The Beatles Rock Band Video Game

The Best Music Game Ever For Your Wii, XBox, Or PS3
The Beatles Rock Band comes out on September 9, 2009 (the same date that newly remastered Beatles CD box sets are coming out.) And for people that love both The Beatles and playing Rock Band this is a very big day indeed. In fact, I would say that Christmas is coming early this year!

The Music

The game includes 45 Beatles songs which is nearly 1/4th of the songs they released during their career. That's a pretty good sample! Among the songs included are these:

Early Classics: "I Saw Her Standing There," "I Want to Hold Your Hand," & "I Feel Fine."

Psychedelic Era: "I Am The Walrus," "Paperback Writer," & "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

'68-'69 Era: "Get Back," "Revolution," & "Here Comes the Sun"

Along with the 45 songs that come with the game, players will also be able to download entire Beatles albums, starting with Abbey Road.
The Best Music Game Ever For Your Wii, XBox, Or PS3
The Gameplay

One of the really cool things about the game is that players will play "as The Beatles" and will actually get to play throughout their whole career starting at The Cavern in Liverpool in 1960 all the way through the recording of Abbey Road in 1969. The graphics look amazing. Not only do the characters look a lot like The Beatles but there are also many different stages and some really groovy psychedelic images for songs like "I Am The Walrus."

The Instruments

If you get the full version of the game it comes with "Ringo's drum set" and "Paul's bass guitar." You can also buy "John & George's guitars seprately." These are really good looking replicas of the instruments The Beatles actually used.

Harmony Singing

For the first time ever on Rock Band, harmony singing will be included. Up to three different voices will be able to sing at once. If you are familiar with The Beatles songs then you know that they used harmonies in many of their songs, now you and your friends will get to sing those harmonies on Rock Band

Up To Six Players At Once

Because of the fact that there can be three singers at once, there can now be a total of six players playing at one time! This really makes Beatles Rock Band the ultimate party game.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Johnny_Moon

grand theft auto series

One of the most popular video game series of all-time is Grand Theft Auto. There are nine stand-alone games in the series, which began in 1997. The most recent release, Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars, was released in March of 2009. The series of games has created controversy with each game release because of the underlying themes of sex, drugs, and violence. The game is centered on driving, with most of the missions requiring the use of a car to complete the majority of missions in the game. The series was named after the term that refers to motor vehicle theft, since the main character has the ability to remove people from their vehicles and steal them for his own personal use.

Grand Theft Auto is such a popular series of video games that there have been more than a handful of movie stars who have loaned their voice to these games. Stars who have loaned their voice include Michael Madsen, Burt Reynolds, Dennis Hopper, Gary Busey, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Penn, James Woods, Joe Pantoliano, Frank Vincent, Robert Loggia, Kyle MacLachlan, Peter Fonda and Ray Liotta. The publisher of this series of games is Rockstar Games. The premise of these games is for the gamer to take on the role of a criminal in a big city, usually someone who rises through the ranks of organized crime throughout the entirety of the game. The gamer must complete missions of assassination, taxi driving, firefighting, pimping, street racing, bus driving or flying fixed-wing aircraft.

The best feature of the Grand Theft Auto video games is that they give the gamer a ton of freedom when it comes to playing the game. The gamer can choose which missions they want to undertake, how they want to build their relationship with other characters in the game, or if they just want to bumble around the streets of the city they are visiting at the time. The main character can choose from multiple weapons and hundreds of different vehicles when playing the game. There are cheat codes available for the gamer to enter when playing one of the games that make different weapons packages available, that make the main character invincible, or that gives the main character an unlimited supply of money. There are other cheat codes that activate tanks, army helicopters, speedboats, choppers, fire trucks and many other vehicles not see often in the game.

The first Grand Theft Auto game was set in three fictional cities called Liberty City, San Andreas, and Vice City. Liberty City is loosely based on New York City and the third game in the series helped to make the series of games incredibly popular. The game featured, for the first time, a mini map to help the gamer navigate around the city and a third person view. The third person view allows the gamer to see more of what is going on around the city instead of the traditional top-down view where the gamer looks down onto what is happening.
TJ Michaels is a console technician, the experts for PSP repair.
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=TJ_Michaels

US video game sales increases

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - U.S. video game sales rose 10 percent in February to $1.47 billion, led again by Nintendo's blockbuster Wii console, as gaming continued to show resilience despite an economic downturn that has sapped consumer spending.

Video game software sales climbed 9 percent in the month to $733.5 million while hardware sales rose 11 percent to $532.7 million, research group NPD said on Thursday.

The Wii console led the pack as the top-selling hardware device in the month, moving 753,000 units.

