posted by Chris on July 21, 2008 7:26 PM in Podcast
In the aftermath of E3 2008, Chris, Qais and Jinny discuss what ensued during the Nintendo and Sony conferences, and other great games announced at the now stripped down show. They raise questions such as: is Nintendo in the business of making money or making video games? And: what is the plural of "red headed stepchild"? Whether or not you want to have this information in your head is immaterial! It is here. Would you like to hear about our frothing demand for Mirror's Edge and EA's offerings? You can experience this.
posted by Chris on July 7, 2008 5:58 PM in Podcast
This week's podcast is weird. If you thought The Weekly Geek was already a crazy, mixed-up sort of video game blog, this podcast will re-enforce that astute observation. Your hosts Chris, Qais, Ross and Jinny discuss what they think is going to be shown at this year's E3 and if the event even matters anymore. They also talk about geek rites of passage, such as Chris' revelation that he just saw Blade Runner for the first time. A new book on nerds is discussed, dissected and judged for its cover, and they introduce a brand new geeky obsession: sous-vide cooking. Enjoy this week's podcast, for it is delicious.
posted by Chris on June 30, 2008 6:44 PM in Podcast
Dear Sir or Madam,
Enclosed you will find a special extra-long edition of The Weekly Geek with such personalities as Qais, Chris, Jinny and Ross discussing issues pertinent to your life. Have you ever wondered how Rock Band 2 might compete in this growing market of music games? Now you can know! Have you ever dreamed about Diablo III? Well dream no more! Do you believe that the record industry is crazy, and did you find this out from the magical talking cat in your closet? I, uhh... no actually that's weird. Enjoy these subjects, your questions answered on air (read with optional funny voices) and a bonus secret word section in this week's fabulous (did I mention free?) podcast.
posted by Chris on May 19, 2008 6:22 PM in Podcast
This week, Qais, Chris and Ross the Transparent Underground Gnoll meet at the Fortress of Geekitude to discuss the state of video game trade shows, Konami's new Rock Revolution and what a new drum peripheral could mean for crowded living rooms everywhere, making worthwhile games for children, the Great Slipper Collapse of 1985 (includes bonus Fraggle Rock discussion) and then the boys dip into the mailbag. Which isn't a euphemism.
Wondering how EA and Harmonix were going to make the Wii version of Rock Band successful without all of the amazing downloadable songs? Today comes the announcement of Rock Band Track Pack volume 1, which brings a nice selection of 20 songs previously available for download on the PS3 and 360 versions to the PS2 and the Wii. Set to be released on July 15th, here's the track list.
30 Seconds to Mars The Kill
All American Rejects Move Along
Blink – 182 All the Small Things
Boston More Than a Feeling
David Bowie Moonage Daydream
Faith No More We Care A Lot
Grateful Dead Truckin’
The Hives Die, All Right!
KISS Calling Dr. Love
Lynyrd Skynyrd Gimme’ Three Steps
Nine Inch Nails March of the Pigs
Oasis Live Forever
Paramore Crushcrushcrush
The Police Synchronicity II
Queens of the Stone Age Little Sister
Ramones Teenage Lobotomy
Smashing Pumpkins Siva
Stone Temple Pilots Interstate Love Song
Weezer Buddy Holly
Wolfmother Joker & the Thief
**All 20 tracks utilize original master recordings**
What I'm curious about is whether you have to switch your disks out when you want to play these specific tracks, or if just inserting the disk into the system somehow unlocks them on the original disk? Hm. While this is a great thing for Wii and PS2 Rock Band owners (personally the DLC is the best part of the game for me) I'm really curious as to how it will be implemented.
posted by Chris on April 21, 2008 6:19 PM in Podcast
This week Chris is joined by Mack and Ross to talk about those playground perpetuated secret levels we all remember from childhood, the Iron Man/Hulk movie crossover, the Mortal Kombat vs. DC crossover, and our frothing demand for GTAIV. These and other geeky discussions can be yours this week, for the low, low price of zero dollars! Will these geeks ever get over the childhood trauma of finding out there's no cow level? Find out by downloading this podcast!
