Archive | Video Games
AC/DC’s classics might be featured in the blockbuster movie Iron Man 2, but Lamb Of God will be featured in Iron Man 2: The Videogame.
Lamb Of God has contributed a new song called “Hit The Wall” to the video game version of Marvel Studio’s big summer superhero flick. Singer Randy Blythe commented:
“Working on a piece of music specifically for the Iron Man 2 video game was a new challenge for us. A few of us are real game and comic fans, so the partnership with Sega [Iron Man publisher] has been really exciting. We can’t wait to play the game and hear our music as Iron Man kicks ass.”
The video game will be made available this coming April. As cool as it is that we will get to hear a new song in the game, it would have been extra sick seeing Tony Stark kick ass to “Now You’ve Got Something To Die For” on the big screen.
Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine claims to be in high-level meetings with Activision and Neversoft over some new kind of Guitar Hero venture. In response to a fan question on Megadeth.com, Mustaine said the idea discussed is some sort of new venture rather than a branded version of the game a la Metallica (at least I think that’s what he means by “Guitar Hero box”).
I have recently had two very important high-level meetings with the people from Activision and Neversoft, and we are talking about a lot of things, but a Guitar Hero box set is not as attractive to me and the people from Guitar Hero as the new idea that they offered me, as the creative stuff that we are talking about is over-the-moon!
I just hope that someone doesn’t stand in the way of this happening. I know that there are a lot of really damaging results from our mothership (WEA) having some legal disputes with YouTube and Guitar Hero to name just a few.
If something comes of this, and it’s not Guitar Hero: Megadeth, what do you think it could be? Let’s hear it in the comments!
Alt-Strum Productions, an independent company who will offer a service to program artists’ songs for the Rock Band video games through the announced Rock Band Network, wrote in to announce a new partnership with Arkaea/ex-Fear Factory drummer Raymond Herrera.
Herrera, a longtime pioneer in video game composing and crossover music marketing, will act as a sort of talent scout, finding new artists for Alt-Strum to work with. He will continue his composing, production and marketing work through his 3volution firm. More information on Alt-Strum is available here.
Two years ago, many proclaimed the Guitar Hero and Rock Band video game franchises as some sort of long-lasting alternative to declining traditional media following the games’ significant impact on artist profiles and spiking digital sales. While music simulation games are far from a pet rock-ish fad, sales are finally starting to taper off and we’re seeing sobering statistics regarding their effect on music sales.
Billboard’s December 19 issue has a great article by Antony Bruno detailing the music gaming industry’s drop off from $1.4 billion in revenue in 2008 to somewhere around half that this year, despite 5 major releases including hyped new entries The Beatles: Rock Band and DJ Hero.
And while $700 million is nothing to sneeze at, placement in a game doesn’t guarantee digital single spikes as it once did. From the Billboard article:
Hand in hand with the decline of music-based game sales is a softening of the impact those games have on digital downloads. A sampling of the songs included on soundtracks to “Guitar Hero 5”, “Band Hero” and “DJ Hero” shows no significant increases in track sales as a result of their inclusion in each respective game, according to Neilsen SoundScan data.
The game with the most impact on sales was “Brutal Legend” – which isn’t a music simulation game but an action/adventure title with a strong heavy metal theme and soundtrack. But while songs from acts like Motorhead and Judas Priest saw sales spike as high as 700%, the volumes were too low to make much of a real impact – in many cases from single-digit or double-digit weekly sales to triple-digit sales.
In related news, GamesIndustry.biz has a story that suggests people are still playing these games, they just aren’t falling over themselves to buy more plastic guitar clutter. While sales of new titles are declining, downloadable song sales over Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network are still very strong:
Microsoft’s David Dennis told GamesIndustry.biz that…”We still see a lot of activity on Live for those games, people are still buying a lot of song packs for them. And that’s an ongoing revenue stream that third parties can do, and leverage games like that to keep the experience fresh. It’s a steady stream, and a sort of steady adoption.”
