Beatles Rock Band Trailer AND Intro!

After the E3 expo earlier this week, these 2 gems popped up on the tubes... no I'm not talking about the rumors of a new Wii Zelda game... or the New Orleans Left4Dead trailer... or the Nintendo "Vitality Sensor" (?!?). NO. I'm talking about the Beatles Rock Band trailer and game intro! Above is the insanely beautiful intro video for the upcoming game. Though I love the intros to both Rock Bands, I'm glad Harmonix opted to go for this beautiful mixed animation style rather than their 3d modeled players. If you want to see some gameplay footage, check out the trailer below!

Child's Play Funde Razor Rock Out (again)

So as I'm SURE many of you know, now is the time that Penny Arcade is gearing up for it's yearly Child's Play charity drive. The charity that keeps children's hospitals stocked with game consoles, games, videos, and entertainment for hospitalized kids has started up again. Specifically coming up this December is Funde Razor, which will be raising money for Child's Play. Taking place in three cities, New York, Denver, and San Fran, Funde will have Rock Band tournaments and GH2 free play.

The New York Funde is going to be held at The Village Pourhouse on Dec. 10th, with NO cover to get in (but you'll need to be 21+ kids). There will be free play in addition to a 20$ Rock Band tournament, and tix you can buy for raffles, all to support Child's play. Special guest hosts are Joel Johnson of Boing Boing and Migue Molinari and Jennifer Boere of RockGamer.com. As you know we at Gnerd are ALWAYS in support of group video gaming events, especially if they're for a good cause (aside from the good cause of playing video games with a bunch of people). So if you're a New York (or Denver/San Fran) gamer, get off your butt and go support a good cause while having a beer and rocking out.

Geekanerd's Halloween Costumes

Hope everyone out there had a good Hallows Ween. The Geekanerd family certainly did, here are a few highlights from our costume pool.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the costume that will change the way we think about Halloween Costumes...FOREVER...


Sexy Rorschach. Your minds are now blown.

Rock Band Avatar, Homestar, Thor, Athena, The Thinkkaman, TWO Baby Leias (!), a Green Ranger, Jessica Rabbit, and the Silk Spectre after the jump...

DEgan's baby niece went as Princess Leia for her very first Halloween ever. Awesome bandoleer!

Gnerd commenter Rob (of SpaceMonkeyX) wrote in to let us know his daughter also went as Leia for her inaugural Halloween. Step aside, Disney Princesses, the Star Wars gals are coming through! Her cinnamon bun headdress was entirely handmade by her mom, Andrea. Pretty "crafty"!

Gnerd Commenter Lena went as a Rock Band avatar...or is she Judy Nails?


Gnerd reader Nick went as Thor, and his GF Rachel went as Athena. Believe it, haters; geeks find love! It happens all the time!

More geek love, and what's a better couple than the Green Ranger and Jessica Rabbit!? These come from Gnerd readers Mike and Amy.

This post is mainly about some lady costumes, where were you guys? This is a great Silk Spectre I, though Lindsay admits "The hair was all wrong but I couldn't find a decent enough pin-up wig to complete Sally."


And finally, here is your editor AHR and your infrequent Contributor Sarah B as Homestar Runner and The Thnikkaman. Laugh all you want, but we got a bunch of shout-outs, many from cool and attractive seeming people. Seriously.

Did you dress up as a nerd icon? Send your pictures to tips@geekanerdblog.com.

Not a Review: Eight Things I Love About Rock Band 2

I loved Rock Band, but it was far from perfect. Rock Band 2, on the other hand? Pretty flippin' close. Here are eight reasons why Rock Band 2 rocks my socks off:

1. Insane Song Selection
The math alone is astounding. 84 tracks on the disc + the 55 tracks exported from my Rock Band 1 disc + the pile of tracks I downloaded for RB1 = A WHOLE SHITLOAD OF MUSIC. What's even better is that most of it is legitimately great (or at least fun) music. With 20 more FREE downloadable tracks coming before the end of the year (not to mention the non-free downloads like No Doubt's Greatest Hits!!!) things are gonna get even crazier.

