the road to rock band: beatles

The Beatles: Rock Band has been getting crazy press all over the place and I noticed in the newest Game Informer that they gave it an 8.75 - not too shabby! With limited edition replica instruments in a special edition bundle and fans worldwide getting psyched to rock out to Beatles songs, the launch of Harmonix's latest blockbuster is nearly here (It launches on September 9). While this game is sure to sell well and everyone behind it will be rolling around on piles of money by the end of the holiday season, apparently it wasn't the easiest process to get such a monumental game made and approved by everyone whose opinion counted. Not the least of which was Yoko Ono dictating her artistic vision on the poor game designers:

"She gave the designers hell," DeGooyer says. "She's an artist," Rigopulos adds, "so she was very concerned with the look of the game. She really held our feet to the fire." Ono made specific suggestions, like proposing that the game's final scene—the Beatles' infamous rooftop concert on the Apple Corps building in Knightsbridge—look windier.

How the Beatles Became a Video Game

johnny cash's guitar hero debut

One of the next big music games due out this year is Guitar Hero 5, which launches in just a few weeks on September 1st, and this latest installment of the Guitar Hero series will feature Johnny Cash an a playable celebrity character! The game will also include Cash's song Ring of Fire as well as Man In Black, which will be an unlockable track to play. There are so many new music games coming out this year that it is tough to keep track of them all.

Guitar Hero 5: Johnny Cash's Video Game Debut

busy busy lately

It's been over a week since I posted anything here and I am setting out to break this bad habit I've fallen into. Things have been crazy busy for me between my two jobs and, well, it's summer and there are more fun places to spend time than in front of a computer writing a blog. Still, I am doing my best to find time to get some gaming in here and there. I have been playing quite a bit of Sims 3 lately and finally took the chance on setting up a Sim with the Evil trait. In fact, he is not only Evil but also Insane and Inappropriate! These traits really do make for some hilarious situations, like the friendly interaction options of "Talk About Conspiracies" (his brother is Neurotic so this is their favorite conversation topic) and "Speak Madness", which has become my go-to social interaction to use. In addition to the Sims I also managed to get a perfect score and a medal on the Crop Stomp level of Rhythm Heaven that has plagued me for a long time. It definitely helps sometimes to take some time off from a game and approach it again later. I've also been doing a fair amount of rocking out in Guitar Hero, which coincidentally has a prominent cameo in Orphan, the (very scary and disturbing) movie I saw last night.

gamestop's july video game sale

As with many other retail industries, video game sales often slump in the summer while people are out, well, doing more important things like lying on a beach, getting drunk at barbecues and skipping out of work to enjoy the weather. Luckily for gamers this means time for big sales going on and GameStop's July Sale has some good offerings this month. In addition to knocking $100 off Guitar Hero band kits, the retailer is listing tons of games for under $20. Some of the big scores (in my opinion anyway) are Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles for the Wii for just $17.99, Spore down to $19.99, and Shaun White Snowboarding on the 360 and PS3 for $19.99 as well.

rhythm heaven is so awesome

I have been neglecting my DS lately (it was to be expected with Sims 3 coming out, of course) but I picked it up the other day and revisited my game in Rhythm Heaven, Nintendo's strange and wonderful music/rhythm game on the DS. It's one of those games that is so simple that it's easy to forget how much fun it is, but it truly is a good time. I managed to get through the mercifully short second remix and unlock the third column of games. I got through the love lizards game which is adorable and hilarious (success in the mating dance game = babies!) and am now working on the stomp farmer which is a bit more difficult. I also unlocked a couple of prizes by getting opportunistically-timed perfect scores in certain levels, a nice extra feature that gives the game more depth and more replay value (though it is not lacking for this on its own). If you are a DS fan and haven't tried Rhythm Heaven, pick it up soon, you won't regret it!

rhythm heaven is awesome

It’s been a long month and a half since Rhythm Heaven was released for the Nintendo DS but I finally got my hands on a copy and let me tell you, the wait was worth it! Rhythm Heaven is so much fun. Comprised of simple yet deceptively challenging little music and rhythm games, Rhythm Heaven demands some serious concentration and pinpoint accuracy at times so start working on your stylus flicks. The animation style is adorable and “wiggly” with simple stick-figure graphics that leave room for the gameplay mechanics to really shine. Prepare to be challenged and frustrated but also motivated as the game will occasionally entice you with unlockable prizes for achieving perfect scores. All in all, Rhythm Heaven is an extremely fun game title for guy and girl gamers of all ages who like to jam out to cute little songs.

dj hero controller revealed

One of the more highly anticipated music game titles due out this year (there are quite a few) is DJ Hero, which takes gamers off the fake guitar and instead puts a fake turntable in front of them. New photos show the accessory that will let you tap into your inner emcee - a turntable controller with color buttons similar to those on Guitar Hero's guitar controllers. According to a new feature in Game Informer the gameplay of DJ Hero is supposedly a bit like that of GH with falling notes to match, but will also deal with new screen cues to let loose all sorts of funky mixing techniques. Considering that its competition this year within the music genre comes from titles like Lego Rock Band, DJ Hero is shaping up to be a big hit when it comes out.

