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

[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.