Guitar Hero -

Episode 380: Calling All GoatsEpisode 380: Calling All Goats

March 15, 2015| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 9:26 pm

After a week off from Jonah being at PAX East 2015 and Paul being at GDC, the podcast is back, as this week’s Gaming Flashback is the landmark Guitar Hero. In addition, the podcast learns too late that Cities: Skylines runs on Windows XP. Paul also deals with goats, and the podcast is giving away a free code for Catlateral Damage.

This week’s news items include:

Report: Mississippi deputy fired over threatening Xbox Live players
Cities: Skylines breaks Paradox sales records
Titanfall DLC is free forever on Xbox One, PC, Xbox 360
Goat Simulator is coming to Xbox One and 360 in April
Cards Against Humanity is now online, free

This week’s Question of the Week, “What is your favorite gaming snack?”

Episode 245: Hello 2012Episode 245: Hello 2012

January 4, 2012| Jonah Falcon| 0 Comment| 3:47 pm

This week is double-stuffed full of goodness, with over two hours of podcast, as Jonah, Paul and Jordan cover not only the news of the last week, but also recap 2011, talking about games that pleased and disappointed them.

Aside from the biggest news of 2011, the current news items the gang listed to include:

Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony all pull support from SOPA – sort of
Wii U launch price expected to be $399
Guitar Hero may return in 2012
Judge ruling deals Silicon Knights a serious blow in suit against Epic Games
FlatOut 3 dev calls Modern Warfare 3 a “beta“
Bioware defends The Old Republic subscription model, teases free-to-play for older IPs

The podcast also received a ton of new Reader Feedback, while the Question of the Week is “Which would you rather game on – a handheld console or a mobile device?”

Gaming Podcast 210: Meretzky Ruined Our LivesGaming Podcast 210: Meretzky Ruined Our Lives

February 16, 2011| schommer| 0 Comment| 1:12 am

This week we’re flashing back to Grim Fandango and looking back at developer Steve Meretzky and his destruction of our lives in the social gaming space.

We’ve got other news this week which includes:

Activision Kills Guitar Hero
Blizzard Wants to Release Diablo III This Year
Crysis 2 and Killzone 3 Leaked On BitTorrent
CliffyB On Why Gears Is Still a 360 Exclusive
Ensemble Studios Founder: Age of Empires III a “Huge Mistake“

The question of the week is: How many hours do you devote to video games, including social networking games?

Guitar Hero World Tour Day One DLCGuitar Hero World Tour Day One DLC

October 9, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 3:31 pm

How can Guitar Hero compete with Rock Band given Rock Band’s got early drumming and vocal adopters? By promising awesome content and enforcing that fact that they too, have downloadable content (DLC). Not only do they have DLC, but they’ll have DLC on launch day.

Of course, they could have tossed some fluffy songs out there for the first day or “promised” 20 downloadable songs which we’ve yet to get confirmation e-mails on using a big registration code. But, they’re starting out strong with a serious showing. We’re talking about:

Rock and Roll Band by Boston
Hot Blooded by Foreigner
Jessie’s Girl by Rick Springfield

With respect to these initial songs, it’s obvious their targeting the 30 somethings looking for some nostalgic feeling (more than a feeling?!) These are considered the Classic Rock Track Pack and you can buy them individually as well.

That same week we’ll get a few more track packs and songs including “No Rain” by Blind Melon which is an epic song for all instruments. We see this being well received and will spur some initial pre-sales now that we’ve got confidence we’re getting a rocking set list and additional content in the form of DLC that’s worth buying.

Read on for their full press release!

(more…)

Guitar Hero World Tour Bundle MayhemGuitar Hero World Tour Bundle Mayhem

October 7, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 10:46 am

You’re looking to pickup a copy of Guitar Hero World Tour, but you’re currently unsure which bundle does what and how much each will cost. That has now been made clear and gamers can go about their holiday shopping business later this month (Oct. 26th) to pickup the bundle of their choosing.

USD $190 for the full band kit on PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii.
USD $180 for the full band kit on PS2.
USD $100 for the guitar/game bundle on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.
USD $90 for the guitar/game bundle on PS2.

“And, if $190 just isn’t enough money to spend for you, Red Octane is also offering a special $240 deluxe full band kit bundle that also comes with an XL t-shirt, battery charger, key chain, and guitar case. This deluxe kit is available for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, with a $220 deluxe kit offered for the PlayStation 2 and Wii.” (1up)

One other thing that 1up observed in this pricing structure: Guitar Hero with guitar controller was $70, Guitar Hero II with controller was $80, Guitar Hero II on the Xbox 360 with controller was $90 and, of course, Guitar Hero III with controller was $100. Are we slowly being brought to the price point that these publishers want to reach? It seems they’re drawing us slowly to higher values as we continue to purchase into their schemes.

Granted, their schemes are fun as all heck so we’re willing to pay to play, but where will it end? Fairly soon we’ll be paying more money for our controller and rock genre style game than the console hardware with extended warranties.

Guitar Hero: HendrixGuitar Hero: Hendrix

September 18, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 7:16 pm

As if the week of rumors hasn’t ended, Slash all but confirmed Hendrix as one of Activision Blizzard’s next big hit Guitar Hero games in Rolling Stone Magazine says GameSpot. During the interview with Slash he explained that even “Hendrix will have one” speaking to a stand alone Guitar Hero title.

While Slash isn’t exactly Activision Blizzard’s mouthpiece, he’s probably got a bit of inside information in the industry and probably might not have wanted to say it, but he did. What does that mean to us gamers? Well, for Hendrix fans it means a potential must have Guitar Hero title.

