Oh?!

So I'm piecing my way through the Green Day: Rock Band demo released today, and it was fun, to say the least, I mean, after the attention to detail and care lavished over The Beatles: Rock Band, there was no doubt in my mind that Harmonix could do one of the bands who revived punk justice.

But this isn't about them. Or the demo. I'm sure you notice the picture.

It raises a few thoughts. Guitar, drums, bass, vocal...harmonies? Okay. It was in B:RB, I can let that slide. Saw that coming.

There's also a keyboard there. More thoughts. How is this going to work? What is the note chart going to look like? On Expert? Does this mean we now have a max number of SEVEN band members at once, and a minimum of 5 as a full band?

Will we finally get a most triumphant version of Bohemian Rhapsody to play at parties? Piano Man? Love Train? Party Hard?

Can I really fit 7 people in my house? Should the police be called in advance?

The mind boggles.

Because really, It's one thing to say, "Yeah, it's coming out", and another to come to the table with actual material.

I think Rock Band 3 finally has an announcement it deserves.

Thanks to JoeCamNet's Dtoid Blog for the picture, your camera was muuuuch kinder to the image than mine.

(This article's also on CLgamer.com!)

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What do you want me to say?

I have no words. I wish I did, I wish I could be jaded, I wish it didn't matter because we're already used to TERRIBLE and sometimes AWFUL adaptations of the games we know and love, but even this is a bit much for my digestion.

I even hate to write off these two, because under any other name, this could've been an annoying, generic black-meets-white-lol-easy-racist-joke buddy comedy (already filled this year by Copout), but with the Kane and Lynch name on it, I have nothing but visions of the future, and they are NOT good..



I mean, how in the HELL am I supposed to realistically believe that These two..



Are these two?



I know our medium still hasn't gotten its due respect, but I'm a gamer. My suspension of disbelief can only be pushed so far..

..before I start to feel like I'm being mocked.

I don't think I'm being too extreme, either. I know that more often than not, we have characters who couldn't POSSIBLY exist in the real world, so their design gets compromised a bit, maybe even altered but...have they really stopped trying to THIS extent? Hell, Kane and Lynch wasn't even all that as a game, and it looks like the same care is going in here for the adaptation. I want to give it the benefit of the doubt, I know all I've seen is this fuzzy poster, but I keep thinking about this, and I don't even see a movie here, I just see a huge paycheck.

And man, does it sound like someone is laughing all the way to the bank.



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Oh no...I haven't forgotten about you.

I'm just starting to filter the content that spills into here..less business and more personal, as we started.. just a bit of time. Great things are being written. :D






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DJ Hero: Domination Mix Pack Review

Everyone reading this blog knows how much I love DJ Hero. Everyone. Especially if you've seen me play, and how I have without hesitation, downloaded each DLC pack without hesitation. But after the Eminem vs. Jay-Z pack, I'd assumed they were going to rest on their laurels for a while.

Color me surprised when Freestyle Games and Activision announced that there would be ANOTHER DJ Hero content pack released this month! Sure, the game doesn't exactly have a Rock Band level of DLC saturation, but the fact that Activision continues to support the game, despite the steep price and despite the (typical for a new IP) sales numbers, they keep putting them out. So far, they've been of an extremely high quality, not only in the choice of songs themselves, but in the amazing ways they've been arranged, and the technique required to master them. But does the newly released Domination pack keep up the tradition of unique, unconventional gameplay that DJ Hero is known for, or is it finally time for their first DLC disaster?


DJ Hero Domination Mix Pack (Add-On Content)
For: Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii (PSN Release : May 11)
Price: 640 MS Points, 300 Wii Points, $7.99 Playstation Network
Released 4/29/2009

For starters, it's clear why they've called this the "Domination" pack, because of each of the three mixes; Beat juggles (arranged versions) of Red Mist VIP (Danny Byrd), and Wolfgang's 5th Symphony (Wolfgang Garter), and a mashup of Sandstorm (Darude) vs. Higher State of Consciousness (Josh Wink) are what's being served, and they're all going to kick your ass. Each song in this pack hosts not only a daunting length, but they all use just about every advanced technique in the game in some fashion to create a pack obviously tailored towards people who think they're the shit in this game. You'll be humbled by the time you're done, trust me.

