Evolution of the Music Simulator

A few years ago I decided to pick up Guitar Hero. At the time I was watching E3 and they were showing a demo of Guitar Hero 2 and I was really interested. The very next day I picked up the first game for the PS2 and immediately fell in love with the franchise. Naturally I researched who made the game and the publishers and was curious on how the series would evolve. This was a game genre that I had not been exposed to and didn't really know existed and if done correctly could really change how people viewed music and more importantly viewed gaming as a social event instead of games just being viewed as a toy created for nerds.

Harmonix's first foray into the music genre was Amplitude and Frequency which honestly I don't consider "music simulators." They felt more like games that were trying to accomplish something more and now looking back I think those goals have now been achieved and it was nice having these games as the biases, the foundation, of what was to come.

First up was the very limited but the Godfather of music games in North America, Guitar Hero, which opened the floodgates to the world that we know today. However it did not contain a single master track even though some of them were decent but most got in the way and were just bad. One interesting aspect of the game was the inclusion of multiplayer. The reason this is interesting because the game completely lacks any options, modes, and has no ingenuity in the multiplayer whatsoever. This multiplayer mode consisted of someone playing a few notes and then the other person playing the second bit of notes and so forth from there.

Just around a year later Guitar Hero 2 arrived on a white horse of Amesomeness, with a fucking capital A. The song list was a lot of fun even though only a couple of songs had a master recordings in the game. However the co-op was a lot of fun since bass was finally playable in co-op and reinforced the social aspect of the game. My friends and I played countless hours of GH2 either trying to beat each others high scores or playing co-op. And it seemed we weren't alone, the word started spreading. More people were playing the game and telling others about it.

Activision then became greedy and decided they new best. Naturally Harmonix became pissed and the two companies split creating a rivalry that is far from over. Activision took the GH franchise and gave it to Neversoft a company that will do everything that Activision tells them too. This match made in hell birthed GH3. GH3 added a lot of elements that turned this series into more of a game than an experience of playing music which is what made everyone fall in love with the series to begin with. Examples would be the addition of boss battles and silly inclusions into the multiplayer, like invisible notes or the lefty switch which had more in common with a Twisted Metal game then a music game that allowed you to experience the music that you were playing. Not to mention that the difficulty skyrocketed due to the addition notes that didn't even exist in the songs themselves.

One thing out of this there was some good. Harmonix had been learning from their own mistakes and understood what music games could be. Music has always been a form of self express, music is a social interaction and even if you are playing fake instruments its the fact that you are sharing the experience makes it all the more meaningful. This is precisely what Rock Band accomplishes. The first Rock Band focused heavily on the fact that you are playing together and playing by yourself it isn't that much fun. Mostly this is due to the fact the song choice is focused on everyone playing together and not just playing one instrument.

Music games are still transforming and right now I'm playing Rock Band 2 as if I stop I'll be raped by the hobgoblins that live in my 360. What I am scared of though is the fact that Activision is going to flood the market with Guitar Hero products that if anyone even sees another plastic guitar they'll hurl vomit so hard they'll end up on Venus. I haven't played Guitar Hero World Tour so I'll reserve judgement until I do but if Activision's business plans and Guitar Hero On Tour and 3 are any sign I don't think World Tour will be that great not to mention that I don't really like the set list.

In the end I just hope that Harmonix will be able to continue their evolution of the music genre after Harmonix makes everyone sick of it.

Development Arrested

I recently finished watching all three season's of the show Arrested Development. I know its been off the air and that I'm really late to the game but I have to say I really really love this show. But what I love about this show is not just the humor but for its commentary on television, censorship, and the modern family dynamic.

The first season has most of my favorite episodes and the second season follows up nicely. It wasn't until the third season did they know that they were being canceled and decided to go all out with the show. The story lines became increasingly insane where as the first and second season was much more character based.

But what really got me was the way the show was very aware of itself without over stating that fact. I think its that the narrator contributes so much and acts as another character in the show. Every once and a while the characters make references to being on a TV show or something of that nature but the narrator out right talks to the audience and gives us the answers to questions that the characters don't know about. The narrator gives us insight into the show without the characters looking at the screen and winking all the time.

This pretty much turned into a love fest but I don't really give a shit. If you haven't checked out the show all the episodes are up on Hulu.

Spore: The Sum of its Parts?

Everyone right now is throwing a fit over the DRM issues on Spore, and has become a huge talking about amongst gaming journalists and bloggers. But I don't really care that much about it because its just pandering between the people who want money and the people that don't want to spend it. And yes I am referencing Penny Arcade.

No, I want to talk about the game of Spore itself. Now I do understand every one's complaints. Most of the stages are very simplistic and aren't very compelling in of themselves. The only stage that is actually interesting is the space stage but even then its very repetitive which isn't good when your the longest stage in the game. All in all Spore is nothing more than an elaborate game of Play-Doh.

However I don't think the game is any of those things but the conglomerate of all of those aspects. The game may be split up in separate stages and the creation tools do seem slightly separate from the rest of the game but I viewed it was one huge game. Everything I've read about people's reaction to Spore is the fact they view each part as if it were a separate game. When I play the game I viewed each part more like a level instead of a separate game.