Subscribe to our feed to get these updates automatically! Show notes after the jump.
posted by Chris on April 18, 2008 4:42 PM in Games
It's been a busy past few days as I have been working on a (not so super secret) project. What games I've played tended to lean more on the pick-up-and-play side, though I've tried to make time for some...
Devil May Cry 4 - I missed this game when it was first released, and ended up borrowing it from Qais this week. I haven't played through any of the original games, though I enjoy the fast-paced action of the series. What I find consistently laughable, though, is the strange juxtaposition of great graphics and presentation with poor menus in Capcom games. They seem to be obsessed with horrible typefaces, Photoshop glow filters, confusing UIs and cheesy sound effects. And damn there's a ton of cut scenes in this game. Don't get me wrong, they're pretty spectacular and all but we'll see if playing for 5 minutes and then watching a 10 minute cut scene starts to grate.
Puzzle Quest - Building up my main character in the 30s has been painfully slow, though I really enjoy just poking around the map and getting into random battles. Level grinding never really felt like work with Puzzle Quest. I feel a little guilty sometimes for skipping through all the dialog, so I started actually reading the quest text which to my surprise is actually top notch.
Rock Band - Still working on expert drums, at this point it's just practice , practice, practice. My back hurts.
I think this weekend I'm going to be giving most of my attention to Devil May Cry 4 or Mass Effect while I'm not working on that other thing. You know, the thing.
We've been speculating for a while about when the first full albums will be released for Rock Band, sources said Nirvana Nevermind and The Who's Who's Next were slated to be the first (to much excitement!), but today it was announced that full albums are coming April 22nd, with Judas Priest's Screaming For Vengeance, followed in May by The Cars (that's just what I needed!) and in June by The Pixies' Dolittle.
While I am incredibly excited to be able to play these albums, I'm saddened that we are apparently only getting one per month. In addition, I'd like to see a better way to make a playlist in the game proper, such as being able to select an album and play it all the way through without shupp shupp shupp-ing through the entire giant playlist every time we want to rock out to Judas Priest.
posted by Chris on April 14, 2008 4:18 PM in Podcast
Who knew what kind of effect Animal Crossing could have on a man? In this week's podcast, Qais recounts his harrowing tale of Tom Nook-related horror, joined by Chris and Ross who laugh in delight at his misery. Nintendo's E3 debut of a new DS is discussed, as well as Bad Company's weapon conspiracy, indie games relying on old school art, video game retail stores that look like Borg ship interiors (and how awesome that would be), and Motley Crue is made fun of for being old. Your questions are also answered within as the mailbag is opened and not mocked in the slightest.
Apparently all I needed to do in order to complete Run To The Hills on hard was attach some socks to my drums with rubber bands. Who knew?
All day yesterday and all morning today I was thinking of how to get the proper stickings for this song. It's got this galloping beat that is really fast, and hard to nail precisely on the pads. Even in the shower I was drumming with my fingers on the tiles, trying to get the rhythm down. Frustrated and sore, I took a break and looked on a couple Rock Band forums for tips. Many mentioned something called the "sock mod", which involves wrapping the drum head in a tube sock and rubber bands. It increases the tension of the sensor and improves gameplay. Turns out I wasn't bad at drum rolls, the drums were bad at interpreting my drum rolls. I finished Run To The Hills with ease and finished drums on hard. I love seeing that achievement pop up "3 for 90g". So nice of Harmonix to give you credit for all difficulties below the one you have just completed.
I feel so very accomplished now. The rest of my day was spent playing...