Now to the mixes! (Ratings for each mix are out of 5, and were played on Expert difficulty.)



Red Mist VIP is the first of three mixes, a DnB/Hip-Hop song that starts off slow, gets more challenging with a tempo increase, then slows down again. It's almost like an introduction to the patterns you'll experience for the rest of the pack in terms of difficulty, like scratching amidst crossfade spikes(!!) and stretches of 2 to 3 button simultaneous taps . While it's almost completely unexciting as a mix (personally, I think it sounds too close to the original), gameplay wise, it's an above average challenge that's good for a warmup, or even honing technique. (Rating: 3/5)



Wolfgang Gartier's 5th Symphony ditches the easy introduction and immediately kicks off with frenzied crossfading and rhythmic scratching eerily reminiscent of the Groundhog (Noisia) beat juggle from the climax setlist of the original game. Hard hitting and bombastic, it's a very technical song that starts off slowly, just like the original, then completely descends into a madness that'll have you employing every technique in the game to great effect. Unpredictable crossfades, spikes, changes in tempo, believe me when I say this song had it all, and then some, It also holds the honor of being the first DLC song I didn't 5 star on a sightread, because it was just TOO MUCH, especially during the last 1/3 of the song. Easily the hardest song in the pack, and one that'll even have the most seasoned of players break a sweat. (Rating: 5/5)



The crown jewel in this pack however, is a high energy, thumping mashup of Sandstorm and Higher State of Consciousness. Aside from being a GREAT listen (I really had to stop myself from moving my shoulders, it was messing me up!), it's also a blast to play as well. It nails that perfect balance of scratching and crossfading that forces a rhythm into your hands that soon spreads to your entire body. Well placed taps, rapid multiple button scratches in succession, and minimal use of samples make for a song that not only sounds great, but feels great as well. Anyone whose ever played "Paper Planes vs. Looking At Me" from the original knows exactly what I mean by this. When balanced right, a song can feel so intuitive that the directional arrows on scratches are irrelevant because you're already moving to the beat on your own. This is it. (Rating: 5/5)

As a whole, I was very satisfied with the DJ Hero Domination Pack. The mixes are challenging, well laid out, and the fans that have been clamoring for more House/DnB in the game will be happy as well. If you're an advanced DJ Hero fan who cannot wait for the sequel to get his fix, then this content is a no brainer for you. Intermediate players may want to think twice before jumping in, though lowering the difficulty does (and will) make the experience less of a trip through DJing hell. If you've fallen off the wagon and have grown tired, this may not win you back, as it's more of the same, but with elevated difficulty. I really do have to say that the mixes again are exremely well done, and I can only hope that Freestyle continues to raise the bar even higher moving forward. To answer my question from earlier; it most certainly does keep up the series tradition of great music and unique gameplay.

(This article's also on CLgamer.com!)

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In defense of Infinity Ward..

So Infinity Ward has been hemorrhaging employees for the past month or so, and it’s something that not only makes me wonder about the future of Call of Duty, but more importantly, what's to become of Infinity Ward themselves. Chewing through the constant name calling, litigation, and drama over the past two weeks, the fact is that not only has the renowned studio lost its co-founders, but it has also lost a suite of other employees, including but not limited to a number of its key designers, animators, artists, and programmers, many of who had been with the company for a number of years.

In short, and to provide a hyperbolic statement, a great deal of the talent that made the CoD series what it was over the past 9 or so years is gone.



Which is strange, because I don't think ANYONE saw this coming. Generally, in gaming, we watch the rise and fall of many a franchise, and a developer buckling under the pressure of their publisher/owner is nothing new. After all, we watched Halo experience lapses in quality while Bungie worked directly under Microsoft, and the same happened to the Call of Duty series after the success of the second game. However, the way Infinity Ward consistently put out great content, I never would've thought there was an undercurrent of dissent brewing.

