andPOP » Elliott Rudner

God of War III Makes Violence an Art Form

Elliott Rudner — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 00:42:38 +0000

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Meet Kratos!

Before I begin my first impressions from the God of War III Preview Event, I will inform you I have never actually played a God of War game.

The only vague recollection I have is when I watched my friend playing God Of War II on the Playstation2 one night for 10 minutes.

Also sadly, I don’t own a Playstation 3, but this is the type of game to make me seriously consider buying one.

From the moment I started playing the game there was blood everywhere- as a gamer that reminisces with the first time I played Mortal Kombat and how shocked I was at the violence – this is a definite plus for me. The controls for a first time GOWIII player were simple enough- I mashed the buttons and Kratos delivered a Baryshnikov style performance of dismemberment and mayhem. By button mashing and using my magic alone I was able to almost beat the giant crab horse thingy that I kept killing and just wouldn’t leave me alone but eventually my n00b luck ran out and I was treated to a screen that bluntly stated “You Are Dead” multiple times.

When I spoke to Lead Cinematic Artist (and Edmonton native) John Palamarchuk he summed it up quite plainly, “This game looks like a PS3 Title” and I would have to 100% agree with him. The transitions between cinematic and gameplay are close to seamless. Finally a game that takes full advantage of the PS3′s hardware.

While John was hush hush on most of the story line he did confirm there would be some racy scenes with some naked ladies, more epic quick time events (one I saw involved Kratos prying open a ribcage of one of his enemies), and of course living up to the name of the game.

Kratos is not to be messed with and you should ensure that fact by purchasing God of War III right now.

God of War III is available now exclusively for the Playstation 3.

DJ Hero: Review

Elliott Rudner — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:59:21 +0000

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Put Your Hands Up Here Comes My DJ!

In an industry that has been said to be over saturated with peripherals for rhythm games do we really need a plastic turntable? People that don’t enjoy the gentle musings of Children of Bodom and Metallica would have to say: Yes!

Activision and FreeStyleGame’s DJ Hero is a game that still has you making coloured circles disappear much like previous Guitar Hero games but adds in the new functionality of scratching and cross-fader manipulation. Does DJ Hero have the replay value and fun factor to have it stand beside Guitar Hero though? In the words of Flava Flav, “CHECK THIS OUT!”

The Controller

: One Turntable and No Microphone

DJ Hero’s controller consists of a spinning record with three buttons on it, a cross-fader that has slight resistance/click in the middle, an effects knob, an euphoria button (DJ Hero’s star power), and of course the standard native system controls shielded by a hinged compartment.

The controller works great from the hours I’ve put into it, though I think that the effects knob and the euphoria button should be swapped as I find my hand knocks the cross-fader around while twisting. The disc itself spins very easily, sometimes on complicated scratching sections this can be bothersome as the buttons sometimes slip away from me. Being a right handed guitar hero player, complicated button patterns can be quite daunting as the hand positioning is awkward at first and having to press and scratch with my strumming hand can be quite tiresome.

You cannot play this game without the turntable peripheral which forces the $130.00 package on you. Or, if you are an Eminem/Jay-Z fan, the $230.00 package for The Renegade Edition.

Gameplay

DJ Hero’s learning curve is interesting. You cannot start the game without playing the tutorial which ensures the player knows the basics of the game. The only way to bypass the tutorial is with the unlock all code which disables all achievements. After the tutorial narrated by Grandmaster Flash you get to play 3 of the easiest songs in the game. The next tier however is significantly more difficult, I still haven’t gotten 5*s on some of those songs and it only gets harder from there.

DJ Hero compensates for this increased level of difficulty by making the game all about getting points, there is no way to fail (you can only fail yourself). Once you unlock later set lists such as The Scratch Perverts or Daft Punk’s Record Bag you’ll understand why.

DJ Hero’s set up is fairly simple and when watching a video of it you might find it appears to be very easy compare to the 5 lanes in Guitar Hero you’ve come to know.

