1P Start

The Japanese frighten me sometimes. Yeah, I did that they have strange sexual tastes, like the fact that they blur out genitalia, but have invented some incredibly explicit acts over the years. Sometimes there’s a line that’s crossed that turns something from “sexy” to “incredibly disgusting”. A recent homage to Nintento’s Wii Fit on cover of what looks like a softcore porn DVD called Geki Fit fits the later description quite nicely:

In case you’re slow, let me highlight the good and the bad here:

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An elite team of Grandmas are busy knitting drum silences for Rock Band 2

More details emerged on the new Rock Band 2 drums. While they are essentially the same drums as the first game’s, the new drums are reputed to have quieter drumpads that are velocity sensitive, a reinforced metal pedal (thank god), and clips for add on cymbals that could be purchased separately. It’s a bummer that the cymbals aren’t included with this set, but at least Guitar Hero World Tour doesn’t trump the Rock Band 2 drum set entirely.

But wait, that’s not all! Rock Band 2 will have another set of drums that’s called the Ion kit. The Ion kit will have three cymbals, adjustable pads, a metal frame, and the ability to use the kit as a fully functioning electronic drum kit, i.e. it’s not for just Rock Band.

If you crave more info on these drum kits, you can find all the deets in the latest issue of Games Informer or you can just go to this message board where some dude scanned the entire article and posted it. Isn’t that illegal or something?

Rumors of a possible XB360 price cut that were floating around the internet for the last few weeks have finally been confirmed by The Wall Street Journal of all places. The cut will bring down the price of the XBox 360 Pro model from $349 down to $299 a pop. That’s a fifty dollar savings, folks. The Pro model comes with a 20 gig hard drive. While it’s not as cool as the Elite model which has a huge 120 gig hard drive, HDMI output, and a fancy black case, the Pro model will get the job done and it certainly beats the hell out of the Arcade model. So if you haven’t gotten a 360 yet, then get off the fence will ya? The price cuts are supposed to take effect this weekend.

Man it’s been damned hot here. So hot that I could barely make myself sit in front of the computer and write updates instead of looking at porn. Anyway… this week’s Rock Band DLC brings us more Red Hot Chili Peppers and Rush. The tracks will be available for As usual, the tracks will cost $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) each and are not available in a discounted pack.

The songs included in this batch are:

* “Snow” (Hey Oh) Red Hot Chili Peppers

* “Tell Me Baby” Red Hot Chili Peppers

* “Closer to the Heart” Rush

* “Working Man” (Vault Edition) Rush

You might have noticed that Working Man was already available before, well this version is a master recording with an all new special solo only found (currently) in Rock Band. So I guess that’s a big screw you to people who already purchased the song. Yeah it’s nice that they’ve finally got Rush Masters as a cover artist could never truly capture the annoyingly high squeal of Geddy Lee, but it sucks donkey balls that they’ve already released the song.

Videos after the break!

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If you are excited about more Rock Band in your life, then the songs that have been announced so far have been pretty damn exciting. What are they you ask? Well, here you go:

* “Ace of Spades” - Motorhead
* “Anyway You Want It” — Journey
* “Pinball Wizard” — The Who
* “Chop Suey” — System of a Down
* “Panic Attack” — Dream Theater or Finger Eleven
* “Give It Away” — Red Hot Chili Peppers
* “Everlong” — Foo Fighters
* “Kids in America” — Kim Wilde
* “Hello There” — Cheap Trick

These songs were seen on a screen on G4TV (see screenshot above), so they haven’t been “officially” confirmed. If this is for real though, holy crapballs is this awesome. Finally, Journey!, System of a Down, and Motorhead! I guess I know why we haven’t been getting any of these bitching songs as DLC…

If you’re a dedicated Halo player, Bungie has a treat for you with a free Halo 3 map available on Monday July 7th called Cold Storage. Expect the map to be cold. Bungie has also announced that the Legendary Map pack will also drop in price today from 800 MS points to 600 MS points. That’s 10 bucks to 7.50 to you people who use real money. While it’s not free, it certainly makes the maps more tempting to get if you haven’t already. There’s no word yet if they’ll ever drop down to free, but I think I’ll wait a little bit longer on this one.

I kind of fell out of playing Halo 3, but with a new map it might be what I need to get back into things.

While playing GTA IV (I’m so close to the end I can taste it), I thought that it was a shame that I wouldn’t get any “trophies” (aka Achievements on the PS3) for my hard work. I wondered what kind of trophies I was missing as I was doing all kinds off crazy stuff in the game. Then I was comforted by the thought that when Sony rolled out the trophies in update v2.40, I’d probably get all the trophies I had earned retroactively.

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Metal fans should be happy with this week’s Rock Band DLC. The songs come from the Motley Crue themed musicfest called Cruefest. The Cruefest Pack will cost $2.99 (240 Microsoft points). The songs in the pack are:

* “Down at the Whisky” Motley Crue

* “Time is Running Out” Papa Roach

* “Who’s Going Home with You Tonight” Trapt

In addition to these songs there will be a free download of the song “Promised Land,” which is from an upcoming film called The Rocker.

