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]

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 Sega CD version of The Terminator.^[7]

Tommy Tallarico Studios edit

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 edit

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 edit

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]

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.^[23] The second volume, Level 2, also sold as a Blu-ray DVD concert, debuted at No. 8 on the same Billboard list.^[24] In August 2013, Tallarico also opened a crowdfunding campaign for the third album Level 3 on Kickstarter.^[25] 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"^[26] and did not recognize the perceived "culturally artistic significance" of video game soundtracks.^[25] The Level 3 campaign successfully met and surpassed its goal of $250,000.^[27]

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. They used Kickstarter to fund an album, with a goal of $200,000. The show opened at the Miami Winter Music Conference in 2015.^[28][29]

In 2016, Tallarico co-produced the Capcom Live! concert tour with Shota Nakama.^[30][31]

Intellivision Entertainment edit

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.^[32] As of July 2022, it is reportedly still being worked on.^[33]

As of September 2022, the Amico has been delayed at least three times.^[34] The console has been viewed very negatively by critics, drawing criticism for its delays,^[35] fundraising tactics,^[36] and use of NFTs.^[37] The status of the console has been described as "grim" by TechRaptor^[38] and compared to a car crash by Kotaku.^[39]

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.^[40]

Game Audio Network Guild edit

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.^[41] The guild hosts annual awards for achievement in game audio.^[42] Tallarico has received several awards from this organization,^[43] including during years he served as CEO and Chairman of the Board.^[44]

Misleading claims edit

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][45]

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.^[46]

According to the LA Times, his home 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.^[47] Tallarico has falsely claimed that the house had at one point been featured on MTV Cribs.^{[11][45][48][49]} As of February 2024, he has listed it for sale for $2,999,000.^[50]

• Official website
• Tommy Tallarico at IMDb
• ROBLOX_OOF.mp3 by Hbomberguy