This review originally appeared on ReviewCenter.com in 2002. It scored a 9.1 at the time.

By Carlos McElfish

KOEI is most widely known for kicking out strategy games. So the last thing this reviewer was expecting from them was an extremely entertaining music/rhythm game. KOEI has managed to not only avoid the common pitfalls of breaking into a new genre but also manages to kick the entertainment value up a notch or two — or three.

Gitaroo Man is the story of a kid named U-1, who, despite his highly original name, is constantly picked on by his classmates and picked over by the girlies. What no one knows (including himself) is that U-1 is the last of the legendary “Gitaroo Man.” Aided with a psychotic-looking guitar and a sarcastic, talking, transformable pet dog, U-1 is charged with saving the planet of Gitaroo from the clutches of the sinister Gravillians family. Along the way U-1 will learn to believe in himself, fall in love with a Bajoran and save the universe with the sound of music.

All in a day’s work.

Gitaroo Man is a musical-rhythm game along the same lines as Um-Jammer Lammy, or Space Channel 5. However, this game goes far beyond simple ‘hit the corresponding button at the appropriate time’ philosophy. When you are playing, because of the intricate motions that you have to go through to make your guitar sing, you feel as if you really are a skilled guitarist. You feel as if the awesome sounds being emitted from the TV should somehow be credited solely to you. KOEI has done a terrific job in keeping the transcending feeling of creating music intact.

There is a girl named Kirah who U-1 finds on a foreign planet and attempts to serenade her. The game’s manual describes Kirah as “shy and reserved with the heart of a warrior.” This suspiciously named girl is wearing a dress, on which the Star Trek Federation Communicator symbol is blatantly embroidered.

Graphics are cartoon styled, but not flat like Parappa. As you are engaged in musical-combat the action will evolve into a crazy, beautiful, 3D rendered cartoon. Having to pay undivided attention to making sure you are hitting the right buttons, and pushing the left analog stick in the proper direction makes it easy to overlook the wonderfully rendered on-screen action. Watching someone else play the game can be nearly as entertaining as actually playing it for that reason. Perspective changes around like a wild 3D cartoon hopped up on an illegal substance but can be most closely likened to a Parappa-view.

Gitaroo Man’s soundtrack is definitely it’s crown jewel, the music in the game sports some of the most catchiest tunes ever to grace a video game. The Japanese music group COIL produced the musical aspect of the game. Everything from heartfelt, catchy, guitar riffs to happy-happy J-pop is in attendance. There are 12 songs in total. You cannot help but bob your head in rhythm with the music along with Gitaroo-Man and his entourage. At times the grooves are so jammin’ that you will find yourself making a complete ass out of your person by providing auxiliary sound effects, sporting crazy guitar-playing-facial-gestures, and trying to get that trademark guitar “twang” by shaking the dual shock.

Voice acting is unique and fits the theme and style of the game flawlessly. From the high-pitched voice of Panpeus (the game’s equivalent of Glass Joe) exclaiming, “The Gitaroo is mine! Can I eat it?” to the leader of the Gitalline people of the planet Gitaroo who sounds nearly identical to the obnoxious old man in Ninja Scrolls or Goku’s mentor in Dragon Ball.

There are three different phases per round: Charge Phase, Battle Phase and Final Phase. The Charge Phase is your chance to increase the life-bar of U-1 by using the left analog stick along with the ‘O’ button to perform various guitar riffs. The Battle Phase will have you executing the same tricky-stick combinations but instead of charging your strength it will damage the enemy, also in Battle mode the enemy will instrumentally attack you so you must hit the correct sequence of buttons to defend. The final phase has you laying down the block-rockin’ beats to perform an aural fatality on the opposing character. It may sound complicated but believe me, after 10 minutes you will be kicking out the jams like a pro. What it all boils down to is that if you play good then you deal the enemy damage. If you play poorly, then you take damage.

One annoyance with the game though is that when you hit pause for whatever reason, you are forced to restart the level from the beginning.

Finishing the game once through on normal mode will open up “Master’s Play.” Master’s Play will take you through the same 10 levels but this time around you will be required to shred your axe in rhythm even faster, and enemy attacks are more devastating as well. There also seems to be some minor modifications to the levels as far as background characters and various on-screen goings-on.

Aside from the standard single player mode KOEI included a few additional modes and bonuses to extend the life of the game. Vs Play is a worthy addition, allowing you to play against a human opponent. The gameplay dynamics are the same, allowing you to charge your energy, attack, defend, and deliver a finishing blow. This mode screams ‘on-line play’ but as we all know, internet connectivity is not something Sony seams to want to deliver on until they can get a system up and running that they can charge for. You can also assign your opponent in VS mode to be computer controlled if all your friends are on vacation. The other bonuses are Theater and Collection. Theater allows you to view all the CG cinemas you have witnessed thus far. Collection offers up illustrations of characters and vehicles in the game, complete with bios. You will have to beat the game on Master’s Play in order to “catch’em all.”

