Video games recognised by Ivor Novello Awards


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Video game music scores are to be recognised at the Ivor Novello awards, which hail excellence in music writing.

As games have increased in scale, their soundtracks have progressed from the bleeps and blips of the Pac-Man era. The London Symphony Orchestra features on a Tomb Raider game, while the Los Angeles Philharmonic stages concerts of music from Final Fantasy and Halo 2.

The new award will be one of just six categories at the Ivor Novellos, which take place on 20 May, 2010. Last year's ceremony saw indie rockers Elbow win two prizes - best song for One Day Like This and best contemporary song for Grounds For Divorce. Other categories are for best album, best film score and best TV soundtrack.

Announcing the new award, Mark Fishlock, director of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) and a member of The Ivors committee, said: "The Ivors has always sought to reflect the ever-changing world of songwriting and composing. "The video games market has matured beyond recognition and big budget orchestral scores are regularly being commissioned. Writing music for games also requires a number of specialist skills compared with conventional film scoring, such as non-linear and multi-layered composition."

Under standard Ivor rules, all entries must have a British or Irish composing contribution of at least one third. The Bafta video game awards already recognise video game composers. Last year's prize went to survival horror Dead Space, with runners up including fantasy adventure Fable II and the whimsical LittleBigPlanet.

I like this story, as the game soundtracks are getting more and more attention now, which is a good thing, as there are many games out there that deserved to be recognised purely by their soundtrack. The Metal Gear Solid series instantly springs to mind for me. The Halo series has a great soundtrack as well. I remember playing the Halo 2 campaign and then reaching a bit in one of the later levels (I can't remember which one now), then this song starts playing. :)

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Finally, it's about time VG soundtracks get some proper recognition :) Some of these pieces of art are simply amazing - Halo and Zelda most definitely come to mind first.

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This is great news! Some games' soundtracks were true masterpieces (such as Mafia's soundtrack performed by the Bohemian Symphonic Orchestra). I wouldn't mind shelling out 50 or more USD to attend a live performance of such soundtracks by a full orchestra. It's great that video game music is finally going to get the attention it deserves.

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