2. No Fail Mode
I've thrown my fair share of Rock Band parties, and way too often I've seen timid first time players cause the band to fail a song and never pick up the controller again. Letting people down is some serious negative reinforcement, and the new "No Fail Mode" removes that completely, letting first timers completely bungle a song while they learn without disappointing anyone.

Six more great reasons to love this game after the jump, including full lyrics for a song readers of this blog might particularly enjoy...

3. Fixed World Tour Mode
The World Tour mode in Rock Band 1 had some serious problems. The most immediately apparent was that the beginning of the tour had you playing the same songs over and over again to progress--my first sit down with the game had me and my pals playing Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" six times. Great song, but c'mon. This is no doubt helped by the fact that downloaded songs and Rock Band 1 songs are integrated into the Tour, so it has much more to pull from. Also, the need to have a "band leader" (a character who is required to be present to play with the band) was a frustrating restriction that has thankfully been removed.

4. Characters Can Play Any Instrument
If you fire up my copy of RB1 right now, you'll see three Albos--singer Albo, drummer Albo and guitar/bass Albo. How stupid is that? RB2 now lets players create a character once and use him/her to play any instrument in the game. Hallelujah!

5. Drum Trainer
Getting taught basic rhythms and fills and then practicing those without guidance in the freestyle mode is incredibly satisfying.

6. Instrument Difficulties Displayed On Screen
I maintained a printed out "cheat sheet" for Rock Band 1 that listed every song along with its difficulty on every instrument. Now I'll never have to flip through the thing again, as that info is displayed right on the song selection screen. It's very useful info for first time players who are looking for something easy, or for long time players that are trying to decide what difficulty setting they should choose.

7. Vocal Scoring Is Much More Forgiving
It never really bothered me because I rarely go above "Medium" on vocals, but I've seen people sing really well on hard and expert and get trashed by RB1's pitch detector. The sequel is much more forgiving. Actually, they might've even gone too far in the other direction, as I've been getting five stars on songs I really shouldn't be, and I watched a friend of mine get 100% on "So What'cha Want" by just mumbling.

8. Speck's "Conventional Lover"
I found myself singing this in World Tour mode without ever having heard it before, and losing big points because I was cracking up at the lyrics. You're reading a site called "Geekanerd," so I'm sure you can appreciate this:

Who left you hanging on that peg all alone
You look near mint to me babe and I wanna make you my own
I wanna be your captain, my Pon Farr is a-risin’
So step on over here girl, my love is enterprisin'

Let me be your conventional lover
Let me show you some conventional love
I don't mean to boast, I don't mean to brag (ooh love long and prosper)
But I'm a man whose only issues all come in mylar bags

Let me be your conventional lover
Let me give you my conventional love
I'll give you my heart, I'll treat you nice (ooh love long and prosper)
And the games that I play only have twenty-sided dice
They're polyhedral!

Let's hit the dealer's room and you something fine
That collectors bust of Cthulhu reminds me of how you blow my mind
Now let me take you dancing in my best Starfleet dress uniform
You'll want to tap my mana once you’ve seen me perform

REPEAT CHORUS

Uh oh... SAVING THROW!

And when we get to mating, I'll always treat you kind
I'll never bend you too far back or ever crease your spine
But there's one thing I won't promise, there's one thing I won't do
Can't leave you in the box babe, this collector is coming through

Let me be your conventional lover
Let me give you my conventional love
I'll give you my heart, I'll treat you fine
And I'll make sweet love to you while we're watching Deep Space Nine

Hell yeah.

Does Rock Band 2 Up the Ante?

After the news that Guitar Hero IV would take away Rock Band's peripheral advantage by adding drums and vocals to the mix, all eyes turned to the Rock Band team to see how they would counter the competition. Well, details are starting to trickle in about Rock Band 2 (coming in September), and while they don't necessarily make the game a "Guitar Hero IV Killer," they definitely make it a worthy purchase--especially for people who already own Rock Band.

The details (well, the interesting ones--you don't care that the new guitar has a faux wood finish... do you?):

• In addition to the 100 songs the game comes with (84 on the disc plus 20 free downloads, full track list after the jump), all of your Rock Band downloadable content will work with the sequel AND "most" of the songs from your original Rock Band disc will be imported directly into the sequel! For someone that always hated swapping discs between Guitar Hero/Guitar Hero II/Guitar Hero 80s this is great news.
  