Gitaroo Man is a surprising, welcome, diversion to the as-of-lately stagnant music/rhythm genre. Fans of previous rhythm games will eat this title up like a kid in a candy store, and even casual gamers who rarely enjoy games of this nature will surely find a place in their heart for Gitaroo-Man. Quite simply, Gitaroo Man lays the funk down on all competing musical games currently on the market with enough left over style to put a particular K9 back in the doghouse

LOS ANGELES — Blast was very fortunate to have the opportunity to sit down with Alex Rigopulos, the CEO of Harmonix Music Systems, and discuss the upcoming Beatles Rock Band game and the future of the music game genre.

Blast: So, The Beatles. It must feel good.

Alex Rigopulos: It feels incredible. This is a band that’s been close to my heart personally since I was a small child. So this is really a dream project for me and a lot of people on the Harmonix team in a very big way. For a lot of us it’s still very surreal that this was able to happen at all. So for us to unveil the game to the world today is a big deal.”

Blast: I’m not going to go into inter-corporate politics but does it feel good to have this coup for your company over your biggest competitor Activision?

AR: This band’s music is incredible and for us as, I’ve said a number of times in the past, we make music games, but we consider it to be music first and games second. We really consider what we do in this category to be making new kinds of music experiences and to let people experience music in a new way, and this music is so rich and so beautiful and so joyful that to have an opportunity to take that to an interactive dimension to the first time is an honor and a privilege and something that the development team has been delighted about since the very beginning.

Blast: Personal favorite Beatles song?

AR: Well first of all there’s no one favorite just because it’s changing constantly, and it has changed constantly over the course of this project as well. One of the real pleasant surprises of making the game and what will be a real pleasant surprise for people playing the game is just that everyone has heard these songs hundreds of times in their lives, and you think you know this music but when you start learning to play the drum parts of the baselines, you discover all these little details and hidden gems in the music that you never noticed before.

I have this experience with Taxman which is one of the very first prototype songs that we developed early on that we built into the game in interactive form. The first time I played it I was playing the bass line and I started playing the bass line that I know and was familiar and was kind of bouncing and having a great time playing and there’s this one moment in the song in the bridge learning into the guitar solo that all of a sudden the bass line goes crazy and starts running all over the place, and that lasts for just four bars and then falls back to the old bass line that you know. And in all the hundreds of times that I heard that song I had never noticed that insane moment in the bass where Paul just started going crazy.

And its fun to play and its an amazing little moment that I had never heard before. I think that’s a big part of what we’re giving to the world is people are going to find all these hidden gems in the music.

For me, going back to the original question, discovering those hidden gems has been changing my favorite Beatles song through the duration of the project.

Blast: You must have met Paul and Ringo over the course of this…?

AR: Yeah many times. All four of the principles (including Olivia Harrison and Yoko Ono) were very creatively engaged in the project from the very beginning. So yeah they were integrally involved in every step of the project from conception to fine tuning the details at the end.

Blast: What was it like working with them?

AR: “It was completely surreal. These are titanic figures, right? And they also made some of the greatest art that I’ve experienced in my life, so to actually be in a creative collaboration with them its just stunning. Its intoxicating. But what was most surprising to me as how engaged they actually were. They weren’t just making kind of superficial comments. They really got the vision. They helped us craft the vision, and they were really focused on details as well. They held our feet to the fire and were pushing us.

It was very much with their help that we got there. It was surreal and incredibly invigorating to actually be in a creative collaboration with these titans.

Blast: It could have been very easy to make this a simple game. You could have made an extended track pack, you could have done this quickly and easily if you wanted to. How important was it for you and for Harmonix to add the level of detail you’ve done with this game?

AR: The Beatles, themselves wouldn’t have been interested in just an expansion pack. That was clear from the beginning in the early discussions, but that was great as far as we were concerned because that’s not what we wanted to do either. This music is so special that it calls out for special handing.I dont think for us we would have wanted to do it any differently. This is a once in a lifetime opp to work with material like this.

Blast: Your company has come a long way in the past few years. The Rock Band franchise has really taken off. Where do you see the franchise and the company going in the next 5-10 years?

AR: That’s a big question. First of all we’re going to continue to advance just on the content. We’ve already put 700 songs and growing on the Rock Band platform, and while that seems like a lot, and it’s a ton in the historical standards of video games, it’s still the tiniest sliver of this incredible music that’s out there and it’s a big part of our ambition over the coming years to fan out as broadly as possible to just get more content on the platform.

