Bleep bleep bloop

The world is waking up to how cool video game music is. The music has, of course, grown progressively more sophisticated.

"In movies, you write to picture, you write to the scene, and it's considered background music," said Tallarico. "I consider us foreground music."

Indeed, the audio component of games is becoming an increasingly interactive part of the story. Games are programmed so scores react to virtual environments and player choices. Multiple sound backdrops shift with scenarios.

Instead of switching to entirely new music when a character, say, enters an eerie courtyard, the emphasis subtly shifts to a previously soft-playing track, using different instruments to ratchet up the tension.

The effect, Doud says, is that "all of a sudden it'll seem a lot more intense, but you can't really tell how it got there."

The article alludes to a video game concert series that will take place in 15 venues across the US. It would be neat to go to something like that.