With much fervor and anticipation, the three of us fought through the crowded hallway to the door that read “Rows A-F”. Already, the room was full. Most of the seats were already occupied.

Did we even have our tickets? Were we going the right way? A quick flash of our all-access passes reassured us as we made our way down a full row to our seats. Of course they were the obnoxious movie theater-styled seats that you had to hold down with one hand and try to maneuver your butt onto.

That was fine, though. Because it was Friday night, 8-o’clock sharp, and we were getting ready to witness one of the finest displays of orchestrated music in the gaming world: Video Games Live in Louisville, Kentucky.

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I love to reminisce about the good old MIDI gaming days. The days when I would play an RPG and obsess over midis. There’s some part of me, deep down, that still loves those clangy, high pitched musical notes. Even after I buy the instrumental CD or what have you. I loved games like Thousand Arms, that had an in game jukebox. I could sit and listen to that thing for hours. Admittedly, I never enjoyed the terrible electronic music from those hilariously bad tiger hand-held games toys. Even I have to draw a line somewhere.

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The music in video games is often neglected and confined to the background. People praise game play, characters, plot, and even voice acting, but rarely do they praise a video game based on its soundtrack. And yet, as gamers, we all know the Zelda theme by heart, we can whistle the Mario Bros theme, and we all remember “One Winged Angel” from FFVII. This is because, despite being tucked away and out of the spotlight, music is integral to video games. It sets the scene. It creates ambiance. It creates immersion. Fast-paced beats set our hearts racing, and slow violins warn of us an impending Hallmark moment.

Arguably, without music, video games would not be where they are today.

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