Surprised we haven't gotten any threadjack discussion of this going, because I KNOW a bunch of people who are on the blog are players because they pop up on my "You beat [x]'s score!" list from time to time. Really, there hasn't been a game that has basically hijacked my life like this since Angry Birds, showing why once again Harmonix are geniuses and we are their willing bitches. Unfortunately the coin overall has left the game feeling a bit too easy in that regard, but is there a more satisfying feeling than FINALLY putting together the right collection of powerups on a song and hitting five stars? I've been trying since day one with "Diamond Eyes" and it's maddening. In a good way. Although use pinball on Green Day's "Song of the Century" and watch five gold stars almost instantly pop up, it's hilarious.
Another reason why they're geniuses: I immediately went out and bought (new) copies of Track Pack 2, Green Day Rock Band and AC/DC Track Pack. And it had to be new copies because otherwise the export codes don't work, so Harmonix makes money off those again. Green Day in particular is a hell of a deal, $10 new (plus a $10 "fee" to export), so for $20 you get a staggering FORTY SEVEN new songs to occupy your life with. That's an amazing value all things considered. Not to mention all the DLC songs they're selling to people all over again (I have spent STAGGERING amounts of Paypal money on track packs since this game came out, and I'm usually the cheap fuck who won't pay for ANY DLC on general principles.) I'm sure I'll eventually get sick of the game again, but certainly not as fast as I got sick of the plastic guitar craze, especially if they keep pumping out music I want to pay for.
I'm really glad this came out. I love me some traditional Rock Band, but I loved Frequency and Amplitude back in the day, so it's awesome to see the gameplay revived and it's a brand-new revenue source for Harmonix. Everything old is new again.
ReplyDeleteGreen Day Rock Band sat on my shelf semi-unplayed for years before I finally stashed it somewhere a while ago. I love Dookie but once I've played all the songs on it once, I wanna move on, and instead they make you sit and do it again (or I didn't get enough powerups, or something, I dunno, I wasn't too involved).
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the south park episode " guitar queer-o" if u haven't seen it go to Netflix and watch it. Probably funny for fans and non fans both
ReplyDeleteWeird timing--my interview with Blitz's project director went up at Paste earlier today.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2012/09/catching-up-with-matthew-nordhaus-of-harmonix-musi.html
Chances are there are hundreds of songs in the music store already that you want to pay for. Their library is staggering.
ReplyDeleteI bought this mainly to export the songs to the main platform. I've played it a bit, but still find myself grabbing my fake, plastic instruments more often.
And I hear ya on "Song of the Century."
A spoof of Behind the Music maybe 10 years after its prime and a big set up to a cheap, typical "video gamers are nerdz LOLwut" punchline? Boy, Parker & Stone sure are geniuses.
ReplyDeleteIt feels weird bashing South Park to someone other than Caliber.
I will gladly rush to the defense of south park with caliber MIA. (Did he just disappear/get banned/what happened?)
ReplyDeleteKyle and Stan try to score a million points playing guitar hero, shenanigans ensue including getting addicted to playing heroin hero where you chase a dragon, they finally pull it off the guitar hero high score and the game tells them "congratulations you are fags!" Its kind of hysterical actually. South Park is probably the funniest show on tv even if they do put out a clunker or two here or there.
Also on a unrelated note I enjoyed your top 10 pop chart breakdown, and I seriously didn't know the blow your whistle song was a blow job thing so you learn something new every day. Cool gimmick for a column.
I was wondering if you were ever gonna mention Rock Band Blitz. BTW I'm one of those guys who keeps beating Scott's scores...mostly
ReplyDeleteThanks man, I'll be posting stuff pretty regularly there so keep checking.
ReplyDeleteI don't hate everything South Park does, there was a time when I was a genuine fan. Parker & Stone using the show as a bully pulpit for their shitty, condescending, nihilistic point of view is what makes me hate it. Plus all the good episodes they've done have given people enough ammo to think they're bulletproof when they put out complete misses like that one.
That episode was fucking hilarious. It also shamed my roommate, who had been playing Guitar Hero for hours literally every day from the day he got it until we watched this episode, to stop playing that stupid game.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of video games, does anyone here play Madden? I got Madden 13 (in fact, I got a PS3 this summer just to start to play Madden again) and I can't do anything on offense in the Pro Level. I'm pretty good with the defense, but can't make anything happen on offense. I'm playing as the Eagles, if this helps.
ReplyDeleteI haven't played a Madden game in a few years, but I do have one buddy that said they were having a bunch of problems on offense as well, problems that weren't typical of prior years. But that's all I got for ya.
ReplyDeleteYeah, where did Caliber go? Maybe he's writing for Cracked.com
ReplyDeleteLol. He's still running his Scrublife site. He just didn't feel like he got enough respect around here & quit. Sebastian Howard is pretty much the Robin to his Batman.
ReplyDeleteWell, Vick is your QB, so there you go lol.
ReplyDeleteBut seriously, I haven't had a chance to have a go at Madden this year (I'm knee-deep in SFxTekken, which had a temporary week-long price drop to $20 at GameStop, which I couldn't pass up), but I heard the passing game takes some re-adjustment, since you can't pass to WRs until their icons light up to signal they're looking for the ball. I would say try to look for the easy 5-yd slant routes from the slot, high-percentage, low-risk plays and work from there.
Not only did that episode rule, but I was made the butt of some pretty stellar jokes due to my playing habit. Being named Thaddeus and going by "Thad" also helped.
ReplyDeleteI concur with the earlier sentiments. I enjoyed your article. However, I personally hold you responsible for putting that damn Pink song in my head with your apt snapshot of her song and career. It's one of those so-annoying-it-sticks-with-you songs.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is hard to evaluate the creative efforts of Stone and Parker. Comedic geniuses? Lazy contrarians? Shock artists? I mean, I think the last few years has been them taking some current event, mixing it with a theme or format from another movie or tv show, and just having fun while bashing what caused the current event. They still manage to make me laugh, though, for about half the episodes.
I hate them because it's badly disguised libertarian propaganda. And I despise political propaganda of any variety in my entertainment. Family Guys sucks too.
ReplyDeleteThe passing is kind of fucked up. I'm still trying to master it. I just got crushed by some asshole online
ReplyDeleteLol love stupid thad jarvis!
ReplyDelete