Tommy Tallarico
Tallarico performing with Video Games Live in 2016
Background information
Born	(1968-02-18) February 18, 1968 (age 55) Springfield, Massachusetts, U.S.
Genres	Video game music symphonic rock
Occupation(s)	Video game music composer musician television personality live show creative director producer
Instrument(s)	Electric guitar piano keyboard
Years active	1991–2022
Member of	Video Games Live
Website	www.tallarico.com

Thomas Andrew Tallarico (born February 18, 1968) is an American video game music composer, sound designer, businessman, musician, television personality, live show creative director, and producer. He and his company, Tommy Tallarico Studios, worked on several video games since the 1990s.^[1] He co-hosted the television shows Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run from 1997 until 2006.^[2] In 2002, he created Video Games Live (VGL), a global video game music orchestra.

In 2018, after he became the president of Intellivision Entertainment, the company began work on and sought investors for an original video game console named the Intellivision Amico, for which Tallarico was frequently present in pitch videos. He has since stepped down from his position as CEO but remains on the company's board as president. To date, the console has yet to be released.

In 2020, it came to Tallarico's attention that a sound effect he owned from a game Tommy Tallarico Studios worked on, Messiah, was used without permission in the video game Roblox. This led to a legal dispute which ended in 2022 with the removal of the sound effect from the game. In 2022, a video by British YouTuber Harry "Hbomberguy" Brewis documented an investigation into many disputed high-profile claims that Tallarico had made concerning his career.

Early life

Tommy Tallarico grew up in Springfield, Massachusetts, later attending Cathedral High School.^[3][4] He told The Washington Post in an interview he would take his father's tape recorder to the arcade to record songs as a child.^[5] After graduating high school, Tallarico attended Western New England University for a year.^[4] According to the Los Angeles Times, Tallarico moved to Southern California in 1991 to try and obtain a job in the video game industry.^[6] Tallarico took a job as a keyboard salesman at a Guitar Center in Santa Ana, California.^[4] On his first day, Tallarico met an executive from Virgin Mastertronic. Shortly after, Tallarico was given a job at Virgin as one of their play-testers.^[6]

Career

Tallarico's first musical project at Virgin Interactive was for the Game Boy version of Prince of Persia. "The main focus of writing video game music back then was it had to be simple and have a great melody," Tallarico said.^[4] Tallarico worked on a number of other games while at Virgin Interactive, including The Terminator.^[7]

Tommy Tallarico Studios

Tallarico continued working with Virgin Interactive as head of music and video division until 1994, when he went on to found Tommy Tallarico Studios. David Perry formed Shiny Entertainment at the same time, and the two studios collaborated on Earthworm Jim and MDK.^[8] In 2005, Tallarico wrote part of an orchestral score for Advent Rising performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.^[9]

In September 1999, the "oof" sound effect was created for the game Messiah during its development, with the involvement of sound designer Joey Kuras (then employed at Tallarico Studios) and potentially, Tallarico.^[10][11] Tallarico has at times claimed that Kuras created the sound, that it was a collaboration between the pair, and that he created it himself.^[11][12] The sound effect was subsequently used in Roblox from 2006 to 2020, played after a character died in-game, and became an iconic part of the game after its adoption by meme culture.^[13] Tallarico, who claims ownership of the sound, disputed Roblox's use of it in June 2019.^[14] This dispute ended in July 2022 when the Roblox Corporation pulled the sound from all games on its platform.^[15]

Television

In 1997, Victor Lucas, founder of the Electric Playground, started Electric Playground TV with Tallarico, which provided gaming news and reviews. In 2002, the reviews section of Electric Playground, Reviews on the Run, was spun-off into its own program, which Tallarico and Lucas hosted as well. In the U.S., Reviews on the Run was broadcast on G4 TV as Judgment Day.^[16][17]

In 2006, Tallarico began to spend less time on the show owing to other projects, missing almost all of 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Scott Jones took over his spot as full-time co-host with Victor Lucas.^[18][19]

Music concerts

In 2002, Tallarico co-founded Video Games Live, a symphony orchestra concert series that plays music from video games, with Jack Wall.^[20] Tallarico hosted and played guitar for the shows. He also created the visuals—scenes from video games, as well as lights and lasers—that are played in sync with the music.^[21][22] VGL has been awarded two Guinness World Records: one for the most video game concerts performed (357 at the time the record was awarded^[23]), and another for largest audience to ever view a video game music concert live (752,109 people in total, where 750,023 viewers watched online via the Youku app, and 2,086 people attended the concert in person at the Beijing Exhibition Center).^[24][25]

Tallarico has produced seven VGL albums. The first album, Video Games Live Volume 1, debuted at No. 10 on Billboard Top 10 for Classical Music Crossovers.^[26] The second volume, Level 2, also sold as a Blu-ray DVD concert, debuted at No. 8 on the same Billboard list.^[27] In August 2013, Tallarico also opened a crowdfunding campaign for the third album Level 3 on Kickstarter.^[28] According to Tallarico, Kickstarter was chosen as the means to fund the album because he had not been successful in attracting support from the recording industry, which he claimed was because music producers "don't think gamers are willing to pay for music"^[29] and did not recognize the perceived "culturally artistic significance" of video game soundtracks.^[28] The Level 3 campaign successfully met and surpassed its goal of $250,000.^[30]

In 2014, Tallarico and electronic dance music artist BT began working on Electronic Opus. As with Video Games Live, Electronic Opus presents EDM music alongside a symphony orchestra.^[31] They used Kickstarter to fund an album, with a goal of $200,000.^[31] The show opened at the Miami Winter Music Conference in 2015.^[31][32]

In 2016, Tallarico co-produced the Capcom Live! concert tour with Shota Nakama.^[33][34]

Intellivision Entertainment

Following the death of Keith Robinson in 2017, founder of Intellivision Productions, Tallarico purchased a stake in the company from the estate. In May 2018, Intellivision Entertainment was re-formed with him as president. In the winter of that year, he announced the intent for the company to release the Intellivision Amico with the target of October 2020.^[35] As of July 2022, it is reportedly still being worked on.^[36]

As of September 2022, the Amico has been delayed at least three times.^[37] The console has been viewed very negatively by critics, drawing criticism for its delays,^[38] fundraising tactics,^[39] and use of NFTs.^[40] The status of the console has been described as "grim" by TechRaptor^[41] and compared to a car crash by Kotaku.^[42]

In February 2022, Tallarico stepped down from his role as CEO of Intellivision, remaining on board as the company's president and largest shareholder. He was replaced by the company's former chief revenue officer Phil Adam.^[43]

Other

In 2002, Tallarico founded the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), a non-profit to recognize achievements in video game music and audio.^[44] The guild hosts annual awards for achievement in game audio.^[45]

In November 2022, British YouTuber Harry "Hbomberguy" Brewis published a video essay which documented many of the high-profile claims that Tallarico had made concerning his career—including the number of video games he worked on, the number of Guinness World Records he earned, being the creator of the sound effect at the heart of his Roblox legal dispute, and being the first American to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise—and concluded many were either gross exaggerations or knowingly false.^[11][46]

Personal life

Tallarico is vegan, and advocates for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, including donating music for the PETA browser game Super Tofu Boy in 2010.^[47]

According to the LA Times, his McMansion in San Juan Capistrano "looks as if a 12-year-old with a huge bank account went wild", including a life-size Indiana Jones, several Star Wars characters, and a statue of Merlin.^[48]

He is a cousin of Steven Tyler, the lead vocalist of Aerosmith.^[49]

Video games

Albums