Gamertell

Title: Video Games Live: Volume One
Price: $16.98 ($0.99 per song download)
Release Date: July 22, 2008
Publisher: EMI Records Ltd. (Angel Records)
Pros: An excellent collections of impressive performances. Often well-orchestrated collections and homages to game music with an honest air of respectability that even non-gamers can appreciate. The name implies there will be a Volume Two.
Cons: A few segments are a bit slow and some of the instrumentation plainly mimics or masks the vocals.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up; 91/100; A-; * * * * out of five.

No matter where you fall in the games as art spectrum there’s no denying that plenty of artistic efforts are put into many games’ production. Case in point is the Video Games Live tour which offers orchestral performances of video game music that would be difficult for any music snob to scoff at.

The CD (and digital download) release of Video Games Live: Volume One offers selected studio and live performances featuring the Slovak Symphony Orchestra, Crouch End Festival Chorus and various soloists as conducted by Jack Wall.

Click through for a track-by-track review…

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Check out the gallery: Video Games Live: Volume One CD art

If you’ve been following Important Importables for a while, you might have noticed that I like to touch on not only games but game-related imports as well (or at least things from Japan that might interest gamers). Today’s column is one of those days.

Due to coverage of titles like Tokimeki Memorial: Girl’s Side 2nd Season, Otometeki Koi Kakumei Love Revo DS!! and Duel Love, Important Importables has acquired a few otome fan readers (fans of dating/life sims for women). I figured today’s column would be a good chance to highlight an anime episode that they’d enjoy - Ouran High School Host Club episode 4, “The Invasion of the Female Manager.” it has a hilarious storyline involving a devoted female otome fan, a club filled with otome stereotype guys and a series that is going to appear on DVD in the US in the coming months…

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Japan isn’t the only country receiving exceptionally pretty, limited run DSes. Nintendo has just announced that, on August 17, 2008, a Limited Edition DS Pokemon Pack will be available in stores. The pack includes an etched, black DS lite and additional Pokemon items for $129.99.

The selling point of the package is the black DS lite with pictures Dialga and Palkia, two legendary pokemon from Pokemon Diamond/Pearl etched on the front of it. It also comes with a matching DS lite case that has the same design on the cover, a mini poster and a DVD with an animated movie called Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Darkness. Nintendo has declared the bundle a limited edition, but there is no word on how many units are being produced or how long it will be sold.

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Title: Bleach Uncut Season 1: The Substitute box set
Price: $27.99 (Amazon) - $44.99 (Barnes & Noble)
Format: DVD
Release Date: June 10, 2008
Company: Viz Media
ESRB Rating: Unrated
Pros: 20 unrated episodes of Bleach, Japanese and English voice acting, free double-sided poster and a free Bleach trading card.
Cons: Not that many bonus features in addition to the 20 episodes.
Overall Score: Two thumbs up, 95/100, A, **** 1/2 out of 5.

Bleach is a far reaching animated series that tends to go beyond “kill this week’s bad guy.” It features identifiable characters, sometimes intellectual situations, mysterious story-lines that can’t be solved in one season and other concepts that many action animes don’t cover.

The first season of Bleach, referred to as “The Substitute,” is really essential viewing for anyone who wishes to really follow the show. Other seasons may have more intrigue, more comedic moments and more characters, but the first season prepares a solid foundation for future episodes. Viz Media did an admirable job with the voice casting, translating and DVD presentation…

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With E3 finally wrapped up and Comic Con just around the corner, it’s time to chill out and take a look at one of game culture’s coolest exhibitions: I am 8-bit. The game-themed fine art show is returning in 2008 to the World of Wonder Storefront Gallery in Hollywood this August 14th. This year, the exhibition is set to be the biggest ever, with work from well-known artists and newcomers alike…

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Yesterday, at Microsoft’s big E3 conference, the company revealed a partnership that will make Xbox 360 cinephiles very happy. Netflix has partnered with the service to allow Live users (that is, gold subscribers) full access to the Netflix library (which boasts “over 10,000 movies and TV episodes") at no extra cost. This marks a big step in Microsoft’s plan for delivering the most HD and SD video content out of any console, and further cements the 360’s position as a “media center” on top of its role as a game machine.

From the official press release:

“A growing library of more than 10,000 movies and TV episodes will be available from Netflix when it launches on Xbox LIVE in late fall, with more choices added over time. Through this agreement, along with the existing Xbox LIVE Marketplace Video Store, Xbox 360 will be home to more movies and TV shows on demand than any other device connected to the TV. Xbox LIVE quickly and easily connects consumers and their friends to the entertainment they want, with no PC required for viewing.”

This is almost as exciting as the new primetime feature on Xbox Live - almost.

Read [Seattle PI]

One of Tommy Tallarico’s more successful projects, the Video Games Live concert series, is finally being pressed into a CD titled Video Games Live: Volume One. The name naturally supposes there will be at least a Volume Two, also likely to be produced under the EMI Classics label.

The tracks were recorded either live (as indicated on the track list on the full article) or at the Abbey Road Studios in London (England), where all of the songs were engineered. Performances are by the Slovak National Orchestra, The Crouch End Festival Chorus and The Video Game Pianist, Martin Leung, and were conducted by concert co-creator Jack Wall.  The concert and subsequent CD will feature…

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Check out the gallery: Video Games Live EMI CD Box Art

Kotaku posted a very cool little story this week about famed Rolling Stone movie critic Peter Travers claiming that GTA IV is the best popcorn movie of the summer. Crossing the boundaries between the two media, he gave a very interesting (and pro-games-as-art) analysis of the social commentary and satire at play within the game…

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Holy Tobias Bruckner! It looks as if the Turok franchise is getting a live action film adaptation. According to MTV’s Multiplayer blog, actor Adam Beach (Flags of Our Fathers) revealed that after wrapping the animated Turok: Son of Stone, he will begin pre-production on the new flick. Very few details emerged from the post, but if the movie is anything like the games, there will be plenty of dinosaur-killing action.

I have one request to the as-of-yet-unnamed director. Please leave half-cyborg racist calvary man Tobias Bruckner out of the film. Unless he gets killed early and spectacularly.

Read [MTV Multiplayer]

I can’t wait for my copy of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots but I don’t want to say goodbye to elite agent Solid Snake, whom we’ve grown to love while following his adventures.

We pray that rumors of an end are not true and continue to pose theories about why the series could never end.  Even so, as a preemptive memorial to help cope with the denial that this may be the absolute last game for Snake, here is a look at the MGS franchise....

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