1P Start

In an effort to keep the buzz going about Guitar Hero World Tour, Neversoft invited some world famous drummers to “test” the prototype drum kit that will be included in the new game. The video has such noted drummers as Travis Barker from Blink 182, Travis Smith from Red Hot Chili Peppers, and Stewart Copeland from The Police.

I’m foolishly hoping there will be an easy way to use these drums on Rock Band or something. There’s no way I can afford or store two fake sets of drums and a bunch of plastic guitars. While the drums look seriously awesome, how many Rock Band owners will be able to convert over after having dropped over a hundred bucks on the game. Hell, how many people are now waiting for Guitar Hero World Tour instead of buying Rock Band like they might have previously?
Hopefully Harmonix has some sort of strategy to combat Guitar Hero’s drums as well, because if I were to choose between the two, the Guitar Hero drums just look cooler with the added advantage of having them sound louder or softer depending on how much force you apply while drumming. That’s some seriously cool stuff.

After missing a week (sorry folks) your regular Rock Band DLC update is here! Last week saw a few new songs added along with nine tracks that were available in Europe. This week, if you like the Cars then you’ll be in for a treat, because there’s a whole Cars album available for purchase. If you don’t, well I guess it’s another week of not purchasing any new Rock Band songs. The Cars self titled album contains nine songs. The album can be purchased for $14.99 (1200 Microsoft pretend points), or $1.99 (160 Microsoft pretend points) per track.

They are:

* “Good Times Roll”

* “My Best Friend’s Girl”

* “Just What I Needed”

* “I’m in Touch with Your World”

* “Don’t Cha Stop”

* “You’re All I’ve Got Tonight”

* “Bye Bye Love”

* “Moving in Stereo”

* “All Mixed Up”

Thoughts and videos after the break!

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Zoids are cool. Why? Nothing beats giant mecha in the shape of animals and dinosaurs. Zoids were never as popular here in the states as they are in Japan, but apparently Atlus USA thinks there’s enough interest in bringing this Zoids based strategy game stateside.

This is pretty welcome news. I love strategy games and I’m very fond of Zoids. My roommate is so nuts for Zoids that I swore he was going to figure out how to get an import version in order to play it, since the Japanese trailer showed that all the menus were in English.

If the trailer interests you and you have no clue what Zoids are, check out the official Zoids Assault website. It has some handy information on the story of Zoids and some of the different Zoid mecha.

Zoids Assault is expected to street on 08/26/08 for the Xbox 360.

With the release of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull nearing, Indiana Jones mania is at its highest. Many fans of the series (me) are going crazy for anything Indiana Jones related. Therefore, for this Game Ads from the Days of Yore we take a look at a promotional ad that was made from the Indiana Jones Pinball game made way back in 1993.

Sit back and enjoy, it’s a nearly ten minute video.

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Feeling emo? Or do you feel like rocking out to songs that drive the teens in Hot Topic crazy? Well, this week’s Rock Band songs are just what you are looking for then. The songs are available as a discounted “Scene Pack” for $5.49 (440 Microsoft pretend points) or 1.99 (160 Microsoft imaginarium dollars).

The songs are:

* “This Ain’t A Scene, It’s An Arms Race” - Fallout Boy

* “Date With The Night” - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

* “It Hurts” - Angels & Airwaves

Remember, my thoughts and videos after the break!

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This week’s Rock Band DLC brings us more Smashing Pumpkins and a couple of songs from the Mother Hips. All three songs are master recordings and are not available at a discounted three pack. The songs will cost 1.99 (160 Magical MS Points).

The songs are:

* “Zero” - The Smashing Pumpkins

* “Time Sick Son of a Grizzly Bear” - The Mother Hips

* “Red Tandy” - The Mother Hips

Hipsters unite for more Smashing Pumpkins action on Rock Band. This makes their third entry to the game with one of their most memorable songs.

If you’re not familiar with the Mother Hips, they had a serviceable song that came as “bonus” music on the Rock Band disc. What’s funny is that somehow they’ve been promoted to real band status because the price for their songs is equal to that of Zero. Who knows, maybe enough people liked that first song so they thought they were in the big leagues now or something.

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This week’s Rock Band DLC marks a big first for the game, an entire album that’s available for download. It also marks the first tracks from Judas Priest with their 1982 album, Screaming For Vengeance! The songs will be offered individually for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Pretend Points) or as the full album for $14.99 (1200 Microsoft Screw You Out of Your Change Points).

The songs are as follows:

* “The Hellion/Electric Eye”

* “Riding on the Wind”

* “Bloodstone”

* “(Take These) Chains”

* “Pain and Pleasure”

* “Screaming for Vengeance”

* “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”

* “Fever”

* “Devil’s Child”

Videos and ranting after the break.

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Wow, this is a game I never expected to see happen. Imagine all your favourite Mortal Kombat characters, my personal favourite was always Raiden, going up against all your favourite DC Comics characters, you can’t beat Batman for a dark superhero. Now put that all in a video game and watch the results… pretty awesome huh?

