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.

Geoff Keighley, host of Gametrailers' special feature Bonus Round, is back as Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter and Japanese games importer Pink Godzilla co-owner Nathan Paine discuss what's hot in Japan, and why American games have never been big in the land of the rising sun. You'll find a lot of interesting bits, much Nintendo love, and the secret of Japanese developers in making games that explode worldwide.

Pachter believes western developers, American or European, know how to please their respective audiences, and there's no reason to snatch an idea or two from Japanese game creators. Publishers in the west follow effective formulas to sell, he said.

He went on, saying only odd or Americanized Japanese games will sell outside Japan. Another worth noting is how, according to Pachter, gamers think of Sony and Microsoft when talking about games, and Nintendo is just an afterthought.

Paine, however, expressed his confidence in Japanese games right off the bat. He doesn't think there'll be any gaming industry in the U.S. today if it wasn't for Japan, particularly Nintendo which revitalized gaming after the 1983 crash. With the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) synonymous to fun back in the day, and Mario being the first widely popular superstar from a video game, it's difficult not to agree.

Paine mentioned other Japanese game franchises that have been successful worldwide, like Metal Gear, Resident Evil, Final Fantasy, and the likes. After naming Square Enix, Konami, and Capcom as the big three developers and publishers, he pointed at the three F's that make their titles hit: fun, fantasy, and freedom. By freedom, he meant how Japanese developers are able to be creative and are not obligated to make movie tie-ins or yearly football games.

For the U.S., the three R's come into play: rockets, realism, and rights. Realism is all about how Americans love their games oozing with detail in eye-bleeding graphics, while rights concern acquiring copyrights or licenses.

Rockets symbolize the hunger of American gamers to shoot things and cause big explosions, something that the Japanese don't like. Simply put, as Paine learned from Nintendo's Koji Kondo, gamers in Japan don't like mindless violence. Metal Gear Solid games, for example, pits players in the shoes of a super agent involved in political affairs. Good and evil forces battling each other like in Gundam games are also more attractive to Japanese gamers than murdering the covenant en masse.

To find out more, check out the Bonus Round by clicking on the Read link below.

One big chunk of the immersive gameplay experience, along with great graphics and content, is soundtrack. What would Super Mario Bros be without the memorable soundtrack by Koji Kondo? That said, what would Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 (and the original too) be without soundtrack composer Tom Salta?

Well, Tom Salta's soundtrack of Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 pretty much lets us in on both the action and the general feel of a particular scene or a level. We've got three of examples of which from IGN. One is a tearjerking soft aria (The Tragedy of War), while the other two illustrate mounting tension (A Bridge Too Far and Juarez Under Fire).

For those who haven't played Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2 yet - or was too busy taking care of business to pay attention to the score, click on play to check out the songs. Oh, there are a couple more over at Full Article.

While a good game will often get top merits for good graphics, gameplay, and storyline, we can't forget to mention one other aspect that rounds out this winning combo: good sounds. With that in mind, the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.) announces this year's G.A.N.G. Awards winners.

The 5th Annual awarding were concluded last Tuesday, March 8, with candidates being selected by members of the game audio industry, and G.A.N.G.'s own crop of 1,200 members.

Xbox 360 fans will be very delighted to know that Gears of War can happily lancer-up another notch in its growing list of achievements, as Epic's runaway hit game for the 360 bags "Audio of the Year," followed closely by Call of Duty 3, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, Tomb Raider: Legend, and Splinter Cell: Double Agent.

Moving on to specific gaming personalities, we find G.A.N.G. giving Nintendo composer Koji Kondo a much-deserved "Lifetime Achievement" award, even as they hand out a "Rookie of the Year" award to upcoming composer Christopher Tin, whose musical score "Baba Yetu" for the Civilization IV game wins the "Best original vocal - choral" award. Read on for the rest of the finalists (winners are in bold):

Audio of the year

• Call of Duty 3
• Gears of War
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent
• Tomb Raider: Legend

Music of the year

• Dreamfall
• Destroy All Humans! 2
• Hitman: Blood Money
• Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth II
• Tomb Raider: Legend

Sound design of the year

• Call of Duty 3
• Gears of War
• Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter
• Lost Planet: Extreme Condition
• Splinter Cell: Double Agent

The rest of the awardees and winners can be seen when you click "Full Article".

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.

A concert as a closer? Sounds good. That's exactly what the Game Developers Conference (GDC) is planning, and it has recently announced that legendary Nintendo composer Koji Kondo will be one of the performers for the Video Games Live's return to the GDC. Kondo is best known for his work on such beloved franchises as Mario and Zelda.

"There is clearly no game music more recognizable around the world than the themes that Mr. Kondo has created over the years." said Video Games Live executive producer and co-creator Tommy Tallarico. "What an incredible honor to have such a true legend in the gaming world join us on stage to celebrate video game music and the wonderful industry surrounding it."

Apart from Kondo, Martin Leung, the Video Game Pianist, will also be performing a brand new classic video game arrangement. A rare special acoustic performance by the original LucasArts composers performing a medley of classics from games such as Monkey Island, Outlaws and Grim Fandango is also in the lineup.

Voice-over legend Dee Baker will also be on stage, and guitarist and video game artist Chris Kline - aka "vertexguy" - will be debuting his live synchronized Contra "Jungle Theme" rock-n-roll presentation.

After the performance, there will be a meet-and-greet where fans can interact with videogame composers and designers. A whopping 20 luminaries (names yet to be announced) are slated to be at the event.

Video Games Live will be held at the Nob Hill Masonic Auditorium on Friday, March 9 at 8 P.M. Tickets are priced from US$ 38.50 to US$ 65 at LiveNation.com.