Sunday, July 19, 2009

Rock Band Network - possibly the biggest thing in music gaming

Rock Band Network was announced a couple of days ago. It is a service that Harmonix has developed using the X360 Game Creators platform as well as selling the software that HMX uses to chart the songs for the game. Basically it works like this - a band signs up for the Game Creators Club on Xbox live (a 100 dollar a year fee), purchases the software (about $225)

Then artists (or labels) can take the masters, run them through the software, and create note charts, band animations, lighting and what not - pretty much everything HMX does to make a song for the game. They even can make some original animations if they want to.

Then the song is checked for appropriate lyrics (the songs still have to be Teen rated), Copyright stuff, playability. Once the song has gone through this peer review it will be available to purchase in the new "Rock Band Network" store.

Songs can be priced from 50 cents to three dollars, and the owners of the music get 30% of the sale price (which is higher than most digital sales, and much much more than on disc sales).

Harmonix has trained a number of freelancers on the software, and is going to keep doing more "certifications" as well as answer questions about the software or using. Those freelancers can be hired to chart and animate the songs for the artists if they wish, instead of doing it themselves.

"Once we flip on the infrastructure, we can go from a few dozen people capable of doing this work to hundreds of people or more," Harmonix founder/CEO Alex Rigopulos says. "We can ramp up by a factor of 10 or more the rate of production of content."

What this means - Artists can spend about 350 (which is the price for a medium cheap instrument I think, not having priced them), and do a little work and get their song out there to possibly be heard nationally. Labels can make songs to be released for tour dates or CD release dates without having to wait for Harmonix (their staff currently can do about 10 songs a week).

Sub Pop records (Nirvana, White Stripes, L7 in additions to many others) already is planning to use this.

Music Games already have an impact for sales and marketing for music. I think this could be the biggest thing for music games since the genre was invented, and possibly the biggest thing in music since digital distribution. We could have a flood of music coming in through this thing after it settles down, and more freelancers are trained. Lots of possible indie bands getting exposure and lots of mainstream bands getting stuff in the game; there quite a few "X wants to be in Rock Band" threads at the Rock Band forums – and now the artists don't have to wait for Harmonix.

Harmonix have always said they saw Rock Band as a platform – this pretty much proves it.

And as a side note, when asked about the Guitar Hero music creator, one of the guys at Harmonix said they were working on something, but they wouldn't release something half assed. Now we see what it is. And I say WoW.


Further links:

At Gamespot
At 1Up
At Gamespy
At Billboard

Edit (Aug 9th) - I've contacted 4 labels and 5 bands to let them know about this. :)


And now back to singing with Harpy Serenade

Games Played since last post:
Peggle (PC)
Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
Guitar Hero Smash Hits (360)
Rock Band 2 (360)

Monday, July 13, 2009

Just for fun

I was playing around with the Rock Band Character Creator and I decided to do an adaption of another video game character. Judy Nails from Guitar Hero (notably her GH3 look).


Thursday, July 9, 2009

Snap Judgement Reviews V: A new Beginning

Aside: I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out of movie sequel subtitles.

Anyway on to reviews -

I've played a lot of games in the last few months - Blockbuster allows us to rent up to 5 games a week again, and I played a lot of PS3 games right after we got our PS3 - so I'll have a bunch of these in the near future. So on to the games-

Ghostbusters (PS3 or 360)
The visuals and voice acting are excellent - it uses all the original actors, and the models and animations for the characters are excellent. You really feel like you are in a Ghostbusters movie. Gameplay is okay, but not great - you hit a ghost with a proton beam for a while, then use a capture beam for a while then force it into a ghost trap.
Overall a decent game, but not one I'd spend 60 bucks on. Call it a 30 dollar game.

Prototype
Gameplay is great - you can run up and down building, through the city, and combat is run. You can customize between a lot of different types of attacks and powers. You get your memories back by absorbing major NPCs. My only problem is that you slash innocents, and later you use them basically as health packs. As someone who tends to avoid playing bad guys, that is a bit of a problem for me. Also the game is really bloody... the designers really took that "M" rating to heart. Because of the thematic material I'd call this one a 20 buck game.


Motorstorm
and Motorstorm Pacific Rift
Possibly the best driving games I've ever played. The two of them have the same basic controls - you drive a bike, an ATV or a big truck around an outdoor course. The graphics are amazing, the driving is loose and really fun, and courses are interesting. These are both highly recomended and they are 40-60 dollar games.

Pure
Yeah more driving. The gameplay is great, and I love the trick system. Choices of vehicles is nifty. However there is one problem with this game and it is in the "Easy should be easy" problems. After you go through the tutorial you have to beat the first track in a certain amount of time to even progress in the game. I tried about 20 times, and couldn't pull it off (on Easy). The game went back to blockbuster and I will never consider buying it. They made the entry level of this game to high for me.
Don't buy it.