That said, there’s also the feature aspect and we want to continue to get new kinds of play and let people interact with the music and engage with the music as well. We still have a lot of ideas of how that might be accomplished on the Rock Band platform, but we also have a lot of new ideas brewing about fun new types of music play that would exist in entirely new games as well

Blast: Anything you can share with us?

AR: Not today. There will be a time for that.

Blast: Are there any bands you have not worked with yet that you’d like to?

Well there are the obvious. We’re talking to everybody all the time right? That’s just the nature of what we do, so we’re considering all kinds of options.

Led Zeppelin is a band that is another that everyone loves and everyone asks for ,and you know, U2 is another big band that a lot of people love and a lot of people ask for. All the obvious candidates.

Blast: Are any of those on the short timeline?

AR: Nothing imminent or announcement worthy.

Written by‚ Brian Szabelski

SEATTLE — The general consensus on‚ Wii Music, at least based off their disastrous E3 press conference showing, is that the game is utter garbage, a waggle-fest geared towards the preschool and the extremely elderly. However, after getting hands-on time at PAX with‚ Wii Music, I can tell you those perceptions are incorrect.‚ Wii Music‚ is not nearly as bad as the E3 crowd might have made it out to be. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s not utter garbage.

First off, if you are a “hardcore” gamer, this game is not designed with you in mind. Some people may take an interest in certain aspects of the game, which I will give detail on in a bit, but the simplicity of‚ Wii Music‚ is clearly geared towards those new to the gaming scene.

At PAX, the free play and drum set modes were available for play. The free play mode is the one you are most familiar with. Free play has a “no-fail” setting by default, meaning you can’t lose no matter what you play. And yes, there are note charts for each of the songs, but you don’t have to play along exactly on the right beat. This turns free play into more of an experiment than anything else, but there will be close to 60 instruments in the final version of the game, ranging from the now-infamous dog suit to drums, guitars, and saxophones. Each of these instruments has different motions that are used to play it, and pressing different buttons on the Wii remote or nunchuk will produce different notes. At any time, up to four players can participate in a song, with six total musicians on stage: a minimum of two musicians are always computer-controlled, but you can select which parts you want to play.

The PAX line-up featured only 5 songs, including the themes from‚ Super Mario Bros.and‚ The Legend of Zelda; when the game is released, a full roster of 50 songs will be available, mixing more modern songs along with classical tunes and Nintendo themes. In this sense, it’ll probably be similar to Nintendo’s previous music game offering,Donkey Konga. Each of the songs can be played at a number of different tempos and in a variety of different styles, including Japanese, reggae, rock and country among others. It’s a nice way to change the game up a little bit, but it’s not the only way.

While being able to record your performances and send them to your friends doesn’t sound like a whole lot,‚ Wii Music‚ offers a few options that add to the replay value. You can rate your performances on how well you thought you did, but your friends can adjust those scores if they think you did better or worse. While that all still sounds like nothing, there is one more thing your friends can do with your performances: remix them.‚ Wii Music‚ will allow you to change the tempo, style, and instrumentation of performances your friends send to you, offering up a chance to change things around a little bit and experiment. I personally think that feature will be one of the hidden gems in‚ Wii Music, much like how the music maker was in‚ Mario Paint.

Also on display at PAX was a drum set mini-game. By pressing different buttons on the Wii remote and nunchuk, you will be able to hit different drums and cymbals on the set. The Wii balance board is used to control the bass drum and hi-hat cymbal pedals. It takes a bit of getting used to this setup, but after a while, it feels natural. Most of the people I saw playing this at PAX seemed to enjoy it, though they weren’t going as nuts as Ravi Drums was at E3. Other games that will be included are the conducting mini-game from E3 a few years back as well as other drum-like solo games and lessons on how to play.

Like other‚ Wii‚ series titles, graphics are kept rather simple on purpose, both in design and in its bright color scheme. There are different backgrounds in free play mode to pick from, but overall, everything about this game screams simple. For‚ Wii Music, it works fine, because the game doesn’t need to be graphics intensive like‚ Fallout 3‚ orGears of War 2.

Wii Music‚ is not intended to be‚ Guitar Hero‚ or‚ Rock Band. It’s more likeElectroplankton, an experiment in games for the newer gamer. At the end of the day,Wii Music‚ is going to sell well, perhaps not as well as‚ Wii Play‚ or‚ Wii Fit, but it is not the end of Nintendo, like some will have you believe. With so much of‚ Wii Musicshrouded in mystery, though, keep an eye out for some future announcements from Nintendo on more content for the game.

The Penny Arcade Expo ran August 29-31.‚ The 5-year-old exposition is regarded at one of the seminal in the video game industry, adding music and pop culture elements. The Miniboses performed this year.

