In what's bound to be very big news, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has nominated Journey's soundtrack for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. It is the first Grammy nomination a video game has ever received. Scored by Austin Wintory, Journey's soundtrack is widely considered outstanding in the industry, as much a part of Journey as the game's mechanics and visuals. It's a time to be proud, gamers, because this has been a long time coming and we're well represented by Wintory's work. Bravo.

Journey's score is hauntingly beautiful, but it's the way it weaves in and out of a player's experience throughout the game that shows its true brilliance. Taken on its own, Wintory's work is certainly competitive with the other nominees, but it's almost sad that many listeners will never have the full experience -- the journey -- that comes with playing this magnificent title.

As for those other nominees, Journey and Wintory certainly have their work cut out for them, going up against such household names as John Williams and Hans Zimmer. Here's a list of the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category's nominees:

• The Adventures of Tintin - The Secret of the Unicorn, composed by John Williams
• The Artist, composed by Ludovic Bource
• The Dark Knight  Rises, composed by Hans Zimmer
• The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, composed by Trent Reznore and Atticus Ross
• Hugo, composed by Howard Shore
• Journey, composed by Austin Wintory

The 55th Grammys will be held on February 10 at 8PM EST, though considering how many categories they have I'm curious as to whether ours will be broadcasted on television. Either way, I think it's within reason for the greater gaming community to cheer Wintory, Journey and thatgamecompany on, while pointing at the Academy and saying, "It's about damn time."

One last note: you can purchase the full Journey soundtrack (18 songs) on iTunes for only $4.99 and it might also be available directly through PlayStation stores like PSN.