Video game music was always an interesting genre. Most of it was like something you'd find in a TV series in that it needed to be played repeatedly without boring or irritating the listener. At its best, it could be like a good film score and really contribute to the action/drama on screen. With Nintendo starting off the video game revolution (arguably) and Japan leading game development and production, video game music definitely has a Japanese tinge to it (all those chromatic base lines and major-minor mode shifts). Some of the more recent music has even made it mainstream (remember "Eyes on Me" sang by Faye Wong in FFVIII?). Actually, Final Fantasy is a good example since people have mostly loved the soundtracks. They're mostly by Nobuo Uematsu, who is now part of rock band named "The Black Mages" apparently devoted to playing rock and roll versions of music from Final Fantasy. The battle themes. *blink blink*

This is genius, I think, as far as economics are concerned. The most memorable themes (not necessarily the most liked) tend to be the battle themes. Why? Because you hear them 8 hojillion times. Not to say some of them weren't well composed/catchy. The band doesn't really have to write new music. Just reorchestrate. And with the throngs of FF fans, they're sure to have a solid fan base already. Silly Japanese. Anyway, go to the site (click on pic above) and listen to some video game rock. Really.