• There will be TWO drumsets for you to choose from. The standard set is a lot like the current set, but with quieter, "velocity sensitive" pads and slots to attach (sold separately) cymbal pads. The $300(!!!) "Ion Drum Rocker" set (pictured above) is a much sturdier build and can actually be detached from the game and used as an honest-to-goodness electronic drum kit. While that's cool and all, the cymbal pads being optional accessories make me think they wont be integrated into the gameplay quite as well as in GHIV.
  
• Enough with all that "will Rock Band teach me drums" talk... Now it actually will! There's a new "Drum Trainer" mode that will lead you through the basics of rock drumming.
• Some of my nitpicks from the first have been addressed: there's no "band leader" setup, avatars can play any instrument (thank God! Having "Singer Albo," "Drummer Albo" and "Guitar Albo" was a little silly), and you can make custom setlists (in case you want to, say, play through the entire Doolittle album without stopping for air).
  

Sounds all good, right? Well hit the jump for the full on-disc tracklist, with my favorite bolded.

1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s
Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s

Via Kotaku.

Guitar Hero IV is Rock Band... +?

It may not come as a surprise to anyone, but in an effort to not be outdone by Rock Band, the next edition of Guitar Hero will be pumping up its features big time. Among these additions (as described in the latest issue of Game Informer and on IGN) are the inclusion of drums and vocals in the mix, a "new input mechanic" for the guitar, and a "Studio Mode" for creating new songs or jamming over old ones.

The drums features three regular pads and two raised wedge-shaped cymbal pads. All of them (as well as the pedal) are pressure sensitive, so the game knows exactly how hard you're hitting them. Activision claims the drums are built to be less noisy and more sturdy than the Rock Band drums, and I'm inclined to believe them 'cause those RB drums are rickety crickety. (UPDATE: There's a picture of the drums after the jump!) No word on what the guitar's "new input mechanic" that will "impact the way you play GH in the future" might be. If it's anything like the solo buttons or effects switch on the Rock Band guitar, color me unimpressed.

Hit the jump for info about the Studio Mode, where you'll get to make music and share it with the world!

Details are still scant in regards to the Studio Mode, but what we know is this:

• You can jam over existing songs with any instrument.
• You can use the instruments to create a new song by laying down rhythm, lead, melody, bass, and drum tracks. No vocals.
• You will be able to share the songs you've created online. Only five at first, but if they're rated well you might get permission to upload more.

Call me cynical, but are people really going to be able to create music worth listening to with a five-button guitar? The inclusion of vocals would make it an awesome YouTube-y experience, but without it you'll just be listening to a string of guitar and drum samples. Much cooler would be the ability to import your own pre-recorded songs and assign Guitar Hero tablature to them, but I guess it would be tough to regulate copyrighted content.

UPDATE: Someone at Destructoid has posted a scan of the drums!
These look pretty great and all, but can anyone really justify having two fake drumsets in their house?

Completist Game Review: Rock Band

Completist Game Reviews aren't meant to be timely. The opinions herein were generated after many months of playing a game, long after the hype and honeymoon impressions have worn off. If it's beatable, the reviewer must beat it. Would you review a movie without finishing it? No. The game will be played not in the rushed manner of most review sites but as the average player will experience it... On his own time, at his own pace.

We've dedicated a lot of space on this site to Rock Band coverage, so it's no secret that we were excited for this game. Now that it's been in our hands for a couple of months and we've played the almighty heck out of it, does it live up to our expectations? Yes and no.

YES
Rock Band takes the Guitar Hero concept and expands it so far beyond the original's design as to render it obsolete. Even if Rock Band didn't have drums and vocals, it would put Guitar Hero to shame. The difficulty curve feels smoother than Guitar Hero, and the note sequences never feel like their trying be tough for tough's sake.

More after the jump...

Also the presentation is much better, with some really slick graphics and a lot of options for customizing your own characters instead of picking from cheesy stock avatars. Watching the virtual band perform a song can actually be pretty engaging, because they all really do look like their playing their instruments (as opposed to GH's stiff animatronic-looking models) and they're being shot in the style of an awesome 70s rockumentary.

