Originally sourced from a post I found on paste magazine, the London Philharmonic are releasing a videogame music cd with a healthy mix of tracks from various games new and old. The title, “The Greatest Video Game Music” seems a bit presumptuous after looking at the tracklist as there are some obvious choices missing. Though with more than 30 
years of music to choose from, back to the traditional 8-bit bleeps and blorps of the NES sound-chip to the fully orchestrated scores composed by film industry composers ala Uncharted 3, it would be easy to span multiple volumes of CDs.
With the London Philharmoic these tunes will automatically gain some legitimacy, grabbing classic tunes from Super Mario Brothers and Tetris and mixing them with fan favorites from Final Fantasy and then mixing in contemporary videogame music scores such as Uncharted, Splinter Cell Conviction and Mass Effect you have a gateway for music lovers of all types. As I spoke about in a recent post about videogame music, during a sale, there are some film music and classical music fans out there that could easily become videogame music fans given the right introduction. Including Mass Effect and Uncharted, two mentioned in that post are definitely heading things in the right direction. Below is the tracklist, pre-order [amazon_link id=”B005QW1FB0″ target=”_blank” ]The Greatest Video Game Music[/amazon_link] from Amazon now for November 8th release. Greatest Video Game Music iTunes.
| 1. Advent Rising: Muse | Composed by Tommy Tallarico, Emmanuel Fratianni, and Laurie Robinson |
| 2. Legend of Zelda: Suite | Composed by Koji Kondo |
| 3. Call of Duty – Modern Warfare 2: Theme | Composed by Hans Zimmer |
| 4. Angry Birds: Main Theme | Composed by Ari Pulkkinen |
| 5. Final Fantasy VIII: Liberi Fatali | Composed by Nobuo Uematsu |
| 6. Super Mario Bros Theme | Composed by Mahito Yokota and Koji Kondo |
| 7. Uncharted – Drake’s Fortune: Nate’s Theme | Composed by Greg Edmonson |
| 8. Grand Theft Auto IV: Soviet Connection | Composed by Michael Hunter |
| 9. World of Warcraft: Seasons of War | Composed by Jason Hayes |
| 10. Metal Gear Solid: Sons of Liberty Theme | Composed by Harry Gregson-Williams |
| 11. Tetris: Theme | Composed by Alexey Pajitnov |
| 12. Battlefield 2: Theme | Composed by Joel Eriksson |
| 13. Elder Scrolls: Oblivion | Composed by Jeremy Soule |
| 14. Call of Duty 4 – Modern Warfare: Main Menu Theme | Composed by Stephen Barton and Harry Gregson-Williams |
| 15. Mass Effect: Suicide Mission | Composed by Jack Wall and Sam Hulick |
| 16. Splinter Cell: Conviction | Composed by Michael Nielsen, Kaveh Cohen, and Amon Tobin |
| 17. Final Fantasy: Main Theme | Composed by Nobuo Uematsu |
| 18. Bioshock: The Ocean on his Shoulders | Composed by Garry Schyman |
| 19. Halo 3: One Final Effort | Composed by Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori |
| 20. Fallout 3: Theme | Composed by Inon Zur |
| 21. Super Mario Bros: Gusty Garden Galaxy | Composed by Koji Kondo |
For my money, as I’ve said before, “From the Wreckage” on the Mass Effect soundtrack is one of the most beautifully composed videogame soundtrack cues of all time. Here it is:
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James Schumacher
A freelance writer and digital artist, operator of this website. My name is James Schumacher, and I hold a degree in Game Art & Design (BoFA) from the Art Institute in Portland. My passions are gaming, music, books, film and my friends. Select Photography to see some of my latests photos, with more found at 500px and Viewbug. Currently you can find much of my game reviews mostly at Only Single Player http://www.onlysp.com. I am available for freelance writing work, as well as for image and graphic editing.