Video Games Live San Diego - Jul 24 2008

Where to even begin...If you haven't heard of Video Games Live check out www.videogameslive.com to see what it is all about. I took Kathey (the Pirate Queen) and my 13 year old daughter for a night out on the San Diego harbor to see this awesome spectacle of both music talent and video game presentations. I'll use bullets and for the review and try to keep the comments brief and poignant.

- I had awesome seats. It was actually a table in fron t of the stage. They had the tables nicely spaced out and was more of a picnic atmosphere than that of a symphony orchestral performance. The pricing was a bit much ($61 a pop) but it was well worth it for the great seats and the ability to eat while we watched the show. There was less spaced table seating available a little farther back ($41 bucks a pop) and they had stadium seating in the back and lawn spots on the rear corners of the stadium area. I had a perfect view of the stage, video screens, and on stage performers.

- Opens up with a brief welcome and right into the first part. Hosted by Tommy Tallarico who did an great job throughout the whole performance. On the video screens appears the game Pong. The orchestra plucking as the ball hits off the bumpers and walls, it was pretty funny and awesome at the same time. Then the symphony kicks off a montage of classic video game soundtracks with the clips playing on the screens. Space Invaders, Joust, Elevator Action, Ghosts n Goblins, Dragon's Lair...pretty much everything arcade from start till the console revolution. Nintendo and Sega games start to flash on screen with their accompanied themes and songs being played by the San Diego Symphony Orchestra. Every soundtrack played along with the videp clips gave me a good dozen or so instant flashbacks of playing each and every one of those games...made me remember waking up at the crack of dawn to play Robotron on the Atari before school would start, revitalized the feeling of raiding the house for quarters to hit up Street Fighter at the video store, and the downright enthrallment of playing The Legend of Zelda for hours on end and trying to explain to my mom what the heck it was all about.

- Final Fantasy montage. They had this pianist dude that made stir with a whole bunch of videos of himself playing Super Mario themes on youtube.com come out and play a medley of themes from Final Fantasy. All I can say is this guy was AWESOME and the music he played was spot on. Aerith's Theme was played as well as a snippet of One Winged Angel and of course the victory chime! Too cool.

- Metal Gear Montage. This was incredible. Started out with the ever recognizable ringing of the communicator. (Some dude in the crowd yells "Hit Select!" and receives a good dose of appreciative laughter) Then Solid Snake's voice comes over the speakers to introduce the bit. Sounds cheesey, but it was pretty damn awesome. The symphony played a lengthy medley spanning all the MG:S games. I had goosebumps the whole time. I have them now as a type this out thinking about it! There was a live action bad guy on the stage patrolling and as he gets mid stage a cardboard box starts to creep up. The box freezes when the bad guy turns, resumes when he isnt looking, etc. It was a riot to see what we have done in the game so many times played out live action with the symphony orchestra playing the music score in the back. The bad guy gets wise to the box, a big exclamation point that was rigged to his back pops up, and the music changes to the fast and furious alert music! Totally cool. The timer expires, and the alert is called off and they finish the set with the cardboard box making it to the end of the stage. AWESOME!

- Live Action Space Invaders. They picked some dude from the audience to play a live action Space Invaders Game. He was the ship and his movements were tracked. As he moved side to side on stage the ship on the screen moved along with him. He carried a big button to shoot his missile. They gave him two minutes to clear stage 1. He almost made it, but choked during the last 20 seconds...he walked away with some cool consolation schwag. It was amusing to say the least

- Zelda montage. This was where my daughter really got into it. My daughter is a HUGE Zelda fan. And while the Classic montage and the MG:S montage didnt overly enthrall her, this got her hooked big time. The same as the others, the orchestra played scores from all the Zelda games with the clips flashing on the screens. She was laughing and I could tell she was having a good time recalling her triumphs over Gannon and the Tri-Force to the awesome sounds of the symphony.

- Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. During the pre-show there was a Guitar Hero competition that I missed. The winner of the pre-show comp got to play onstage and was given the challenge of completing Sweet Emotions on hard with at least 200,000 points to win a crap load of stuff from the shows sponsors. How cool is that! The contestant boosts it up to expert with the crowds enthusiastic approval. The dude rocked it out, got the 200,000pts and the prizes. The audience was going apeshit for this dude to win. It was seriously like a rock concert...except it was being played on Guitar Hero! HAHA

- StarCraft II. They introduced some folks from Blizzard and played a bunch of StarCraft music while showing previews of SC:II on the screen. Very impressive and exciting to get a preview glimpse, watch some gameplay footage, and development shots.

-World of Warcraft. Words cannot describe how awesome this was. You will just have to go yourself. WOW has one of the most amazing music tracks in gaming to date. To hear it played live was almost overwhelming. From the Log On music to the different cities music and some recognizable tunes from the different "zones" in game was absolutely mesmerizing. I felt like I was grinding all over again! Shouts of "For The Horde!" and "Pallys Suck!" could be heard around the crowd.

- Halo. This was the part where Video Games Live kicked a hole in my soul with iron toed boots. There were parts of this performance where I was almost unable to breathe. Halo has a very distinct soundtrack. The themes were played out in awesome, staggering glory. Take the most awesome visuals in the series on the monitors and the haunting (yet beautiful) choral chanting, with the symphony playing, and you have a recipe for one supercharged emotional overload that lasted about 15 minutes. They played the score from the original, to evolved, and the last 5 minutes from Halo 3. Even if you arent a Halo-tard, you would have to be made of carbonite to not be touched by this performance.

- Final Fantsy - One Winged Angel (w/ Tallrico on electric guitar). Too awesome. Very powerful compilation. One of the most recognizable of the Final Fantasy themes. Took me right back to my living room in 1997 getting my ass whupped by Sephiroth.

- Castelvania closure. This was pretty wild. All the Castelvania series music played with visuals on screen AND a coordinated fireworks display over the harbor. Un-be-fucking-lievable! It was a perfect way to end a perfect night.

It was overall the best 2 1/2 hours I have spent out all year. This will become a new summer tradition with me and mine. If you stuck through this long and winded review I highly recommend you drop the coin, take the friends/family, and enjoy this amazing feat of talent, entertainment, and culture. It truly was a roller coaster ride of great video game memories.

If you haver a moment, go to youtube.com and do a Video Games Live search for some good visuals.

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