: I think it just kicked in…

The green track (left) represents record one, The red track (middle) are your samples, and blue (right) is record two. Using the cross-fader you have 3 positions you can be in: Left, Middle, and Right. On earlier difficulties scratching is non-dependent on what direction you move but on Expert not following the pattern of up or down will cause you to break combo.

Some things that set aside DJ Hero’s gameplay mechanics from Guitar Hero’s is the new concept of rewinding. Rewinds occur when you reach a 60 note streak and allow you to go back to a section of the song you’ve already played. How far you go back depends on how fast you spin the turntable backwards (as far as I can tell). Rewinds should be used as soon as you get them as you cannot store more than one.

The second feature of DJ Hero is the effects knob which can be used on sections with an orange bridge over the track. The faster you twist the knob, the more points you get. If you are familiar with the club scene you might like to slowly twist the knob for an interesting effect reminiscent of a real mixer setup with less points awarded.

Euphoria works like the star power in guitar hero however you can activate it after only one phrase is collected. Activating Euphoria auto-cross-fades allowing you to focus on button taps and scratching. However, if euphoria runs out and your cross-fader is not aligned properly you will break combo instantly.

While providing a challenge, DJ Hero’s game play is quite fun!

Who would’ve thought that scratching a complicated section would feel as cool as hitting a crazy solo in Guitar Hero!

Graphics

: Screw you LCD Soundsystem- Daft Punk is playing at MY house!

DJ Hero is a game about the club scene, so it features scantily clad female dancers, flashing lights, and of course DJs!

The Graphics are good for what they are, which is essentially Guitar Hero 5 but in the Club. Though, I doubt you will be paying attention to them much given the fact you’ll be concentrated on looking at the notes. One thing that could be improved is sometimes the DJ on screen doesn’t exactly do what you are doing with your peripheral. Maybe DJ Hero 2?

One thing to note however. is the great job they did on the Celebrity DJs. DJ AM (RIP), DJ Shadow, Z-Trip, and yes even Daft Punk all look fantastic.

Sound

This game sounds great! Even artists I previously hated (Black Eyed Peas, The Killers) have mixes I enjoy.

I especially enjoy playing the mixes involving KRS-One’s Jack of Spades and Daft Punk. It also should be mentioned that I have never been a fan of Jay-Z yet I keep coming back to his set list for more.

One downside however is the lack of electronica/dance music but the David Guetta DLC pack coming out on Tuesday (November 24th, 2009) will fix that.

DJ Hero boasts 93 original mixes so there is bound to be something you’ll like!

Multiplayer

: Plastic Guitarists get to have fun also

Here is the downside of DJ Hero.

In my opinion it is a very anti-social game, when it comes to actually playing. While the Guitar/DJ Mixes can be enjoyable there are only 10 of them and the scroll speed difference seems to make playing them quite tiresome. This could however be corrected with the Hyperdeck code which for some reason nobody can figure out.

Online Multiplayer is a total wash since there is no ranked matches or indication of any reason to try to win against people besides an achievement/trophy.

One amazing thing though about online is that your score achieved in a pro face off match is transferred to your career- a feature that should definitely show up in future Guitar Hero games.

Given the fact there is no stand-alone turntable available I see no real reason to even consider playing anything but the single player campaign in this game- maybe a future DJ Hero game will address this.

The Interface

One thing that has to be said about DJ Hero, is the whole set up of “Make a Setlist” is very confusing at first. You have to add mixes to play a setlist with the blue button rather than with green as we’d come to expect. As well there is no way to sort the setlist by title. You can only sort by mix author, intensity, high score, and stars needed. This makes finding one song out of 93 quite annoying. Also DJ Hero erases your lower scores even if they were on a higher difficulty than the one you achieved a higher one on.

Your best way of going about making a set list is going to quick list rather than using the “Custom DJ Set list 1/2″

Final Thoughts

DJ Hero is off to slow start much like the original Guitar Hero. Nobody would have thought a game where you play plastic guitar would get as big as it is now, yet many people scoff at the idea that anyone would want to play DJ Hero.