Ikaruga - I don't recall the Gamecube version of this game having so much engrish in it, but Treasure found a way to poorly translate even more text, including all the Xbox-specific text, such as saving the game. Hilarious. It's a good thing that Ikaruga is fucking brilliant. In HD the game looks absolutely incredible. Textures and polygons are smooth, there's little to no slowdown when a lot of stuff is happening on screen, and man. The music. Oh, the music is so very epic. I completed the first and second stages, unlocking the third. I obtained the achievements for completing both of those levels and decided to grab the dot eater one as well. Dot Eater is accomplished by not firing for a whole level. In Ikaruga, each enemy appearing on screen is precisely choreographed. They come in and exit at the same time, every time. It's entirely possible to memorize the patterns and get a perfect game. In the XBLA version, you have the new option to save replay videos and attach them to your leaderboard score. This is pretty awesome, as you can go to the top of the leaderboard and download a gameplay video of whoever is currently best in the world. You can then study the videos and improve your own performance. For obsessive types like me, this is a godsend.
Tomorrow? More Ikaruga and possibly back into Mass Effect or Burnout Paradise, now that one of my main goals for Rock Band has been accomplished. Huzzah!
In between playing Rez on beyond mode and small sessions of Geometry Wars, this week seems to be dominated by Rock Band (what else?) In addition to playing some Tug of War online (got my Tug of War champ achievement by getting 20 wins in ranked matches! Woo!) I joined up with Grant and Amy (formerly The Geek and White Mage) for some band quickplay over Live. We had some issues.
First, Grant's invite bleemped at me on the screen but didn't show up in my message list, not allowing me to join the game. Then Amy sent an invite, which magically worked. Then I couldn't figure out how to plug my headset into my guitar, as I have never done it before and I generally loathe talking to people over Live. Man, they made that little hole for the headset tiny and hard to find, for a while I was just stupidly turning the controller over trying to figure out where the damn plug goes. Then Grant reminded me that I needed the included adapter, which I had to rummage through my random boxes of electronics and wires to find. After getting that all set up, we noticed my headset audio options weren't working, as Grant and Amy's voices were coming through my speakers and my headset, no matter what I toggled in the special menu. So I had to turn off the game and get re-invited. Apparently the Xbox Live headsets don't like to be plugged in after you're already signed in and ready to go. Plug and play, Microsoft! Plug and plaaaaaaaaaaay.
We eventually got it to work and ripped out a few rockin' tracks, but as it usually goes I wanted to continue my Rock Band marathon after they had left. On a whim I started playing solo tour on expert and progressed quite far. I then applied my new magical drum skills to my existing hard solo setlist and completed all of the final tracks (Next To You, Flirting With Disaster, Won't Get Fooled Again and Tom Sawyer) except Run To The Hills, which kicked my ass. I've played it a number of times and failed miserably, going back to practice mode and trying to get the stickings down. That weird galloping beat... so... so weird.
I am actually reading forum posts to see what the correct sticking is. Is it left-right-left right-left-right? Or is it right-left-right right-left-right? Sigh.
posted by Chris on March 28, 2008 12:35 PM in Games
We received our Pedal Metal in the mail yesterday, having ordered one immediately after posting an article about them and were quite impressed with the quality. For around 20 bucks (with shipping and everything) you can get peace of mind for when you are trying to nail Mississippi Queen on expert. It was easy enough to install, just placing the metal on the pedal and using the included self-drilling screws with a regular non-powered screwdriver. Once it's on there, it seems it could be fairly easily removed, though it's most likely at that point you have voided your warranty.
My main concern with the drum pedal is noise and durability. I want to be able to freely push the pedal with vigor, while not making my downstairs neighbor want to come upstairs and kill me with his fists. Pedal Metal is slightly noisier than your standard pedal, my guess would be just because of the added weight. I am usually playing the drums wearing socks or barefoot, as well. The Pedal Metal uses a corrugated steel look and screws with rounded tops, which I am sure add tons of grip for people who play with their shoes on. For people who don't, however, it feels like it could get a little uncomfortable. Ideally, they could have found a way to recess the screw heads into the metal itself, right now they just sort of sit awkwardly on top of whatever random bit of the metal pattern happens to be there. So you have seven little bumps that you have to basically avoid with your foot so you don't get a blister or anything. Not cool.
