Donkey Kong has never looked so majestic.

Eyes blazing and chest heaving, the video-game legend is sprawled across a giant TV screen towering above the Los Angeles Philharmonic orchestra.

He should be smashing barrels and scaling coconut trees. Or pounding his torso, filling the Hollywood Bowl with the same mighty roar that’s defined a generation.

Instead, he faces an audience of roughly 10,000 – alongside Mario, Luigi, Sonic, Lara and other classic digital icons — headlining a multimedia video, laser and light show featuring musical scores from the world’s most popular video games.

But the Video Games Live tour, which debuted in Los Angeles July 6 and may come to Chicago in the near future, is just another sign that video games are starting to carve a new niche into mainstream music.

Powering Up

Real video games (read: Pong) were first developed in the 1970s, alongside the release of home consoles like Atari. Their graphics were barren and chunky; their objectives were mind-numbingly simple and their monotone electric audio – think microwave timer meets dial tone – makes cell phone rings sound like Tchaikovsky.

Bob Sompolski, 51, a professor of computer science at Oakton Community College on the North Shore, recalls playing Pong during college.

“The graphics were very crude,” he says. “But it seemed really modern at the time. We’d never played anything like it.”

But as years advanced, so did gaming technology. In the early ’80s, America saw the birth of Atari 2600, Intellivision and Colecovision, and in 1987, the North American debut of the Nintendo Entertainment System.

Then came the war of the pixels.

Throughout the ’90s, new companies (mainly Sega, Sony and Microsoft) introduced technologically advanced alternatives like Genesis, PlayStation and the PC, respectively, while reigning Nintendo stayed sharp with Super Nintendo, GameBoy and N64.

Every new console raised gaming (and consumer) standards – a few extra pixels here, a contoured control pad there – ultimately spawning a generation who, like myself, can’t remember life before Super Mario Bros.

Playing the Game

But with Internet access, networking capabilities, memory chips and a built-in DVD player, this new breed of console (the X-Box, the PS2, the GameCube) is not just a plaything – it’s a marketing opportunity, especially for musicians.

In games like Madden NFL 2006, Weinberg junior Paul Bryan says, players can hear top 40 hits while controlling the football field.

“I was playing the game, and all of a sudden, a Fall Out Boy song came on,” he recalls, laughing. “Then a little box popped up on the screen telling me how I could purchase the album. I couldn’t believe it. What is this – MTV?”

But Madden, which also featured Green Day’s hit single “American Idiot” before it got radio play, is just one of many video game titles with prominent artist cameos.

Award-winning film composers like Howard Shore (The Lord of the Rings trilogy) Danny Elfman (Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Simpsons) have written gaming music; some titles, like Britney Spears’s “Dance Beat” for PS2, focus on a specific celebrity.

“As games and technology improve, so does music,” says Bryan, who’s been playing video games since he was a kid. “People are starting to realize you can have real talent in stuff that used to be bloops and bleeps.”

Def Jam Fight for NY, for example, boasts virtual appearances by 40 of hip-hop’s biggest names, including Busta Rhymes, Fat Joe, Joe Budden, Lil’ Kim, Ludacris, Method Man, Redman, Sean Paul, Snoop Dogg and Xzibit. Gamers can even adorn their famous street-fighters with virtual bling from Jacob the Jeweler, a real-life celebrity outfitter.

“The market is driven by what people see on TV, in movies and in rock videos,” Sompolski says. “You see a lot of that in video games.”

And with game sales now exceeding box office receipts – Halo 2 generated more than $125 million in sales on its first day alone – and cross-promotional events like “Video Games Live” drawing thousands, the industry is poised to spearhead another digital musical revolution.

A Hard Bargain

But topping Billboard and box office charts isn’t easy, especially with a fan base that would rather play games than buy CDs and movie tickets.

Sony’s $135 million Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, based on the popular game series, was a box office flop, earning only $32 million domestically. Its soundtrack, which was released in 2003, has sold a meager 47,000 copies to date.

Even the score from Halo 2, a widely popular Xbox game in which players battle alien invaders, could only manage to sell 100,000 copies – the most of any video game soundtrack.

“It’s hard for mainstream music to reach a cult following,” Bryan says. “Most players don’t want to spend more money on a soundtrack.”

Selling Out

And the hardcore gaming fans – the same ones who have powered the industry since the ’70s – would rather their beloved craft not become a joystick-powered MTV.

Using Top 40 tracks in place of original scores cheapens the gaming experience, says Weinberg sophomore Peter Montoya, who’s been playing video games “since birth.”

“Why can’t they just make their own fucking music?” he says. “That’s what real games do.”

Bryan says role-playing games (or RPGs), in which players act out a different reality, are too intimate for mainstream music.

“You spend months unraveling these complex storylines,” says Bryan, who attended a Final Fantasy concert earlier this year. “By the end, you know the characters so well, they almost seem real.”

Original music is essential, he says, because you can associate certain scores with poignant gaming sequences.

“When I was at the Final Fantasy concert, they played some memorable songs,” Bryan explains, referring to “Dear Friends: Music From Final Fantasy,” a “Video Games Live”-esque event he attended in February. “And during some, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house – mine included.”

A New Hope

But while the industry struggles to attract new fans without alienating loyal gamers, the hybrid concert, be it “Video Games Live” or “Dear Friends,” draws both.

“You should see the people at these things,” says Bryan, laughing. “You’ve got little kids standing next to 30- and 40-year-old men who are completely decked out in Halo costumes.”

There’s no Britney dance-offs, no 50 Cent cameos and no bling from Jacob the Jeweler – and fans have just as much fun.

“I think games have been ignored as an artistic endeavor for way too long,” says Interactive Games CEO Ted Price in a “Video Games Live” press video. “And this is one of the events that really brings them into the public eye.” 4

Medill sophomore Dan Macsai is the PLAY film editor. He can be reached at [email protected].