music
December 15th, 2009 at 02:00am
Under Wii / Nintendo
You gotta hand it to this kid’s parents, who managed to turn up their boring old Christmas lights to 11 and into quite the Guitar Hero homage. It’s not the first time we’ve seen Activision’s franchise mix it up with some Christmas lights, but it’s certainly the most unique and inspired. We’ve embedded the video past the break so put on your favorite Rudolph sweater (the good one with the blinking nose you keep in the back of the closet), pour yourself a hot cup of cocoa and give it a watch.
Continue reading Christmas Light Hero brings rhythm to the holidays
Christmas Light Hero brings rhythm to the holidays originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 15 Dec 2009 01:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: activision, guitar-hero, music, rhythm, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Christmas Light Hero brings rhythm to the holidays
December 13th, 2009 at 08:30pm
Under DS
Update: We’ve closed the comments and will contact a winner this week. Check the email tied to your commenter name, folks!
For this week’s not-quite-the-holidays-yet giveaway, we’ve got a Band Hero prize pack for the Nintendo Wii and DS lined up for one lucky winner. That’s right! Not just Band Hero for your silly old home console, but also for your handheld (that is, unless you have a Nintendo DSi or XXL — sorry!). Prepare to be embraced by friends and relatives as a genuine American (or Canadian, excluding Quebec) hero while playing along to your favorite Taylor Swift song.
In honor of last night’s Video Game Awards (and the subsequent flood of news and trailers), we’re asking you to tell us what your favorite trailer or news was from the World Premiere-stravaganza. We’ll pick one winner at random this week, so as always, be sure to keep an eye on the inbox!
- Leave a comment telling us what your favorite trailer or news was from last night’s World Premiere-stravaganza (the VGAs).
- You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec — likely because of The Kids in the Hall).
- Limit 1 entry per person per day
- This entry period ends at 7:31PM ET on Monday, December 13
- At that time, we’ll randomly select one winner to receive one copy of Band Hero for Nintendo DS ($50 ARV) and one copy of Band Hero for Nintendo Wii ($50 ARV).
- For a list of complete rules, click here
What is Joyswag? Since we don’t keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes “Joyswag,” which is passed along to our readers. For more info on our policy, click here.
Swag Sunday: Band Hero for everything Nintendo [update] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Swag Sunday: Band Hero for everything Nintendo [update]
Tags: activision, band-hero, giveaway, joyswag, music, music-rhythm, rhythm, Spike-VGA-2009, swag-saturday, swag-sunday, vicarious-visions
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Swag Sunday: Band Hero for everything Nintendo [update]
December 9th, 2009 at 04:30pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Last month, the extremely certain pop-rock outfit No Doubt sued Activision for allowing their likenesses to be used in Band Hero, where players could perform the game’s entire catalog of songs as the Stefani-fronted group. According to the complaint, this feature turned the band’s appearance in the game into a “virtual karaoke circus act.” Earlier this week, The Hollywood Reporter dug up a countersuit filed against the band by Activision, who claimed No Doubt was in breach of a contract between the two parties, and had reaped unjust enrichment as a result.
Activision’s main response to No Doubt’s claim is that that the band requested their likenesses be limited to perform the band’s own songs in-game — however, it made this request “only after the Band Hero programming was finalized.” Activision seeks an unspecified amount of damages and interest from the band, as well as court and attorney fees, and a return of all payments dispersed to the band for their initial involvement. Jeez, Activision. Might as well go ahead and ask for the kitchen sink while you’re at it.
[Via GamePolitics]
Activision countersues No Doubt, which is likely not feeling ‘Hella Good’ originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 09 Dec 2009 15:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Activision countersues No Doubt, which is likely not feeling ‘Hella Good’
Tags: activision, band-hero, court, law, lawsuit, music, no-doubt, rhythm, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Activision countersues No Doubt, which is likely not feeling ‘Hella Good’
December 7th, 2009 at 02:00pm
Under DS
We’re willing to abide a lot around Joystiq HQ, but from the start we’ve had one basic, simple rule. We don’t cotton to robots. We know that society has come to depend on them for odd jobs like fruit juicing and child care, but that doesn’t mean we have to accept them.
It should be a great testament then to the skill of YouTube user RigorMortis999 that we’re willing to break our own prime directive to bring you his one-handed version of the Super Mario Bros. theme, which you’ll find right after the break. Sure, he’s quite obviously a robot, but we think it’s safe to assume he’s a friendly one.
[Via Kotaku]
Continue reading Robotic man plays Mario theme with one hand
Robotic man plays Mario theme with one hand originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Mon, 07 Dec 2009 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: mario, music, super-mario-bros
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Robotic man plays Mario theme with one hand
December 4th, 2009 at 06:00pm
Under Xbox 360
What’s the only thing more satisfying than aligning colorful blocks on a rectangular grid while simultaneously recreating pleasant ambient tunes from musical artists such as Moby? Simple — doing so while simultaneously donating to charity. That’s the package that OneBigGame and Zoe Mode will offer on XBLA at some point this winter, when their music/puzzle game Chime lands on the XBLA.