If you are interested in playing drums on anything other than medium, you're going to be breaking your pedal at some point. The plastic is just going to get worn down and will snap horribly one day. Pedal Metal will help prevent this, but it definitely could use some improvements. For now, I am satisfied with my purchase.
posted by Chris on March 24, 2008 6:03 PM in Podcast
Excitement! Intrigue! Feats of amazement, designed to astound! These are things not normally found in a podcast, but no! The Weekly Geek presents you with all that and more. This week, Chris and Mack announce the T-shirt contest winners, how Rock Band on the Wii may or may not be awesome (you be the judge! A new interactive feature!), the cramp-inducing Guitar Hero DS peripheral is revealed, and they talk a bit about SNL after the writer's strike. You know what else is awesome? The rest of the podcast, that's what. This includes a discussion of affairs medical, affairs scientific, affairs cryptozoological and affairs regarding magic powder.
posted by Chris on March 21, 2008 3:58 PM in Games
You've got the cocktails flowing. Your guests are marveling at your awesome home theater setup and most are drooling to get a chance to play Rock Band. Maybe it's their first time. You're feeling good and decide to attempt Mississippi Queen on expert with the drums. Rockin'. Nothing ruins your perfect Rock Band party more than that horrible snapping noise while you're nailing the big rock ending. These kick pedal pads from Pedal Metal look like they may just solve any future party fouls. They are made of actual metal and only require a minor bit of surgery on your existing pedal.
The Rock Band pedals snap easily from normal use as the plastic starts to warp, so this might be a wise purchase for anyone serious about the fake drums. I had my pedal snap, and while EA's return process was relatively easy I would have liked to avoid the process altogether. I'm going to grab me some metal.
That's right. I just said "I'm going to grab me some metal."
posted by Chris on March 20, 2008 10:11 AM in Games
EA just blasted my inbox with some exciting news: Rock Band is getting an update this week, with the focus being on a brand new in-game music store. The music store will allow you to view tracks sorted by album, genre and more, with album art and song difficulty for each instrument displayed. This update will also include "additional game features that address many of the popular requests by the gaming community" which could mean anything!
I am thrilled to see EA keeping their word in making Rock Band a brand new way to experience music, and the addition of a music store means better organization for the 100+ downloadable tracks so far, and also most likely means that full album downloads are mere weeks away. Rock Band is already my favorite game of all time, and with this news its only going to get favoriter. Is that even a word?
posted by Chris on February 27, 2008 2:52 PM in Games
Practice makes perfect, they say, and I have been practicing the drums on Rock Band like some sort of drum beat-craving fiend. Mainly I am obsessed with the drums because I believe I have no real sense of rhythm, and I like the challenge. I've been slowly increasing my skills (almost) daily, and have now reached a point where I am confident in playing any given song on hard difficulty, and can even complete some expert songs in the 90% range. There's no way in hell I will ever be able to complete The Perfect Drug on expert, I have decided after watching this insane video of someone just rocking the crap out of those weird random beats. Marvel at the mad skillz and join me in feeling completely inadequate.
posted by Chris on February 25, 2008 5:36 PM in Podcast
With HD-DVD dead, the geeks from The Weekly Geek somehow manage to make a podcast in these most dire of times. Yea, though the apocalypse is upon us, we can still enjoy ranting and raving about video games and movies. This week, Chris, Mack and Qais discuss the wonders that are Wondercon and the Game Developer's Conference, expanding into discussion of community games, digital downloads, media wars, how much cooler Rock Band is versus Guitar Hero, the virtues of Leonardo DiCaprio and how DC will never really kill off their characters, even though they say they will. Liars.
I apologize for the audio quality of the podcast, we had technical issues again which makes me and Qais sound quiet and Mack sound really loud. Good for Mack, I guess!
These guys, while not as hilarious as they seem to think they are, have found a genius way of cheating at Rock Band. I can see something like this being applied to a fully modded bass pedal. You know, like in a real bass drum.