The complete‚ Guitar Hero World Tour‚ on-disc set list available on October 26 will include:

• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ 311 – “Beautiful Disaster”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ 30 Seconds To Mars – “The Kill”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Airbourne – “Too Much Too Young”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Allman Brothers Band – “Ramblin’ Man”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Anouk – “Good God”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Answer – “Never Too Late”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ At The Drive-In – “One Armed Scissor”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Beastie Boys – “No Sleep Till Brooklyn”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Beatsteaks – “Hail to the Freaks”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Black Label Society – “Stillborn”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Black Rebel Motorcycle Club – “Weapon of Choice”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ blink-182 – “Dammit”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Blondie – “One Way or Another”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band – “Hollywood Nights”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Bon Jovi – “Livin’ On A Prayer”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Bullet For My Valentine – “Scream Aim Fire”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Coldplay – “Shiver”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Up Around The Bend”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Cult – “Love Removal Machine”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Dinosaur Jr. – “Feel The Pain”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Doors – “Love Me Two Times”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Dream Theater – “Pull Me Under”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Eagles – “Hotel California”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Enemy – “Aggro”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Filter – “Hey Man, Nice Shot”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Fleetwood Mac – “Go Your Own Way”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Foo Fighters – “Everlong”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Guess Who – “American Woman”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Hush Puppies – “You’re Gonna Say Yeah!”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Interpol – “Obstacle 1″
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Jane’s Addiction – “Mountain Song”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Jimi Hendrix – “Purple Haze (Live)”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Jimi Hendrix – “The Wind Cries Mary”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Jimmy Eat World – “The Middle”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Joe Satriani – “Satch Boogie”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Kent – “Vinternoll2″
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Korn – “Freak On A Leash”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Lacuna Coil – “Our Truth”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Lenny Kravitz – “Are You Gonna Go My Way”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Linkin Park – “What I’ve Done”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Living End – “Prisoner of Society”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Los Lobos – “La Bamba”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Lost Prophets – “Rooftops (A Liberation Broadcast)”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Sweet Home Alabama (Live)”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Mars Volta – “L’Via L’Viaquez”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ MC5′s Wayne Kramer – “Kick Out The Jams”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Metallica – “Trapped Under Ice”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Modest Mouse – “Float On”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Motƒ¶rhead – “Overkill”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Muse – “Assassin”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Negramaro – “Nuvole e Lenzuola”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Nirvana – “About a Girl (Unplugged)”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ No Doubt – “Spiderwebs”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ NOFX – “Soul Doubt”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Oasis – “Some Might Say”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Ozzy Osbourne – “Crazy Train”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Ozzy Osbourne – “Mr. Crowley”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Paramore – “Misery Business”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Pat Benatar – “Heartbreaker”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ R.E.M. – “The One I Love”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Radio Futura – “Escuela De Calor”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Rise Against – “Re-Education Through Labor”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Sex Pistols – “Pretty Vacant”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Silversun Pickups – “Lazy Eye”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Smashing Pumpkins – “Today”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Steely Dan – “Do It Again”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Steve Miller Band – “The Joker”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Sting – “Demolition Man (Live)”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ The Stone Roses – “Love Spreads”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Stuck In The Sound – “Toy Boy”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Sublime – “Santeria”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Survivor – “Eye of the Tiger”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ System of a Down – “B.Y.O.B.”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Ted Nugent – “Stranglehold”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Ted Nugent’s Original Guitar Duel Recording
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Tokio Hotel – “Monsoon”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Tool – “Parabola”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Tool – “Schism”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Tool – “Vicarious”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Trust – “Antisocial”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Van Halen – “Hot For Teacher”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Willie Nelson – “On The Road Again”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Wings – “Band on the Run”
• ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ ‚ Zakk Wylde’s Original Guitar Duel Recording

From Activision:

When the house lights go down this fall, a new generation of guitarists, drummers and fearless frontmen will come together and rock with‚ Guitar Hero World Tour.‚  The latest installment in the #1 best-selling video game franchise of 2007,‚ Guitar Hero World Tour‚ transforms music gaming by expanding‚ Guitar Hero‘s‚ signature guitar gameplay into a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless controllers with new revolutionary online* and offline gameplay modes including Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands,” which allows two full bands to compete head-to-head online for the first time ever.‚  The game features a slick newly redesigned guitar controller, drum kit controller and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that‚ lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock “Ëœn’ roll anthems.‚  Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through‚ GHTunes‚ where other gamers can download and play an endless supply of unique creations.

For some people, imagining they are a member of a band is as far as they get, but for others it’s only the beginning. 

