Whitesnake songs coming to one music game or another, Coverdale not sure
Sure, you could guess that it was sex, drugs or rock and roll that addled Whitesnake vocalist David Coverdale’s mind so much that he can’t recall with any clarity which music game franchise he recently approved the band’s “Here I Go Again” and “Still of the Night” for. And you’d probably be right — if anyone took too many drugs and rocked a little too hard in the late ’80s, it was probably Coverdale.
But don’t jump to conclusions. Did you ever consider that maybe he was choosing to make a statement about the genre and its recent creative stagnation? Perhaps by saying, “I can’t remember which one,” he was actually opining that we haven’t seen any real innovation in the “strum on the note” experience since the first Rock Band added other instruments. Perhaps Coverdale was actually calling for both Harmonix and Neversoft to reach out for originality, distinguish themselves and their respective games, and stop releasing copy after copy of what are essentially the same experiences. It was either that, or the too many drugs thing.
Whitesnake songs coming to one music game or another, Coverdale not sure originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Activision severely cutting music game releases in 2010
Activision plans to cut down on the number of Hero games in 2010. According to Activision Publishing CEO Mike Griffith in a conference call, the company expects the music game business to decline further as “the casual consumer proves less robust” and people are saturated enough with instrument controllers that they start buying only new discs.
“Fewer SKUs will service a broader audience,” Griffith said. “In 2009 we released 25 music SKUs, and in 2010 we plan to release less than 10.” The cuts will come in the form of PS2 versions and Band Hero bundles (leaving only standalone discs for that game), as the company focuses on Guitar Hero and DJ Hero releases in the “back half of the year.”
That 25 SKU number, by the way, is a pretty conservative estimate. We added up just each console version of Guitar Hero Metallica, Guitar Hero Smash Hits, Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Van Halen, Guitar Hero On Tour Modern Hits, DJ Hero, and Band Hero — not counting various instrument bundles or special editions, and not counting cell phone versions — and came up with 26. If you were to add things like the Renegade Edition of DJ Hero and add standalone disc releases to instrument bundles, that number would go up significantly.
Activision severely cutting music game releases in 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 10 Feb 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Review: DJ Hero
DJ Hero could end up being the most divisive video game ever created. It flies proudly in the face of certain qualities I’ve come to expect of the casual-aimed rhythm genre — qualities such as accessibility, recognizability and general ease of play. Activision’s latest possesses none of these characteristics: It’s got a sheer learning curve, it exclusively features music that has been mashed into an indistinguishable pulp, and it’s easily the most difficult peripheral-based rhythm game I’ve ever played. (Dance Dance Revolution notwithstanding, of course. These legs just weren’t made to flail.)
Everyone who plays DJ Hero will either hate it to its core, eject the disc and toss in a more familiar musical standby, or, if they possess a certain collection of odd inclinations, they’ll fall wildly in love with it. I fall into the latter group, though the small assembly of friends I recently had try their hands at the game fell firmly into the former. Yes, those people aren’t writing this review, but I thought it important to note their existence.
For my part, I found DJ Hero to be fresh by every conceivable definition of the word.
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Review: DJ Hero originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 27 Oct 2009 18:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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OpenChord: The guitar that plays Guitar Hero
The OpenChord V1 is one of those ideas that seems like it’s just missing one key component keeping it from greatness. What the company’s developed is a real guitar that you can plug into a Wiimote and use to play Guitar Hero. Cool idea, right?
Except there’s just one tiny problem: Playing the guitar with Guitar Hero sounds like a nightmare. It’s the kind of sound that makes you wanna storm into your bedroom and tell your little brother to stop playing with your axe before you punch his face off. No, we have no idea how to go about fixing this (we’re not even sure unplugging the guitar would help), but it seems like it might be a deal breaker for some folks. Check it for yourself after the break.
Continue reading OpenChord: The guitar that plays Guitar Hero
OpenChord: The guitar that plays Guitar Hero originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 06 Aug 2009 03:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Rock Band Country Track Pack coming July 21
We know that many of you will roll your eyes and scroll right along when we tell you that EA/MTV/Harmonix has just announced the stand-alone Rock Band Country Track Pack coming to 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii on July 21. That’s fine, we understand. Even if you have a passing interest, you’ll be able to check them all out when they eventually make their way to the Rock Band Music Store.
But before you go, you should know that the $30 pack of 21 songs includes one of the greatest recordings of all time, Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler.” Sure, there are other songs on there, we’ve even put a list of the first few after the break. But if you boot up “She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy” before “The Gambler,” we’re going to cut off Travis Tritt’s mullet and feed it to you.
Continue reading Rock Band Country Track Pack coming July 21
Rock Band Country Track Pack coming July 21 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 12 May 2009 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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