Whether it's Turkey Day or Christmas, we feel the need to thank the greatest figures in video game history for their contributions that made gaming as fun as it is today. For decades, we've seen creative minds emerge and bring forward games that amaze the world, but they don't get much recognition. But now, we have enough time to list down some of the greatest geniuses behind phenomenal landmarks like Mario, Wolfenstein 3D, and even The Sims.

Game Informer Magazine has three images of the Video Games Live (VGL) concert that closed the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2007 at San Fransisco. VGL is a concert tour that features music from video games, and each concert is a treat: the music is combined with video presentations, light and laser effects, and other special effects.

Having a VGL concert at the GDC made perfect sense, and the GDC concert was a star-studded one (we earlier published a list of all the composers and artists at the GDC VGL).

VGL: a multimedia concert. Like any Video Games Live concert, the music was amazing. There was an orchestra and a 16-member choir conducted by game composer Jack Wall (Myst, Splinter Cell, Jade Empire). There was a screen that showed synchronized video footage. Audience members were brought up to play Space Invaders and Frogger on the big screen - the orchestra provided live music (complete with tempo changes!).

As usual, during the Metal Gear Solid portion of the program, an actor dressed as a guard walked onto the stage - and the infamous alert exclamation mark (!) appeared over his head - much to the amusement of the audience (the poor guard didn't notice a large box sneaking past him). (An earlier QJ.NET article on VGL concert dates has a video of a similar scene from another concert.)

Other musical highlights included "Baba Yetu" from Civilization IV, the explosive "Liberi Fatali" from Final Fantasy VIII, and the World of Warcraft suite - all three masterpieces got huge reactions from the audience.

A night of video game music artists. As reported earlier, there were also performances by LucasArts composers Peter McConnell, Michael Land, and Clint Bajakian. "VertexGuy" powered the stirring electric guitar anthems of Contra and the Halo 3 grand finale. The "Video Game Pianist" was also there to play Dig Dug and Pac-Man music on the piano.

Super Mario and Zelda composer Koji Kondo (who received a lifetime achievement award at the GDC earlier in the week) played a piano solo of music from Super Mario Bros. (the audience went wild, taking out their Nintendo DS units and mobile phones to wave them in the air as lights).

Let the world know: video games are a legitimate art form. Having the VGL grace the GDC with its presence is a statement to the industry and to industry-watchers and critics. "I think what tonight helps prove is how legitimate video games have become as an art form," said Tommy Tallarico, a game composer and the co-creator of VGL.

  

 

There is much to see at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) currently going down today. Now, in case you find yourself lost with the information flooding this event (or perhaps live under a rock), we'll be providing a basic rundown on what can be expected to take place once the event goes full swing:

Major keynote speakers

• Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo will be expected to kick things off with his major keynote speech "A Creative Vision," although it is expected that Nintendo is not going to be releasing any new info...at least for now.
• Sony Computer Entertainment Inc (SCEI) boss Phil Harrison is also going to be present, and will be doing the keynote speech titled "Game 3.0: Developing and Creating for the Third Age of Video Games," which may possibly carry details on new firmware updates for the PS3, among other things. Keep track of Phil's keynote this March 7, Wednesday.

Events summary

The conference proper will be host to more than 350 lectures panels, tutorials and round-table discussions taking place from March 5 to 9, 2007. Going into specifics, expect these activities to take place within these GDC sub-categories:

• GDC Expo
• GDC Mobile
• The Serious Games Summit GDC
• The Independent Games Festival (IGF)
• The Game Developers Choice Awards
• Game Connection
• Video Games Live
  

Just make sure to click on the links to see what sort of goodies you can expect, such as composer Koji Kondo's performance over at the Video Games Live event. The GDC runs from March 5 to March 9 at the Moscone Convention Center in San Francisco. Looking further ahead, the GDC 2008 is expected to take place from February 18 to 22 next year.