Don't do this, though. Just... just play the game.
posted by Chris on February 4, 2008 4:33 PM in Podcast
While all the rest of the world was scouring the Internet for videos of their favorite Super Bowl commercials, The Weekly Geek was recording our least caustic podcast ever! Chris, Qais, Mack and Colette ramble about the dangers of man-children, squeal about Ender's Game becoming a...uh...game (speculating which other books would make good games in the process), cast a realistically pessimistic eye on Rock Band for the Wii, and unapologetically profess their rampant book-lust. Our PopCap cover contest winners are announced within, and the moment you've all been waiting for: Qais gets a new gamertag.
posted by Chris on January 7, 2008 5:57 PM in Podcast
One day Google Image Search will stop giving me quality podcast images. That will be a sad day indeed. Don't be fooled by the random image generated by typing "Beef Comparisons" into Google, this is The Weekly Geek! This week, Qais, Chris and Mack sit down to have a lovely and civil discussion about the Consumer Electronics Show, the Ultimate Xbox 360, digital downloads and new media, the controversy surrounding controversy and, as always, beer pong. Download the podcast here or subscribe to our feed and get it automatically every week! Show notes and contest info after the jump.
posted by Chris on January 4, 2008 9:34 AM in Games
The past few weeks have been slow in geek news land, everyone is busy playing the games that were thrown upon us during the holiday. But CES, GDC, Macworld and all sorts of other nerdy conventions and conferences are on the horizon, and you can just feel the echo chamber tingle. Feel that tingling? That's the feeling of thousands of control keys being pressed at the same time as the letter "c". Here is what everyone else on the Internets were meme-ing about this week.
Metal Gear Solid 4 is coming to Xbox 360. Wait no it's not. Konami somehow confirms and also denies the game is PS3 exclusive. I'm betting it's coming out for both anyway. Covered by: GayGamer, G4, Dtoid, Kotaku, Joystiq , X3f.
Feb Issue of OXM will have exclusive Rock Band Songs A Freezepop song and two others by unknown bands. Good thing pretty much any song in Rock Band is fun to play. Covered by: Dtoid, Joystiq, X3F, Kotaku.
Somebody did something that offended other people Some guy made a ROM hack of Mega Man 2 that parodied the recent Vancouver Airport tazer incident. People got huffy. Surprise! Special note to VH1: just because you are offended by something doesn't make it "senseless". Less emotion, more news plz. Covered by: Dtoid, Wired, VH1, Kotaku, GayGamer.
Ray Kurzweil to deliver GDC keynote Famous futurist dude to talk about the next 20 years of gaming, geeks collectively orgasm. Covered by: Joystiq, Kotaku, GayGamer.
posted by Chris on January 1, 2008 6:45 PM in Podcast
This week, Qais, Chris and Mack start out the new year by discussing what we are anticipating in 2008. From rumors to hopes and dreams just waiting to be crushed. We open up the mailbag and talk about holiday familial technophobia, and cuss a bit. You know how we do. Download the show here or subscribe to the feed!Note: a version of the podcast was released earlier today that was borked. Please to be downloading the new version if you downloaded said borked version.
posted by Chris on December 27, 2007 10:10 AM in Rant
I went back to the place that shall not be named for the first time in about 7 years this xmas. Due to various familial rifts post-high school, I chose to avoid any sort of activity in which I'd have to see my family, so holiday get-togethers have been an entirely foreign thing to me for a while. This year I had a change of heart and the overwhelming desire to impress my family with my ultra-awesome girlfriend and Rock Band won out. It was like stepping into a strange alternate dimension, where there's no wi-fi, decorations everywhere, holiday music plays and boozy drinks flow.
I managed to avoid the typical "hey my computer is acting up, can you fix it?" kinds of scenarios, and we all ended up playing Rock Band instead of pretty much anything else. Family and friends of my parents came and went, each one hesitantly looking at the game, and eventually breaking down and trying at least one song. It's remarkable to me how something like that really breaks down inhibitions and emotional barriers. Pretty much everyone just cut loose, singing Bowie songs and having an amazing time.