I say to you, try the game before you dismiss it! It’s one of the most refreshing, unique, and difficult titles North American rhythm gaming has ever seen.

DJ Hero is also a game that can be as difficult as the mix authors want it to be, they don’t need to depend on whether a band has a guitarist that can shred for hours for the song to be difficult- and if the final songs are any indication of what FreeStyleGames/Activision can come up with, expert players should be very scared for what’s to come.

Gameplay: 4.5/5

Graphics: 4.5/5

Sound: 5/5

Replay: 4.5/5

Codes for DJ Hero

DJHero.com

Guitar Hero Announces November Line-Up of Downloadable Content!

Elliott Rudner — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 21:54:02 +0000

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Band Hero let's you be Taylor Swift without being interrupted by Kanye West!

After last week’s amazing DLC 3 pack of Gwar, Marilyn Manson, and The Misfits is there any better way to follow it up than offering a new game featuring Taylor Swift and Adam Levine? Heck no!

On November 5th as a way to celebrate Band Hero being released, plastic instrument fans can either export 69 songs from Guitar Hero 5 into Band Hero or 61 songs (out of 64) into GH5 from Band Hero!

The songs that will not export from Band Hero to Guitar Hero 5 are as follows:

Jesse McCartney- “Beautiful Soul”
Aly & AJ- “Like Whoa”
Styx- “Mr. Roboto”
Hilary Duff- “So Yesterday”

Look on the bright side though you can make Kurt Cobain sing Taylor Swift!

The export runs you 400 Microsoft Points on Xbox 360, $4.99 on Playstation3, and 500 points on Wii.

November 12th is all about Lenny Kravitz as Guitar Hero commemorates the 20th anniversary of his 1989 debut album Let Love Rule. This three song track pack includes the title track “Let Love Rule,” “Lady” off his seventh studio album Baptism, and “Fly Away,” a song which I will assume you all know because it’s freakin’ “Fly Away”

On November 19th paint your faces and grab your tongue extensiosn because it’s time to rock out with the one and only KISS! This track pack includes their new single “Modern Day Delilah,” which has a ripping solo “I Was Made for Loving You,” their second Gold single and finally “Lick it Up,” which was the title track off their album which was also named… Lick it up.

It’s been awhile since Guitar Hero gave us anything for free and on November 24th they’re doing it SIX TIMES! The Neversoft Thanks The Fans Track Pack features: “Lemon Frosting” by Bunny Knutson, “RockNRola” by Nancy Fullforce, “From the Blue/Point of No Return/T.T.R.T.S” by An Endless Sporadic, “Love Holds It Down” by Dom Liberati, “You Really Like Me” by Davidicus and “Guilty Pleasures” by Tony Solis.

These may appear to be unknown bands to the casual player but I can tell you that I am super excited to play more An Endless Sporadic (from GH3 and GHWT DLC respectfully) and Guilty Pleasures sounds awesome as well.

For reasons unknown this track pack will only be available for Playstation3 and Xbox 360 as of this announcement.

We aren’t done quite yet though for the Wii fans out there that have been feeling not metal enough lately the 8 missing tracks from Metallica’s Death Magnetic will now be able to be downloaded as singles on your Nintendo Wii! This offer begins on November 24th so prepare to shred!

Lenny Kravitz Track Pack

KISS Track Pack

I Was Made For Loving You

Modern Day Delilah

Neversoft Thanks The Fans Track Pack

From The Blue/Point of No Return/T.T.R.T.S

http://guitarhero.com

Jay-Z Eminem and DJ Hero reveal exclusive DJ Hero Renegade 2-CD Pack Track List

Elliott Rudner — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:38:35 +0000

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Get an exclusive track from Eminem "Take My Ball" with DJ Hero: Renegade Edition on October 27th!

Activision has revealed the track lists for both Jay-Z and Eminem’s albums that come with DJ Hero: Renegade Edition next week.

