I think that it’s so crucial that video game music get treated for the modern art that it is. It has idiosyncrasies that are unique to that genre, especially in regards to technology, sound cards/modules, interactivity (with the graphics, plot, gameplay, etc). So many new art forms get criticized upon their first release: Opera music, ballet music, Impressionistic music, minimalism, film music… and now, video game music.

There are so many forms that have pushed VGM to the next level, largely the serious focus of symphonic and/or marketing groups (Play! and Video Games Live in particular), the incredible surge in the economy that gaming has been responsible for, as well as the contracting of “serious” composers to do music for video games, like Harry Gregson-Williams or Peter Gabriel (Myst series, I believe). For people who are not immersed in video game music culture, this seems a bit trivial because many understand the art form that it is and see the pioneers of the genre as some its greatest writers: Uematsu, Kondo, Mitsuda and some of their Western counterparts in the Fat Man, Tommy Tallarico or Jack Wall. In which case, the eyes of many critics who look to the mainstream have largely discovered video game music through popular music composers, I suppose that it could be similar to Metallica performing with the San Francisco Symphony and discovering Beethoven and Mahler through metal music.

Anyways, this podcast largely seeks to treat VGM as a unique and legitimate genre, having artistry that exists in the same capacity nowhere else in history. Composers put SERIOUS work into making the score musical, appropriate yet accessible to the gamer and many of these scores are high-musical accomplishments and they deserve to be studied in the depth that they were written with.

I am passionate about video game music and I love that gamemusic4all.com is as well - thanks for your notice, it is definitely appreciated! It would be wonderful to talk some more!
Kenley