For a few of us, it means another game we’re not going to pickup. Mainly because Guitar Hero is a great franchise when it diversifies its artist across multiple genre’s and multiple artists. It’s hard to doubt the monetary success of putting out a single-artist title game if the artist is as epic and respect as Jimmy Hendrix; a few gamers would surely burn their plastic Guitar Hero guitar to get their hands on this.

This is only a rumor but it’s a pretty solid concept for a real game so we’ll see how it goes. Personally, I’d rather see a full Disturbed Guitar Hero title.

Five Dollars Gets You 55 Original Rock Band SongsFive Dollars Gets You 55 Original Rock Band Songs

September 9, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 1:51 pm

If you’re into Rock Band and love the songs you’ve played, you may want to migrate them into Rock Band 2, correct? For the price of 400 Microsoft points ($4.99) you’re now able to download an export “patch” to allow exporting of 55 Rock Band songs into the next version of Rock Band.

There are a total of 58 songs in Rock Band, you can export 55 of them with the patch, left out (perhaps due to licensing issues) will be: Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills”, “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath, and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman.”

For five dollars this isn’t a bad deal, definitely worthwhile if you’re looking to have a huge library of rocking songs for Rock Band 2.

Today, we’ve learned the PlayStation 3 will get the same export feature as DLC, if you’re into the PS3 and plan to get Rock Band 2 you’re in luck. Also included in the PS3 patch, you’ll now have the ability to use your Guitar Hero 3 Les Paul Guitar with Rock Band. Excellent news.

(Thanks, 1up)

Exclusive Artist Deals In Rhythm Games Not Good?Exclusive Artist Deals In Rhythm Games Not Good?

August 16, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 1:19 pm

Rhythm games are the new FPS for a lot of gamers, a broader audience of gamers, and the market is thriving and demanding new titles. Harmonix and Activision are at the front of the battle with Konami following a bit behind but still contending (we think) very soon.

Each company plans to up each other with cooler instruments, tighter controls and new in-game options and multi-player fancies. It’s a business and each competitor tries to gain a lead by whatever means needed to win… or do they?

Harmonix stops short when it comes to purchasing exclusive rights to music artists, for now at least. Harmonix’s Eric Brosious went on blogger record saying, “We prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive “business” thing to do, in the long run, it’s really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people.” (kotaku)

As Marky Mark once said, we need “Music for the people” not for in-game exclusives making us choose between Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles. We’ve seen what EA has done to the football franchise by taking control of the NFL roster, money talks and the best game doesn’t always win.

If Activision decides to buy up a ton of great exclusive content and you’re a rock band gamer, you’ll lose out in a ton of great content. For some gamers, that might mean losing out in some artists you’ve never heard before which also means the artist loses out in new fans. We’ve seen younger gamers fall in love with the sounds of Boston and The Police, bands famous way before the birth of many of the Rock Band fan base.

You can tell Harmonix is a development group with roots in music while Activision is a development group with their roots in business. While exclusive access brings you an advantage, in terms of broadening the culture of music, it does very little. Harmonix may be in the right but will that matter in the end when business deals hit the table?

p.s. sorry about the Marky Mark reference, but it had to be done. Bringing out a bit of my own childhood there…

Rejoyce: Rock Band Instruments with Guitar Hero World TourRejoyce: Rock Band Instruments with Guitar Hero World Tour

July 16, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 2:25 pm

Simply amazing news coming out of E3 last night, apparently the Rock Band instruments will work with the new Guitar Hero World Tour game. This may only be true with the Xbox 360 version of the title, as Activision didn’t want to comment on Wii, PlayStation 2 or PlayStation 3 yet.

Activision deserves a cup cake for this strategic move, providing Rock Band gamers a money saving option and increasing their own sales. If you’ve listened to our latest gaming podcast episode, you’ll notice Jennifer changed her mind on World Tour because of the new Rock Band 2 news. In short, if you own Rock Band you can now buy Rock Band 2 game-only without having to re-purchase the equipment. Why would you then go out and buy more instruments for Guitar Hero World Tour?

Rock Band has solidified itself as the next-generation of rock gaming by showing us more than a simple guitar interface. Building a “me too” product after Rock Band and requiring us all to purchase yet more equipment is a deal breaker for a good portion of gamers.

Thank you Activision for making a product we’re actually going to purchase now, instead of passing on it due to limitations of the wallet!

Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (Nintendo DS)Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades (Nintendo DS)

July 15, 2008| schommer| 0 Comment| 12:53 pm

Talk about a name dropping, E3 is all about hyping upcoming titles to get people stoked and talking about the games. Nintendo had very little to say but to let the name slip Guitar Hero On Tour: Decades with a few minor tidbits about what we can expect.

First, we can expect massive carpel tunnel syndrome. Second, you can expect something similar to what we’ve seen in Guiter Hero On Tour with a few minor tweaks:

“They did reveal that the game will feature song sharing between Nintendo DS handelds, which would mean one copy of the game has the potential to have a song the other doesn’t? Could there be DS downloadable tracks in the near future?” (kotaku)

It seems a bit quick to be pushing towards yet another release, although no dates have been set besides “coming soon.” Had it been Sony, we could expect soon to be a few years, but Nintendo is usually pretty prompt when it comes to release schedules. Of course, they’ll wait for the On Tour sales to die down before we see the Decades release.

Unfortunately no songs have been talked about yet, it was really more of a name dropping than a detailed announcement. Perhaps they didn’t have a large enough E3 press release time slot, or they were much more jazzed to talk about the Wii Motion Plus product and Wii Sports Resort.