Guitar Hero: World Tour, the next game in the top selling franchise of 2007, gives players not only the ability to improve their timing and button pressing skills of the previous iterations but also brings in a couple of new friends in the form of a drum kit and microphone, for the first time in the Guitar Hero series. The unique wireless drum kit features three drum pads, two raised cymbals, and a bass kick pedal.

Take that, Rock Band, with your one less cymbal.

“The drum kit is unique because it’s wireless, and it’s velocity sensitive, meaning that the harder you hit the drum, the louder the note,” said Brian Bright, Guitar Hero’s project director.

So just how realistic is the new drum kit?

“It’s as real as you can get,” said Chad Smith, drummer for The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who tested it out recently. “If it can hold up to me beating on it, it should do pretty good. Playing guitar? — That’s all great, But hitting stuff? Awesome.” Smith and other drummers including The Police’s Stewart Copeland checked out World Tour at a press event recently.

Guitar Hero: World Tour may sound a lot like Rock Band — rightfully so. But it’s not just another band simulation game. World Tour also gives players the ability to create their own music. With the new innovative Music Studio, players can create, edit and record their own music and share it online with other players. 

This gives it some longer legs. 

But don’t let the ability for players to create their own music discourage those of you who just like playing along to your favorite tunes. Guitar Hero: World Tour promises to offer the most extensive catalog of classic to modern rock tunes in a video game to date. 

Noted inclusions thus far: Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles and Sublime.

For those about to rock — we salute you. And for those who aren’t, Activision is cool with that too.

Tradmork reported that Activision, makers of the highly successful Guitar Hero series have recently filed a trademark for the term “DJ Hero.”

The official documents, filed February 8, state that Activision is looking to use the term in conjunction with “computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit. Interactive video game programs; computer game discs; downloadable software for use in connection with computer games; video game controllers; interactive video game comprised of a CD or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller.”

While there’s no official word from Activision about the possible turntable simulator, it should be noted that gamers have been clamoring for a title similar to what is being hinted at for quite some time. Check out the custom Guitar Hero turntable Gizmodo reported on at CES this year.

This is far from a confirmed game announcement. In fact, Activision has filed multiple trademarks dealing with the Guitar Hero franchise merely to protect the name. Ever hear of Guitar Villain? What about Drum Hero? They may not be games, but Activision holds the rights to these names just like they now hold the rights to DJ Hero.

You know we’re gonna be following this one closely.

Guitar Hero III came into the world with a large reputation to live up to. For months, gamers have been waiting to get their hands on the newest hit in the Guitar Hero franchise. It represents one of the best party games around and with new multiplayer modes, and it’s better than ever.

Guitar Hero III boasts a brand new set list of over 60 songs and a ton of downloadable content.

If you have never played a guitar hero game, here’s a quick overview: you take the role of one of the game’s playable characters and battle through the career mode on four difficulties, ranging from easy to expert. There are five buttons on the guitar representing different frets. To play a note, you have to hold down the fret button and strum the guitar. Sounds easy right? Now just do that about 2000 times in 5 minutes. In this game, practice makes perfect, and sticking with it is the key. The learning curve is difficult , but once you get the hang of this game, you will be quite pleased. On to the review:

Guitar Hero III tried to go more in depth with a career mode, but this title isn’t going to be known just for a great storyline. The game starts off with you and some friends starting a band, and after playing five or six songs you move onto the next level and the next set of songs. You go through it all, including your garage band days, your music video and playing in sold out arenas. The storyline in general is quite humorous at times and is fun to watch as the comic book-like characters show their emotions.

While the Guitar Hero franchise isn’t known for breakthrough graphics, but for the spectators Guitar Hero III has done a great job of making the characters look better and the places where you perform are much more detailed. After the prequel was attacked for poor graphics you can tell they really worked to squelch the critics.

The song list is in a word, Excellent. The wide variety of songs make this a very versatile list and there’s something on it for everyone. Whether you’re an 80′s rocker or a fan of the metal, you will be pleased. Some bands featured in the game include Guns and Roses, Slipknot and Kiss. The bonus songs feature some obscure titles you probably have never heard of, but they are very fun to play.

The multiplayer has been improved on huge levels. There are now more ways to embarrass or cooperate with your friends while playing. The multiplayer provides a great way to spend a night with a friend. On the other hand, if your friends have something better to do, you now have the choice of signing into Xbox Live to find a partner or an opponent or bandmate.

Cooperative mode allows two players to play at once. In most cases one player will take the role of the bassist, and one will be the guitarist. In some songs, rhythm guitar and lead guitar are played. Most achievements will come through playing co-op songs and trying to earn huge note streaks and point totals, and the ever-sought after 1,000,000 points.