Perception is relative and I think that is the main difference between the people that enjoy the game and those that don't. That's not saying not liking the game is bad and this is more of a blanket statement on most games out there. Different people enjoy games for different reasons and Spore brings that to the forefront with its unique structure.

"Steve Holt!" - Steve Holt from Arrested Development

The New Bond Song: Shitty or just wait a while?

Being a massive Bond fan I always try to keep up with all the news that I can about any new James Bond film. And with the recent installment of Bond having been so good I'm really excited about the upcoming film "Quantum of Solace."

Besides the title not being that great everything else that I have heard and read about Quantum is right on the money until recently. As always there is a huge deal about how writes and plays the song for the opening title sequence of the Bond Films. Well after a long time of everyone thinking Amy Whinehouse was going to do the song, which isn't a bad idea, the official song has finally arrived sung by Alicia Keys and Jack White.

That's right Mr. Indie singer himself Jack White. Now I don't have any problem with Alicia Keys because her voice is well suited to match any of the great Bond songs of the past. But mixed with Jack White's nails on chalk board voice it just didn't work for me. The song itself is fine using new guitar riffs mixed in with classic horns which is a great throw back to the older songs.

Now the music video for the song has just been released and I have to say that its warmed up to me a little more. Now Casino Royale's "You Know my Name" by Chris Cornell I was not fond of either, even when the music video came out I was not thrilled until I saw the opening credits for the film. But this time the music video has warmed up to me so as long as the visuals for sequence are good I'm sure the song will fit in well.

http://new.music.yahoo.com/videos/--201553123

"Fighting for peace, is like screwing for virginity." -George Carlin

Indigo Prophecy: Falling short

I listen to a lot of podcasts and one of them is 1upFM, which has a great segment called backlog. In the segment they discuss older games that few people played but were highly acclaimed by not just game critics but also by the few people that played them. The first two games were Shadow of the Colossus and then Pyschonauts. The most recent one they've tackled is Indigo Prophecy which I was happy enough to find in a local store for seven bucks, so I said why not. The final discussion on 1upFM has already taken place and I have yet to listen to it but I thought I would weigh in here.

Honestly I think Indigo Prophecy was ahead of its time but as a game its not very well structured. The game starts off as a very intriguing detective story were you play the detectives as well as the fugitive. However it devolves into a cheesy cliche sci fi story that has no real emotional impact. Which is really sad because I really cared for all of the characters and was interested in what they were going to do and how they would evolve. But halfway through the game after a couple of mysteries are exposed those feelings are torn asunder and I couldn't care less.

This is a game however and that's why it makes me sad that the story couldn't keep up with the game play. As far as I know the dialogue system in this game is what Mass Effect was trying to achieve but came years earlier and the way you interact with the environment is way ahead of anything that came out at that time. From that era most games had shiny keys that would unlock the next door to the next area. But in Indigo Prophecy the objects and interaction with the environment doesn't feel forced but very organic as if I was existing in this world. I have never played a game that made me feel so immersed when I'm going around looking for clues or out maneuvering someone during a conversation scene. Its the action scenes that are the weak point of the game. Instead of giving you control over the character you are forced to play an elaborate game of Simon Say's to get through the cinematic sequences that are the action set pieces of the game. All I'm saying is that I always felt very removed from these parts.

What makes this game very unique however is the role that the player takes. In nearly all games you either play a god character or the actual main character. In Indigo Prophecy however you play the director. At times you are god, maneuvering the characters like pieces on a chess board, and at other times you control the characters themselves. It's only during the action set pieces that the player has to sit back and let the game just play itself.

All in all I really enjoyed the game which made me sad when it decided to take a left turn into a really bad SciFi original movie.


"A severed foot is the ultimate stocking stuffer." - Mitch Hedburg

He's a Fucking Werewolf!!

I just watched episode 4 for True Blood and if Sam isn't a fucking werewolf I'm going to shoot myself. Seriously he just spent a two minute scene sniffing the victims sheets. I'm just going crazy I want to know if they did werewolfs right.

Russell Crowe: So badass he plays the Hero AND the Villian!

For years I have been a huge Ridley Scott fan and right now he's been teaming up with Russell Crowe to make a lot of movies. The first time they worked together was on Gladiator and that movie was just plain fucking awesome. And right now Scott is in a pattern where he makes smaller films in between epic films. For example he made Matchstick Men in between Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator. Well Scott has a spy film coming out called Body of Lies and has announced that his next film has been green lit which happens to be Robin Hood.

Now Russell Crowe has always been rumoured to play either Robin Hood or the Sheriff of Nottingham. I was never surprised by this news because I can see him playing either roles and being great but some disturbing news has been confirmed today.

Mr. Crowe will be playing Robin Hood AND the Sheriff of Nottingham. I don't know how to handle this news. In the hands of a lesser director I would glaze over this news but a "I don't really care anymore" feeling. However this is Ridley Scott we are talking about here and if anyone can pull this off and make it awesome it would be him. The problem is that sometimes directors get this great idea on how to utilize an actor and don't really think whether it helps the film or not, and this has me worried. It could turn out great and I have really high hopes but this has the stink of disaster written all over it.