Even though it has been a long while since I last went to a Video Games Live performance, I have been there on two different occasions and I thought I would post my opinions on the show.

Video Games Live isn’t so much a concert dedicated to video games and those who have grown-up enjoying them so much as it is a commercial for new games. Sure, they do perform music from the Super Mario Bros., Legend of Zelda, Metal Gear and Sonic the Hedgehog series, but the latter three are all bumped out of the way before the intermission, and Mario doesn’t even get the main event slot to make up for it, it gets upstaged by Halo. What’s even worse is that only the basic themes from those classic series are played, it almost seems like they tried to make them as short as possible.

I also forgot to mention that they do play a few themes to some arcade classics, but they all get crammed together in one medley and are the very first performance of the show. I guess they had to make more room for Age of Conan.

Don’t get me wrong it’s not all bad, the performances of said classics are very enjoyable, and even some of the other pieces are nice to listen to, but when the show’s primary focus is on the likes of God of War, Bioshock, Halo, Kingdom Hearts, the Harry Potter video games ( ? ) and the aforementioned Age of Conan, while true video game classics (with totally awesome music) like Mega Man, Donkey Kong Country and Chrono Trigger don’t even appear on the show whatsoever, it’s shameful. Not that I have anything against most of these newer games, but classics should never be pushed to the side for the newest thing on the block.

Oh and whenever Halo doesn’t get top-billing in the event, Final Fantasy 7’s “One-Winged Angel” holds the “honor”. I know a lot of people would pelt me with tomatoes for saying this, but I don’t feel that it deserves that position, despite the fact that it is part of one of the oldest and most respected franchises in the history of gaming, I just don’t feel that Final Fantasy 7 is quite deserving of the top spot in the same way Mario or Zelda are.

So in closing, I don’t feel like Video Games Live is horrible, but it certainly left a lot (a whole lot) to be desired, and it could really, really improve on its line-up. I hope I’ll be able to attend a performance of Play: a Video Game Symphony sometime, since from what I’ve heard, is more up my alley. Though I do hope that Video Games Live can become the concert it should be.

One small note: Last time I attended Video Games Live I the only person I saw give a standing ovation for Halo was some 12-years-old boy. Which I feel kinda proved my point.