Dennis added that once players are hooked on a game, they become dedicated to downloading new music and building a collection of tracks to keep the software fresh.
“It’s an investment in a music library, just as you would for your CD library. People are passionate about building out their music game library, it’s something that they cherish and play with their friends over again.”
What do you think? Are you still playing music simulation games? Would you rather stop buying new discs and instruments every year and just keep building a universal/standardized collection of tracks on your hard drive and use the same old platform to play them?
In a recent interview with Brave Words and Bloody Knuckles, Tesla revealed that their song “Modern Day Cowboy” will appear on Guitar Hero 6. Guitarist Frank Hannon says that Activision asked them if the song could be in the game. Don’t front. You might not like Tesla that much, but it’s hard to go wrong with “Modern Day Cowboy.” While Tesla was unfairly lumped in with the hair metal scene, they just made good, honest rock.
On a related note, does anyone still buy Guitar Hero and Rock Band games any more? They’re still really fun to play, but it seems like they peaked a few years ago around the time Guitar Hero 3 and the first Rock Band came out. But if they’re turning people on to new music, good for them. There’s still people finding out about music via video games, and if it helps people get into new music, then it’s a win for everyone.
After announcing their own streaming music app for iPhone and iPod Touch, Metallica have announced a branded edition of Tap Tap Revenge, that game that is basically Guitar Hero with tapping a screen. That’s the story, the end. At least there’s no “St. Anger”:
* Enter Sandman
* Sad But True
* King Nothing
* All Nightmare Long
* Some Kind of Monster
* Master of Puppets
* Seek & Destroy
* Fuel
* One
* For Whom the Bell Tolls
As soon as it was announced, EA’s Brutal Legend sounded like a game that custom made for metalheads. Talking to the creators confirmed that they definitely had a love for metal. After playing it for about an hour or so, we can confirm that if you like metal and like video games, Brutal Legend is your sweet spot.
The story and graphics are great. As the game begins, roadie Eddie Riggs (enthusiastically voiced by Jack Black) is doing what he does best, guitar teching for a crappy nu-metal band, wishing he was born at a different time. When a stage collapses on him and he wakes up in his alternate reality with Black Sabbath’s “Children of the Grave” blasting in the background, it’s apparent that this game is going to be pretty epic. Graphically, there’s a lot of skulls and metal machines, giving the game the look of a Judas Priest album cover. The story involves taking on the evil General Lionwhyte (see what they’re doing there?), and is funny, but not stupid. Subtle nods to metal are right alongside the non-subtle ones. Lemmy voices a character named the Kill Master, for example.
The soundtrack and voice acting are top notch. It’d be easy enough for Jack Black to rest on his laurels and half-ass his way through the game, but he gives it his all. On a scale of 1 (as in Year One) to 10 (as in TEN-acious D), Jack definitely ranks at least a 9. And the others that pop up during the game (Ozzy, Rob Halford, Tim Curry, Lita Ford) show that the creators definitely had enough reverence to get relevant and decent voice talent. And the soundtrack, which features 100 songs from 75 bands, is great. We’ve covered it before, but this game sounds amazing.
We havent’ mentioned the gameplay yet, and if we were to knock off any points for anything, it might be there. There’s some hack and slashing involved, as Riggs commands a battle ax and a guitar that electrocutes people. But it seems pretty arbitrary, and you don’t really get a super sense of accomplishment from the killing like it really means anything. There’s a bit of strategy involved as well, since you’ll wind up commanding armies via the directional pad. Since I didn’t play through enough of the game, I’m sure things get more rewarding as you’re able to power up and build your arsenal up, so any gameplay concerns are minor at best. Tim Schafer and crew have created a game that plays as a love note to heavy metal, and a must-own for the large cross population for headbangers and video game fans.