Jay-Z with possibly his first “best of” compilation he’s ever had features a hit song from each of his 11 studio albums and additionally his contribution to the Notorious soundtrack, the film chronicling the life of Notorious BIG.

The Eminem CD is much more interesting as it features rarities and an all new unreleased track called “Taking My Ball,” which is only available through purchasing the DJ Hero: Renegade Edition.

“The tracks we put on this disc are mostly overlooked or rarer favorites of mine from all different parts of my career,” said Eminem. “I also put a brand new, unheard song on there so even the biggest fan has something new.”
Of course as we mentioned previously the CDs aren’t the only perk of handing over the extra money for this special edition of DJ Hero, the full package boasts a premium controller in gold and black and a carrying case which converts to a stand for optimal fake plastic DJing.

Strange how the song “Renegade” isn’t included though- dontcha think?

Jay-Z’s track list:

Ain’t No N***a – Jay-Z Featuring Foxy Brown
Where I’m From – Jay-Z
Hard Knock Life (Ghetto Anthem) – Jay-Z
Jigga My N***a – Ruff Ryders Featuring Jay-Z
I Just Wanna Love U (Give it 2 Me) – Jay-Z
Izzo (H.O.V.A.) – Jay-Z
03′ Bonnie & Clyde – Jay-Z Featuring Beyoncé Knowles
Dirt Off Your Shoulder – Jay-Z
Show Me What You Got – Jay-Z
Roc Boys (And the Winner Is)… – Jay-Z
Brooklyn Go Hard – Jay-Z Featuring Santigold
D.O.A. (Death of Auto Tune) – Jay-Z

Eminem’s track list:

Taking My Ball – Eminem
Say Goodbye to Hollywood – Eminem
Soldier – Eminem
The Re-Up – Eminem & 50 Cent
Rabbit Run – Eminem
Get U Mad – Eminem
Bad Guys Always Die – Dr. Dre & Eminem
Public Enemy No. 1 – Eminem
Say What You Say – Eminem Featuring Dr. Dre
Lose Yourself – Eminem
Hey Lady – Obie Trice Featuring Eminem
One Shot 2 Shot – Eminem Featuring D-12

http://www.djhero.com

Guitar Hero 5 rocks October with Downloadable Content!

Elliott Rudner — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 00:15:45 +0000

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Welcome to GWAR into your home this October with Guitar Hero 5!

No tricks here folks just treats as Guitar Hero rolls out a fine month of DLC for Guitar Hero 5.

It all starts with a Queens Of The Stone Age Pack featuring three tracks from their debut album, with Dave Grohl being featured on Avon you know it’s going to be a blast on drums. The week after that we get three tracks from Billy Squier with “The Stroke” which funny enough was the first Guitar Hero custom ever! Coming up next is Mike Patton’s favourite band Wolfmother featuring three tracks from their forthcoming album Cosmic Egg.

The second most exciting pack of DLC in October would have to be The Classic Rock 2 Track Pack featuring another epic from Peter Frampton with “Show Me The Way (live)”. Canadian rockers Triumph make their debut on plastic instruments with their hit “Lay It On The Line” which is sure to give guitarists a run for their money. Finishing it all off is a track from The J. Geils Band “Freezeframe” which is sure to make you go “Oh YEAH! That song.”

The most exciting announcement however is The All Hallows’ Eve track pack with the debut of GWAR’s “GOR GOR” so make sure you don’t wear your Sunday’s best when you sit down to play with all the blood and umm “GWAR juice” coming out of your screen. Adding to the Halloween spirit Marilyn Manson submits his smash hit “The Beautiful People” and we finally get an authentic horror-punk band with The Misfits “Astro Zombies” (let’s hope it’s the original with Danzig).