DJ Hero Controller Revealed

too busy for gaming?? :(

I've been working like a dog lately and as such I have not had the time or inclination to fire up very many video games lately :*( There are so many good new ones out or coming out, not to mention my backlog of wonderful older games that still need some attention. I managed to fit a few online matches of Guitar Hero: World Tour into my schedule recently and was glad to find I haven't lost my madd skillz. I also decided to take the plunge and start working on moving up to Expert. So far I can handle Livin' On A Prayer just fine but Misery Business is threatening to ruin my confidence. Someday my fingers will be that coordinated... someday!

the music genre is getting crowded

It's a fine line that game developers walk when they saturate the market with a certain genre. Lately, it seems like you can't blink without seeing mention of another new music game celebrating some nostalgic band. With Rock Band: Beatles on its way, Rock Band: Unplugged announced for PSP plus Metallica and rumored Van Halen and Pearl Jam editions of Guitar Hero, the music game genre is taking over the shelf space. It remains to be seen whether this flooding of music titles will help boost video game sales or cause consumers to wander off, eyes glazed over, in search of the next big thing. At left - Guitar Hero Pocket.

Will an Overflow of Sequels Dilute the Music Video Game Genre?

gamestop game days sale is on

GameStop's huge annual sale has begun and you can get a few good titles for really good prices if you're looking for some good deals. The highlight of the sale I think is Guitar Hero: Aerosmith for the 360, which is marked down to $9.99 and comes with a free white wired guitar controller. Other steals include the Playstation 2 trilogy packs like the Mortal Kombat Kollection and Resident Evil: the Essentials for $19.99. Check out the full list of Game Days sale titles at GameStop.

world tour is kind of easy

I got around to trying Guitar Hero: World Tour for the first time this week and while I can't speak to the whole band experience as we only rock out with our old-skool white guitars and no additional instruments/mics, I have to say the guitar parts of the songs are ridiculously easy. Crazy easy! I play on hard for the most part and was regularly getting 96+% on songs I had never played before. Could be that they were pop songs I know a little better than "One" by Metallica, but still. The songs seem way targeted at singing and drumming, which sucks if all you like is the guitar. I also tried Rock Band and the songs seem a bit more balanced to all the parts in that one. Also funny how they are exactly the same game.

emdroid is now on xbox live

Well I know I rail all the time about Microsoft sucking and Xbox live being a ripoff but guess what, we bit the bullet and now have a year-long Gold subscription. Mostly the boyfriend wanted to play Resident Evil 5 with some distant pals but also I wanted to try my hand at some online Guitar Hero III. The first couple of tries completely kicked my ass (and I'm pretty good!) until I figured out how to create my own match and pick the song, haha! I think it also matches you with more appropriate opponents over time as the first few were crazy good and the last couple were much more my level and below, meaning I managed to go to bed not having lost every match I played. I did have an instant quitter (lame!) as well as one douchebag who played some 5 second song and I lost instantly with me on Hard and him on Medium. Not really sure what happened there. Anyway, emdroid is now online so friend me! :D

d'oh - guitar hero metallica cover

In the constantly updating world of the video game industry this is kind of old news but still hilarious: in the first version of the newly released cover of the highly anticipated Guitar Hero: Metallica edition (due out at the end of March), they spelled "Lynyrd Skynyrd" wrong. I mean, there must have been someone whose job it was just to double-check the spelling on all those crazy band names. I'll admit I had to Google it to spell it correctly but still! I don't get paid for this shizz and I never spell things wrong. Dumbasses! It has of course since been changed but served to give everyone a good laugh for a little while.

Oops: "Guitar Hero: Metallica" Cover Art Misspells "Lynyrd Skynyrd"

perfect guitar hero round

I don't claim to be some kind of guitar hero goddess or anything (not like my coworker anyway, who practices on the in-store system during her breaks..) but I have gotten pretty good at GH2 and have been considering making my XBL debut and trying out some matches against people other than my boyfriend and friends. Until then though I will just have to keep inching towards Expert, and it certainly helps when I have perfect rounds like this one!

guitar hero 3 becomes first billion-dollar game

Activision announced last week that over the holiday shopping season, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock became the first single game title to ever reach the billion dollar sales mark on its own. Fun fact: sales of actual musical guitars are up, too! And of course companies are attributing the rising numbers to the popularity of music simulation games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band. I have to say I had opportunity to check out the DS version of Guitar Hero recently and it seems pretty cool if not mind-blowingly easy compared to the console versions.

