andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

andPOP sat in on a developer’s call with Tim Huntsman (senior producer) and Mark Thompson (art director) from developer Fall Line Studios regarding the soon to launch Ultimate Band for the Wii and DS.

Ultimate Band is a peripheral free “Guitar-Hero” like game that uses the Wii Remote and Nunchuck for gameplay.

Below is the audio from the developer’s call we sat in on(approx 40 min).

Here’s some of the questions we submitted for the call:

- What does ultimate band offer that no other music game does?

- Where has the influence for the artistic style of the game come from?

- What gameplay modes are there?

(of course the first question asked came from andPOP)

Enjoy!

Ultimate Band, a Guitar Hero like – minus the peripherals – game for the Wii will be released November 25th. Instead of guitars and drums, gamers will use the Wii Remote and Nunchuck in an “air band” style gameplay.

One of the best thing about this release? Possibly the price-tag.MSRP is $29.99 for Nintendo DS and $49.99 for Wii.

Just released is a song list for both the Wii and DS versions of the game.

Wii Song List
· Girls Not Grey
· Complicated
· Hanging on the Telephone
· Song 2
· I Want You To Want Me
· All Right Now
· Anna Molly
· Club Foot
· Won’t Go Home Without You
· Dashboard
· Helena
· Get the Party Started
· Crushcrushcrush
· Just
· Stumble and Fall
· When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
· In Too Deep
· Unconditional
· Somebody Told Me
· Always Where I Need to Be
· Debaser
· Fell in Love With a Girl
· Break on Through
· Beverly Hills
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation

DS Song List
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation
· All Star
· Call Me
· Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
· 9 in the Afternoon

Riding on the success of Activision’s Guitar Hero franchise and EA’s Rock Band, Disney Interactive Studios announced that it will be releasing its own music game, Ultimate Band.

Available for the Nintendo Wii and DS, Ultimate Band will allow players to jam to rock, alternative, popular, emo and indie rock music on guitar, bass, drums, or be the front man without buying any peripherals.

“Ultimate Band invites kids, tweens and teens to join in the jam session,” said Craig Relyea, senior vice president, global marketing, Disney Interactive Studios. “And whether they choose guitar, drums, bass or front man, members don’t need to buy costly, single-function peripherals to play their way through Ultimate Band’s deep song list, dynamic venues, and customizable characters. The Wii Remote? and DS stylus are the only tools they’ll need to reach rock stardom in Ultimate Band.”

Ultimate Band for the Wii follows the career of a customizable Rockstar as they go from playing garage gigs, to international superstardom unlocking new songs, venues, and other items along the way.

The DS version is a rhythm-based game with a built in recording studio where players can jam to current and classic songs using the drums, lead guitar, bass guitar, or rhythm guitar. Players can also create their own original songs using the DS touchscreen and stylus to lay down tracks for each instrument and apply creative mixing effects. The Ds version will also be able to interact with other gamers over the internet via Wi-Fi.

Both games will be available this holiday season.