The drums bring a whole new challenge to things, and even though I know it's probably an illusion I can't help but feel like my gradual improvement is a laudable accomplishment. Something about banging pads and stomping a pedal feels more constructive than pushing buttons on a toy guitar. I'm sure that I still wouldn't know what to do with a real drumset or even be able to keep time without the help of onscreen prompts, but it feels pretty great when you finally get your hands and your feet to operate independently of one another.

The song selection is also really great, and the regular stream of new tracks available every week keeps the experience fresh.

NO
Unfortunately, the experience isn't perfect. My gripes might seem like quibbles, but they are things that still burn my biscuits after a couple months of playing the game, so they're worth mentioning.

First of all, it's cool that you can create your own characters to play with, but you have to choose an instrument for that character and then they can never play anything else. So if you're like me and like to play a little bit of everything you'll have a "Guitarist Albo," "Drummer Albo," and "Singer Albo." Three different characters! It's a pain in the ass to make three characters when you should really only have to make one that has the animations for each instrument built in. I can't imagine that would actually be difficult to program. What's the deal?

Secondly, the Band World Tour mode (the "main mode" of the game) has a flawed design. It's cool in concept--hop from city to city playing gigs to earn money and gain fans. But as you progress through the game (especially early on when your gig choices are limited) you'll find yourself playing the same songs over and over again. I think our first time playing we did Weezer's "Say It Ain't So" six times. I like the song and all, but that kind of repetition gets old quick. The Tour "ends" (you can keep playing gigs if you like) with a six hour marathon run of all the standard songs on the disc, but there's no grand finale ending, just a polite text message of congratulations.

One way in which Rock Band is inferior to Guitar Hero is the peripheral design. The guitar, while good looking, feels incredibly cheap. The neck feels like it could break off in a strong wind, and the "added functionality" of the effects switcher and the small buttons high up on the neck are just gimmicks (though I can see how the small buttons might be useful for a small child). The drums are fun to play but also feel really cheap. They are rickety, foam is sticking out from under the pads, and the hard plastic the pads are made out of isn't pleasant to hit with a stick and creates an awful racket. I purchased some foam drum pads from a guy on the internet, which helps the sound and feel of the drums a lot, but it sucks that they didn't come out of the box feeling better.

MAYBE SO
The game is at its best as a party game, with people rotating through instruments and all having a good time. It really is a blast to hang out with friends and bellow through these great tunes. The only thing that gets in the way of the fun is the fact that there really aren't that many easy songs, so playing with first timers tends to leave them left out. This wasn't as much of a problem with Guitar Hero because in competitive play it wouldn't matter how bad someone was doing, the game would still let them play to the end of the song, which would provide them with more practice. In Rock Band, if you fail you can be saved by your bandmates, but after three times it will end the song prematurely. This leaves your fellow band members disgruntled and you singled out as a bad player without that extra practice you need so much. In my experience with party crowds the newbies get frustrated and withdraw from the group fairly quickly, which defeats the whole point of playing in the first place. It would have been great if there was a "Party Mode" setting that would remove the "three strikes and you're out" rule so everyone could keep playing and be happy.

CONCLUSION
So it's not a perfect game, but the fun factor is still extremely high and considering there's not another game like it around, it gets our top score of FOUR STARS.




Note: The reviewer was playing the XBox 360 version of the game.

Weekanerd Reminder: Rock Band Valentine's Day Bash

Just a reminder on this wet n' sloppy Wednesday to get down to the Union Square Virgin Megastore tonight at 6:30pm for some serious Rock Band action. It's not too late to sign up to compete, either, so give the store a call at 212-598-4666, it's FREE! The method of judging is a mystery, but First Place will get a $500 Virgin gift card and there are other prizes from Dreamauthentics (they make arcade cabinets!), Sprint (they make phones!), MTV Games (they make Rock Band!), Logitech (they make mice!), and EA Games (they ALSO make Rock Band!). Anyway, we'll be there so prepare to be schooled by some Geekanerds.

Enhance Your Rock Band Experience

So you've got Rock Band, and you're saying to yourself "Man, this is fun and all, but I really feel like if I spent some more money I would be having an even better time." And you're right! There's a bevy of fun Rock Band doodads to blow money on. The first and most exciting is what is simulated in the picture above... A Rock Band Light and Smoke Stage Show Kit! No joke, read all about it over at Destructoid. It won't be out until July, but you can bet with a price tag of 100 smax it'll be worth the wait!

