Harmonix Release RBN For Everyone

As the market becomes saturated with music games and today’s release of the Rock Band Network, I thought it would be great to look at why we’ve seen this massive development within the last few years. Although many people associate the birth of music rhythm games to the success of the Guitar Hero franchise, the original creators of the idea behind the series came from Konami’s GuitarFreaks and DrumMania arcade machines before making a short appearance on consoles. Red Octane and Harmonix worked together on Guitar Hero for PlayStation 2, then with the release of Guitar Hero 2, the two split in order to pursue different avenues of the genre.

With Red Octane keeping the Guitar Hero franchise, the development of Guitar Hero 3 began, which became a massive success by refining the gameplay of the previous titles and polishing the graphics. This was shortly followed by the release of Harmonix title Rock Band, supplying the gamer with not one, but four instruments and making the experience more social by combining elements of SingStar, DrumMania and Guitar Hero into one title. Guitar Hero followed suit and shortly after released GH: World Tour, featuring vocals and an alternate drum set. Both companies have now released multiple titles that allow the players to combine songs from the previous discs into one game. Although the reception of music rhythm games is unclear from the perspective of the music industry, I would hope that it has given a new lease of life to what would seem to be an industry hard hit by piracy.

With the addition of hard-drives to consoles and readily available DLC, songs have been flooding out for both franchises – although Rock Band hold the record for the most available DLC to date (at the time of writing, over 1000 songs).

All these instruments and songs do however come at a cost and looking at the amount I have spent on the series, it would have been cheaper to start my own band. Out of the two franchises I can honestly say that Rock Band holds my shelves and it comes down to the play style, menus and experience offered with the downloadable material. Hopefully the Rock Band Network will allow the game to take flight by giving the music industry a great set of tools to bring music into gaming.

Let Battle Commence! Top Fighters of all time

Tekken, Street Fighter, Soulcalibur, Dead or Alive, these are just a few of the countless fighters available on the market today.

Taki and her funbags (SoulCalibur)

With a vast array of characters for each title it’s hard to say who boasts the best cast of fighters. With each game, different mechanics tweak the play and flow of the game, making it easy for players to choose their preferred style.

With frantic combat, a great counter system and a great roster of original characters Soulcalibur has always held top spot on my shelves.

So talk! what’s your favorite fighter and why?

The Weekly Retrovaders

Each year we see the release of countless updated sports titles from publisher giants like EA and Konami. The problem with sports games is, very rarely they offer a new experience. Even publishers like Activision knows the fruits that exist within franchises like the Tony Hawk series. With countless sports titles on the market, it’s hard to imagine where they all came from. This week I want to take you back to 1987, where the extreme sports title California Games was born.

California games focused on sports primarily popular in California (coincidently), which at the time included skateboarding, footbag, surfing, flying disc, roller skating and BMX. We have a sports title that provided an experience of not one, but 6 extreme sports. Although the company who published this title later filed bankruptcy, California games received modest reviews, and has been ported to numerous consoles and mobile apps.

The game itself delivered some great examples of early videogames integration of sports, with particularly in depth skating and surfing available in the game. The game also provided a brilliant 16-bit soundtrack that also contributed to the games success. This undoubtedly is one of my favourite games on the Mega-Drive, and if your a retro gamer, this might be worth investing some of your spare cash on.

The Delorean makes an appearance…

Kotaku recently posted this amazing Crysis mod which I felt everyone should enjoy. Some crazy modder has created the Delorean from Back to the Future and  popped it into the Crysis engine. For all you guys with the game, this is officially available for download! Check out the video below:

Christopher Lloyd would have been proud.

Yet another Dynasty Warriors game hits the shelves

Dynasty Warriors Strikeforce Coverart (PS3)

Kotaku recently posted news about a new Dynasty Warriors title set for release in February. This insanely addictive button mashing “strategy” game has been the focal point of my shelves for countless years.

Although repetitive, Dynasty Warriors stands out as one of the best portrayals of the Chinese Dynasty era in gaming. This will be the first version to offer online multiplayer with up to four players, new fury transformation and the ability to fly.

Each console version will be released with bonus characters from Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2 (PS3) and Warriors Orochi 2 (Xbox 360). If you haven’t played the series yet it might be worth picking up a pre-owned version of the previous titles to see how insanely addictive this game is!