Video Games Live? announces Massive meet & greet Gathering and pre-show festival for San Jose

Meet & Greet with over 20 Game Designers and Composers to Take Place after Concert
Pre-Events Include Costume Contest and Guitar Hero? Competition with unique prizes

Los Angeles ? March 20, 2006 ?  Renowned video game composers, Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall, announced the pre- and post-show festival events planned for the March 24th San Jose, CA performance of Video Games Live? presented by the Game Developers Conference.  Created and produced by Tallarico and Wall?s production company, Mystical Stone Entertainment LLC, Video Games Live? features music from the most popular video games performed by top orchestras and choirs around the world, combining exclusive video footage and music arrangements, synchronized lighting, solo performers, electronic percussionists and unique interactive segments to create an explosive one-of-a-kind entertainment experience.

Video Games Live? is an immersive concert event and industry celebration.  This special performance will be the first time video game music has been performed in San Jose, the heart of Silicon Valley, widely regarded as ?the birthplace of video games?.  To commemorate the start of the new 2006 World Tour, Video Games Live? is pulling out all the stops and opening the doors early to present a pre-show festival from 7:00 ? 8:00 p.m. on Friday, March 24th at the San Jose Civic Auditorium which is FREE to all ticket holders. Tickets ($20 – $55) are on sale now at all Ticketmaster outlets, or online at Ticketmaster.com.  Groups of 12 or more are eligible for a 20% discount, subject to availability; call 408.999.5841 for further details.

The highlight of the festival will be a post-show meet-and-greet where fans can interact with renowned game designers and composers from all over the world.  Sponsored by ASCAP, the Recording Academy (Grammys?) and APM Music, the event will feature game industry luminaries including:

  • Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Metroid Prime, Tony Hawk, Advent Rising)
  • Jack Wall (Myst III, Myst IV, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Jade Empire)
  • Jason Hayes (Warcraft series)
  • Marty O?Donnell (Halo, Halo 2)
  • Cliff Bleszinski (Unreal franchise)
  • David Perry (Earthworm Jim, Aladdin, MDK, Enter the Matrix, Path of Neo)
  • Keith Robinson (President, Programmer & Game Designer ? Intellivision)
  • Vince Desi (Postal, Postal 2)
  • Inon Zur (Prince of Persia: Two Thrones, EverQuest, SOCOM 2)
  • Will Littlejohn (Guitar Hero, Karaoke Revolution, BladeRunner)
  • Gerard Marino (God Of War)
  • Chance Thomas (King Kong, X-Men, Lord of the Rings)
  • Tim Larkin (Myst series)
  • Richard Jacques (Headhunter, Outrun 2)
  • Cris Velasco (God Of War, Splinter Cell: Double Agent)
  • Sascha Dikiciyan (Quake series, Splinter Cell 4: Double Agent)
  • Tom Salta (Tom Clancy?s Ghost Recon, Need For Speed 2, Cold Fear)
  • Irwin (electronic percussionist for VGL, Beastie Boys & Rob Navarro)
  • Martin Leung (The Video Game Pianist)
  • Laura Karpman (EverQuest II series), and others!

The pre-show festival will include a competition sponsored by RedOctane featuring the award winning smash hit Guitar Hero?.  The contestant with the highest score (song to be announced at the show) will receive a unique one-of-a-kind limited edition Guitar Hero? Cherry SG Controller signed by video game composers and designers.  Other pre-show festivities include a costume contest presented by 1UP.com, where audience members will come dressed as their favorite video game character.  The winner of the costume contest, as judged by the audience, will receive a Video Games Live? prize pack which includes an ATI video card and signed memorabilia.  And speaking of costumes, attendees will want to be on the look out for their favorite video game characters such as Sonic the Hedgehog and others.

Other prizes throughout the evening include a $2,500 Ferrari laptop courtesy of AMD which will be given away on stage during the Interactive Symphony segment, starring one of the most beloved classic arcade games of all time, Frogger, celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. Two audience members will compete for 90 seconds while the orchestra plays along, changing the musical score on-the-fly depending on what the contestants are doing on screen.  This unique interaction with a live symphony has only ever been attempted and performed at Video Games Live?.

The audience will also be treated to a special live performance by pianist Martin Leung ? best known as ?The Video Game Pianist? (formerly ?The Blindfolded Pianist?).  Leung became an Internet celebrity after over 40 million people downloaded a video of him playing tunes from the classic Mario games while blindfolded (https://videogamepianist.com).  He will be premiering his special Final Fantasy? piano arrangement at this concert, performing over ten Final Fantasy? favorites.