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Harmonix Co-Founder Answers Questions About Rock Band

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Accessories, Downloadable Content, Features, Hardware, Microsoft, Music, PlayStation 3, Wireless, Xbox 360

Rock Band Guitar ControllerThe Official Xbox Magazine’s podcast has an interview this week with Harmonix co-founder and president Alex Rigopulos about their upcoming game Rock Band. In the interview he talks about the game bundles, although light on concrete details he does confirm a band-in-a-box bundle that will include a guitar, drum kit and microphone. However, he goes on to say that the PlayStation 3 version will include a wireless guitar controller while the Xbox 360 version will have to include a wired guitar because Microsoft‘s wireless technology is too expensive to make the bundle reasonably priced. Since the 360 also has only two USB ports, the 360 Rock Band bundle will also be packed with a USB hub.

Rigopulos goes on to discuss the game’s career modes a little, saying there will be both solo career mode that progresses in a linear fashion similar to what Guitar Hero players are used to, but they are also including a less linear band career mode. In this mode you traverse to various venues trying to build up your fan base and in some cases return to previously played locations to maintain your fame there. Also it’s worth noting that the solo career mode will not include a bass career track so your options are vocals, guitar and drums in solo career mode. But Rigopulos did reveal that the finale songs for each career path (and therefore likely the difficulty distinctions throughout) will be different for each instrument, and he even said that at this point the drum finale will be The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again.”

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Read More | KOXM Podcast

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Is BioShock a Perfect Game?

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Features, First Person Shooters, PC, Reviews, Xbox 360

BioShock: 10/10?

The reviews have been coming in for a week now, and they have been phenomenal. Consider that according to GameRankings.com, BioShock is the 4th best game of all time. On Metacritic, has received more perfect 100 scores than even The : Ocarina of Time, usually the game cited as the best of all time. Clearly, ‘s Mature-rated, failed utopia FPS is a critical smash hit.
Perhaps then there is little need for another glowing review of the game. Except this is not a glowing review in the strictest sense, because BioShock is not exactly the masterpiece of perfection indicated by these scores. Instead, BioShock is a wonderful game that happens to draw to light the inadequacies of the way games are typically reviewed and the inherent inconsistencies of how games are judged.

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Game Crazy Parent Company Struggling

Posted by Paul Hamilton Categories: Corporate News

Game CrazyMovie Gallery, the parent company for brick-and-mortar game retailer/renter (and one of the few remaining chain competitors to GameStop/EB) received an extension on its $900 million restructuring loan as it continues to struggle in an increasingly difficult market. Movie Gallery also owns Hollywood Video and and eponymous stores. CEO Joe Malugen said, “Despite the challenging market conditions for Movie Gallery and the entire rental industry, we are continuing to work with our lenders and our outside advisors to help address the Company’s current financial situation. We plan to continue to operate the Company without interruption as we work through this challenging period.”

So clearly the word of the day is “challenging” but the company seems to be angling toward an acquisition or merger to overcome those challenges. So far they have had to close stores and reduce staff to try and meet financial obligations, and this new extension has given them until August 27th before the loan is considered defaulted.

Read More | CNN Money via Joystiq


MTV to Invest $500 Million in Games Division

Posted by Steve Van Neil Categories: Corporate News, Culture, Music

MTV logoLook no further for proof that the video game business is big business indeed.  Media giant has announced that it is sinking over a half billion dollars into the video game industry over the next two years.

“As we take our brands narrow and deep to serve our targeted, niche audiences, we’re putting well over $500 million behind building our games business across all of the brands in our portfolio,” explained MTV chairman and chief executive Judy McGrath.

MTV is set to make a big splash this fall when Rock Band is released.  MTV/Viacom recently purchased and developer Harmonix, so the success of the game will greatly impact any of the network’s future gaming endeavors.  In addition to the Harmonix acquisition, MTV/Viacom has snapped up Xfire and GameTrailers, quietly making itself a major player in the gaming scene.

Read More | GameDaily

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