There were a few humorous moments when my parents sounded quite out of touch. My dad asked me how much a Playstation 360 costs. He wore tights and a football jersey when we had to go to Game Crazy to pick up a new component cable for my 360. I played some of Sufjan Stevens' Christmas recordings, to which my step-mother said indignantly "This is Christmas music?" They marveled at the wireless capability of the Nintendo DS, and even broke out the old Super Nintendo to play Mario All-Stars. It was surreal and humorous at times, but I survived.
I'd love to hear everyone else's holiday tales. How does your family respond to your geekiness? Are they oblivious or savvy? Did you get that Playstation 360 you've always wanted?
First it was live, then it was down and now it's live again. The Rock Band community site brings, as promised, some awesome social features for the already fantastic game. You can create a profile and link it to either your Xbox 360 or PS3 account and have all your bands and character data imported. Upload photos, keep a blog, add friends, fill out your favorite artists... go nuts! I am really looking forward to the future ability to get t-shirts made with your band name on them and junk. There is a ton of potential and I hope they keep the community going for a while. At least, until the next big thing hits and people get bored of Rock Band. Hah!
posted by Chris on December 19, 2007 9:25 AM in Games, Music
Of course with yesterday being Rock Band Tuesday, we get a nice assortment of downloadable content for the game of the year. Last week we saw a mediocre punk pack, but this time we are treated to three fantastic tracks:
Radiohead - My Iron Lung (160pts)
The Pretenders - Brass in Pocket (160pts)
Weezer - Buddy Holly (160pts)
I downloaded them all and I must say they are quite enjoyable. It helps that I think that Radiohead is the greatest band of all time, and that Weezer defined the sound of the mid 90's, but whatever. Even the Pretenders' track is passable, even for being a pretender. Do you see what I did there? I'd like to see more tracks from the albums these are off of, or (dare I say it) the entire album available for download. I want to sing Fake Plastic Trees! I want to sing it NOW!
Hit the jump for samples or just go download them based on my advice alone. Would I steer you wrong? Come on.
One of the things the Seattle gaming community often boasts of is our geographical proximity to what could be called the mecca of import and classic gaming: Pink Godzilla. The light red reptilian purveyors of that which the Geekmobile breaks for (as the bumper-sticker declares) have taken one step further in the process of setting the hearts of gamers the world over aflutter.
Combining four things most gamers love: liquor, RockBand, prizes, and altruism, Pink Godzilla is kicking off their first Pinkapalooza. Pinkapalooza will be held to benefit Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity, December 19th (that's tomorrow for the slow students), at the Nectar Lounge in Fremont.
Pinkapalooza will feature local 8-bit artist Leeni, a Battle of the Bands on RockBand, and drawings for a Wii (bundled with Super Mario Galaxies), a 360 Rock Band Special Edition, a bevy of 360 games, and Jones Soda: Christmas soda packs. A paltry 10 dollars at the door will net you entry (although the event is 21+) and 2 raffle tickets for the aforementioned prizes with each additional ticket running 5 dollars a piece.
Come join the Weekly Geek crew for a little merriment for a good cause, and if altruism isn't your thing think of all the people that will inevitably clamor after your crusted hide following a public demonstration of your music simulation prowess.
posted by Chris on December 17, 2007 5:58 PM in Podcast
This week, Chris, Qais, Colette and Flynn from GayGamer.net wrap up 2007 with a show so amazing your head will explode. Qais gushes about Burnout Paradise (or, just the demo. It was a really good demo.) We ponder how 2k developers could ever hate Ken Levine, Chris rants a bit about radical social change during a Ninja Gaiden discussion (as he do). Fake words are also discussed, as well as a horrible trip down memory lane involving our first blogs. Download it right here, or subscribe to the feed. Or both! Hit the jump for show notes.
posted by Chris on December 17, 2007 11:36 AM in Music
We should just name this feature "songs in Rock Band that we really like". While I usually scoff at bands that have the pedigree of opening for AFI and the like, Coheed and Cambria fascinate me. Their albums are all part of a huge sci fi story arc surrounding two characters, Coheed and Cambria. They have this fantastic alt-metal epic sound, and this track titled Welcome Home is one of the most fun songs to play in Rock Band. Okay granted, they are all fun.