Downloadable Content – October 1

Queens Of The Stone Age Track Pack

* “Mexicola”
* “Avon”
* “How to Handle a Rope”

Downloadable Content – October 8

Billy Squier Track Pack

* “The Stroke”
* “Everybody Wants You”
* “When She Comes To Me”

Downloadable Content – October 15

Wolfmother Track Pack

* “Pilgrim”
* “California Queen”
* “Cosmic Egg”

Downloadable Content – October 22

Classic Rock 2 Track Pack

* The J. Geils Band – “Freeze Frame”
* Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way (Live)”
* Triumph – “Lay It On The Line”

Downloadable Content – October 29

All Hallows’ Eve Track Pack

* GWAR – “Gor Gor”
* Marilyn Manson – “Beautiful People”
* The Misfits – “Astro Zombies”

http://guitarhero.com

Game Review: Guitar Hero 5

Elliott Rudner — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 16:37:06 +0000

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PARTY ON!

In early 2006 Harmonix split ways with the Guitar Hero series and went off with MTV to create Rock Band leaving Activision to contract Neversoft to re-build the game that Harmonix arguably perfected. This move marked the day that split the plastic instrument community right down the middle.

While some people saw no problem with the direction that Guitar Hero went in there is a hardcore contingency of people that would like nothing more than to see Guitar Hero vanish into obscurity and let Harmonix’s Rock Band franchise rule supreme. It has been said that ever since Rock Band was released Guitar Hero has been scrambling to avoid doing just that by “ripping off” Rock Band any chance they get. Well if that’s the case then on September 1st, 2009 they finally caught up.

Guitar Hero 5 seems to have fixed everything “wrong” with Guitar Hero World Tour and thrown in all the improvements we have received from the side games that followed (Metallica, Smash Hits). What we have now is a sleek interface with incredible graphics which still retain the trademark over the top Guitar Hero style mixed with a bit of Rock Band’s low frame rate use to give the illusion of a music video. Guitar Hero 5 also boasts a different take on some of Rock Band’s innovations: the ability to “save” your band mate once they fail through maintaining a long enough streak of notes hit, individual star-power for each member of the band which if maxed out will overflow to other members, and band moments which work much like Rock Band’s “Unison Bonuses” however focused on band multipliers rather than added star-power/overdrive.

The really big feature however is Party Play mode which combined with the fact Guitar Hero 5 allows any instrument to join allows you to have just that- a party. As soon as the game loads up the music starts playing and all you need to do is press Yellow (Y Button on your controller) and you are able to join instantly! Pick your instrument (Guitar/Bass) your difficulty and off you go! Same thing applies to vocalists and people with drums, I especially liked how it remembered my hyper-speed settings dependent on the slot my instrument was connected to (Player 1, Player 2) and yes Hyper-speed is now in the options of quickplay- it’s no longer under cheats!

Another nifty feature in party play is making playlists of up to 125 songs and you don’t even need to play them you can just sit back and watch the animations and join at anytime! If your group of friends has a fondness for the music Guitar Hero licenses this will no doubt be a hit at parties- I mean come on… Who doesn’t like a bit of Rammstein followed by Stevie Wonder.

Contraversial digi-Kurt, an in-game character.

Track lists are of course subjective by nature but I really feel that the setlist for Guitar Hero 5 while not having the most insanely difficult “ow my hand hurts please make it stop mommy” songs it still has some fairly challenging Guitar songs (Scatterbrain by Jeff Beck, Done with Everything Die for Nothing by Children of Bodom) it does have a 14 minute song by Peter Frampton after all complete with Talkbox solo and an outro solo that may take you by surprise. If I had to guess though that as we go forward with these games the focus seems to becoming more about drummers and vocalists because with Guitar Hero 5 it surely delivers on that front. 21st Century Schizoid Man by King Crimson and Brianstorm by Arctic Monkeys will give any expert drummer a run for their money- or hard difficulty drummer even. Another plus is that the Rock Band drum kit which is 4 pads as opposed to Guitar Hero’s which is 5 has been modified so that the orange crash note is now on green- which allows more a much better feel while playing the reduced charts.