Though we’ve known about this non-profit puzzler for a month now, we’ve yet to see the title in action. Fortunately, OneBigGame dropped a gameplay demonstration video earlier today, which we’ve posted above. Yeah, sure, it’s got a few aesthetic similarities to Lumines, but considering all the proceeds from the game go to Save the Children and Starlight Children’s foundation, we’re not going to raise a stink about it. We think saving children is like, the coolest thing you can possibly do.
Charity XBLA game Chime’s gameplay explained in latest trailer originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 04 Dec 2009 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Charity XBLA game Chime’s gameplay explained in latest trailer
Tags: charity, chime, music, onebiggame, puzzle, rhythm, xbla, zoe-mode
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Charity XBLA game Chime’s gameplay explained in latest trailer
December 1st, 2009 at 08:30pm
Under Xbox 360
If you’ve been sitting around on your fat stacks of cash, waiting to pick up an extra DJ Hero controller then now is the time, friend. Activision sent along a press release stating that the turntable controllers are now in stock at the Guitar Hero Store for $70 a pop, $40 cheaper than the regular, game-packing bundle.
With a weak showing on October’s NPD charts and UK retailers slashing prices, we can’t say we fully understand Activision’s decision to charge so much for the turntables. From our vantage point, it looks like this: if Activision came down on the price a bit, more people would buy a second controller and have their friends try the game. Then, maybe those people would go out and buy their own set-up. Isn’t that a novel idea?
Standalone DJ Hero controllers now available for $70 originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: activision, dj, dj-hero, freestyle-games, freestylegames, music, peripherals, rhythm
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Standalone DJ Hero controllers now available for $70
November 4th, 2009 at 08:30pm
Under PSP
We haven’t heard anything about Cipher Prime’s plans to port its hypnotic musical puzzler, Auditorium, since the studio won a publishing contract in the 2BeeGames competition back in July. Today, a press release from newly named publisher Zoo Games revealed a few details about the title’s console destinations: It’s coming to Xbox Live Arcade and PSN, both as a PS3 and PSP download “early next year.”
For those who want to know what the soothing buzz is all about, you can check out Auditorium for free on the 2BeeGames site. For those who can’t access that site for some reason, just turn on some classical music, go turn on the nearest water faucet, and try to redirect the stream with your hands.
Auditorium flowing to XBLA, PSN and PSP next year originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: auditorium, cipher-prime, music, psn, puzzle, xbla, zoo-games
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Auditorium flowing to XBLA, PSN and PSP next year
November 4th, 2009 at 05:45pm
Under Wii / Nintendo
Band Hero’s reign as the DS music game with the silliest peripheral in America will soon be over. Valcon Games has announced that it will release Easy Piano, the piano teaching game with the 13-key keyboard attachment, in North America. It’ll join the piles and piles of other games coming out in early 2010, but then those don’t have keyboards.
Easy Piano includes a piano teaching system — a mini Miracle Keyboard, essentially — but also allows players to record four three-minute long performances, and includes a piano-based rhythm game. What it doesn’t include, for obvious reasons, is DSi compatibility. Maybe the company will make a version for the DSi XL that connects wirelessly to one of those floor pianos from Big.
Also, we’ve changed our minds — Band Hero is still the silliest.
Easy Piano easing into North America next year originally appeared on Joystiq Nintendo on Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tags: easy-piano, game-life, music, piano, valcon-games, Wii / Nintendo
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Easy Piano easing into North America next year
October 29th, 2009 at 05:00am
Under DS
If there’s one wonderful thing we can say about movie game trailers, it’s that they keep us on top of what’s happening with the kids these days. Take for instance Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel — we didn’t even know there was a second film coming out!
What we can glean from the trailer above is that there will be some form of illicit chipmunk love affair angle to the film that will play into the game’s story. Also, it may or may not be music-rhythm game of some form. As you can imagine, we were so entranced by the slurry of colors and sounds that it was hard to discern any clear information. We did discover, however, that the game will be coming to the Nintendo Wii and DS on December 1.
Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel game tie-in coming in early December originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel game tie-in coming in early December
Tags: alvin-and-the-chipmunks, alvin-and-the-chipmunks-the-squeakquel, licensed-games, movie-tie-in, music, release-date, rhythm
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Alvin & the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel game tie-in coming in early December
October 28th, 2009 at 10:50pm
Under DS
Activision is making people believe in the weird DS “drum skin” attachment for Band Hero the best way it knows how: by finding the most excitable shills it can in shopping centers, and putting the game in their hands. Predictably, they love it. We’ve never seen a mall so full of people willing to dance awkwardly to a DS game.
The buttons that go on top of the DS’s buttons are only one of the selling points espoused in this trailer. Band Hero’s extensive track list and flexible multiplayer (just like in the console version, you can combine instruments in any configuration) get lip service too. But they aren’t as noticeable as that thing you put on the DS to play drums.
Band Hero’s DS ‘drum skin’ in action originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 21:50:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Continue Reading Band Hero’s DS ‘drum skin’ in action
Tags: activision, band-hero, drum-skin, guitar-hero, music, vicarious-visions
By Mister-X
Continue Reading Band Hero’s DS ‘drum skin’ in action