Cammie Dunaway, executive vice president of Nintendo America, said Wii hardware and software each rose about 75 percent on a unit basis.

"The exciting thing is, despite a soft economy, Nintendo's business continues to grow really healthily."

Microsoft's Xbox 360 was the No. 2 console in the month, followed by Sony's PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2.

Capcom's Street Fighter IV was the best-selling game, moving a combined 849,000 units for the Xbox and the PS3, while the Wii Fit was No. 2 at 644,000. That was followed by Wii Play and Sony's Killzone 2.

"What it tells you about this economy is that there are a couple of categories of consumer that are just going to get what they want," said Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter.

He said the success of Street Fighter and Wii Fit shows that the industry's strength lies at two seemingly opposite poles: the young, hardcore male consumer and families.

"I think that what this is telling you is that guys who buy video games have no clue that we're in a recession," he said.

Software unit sales rose 14 percent, but the average retail price for games fell 4 percent, NPD said.

One of the gaming industry's biggest events of the year, the Game Developer's Conference, will take place next week in San Francisco. An address on Wednesday from Satoru Iwata, president of Nintendo, will be a highlight.

(Reporting by Gabriel Madway; Editing by Gary Hill)

Army recruiting at the mall with video games

By Jon Hurdle

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The U.S. Army, struggling to ensure it has enough manpower as it fights wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, is wooing young Americans with video games, Google maps and simulated attacks on enemy positions from an Apache helicopter.

Departing from the recruiting environment of metal tables and uniformed soldiers in a drab military building, the Army has invested $12 million in a facility that looks like a cross between a hotel lobby and a video arcade.

The U.S. Army Experience Center at the Franklin Mills shopping mall in northeast Philadelphia has 60 personal computers loaded with military video games, 19 Xbox 360 video game controllers and a series of interactive screens describing military bases and career options in great detail.

Potential recruits can hang out on couches and listen to rock music that fills the space.

The center is the first of its kind and opened in August as part of a two-year experiment. So far, it has signed up 33 full-time soldiers and five reservists -- roughly matching the performance of five traditional recruiting centers it replaced.

The U.S. military says it has been meeting or exceeding its recruiting and retention goals, with 185,000 men and women entering active-duty military service in the fiscal year that ended on September 30 -- the highest number since 2003.

Defense officials say the recession and rising unemployment were likely to boost recruiting.

The Philadelphia center lures recruits with a separate room for prospective soldiers to "fire" from a real Humvee on enemy encampments projected on a 15-foot-high (4.5-meter-high) battleground scenario that also has deafening sound effects.

In another room, those inclined to attack from above can join helicopter raids in which enemy soldiers emerge from hide-outs to be felled by automatic gunfire rattling from a simulator modeled on an Apache or Blackhawk helicopter.

The Army is not simply looking for new recruits, said First Sgt. Randy Jennings, who runs the center. It also aims to dispel misperceptions about Army life.

"We want them to know that being in the Army isn't just about carrying weapons and busting down doors," said Jennings, who wears slacks and a polo shirt rather than a uniform. About 80 percent of soldiers are not involved in direct combat roles, he said.

GLAMORIZING WAR?

Jesse Hamilton, a former Army staff sergeant who served in Iraq in 2005 and 2006, said the use of video games glamorized war and misled potential recruits, calling it "very deceiving and very far from realistic."

"You can't simulate the loss when you see people getting killed," said Hamilton, who left the Army after his Iraq tour and is now a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War.

"It's not very likely you are going to get into a firefight," he said. "The only way to simulate the heat is holding a blow dryer to your face."

The center is an experiment in boosting urban recruitment, which has traditionally lagged behind that of rural areas.

Eddie Abuali, 20, who was waiting to take an Army aptitude test, said he felt more comfortable in the center than he would in a traditional recruiting office. "It's a more relaxed environment," said Abuali, who plans to join the Army when he graduates from college. "You don't feel like you are being pressured."

Project manager Maj. Larry Dillard said recruitment was more difficult about two years ago when the United States was struggling in Iraq and jobs at home were easier to get.

"Now the news coming out of Iraq is better and we are in an economic downturn. It will be easier," he said.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols and Daniel Trotta)

Gene Simmons rushes to cash in on rock videogames

Saturday, Nov 08, 2008 

DENVER (Billboard) - Amid the flood of third-party instrument peripherals emerging for the new "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" music simulation games, God forbid if Gene Simmons would miss an opportunity to get his brand on.

