they obviously create great music. Music is subjective, and more importantly, you do a disservice to people like these who sometimes literally compose more than 100 songs per game, of greater variation in style and feel than most people could manage.

I don't think I said Mozart or Beethoven was superior, did I? If I did, I certainly didn't mean to. I'm a big fan of Uematsu's work, but the point I was making was to that to the casual music lover, who may not have necessarily heard of Uematsu but would have heard of Mozart, they're probably more likely to pay money to listen to Mozart than Uematsu. I'm a huge fan of the work of Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda and I don't consider it inferior in the slightest. I was doing no disservice to them at all, I was merely stating that in my opinion they have limited appeal and are unlikely to be performed as regularly as more famous composers in the West.

Just because I tend to listen to their music in the background is no insult to it either. The fact that I listen to their music as regularly as I do is a tribute to how much I like their music and whether I listen to it in the background or not doesn't mean it's emotionless. When I say they don't compare, I was on about the audience for classical music vs. the audience for computer game music. I said I'd be more likely to pay to listen to some Holst partly because something like The Planets is much shorter than an entire soundtrack and I think is a rather well rounded suite, whereas I might be disappointed certain tracks were left out of a Final Fantasy performance.