EMI Classics has collaborated with Video Games Live and IMG Artists to release an album celebrating some of the best known, most popular video game music of all time. Video Games Live: Greatest Hits – Volume One highlights some of the best show segments exclusively created and uniquely arranged with the original composers, most of which have previously never been released. The album is available from 15th October 2007.

Video Games Live: Greatest Hits – Volume One includes medleys from some of the biggest games ever released, including Zelda, Mario, Halo, Warcraft, Sonic, Tron, Myst, Civilization IV and Final Fantasy.  The anthology CD was compiled by renowned video game composers and Video Games Live co-creators Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. The album features the Slovak National Orchestra as well as the Crouch End Chorus and the “Video Game Pianist” - Martin Leung.  The album was mixed and recorded at the world famous Abbey Road recording studios in London.

The album release coincides with the Video Games Live event on October 19 at the Nokia Theatre during the EForAll Expo in Los Angeles and on 22nd October as the opening event of the London Games Festival where it will be performed by members of the Philharmonia Orchestra at London’s Royal Festival Hall.

The album is the first global campaign of its kind, linked to the Video Games Live events planned in North America, Europe and Asia over the coming months and aims to appeal to a broad audience of gamers, non-gamers and music lovers of all kinds.

Music in the interactive entertainment industry has come far in the past 35 years, from beeps and electrical impulses to early digital synthesis and sampling to pre-recorded soundtracks. As the games themselves have become more sophisticated, so has the music that drives them and a generation of composers are devoting their energies to writing for the video game medium. 

Video Games Live is the largest and most successful video game concert in the world, having already been performed around the globe to over 100,000 people.  The debut performance took place on July 6th, 2005 at the world famous Hollywood Bowl with the LA Philharmonic. Over 11,000 people attended making it the biggest video game concert in the world.  Video Games Live followed with the first ever game concert performances in countries such as Brazil, New Zealand, Spain, Canada and England. 

The spectacular visuals, lighting effects and interactivity have drawn audiences worldwide with multi-thousand venue seats selling out in hours or days of being announced. Confirming their growing popularity and the increased demand, Video Games Live in partnership with IMG Artists (Europe and Asia) and the William Morris Agency (USA) will host the event from over 21 locations around the world from Munich to Manchester, Indiana to Milan.

For more information please visit www.emiclassics.com or www.videogameslive.com