You just can't beat a music video featuring a double necked guitar. COME ON.
Your Personal Soundtrack is a semi-daily feature at The Weekly Geek where we profile a song that we have stuck in our heads, making it a sort of Personal Soundtrack. Check out the archives here.
Rockband is a great game not only for it's incredibly engaging game play and , but also (mostly) because it provides us all with a brief respite from the harsh realities of our stultifyingly dull lives. For a moment you can let the world of cubicles, TPS reports, and passive aggression melt away, for a moment...you can be a rock star.
However we here at The Geek enjoy our schadenfruede, and as such we bring you this video of what you probably actually sound like playing Rockband. Let your illusions wash away in the waters of vicious, brutal, off key, arrhythmic reality and weep.
posted by Qais on December 11, 2007 12:23 PM in Games
Warm up those sneers and put on your best ripped denim and leopard print vest, geeks! Today brings us Rockband's Punk Pack. The 440 point punk pack includes "I Fought the Law" by The Clash, "Rockaway Beach" by The Ramones, and "Ever Fallen in Love" as made famous by Buzzcocks. Of course, each song will be available for individual download, another way in which Rockband is rapidly proving itself superior to it's precursor, Guitar Hero. Individual tracks are available at 160 points each.
posted by Grant on November 29, 2007 8:17 PM in Games, Music
Like everyone else who happened to have $170 bucks (actually, only $150 at Sam's Club) and an Xbox 360 in the past week, I have been enjoying the hell out of Rock Band. I am not a big music guy. Lots and lots of stuff passes me by. So there are songs on this game that everyone knows that I am not terribly familiar with or just don't know at all. Today's YPS is an example of the former. I know that I'd heard at least the chorus of Say It Ain't So before, but I think that was about it. Anyway, I've played it a few times on guitar and drums and sung it at least once in the past week and it just won't leave my head. It's extremely catchy and a lot of fun to listen to. It also helps that it's the master track and not a cover, like so many songs for this game. So for those of you without said requisite cash and console, please enjoy the following:
Who are the best people in the world? Our fans, of course! And what's the best place for the best people in world to hang out and talk with each other? The Weekly Geek forums, duh! Go there, pick your screen name, and sign up. There you'll find such riveting subjects of conversation as:
posted by Chris on November 27, 2007 12:07 PM in Music
I never really got into the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, even after working at a college radio station for three years where I had to play their albums during normal rotation shifts. They never really grabbed me, at least until I had to play their song Maps on Rock Band. This is the kind of song that grows on you, on the first listen it's not so remarkable. Then as you listen more and more you realize how amazing the lyrics, vocals, and sheer complicated nature of the song are. It's been stuck in my head for days.
posted by Chris on November 26, 2007 6:16 PM in Podcast
Full of turkey? Enjoy blogs that don't stop talking about Thanksgiving? Well then we have the podcast for you! Grant, Chris and Colette are sated from their massive feast and roll off of their collective slimy couches to burp their opinions into microphones to bring you this week's podcast. Discussed are subjects such as TV shows sucking, Rock Band being awesome, Assassin's Creed not being so awesome, Rock Band remaining completely awesome, horrible X-Mas cartoons, and the upcoming Live update. Are you ready? For the Rocking?! Download the podcast here or subscribe to the feed. Show notes after the jump.
posted by Chris on November 19, 2007 7:02 PM in Podcast
On this week's Weekly Geek podcast, Grant, Colette, Qais and Chris discuss whether or not Rock Band and Guitar Hero III are actually in competition with each other, gush about Mario Galaxy, lament the lameness of licensed games, discuss the intricacies of installing a George Foreman grill on your Wii, talk about how the Dragonball movie may not actually suck, how Cloverfield may actually suck, and Chris professes his undying love for Zooey Deschanel (Zooey, if you are reading this, call me). Download the podcast here or subscribe to the feed! The feed is what you need. As always, use the jump for show notez.
posted by Mack on November 19, 2007 1:00 PM in Music
After playing David Bowie's Suffragette City Friday on a Rock Band demo unit in a Best Buy that had a hopelessly busted controller, a coworker confessed to me that he spent the whole weekend humming this song to himself. But because he didn't know the words he had to make up your own. "Don't lean on me man 'cause you ain't my kind of chicken." I like that better.