The Face-Off modes return. You can either try to match your opponents skill level in a Pro Face-Off, in which you are both given the same set of notes, or you can battle them in a Face-Off in which you can go at different difficulties and battle for highest score. This mode represents a great way to show off.

The new “Battle” mode allows players to instead of achieving star power (a power-up which doubles your note-score) you can gain the ability to attack your opponent. You can break their strings, make their note-screen flash, and even raise the difficulty level they are playing on. This was an instant fan-favorite with the people on Xbox Live.

Guitar Hero III is a great game, and an addicting one at that. It’s great fun to play, especially with a bunch of friends and once you start, you won’t stop until you’re the best.

Quick hits:

Publisher: Microsoft
Developer: Neversoft Entertainment
Platform: Xbox 360, Wii, PS3, PS2
Genre: Music
Players: 1-2
Launch Date: October 28, 2007

Playability: 5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 4 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 4 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars

Rock Band builds on the phenomenon started by Guitar Hero by using four instruments in 13 gameplay combinations, giving you deep and detailed playability. This includes solo play of each instrument, competitions and co-op play, forming your own band.

The game includes two guitar parts (bass and lead guitar), drums and a microphone. But you can’t form a band with two of the same instrument.

When I sat down to try the drums they were interesting but very tricky. You need to hit different drums at different beats, which is hard for someone that doesn’t know anything about drums.

It turns out that the game focuses on the foot pedal and the left most drum. If you concentrate on those you can afford to miss the others without failing out as easily. At first I was trying to hit everything and missing most of them. After I started concentrating on the left drum and the foot I would still miss a lot, but I could get through a song.

The Drums seem very reliable and will take a good amount of abuse. Harmonix said that they had broken sticks on the drums but didn’t break the instrument. They even play the drums with real drumsticks. The Rock Band kit comes with real 5A Drum Sticks.

They were also talking about people that had played the drums a lot are now able to play real drums. Harmonix said that if you play under expert mode it’s the same as the real drummer is playing.

Failing songs will bring down the rest of the band and can easily force the whole band to fail if not restored soon enough. Cooperation and team effort are vital in Rock Band.

The singing part has been improved on from older titles like Karaoke Revolution also. The game can detect pitches and a certain amount of phonetics. It can detect consonants and vowels, so it will have some idea if the player is singing the right words.

In Karaoke Revolution the player could just hum and be fine. The people at Harmonix were talking about that when they testing the game. The singing part in Rock Band doesn’t pay attention to octave, so men can sing woman’s parts and vice-versa.

The microphone doesn’t have controls on it, so it needs a regular system controller to navigate. They didn’t want people pressing the buttons by accident. We had enough trouble in the demo with people hitting the Xbox button on the guitar.

The Band World Tour is Rock Band’s biggest feature. You get together two or more friends to play in a band. Then you can go on a virtual tour. When on tour you earn money and fans depending on how well you play. Some venues will earn you more money or more fans.

It’s really realistic — if you play a charity concert than it will earn you more fans but won’t earn you any money.

The World Tour starts from a hometown that you pick. In your hometown you can play in certain clubs, and as your popularity gets bigger, you can pick bigger venues. The first ones are small dingy clubs, and then it moves to theaters and then hopefully to stadiums if your good enough.

There are over 40 different venues in the game and they are all very different from stone clubs in Germany to old wood carved walls in a Scandinavian club. The clubs are often based on real places.

Harmonix spent money licensing the songs. They got real tattoo artists to design the tattoos, and they got real artists to design the 2D stickers in the game. They decided against getting permission for the real locations. They also felt that real locations would have some negative connotations, if someone doesn’t like that particular club they may be annoyed at playing in it.

As you play through the venues once in a while before one it will pop up with a message saying if you get so many stars on this concert that you can get a tour bus. These messages also usually have a negative side if you fail. One that we saw was that if you finish the concert it would double your money, but if you fail you’ll lose all your money. As a band you then have to decide if the risk is worth the reward.

When the band gets a van they can leave their home city and start branching out to other cities. Eventually they even get a jet, and this allows them to leave the continent and go anywhere in the world.

When playing a concert it often is many songs in a row, unlike in solo play or in regular coop play. When the first song is finished you don’t leave the venue, you start the next song. This means you have to get both or more songs right to do well in the venue. You have to play the set.

When you form a band or play solo, you have to create a character. The characters are very customizable. You can select skin color hairstyle, be tall or short or be skinny or fat. The game even allows customizing the eye color. The player can pick a style for the character, from rock, metal, goth or punk. This will determine how he or she moves on the stage and what special moves they do.

Once the basic person is decided, they can go and get clothes. There are four stores in the game. The interesting thing with the rock shop is it looks like the Garment District in Cambridge, Mass. They admitted they loosely based the style from the Garment District, and the Canal Street Jeans, in New York City. They hired real apparel designers to help design the clothes and make sure that their clothes look authentic.

