Whoops, wrong Tesla

Hands up who’s surprised? No-one? Excellent.

Somebody over at MTV Multiplayer was being particularly observant this week (or simply Googling “Guitar Hero 6″ over and over again, MTV can afford people to do that), because they’ve uncovered a recent interview with hard rock band Tesla in which they state they’ll have music in Guitar Hero 6. Don’t believe me?

Guitar Hero seemingly receives equal amounts of praise and criticism. Rude offers his opinion. “I teach guitar when I’m not touring and a lot of people start in on that. A lot of people complain, but I think it’s a good thing. Even if people don’t learn to play guitar, it’s exposing them to all sorts of cool guitar-based music that they wouldn’t have ever heard otherwise.” As far as the actual selection of ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ for Guitar Hero 6 went, Hannon explains, “They (the video game makers) chose it. Honestly, there’s some pirate versions of ‘Modern Day Cowboy’ that people have made up for the game out there. They did ask us what we would request. That was one of our three that we wanted.”

-Guitarist Frank Hannon figures “oh, what the heck”

So apparently Neversoft have approached the band, which I’d say practically confirms the fact that the game is at least in it’s planning phase. But hey, it’s not really jaw-dropping news, is it? Captain Obvious is feeling a little emasculated by the whole thing.

Check out the whole Tesla interview over at Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, or peruse the MTV news post. Let’s hope the song list is better for the next installment!

You'll find this box inside the other box with the expensive peripheral

As with all ‘innovative’ games, the shadow of its evolutionary past and the pressure of its own groundbreaking present is sometimes just enough to stunt its future. When considering DJ Hero as a ‘logical’ leap from Guitar Hero, the game suffers from this trip up. But seeing DJ Hero as a niche market game and isolating it from the hype of the ‘next big thing’ in plastic instruments gives it a chance to … well, not exactly shine, but perhaps glow a little in the dark, dark room of single player obsession games.

A simple way to describe the game would be to say that it’s a music/rhythm game for people who like Hip Hop and be done with it. You get a lap-sized plastic turntable, 23 set lists/concerts of mashup tracks and lots of famous and credible DJs featuring in the credits and character sets.  You could add that it features funky mixes of both old and new tracks like ‘Heard It Through The Grapevine’ by Marvin Gaye, ‘The Big Beat’ by Billy Squier and ‘Hollerback Girl’ by Gwen Stefani, and that around 78% of the time those mixes are awesome. You could easily dance to them out at a club somewhere. The controller is a simple design, reflecting in a very basic way what a real turntable and crossfader look like. To cap this off, I’d probably add that if you’re a fan of turntablism, this game will give you a small but tantilising glimpse into how your favourite DJ works their magic.

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As recommended by Ice T

Damn, son.

Without sounding like every other fanboy on the net, I’m going to try and give a critical, even-handed (if possible) opinion on this mega-title.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, in this reviewer’s humble opinion, is a solid game. It continues a long history of excellent first-person-shooters and great multiplayer games, but primarily I have become a huge fan of the single player campaigns.

Traditionally the story missions have been quite short, but after cranking through the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare single campaign a little while ago, I was eagerly looking forward to this next installment.

And how was I pleased.

The game picks up where the last left off; albeit five years have passed.  You now play a new range of soldiers, but some familiar faces (and voices, which for some odd reason, made me think of a fictitious uncle I have that sounds surprisingly like Bill Nighy) crop up along the way.  (more…)

Coming in the following months: Tony Hawk: iRide. Same game, white controller!

It’s a little bit disconcerting the amount of plastic peripherals that seem to clutter up the modern day gamer’s lounge room.  If you’re a rhythm game fan, you’ve already got enough plastic instruments to equip a Devo reunion, and if you’re like me, the plastic DJ turntable to remix said reunion on.  And if you own a Wii and can navigate your way across a floor at night without stubbing your toe on a Wii-mote expansion, well then you’ve gained my respect.

For this very reason, when Tony Hawk: Ride was announced and shown off this year I wasn’t very enthusiastic.  Not just because I don’t think they’ve made an entertaining Tony Hawk title since Underground, nor because I’m not actually a fan of full-motion games.  It’s because Activision seem to be determined to take up every nook and cranny of my rather small lounge room with peripherals that we may never see used again, for games that it’s impossible to try before you buy.

However, my feelings about my jeopardised personal space aside, the concept for Ride did sound intriguing.  The skateboard must be one of the very few sporting apparatus that can translate well into a wireless motion device.  So I was quite interested when I found out that the preview would be available for play at the recent Xbox Insider Tour around Australia.  In fact (after nabbing myself some graciously free booze), it was the first game I made sure I played on the night.

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Proof!

Proof that it hasn’t been taken off the shelves.

After the rumour-mill went wild with the word that the game would be pulled from the shelves early morn (read more here and here), I’m glad to actually have a copy after that video got leaked that apparently ‘promotes terrorism’.

I’m more glad, in fact, that our archaic non-R rated games system didn’t pull rank and push back the release, or even worse, cripple what is shaping up to be a game of the year.

Unfortunately, I’m still at work.

