Posts tagged music
Rock Band Network: You say you want a revolution…
Jul 19th
Anyone who owns the rights to a song and has the master recordings in their possession can put a song up for sale in Rock Band.
Starting this year, musicians will be able to chart their own songs in Rock Band and sell them to other players. (Read Harmonix’s press release here.)
I’ll give you a second to process that.
In my opinion, this is the biggest gaming news story of the year.
There’s not much else that needs to be said, really, but I wanted to weigh in with this: With Rock Band Network, Rock Band has become the most significant gaming platform for user-generated creative content.
This glowing post might seem a little ironic, seeing as it follows my earlier (and final) pep talk I could muster for the Guitar Hero franchise. After all, GHTunes amounted to little more than a distraction with its frustrating sequencing mechanics and limited MIDI instrumentation.
What Harmonix is on the brink of creating is something as significant as Napster or iTunes were to music — and to the music industry. With tools available to anyone with a hundred bucks to cover the XNA Creators Club fee and the ability to chart notes in a MIDI application, Rock Band Network is truly an open marketplace. And thanks to the buffer of a required peer-review process before songs are greenlit, bands of all genres and sizes can stand to benefit from intimate exposure thanks to the engaging, hands-on nature of Rock Band.
With this step, Rock Band truly has come into its own as a legitimate platform – just as it aspired to be from the beginning – and not just a game with a mere six hundred downloadable songs.
Daily Recap: April 22, 2009
Apr 22nd
Because my snark is running low as of this writing, let me take this introductory opportunity to tell you what’s dropping on our site for the remainder of the week.
Coming tomorrow is our hands-on overview of the new Nintendo DSi system. To be clear, the purpose of an overview is to be less like a review–instead of making recommendations on the overall value of the product, we’re simply providing our readership with an introduction to it. We’ll still offer our crystal-clear opinions backed-up with facts, but the final purchasing decision is up to you, as always. Also on the way tomorrow is a review of Xbox Live Arcade title Galaga Legions.
Friday we’ll be reviewing the new Left 4 Dead DLC pack with its hectic and horrific Survival Mode. Can we last more than two minutes? Doubtful.
Next Tuesday’s big post is a “cooperative” review of Resident Evil 5 between Nick and me. This review has been a long time coming, and we look forward to adding our special co-op-centric commentary into the structure of our usual, trusty reviews.
Now, onto the news…and some awesome poster art.
Our Most Anticipated Games of 2009
Apr 14th
With E3 2009 just around the corner, it seems like an appropriate time to outline the known games we’re excited to see released over the rest of the year. Though our staff hasn’t had access to these games in a professional, hands-on manner, our comments are based on scouring sources for factual elements with pieces of speculation and analysis tossed in. Enjoy.
Review: Guitar Hero: Metallica (Xbox 360)
Apr 6th
The Ecstasy of Gold
When the biggest name in music gaming dedicates an entire game to the most popular thrash metal band of all time, there’s not much need for introductions. (After all, we just covered the demo a couple weeks ago!) Just about everyone with a pulse has played one of the billions of Guitar Hero games by now, and Metallica has been an institution in popular music for more than 25 years. Say what you will about the Grammy Awards, but you don’t win nine of them without developing a sizable following.
Remember, this is the second time Neversoft has tapped a musical juggernaut to star in a game. However, Guitar Hero: Metallica comes a year after Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and it benefits from being built on top of the newer Guitar Hero World Tour engine. While Neversoft demonstrates that it is capable of improving upon past failures — and really, this is the best Guitar Hero game they’ve made yet — this latest Guitar Hero iteration, just like every Neversoft-developed game in the franchise, is packed with ambition but stunted in delivery. Read the rest of this entry »