Then again, how could there NOT have been? The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

It’s bad enough that the studio had to deal with Activision’s policies. CoD being as popular as it was, meant it had to fall into the Activision business model of releasing one every year. But, we would’ve thought that the fact that developer Treyarch had to bear the burden would be the end of it. I mean, I did. As long as IW didn't have to spread themselves thin annually and could continue making a great product, I had no problem buying a CoD every other year, and avoiding the inevitable mobile/handheld versions. It seemed like a nice arrangement, but of course, as is the case with Activision, that simply isn’t enough. I mean, why have a bi-annual series capable of garnering over 310 million in sales in a single day when you can poach it to high hell and destroy consumer faith in the brand?

It's a good question to ask, because reportedly, Activision is planning for a Call of Duty MMO, is currently considering premium, subscription based pricing for CoD’s multiplayer, and then there’s the the “3rd person action title” in development under the CoD name by their new studio Sledgehammer Games, set to release at an unspecified date. That's a lot of ambitious plans for a franchise, and they all leave an especially sour taste considering that they didn't even come from the mouths of anyone who actually developed the game.

When thought about carefully, can you really blame Jason West and Frank Zampella for wanting creative control of their award winning franchise back? If this writer didn’t know any better, I’d say they sensed a destruction of their franchise similar to what Activision managed to do to Tony Hawk and Guitar Hero. I saw it coming the minute IW tried to distance themselves from the CoD brand by simply calling the title “Modern Warfare 2”. They were aware of the wildly fluctuating level of quality between titles, and didn’t want their work to be lumped in, or confused with Treyarch’s. As you can see, it didn’t eactly work out as planned, and the Call of Dutybrand was slapped onto MW2 regardless. But anyone paying at least a little bit of attention could see that things are getting a little out of control with the brand, overpriced DLC not withstanding.

So the fact that the two founders were meeting with other publishers does not surprise me. The fact that they're trying to retain some control of the "Modern Warfare" brand in addition to unpaid royalties for Modern Warfare 2 with their lawsuit does not surprise me. If you're no longer in a position where you can decide the fate of your creation, AND you aren't being compensated fully for your hard work, isn't it about time to leave? The truth of the matter is, Call of Duty has grown too large for creative sentiment, and now, it solely speaks to corporate whim. I know I'm not the only one that thinks MW2's lack of multiplayer features on PC (dedicated servers, lean, console, mods, etc) was a decision imposed on them and not one they personally made. In fact, I'm pretty sure that splitting their fanbase and starting a mini-internet uprising against their highly anticipated follow-up title wasn't in the original design specs.



Now they're gone, and honestly, it's a shame that this even had to happen at all. When Microsoft realized that Bungie was about to eat itself away from the inside due to the burden of their acquisition, they backed off. Microsoft owns Halo and could've said good riddance, but they knew there couldn't be Halo without Bungie. So they gave them their independence. These two were forced to take it. Now they've formed a new studio (with EA of all people!) called Respawn Entertainment, with the added bonus of retaining control of any intellectual property they create. No one really knows where the other defectors of Infinity Ward have gone, but it'd be hard to imagine that they aren't going to be signing up with them at some point in the future. I hope they do, because I know they're going to make some amazing games, FPS or otherwise.

Activision may not be worried about the future of Call of Duty in light of this, as they still have 90 or so members of the team left, but they ought to be. I'm sure that all the remaining members are very talented, but arrogance that Call of Duty can survive without the key people who made it great was a hubris they committed when they made the mistake of separating Harmonix from Guitar Hero. Treyarch in my opinion can barely hold the mantle of CoD without riding on IW's innovations, and if rumors that about the next game can be believed, they're going back to Vietnam, and subsequently, the crutch of WW2 (groan) for the next installment. While there isn't any doubt in my mind that Call of Duty is going to keep making Activision money regardless (my baffled reaction to the masses that enjoy World at War outside of Nazi Zombies still stands), to see them lose a great deal of that established userbase to EA and Respawn would put a smile on my face. Think about that, it's the year 2010, and I'm rooting for EA, while Activision seems to now be in control of that Death Star hovering over the industry.

My, how times have changed.


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This actually happened.

Poor Sonic. It wouldn't be so tragic (or hilarious) if it weren't so TRUE..

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Captain Obvious.

.

I'm just sayin'.


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