Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Rock Band 2 Drum Set







Rock Band 2 is on the horizon and already photos of the new drum set are hitting the net. The set target price for these new drums are $300 bones. So start giving blood and selling your sperm now. It is definately a hefty price tag for this game but the drums do look very sweet.



If you are a lucky person like myself and own a set of Roland V-drums you can mod your V-drums like this guy did.







Looks like a lot of work for the average lazy gamer like myself. That just likes to plug it in and play. With having the original Drums for Rock Band. It might be something I will have to upgrade if they add in different elements to the drums on the software side. Like actually hitting a cymble instead of a drum pad.

The better late than never award goes to Guitar Hero for their attempt at making a drum set for there already popular franchise.


It doesn't look as good as Rock Band 2's new drum set but It is much better looking than Rock Band's first attempt.


The good thing with all of this is. The more competition the better for us. I wish they would start making new mic stands too with attachable bandanas or something really goofly lame cool. So we can rock out to dude looks like a lady (and gallop around the house) or what ever goofy over the top songs from bon jovi.


Everyone wants to be a rock star at one point in their life.


Brent


http://www.extendedplayarcade.com/

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

E3: Day 2


Now, it's Nintendo's turn at the mic.

Nice way to start off. Shawn White is demonstrating the new Wii balance board, and demostrates how the board is used in his game, "Shawn White: Snowboarding". And now, Shawn's offering tips to one of the Nintendo higher ups. The demo looks great, and White's endorsement is awesome.

Nintendo just gets it sometimes. The Wii balance board makes the snowboarding game awesome. Now, just thinking about the cost of the Wii, the board, and the game just makes me sad and poor. But, for those who already have a Wii, the board looks like a great addition, and White's game provides a great supporting game.

Now, we are joined by Nintendo's CEO. Nice information, but the guy's got a thick accent. Makes it hard to appreciate what he's got to say. Get some interpreters, guys! How are we gamers going to appreciate what lies ahead for the Wii, if we can't understand what the hell is being said about it?

Okay, way too much of a lecture from the CEO. More games, please.

Okay, on to Animal Crossing. Apparently, gamers can interact with a living world, where animals live cooperatively with the gamers Miis. (Seems nice to anybody who hasn't quite hit puberty yet.)

Now the CEO of Nintendo of America is on the stage. No hard to understand accents here. He begins by talking about the Nintendo DS, and it's strong sales. (Something I'll never understand. The "two window" thing just didn't do it for me, and the Palm pilot rip-off pen is a pain in the neck. I tend to think the PSP is a better hand-held, but that'd just me.)

Okay, I'm fast forwarding. I don't need to be told how many units a handheld has sold.

Finally! A Star Wars game for the Wii. LucasArts' Star Wars: The Clone Wars will be available for the Wii, with players able to finally use their controllers as light sabers. (About time, Nintendo. But, hey, better late than never.)

Also, the new Call of Duty game will be available for the Wii. The graphics look great, and the gameplay is impressive.

And, now we're back to more DS info. Boring! Now, more stats about DS sales.

Interesting fact: The DS' Guitar Hero: On Tour has sold 300,000 units. Gee, that means that there are 300,000 disappointed people out there! The game just isn't the same on the DS, but that's a discussion for another day, and another blog.

Okay, here's something cool. The game Spore will be available on the DS. Spore's an interesting game. The ability to create your own world, and populate it with creatures of your own design is pretty interesting. Props to the DS for that one.

Oh, no. Another Pokemon game. Quick! I gotta find the remote!

But, before I press the "fast forward" button, though, here's something interesting. Nintendo will have a version of Grand Theft Auto on the DS.

What? Huh? Why is a kid-friendly portable gaming system featuring a port of Grand Theft Auto? Isn't that like having porn on Nickelodeon? Nintendo seems like it's having an identity crisis.

Now, back to the Wii. Now we've got the Wii Motion Plus, an added piece that fits onto the Wii remote, and allows for even more motion sensitivity. The controller allows for perfectly sync'd motion that perfectly replicates the person's hand motion step for step. Impressive. The first game that will utilize this new added piece will be Wii Sports Resort. The game takes the Wii Sports concept outdoors. Now, I'm checking out a sword fighting game that will be featured on Wii Sports Resort. We'll have a long wait, though, for the game. It's due out in Spring 09.