The entrepreneurial Kiss bassist and reality TV star has created a replica of the bass he uses while touring, which is compatible with all PlayStation versions of both games. The Gene Simmons AXE Guitar is, yes, shaped like a battle axe, and includes Simmons' superimposed autograph as well as his betongued likeness in full makeup.

It has a wireless range of up to 30 feet, two sets of fret buttons, and whammy and strum bars. It should be available November 15 from Hip Street (http://www.hipstreetonline.com) for $80.

Reuters/Billboard

RedOctane execs on a roll with "Guitar Hero"

RedOctane execs on a roll with "Guitar Hero"

Sunday, Jul 13,

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - There were a lot of questions surrounding the "Guitar Hero" videogame when it first came out. Would gamers agree to pony up extra money for the special guitar-shaped controller needed to play it? Would the music industry agree to license master tracks? Would the addition of downloadable content be successful?

The answer to all those questions has turned out to be a resounding yes. "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" has sold more than 8 million copies, and the franchise has sold more than 20 million songs through its downloadable content store.

During the past month, publisher Activision -- which purchased the rights to the franchise by acquiring original publisher RedOctane -- rolled out a portable version of the game for the Nintendo DS called "Guitar Hero: On Tour," introduced a special edition dedicated to classic rock act Aerosmith and unveiled plans for its next instalment, "Guitar Hero: World Tour," which for the first time adds drums and vocals to the mix in a bid to compete with rival "Rock Band." An added twist for the expected fourth-quarter release: The game's "music studio" feature enables users to compose and record tracks and share them online.

To be sure, the story of "Guitar Hero" seems to be just hitting its stride rather than slowing down. Billboard caught up with RedOctane founders and brothers Kai and Charles Huang -- president and VP of business development, respectively -- to hear their reflections on the past and what they've got planned for the future.

Q: Why a whole expansion of the game dedicated to Aerosmith rather than just featuring the band as a downloadable content special?

Kai Huang: Because we really wanted to showcase Aerosmith the band. Downloadable content will allow you to just get the music, but we've gone much, much further than that. We've actually brought them into the studio to do full-motion capture of them in performance, and we put all of that into the game. We had the band consult on the actual songs that they wanted, including about 20 of the songs that they had over their 30-year career. And then they provided input on songs that were from bands that they'd either toured with in the past or that have influenced them over the course of their career. So the game is a lot more than just about Aerosmith music, it really is about the history and the rise of Aerosmith.

Charles Huang: Even the venues have changed, so the venues are the actual places where they played. We actually have Nipmuc High School (in Massachusetts), where they did their first gig, (and) Max's Kansas City, and all of (those) are authentic through the history of Aerosmith, so it was a lot more than just making their music playable with "Guitar Hero III." That's why we had to put it on disc to get all of that into the game.

Q: Is this the template for how you would like to do other expansion-type discs with other artists for "Guitar Hero?"

Kai: Yeah, I think definitely. If "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" proves to be as successful as we think it will be, then we would love to continue doing this type of game with bands in the future because it's a lot of fun to work with the bands, No. 1, but again it's a great way to showcase the talents and the career and the histories of these bands.

Q: So you want to see how well this Aerosmith "band pack" works before doing the same with other artists?

Charles: We would love to work with a lot of other artists. Now to fill up a whole game, you have to have an artist that has some longevity and history, they have to have a body of work that can span 25, 30 great "Guitar Hero" tracks, and so there's a handful of bands that have that, and we'd love to work with them. But there's a lot of great songs out there that we would love to compile in a genre pack as well, so definitely the commercial success of this game will dictate some of our strategy. But some of it is just dictated by the music that's available from some artists.

Q: There's been some news about how Metallica might be the next on deck. Can you guys comment at all about that?

Kai: We're not ready to comment about Metallica yet, but what I will say is that we'd love to work with all of the top rock bands of all time, whether it's Aerosmith or Metallica or AC/DC or Led Zeppelin. If we get an opportunity to work with those bands, we would love to do that.

Q: In the space of just a few weeks there has been a lot of "Guitar Hero"-related news. How do you manage all this without the brand getting overexposed or diluted?

Charles: Even though they all have the "Guitar Hero" name, they are slightly different. "Guitar Hero: On Tour" is (for the Nintendo) DS and it's a portable experience. It's a little bit different (in) that we're targeting the game at perhaps a little bit younger audience that plays the DS, so this is kind of like the game for all the people that have to walk around all day with an iPod because they love their music everywhere they go. "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" is the same experience as "Guitar Hero III" -- it's in your living room, you're playing with friends at parties.

Q: "World Tour" is quite a major evolution of the game and the bands from the last version. How will it be sufficiently different from "Rock Band," other than just the songs included in the game?

