Tommy Tallarico was born on February 18, 1968. He is an American person who creates music for video games, designs sounds, and makes television shows. Since the 1990s, his company, Tommy Tallarico Studios, has made audio for many video games. He hosted two television shows, Electric Playground and Reviews on the Run, from 1997 to 2006. In 2002, he started a concert series called Video Games Live (VGL), where orchestras perform music from video games.

In 2018, Tallarico bought the rights to use the name "Intellivision" and started a new company called Intellivision Entertainment. This company began making a new video game console called the Intellivision Amico. Tallarico appeared in videos to ask people to support the Amico project. He later stopped being the CEO but still works on the company's board as president. As of 2025, the console has not been released.

In 2019, Tallarico learned that a sound effect used in the online game platform Roblox, known as the "Roblox oof," was created by his company and legally belonged to him. This led to a disagreement that ended in 2022 with the sound effect being removed from the game. Later that year, a video by British YouTuber Hbomberguy discussed claims that Tallarico had made about his career, including his supposed role in creating the "oof" sound.

Early life

Tommy Tallarico was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and attended Cathedral High School. He shared with The Washington Post that as a child, he used his father's tape recorder to record music at the arcade. After finishing high school, Tallarico studied at Western New England University for one year. As reported by the Los Angeles Times, he moved to Southern California in 1991 to seek work in the video game industry. He began a job as a keyboard salesman at a Guitar Center store in Santa Ana, California. On his first day, he met an executive from Virgin Mastertronic. Soon after, he was hired by Virgin to work as a play-tester.

Career

Tommy Tallarico's first music work at Virgin Interactive was for the Game Boy version of Prince of Persia. "The main goal of writing video game music back then was to keep it simple and include a strong melody," Tallarico said. While working at Virgin Interactive, he also created music for the Sega CD version of The Terminator.

Tallarico remained with Virgin Interactive as head of the music and video division until 1994, when he started Tommy Tallarico Studios. Around the same time, David Perry founded Shiny Entertainment, and the two studios worked together on Earthworm Jim and MDK. In 2005, Tallarico composed part of an orchestral score for Advent Rising, performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir.

In September 1999, the "oof" sound effect was created for the game Messiah by Joey Kuras, a Tallarico Studios employee, and possibly by Tallarico himself. Tallarico has stated different versions of who created the sound. In 2006, the same sound was used in the online game Roblox as the default effect for when a player died. It later became famous in internet culture. In 2019, Tallarico claimed ownership of the sound and disagreed with Roblox using it. In 2022, Roblox removed the sound from its platform.

In 1997, Victor Lucas, founder of Electric Playground, started Electric Playground TV with Tallarico, which shared gaming news and reviews. In 2002, Reviews on the Run, a part of Electric Playground, became its own show, hosted by Tallarico and Lucas. In the U.S., it aired on G4 TV as Judgment Day. By 2006, Tallarico spent less time on the show due to other projects, missing most of 2007 and 2008. In 2009, Scott Jones became a full-time co-host with Lucas.

In 2002, Tallarico co-founded Video Games Live, a concert series where a symphony orchestra plays music from video games, with Jack Wall. He hosted the shows, played guitar, and designed visuals like game scenes, lights, and lasers that matched the music.

Tallarico produced seven Video Games Live albums. The first album, Video Games Live Volume 1, reached No. 10 on Billboard's Classical Music Crossovers list. The second album, Level 2, also sold as a Blu-ray DVD concert and reached No. 8 on the same list. In 2013, Tallarico used Kickstarter to fund the third album, Level 3, after struggling to get support from music companies. The campaign raised more than $250,000.

In 2014, Tallarico and electronic music artist BT worked on Electronic Opus, a concert that combined EDM music with a symphony orchestra. They used Kickstarter to fund an album, aiming to raise $200,000. The show premiered at the Miami Winter Music Conference in 2015. In 2016, Tallarico co-produced the Capcom Live! concert tour with Shota Nakama.

In 2024, video game music composer Laura Intravia accused Tallarico of using music arrangements from Video Games Live concerts that he did not own.

After the death of Intellivision Productions founder Keith Robinson in 2017, Tallarico bought a share of the company from the Robinson estate. In 2018, Intellivision Entertainment was re-formed with Tallarico as president. He announced plans to create the Intellivision Amico console, with a release date of October 2020.

By September 2022, the Amico was delayed at least three times. Critics criticized the console for its delays, fundraising methods, and use of NFTs. TechRaptor described its status as "grim," and Kotaku compared it to a car crash.

In February 2022, Tallarico left his role as CEO of Intellivision but remained president and largest shareholder. He was replaced by Phil Adam, the company's former chief revenue officer. As of 2025, the Amico has not been released.

In 2002, Tallarico founded the Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.), a nonprofit that recognizes achievements in video game music and audio. He served as its CEO and chairman of the board, and the group gives annual awards for game audio work.

In November 2022, British YouTuber Hbomberguy made a video essay that discussed many of Tallarico's claims about his career, such as the number of games he worked on, Guinness World Records he earned, his role in the "oof" sound effect dispute, being on MTV Cribs, and being the first American to work on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise. The video concluded that many of these claims were exaggerated or false.

Personal life

Tallarico has said he follows a vegan lifestyle and supports PETA. In 2010, he gave music to PETA's online game called Super Tofu Boy.

According to the LA Times, his home in San Juan Capistrano has many unusual features, such as life-sized statues of Indiana Jones, several Star Wars characters, and Merlin. Tallarico incorrectly said the house appeared on MTV Cribs. In February 2024, he listed the house for sale at $2,999,000. In October 2024, a real estate company called Redfin reported the house had been sold.