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Looks like Activision will have some competition in the turntablism music niche - Scratch: Ultimate DJ is a new contender from 7 Studios, produced with the help of Quincy Jones III (not that one, his son - still good, though).
Saint's Row 2 is just around the corner, and in order to whet fans' appetites even further, THQ has released the full track listings for the in-game radio stations. There are 11 different stations, 6 of which are music focused, with stations ranging from rap to funk, alternative to 80's. It's a rather lengthy list, and almost completely unfamiliar to me until you hit Avenged Sevenfold about halfway down the page, which is sad, because that comes after funk, and I am all about the funk.
The guys from UK site Gamer ran into Grammy-winning rapper Coolio in the elevator on the way to a Guitar Hero World Tour demo at a hotel recently. Of course they invited him along to check the game out.
After taking on La Bamba, Coolio was peer-pressured into taking a stab at Beat It and Gamer captured the whole thing on video. Wow, he really can't hit those Michael Jackson high notes. But he does trash talk the game after eeking by on medium.
Folks are saying that the sound quality of the new Metallica album Death Magnetic is rotten. The Guitar Hero version, however? Much better. (In case you missed the comparison, feel free to judge for yourself here.) Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has no clue what people are bitching and moaning about. Dude's been listening to the CD in his car, and it sounds "fuckin' smokin'". Continuing, Lars continues:
When not making music and making fun of Ice-T, hip-hopper Soulja Boy has a dream: He'd like to go to college. And that's a very admirable dream! Thing is, he's a superstar right now so he'd cause a big ruckus if he went college. People would bug him while he's trying to study and stuff. Guess he should wait for when he's, you know, not famous anymore.
Interesting though to note that Soulja Boy says he wanted to be a flash animator and is interested in getting in the game industry. Hey, why not?! This comes after Soulja Boy gave these insights on Xbox title Braid: "for people who smoke or people drink like if you drink beer and you get drunk or you smoke weed and you get high and you just... anything, like you just get be gettin' fucked up." Which was somewhere along the same lines of our review. Personally, we think it's great that even after becoming a successful recording artist Soulja Boy is thinking about college and education. Good for him.
Soulja Boy Wants To Make Video Games [AnalogHype via Go Nintendo]
Posted by Seamus Byrne at 3:40 PM on September 29, 2008
Just got back from spending the morning at Activision HQ in Sydney, getting some hands on time across a few upcoming titles. One of these was Guitar Hero: World Tour, which I've been very keen to get some time with. Once upon a time I played drums (though I wouldn't call myself a real 'drummer'), so I've been itching to get some time on the kits from both this and Rock Band for a long time. Consequently my initial impressions are weighted heavily toward the skins. I've had time on Rock Band with the Gamespot Australia crew in recent times, and today it was time to see how World Tour stacked up. The short of it? REAL nice. I wasn't chasing the kit across the room like I was with Rock Band's drums. Oh, and Purple Haze is an absolute showstopper! Long story after the jump.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers' fifth studio album and breakthrough hit Blood Sugar Sex Magik will be hitting the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace next week, giving Rock Band — and Rock Band 2 — another full album to call their own. Cost is $19.99 (1600 Microsoft Points) for the full LP or $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) for each individual track. The track "Give It Away" is already currently available on the Rock Band 2 disc. The full tracklisting follows.
Last month saw an interesting bit of back and forth between Warner Music Group CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. and Acitivsion boss Bobby Kotick which began with Edgar complaining that the music industry wasn't getting enough money from games like Activision's Guitar Hero and ended with Kotick firing back that delivering a not-so-subtle threat about which music they'll choose to include in the future. Now in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Kotick takes the money argument full circle.
There's a misunderstanding of the value we bring to the catalog...When you look at the impact it can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it's really significant, so much so that you sort of question whether or not, in the case of those kinds of products, you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse.
Goodness, Bobby's getting a bit vicious now, isn't he? He does have a point though. I'd say most of the money I've spent on music in the past two years has been for video game DLC. Poor, put-upon record labels.
The Future of Videogames, According to Activision CEO [Wall Street Journal via Edge]
Is it me, or is Simlish, the imaginary language that The Sims speak, rather pretty when it's sung? Take this music video for the Simlish version of Katy Perry's "Hot & Cold", which appeared on the soundtrack for The Sims 2: Apartment Life soundtrack. Not only does the song sound better in Simlish, Katy Perry herself looks a whole lot better as a virtual person than a real one. Maybe I've just been spending too much time playing video games.
Hip Hop and Basketball - two great tastes that.. etc. etc.