Not only does next week’s Rock Band Music Store update bring six live tracks from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, it also gives us insight into what Harmonix feels is family friendly. For instance, “Refugee”, “A Thing About You” and “Here Comes My Girl” are all available for LEGO Rock Band as well as the normal version, while “American Girl”, “Even the Losers” and “Mary Jane’s Last Dance” are not. All of the tracks are from The Live Anthology, in stores November 24.

Kelly Clarkson makes her Rock Band/LEGO Rock Band debut with “Miss Independent”, rounding out a non-Petty, family-friendly trio that includes the Go-Go’s “Our Lips Are Sealed” and Pink’s “Who Knew”.

Things can only get worse.

Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (November 24) and PlayStation 3 system (November 26):

· Go-Go’s – “Our Lips Are Sealed” +
· Kelly Clarkson – “Miss Independent” +
· P!nk – “Who Knew” +
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “A Thing About You (live)” +
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “American Girl (live)”
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Even the Losers (live)”
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Here Comes My Girl (live)” +
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Mary Jane’s Last Dance (live)”
· Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Refugee (live)” +

Soundbytes is celebrating its first birthday with its fifth gig in Melbourne tonight. The venue is the Queensberry Hotel (cnr of Swanston and Queensberry) and just $10 will get you inside for six sets of chiptunes, ie. music that sounds very much like old video game music.

Soundbytes 5 [DPad, thanks Drew!]

Can’t figure out if it’s her head size, hand size or what.

Comparison of in-game Yaguchi with real Yaguchi.

Full body image.

セガ、PS3「龍が如く4 伝説を継ぐもの」。矢口真里さんが3Dキャラとなりマッサージ店のセラピストに！ [GAME Watch]

After opening his article for The New Republic with a reference to how he and his fellow “smug old children of the ’70s” lament the passing influence of the music of their youth, critic David Hajdu discovers a cruel twist. The music games that are so popular on consoles today bring older music to younger audiences, continuing what he considers to be the lamentable tradition of letting an older generation condescend to a younger one that older music is superior music:

For another thing—and this is the main failing of music games, and it is a significant one—they have the insidious effect of glorifying classic rock, a music with an already bloated reputation that is founded on its very bloatedness. In the games’ absorption with technical prowess, speed, flash, grandiose show, and fakery, they not only affirm the enduring allure of classic rock to kids and young adults, especially males; they also advance its tyranny. People like me who have kids of video-game-playing age no doubt get many things wrong about these games, and chief among the errors of our age group, I think, is inflated generational pride in the 1970s-style arena rock that Guitar Hero and Rock Band promote to our descendants—kids who might otherwise, and perhaps more appropriately, use their after-school hours to nurture interests in music of their own. The games reassure us that our aftercomers are our heirs. They are male-oriented tools of cultural primogeniture, applications of twenty-first-century technology with a very ancient mission.

The full article will appear in the magazine’s December 2 issue.

Pretending [The New Republic]

Fans of Audiosurf, scrolling shooters and music in general have reason to be excited about Symphony, Empty Clip Studios’ new title in which your songs shape the game you’re playing.

Like Audiosurf, Symphony allows you to search your music collection in order to create a unique game experience for every song. Instead of a roller-coaster puzzle game, however, Symphony creates colourful 3D arcade shooter levels based on your musical tastes. A slow song might transform into a slow, relaxing shooter experience, while a fast electronic track with heavy beats morphs into something much more challenging.

Your music collection is the key to unlocking the full potential of Symphony, with hidden powers and unique enemies lurking inside your MP3s, waiting to be unleashed.

Symphony is still several months away from its 2010 release, but all the elements are in place for a truly unique shooter experience. I’ve already started building my playlist, and I’ve a feeling my psytrance collection is about to get a whole lot less relaxing.

Hit the official website for more about Empty Clips Studios and Symphony.

Like Activision’s recently-released Band Hero, LEGO Rock Band seeks to be the E for Everyone answer to the band-based rhythm genre, delivering songs that parents don’t have to explain to their children while blushing profusely. Unlike Band Hero, however, LEGO Rock Band has the power of one of the world’s most popular toy lines behind it. There’s really no doubt that the familiar red logo on the front of the case will attract game buying parents like moths to a flame. Will they get burned?

Loved
Rock Band’s Gameplay: It’s the same Rock Band gameplay we’ve all come to know and love, plastic instruments and all. Cosmetic changes aside, there’s nothing stopping anyone who has played previous Rock Band titles from picking up the mic, drumsticks or guitar and rocking out.

LEGO Charm: If you don’t find the LEGO video games charming on some level, you might as well treat LEGO Rock Band as a giant, $US50 track pack. If you do find the LEGO-brand cuteness adorable, then the game has plenty for you to gush over, from the LEGO block notes on the highway to the ridiculous hijinks your band and crew get up to during jam sessions. New venues are opened up by unlocking new, increasingly absurd LEGO vehicles, with each new location loaded with cute little touches that you’ll only notice if you are watching someone else play. Once again, Traveller’s Tales manages to squeeze refreshing water from a LEGO block.