As vocals are primarily my main instrument there are some real interesting picks here, who would’ve thought singing Bush’s 90s hit “Come Down” would be so fun! There’s quite the challenge in store for you as well if you play expert vocals as vocal phrases are now scored by how much of each phrase you hit. Singers with high lung capacities and accurate pitches are rewarded with higher scores and Neversoft has finally given us a visual feedback meter to help us determine how much of the phrase we are hitting akin to Rock Band’s pie meter.

Everyone should know by now that Kurt Cobain is in the game as a playable character and unlike Hendrix (in Guitar Hero: World Tour) you can play other songs with him! Of course if you choose to do that Kurt won’t be left handed anymore and you wouldn’t want to do that, now would you? It’s great to play Lithium and Smells Like Teen Spirit with his character however and it’s an experience only had in the career mode of the game, which can be played with any combination of instruments and online!

Use your Xbox Live avatar as an in game rock god? SCORE!

To add to the replay value each song in career mode has a challenge associated with it I won’t list them all but to get some of these diamond challenges you are either going to have become really good at expert guitar or find someone online to play with you and that goes for any challenge (vocals, drums, bass) as long as they are in your band you get the challenge unlocked.

Another great thing about Guitar Hero 5 is the ability to import my World Tour DLC into the game which feels brand new in comparison, and additionally a portion of songs (which is rumoured to expand eventually) from World Tour and Smash Hits for a small fee of $3.50 US for each game (approximately on Xbox Live). However you must actually have the manual from the game in your possession, and with the way people are I could see the code being copied at stores and people being unhappy when they buy it and have their code show up as invalid. It’s nice to see my song list up to 195 songs though.

The online mode has also been revamped with new competitive modes that while still are about hitting all the notes provide an added challenge through modes such as Momentum, Do or Die, Perfectionist, and Streakers. I’ve played them and they were a blast and a nice change from who can use starpower at the better opportunity while hitting every solo ever.

In short while Guitar Hero 5 doesn’t have the level of expert difficulty Dragonforce gives us or Guitar Hero: Metallica it’s still a great game with tons of replay value especially if you are willing to play different instruments. This game is great for parties I can’t stress it enough- being able to join instantly in the middle of a song may be the best idea ever for these games. Plus the game has King Crimson – 21st Century Schizoid Man if that won’t sell the copies I don’t know what will.

Gameplay: 5/5

Graphics: 5/5

Sound: 4/5

Replay Value: 5/5

Grunge Rock Pioneer and Icon Kurt Cobain to make his Video Game debut in Guitar Hero 5 this September!

Elliott Rudner — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 00:33:58 +0000

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In a move sure to delight and anger plastic instrument enthusiasts everywhere Kurt Cobain has been included in Guitar Hero 5 alongside living rockers Santana, Matt Bellamy, Shirley Manson and deceased Johnny Cash.

The addition of Kurt Cobain gives us two never before used Nirvana tracks in a Guitar Hero or Rock Band video game, “Lithium (live)” and the holy grail *drum roll* “Smells Like Teen Spirit”.

One has to wonder how much money Courtney Love made off this little foray but in any event I’m excited to take my flannel jacket out of the closet and rock out come September 1st.

Activision unveils entire Guitar Hero 5 Setlist!

Elliott Rudner — Mon, 03 Aug 2009 18:46:56 +0000

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Finally the last 15 songs have been revealed for Guitar Hero 5, and September 1st is fast approaching. Included in the list is the coveted “Smells Like Teen Spirit” that Rock Band couldn’t seem to get for their Nevermind DLC, Dire Strait’s “Sultan’s of Swing” a highly requested classic song with an amazing call and response guitar solo sure to delight people everywhere, a Muse song which isn’t just fast strumming the majority of the time, and a Megadeth song which has a relatively tame solo.

Of course this game isn’t just about guitar anymore so vocalists get ready to be destroyed by Queen & David Bowie’s “Under Pressure” along with Stevie Wonder’s “Superstition” and drummers prepare to fail Arctic Monkey’s “Brianstorm” over and over.

One thing is for sure September is going to be a big month for carpal tunnel and future arthritis.