This game is going to get the shit reviewed out of it, so stay tuned.

Big W: Excercising Release Date Ignorance Since 2004

It’s great to know that, despite being a land of restrictive and backward classification laws, Australian’s can get their triple A titles before the rest of the world due to incompetent retailers.

Rumours abound today that the highly anticipated Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 may be on shelves early at Big W retailers around the country.  A new catalogue begins today that advertises MW2 for AU$82, which is a good price to begin with, but it is a little early for the game’s official November 10th release date.

Most people would naturally assume that since the catalogue runs through to November 11th, the listing is simply advertising the game’s price in advance.  However, reports have come in from the Xbox Australia forums that pre-order customers have been told thay can come in from today to collect their copies.

Understandably this has lead to a great many Australian gamers promising to be at Big W tomorrow to check it out.  No actual confirmation of a broken street date yet, but if there is you can bet Mark will be there, attempting to bull-rush a pack of equally eager fanboys.

Take a look at the source of the rumour, and the catalogue in question!

Oh, and in related news, here’s Modern Warfare 2′s official trailer.  Hope you like pretty explosions and Eminem, dear reader.

He wants to know what your soul looks like

Hello there, gentle viewers. I’m going to dispense with the whole ‘introduction’ thing right now and get down to a bare ass DJ Hero update.

Follow the link here to the ‘cinematic intro’ to the game, featuring the unmistakably soulless eyes of DJ Shadow

Matt has mentioned before how excited I am for this game to be coming out, despite the obvious disappointment from the recent Guitar Hero offerings. It’s a concept that appeals more to me than being a ‘Band Hero‘, complete with a new fangled controller design and well, that’s a new skillset right there.

It’s using Turntablism (check out the movie ‘Scratch‘ to get a good idea of this AH-MAZE-ING skill) to create the songs, as opposed to just break beating in the middle of rock tracks, something I was originally afraid was going to be the main drag of the game. From the tutorials, sneak peaks on the official Site and various previews from E3, it looks like my little hip-hop prayers were answered and it’s going to be some sticky fingered, cross fadin’ fun.

But DJ Shadow as a bad guy? I just don’t buy it. He’s too damn cute.

Raheem's makin' money, Cowboy's makin' money...

It was a party night, everybody was breakin’.
The house was screamin’ and the bass was shakin’,
And it won’t be long ’till everybody knowin’ that Flash is on the beat box,
knowin’ that Flash is on the beat box, knowin’ that Flash is on the beat box,
aaaaaand … sha-na-na!

OK, so we won’t be playing the full twelve minute uncut glory of Grandmaster Flash’s “Superrappin’”, but the list of songs would probably take longer to read out loud anyway.  We’re slowly approaching the release date of DJ Hero, Activision’s newest reason to put an extension on your lounge room.

Today the game’s song list has been revealed, with a 93 track set for your cutting and fading pleasure.  I know I’ll most likely be getting a copy for two reasons: 1) I’m a shill, and 2) The wife is probably air DJ-ing at work reading this list.  Speaking of which, who likes long-ass lists?

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"We only doubled up on two bands!"

Ever since my brother gifted me the Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock bundle for Christmas a couple of years back, I’ve been a great fan of the series and the music genre in general.  I’m not a naturally talented musician (despite six years practicing the trombone), so a game that gave you the chance to play along with all your favourite rock songs appealed to me.  Even more so because the game is constantly challenging and great fun to drag out when your party is getting to the boozy end of proceedings.

Because I loved GH3, I went out and bought Guitar Hero 2, Guitar Hero: Rocks The 80′s and Guitar Hero for PS2, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, the Guitar Hero: World Tour bundle, Guitar Hero: Metallica and Guitar Hero: Greatest Hits. I have a grand total of four plastic guitars stashed around my house and one faulty, neglected set of electronic drums perched above my wardrobe.  And maybe with the exception of Greatest Hits, I’ve never been so disappointed in a Guitar Hero title until now.

Part of this may be because I picked up both GH5 and The Beatles: Rock Band in the same week, and stood next to one another it’s clear which game was made with care and attention.  But it seems to me, if you’re going to try and push a new title in the series out year after year, then you better be rethinking your gameplay, improving your features and adding something new for players to enjoy.  It’s the last point where I think GH5 falls down, and it’s the point that also has me feeling like such a pathetic shill at the fact I paid money for Activision to continue this cycle.

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Activision reps have spelled it out for the crew at Destructoid: DLC made for Guitar Hero 5 (such as the newly announced Rolling Stones tracks) won’t be compatible with Guitar Hero: World Tour.  This is primarily because of changing elements in the charts themselves (which if we understand this right, now have 13% more “weedilie”).  While some people are shocked, most gamers just expected it this way and are therefore not causing a fuss.

However Activision are quick to remind everyone that you can roll forward all your current DLC, and tracks from both World Tour and Greatest Hits.  This includes the god-awful version of Dueling Banjos that one poor writer just downloaded without first previewing, only to find out it was a load of electric guitar wank rather than a classic and entertaining banjo duel.  I guess I wasn’t going to use that 160 MS points for anything interesting anyway.