By now, everyone knows that Kurt Cobain is an unlockable character in Guitar Hero 5, which has led to some pretty ridiculous videos, and probably a couple of sprained fingers for Courtney Love due to her Twitter barrage. Remaining Nirvana members Dave Grohl and Krist Novoselic even got in on the action, asking Activision Blizzard to limit Cobain’s character to only the two Nirvana songs, saying they didn’t know he would be able to played on all 85 songs, which includes Attack Attack!, Vampire Weekend and “Play That Funky Music.” Dan Rosensweig, CEO of the Guitar Hero franchise, tells NME.com that isn’t going to happen.
“I do know that there’s absolutely a contract and we know that the cheque has been cashed,” he told NME.com. “I can only deal with the facts. It’s very clear what the terms are.”
“We care about the artists more than anyone else and we would like to make artists happy in every circumstance,” he said. “I’m disappointed in this case that there seems to be confusion between the band and the estate. I can’t speak for everybody being happy, [but] it gets done with complete consent from artists. These are the artists who fans love. We hope over time that the estate will appreciate that.”
Grohl, Novoselic and Love have an ally in Jon Bon Jovi, whose “You Give Love A Bad Name” has probably gotten a spike in downloads after the above video took the internet by storm. “To hear someone else’s voice coming out of a cartoon version of me?” he said recently. “I don’t know. It sounds a little forced.”
There’s nothing creepier/funnier than watching Kurt Cobain sing songs that he wouldn’t be caught dead listening to on Guitar Hero 5, where the deceased Nirvana frontman is an unlockable character. However, Courtney Love doesn’t feel the same way. While it was initially reported that she was an active participant in the creation of her ex-husband’s likeness for the game, that must have been while she was on her meds.
In a Twitter rampage, Love unleashed a ton of invective towards lawyers, Dave Grohl, and Activision, among others, stating that she’s going to sue Activision. Unless you can read crazy, I wouldn’t suggest looking at the whole thing, but here’s a few choice tweets:
we have NOTHING to do with this it was presented to me and oi said “show me a better avataR” TO DRAG MY HEELS., never did i intend on
allowing GUITARHERO for me or for Kurt i am NOT yoko fucking Ono no ofense to her, but i am a different person entirely and this is insaneabout 11 hours ago from web
now theyre just LIQUIDATING kurt and IM THE DEVIL? I HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH GUITAR HERO I LOATHE IT AND FIND IT ODIOUS KURT WOULD HAVE TOOabout 12 hours ago from web
FOR THE RECORD I DID NOT APPROVE KURTS AVATAR FOR GUYITARHERO5. i think Kurt would despise this game alone let alone this avatar
yes i allowed malibu to be used on rockband, something in the way on soix geet under discreet usage in moulinrouge and thatsitabout 10 hours ago from web
have fun with your avatars you slimebags, i rant? fuck off i have proof youve simply never bothred to look. so fucking play your videogame.about 11 hours ago from web
and you wonder about Guitar Hero 5 disgusted? welcome to my NIGHTMARE. yeah well sue activision this is disgusting, but theres alot MOREabout 11 hours ago from web
YOU for dismissing me as a LOON, go fucking play guitar hero commit necrophilai KNOW you are raping me and my family
On the one hand, I can understand that she wants her daughter to be taken care of. But even from reading the tweets, it’s apparent that she at least had meetings with Activision. And they wouldn’t put have put Kurt in the game without getting the OK from lawyers. Oh well, whatever, nevermind
More details have leaked on the upcoming Rock Band Network, which will allow independent bands to submit their own music to the game a la iTunes, which should expand the amount of downloadable content by, like, a bajillion.
The menu seems to be very helpful in cutting through the mess if there is a massive collection, with a “Top 10,” “Harmonix’s Picks” and others. Players will also be able to browse music by artist (alphabetically), or by an expansive amount of sub-genres, from speed metal and rockabilly.
Prices will be set by the artist in the $1 – $3 range, with free one-minute demos available. See our previous story to see how the revenue sharing will break down.
along with free samplers from The End and Southern Lord.
Posted by Zach Shaw on Wed, Feb 10, 2010 at 10:25 am
Video Games