Archive for March 9th, 2010

HIGHEST QUALITY VERSION: www.youtube.com A montage of the games that were shown by Nintendo at E3 2008. Wii Music Wii Sports Resort Mario Super Sluggers Animal Crossing City Folk Kirby Super Star Ultra Pokemon Ranger – Shadows of Almia Cooking Guide – Can’t Decide What to Eat

It may not look like it, but the above guitar is actually a game controller. It’s also a guitar. It’s both, actually. The guitar was created by Seven 45 Studios, a music hardware company based out of Boston that has been making real guitars for years. And now they’re expanding into the realm of rhythm games with their new title, “Power Gig.”

The basics of “Power Gig” should be familiar to anyone who has played a rhythm game in the last 5 years. It’ll feature drums, guitar and vocals, and requires players to match beats in time with the music. Pretty familiar, right?

But once you take a look at the “Power Gig” guitar controller, you can see where the difference lies. For one thing, there are strings. Playing a note actually requires that you hold down a real fret and strum on actual strings with the right timing. Frets are labeled by color on the neck of the guitar, but they’re still strings, just like the real world.

Apart from the strings, the gameplay in “Power Gig” utilizes its unique controller. Beat matching is one mode of the game, but there’s also a chord matching game which requires that players learn the actual chords required to play a song. There are on-screen prompts, of course, but it’s definitely a lot closer to learning the guitar than any other rhythm game before it. In theory, the chords you’re playing are identical to the ones you would play with the real song, on a real guitar.

So that’s the game. But the “Power Gig” guitar hides one more surprise. Hit a toggle switch and the guitar is suddenly a real electric guitar. Plug it into an amp and you’re playing. It even has the heft of a real guitar, which makes sense given that Seven 45 have so much experience creating real world guitars. It’s the game bit that they’re newcomers to (though they have hired game industry vets to tune up the software).

The question, however, is whether “Power Gig” is coming too late to the party. The rhythm game genre is definitely pretty full, with juggernauts “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” taking up much of the spotlight. “Power Gig” is looking to launch later this fall, so we’ll know then whether a unique controller and some more realistic gameplay is enough to push this one ahead of the pack.

It may not look like it, but the above guitar is actually a game controller. It’s also a guitar. It’s both, actually. The guitar was created by Seven 45 Studios, a music hardware company based out of Boston that has been making real guitars for years. And now they’re expanding into the realm of rhythm games with their new title, “Power Gig.”

The basics of “Power Gig” should be familiar to anyone who has played a rhythm game in the last 5 years. It’ll feature drums, guitar and vocals, and requires players to match beats in time with the music. Pretty familiar, right?

But once you take a look at the “Power Gig” guitar controller, you can see where the difference lies. For one thing, there are strings. Playing a note actually requires that you hold down a real fret and strum on actual strings with the right timing. Frets are labeled by color on the neck of the guitar, but they’re still strings, just like the real world.

Apart from the strings, the gameplay in “Power Gig” utilizes its unique controller. Beat matching is one mode of the game, but there’s also a chord matching game which requires that players learn the actual chords required to play a song. There are on-screen prompts, of course, but it’s definitely a lot closer to learning the guitar than any other rhythm game before it. In theory, the chords you’re playing are identical to the ones you would play with the real song, on a real guitar.

So that’s the game. But the “Power Gig” guitar hides one more surprise. Hit a toggle switch and the guitar is suddenly a real electric guitar. Plug it into an amp and you’re playing. It even has the heft of a real guitar, which makes sense given that Seven 45 have so much experience creating real world guitars. It’s the game bit that they’re newcomers to (though they have hired game industry vets to tune up the software).

The question, however, is whether “Power Gig” is coming too late to the party. The rhythm game genre is definitely pretty full, with juggernauts “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero” taking up much of the spotlight. “Power Gig” is looking to launch later this fall, so we’ll know then whether a unique controller and some more realistic gameplay is enough to push this one ahead of the pack.

After last year’s South Park episode featuring Cartman’s briliant rendition of “Poker Face” via “Rock Band,” fans of the pop superstar, Lady Gaga, have been waiting for their chance to get into the action, as well. Come next week, the wait is over, as “Rock Band” will release the first Lady Gaga Song Pack.

The pack will include the following tracks: “Bad Romance,” “Just Dance,” “Monster,” and, of course, “Poker Face.” As an added bonus, you can also play Cartman’s performance of “Poker Face” if, you know, that’s your thing. The pack will sell for $6.99, with individual songs selling for $2.

This won’t be the last Lady Gaga track pack for “Rock Band,” so “Paparazzi” fans needn’t fret.

After last year’s South Park episode featuring Cartman’s briliant rendition of “Poker Face” via “Rock Band,” fans of the pop superstar, Lady Gaga, have been waiting for their chance to get into the action, as well. Come next week, the wait is over, as “Rock Band” will release the first Lady Gaga Song Pack.

The pack will include the following tracks: “Bad Romance,” “Just Dance,” “Monster,” and, of course, “Poker Face.” As an added bonus, you can also play Cartman’s performance of “Poker Face” if, you know, that’s your thing. The pack will sell for $6.99, with individual songs selling for $2.

This won’t be the last Lady Gaga track pack for “Rock Band,” so “Paparazzi” fans needn’t fret.

How much would you pay to to make “God of War 3“? Well, there’s a reason indie developers need help covering production costs. A Sony representative seemed very proud when he revealed that the total cost of creating “God of War 3″ should come out to about $44 million when all is said and done.