And now, music. We start with a drummer using the Wii motion controller on a drum set. Awesome! We're now being introduced to Wii Music, where the motion controller allows the player to be able to play a variety of instruments. Right now, we're watching the guy playing drums still, and now another guy playing a jazz tune on a saxophone. (Nope, no actual saxophone necessary. Just your regular Wii controller. Amazing. Very, very cool.)

The game will allow you to play 50 instruments. 50 instruments! Whoa. Now, we've got a guy playing violin. Very impressive. The drum kit can actually be augmented by the Wii balance board, allowing the player to use the board to control the bass drum.

Wow, up to four players can all play at the same time. On the stage, we've got four players, and our guest drummer playing what else? The theme to Super Mario Bros. (Very, very awesome!)

And, with that, Nintendo wraps up.

Very impressive. Overall good press conference.

Monday, July 14, 2008

E3: The Blog...


Okay, you all just missed my ranting and raving about G4's coverage. I'll quickly sum up:

1. Morgan Webb is still hot.
2. Three commercial breaks is way too many before a press conference.

Okay, Microsoft is starting up. (This first guy is pretty boring, and is making it REALLY obvious that he's reading from a teleprompter).

Microsoft starts off with a demo of Fallout 3. (Not going to lie to you all. I've never played the first two games.) The demo plays smoothly. Graphically, it seems a little like Bad Company, with a post-apocalyptic array of weapons and storyline. (It's amazing. Watching this demo just reminds me of how graphically superior Gears of War still is, versus games that are coming even now.) The guy who played the game for us was pretty cool. Much cooler than the first guy who talked.

Now, Resident Evil 5. The project lead speaks in Japanese, so the translator is talking for him. (What's cool about this demo is that this marks the first time that the RE franchise has appeared on the X-box 360. Props to Microsoft for getting the rights to put this game on the console!) The demo looks good. Looks a little like the last Metal Gear game, but with probably less lengthy cut-scenes. Ooh, a sniper view! Seems that's a must-have in any shooter these days, and you won't get any complaints about that from me. (Awww, the demo got cut short. Time constraints and all that. But, definitely looks like a winner.)

Now, we're talking! Fable 2.

Good opening. The project lead starts out by saying that "Fable 2" is complete. Nice!

We start out with some opening cinematics. So far, so good.

What the? The main character got hit by bird poo? What the?

Okay, more gameplay. (Graphics are good. Definitely a step up from the first game).

Whoa. You can "call up" friends online, and letting friends "jump in" to your storyline. So, friends are entering "your world". Wow.

Nice! You can marry, and have kids. And, the kids grow up with you. Total consistency with the story. Very impressive.

Fable 2 will be out in October of this year.

......And, now, Gears of War 2.....


We start out with a brief trailer. Very nice. Shows off the "human shield" feature, where you can put a guy in front of you, and let him take on the bullets that are meant for you.

Okay, gameplay. Pretty similar graphics, which is fine by me, considering how awesome the graphics were. Okay, more human shield demonstration. Hmm, it has an "Unreal Tournament" type of vibe too it. More wide-open battles.

Holy crap! There's a flame thrower! (I can the money oozing out of my wallet.)

Now, there's a new, huge monster, that just blew up the building that we're in. We're on the run now, and trying to get out.

And now, instead of killing the monster, we get to RIDE it.

Gears of War 2. Out November 7th. (Can anybody say "Happy Early Birthday Gift"

Aw, no. The first boring guy is back again. Ugh.

Aw, no. Microsoft is now creating it's own "Miis". That's a little bit of a rip-off. These are the Microsoft Avatars-"Miis" that allow you to be in the actual games that you play. Just like the Miis on the Wii.

Just so you know, I'm fast-forwarding through some of this stuff. I don't need to know about the number of consoles sales, the number of Xbox live subscribers, how Microsoft is dominating the gaming market, etc.

Just show me the games, folks. Save the business stats for your next Board of Directors meeting.

Okay, now we're talking. "Scene It: Box office smash". I loved the first one, so I'm looking forward to this version as well.

And now, we're checking out "You're In The Movies". Where you basically get to act like an idiot, and actually show up in the game. (I'll pass).

New Guitar Hero. World Tour. Metallica is participating, by allowing their entire new album to be played on the game. (If the album's anything like "St. Anger", I think I'll pass though.)

