Despite a sudden misery-inducing head cold, I bundled up last night and headed out with the Snook to see Play! A Videogame Symphony. The Sydney Opera House was filled to the rafters with geeks of all ages, races, and genders. For me, the highlight was the first ten minutes when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra played a medley of themes from Super Mario Brothers. How can you not like that? The crowd was actually cheering as each familiar tune came up. (I’ve always liked the carousel-sounding “swimming” theme, myself.) The rest of it was a bit meh for me. Sonic, Zelda, Halo, World of Warcraft, whatever. Sure, they were kinda epic sounding, but hearing one after another just emphasized how John-Williams-knockoff they all sounded. The only notable exception was Silent Hill, where the composer (a supercool Japanese rock star from the future) actually came out and accompanied the orchestra on the electric guitar. That was pretty cool. Other than that – and this may well be the decongestants talking – it was pretty much a snoozer.