Charles: First of all, we've got our instruments, which for the first time really in the history of the franchise has some significant innovations. So the guitar will have new features, the drums will have new features as well. (They) will play differently. The drums will have velocity censors that will sense how hard you're hitting the drum, and that plays a big role in the music studio, where you'll be able to go in and record ... guitars and drum tracks and upload it onto the Internet. Then people can go and download those songs and play them on their "Guitar Hero" game, so that's the big innovation both on the hardware and (the) software side.

Q: Can you say anything about the Beatles rumours we're hearing?

Kai: Unfortunately, those are rumours right now and we don't have any comments yet.

Charles: Well, I don't have to tell you how difficult it is. Everybody in the world has tried to get the Beatles to put their music on all kinds of different platforms, and it certainly would be exciting, but it's also a difficult challenge.

Reuters/Billboard

New Guns song heads to "Rock Band 2"

New Guns N roses song heads to "Rock Band 2"

Monday, Jul 14, 2008 8:54PM UTC

NEW YORK (Billboard) - A new Guns N' Roses song, "Shackler's Revenge," apparently from the decade-in-the-works album "Chinese Democracy," will be included in the video game "Rock Band 2," according to a report in the New York Times.

The game will be released in September.

The news makes it seem increasingly likely that "Chinese Democracy" will finally see the light of day before year's end via Interscope. Nine seemingly complete tracks from the album, not including "Shackler's Revenge," leaked online earlier this summer.

"Rock Band 2," developed by MTV and Harmonix, will support all songs downloaded for the game to date and will also support the original game's instrument controllers. But it will also introduce new controllers for drums and guitar and boast a soundtrack of more than 100 master recordings.

In April, Motley Crue made its new single, "Saints of Los Angeles," available for download "Rock Band" well in advance of the release of the album of the same name. The only other place to obtain the track was iTunes.

According to data provided in late May by the band's management, Tenth Street Entertainment, the track was downloaded more than 47,000 times via the Xbox 360 version of the game alone in the first week after it became available. ("Rock Band" publisher MTV Networks was unable to independently verify these figures, and total downloads that include the PlayStation 3 version of the game were not available.)

By comparison, the same track received slightly more than 10,000 downloads via digital services like iTunes and Amazon, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The track has now sold more than 62,000 downloads.

Reuters/Billboard

Gibson guitar sues MTV and EA over "Guitar Hero"

This article was sent from http://uk.mobile.reuters.com

Friday, Mar 21, 2008

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gibson Guitar said on Friday that it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Viacom's MTV networks and Harmonix as well as Electronic Arts relating to the wildly popular "Guitar Hero" video games.

The lawsuit, filed in Federal District Court in Tennessee, relates to the same patent involved in another suit Gibson filed earlier against various retailers, the Tennessee-based guitar maker said in a statement.

The "Guitar Hero" series has sold more than 14 million units in North America and raked in more than $1 billion since its 2005 debut.

Gibson said the games, in which players use a guitar-shaped controller in time with notes on a television screen, violate a 1999 patent for technology to simulate a musical performance.

Harmonix developed the first "Guitar Hero" game and was later bought by MTV. Electronic Arts and another company, Activision Inc, as well as several retailers, either develop, distribute or sell one or several of the games in the "Guitar Hero" series.

A spokesperson for MTV and Electronic Arts could not be immediately reached for comment.

Earlier this month, Activision filed a pre-emptive suit against Gibson, which had complained that the games infringe upon one of its patents.

Activision filed a lawsuit asking the U.S. District Court for Central California to declare Gibson's patent invalid and to bar it from seeking damages.

Gibson, whose electric guitars are used by legendary blues and rock artists such as Eric Clapton, B.B. King and Slash, has been a high-profile partner in the "Guitar Hero" games.

Activision licensed the rights to model its video controllers on Gibson guitar models and to use their likenesses in the game.

Activision has said that by waiting three years to raise its claim, Gibson had granted an implied license for any technology.

gamers need to exercise too

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Karena asyiknya maen video game sampai berjam2 sering para gamer menjadi kurang aktifitas fisiknya, lama kelamaan karena pola hidup yg tak seimbang akan menurunkan fitness kesegaran badan.
Oleh karena itu jangan lupa menjaga kesegaran badan dengan makan bernutrisi sehat juga meluangkan waktu untuk berolahraga secara teratur melakukan aktifitas fisik. Game nintedo wii memang lebih baik karena menuntut gerakan daripada playstation atau xbox yg hanya duduk saja cuma menggerakkan jari2 tangan diatas stick. Namun hanya gerakkan dg game wii nintendo tidak mencukupi untuk aktifitas fisik harus juga melakukan aktifitas lain seperti berlari, main bola atau naik sepeda dll. Biasakan pola bermain dg baik dan benar supaya tetap fit, sehat menikmati game.

