Posts in category rhythm
by Randy Nelson Oct 6th 2008 1:00PM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Rhythm
On Friday we had our final hands-on session with
Wii Music before its October 20 release. Our feelings about it remain more or less unchanged from
our time with it at E3. It's not a "gamer's game;" it's not even really a
game in the traditional sense. Its novel mechanics will be best appreciated by young children or groups of non-gamers. Nintendo itself has said as much.
Still, we wanted to
finally see the "games" of
Wii Music – the three modes where players are actually scored. The first is conducting with the Wiimote as a baton, which was demo'd by Nintendo back at the system's unveiling. The gist of this game is staying true to the tempo of the original work. How close you maintain the flow determines your score.
There's also a choir bell game for up to four players, which involves "ringing" your two bells as ones matching their colors scroll past. Finally, there's the most simple of the games, which tests you ability to hear different pitches. There are 10 "levels," where you are asked to place the Mii that's producing a specific tone onto a platform – match and win.
Simple stuff indeed.
by Griffin McElroy Oct 4th 2008 9:00PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
It's difficult for us to get excited about anything nowadays unless it includes some method of bolstering our confidence in our own talents. Imagine our delight when we read a recent
Rock Band forum post by a Harmonix employee, who confirmed that the recently announced
Rock Band 2 AC/DC track pack
will have its own unique Achievements/Trophies. While the logistics of how this will work are hazy (will they be added to the pre-existing awards of
Rock Band 2, or only be accessible from the AC/DC disc?), we can't wait to see how our
duck walk stacks up to Angus Young's.
by Alexander Sliwinski Oct 3rd 2008 5:45PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
The tidal wave of
Rock Band DLC doesn't stop as Harmonix tries to hit the 500 tracks available mark (
RB,
RB2, DLC) by year's end. Here's nine more songs being added next week for your DLC consideration:
The Offspring (440
/ $5.50)
- "Gone Away" - The Offspring (160 / $2)
- "Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)" - The Offspring (160 / $2)
- "Self Esteem" - The Offspring (160 / $2)
Individual songs:
- "Stop!" - Against Me! (160 / $2)
- "All Right Now" - Free (160 / $2)
- "Bad to the Bone" - George Thorogood and the Destroyers (160 / $2)
- "Cream & Bastards Rise" - Harvey Danger (160 / $2)
- "Nearly Lost you" - Screaming Trees (160 / $2)
- "Push It" - Static-X (160 / $2)
Videos for these songs can be found after the break. The tracks will be available for download next Tuesday and Thursday for Xbox 360 and PS3, respectively.
Continue reading Rock Band Weekly: The Offspring, six other bands
by Kevin Kelly Oct 2nd 2008 5:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Interviews, Rhythm
Tommy Tallarico has been working in the video game industry since 1991, and has worked on the audio and music for over 250 games, which sounds exhausting enough. He also ocassionally co-hosts
Reviews on the Run (formerly
Judgement Day on G4), he's a co-founder of the
Game Audio Network Guild, serves on the advisory board for the Game Developers Conference, and somewhere amidst that schedule he found time to co-create (with game composer Jack Wall) the live-action game music experience that is Video Games Live.
Video Games Live has been bringing the rocking tunes of games to audiences around the world for three years now. Whereas Jack Wall provides the baton-waving, classy dress portion of the show, Tallarico is the tennis-shoe wearing, Spider-Man guitar-wielding rock element. Check out our full interview with Tommy after the break, and check the
VGL schedule to see if there's a show near you -- because everyone should hear the Mario Bros. theme played live at least once. If you can't make it to one, enter our
Joyswag Video Games Live giveaway.
