Video games to grab spot at the Grammys

Video game composers to be given the chance to win top honours by The Recording Academy. That's music to our ears, etc.

Four Grammy awards in the field of 'visual media' have been amended to include videogames as a distinct medium, placing it alongside 'Motion', 'Television' and 'Other Visual Media'.

Those awards are:

• The Music for Visual Media
• Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media
• Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media
• Best Song Written for Visual Media

It means videogame composers may now be recognised for their efforts.

Steve Schnur, worldwide executive for music at EA  believes this to be a positive and important step for both the game and music industries.

"The recognition of video games within the GRAMMY Awards is not just significantly important for the interactive entertainment medium, but it shows that the Academy recognizes games are important for the future growth of their audience," he told Industry Gamers

Recently, Heavy Rain picked up the best original music gong at the video game BAFTAs, but up to this point games have been largely ignored at other mainstream awards ceremonies. Schnur hopes the game industry will respond enthusiastically to this news

"Hopefully, this will create an even playing field when people vote next year," he said. "I expect there to be a tidal wave of submissions from the game industry."

Bill Freimuth, vice president for awards at The Recording Academy, went on to say that the door could be opened even wider in the future.

"I think this could be viewed as a first step in the direction of video games getting their own category," he said.

Further details, and a video of the press conference in which the category changes were announced can be found at the official Grammys site

Thanks, GI.biz