Hit the jump for more fun Rock Band accessories...

Sound-Dampening Drum Pads
One of the big complaints with Rock Band out of the box is how much of a racket those little plastic drum pads make. It's not so bad when you have the luxury of cranking the music so high it drowns out the noise, but some people have neighbors. Enter the sound-dampening drum pad mod, available in DIY ($27 for supplies) and BIY (Buy-It-Yourself, $27.99) varieties. Do they work? Well, check out this video of them in action:

So yeah, they work. Be warned, however, they begin to show damage pretty quick. Mine aren't falling apart or anything, but they definitely aren't as pretty as the ones in the picture.

Drum Bag
If you're planning on taking your show on the road, or (ha) storing your drums away, you may want to get your hands on this official Rock Band Drum Bag. It's going for $50 at the Rock Band Store.

Mic Stand

Anyone who has tried to sing and play guitar or drums at the same time using the Xbox 360 headset knows how crappy the sounds quality is with that thing. Dropping $13 (at Guitar Center, among other places) on an actual mic stand for your USB microphone is a solid investment. It'll also open up a bunch of new "stage business" possibilities. Which in turn will open up a bunch of new "property destruction" possibilities.

Have I missed anything crucial? Let me know in the comments.

Weekanerd NYC: A Brand New Day for Pee-Wee to Get Back the Rock

Monday, January 14

• Rock Band Night
  
• 9pm @ Angels and Kings, 500 East 11th St, Manhattan

There have been a number of Guitar Hero nights at bars around town, but this is the first Rock Band weekly event I've heard of so far. Word is it'll be tournament style in upcoming weeks, but here's your chance to play for fun and work on your act. Because this game is more about exuding rock stardom than anything else.

Tuesday, January 15

• Comic Book Club Brand New Day Special: All Four Amazing Spider-Man Writers and Editor Steve Wacker
  
• 8pm @ The People's Improv Theater, 154 West 29th St, Manhattan
  

Do you have an opinion about this whole Brand New Day Spider-Man Boyslut thing that I hear is happening in the Marvel Universe? This is your chance to express it to those who make the magic happen. Or maybe not - the show is toootally sold out, but last time they sold out a limited number of tickets were available when the box office opened on Tuesday. Check 212-563-7488 for availability. And of course, you can always just wait on the dark, desolate street outside the theater and yell out your questions as the writers leave....that's still like half a step above posting on a message-board.

Wednesday, January 16

• Pee-Wee's Big Adventure
  
• 2:30pm @ The Donnell Library Center, 20 W. 53rd St, Manhattan
  

Does the dark as night Sweeney Todd make you yearn for a bygone age when Tim Burton films were whimsical and hilarious? Well you're in luck because the New York Public Library is showing the masterpiece known as Pee-Wee's Big Adventure FOR FREE, preceded by the animated short The Wizard of Speed and Time.

Thursday, January 17

• Borders Manga Book Club: The Get Backers
  
• 5pm @ Park Avenue Borders, 461 Park Ave, Manhattan
  

The GetBackers is a manga and anime about a two-man repossession service who use supernatural powers to do their repo work. Their motto is: "We get back what is being taken or lost." HELL YEAH. Of course if you are actually interested in this event, you know all this. The club meets the second Thursday of every month, all are welcome.

I Want to Dance Competitively as a Part of Rock Band

Am I right? Let's combine this
with this
Especially if you have a bigger-sized group of people over. No one has to or can sit a song out. It'd be like a real collective staying together, everyone constantly manning the battle stations, each according to his ability. And if the drummer gets off game, the dancers are going to be really messed up, creating the type of high stakes environment that builds character.

Of course you'd need a pretty large living room to pull this off, so Rock Band Dance Rockolution basically can't happen anywhere in the city of New York.

Conan O'Brien Out-Rocks Rock Band

Even the most dedicated Rock Band player can be instantly shamed by the presence of a person who can play an actual guitar. On his writerless show last week, Conan O'Brien showed his staff how to rock for reals, and also gave an amazing rendition of Sabotage as interpreted by Edith Bunker. Writers smiters!