Continue reading Joystiq interview: Tommy Tallarico of Video Games Live
by Kevin Kelly Oct 2nd 2008 5:00PM
Filed under: Culture, Joyswag, Rhythm
If you can't make it to any of the upcoming Video Games Live performances, we'll bring the show to you. Joystiq is giving away five free copies of the recent
Video Games Live: Volume One, delivered right to your door. Just leave a comment below (after you've read our
interview with co-creator Tommy Tallarico), telling us what piece of gaming music you'd love to hear at a VGL concert, and we'll randomly select five winners to receive a copy. To enter this giveaway:
- Leave a comment telling us your favorite piece of game music that you'd like to hear played live.
- You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec).
- Limit 1 entry per person per calendar day (comment more than once and we'll force you to play the Atari 2600 version of E.T. forever, Clockwork Orange-style).
- This entry period ends at 11:00pm ET on Friday, October 11th. We'll randomly select 5 winners at that time to each receive one copy of the EMI Classics album Video Games Live: Volume One (valued at $15). Please check your e-mail!
- For a list of complete rules, click here.
by Ross Miller Oct 2nd 2008 11:00AM
Filed under: Nintendo Wii, Action, Rhythm
At last, Sega has finally revealed
Let's Tap for Wii, Sonic creator Yuji Naka's game
teased as, "World first, the game that even penguins can play." How exactly a penguin does play it is still not explicitly stated, although our marine biologist friends tell us that penguins are prone to waddle, so this inverted Wii remote laying on the ground may indicate that we will be, erm, tapping on our remote somehow.
As for the game itself, the available screenshots vary greatly and provide no basis for interpretation. There is a countdown on the
official website that expires in seven days. What we do know, according to the info box in the lower right corner: the genre is "tap action," it supports one to four (to infinity) players and will release this December for 5,040 yen (approx. US $48).
by Ross Miller Oct 1st 2008 11:45AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
After yesterday's announcement of the
AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack, featuring all the tracks from the Live at the Donington album,
Variety got a few more details from MTV's Paul DeGooyer. Most importantly, DeGooyer said the transfer can only be done once per disc, confirming initial indication of a download code printed on the game manual and expectedly void after use. Hear that gurgle? That's the collective sound of all those
Blockbuster patrons' sinking hearts.
The
Track Pack disc also lacks a character creator and has no online play, although you can use the
AC/DC tracks online with
RB1 and RB2. Unlike
Guitar Hero Aerosmith, you will not be playing as the band. The good news is that all songs will be available immediately -- no need to wade through "Whole Lotta Rosie" to play "Heatseeker."
And if you're wondering whether or not "Thunderstruck" will be making a cameo on
Guitar Hero: World Tour, DeGooyer said that AC/DC are exclusive to
Rock Band "for a term" but provided no information on whether or not there will be future DLC from the band. The
AC/DC Track Pack will be rocking and saluting in early November.
[Via
X3F]
by Justin McElroy Sep 30th 2008 8:40AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
Update 2: The "Track Pack" has been confirmed by Harmonix and MTV Games and will be available exclusively at Walmart and Sam's Club beginning in November*. The
AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack will be available in the U.S. on Nov. 2nd for Xbox 360, PS3 and PS2 and on Nov. 16th for Wii. The disc will retail for $39.88 for Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii and $29.88 for PS2.
The
AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack will also be available at most major retailers in Europe, Australia and New Zealand in early December. All tracks from the disc will be available for play in
Rock Band and
Rock Band 2 by entering a special export authentication code for the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions.
*AC/DC's forthcoming album,
Black Ice, will be available exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club on Oct. 20th for $11.88, as well as on the band's website.
(Full track listing and original post after the break!)
Continue reading AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack on Nov. 2 at Wal-Mart and Sam's Club [update]
by Ludwig Kietzmann Sep 29th 2008 4:25PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 2, Sony PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
"We can't condone people putting up covers of music. It's really there for original content." That's the word from
Guitar Hero World Tour director Brian Bright, who's well aware that his upcoming game's
music creator may also double as a copyright infringer. Speaking to
1UP, Bright explained that uploaded, custom-made tunes will be monitored by Activision and indiscriminately yanked should they contain any suspiciously familiar riffs.
