Culturegeeks

Ladies and gentlemen, Joachim Witt.

More on this little gem here.

So, the history of the Guitar Hero franchise goes a little like this:  Harmonix makes rhythm game software.  They want to do a guitar game.  Red Octane makes unusual controllers.  Harmonix and Red Octane join forces to release Guitar Hero.  It does awesome.  They release Guitar Hero II.  It does awesome. Harmonix has an idea of a little game called Rock Band. 

I’m not quite sure how it happened, but they split up, and Red Octane was left with the rights to the Guitar Hero name.  Although, from what I gather, Harmonix still gets royalties.  Guitar Hero: rock the 80’s or some such thing comes out.  No one cares for it much.  Guitar Hero III came out.  It was…pretty good.  The guitar got better reviews than the Rock Band one, which really makes sense since that’s Red Octane’s specialty.  But then Rock Band came out, and everyone stopped talking about GHIII.  Red Octane was surely feeling pretty peeved.  They all gathered around in their meeting rooms and tried to think up the one game that would trounce Rock Band and reestablish their domination of the Guitar-playing game genre.

Here’s what they came up with.

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Ooh, an exhaustive look at video games that have been repackaged as board games.

Now, if someone will come up with a good list of TV shows and movies made into board games. Though that one will be considerably longer.

Via Boing Boing.

My friends at WFMU just announced this:

This Monday morning 2/4 I (Trent) am going to hosting what I THINK will be the first-ever instance of playing Rock Band live on the radio, from 8-9am on WFMU.org.

The proof, as they say, is in the pudding:
ESPN to Broadcast Major League Gaming
MLG on ESPN.com

“Pro video gaming offers sports fans everything they love about sports—great teams, break-out personalities and stars, and exciting competition,” said Matthew Bromberg, President and CEO of Major League Gaming. “MLG’s digital properties now reach over four million fans a month, and millions more follow the League on TV, mobile devices, and X-Box Live. We’re excited to build upon that audience with ESPN.”

So, what do the CultureGeeks think? I think the level of competition has reached a stage where gaming qualifies as a sport. A spectator sport however? That’s a pretty bold statement. I’ll watch it but will the novelty wear off quickly?

If you want to stop playing on easy and medium, here’s a good place to start:

Tips from the developers

The classic mistake that new players make is to stomp on the pedal from a great height, leaving their foot floating in the air between hits. This is poor pedal technique, and it doesn’t take long for poor pedal technique to result in leg pain, especially on challenging drum songs.

Good foot pedal technique, on the other hand, isn’t painful because it’s all about moving your foot as little as possible. The less energy you use on each hit, the more hits you can perform, and the better a drummer you’ll be.

Personally, since I don’t own it yet, I haven’t had a chance to try drumming. Looks like fun though. I can tell you that I have totally fallen in love with singing… what an ego boost to have people compliment your singing! Now I know why those fools try out for American Idol year after year.

Found on Evil Avatar, news that the February issue of the Official XBox Magazine will have 3 exclusive tracks for Rock Band.

Serious? You’d better believe it. The disc bundled with OXM’s February 2008 issue contains 3 songs that you’ll find ONLY on this disc:
* Freezepop — “Sprøde”
* Bang Camaro — “Rock Rebellion”
* Count Zero — “Shake”

Does anyone else think it’s quaint to actually have to put a disc in a drive to get new content?

How well do you know your world? (Could also be called, how well can you differentiate between subtle variations in color on tiny maps?)

Start thinkin’ folks. It’s time to get morbid again.

It’s online, it’s free, it’s seasonally appropriate, and it’s much trickier than I thought it would be:

Hand Bell Hero

RAWK! (via MetaFilter)