Some of our readers may have had the good fortune of seeing Video Games Live play at some point during the past few years—performing everything from Atari songs to Diablo III, and making fans excited over and over again, using a variety of musical instruments.
This unconventional orchestra was the brainchild of Tommy Tallarico, and last month the VGL team set up a Kickstarter campaign in an attempt to raise enough money to record its third album, tentatively and appropriately called Level 3.
The project has now met its funding goal, raising $285,081—a much greater success than the original goal of $250,000. The album is set to be made soon and released on February 18th, 2014, and it will be a full studio album with a 60-72 piece orchestra, 60-person choir, and of course a full set rock band.
The new album will feature brand new arrangements of favourite game scores such as Monkey Island, Diablo III, Street Fighter II, Silent Hill 2, World of Warcraft, Journey, Skyrim, and Shadow of the Colossus. Music from Super Mario World is on the table, though the producers are still looking for permission from Nintendo before they’ll be able to use it.
The stretch goal for the campaign was $750,000, which would have been used to create a full-length documentary film with a making-of section, composer interviews, and game music history. However, the stretch goal was more than a bit of a stretch, so we won’t see this addition to the project anytime soon.
