I warned you this would happen. Okay, maybe I vaguely implied it. The fact of the matter is that another video game franchise is getting ready to hit the stage as a musical. This time, it’s everybody’s favorite rhythm game that got gamers off their butts to experience Japanese pop music, Dance Dance Revolution. Curse you, High School Musical! Your ability to instill the desire to create musicals will not cease!
In honor of Link doing his thing over at the GameFAQs battle today (kicking popular ass, of course), and iPhones being moderately hip, let’s all enjoy a soothing iPhone rendition of The Legend of Zelda theme. Not only does Smule’s app—(aptly titled ‘Ocarina’)—turn your iPhone into its namesake, it also allows you to listen to songs being played on it in real time, worldwide. I’ll be holding off for an iPhone banjo, but you can download Ocarnia for 99 cents and get your own nerd-groove on.
This video is just too funny. This guy pretends to have a smooth jazz radio show while playing Sonic. I don’t know what’s worse: the fact that I listened to the whole thing from beginning to end? Or the fact that I’ve listened to this sort of radio broadcast on my local NPR affiliate many times before driving home at four in the morning.
Gamer Culture, Guitar Hero, Headlines, Music, Rock Band
As I’m sure you’ve heard, The Beatles are coming to Rock Band. The Fab Four announced Thursday they will be making their digital debut via a partnership with MTV and Harmonix, which looks to see the band featured in its own exclusive Rock Band title, slated for a holiday 2009 release. Of course, this is a major announcement for a plethora of reasons. The most important reason is hidden underneath the surface of this monstrous musical development.
Game Design, Music, Playstation 3, Xbox 360
When the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 were released boasting hard drive capabilities, the prospect of custom soundtracks was definitely a plus. Microsoft ushered in the use of custom soundtracks with the Xbox and continued the trend with the 360. The PlayStation 3, however decided to introduce the custom soundtrack via their 2.40 firmware. But as time moves on, the question remains: are custom soundtracks still wanted?
Casual Games, Gamer Culture, Music, Nintendo Wii
With last month’s release of Wii Music, Nintendo concludes its “Big Four” group of nontraditional games (Wii Sports, Wii Play, and Wii Fit being the previous three). Unfortunately for the Big N, its foray into the music game genre has been receiving less than stellar reviews, averaging a score of 60, according to Metacritic. Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s resident developer guru, has come out in support of his game. Which, he admits, may not really be a “game” at all, but rather something approaching a “musical arrangement engine.” It would appear that with Wii Music, Nintendo’s dogged pursuit of nongamers has finally resulted in a misstep, in spite of Miyamoto’s firm defense of his creation.
Movies, Music, PSP, Playstation 3, Sony
Sony continues to push the PSP via the newly released PSP-3000. With the new PS button and better LCD screen, the PSP is slowly moving into more of a portable entertainment device. Unfortunately, there is one feature that is overlooked and hardly mentioned: Remote Play.
My setup: I’m using the 40 gig PS3 (upgraded to 160 gig) and a PSP-1000. That’s right, a damn 1000 series model. I got it launch day and skipped out of work to play. You may think using the PSP-1000 model is archaic (it is, I agree) but it’s still a good test. And you can assume how much better the new PSP models will do. I have a wireless-N router, but since the PSP only runs a Wireless LAN (IEEE 802.11b) that doesn’t really matter.
Gamer Culture, Music, Nintendo Wii
Sometimes, the soundtrack to a game just won’t cut it. You’re in the middle of an intense gaming session, and the weak background music isn’t enough to fuel your fire. This is the time to mute your TV and crank up the stereo; it’s what you need to get you past that last level. But what are you listening to?
