Blogspot 7: The Role of Music in Video Games

I grew up as part of the video game generation, As many who may be wondering, I was born in the early 80’s as in the “EARLY 80’s” and as I kid I was lucky enough to share in this blog that I was able to play the earlier Atari games like pong and space invaders which had the old school howling ringing sound that for me still quite was addictive if you’d ask me. Created in the early 1970s, in an article by Sean Zehnder and Scott Lipscomb Ph.D, entitled "The Role of Music in Video Games" on soc.northwestern.edu, we know for a fact especially to those who can relate that the video game music of during those days were not as symphonic as it is today. For instance, Pong, the players would hit a ball back and forth across a center line with that now-recognizable onomatopoeic sound.

The early 1980s “pumping quarters into arcades generation” played into the much improved Pac Man and Galaga machines which for those reading this I was able to also experience since my dad had one at home, come to think of it now had this really weird monotonous tone that till this day is stuck in my head if I recalled it. The fact is then, I never really paid any attention to it. The sounds were just sounds that resonated in my head, little did I knew then that these bleeps and bloops were slowly invading my brain.

Video game music although played a greater role in my life with the entrance of the Nintendo Family Computer and later the SEGA Mega Drive. With games like Super Mario Bros. and Sonic the Hedgehog and the music that these classics carried made a mark in me with it's catchy and fun, but it's not exactly serious musical tones that until now I know when I happen hear them.

According to an article entitled "The Evolution of Video Game Music", wriiten on npr.org, Video game composer Tommy Tallarico who made the music for classics like Earthworm Jim and Prince of Persia explains, "If you remember in Space Invaders, you know, as the ships started to come down, the aliens, and as they got closer and closer, the sound got faster and faster. With that being said and with the motivation that most if not all videogame composers have when making music for video games I now know why these songs have made a great impact in me and in some ways affect the way I see the world. The excitement and panic that in a way traumatizes us in a nice way of course made video games a significant part of our audio world.

Therefore, like the purpose of all great video game music, as per computerandvideogames.com, which is supposed to change your heart rate at some point to change the way you move and feel. The soundtracks I believe of every game that I was lucky enough to have played with has in a direct way influenced and has continued to influence me in the way I handle things from light situations to more the serious ones. All of these in moderation of course.