The special effects in the game are really nice, and the playing heads up display is transparent so you can see the stage very easily. It’s still easy not to pay attention to the stage when you’re playing though cause of concentrating on your part.

I found this game a blast, especially if you can get four people together to play as a band. Don’t give up right away — the drum part is really hard for new players, but even after playing it just one day I found it really fun.

I love this game.

Quick hits:

Publisher: MTV Games
Developer: Harmonix
Platform: Xbox 360, PS3, PS2
Genre: Music simulation
Players: 1-4
Launch Date: November 20, 2007 (PS3 and Xbox 360), December 11, 2007 (PS2)

Playability: 5 out of 5 stars
Learning Curve: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Sound: 5 out of 5 stars
Graphics: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars Editor’s Choice

Elizabeth Raftery, Daniel Peleschuk and John Guilfoil of the Blast Magazine staff contributed to this report.

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the first wave of of downloadable songs available before the end of the year.

“Beginning on November 20th, fans will be able to purchase 3-song packs from Metallica, The Police and Queens of the Stone Age for a suggested retail price of $5.49 per pack or $1.99 per track (440 Microsoft Points per pack and 160 per track for Xbox 360). Individual tracks from Foreigner, Wolfmother and The Runaways, among others, for $1.99 per track (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360).”

“We are excited to unleash some of the most beloved rock songs of all time for consumers to customize their Rock Band game experience — for an amazing price,” said Paul DeGooyer, Senior Vice President of MTV Games. “The overwhelmingly positive response from artists, managers, music publishers and record labels has setup a queue of fantastic tracks that will continue to roll out every week.”

“We are giving consumers a way to experience what is essentially a new game every week with more and more of the songs they love,” said Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of Harmonix.

Downloads include:

Week of November 20, 2007:

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each (160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Metallica Pack
“Ride the Lightning” – Metallica
“Blackened” – Metallica
“And Justice for All” – Metallica

The Police Pack
“Can’t Stand Losing You” – The Police
“Synchronicity II” – The Police
“Roxanne” – The Police

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
“3′s and 7′s” – Queens of the Stone Age
“Little Sister” – Queens of the Stone Age
“Sick Sick Sick” – Queens of the Stone Age

Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360)

“Fortunate Son” as made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival *
“Juke Box Hero” as made famous by Foreigner *
“Bang a Gong (Get It On)” as made famous by T-Rex *
“My Sharona” as made famous by The Knack *
“Cherry Bomb” as made famous by The Runaways *
“Joker & The Thief” – Wolfmother

Week of November 27, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

David Bowie Pack
“Moonage Daydream” – David Bowie
“Heroes” as made famous by David Bowie *
“Queen B*tch” as made famous by David Bowie *

Week of December 4, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Black Sabbath Pack
“N.I.B.” as made famous by Black Sabbath *
“Sweet Leaf” as made famous by Black Sabbath *
“War Pigs” as made famous by Black Sabbath *

Week of December 11, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Punk Pack:
“Rockaway Beach” – Ramones
“I Fought the Law” – The Clash
“Ever Fallen In Love” as made famous by Buzzcocks *

Week of December 18, 2007

Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360)
“My Iron Lung” – Radiohead
“Buddy Holly” – Weezer
“Brass in Pocket” as made famous by Pretenders *

* This is a cover version of a song made famous by the artist indicated. All others are original master recordings.

The highly anticipated video game hits shelves Tuesday, November 20 for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3

Harmonix, MTV Games and distribution partner Electronic Arts released the song list today for its highly anticipated music video game Rock Band.

Rock Band will feature 58 tracks from alternative and classic rock to heavy metal and punk, the companies said in a statement. Rock Band will feature multiple instruments and several single and multiplayer modes, playable online or offline.

“Our goal with Rock Band was to give players the chance to experience an amazing cross section of music from the last four decades, and our final list of tracks includes everything from emerging bands to iconic artists,” said Paul DeGooyer, MTV’s Senior Vice President of Home Entertainment, Music and Games. “The overwhelmingly positive response from artists, music publishers and record labels made the final selection process challenging, but extremely exciting. As a result, 51 out of 58 of the final selections are based on original masters, giving fans an unprecedented way to get closer to the music they love.”

Eric Brosius, Harmonix audio lead said, “Now that the disc track list is locked and Rock Band is being prepped for manufacture, we are working with our music partners to set an exciting download schedule, both for launch and beyond. Through DLC, players will have the ability to take a deeper dive into the music of the artists featured on the Rock Band disc, or further explore different genres of rock or additional bands if they choose.”

The Set List:

There are 45 songs on the main set list and 13 newer songs from up-and-coming artists that can be unlocked.