Judd Apatow's Crew Plays Rock Band

This video from Funny or Die has Justin Long, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd and Craig Robinson sitting around getting their Rock Band on, playing through the Pixies' "Wave of Mutilation." Stick around for some jokes.

Weekanerd NYC: Princess Mononoke, Cheap Comics, Photography and Rocktar Hero Contest

Monday, December 10th

• Princess Mononoke
  
• 6:30 @ The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, 594 Broadway, Manhattan

Coming down from an Anime overdose at NYAF? Here's a bit of the hair o' the dog that bit you. Hosts from Metro Anime introduce the film and moderate a discussion afterwards. Pay what you wish.

Tuesday, December 11th

• 20% Off Sale
  
• All Day @ Jim Hanley's Universe, 4 West 33rd St., Manhattan
  

Planning on getting all your friends and relationships comic books that you just know they'll love if they actually read them? Get em for cheaper at this Holiday Sale. If you're in Staten Island, hit the link for a store near you with the same deal.

Wednesday, December 12th

• Guitar Hero Funde Razor
  
• 8pm @ Barcade, 388 Union Ave, Manhattan
  

All you need to know is this is a Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band Contest, and you stand a chance to win a LIFE SIZED COMPANION CUBE. Get practicing.

Thursday, December 13th

• Cheryl Dunn Book Signing
  
• 8pm @ Giant Robot, 437 E. 9th Street, Manhattan
  

Dunn's new photography book Some Kinda Vocation is about "street art, graffiti and life on the margins of America." Cool. Free.

Behind the Music: A Rock Band Tell All

The Official XBox Magazine has a great interview with Alex Rigopulos which you should read in its entirety if you care at all about the game. It's full of gems:

Alex dishes on merch opportunities:

You’ll be able to take your band avatars, pose them, create album covers with your band logo and different scenes with your avatars. And then you’ll be able to turn that into real world stuff. For example, figurines based upon your Rock Band avatars, t-shirts with your fake band’s album art and your tour dates on the back from your accomplishments within the game, bumper stickers, old records, things like that. Really cool real-world merchandise based on this fictitious band that you’ve created in the game.

Alex on the future of the Rock Band platform:

In 3 to 5 years people are going to expect to be able to play with music as the normal way that they experience music that they love. If you have a favorite band that releases a new album, sure you’ll buy the CD but you’ll also want to go onto the Rock Band server and download the game levels based on those 15 new songs to experience them as an active participant in the music-making.

Alex tackles the "why not just play the guitar?" question:

The guitar controller is very abstracted from a real guitar, but even in the case of the guitar controller there are some foundation skills that you learn. Rhythmic impulse with your right hand and independent pitch control with your left hand — those are foundation dexterity skills that if you build them up playing the game, they will translate to being able to lock in and play in rhythm.

He goes on to say that it provides a window into the joy that comes with really playing guitar, that the singing portion will make you a better singer via its pitch feedback, and that playing the drums WILL TEACH YOU DRUMS, period.

Alex on smaller bands getting in on the action:

[Something else] we’re actually considering is releasing our own authoring tools out freely into the world, such that if you’re a band and you and your three friends are in your bedroom or garage making music, and no major label will even give you the time of day but you believe in your music, you can actually produce a game level yourself and send it to us for publishing on the game servers or distributing to your friends.

But like I said before, go read the whole interview.

Rock Band to Feature Six Hour Marathon Mode

From Senior Designer Dan Teasdale:

“The Band World Tour is open-ended so you can go around and play any cities or venues you want, but we do have a lot of special events at the end that you can play. Like we have the big one which is the endless set list where you can play all the songs back to back. It’s like a six-hour marathon of playing everything in the game. Because it’s a marathon, we do give you something really cool at the end of it… But I can’t tell you what it is yet.”

Woah. Six hour Rock Band party, my apartment, ASAP. Anyone else suspect that the big payoff is along the lines of the "You are a FAG" message that South Park's Stan and Kyle got when they finally broke a million points on Guitar Hero?

Via MTV Multiplayer.

Can Rock Band Teach You To Play the Drums?

