Personally, I find it kind of sad how orchestral scores have come to be considered "generic". A song isn't bad just beacuse it's orchestral and the style has it's qualities. If nothing else, the sheer power and scale projected by orchestral songs is generally matched by none. An example of this is one of my most favourite orchestral scores Japanese Overture, which was composed by Andread Waldentoft for Hearts of Iron II:
Having said that, I do agree with the author that good songs from older video games are made even more impressive by the fact that composers needed to work with limited technology. I always like stating Nobuo Uematsu's work as an example of this. The guy did wonders with the MIDI format:
I also agree that it can be impressive when video games deviate from standards in terms of music. For example, World War II games traditionally have orchestral music. That isn't necessarilly a bad thing, since it does fit a game set in an older era and it is exceptional when well done (as shown by the first example). Nevertheless, I was pleasantly suprised when I played a WWII-themed RTS called Sudden Strike. While the game itself isn't all that great, the digital soundtrack used by the game is well done and suprisingly fitting:
Anyway, I can understand why the author may feel that video games have lost a degree of uniqueness now that they are no longer limited by technology. Ultimately, though, I think better tools make it easier for composers to create unique songs and differentiate themselves from the rest.