Well, it’s happening, and Mortal Kombat Vs. DC Comics will be coming to a Playstation 3 or Xbox 360 near you this Fall after Midway officially announced the game in Las Vegas this week. They also issued a press release, and some early preview game footage that you can see embedded below:

As excited as I am at the prospect of this game, and I am, honest, I’m also pretty disappointed by that footage, as it looks ropey at best. Superhero games are notoriously difficult to get right, and it doesn’t look like Midway are anywhere near achieving a good result at this point in time. Let’s hope the three months of development time they have left improves the feel of the game.

I’m also disappointed by the rumours circulating which indicate that there will be “no fatalities and little-to-no blood” in the game. That’s not me saying it, but rather a former Midway employee who decided to leak the info to Kotaku.

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Another week and another look at Game Ads from days gone by. This week the game is Super Mario Bothers 3 for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

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Hold on to your hats fellow rock fans, this week’s round of rock songs is… oh who the hell am I kidding? It’s mildly interesting at best. The three songs are:

* “Call Me” by Blondie

* “Simple Man” by Lynyrd Skynyrd

* “Message in a Bottle” by the Police

Update: Looks like Mötley Crüe released a new single through Rock Band today called “Saints of Los Angeles”.

All three songs are Master recordings and will cost 1.99 a pop or 160 pretend money on Xbox Live. If you have a burning need for all three songs you can get them in the Classic Rock pack for the slightly discounted price of 5.49 or 440 rip you off points. The Motley Crue song will cost $0.99 or 80 Microsoft Magic Points for a limited time.

Videos and my thoughts after the break! (Except for the Motley Crue song)

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Another week, another round of Rock Band downloadable songs. This week’s selection (for XBox 360 owners, PS3 owners will have to wait a bit) are all master recordings and are available for 80 ms points (or $.99 real people money) or as the HMX package together for 240 ms points ($2.99). The songs are:

* “Rock Rebellion” by Bang Camaro

* “Shake” by Count Zero

* “Super Sprode” by Freezepop

I’m not really sure how I feel about this week’s Rock Band DLC. Okay, I know how I feel… disappointed. The three songs released were all part of an “exclusive” disc of Official Xbox Magazine. I ran out and got a copy when it was released because it was during the height of my Rock Band mania. So if you paid a fortune for the overpriced issue of OXM, this week’s release is rather lame. If you haven’t had the opportunity to get these songs yet, here’s your chance to snag at least one great song.

My thought’s on each song after the break.

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For this installment of Game Ads from the Days of Yore we are going back to the bountiful Atari 2600 well. The Atari had such great commercials because the medium was new and to show actual shots of the game for the full commercial would have been completely unimpressive, hence the use of hideous live actors doing a scene. This ad for Ice Hockey is a bit different than many others because it features a famous celebrity:

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This week’s DLC brings us a lot of Boston. In fact, it brings us more Boston than you can shove in your Cheetos stained face. There are six songs in total, bringing up the Boston total on Rock Band up to seven.

The songs will be 160 Microsoft Points ($1.99) each or as a whole pack for 800 Microsoft Points ($9.99).

* “More than a Feeling”
* “Peace of Mind”
* “Smokin”
* “Rock & Roll Band”
* “Something About You”
* “Hitch a Ride”

Now I’m sure that there are a lot of Boston fans out there that will get offended by this, but as much as their music was right for the time and dare I say pretty good, it all kind of sounds a like. You hear one Boston song, you’ve pretty heard much them all.

Anyway, when I hear Boston now it is almost impossible to separate it from the death of frontman Brad Delp. Poor Brad Delp killed himself by lighting two charcoal grills in his bathroom and letting the smoke kill him. His suicide note said that he was a, “lonely soul.” God damn, that’s depressing.

Videos and commentary after the break.

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This week’s ad serves as a delayed tribute to the late co-creator Gary Gygax. Yeah it really has nothing to do with the guy except for the fact that it’s a television commercial for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game found on the Intellevision, but without him there would have been no game based on the popular RPG to begin with. Or something, just go with me on this please?

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This week’s round of Rock Band songs brings a little Metal to the line up. Okay, not a little Metal… a shiat load of ultra hard core thrash metal under the guise of the “Earache Thrash Pack.” Here are the bands. Give yourself a cookie if you recognize any of these bands and an extra if you actually know the songs. Then give yourself a hug, because you probably hate your parents. Hey man, it’s all right. They can’t hurt you anymore.

* “Blinded by Fear” by At the Gates
* “DOA” by The Haunted
* “Thrasher” by Evile

They are available individually for $1.99 each (160 Microsoft Points) or $5.49 (440 points) as a bundle. They’re also master tracks, but I can’t imagine why any of these songs would necessitate the use of a cover band.

If you want to more about the songs and the bands that made them… uh famous… then check out Harmonix’s run down. Be sure to check out the videos after the break before you go, though!

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