Tom Clancy's Vegas Six 2
Pretty decent FPS. It had a realistic/easy toggle, and I took the easy, and it was easy. Pretty fun, and you could choose male or female for your main character. This one is a little above the run of the mill shooter. 20 Dollars for this one.

Later edit - I like the dollar amounts for games - that will be my rating system for games I review - the price point at which I think this game is worth buying. Rating from 0 to 60 dollars.

Back to singing to the tunes of Bjorn and crew.

Games played since last post:
inFAMOUS (PS3)
Ghostbusters (360)
Guitar Hero: Smash Hits (360)
God of War (PS2)
Rock Band 2 (360)

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Foot in Mouth

This is a small rant about Bobby Kotick, the CEO of Activision.

What prompted this was a comment he made a few weeks ago directed towards Sony. He said basically “If the price of the PS3 doesn't come down, we may have to stop making games for it.” I can understand the emotion behind it – I still think the PS3 is overpriced (even though I bought one.. * Sigh *). But just spouting it off in public just seems in poor taste.

This is the same guy who, in an interview, said that Guitar Hero World Tour was the first game where a whole band could play. The interviewer call him on it by saying “I though that was Rock Band.” Kotick hemmed and hawed for a few seconds then went back into his spiel.

He has a history of over exaggeration, lying or just crass behavior.

Back to strumming that guitar and holding the mic high.

Games played since last post:
Rock Band 2 (360)
Prototype (PS3)

Friday, July 3, 2009

Demo Play

Nintendo has patented a new thing for video games that they call demo play. It is an ingame help whose concept I really like. Right now, it is only in the New Super Mario Brothers Wii. It has three levels of help.

1) It runs a little window within the game window showing you what you should be doing – great for a puzzle or platformer thing that you just can't get through.
2) It runs full screen for a while so you can see what you need to do, then lets you play it. A lot like the above.
3) It takes over the games and plays it for you for a while.

I really love the third option. It isn't something I would use that often... but how many games have that one really irritating spot that is so much harder than the rest of the game? Demo play would let play through that, and get on with enjoying the game.

Some people have derided it (the Game Scoop guys in particular). I love the idea – but then beating something hard isn't why I play video games. If implemented on 360 or PS3 I could easily see that it keeps you from getting certain achievement or trophies (and certainly you don't get any while the game plays itself)... but for those of us that don't care about gamerscore or trophy point, it would be a great way to help games.


As a side note, I beat Halo 2 earlier today. Great game – I heard all the hype about them before, but now that I have made my way through Halo and Halo 2 I understand the enthusiasm, these are just fabulous games.

Next on the list (Besides the standby favorites of Rock Band 2 and Little Big Planet) – God of War. The first one. Yeah I've going through and beating all these games that I have but have never finished.

Next up – My views on Mr Foot in Mouth Bobby Kotick.

So back to beating up Olympian Beasts looking for revenge on the Gods.

Games played since last post:
Halo 2 (Xbox)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
God Of War (PS2)
Rock Band 2 (360)

Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Little Big Planet!!!

Shorter time between posts.. and to think after the last one, I was really planning on going weekly. Maybe this time.

Been playing a lot of Little Big Planet - the game I pretty much bought a PS3 for... well there are others but nothing as big as LBP. I love classic platformers - Sonic and Mario were two of my favorite franchises in the 16 bit and 8 bit eras, respectively. This game is from the same amazing mold of the best of them. I've played for hours on end and have been really enjoying it. I plan on trying to get through it, because once the game is beaten, you can make your own levels (and play levels others have made). I love user generated content... but I am much more of a console guy than a PC one, so I don't see it as much. So the idea behind this is really cool. I also love the community support that Sony is doing - and they had a Kart racer with a really nice track creator that will be out for the PS3 as well.

A lot of the nifty bits about LBP are in that side of. In a platformer, you collect stuff. Coins, Rings, Gems, whathaveyou. In LBP you collect costume pieces to customize your character with, and stickers and other things so that you may put them into levels you create. Nice use of the collection system in the game. And your character Sackboy is completely customizable - you can change the color of his sack, hats, hair, facial hair, shape, clothes.... and they have a lot of options in the game, plus extra DLC (I bought the Street Figther pack so I could be Chun Li if I wanted).



About other games - I've been working my way through Halo 2 - I've got 2 levels left. It's been fun actually beating games. And of course, I am still playing a bunch of Rock Band. And I picked up an SFIV controller (not the arcade stick) so I've been playing that to unlock all the characters.

See you next week, hopefully, when I'll comment on Demo Play.

And now back to blowing up the Flood with my alien allies.

Games played since last post
Rock Band 2 (360)
Little Big Planet (PS3)
Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)
Arkanoid (Arcade on Emu)
Super Breakout (Atari 2600)
Flower (PS3)
Geometry Wars (PS3)
inFAMOUS (PS3)
Halo 2 (Xbox)
Street Fighter IV (360)