1960s
Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”

1970s
Aerosmith “Train Kept a Rollin’”*
The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
Boston “Foreplay/Long Time”
Mountain “Mississippi Queen”*
The Police “Next to You”
David Bowie “Suffragette City”
Black Sabbath “Paranoid”*
Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”
Deep Purple “Highway Star”
KISS “Detroit Rock City”
Molly Hatchet “Flirtin’ With Disaster”
The Outlaws “Green Grass & High Tides”*
Sweet “Ballroom Blitz”*

1980s
Rush “Tom Sawyer”*
Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive”
The Clash “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
Faith No More “Epic”
R.E.M. “Orange Crush”
Iron Maiden “Run to the Hills”*

1990s
Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly”
Metallica “Enter Sandman”
Nirvana “In Bloom”
Stone Temple Pilots “Vasoline”
Weezer “Say It Ain’t So”
Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock”
Radiohead “Creep”
Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
Hole “Celebrity Skin”
Garbage “I Think I’m Paranoid”
Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”

2000s
The Hives “Main Offender”
Queens of the Stone Age “Go With the Flow”
The Strokes “Reptilia”
Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
OK Go “Here It Goes Again”
Nine Inch Nails “The Hand That Feeds”
Pixies “Wave of Mutilation”
Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California”
Coheed & Cambria “Welcome Home”
Fallout Boy “Dead on Arrival”
The Killers “When You Were Young”
New Pornographers “Electric Version”

* Indicates a cover song, all others songs are original master recordings

Rock Band is scheduled for release on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on November 20 and on PS2 December 18 in North America. It will hit European shelves in early 2008.

Originally announced as November 23, the well-anticipated Rock Band will hit stores November 20, before Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Harmonix announced.

Rock Band picks up where the amazingly popular Guitar Hero games leave off and is expected to sell amazingly well despite the $200 price tag on the special edition. (The game itself is $59.99 but the special edition comes with a guitar, drum set and microphone)

Thre game will allow players to mix lead guitar, bass guitar, drums and vocals in music from legendary and contemporary artists. It’s designed for multiplayer but single players can use a career mode or compete online against other players. There is also a plethora of downloadable content planned, as well as a social networking site at Rockband.com, launching the same day as the game.

When someone talks about guitar heroes, certain names often come to mind. They talk about Jimmy Page or Carlos Santana’s soulful style. They talk about Kenny Wayne Shepard’s bluesy-rock and Paul Reynold’s catchy riffs. Wait — what?

If you were able to recognize Paul Reynold’s as the original guitarist from 80′s phenomena and hairstyling rebels Flock of Seagulls do I have a game for you. Get ready to rock the synthesizer and feather your hair; Red Octane and Harmonix are bringing you back in time with Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s.

Anyone who has ever played any of the previous Guitar Hero games will feel right at home with Encore, but for continuity’s sake, and for those who have found a permanent residence under a rock, let’s rundown the basics. Using the game’s guitar controller, you time your presses of colored fret buttons and a strum bar along with the actual notes of the song. Think of it as a digital version of air guitar. The games have become cult phenomena and have grown to be not only the biggest music franchise of all time, but one of the fastest growing gaming franchises in general.

Encore acts more as an expansion pack than a new installment and while it is fun, it does thin out long before the previous games. Any music game, and Guitar Hero especially is only as good as its track list and while there are plenty of big hits in Encore that are incredibly addicting and fun to play (Turning Japanese and the aforementioned Flock of Seagulls hit come to mind) the list seems to be bogged down by slower and lesser known songs. I mean did anyone get excited when they announced songs like “Balls to the Wall” by Accept or “Los Angeles” by X?

It would be easy for any reviewer to sit here and fault Red Octane for choosing a synthesizer driven decade like the 80s, but they made a smart choice from a financial aspect. Retro and especially the 80s are in right now. The track list just seems so light because the previous games weren’t limited to a single decade — there was something from practically every offshoot genre of rock, while we are incredibly limited in Encore to metal, hair metal and pop.

Encore features practically no new content besides a new 80s aesthetic and of course the new songs. There are no new characters, guitars or stages, merely retro versions of what we saw in Guitar Hero 2 (for instance, since there was no Warped Tour in the 80s, a new festival has taken its place). While this is disappointing, not many people are looking to the series for its unlockables, content or story. They play the series for the fun and addicting music gameplay, which is definitely present here in Encore.

Encore is not a bad game by any means; it just does not measure up to the original two in most categories. Those who can’t get enough Guitar Hero, and don’t mind a few boring and no name tracks will feel right at home, but anyone looking to get started in the franchise may want to pick up some of the older installments or wait until this fall when Guitar Hero 3 hits shelves.