Thoughts and videos after the break!

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Everyone knew it was coming, but Harmonix has officially announced the arrival of Rock Band 2… in September! The name of the sequel appears to be Rock Band: Opening Act. I’m really hoping they change the name, since an opening act isn’t the pinnacle of rock success. Anyway, In a talk with IGN, Harmonix Lead Designer Dan Teasdale divulged a few details about the sequel, but what’s interesting are some of the questions he didn’t really answer.

You can read the whole article for yourself, but here’s a quick run down of all the most important facts:

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The Playstation Portable has been something of a failure for Sony so far. In every single territory around the world, it has been roundly beaten by the cheaper and more innovative Nintendo DS, although Japan continues to be Sony’s strongest supporter. But the lack of success in managing to get a sizeable foothold in the hand-held market means there is a question mark hanging over the little console’s future.

According to Zeno Colaço, a VP for Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, talking to Pocket Gamer recently, the console is still subject to the 10 year hardware strategy that Sony seems intent on sticking with. But while that has proved a viable strategy for the PS2, which continues to sell in huge numbers for such an outdated piece of hardware, I just can’t see the PSP having that much life left it in.

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We have a red hot leak alert on our hands here. If you just can’t wait a second for anything new about Gears of War 2, then here’s some leaked footage of Gears of War 2 multiplayer in action. Please note that if you click on play and nothing happens the lawyer faeries have done their job:

Another video after the break!

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If you’re dying for more Weezer songs in Rock Band, then this week should give you the fix you’ve been looking for. This week’s Rock Band DLC brings us three new Weezer songs from their newest CD (do they even make CDs anymore?). While this isn’t something that isn’t going to make me squeal like a pig, I realize that there’s more than a few Weezer die-hards that have probably pooped their pants by now. The three songs cost $1.99 (160 Microsoft points) individually, or $5.50 (440 Microsoft points) for the slightly discounted bundle.

The songs are:

* “Dreamin”

* “The Greatest Man That Ever Lived”

* “Troublemaker”

Videos and bonus thoughts after the break!

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Metal Gear Solid 4 is now upon us, and it has been widely greeted as the best game ever to appear on any machine ever, which I think means it’s quite good. However, it is also relatively short, with many lucky PS3 owners having already finished it after clocking in 20 hours or so gameplay. While the more hardcore amongst you may be starting it all over again, many will now box up Hideo Kojima’s latest masterpiece and start looking to the future instead.

Luckily for those people, Metal Gear Solid 5 has already been mooted, although not officially announced by Kojima. Even though this fourth instalment is the last chapter in the Solid Snake story, it’s not the end of the franchise, or even the end of Big Boss.

In an interview with 1UP, MGS4 assistant producer Ryan Payton revealed some tidbits about the future of the franchise, and the possibility that the next game could well take the form of a prequel.

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This Tuesday Sony announced that the firmware update version v2.36 would be coming and it finally hit the Playstation 3. This PS3 update is supposed to help system stability for select titles. While that’s fine and dandy, that still means we have to wait for the version that’s really worth waiting around for: version 2.4. If you aren’t familiar with that particular software version number (and I don’t blame you if you don’t) 2.4 will finally makes the XMB, a.k.a. the Xross Media Bar, a.k.a. the menu that’s spelled like it’s Xtreme to the max, available in PS3 titles themselves. 2.4 will also bring PS3 owners Trophies, which is Sony’s answer to the Xbox Live Achievements and will also make it slightly less sucky than Microsoft’s Live service. The PS3 2.4 upgrade is something that Live users have had for years and Sony should have had on day one of the PS3 launch. I also wonder if not every PS3 game supporting Trophies will make them less meaningful as much as Achievements and more as an afterthought. The fact that Trophies are coming is a nice touch though, because right now I own both systems and those little points you get for accomplishments in games are incredibly addicting and will often sway me to play the 360 version of a game over the PS3 version.

So exactly when is update v2.4 coming? Well it’s next in the queue, but Sony isn’t saying when that will be. This is perhaps the best move on Sony’s part. It’s better to remain incredibly vague than to disappoint Sony fanboys if there happens to be a delay of some sort. Why nail yourself to a deadline if something goes wrong in testing? So everyone be patient and wait just a little while longer for better features on Home. May I suggest earning some Achievements on Live in the meantime?

When Wii Fit was released in the states last month, not only did it sell out within days, it also prompted a new wave of fitness freakery and another way of people to attempt to lose weight. While some will doubt the ability of what is essentially a video game, to help you lose weight, one blogger’s experience with the game is nothing but positive.

Kris Abel, a blogger writing for CTV, details his experience with the game in the six weeks since he bought it, and reviews the software at the same time.

The most interesting and intriguing part of his post is where he tells of his Wii Mii’s response to him reaching his weight-loss goal of 16 pounds in six months in just six weeks.

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