Zimmer: games "absolutely" an art form
"That we can't question any more."
Immensely successful Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer considers games to be as legitimate an art form as films and theatre.
"Absolutely," he told USA Today. "That we can't question any more.
"When movies first came out, maybe they were in black and white and there wasn't any sound and people were saying the theatre is still the place to be. But now movies and theatre have found their own place in the world. They are each legitimate art forms.
"And now this new thing, it's interesting," he added. "We still call it a game. The word has a slightly sort of downmarket quality, that word. It is a trivial word."
Zimmer has provided the music to over 100 blockbuster films, most of them well-represented at prestigious awards shows: Rain Man, Thelma & Louise, The Lion King, Gladiator, The Last Samurai, Batman Begins, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, etc.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, however, will be his very first videogame assignment.
"This is the first time I even stuck my toe into these waters," explained the German maestro.
He has waited this long for videogame audio and visual technology to reach a "certain quality" before allowing himself to "get excited about the thing".
And excitement for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, he added, is palpable.
"There is a community out there that is interested in this game: people talking about it and being excited about it coming out just like I see when I work on a big movie," said Zimmer.
"You can feel it in the air. Something new is happening. You feel it as an undercurrent in society. It is like this swell of excitement. I feel the same thing about some of these games."
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 will be released on Tuesday 10th November. Yes, Tuesday.