"If there's a licensed song and someone holds the copyright to it, we'll take it down regardless of whether or not someone complains," added Bright. We sincerely hope this gives you pause before you decide to share your unoriginal, ill-advised rendition of "Motel" California with the rest of the world.
Guitar Hero World Tour and its
86 master tracks are out on October 26th.
by Justin McElroy Sep 29th 2008 10:25AM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm
If you just got on the music game bus with
Rock Band 2 but have found it difficult to follow the plot lines, we regret to inform you that you won't be able to simply download the songs you missed from
Rock Band 1.
Variety says the plan is to keep
Rock Band on sale for the foreseeable future, so you'll have to buy the physical disc if you want to "Sabotage" "The Hand that Feeds" or "Learn to Fly" "Next to You."
Disappointed you can't just pay $5 to import the tunes like all your
Rock Band 1 owning friends? We would kindly direct you to
your local Blockbuster. Hint, hint.
by Griffin McElroy Sep 27th 2008 7:30PM
Filed under: Rhythm
We know that the rhythm genre's communal idea well has been dry for quite some time now, but we find it hard to get behind Activision Blizzard's
recent decision to trademark the title Dance Hero for "computer game software" development. Not only is it grammatically disturbing (shouldn't it be
Dancing Hero, or rather, the
Hero of Dance), but judging solely by the trademarked moniker, we think their new project may be an answer to Konami's
Dance Dance Revolution series. There are just so few arcades remaining -- we'd rather not share them with a new generation of
button-stompers.
The trademark filing appeared around the same time as the rumors that
DJ Hero, a title reserved by Activision in February,
is actually in production. We'll be anxious to see if
Dance Hero follows the same path (assuming the
DJ Hero rumors prove true), or if it will join
Drum Villain and Guitar Villain in the filing cabinet located within the basement of Activision Blizzard's Santa Monica headquarters. You know, the cabinet labeled "unusable, awful ideas".
by Griffin McElroy Sep 27th 2008 2:30PM
Filed under: Rhythm, Business
Last week, Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick
criticized complaints made by Warner Music exec Edgar Bronfman, who claimed the royalty rates for songs used in rhythm games such as
Guitar Hero are "paltry." Kotick responded hastily, saying Bronfman's comment was "one-sided". Apparently unsatisfied with his single verbal riposte, Kotick brought the matter up yet again in
a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, in which he ponders whether music publishers who contribute to rhythm games should be paid at all -- even more, Kotick contemplates whether the music companies
should be the ones to shell out the cash.
Kotick claims that rhythm games with licensed tracks have
a "significant" impact on the record and ticket sales of contributing artists, causing him to wonder if developers "should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse." He makes a somewhat valid point, though we humbly abstain from picking sides in this royalty rumble -- we'll leave that to you, our well-informed and judicious readers.
by James Ransom-Wiley Sep 23rd 2008 5:00PM
Filed under: Portable, Microsoft Xbox 360, Peripherals, Rhythm
While it looks like one helluva
Wiimote attachment, this gangly peripheral is actually a portable
Rock Band (or more appropriately,
Rock Band 2) drum kit made by Mad Catz for Xbox 360. So no, we won't be flailing the loose ends about as we race our karts through Moo Moo Meadows. We're told the pads must be laid flat, like on a sturdy coffee table (best not glass) -- or in our case: the unpaid intern's back, or better, draped over his neck like some gaudy Jesus piece -- and repeatedly smashed to the beat of the on-screen cues. We're currently testing the "designed to withstand over 1 million strikes" certification, though the same intern has begun to complain that his wrist hurts. To which we reply: "Dude, stop hitting yourself." (Yeah, we're evil like that.)
The "Official Rock Band Portable Drum Kit for Xbox 360" is currently in limbo on
GameShark for $59.99 (and
Buy.com for $10 less).
[Via
Engadget]
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