Final Released Tracks:

3 Doors Down – “Kryptonite”

Arctic Monkeys – “Brianstorm”

Blink-182 – “The Rock Show”

Dire Straits – “Sultans Of Swing”

Jimmy Eat World – “Bleed American”

Johnny Cash – “Ring Of Fire”

Megadeth – “Sweating Bullets”

Mötley Crüe – “Looks That Kill”

Muse – “Plug In Baby”

Nirvana – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”

Queen & David Bowie – “Under Pressure”

Stevie Wonder – “Superstition”

The Killers – “All The Pretty Faces”

The Raconteurs – “Steady As She Goes”

TV On The Radio – “Wolf Like Me”

Previously announced tracks include:

A Perfect Circle – “Judith”
AFI – “Medicate”
Attack! Attack! UK – “You And Me”
Band Of Horses – “Cigarettes, Wedding Bands”
Beastie Boys – “Gratitude”
Beck – “Gamma Ray”
Billy Idol – “Dancing With Myself”
Billy Squier – “Lonely Is The Night”
Blur – “Song 2”
Bob Dylan – “All Along The Watchtower”
Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name”
Brand New – “Sowing Season (Yeah)”
The Bronx – “Six Days A Week”
Bush – “Comedown”
Children Of Bodom – “Done With Everything, Die For Nothing”
Coldplay – “In My Place”
Darker My Love – “Blue Day”
Darkest Hour – “Demon(s)”
David Bowie – “Fame”
Deep Purple – “Woman From Tokyo (’99 Remix)”
The Derek Trucks Band – “Younk Funk”
The Duke Spirit – “Send A Little Love Token”
Duran Duran – “Hungry Like The Wolf”
Eagles Of Death Metal – “Wannabe In L.A.”
Elliott Smith – “L.A.”
Elton John – “Saturday Night’s Alright (For Fighting)”
Face To Face – “Disconnected”
Garbage – “Only Happy When It Rains”
Gorillaz – “Feel Good Inc.”
Gov’t Mule – “Streamline Woman”
Grand Funk Railroad – “We’re An American Band”
Iggy Pop – “Lust For Life (Live)”
Iron Maiden – “2 Minutes To Midnight”
Jeff Beck – “Scatterbrain (Live)”
John Mellencamp – “Hurts So Good”
Kaiser Chiefs – “Never Miss A Beat”
King Crimson – “21st Century Schizoid Man”
Kings Of Leon – “Sex On Fire”
Kiss – “Shout It Out Loud”
Love and Rockets – “Mirror People”
My Morning Jacket – “One Big Holiday”
Nirvana – “Lithium (Live)”
No Doubt – “Ex-Girlfriend”
Peter Frampton – “Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)”
The Police – “So Lonely”
Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde – “Bring the Noise 20XX”
Queens Of The Stone Age – “Make It Wit Chu”
Rammstein – “Du Hast”
The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy For The Devil”
Rose Hill Drive – “Sneak Out”
Rush – “The Spirit Of Radio (Live)”
Santana – “No One To Depend On (Live)”
Scars On Broadway – “They Say”
Screaming Trees – “Nearly Lost You”
Smashing Pumpkins – “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”
Sonic Youth – “Incinerate”
Spacehog – “In The Meantime”
Sublime – “What I Got”
Sunny Day Real Estate – “Seven”
T. Rex – “20th Century Boy”
The Sword – “Maiden, Mother & Crone”
Thin Lizzy – “Jailbreak”
Thrice – “Deadbolt”
Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “American Girl”
Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”
Weezer – “Why Bother?”
The White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”
Wild Cherry – “Play That Funky Music”
Wolfmother – “Back Round”

Guitar Hero 5 releases on September 1st for Xbox360, Playstation2, Playstation3, and Nintendo Wii.

Guitar Hero and Activision Unveil DJ Hero Renegade Edition!