Rock Challenges: While they aren’t particularly challenging, LEGO Rock Band’s Rock Challenges do split up the monotony of playing song after song after song. These special stages have specific goals, like blowing up a building with the power of rock, or ridding a haunted mansion of ghosts. In single player you simply play through the song presented as per normal, but with a friend the action is broken up, giving each player a bit of solo time to accomplish their goals. Again, not all that challenging, but a welcome distraction. Plus, the Ghostbusters challenge features some of the most adorable moments in gaming this year. To quote my girlfriend, “Cutest. Thing. Ever.”

Eclectic Selections: Despite its family-friendly theme, LEGO Rock Band has managed to gather together a nicely varied list of music that might not have seen the light of day in any other Rock Band title. The introduction of my favourite band, Counting Crows, to the Rock Band universe was almost worth the game’s $US50 price tag for me, while songs like “Kung-Fu Fighting”, “Ghostbusters” and “Walkin’ on Sunshine” are exactly the sort of light-hearted fare that other Rock Band games lacked.

It’s A Brick House: Like other LEGO games from Traveller’s Tales, LEGO Rock Band is all about collecting bits, and once you’ve collected those bits you can use them at the in-game store to buy new outfits, instruments, staff members and even decorations for your LEGO headquarters. Your headquarters acts as the main menu for the game, so being able to add your own personal touch is kind of nice. This is really the feature that separates the game from the rest of the Rock Band lineup, even if it doesn’t allow for in-depth customisation of your pad.

Super Easy: A new addition to the standard Rock Band difficulty settings, Super Easy means even your most uncoordinated friends can pick up a guitar and play, as long as they have even the most rudimentary grasp of the concept of rhythm. Just push any button and strum, or hit any drum pad. We don’t care which, just pound the damn thing. There, now you’re playing Rock Band. Perfect for those singers in your group who are afraid of the plastic instruments.

Export Business: If all else fails, LEGO Rock Band functions as a 44-song track pack. A code included with the game allows you to export the songs on the disc to regular Rock Band for $US9.99, meaning that if you’d like to play “Accidentally in Love” with your friends without worrying about LEGO Rock Band’s lack of online multiplayer, you still have another option.

Hated
Skimpy Track List: Three years ago we would have been perfectly happy with 44 songs, but these days that’s around half of what we generally expect. The songs might be a nice collection of tunes, but when you have to play them over and over again throughout your career in order to progress, they wear thin rather quickly. In one venue I played through two songs I wasn’t particularly fond of, only to have both of said songs show up in the mystery set list I played next. That’s not fun. That’s annoying.

Offline Only: I suppose stripping away the online play from previous Rock Band titles was one way of making LEGO Rock Band more family friendly, but its presence is definitely missed.

LEO Rock Band makes several painful trade-offs in order to present a game that can be considered family friendly, and your enjoyment of the game hinges on whether or not you can handle the changes. You get half as many songs as a normal Rock Band release and no online multiplayer, in exchange for a rhythm game that’s brimming with unique LEGO personality and music you won’t find anywhere else, until Harmonix releases the tracks as paid DLC for the regular versions. Plus, LEGO Rock Band is by far the most accessible of the Rock Band titles, with a lower level of difficulty making it an excellent gateway game.

There’s a lot to love in LEGO Rock Band, as long as you don’t try and take it too seriously.

LEGO Rock Band was developed by Harmonix and Traveller’s Tales and published by EA for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii. Retails for $US49.99/$AU79.95 (Wii $AU79.95). A copy of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Played through complete career mode on the Xbox 360 version both alone and with a friend.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

Wordspit’s video of Joystick Madness features plenty of references to fighter game culture. It’s also, as Capcom’s Chris Kramer points out, packed with sampled Street Fighter sound effects.

Thumbs up or thumbs down?

Wordspit hadoukens backpackers ear’s with Joystick Madness (The Music Video) [Capcom-Unity]

Reader Gerard noticed what looks like the Nintendo Wii Nunchuk in the video. If that is a Nunchuk, not quite sure what it’s doing there.

This man is controlling something.

Video might be NSFW.

The game’s rousing soundtrack was recorded by a session orchestra (at Abbey Road, no less), not some guy with a synthesiser, and if you’ve ever wanted to make your office feel less like a rat race and more like a military junta, you can grab it on iTunes right now for $US10.

Killzone 2 Soundtrack Released On iTunes [PlayStation]

Developed by Cyclone Zero and published by Arc System Works, O-D Beat Drop is your standard block-dropping puzzle game with a rhythmic twist. Players drop their pieces to the beat of music, clearing the board with combos for big points. More than 100 stages of single-player gameplay and four different difficulty levels should keep the solo gamer occupied, while cooperative and versus online play for up to four players should ensure you never play alone.

The niftiest feature of the game, however, is the ability to import your own music. The game will analyse your tunes and let you play along to a beat you might be more comfortable with. Once again it is time for my Infected Mushroom collection to thrive!

O-D Beat Drop will be available on Wednesday for 800 Microsoft points.

This week on Arcade: 0D Beat Drop [Major Nelson]