New Karyoke game. Eh.

Rock Band 2. And, the entire setlist is available to view. Nice. Axl Rose is lending one of the tracks from the upcoming G 'n R album "Chinese Democracy". (Of course, this album has been talked about for the past couple of years, so you'll have to forgive me for rolling my eyes at this announcement a little bit). Bob Dylan appearing on the game is pretty cool, though, lending his song "Tangled Up in Blue" to the game.

And now, and annoucement from Square-Enix. Hmm, new RPG? (Geez, I appreciate the guy trying to speak without the interpreter, but I might have brought in the interpreter on this one. This guy's hard to understand.) Now, we're checking out The Last Remnant, a new RPG. So far, so good. Available November 20.

........And, that's it for Microsoft. Nothing out of the ordinary. Fable 2 looks great, and I'm already ready to sell a kidney, just to play a demo of Gears 2.

Thursday, July 10, 2008

wii-60 remote for xbox 360? Better have a bowling game!



I was searching the net and found this article through a gaming forum and it directed me to this great web site http://sarcasticgamer.com/wp/index.php/2008/07/microsofts-wiimote-is-all-but-confirmed.html . I really dig their tag line as well.

Anyways this is huge news for xbox 360 owners. I mean the wii is so much fun with wii sports and ummm well that is about it (seeing developers are still learning the power of the Wii remotes). Could this be the nail in the coffin for all other consoles out there? I mean I can only dream of a xbox live bowling game with tournaments and leagues and stuff. Oh my the fun. Well for me anyways.

Check out this web site if it hasn't crashed already with about a million gamers heading to it. http://www.motusgames.com/page_controllerdetail.html

I'll try and keep ya posted on any new happs with this new exciting news.

Brent

http://www.extendedplayarcade.com/

P.S. got some great Donkey Kong video footage of a little tournament we had over the 4th of july weekend. I already have the score to beat 39,600. Yeah I know it isn't impressive but I only been playing for a week. I hope to get better.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Don't believe the hype....


Chuck D & Co. definitely said it best. And, in video games, the axiom still holds true.

Shocking as it might sound, I traded in Halo 3 the other day. Tuesday, to be precise.

Yup, you read it correctly folks. I traded in Halo 3. Come to think of it, I traded in Assassin's Creed as well.

You see, sometimes hype can just blind a gamer. You think you're playing the greatest game ever, and mostly that's only because you're being TOLD that it's the greatest game ever.

It's funny. When I used to play Nintendo games, and even Super Nintendo games, I can't really recall watching television commercials that told me what games were worth buying. I don't even recall articles in magazines that told me what games to buy. Back then, the only source that told me what games to buy were my friends.

I'll repeat that. The only source that told me what games to buy were friends.

Yup. No magazines, no commercials. Just the simple, good ol' "word on the street".

And, you know what? When it came to Halo 3, the word on the street wasn't that good.

It's amazing, isn't it? Millions are dollars in advertising, on internet, tv, and magazines, and yet I can't think of a single person who raved about how good Master Chief's third outing was. Actually, when it came to talking about Halo 3, I mostly heard:

"yeah, it's okay, but I thought Halo 2 was better."

Yup. Despite all of the hype, and all of the marketing, the game still couldn't compare to it's predecessor.

But, despite the aforementioned word on the street, I still bought into the hype. I preordered, and I waited on line like everybody else.

And, try as I did, I couldn't stick with it.

Maybe it was the repetitive enemies. One can only shoot up Covenant members for so long.
Who knows? All I know is that after logging in about four hours, I turned off the game two weeks ago, and still haven't had the urge to turn it back on.

That's usually the best sign, isn't it? Having no desire to continue playing.

Meanwhile, I finally got around to playing the demo for Bioshock a few weeks ago. A couple of days after I played, I still thought about the game, and looked forward to playing again. Since then, I did purchase the game. With the money that I got back from selling back Halo 3.

Oh, and by the way, I still haven't heard a bad word about Bioshock, from those same words on the street. In fact, I tend to hear phrases like "that game's sick!", or, "You haven't played that yet?! What's wrong with you?". You get the picture.

So, the moral of the story? The next time you're looking for a reliable review of a game, look no further than the "contacts" list on your cell phone.

The word on the street still rules.