** video gamers, Wii players need to exercise too **
Playing "active" computer games such as the Nintendo Wii is no substitute for playing real sports, warn experts.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/health/7155342.stm >

**

UK gamers spend £1.5bn on video game in 2007

**
Orang Inggris suka main video games. Ini dibuktikan dengan record belanja keperluan game yg mencapai 1.52 milyar poundsterling. Paling tertinggi selama beberapa tahun terakhir ini. Banyak game mendapat pujian seperti mario bros super galaxy, call of duty 4 sebagai game terbaik oleh para gamer. Sementara angka penjualan console Wii nintendo, Playstation 3 dan XBOX mencapai lebih dari 11 juta unit. Peningkatan 33% dari tahun lalu, sungguh fantastis sekali. Main game sudah menjadi hobby umum tua muda. Bukan hanya di Inggris aja tapi seluruh dunia. Emang asyiek main game.

**kalau you mau baca dlm bhs Inggris, please go to this link. UK gamers spend £1.5bn on video game **
Sales of video games in the UK are at an all-time high, with more than 78 million titles sold in 2007.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7153474.stm >

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Nintendo Wii Sports dominates Bafta awards

I saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** Message **
Nintendo Wii step ahead in getting the best british video game awards. Better game play than the others.
Playstation2 gets award for God of war 2. While X-box ? Take a look at this email link for the rest of the story.
Please also submit your e-mail to this forum for video game. Share the news or maybe your favourite video game. Wheter Playstation, Nintendo, x-box, or sega. We look forward hearing from you soon.

** Wii Sports dominates Bafta awards **
Nintendos' Wii Sports sweeps the board at the 2007 British Academy Video Games Awards in London.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7058670.stm >

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EA wants 'open gaming platform'

I saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

****
A Vision of the future? Could these 3 game giants: Nintendo, Xbox and Playstation work out a single game platform instead compete with each other? This may not a far fetched object to achieve as long as these giants willing to cooperate in major move toward a single game platform. The future of game world is about to change. Would it be possible to have Nintendo, Xbox and Playstation games in one single console box in our home? No need to buy each one, just only one the ultimate game box that will let us play without boundaries.Let us wait and see.

** EA wants 'open gaming platform' **
Rival gaming systems should make way for a single open platform, a senior executive at Electronic Arts says.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/technology/7052420.stm >

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The next generation of video game

Hanny saw this story on the BBC News website and thought you
should see it.

** **
What is the next generation video game are waiting for us? Game developers keep on doing marvellous work in their lab to make breakthrough to create a new exciting platform for all genre.
It seems not so long ago when atari or nintendo home video game was first introduce to the world, and so many people became very fond of video game. A few decade went by and video game get better and better. Sony Playstation and Sega dominated the world console game market.
Then came Playstation 2 distributed all over the world with numerous support from game developer. Now in the era of Playstation3 and xbox what could they think of the next video game?
I really am marvelled at those developers who untiringly dream for us, game mania, a new approach, a new more exciting way for us in playing video game. Go through this link from the BBC, let us find out.

** Video games: The next generation **
Click finds out what the games industry expects to find in the next generation of games.
< http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/em/fr/-/2/hi/programmes/click_online/7041086.stm >

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Hot magazine for gamer

Most Gamer need information and reference for their hobby, so they
turn to these marvellous 2 hot magazine in Indonesia to find out about
the latest info on games, preview and review, the hottest game on
line, walkthrough, poster and sticker and lots more about games.
Video games is rapidly booming busines, shared by young and old alike,
many video games rental arcade spread across the country, and
thousands have their own private console game, such as Playstation2,
the most popular console in Indonesia.
The most popular game is winning eleven, a soccer mania game. Internet
online game also growing in popularity among students. To them a free
time is a game time.

the Sims

The sim is a well known and succesful game after its first released in the year 2000, and it has been translate in 17 different languages. The Original disc has been sold more than 54 million copies.
The sims 2, has received 20 award, perfect review score, has became front cover of more than 35 major game magazine of the world.
Also received award as BEST SIMULATION GAME in D. I. C. E Awards, held in Las Vegas, which is sponsored by Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences.
The creator of this game, Will Wright, has received award for his dedication, and included in the Academy of interactive Art and Sciences hall of fame. He also best known as one of the most creative people today by Entertainment Weekly. Yep the sims is definetely the best social simulation game today. Really great stuff.