Euskal Encounter #29 – SoundTrackFest – (Brief) History of Music in Video Games

Euskal Encounter is probably the longest running-computer gathering in all Europe, and after a break on 2020 where it had to be celebrated online, it returns to be in-person in its 29th edition, being held from 22 to 25 July 2021 at the BEC – Bilbao Exhibition Centre in Barakaldo, Spain.

Euskal Encounter #29 - SoundTrackFest - (Brief) History of Music in Video Games

 

With a maximum capacity of 2.000 participants at the venue, due to current health restrictions, the event will offer a 4-day program full of activities, contests, digital art, competitions, and conferences.

 

And this is where we wanted to get… Euskal Encounter #29 has invited SoundTrackFest’s founder and director Gorka Oteiza, to give a conference on Saturday, July 24, 2021, at 17:00h, about ‘(Brief) History of Music in Video Games’, which will be broadcast on Twitch and YouTube.

 

Official description:

“The music of a video game is one of the most important factors when it comes to get us into the story and make us feel a myriad of different emotions.

 

Nowadays we are used to have in consoles, PCs, and mobiles, videogames with spectacular adaptive soundtracks, that follow the movements of the players and evolve with them, and where it seems that we have an orchestra or a rock band inside the machine playing live for us. But… how did we reach this level of quality and interactivity?

 

From the simple beeps of Pong, the catchy themes and sounds of Pacman, the chiptune melodies of the 8 bits (Amstrad, Spectrum, MSX, Commodore…), the sounds in the arcade machines, or the SoundBlaster cards in PCs, we have come a long way, improving at every step the quality of music in video games.

 

In this talk, we will tell you in a very brief (and maybe a bit personal) way, how music in video games has evolved from its beginnings to nowadays, and we will give you some practical examples of the different games that were a milestone.

 

We will also show you some of the current trends, with Artificial Intelligence marking the future, or how music in videogames is making the leap to concert halls, in some cases even offering world tours as it happens with the music of Final Fantasy, Zelda, or Assassin’s Creed.”

Euskal Encounter #29 - SoundTrackFest - (Brief) History of Music in Video Games

 

You can find more information here (Spanish Only):

https://ee29.euskalencounter.org/conferencias.html#musica

 

Link to Euskal Encounter’s Twitch, YouTube & Streaming channels:

https://www.twitch.tv/euskalencounter

https://stream.party.eus/

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCFcFcaTZPEFG2aCThrItQoA

 

We’ll be waiting for you!

 

UPDATE (26/7/2021): Video added