Aeropodcast #31: Z Or Zed In Other Parts of the World

This week, Josh, aka Z from Tripletags.com was nice enough to join us to talk about their site and add insight to our gaming podcast. We also decide to break out into an acapella version of Iron Maiden’s “Run to the Hills”. Scary, so make sure to have ear protection at that point in the podcast. We also go in-depth on a little new release you might of heard of, Grand Theft Auto IV.

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Read-a-long with Nintendo Power (#229, June 2008)

That’s not Aerosmith: The Animated Series, that’s the latest Nintendo Power. Join Aeropause for this regular dissection of a twenty-year-old gaming staple… and read-a-long!

Issue #229, June 2008
featured games: Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Etrian Odyssey II, Wii Fit, Trauma Center: Under the Knife 2, FaceBreaker, Guitar Hero: On Tour, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Rock Band, Samba de Amigo

Take a look at that cover. Wow. Did anybody else think that the hypnotically awful Revolution X would get a sequel? What a surprise! Talk about mining the archives; Revolution X came out fourteen years ago! That’s longer than the wait between Super Metroid and Metroid Prime, and Nintendo is still trying to convince gamers that Metroid is worth buying. I’m a little rusty on my Revolution X plot, but apparently it involved you rescuing members of some hair band called Aerosmith. Since so much time has passed, I’m guessing this Guitar Hero Aerosmith band is comprised of the sons and daughters of the original Revolution X Aerosmith. Nintendo Power’s cover feature is unclear on this point.

What the article does cover is four upcoming Wii/DS music games, all without ever mentioning the complete lack of DLC songs. Hilariously, the Rock Band article says “some compromises had to be made to bring Rock Band to Wii. For instance, there’s no create-a-character mode.” WTF? First of all, the Wii already has a create-a-character mode that third party games are stupid to ignore: the Mii system. But more importantly, who cares about the gimpy create-a-character mode in Rock Band? You have, like, a million shirts and only four faces. Whoop-ti-doo.

No no, the compromise that Rock Band Wii makes is penetrating and obvious: no downloadable songs.
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Wake Up Zune: A Marketing Suggestion

The Zune conjures up images of an ugly albatross that keeps flapping around the neckline of Microsoft. Its not that it is a bad player, but it just seems to sit in the shadow of the iPod, trying to find a way to a ray of sunlight.

So why does it sell so poorly? I mean it has a lot of neat features, and it looks pretty cool, but it just does not seem to have that IT quality that makes the iPod so wanted. It also seems to have one of the most uncharismatic marketing teams behind it. I mean look at that picture of J. Allard and tell me he looks happy, or even makes you want a Zune. At least Bill is trying to look happy, but Allard just looks like he thinks he is going to catch a disease from the Zune that he is holding.

So I was kicking around the thought of getting a portable player and I have been considering a Zune, because I just do not feel like buying an iPod, because they will just release another version I will want every five to six months. I am also a big Microsoft homer, so I have a desire to keep brand loyalty to them. My problem is that I cannot find a great enough reason to select a Zune, but I thought of a pretty cool idea that could move the device…maybe.

As I was buying my latest crack addiction, Rock Band DLC, I thought about how much I like the music that has been in this game, and in the Guitar Hero series for the most part. So it dawned on me that I would pay extra on the marketplace to have a way to get these songs in a portable format. Microsoft, having deep pockets, could use this as a way to get people sold on the Zune. All you would have to do is plug the Zune in, and get your music tracks right from the game. It just seems like a no brainer. Thank you Microsoft, make sure to put some zeros on the end of that number when you send the royalty check. And J. Allard, cheer up, it can’t be all that bad.

New Rock Band Trend, New Tracks With Pre-Orders

The guys at Evil Avatar, had a great story over the weekend that talked about Best Buy offering exclusive Rock Band tracks from the upcoming Disturbed album with a pre-order.  At first I did not think all that much of it, but the more I thought about it, I started to realize how great this idea could be for up and coming artists.

Think about it, you are an up and coming band and you want to reach the masses.  Just talk to the guys at Harmonix and offer a track or two for free and link it to a pre-order.  Only speaking for myself, I have become a Rock Band DLC whore, and have purchased almost every song offered, and I will buy pretty much everything that is out there.  This initiative would give people more reasons to listen to a new artist. If Iyou knew you could get a code for Rock Band tracks free with a pre-order.  Not sure how it will take off, but I have to say that I am down with it.  Bring us more content.

An Inner Look at Harmonix

Not a huge news story, but perusing the latest issue of Newsweek, I saw an interesting article that piqued my attention.  A small feature on Harmonix and their path to success.

It does not give any hints on their upcoming plans except the hint of a keyboard in the next version of Rock Band (seems natural, considering Rigopulos keytar band, Freezepop).  Anyway, take a stroll over to Newsweek.com to read the article and some fun insights on their view of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

Signs and Portents: Aerosmith Songs Exclusive to Guitar Hero

It appears that Aerosmith songs will be appearing exclusively in Guitar Hero games - at least for now. This isn’t surprising with the upcoming release of Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, but it is definitely a worrisome occurrence. This may be the beginning of an exclusivity war between Activision and EA with regard to what bands appear in Guitar Hero and Rock Band. What will this change about each respective title, and what can gamers expect?

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Guitar Hero IV to Include Drums and Vocals?

According to Activision CEO Bobby Kotick, instruments other than guitars, as well as vocals, will be coming to future installments of Guitar Hero. There are also plans to include music from “local bands” depending on the region in which the game is released. He had this to say on the matter:

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Judas Priest, The Cars, Pixies Albums Coming to Rock Band

Rejoice! The “Album” button in the Rock Band Store will remain dim no longer. Today Harmonix announced that they will be releasing Judas Priest’s full album, “Screaming for Vengeance” next Tuesday. The album includes 10 tracks which can be purchased separately at 160 MS points ($1.99) or all together for 1200 MS Points (14.99). The full song list appears after the break.
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Stor3d: A New Beginning for Lair, Gran Turismo, and the Store.

The new PlayStation Store showed up on tax day this week (that’s April 15th for folks outside of the United States), bringing a “native app” feel to it instead of the sluggish Store we had in the browser. Its browser roots weren’t left behind entirely, unfortunately, with icons loading into the UI a little slower than some would have liked during the first few days. The content that hit this week gives some nice new goodies for games I either like already or have been interested in.
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The five Nintendo songs that should have been in Rock Band Wii.

After quite some time of keeping the secret, this week Harmonix announced the FIVE BONUS songs that will grace the Wii version of Rock Band. Since many previous Nintendo editions of multi-console games have arrived with fan-pleasing content (see such games as Soulcalibur 2, DDR Mario Mix and NBA Street V3), it was natural to speculate that Rock Band Wii would arrive with some kind of classic Nintendo music. But here’s what we’re getting:

• “Dirty Little Secret” - The All American Rejects
• “Don’t Look Back in Anger” - Oasis
• “Roam” - The B-52’s
• “Rockaway Beach” - The Ramones
• “Roxanne” - The Police

So yeah, five tracks already available on the Rock Band store for PS3 and 360. Some surprise.

This is fine, I suppose, but given that Rock Band Wii will have no online play and only a faint, faint hope of DLC songs… well, Wii owners will be forgiven for hoping for something a little nicer.

Like, say, five Wii-exclusive tracks culled from twenty years of Nintendo gaming? Here’s my nominations for the awesome Rock Band Wii that will never be…

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