Since Rock Band was announced, AHR and I have been (mildly) debating if the in-game drumming experience would mimic real-life drumming enough to give real drummers a significant advantage or even teach n00bs some skills that could translate to a real drum kit. MTV Multiplayer has decided to test that exact hypothesis by inviting pop rockers Cartel in to take a stab at the game. The drummer, Kevin Sanders (pictured above...yes that's a man), sat down to play "Dead or Alive" on Medium difficulty... And failed. But when he tried again on Expert, he did much better. Sanders explains the paradox:

The easier [the song is in the game], it takes away what’s actually in the song. But if you actually know how the drums go in your head and you’re reading the notes [on the screen], it doesn’t really make sense in the tune. I guess the harder [the difficulty] is, the more real the song is [to actually playing it].

So the verdict is... Vague. As a bonus, if you're interested in how the drums break-down/assemble, hit the jump for a Stephen Totilo guided tour!

New Rock Band Trailer Is More Exciting Than Pixar's Last Two Films

YEAH! Despite having zero to do with gameplay, this is one of the best game trailers I've ever seen. Cartoon Physics + Fast Moving Car + Rock = Winning Promotional Strategy.

The trailer is actually promoting a promotion, namely the Rock Band 2007 Tour, a traveling demo show & competition which kicked off yesterday in Las Vegas. Info after the jump...


I had a look at the Rules and Regulations for this so-called tour - to compete in the "Rock Off Auditions" you need to be part of a four-piece "band". It seems like you'll have to show up pretty early in order to get some practice time in before you play in front of the judges. Bands will be evaluated based on their ability to "demonstrate Rock Band™ game play with proficiency and accuracy, radiate energy, vitality, possess stage presence and are comfortable in front of a camera."

The two finalists get a complicated MTV reality-show prize package, that includes meeting a band and "playing" on TRL. The for-real finalist band gets to "open" for a real yet-to-be-named rock group, so if you've ever wanted to play a video game on stage in front of a screaming rock crowd, here is your chance!

The rules also demand that each four-piece band designate a "leader". Luckily the tour doesn't come to NYC until November 1st, so the Geekanerd Crew has almost two months to wage smear campaigns against each other.

For dates and locations, check the Official Site's schedule for detailed tour info - some important details have changed since the last press release. Such as moving to the tour from my former-hometown of Oakland to stupid Berkeley. Damn hippies.

Rock Band Will Feature Head to Head Drumming Action!

Your first thought after starting this video should be: "Head to head drummer action? Awesome!"

Your second thought should be: "Wow, imagine have TWO drum kits in my apartment!"

Your third thought should be: "Hmm... Where would I put them?"

And your fourth and final thought while watching this video should be: "Oh man, it's the f-ing Pixies!!! Alright!"

E3: Insane Media Overload Day 2

Welcome to Day 2 of our coverage of everybody else's coverage of E3. Starting off, we've got a trailer for the hotly anticipated Super Mario Galaxy:

If you're in the mood for something a little more... intimate... Check out this developer talking us through a particularBEE neat level:


Hit the jump for the new Simpsons game, some Halo 3 action, a Wii trivia game called Smarty Pants, a new LittleBigPlanet video, a cheesy but thrilling Rock Band performance of Bowie's "Suffragette City", and more Metroid Prime 3.


Here's the Simpsons game:

It sure looks good, but I have to wonder: why are most Simpsons games about fighting? There's rarely any fights on the show, so it seems incongruous that that would be the go-to genre for Simpsons video game developers. Why not an adventure game that has you actually progressing through a hilarious Simpsons story, or a Bully-style sandbox game where you run around Springfield pranking people and carrying out specific missions for people? That being said, this game sho is pretty. Also keep an eye out for Matt Groening himself as the end boss, as reported by Eurogamer.

Here's Halo 3 in action:

Pretty.

And now Smarty Pants:

It's hard to tell if this will be fun or not. The only thing I do know is those chaps playing are grating. I like something as simple as the hand-raising motion to "get called on." I hope the emphasis is on trivia and not those little epileptic minigames they do a couple times.

If yesterday left you wanting more, here is the full LittleBigPlanet trailer:


From start to finish, some good (if silly) players running through a Rock Band song:


Yesterday's trailer was a little dry, but it's fun to watch this game developer walk us through a Metroid Prime 3 level:

This is the first time I noticed how good the game looks. It sure moves well, and has a lot of nice art direction touches.