Data from national instrument retailer Guitar Center indicated that sales of real guitars were also up. Griffith said two-thirds of non-musicians exposed to music games plan to start playing a real instrument in the next couple of years, while three-fourths of musicians said they've spent more time with their instruments since picking up a music game.

Activision: Guitar Hero III passes $1.b

rock band 2 out today

Today sees the launch for Wii and PS2 of Rock Band 2, the highly anticipated sequel that managed to be released before the end of the holiday season this year. It's a Christmas miracle! IGN loves the game and especially highlights it as a triumph for the Wii, on which it is no different than the other consoles as far as gameplay features and with only slightly lower resolution. Kinda sounds like you might be better off buying World Tour for its instruments though - everything I've heard indicates higher quality on the Guitar Hero side.

Rock Band 2 for Wii fixes every problem the original game had on the system and even adds pleasant new features. Aside from a little less detail in the visuals, this is identical to what Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 players have been playing since September. It's a more user-friendly experience, simultaneously more challenging for the hardcore and more accessible for casuals.

IGN: Rock Band 2 Special Edition for Wii

movin' on up to hard!

We've been rocking out a lot lately (also known as playing Guitar Hero) and have just started transitioning from Medium to Hard. Some of those songs are, to use scientific terminology, redonkulously hard. Some day I will conquer Carry On Wayward Son but until then I've been doing okay. Like many others before me I even made a video of myself doing Possum Kingdom. Of course I had to pick one of the 5+ minute songs and I'm still far from competent but I am doing much better in Hard than I would have guessed. Expert is still far, far off in the distance, for now anyway.

i'm such a hypocrite

All right, I have railed like crazy against the rhythm-music games out there but am now eating my words in a tasty, tasty breakfast of rocking out with Guitar Hero II. I picked up the game used plus two of the white wired guitars released with that title and amazingly was able to use credit from four trade-ins (plus various discounts) to completely cover the purchase. I admit it, it's way more fun that I thought it would be and I need to remember that the lame kid playing at Best Buy with the sound off is not necessarily showing the product in its true glory. I started out using Pandora but think I'm gonna switch to Casey Lynch permanently (see pic for her hotness) and want to mention that I love all the awesome girl characters. Smart not to make them all anime-style bodacious hotties. I've gotten pretty awesome at easy in the last few days and plan on switching up to medium although I've sucked hard at the ones I've tried so far. Thankfully I have unlocked Carry On Wayward Son, the song that pretty much made me want to try the game out. Sadly I don't get to play Livin' on a Prayer (which I get to listen to customers playing all. damn. day on the in-store consoles) but am looking forward to rocking harder as the level goes up.

beatles songs on rock band... sigh

I may occasionally call myself old but really I'm not that old; still, I find myself feeling all crotchety over the news that MTV is planning on infusing Rock Band with Beatles songs. This will be the first "digital" media to score rights to tunes by the Beatles; not even iTunes sells their songs, apparently. So now everyone will be able to "play" along with the favorites. I imagine it will sound something like: "In the toooown... TAP TAP TAP where I was boooorn PLASTIC NOISES lived a maaan BUTTON MASHING who sailed the seeeeaa...". On the other hand, how cool would it be if Apple Corps allowed the songs to be used in a trippy video game version of Yellow Submarine? That would actually be kind of amazing.

With Deal, Beatles Songs May Enter Digital Age

new guitar hero drums might be crap

So Guitar Hero: World Tour debuted this weekend and in an attempt to defend their stakes in the music video game market, GH now uses drums just like its major competitor, Rock Band. Unfortunately for folks wanting to get the new title ASAP, it looks like the earliest manufactured GH drum sets come with some serious sensitivity issues, mainly that after only a few hits they pretty much quit out on you. Frankly I think this is what people get for wanting to bang plastic circles with plastic sticks instead of actually taking up a real instrument. I saw a bunch of kids loitering around the local GameStop the other day playing Rock Band on the demo machine and damn if it didn't look like the dumbest thing ever, banging away on the plastic drum set, especially since the volume was pretty low and the clack-clack-clack of plastic on plastic was all you could hear. Not sure that would really do it for me but then I guess that's why those kids are loitering and playing in-store rather than buying... Anyway, with any luck the hardware issues with the new Guitar Hero will be resolved and people won't have to be pissed about poor equipment development on Activision's part.

GH: World Tour hardware hang-ups draw outcry