Elliott Rudner — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:32:22 +0000

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If you’re a fan of plastic instruments but can’t get into wearing spiked bracelets and headbanging to Children of Bodom perhaps the forthcoming DJ Hero will be more akin to your tastes. DJ Hero which is released in October 2009 for PlayStation 3, PS2, Xbox 360 and the Nintendo Wii will finally tap into the giant market of people that don’t enjoy Guitar Driven music such as hip-hop, R&B, pop, rock and electronica.

DJ Hero delivers them all with over 100 individual songs, highlighted in over 80 unique never-before-released mixes.

Now chances are if you are interested in DJ Hero you are most likely a fan of two of the biggest names in hip-hop, Eminem and Dr. Dre, well boy does DJ Hero have something for you!

Presenting the DJ Hero Renegade Edition!

DJ Hero Renegade Edition includes:

*   DJ Hero game
*   Renegade turntable controller featuring premium metal controls
and finish
*   Hardshell turntable carrying case that converts to
performance-ready DJ stand
*   Exclusive JAY-Z and EMINEM 2-CD pack featuring unreleased tracks
and collectible case designed by artist Shepard Fairey

Unfortunately no “Chronic” is included though- maybe DJ Hero 2 featuring Snoop Dogg- hizzle.

http://djhero.com

DJ Jazzy Jeff Gets The DJ Hero Party Started

Elliott Rudner — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 18:39:13 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

DJ Jazzy Jeff joins the in game character list (DJ Shadow, DJ Z-Trip, DJ AM and the Grandmaster Flash) for fake plastic DJs to use this fall in DJ Hero.

With the addition of DJ Jazzy Jeff comes new track list additions such as: Tears for Fears “Shout” vs. Eric B. & Rakim “Eric B. Is President” and LL Cool J “Rock the Bells” vs. The Aranbee Pop Symphony Orchestra “Bittersweet Symphony.”

“I am very, very excited DJ culture is finally getting its due. To have a song in DJ Hero is a dream come true; to be a character someone can pick up the controller and select you and play is probably the biggest thing to happen to me in my career,” said DJ Jazzy Jeff. “Music is so much a part of everyone’s life, DJ Hero is going to appeal to almost everybody.”

That’s all well and good but when can I play “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air Theme” in one of these games?

For more information on DJ Jazzy Jeff, please visit djjazzyjeff.com.

http://djhero.com

“Join The Band” and Take Centre Stage with Band Hero!

Elliott Rudner — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 22:05:11 +0000

Posted on andPOP:

Band Hero™ invites music and video game fans of all ages to log onto BandHero.com and immortalize themselves and/or their band within a mosaic tribute to the newest game in the Guitar Hero® family. Submitted photos will populate the mosaic and enter the individual’s or group’s names into a weekly contest where randomly selected winners will score a Band Hero band kit for the platform of their choice and a Nintendo DS Lite band kit. Head over to BandHero.com to learn more.

This November, Guitar Hero will be entering a game into the E10+ market this game is called Band Hero. Featuring chart-topping hits from favourite acts such as: No Doubt, Lily Allen, The All-American Rejects, Snow Patrol and Jackson 5 coupled with some of the biggest names in music as in-game artists and playable characters.

Band Hero seems to offer all of the features of Guitar Hero 5 but for a more casual audience- a game the whole family can enjoy! Whether the songs from this game will export into Guitar Hero 5 is unknown at this time unfortunately which causes some less than desirable commentary from the rhythm game community.

Will Band Hero be able to go up against the strong brand recognition of Lego: Rock Band? I guess we’ll find out in November.

Known Track list:

1.)All-American Rejects – “Dirty Little Secret”
2.)Culture Club
3.)Fall Out Boy
4.)Jackson 5 – “ABC”
5.)Janet Jackson
6.)Jesse McCartney
7.)Lily Allen – “Take What You Take”
8.)Marvin Gaye
9.)Maroon 5
10.)No Doubt – “Just A Girl”
11.)Snow Patrol
12.)Taylor Swift – “Picture To Burn”
13.)The Go-Go’s
14.)The Killers
15.)The Turtles

Want to see the first reveal trailer for Band Hero? Click Here