“We are stamping discs now, so we’re effectively done. Just got a couple of countries that we’re finishing up on this week and we spent $44 million to make God of War III,” Sony Santa Monica director of product development John Hight told Giant Bomb. Don’t make any brash assumptions though. “Believe it or not, that’s right within budget,” he said.

Video game budget revelations barely make me flinch anymore, and with “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ eclipsing that magic $1 billion revenue mark, don’t be surprised to see more lavish expenditures of this kind brought to light. Marketing takes cash rolls and developers have to feed their kids and find dependable babysitters when they stay out late at the office fine-tuning gameplay on deadline.

So was it worth all the moola? From the review Russ gave “God of War 3,” it sounds like it might be if you are a hearty individual.

Do you think “God of War 3″ is $44 million good? Does the game’s budget shock you at all? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

How much would you pay to to make “God of War 3“? Well, there’s a reason indie developers need help covering production costs. A Sony representative seemed very proud when he revealed that the total cost of creating “God of War 3″ should come out to about $44 million when all is said and done.

“We are stamping discs now, so we’re effectively done. Just got a couple of countries that we’re finishing up on this week and we spent $44 million to make God of War III,” Sony Santa Monica director of product development John Hight told Giant Bomb. Don’t make any brash assumptions though. “Believe it or not, that’s right within budget,” he said.

Video game budget revelations barely make me flinch anymore, and with “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2″ eclipsing that magic $1 billion revenue mark, don’t be surprised to see more lavish expenditures of this kind brought to light. Marketing takes cash rolls and developers have to feed their kids and find dependable babysitters when they stay out late at the office fine-tuning gameplay on deadline.

So was it worth all the moola? From the review Russ gave “God of War 3,” it sounds like it might be if you are a hearty individual.

Do you think “God of War 3″ is $44 million good? Does the game’s budget shock you at all? Share your reactions in the comment section below.

How many games will Microsoft’s Project Natal have available at launch this fall? Lionhead may have “Fable 3” and a Milo game. Epic could have a few, and “Guitar Hero 6” may be part of the mix as well. Whatever the final score is at the end of 2010, we should have a better idea after E3, because Microsoft says they’re going to name them all.

“As a history, Microsoft works very strong with third-party developers, so we’re hoping that we’re going to get some great titles from that,” Microsoft’s chief financial officer of its entertainment & devices division Mindy Mount said in New York this week, according to IGN. “You’ll be able to see more news about that this summer at E3. We’ll show you the full lineup.”

That announcement could turn the screws a bit on Sony to get some more PS3 motion controller titles out there in the public record, since their device is scheduled to hit the market first. Thus far, that hasn’t stopped Natal from getting far more advance face time.

“It’s part of the reason that we announced [Natal] as early as last summer so that we’d have time to get kits out and get the entire game developer community developing games for it,” Mount said.

Natal will have a lot to live up to when it returns to E3 this year. Other questions on the table will include its real product name, how many developers are planning multiplatform releases for the PS3 and Natal as Suda51 pondered, and whether or not it will hit that magic $50 mark.

What do you want to know about Project Natal? Do you think it will live up to the hype? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

How many games will Microsoft’s Project Natal have available at launch this fall? Lionhead may have “Fable 3” and a Milo game. Epic could have a few, and “Guitar Hero 6” may be part of the mix as well. Whatever the final score is at the end of 2010, we should have a better idea after E3, because Microsoft says they’re going to name them all.

“As a history, Microsoft works very strong with third-party developers, so we’re hoping that we’re going to get some great titles from that,” Microsoft’s chief financial officer of its entertainment & devices division Mindy Mount said in New York this week, according to IGN. “You’ll be able to see more news about that this summer at E3. We’ll show you the full lineup.”

That announcement could turn the screws a bit on Sony to get some more PS3 motion controller titles out there in the public record, since their device is scheduled to hit the market first. Thus far, that hasn’t stopped Natal from getting far more advance face time.

“It’s part of the reason that we announced [Natal] as early as last summer so that we’d have time to get kits out and get the entire game developer community developing games for it,” Mount said.

Natal will have a lot to live up to when it returns to E3 this year. Other questions on the table will include its real product name, how many developers are planning multiplatform releases for the PS3 and Natal as Suda51 pondered, and whether or not it will hit that magic $50 mark.

What do you want to know about Project Natal? Do you think it will live up to the hype? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.

“Mega Man 10” finally arrives in Japan this month, and Capcom threw in a little surprise for Japanese PSN users — randomly winnable copies of “Mega Man 3,” which comes out there in April. The edition that appears will be the “Rockman Complete Works” port from the PS1, but North American Wii owners with access to the Virtual Console should be able to shrug off any inklings of jealousy with ease, as “Mega Man 3″ has been available here for some time.

Capcom plans on giving away 50 copies of the April title to anyone who buys “Mega Man 10″ in Japan between March 9th and 23rd, according to Siliconera.

“10″ could be a nice round number to leave the 8-bit Mega Man renaissance at for a little while now. I’m in agreement with Keiji Inafune that a 16-bit foray might be nice to mix things up. And you never know. By then we may have a new generation of consoles out that means it will be time for a 64-bit renaissance with a brief stop at 32.

I think what I’m trying to say is that I wish I could win all of the “Mega Man X” games on WiiWare right now. That would be a contest I could get behind.

Do you wish you had PSN access in Japan? What Megan Man title would you like to win on a console? Share your thoughts in the comment section below.