Holy crap is it Wednesday again? My, how the time flies. Let's take a little look into our glorious forum and see what is going on. There are a lot of cool people there and it's a lot of fun to talk with them. But if you want to jump into it, you have to register, got it? Ok then. These are some of the current topics:
Guitar Hero is the story of a franchise in the process of being brutally milked for all its worth. It's what they call a phenomenon, reaching official meme status now with its appearance on South Park, and tournaments now being held in Hot Topic stores around the nation. The original two titles in the series were much loved, and then when the third game was announced without stellar developer Harmonix attached, we got a bit worried. Harmonix moved on to bigger and better things (Rock Band being at the very least bigger) and left Activision's Neversoft studios at the reins. Neversoft is better known as the Tony Hawk developer, which caused even more worry. Were they going to water down Guitar Hero and make it as stale as the Tony Hawk series is now? Neversoft even had to remake the game engine since Harmonix owned the rights. Lucky for us, all our fears were completely unfounded: Guitar Hero III is the best in the series, and some of the most fun you can ever have with a fake plastic guitar. The strange pseudo-rivalry going on between Guitar Hero and Rock Band is even starting to feel a bit silly; the games are completely different. They are no longer trodding on the same territory, and the avid gamer can feel good about owning both games, and getting value out of each.
Guitar Hero III, in my opinion, has the best song selection in the series yet. In what I assume was an effort to match the quality of the song list in Rock Band, Activision has really stepped up the licensing to bring tons of master tracks and really high quality songs to Guitar Hero. Not only are tracks like Guns n Roses' Welcome to the Jungle and Muse's Knights of Cydonia completely rad, but all the songs feel more fun to play somehow. It's like they perfected the art of mapping the buttons in a manner that makes you feel more like you are actually influencing the course of the song. Hitting the notes is slightly more forgiving than previous titles in the series as well, with hammer-ons and pull-offs simplified. Don't let that fool you, however. This game is hard. Guitar Hero III has a serious vendetta against your wrists, and after playing a couple songs even on medium difficulty you'll know what I mean.
posted by Qais on September 28, 2007 2:41 PM in Games
I am widely renowned as being a penny pincher of epic proportion. Often times I simply ignore new games until the price tag drops to what I consider a reasonable level, with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions was Bioshock, another will be Rockband.
For a while price points of $200 were being thrown around as what you'd be shelling out for the Rockband bundle. It would appear that we're going to see this for slightly less than expected. Amazon has the full bundle of drum kit, guitar, and microphone along with a copy of the game and usb hub for $170. Those lacking in the great fortune required for owning a 360 (or the disposable income required for owning a PS3) can pick up a bundle for the PS2 for $160, although it bears mentioning that the game and instruments will be sold separately.
I will almost certainly end up being one of the midnight line waiters for this game and if my impressions of it from PAX are accurate than I will end up annoying my neighbors for nights on end with the near incessant tapping of drumstick on drum.
posted by Grant on September 6, 2007 12:44 PM in Games
Sometime in the future, EA and Harmonix announce that every goddamned rock song ever will be playable in Rock Band. Seriously, guys. With all the stuff they keep announcing for Rock Band, this is where we're headed.
I am widely renowned as being a penny pincher of epic proportion. Often times I simply ignore new games until the price tag drops to what I consider a reasonable level, with a few exceptions. One of the exceptions was Bioshock, another will be Rockband.
Sometime in the future, EA and Harmonix announce that every goddamned rock song ever will be playable in Rock Band. Seriously, guys. With all the stuff they keep announcing for Rock Band, this is where we're headed.