Alden Bates' Weblog

It was with some surprise this morning that I found out I was going to Video Games Live with my brother. He writes reviews for NZ Gamer and thus had procured two free tickets. I actually knew about this a while ago but had forgotten about it in the meantime...

I wasn't quite sure what to expect (Two hours of Pong?) but as it turned out it was the Vector Wellington Orchestra and Chapman Tripp Opera Chorus (I'm a sucker for orchestras with choirs) playing some bloody good music. Though I have to admit that apart from the retro games (they started off with a medley of music from the likes of Asteroids, Defender, and (yes) Pong), I haven't actually played any of the games they performed music from. Am I slack or what? All the same, I very much enjoyed the music (although not as much as some of the audience members, who seemed to be getting a little too excited) and the light show and game footage. Kudos to all people involved.

Unfortunately my good camera is broken, but here's a crappy cellphone photo:

I was especially impressed with Martin Leung's piano playing skills. I've never ever seen anyone play arcade game music on a piano at that speed. If I could play the piano half as well as him, I'd be a happy (and probably rich) man.

Almost as impressive were the audience member who got up on stage to play Space Invaders (by jumping back and forth to move the spaceship), and the two audience members who played Frogger for a $4,000 laptop. Performance anxiety much?

A great (and unexpected) evening!