Mongo Nation

Microsoft, EA, Rock Band and Guitar Hero News!

By Jeremy Azevedo

I’m sure many people were expecting to see Microsoft debut a 1st party motion controller today, due to the week long speculation surrounding the lightsaber-esque peripheral known as the “Darwin”.

Despite the fact that this turned out to be untrue, that didn’t stop Nintendo from making an official announcement the day before their actual press conference regarding a new controller add-on that promises to provide the Wiimote with absolutely accurate 1:1 virtual response. Wait, what?

I don’t know about you, but I already shelled out 40 bucks apiece for the goddamn Wiimotes and 20 bucks more for the nunchuck, which already pisses me off. Factor in the Wii charging stations and you’ve got the world’s most needlessly expensive controller. So why in the hell would I want to pay another 20-30 dollars for another add-on designed to make my Wiimote do what it was supposed to already do in the first place? Go fuck yourself Nintendo. You better show me a new Kid Icarus or something equally rad tomorrow or we’re not friends anymore.

So what did Microsoft debut today? There were a couple of presentations for eagerly awaited multi-platform games like Resident Evil 5, fallout 3, Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2 (more on those later). Exclusive titles Fable 2 and Gears of War 2 were also shown, although I always felt Gears was sort of the poor man’s Halo, so I couldn’t get that excited about it. I am super pumped about Fable 2 though, the original was one of my favorite games of the last generation, and I expect more of the same from the sequel.

The big news from Microsoft was that Final Fantasy XIII would be exclusive to the 360, which is a big surprise due to the fact that Final Fantasy has long been exclusive to Sony (and before that, Nintendo). Microsoft seems to be serious about developing an RPG following on their machine, something that has long been the Playstation’s secret weapon in the hardcore gaming market. But you know what game I was most excited about? Lips. Feel free to throw away your crappy Singstar collection, as Lips will allow you to upload and sing to any song in your personal collection. Sounds too rad to be true but that’s their claim. Ama-shizzle-azing.
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Metal band plays at disgraced author’s book signing!

By Jeremy Azevedo

Do you remember the author, James Frey, who wrote “A Million Little Pieces”, a memoir that became an Oprah book club selection? And then it turns out that a lot of the stuff in the book was made up? Well it turns out that Frey is still working, despite being shamed on live television, has a new book out, and loves metal!

But this isn’t really about James Frey, really, although it was maybe supposed to be. See, Frey had it in his mind that having a rock band play at his book reading would make the whole show more entertaining, and perhaps even endear him to a younger crowd. As such, he hired heavy metal band “Black Tide” to play at his show, which was a free, all ages event… at Whiskey A Go Go in Hollywood of all places.

Now I’m not trying to make broad generalizations here, but in my own personal experience, metal heads are not known to be the most literate of people. Especially teenage metal heads that live in or near Hollywood. It became apparent fairly early on that the majority of the “guests” in attendance were only there for a free metal show. Words cannot describe how awkward the question and answer period after Frey’s reading was, but I can tell you that his frustration with the crowd was clearly obvious. And the guy that went before him? He looked like he was going to jump out of the window, if there even was one.

Anyway, the moral of the story was that I had an interview with the band afterward, the results of which I have taken some minor liberties with in order to punch things up (In the style of James Frey, of course). Following is my account of that interview with Black Tide bassist Zakk Sandler, and guitarist Lexx Nunez.

Guitar Hero is the new Rock Band?

By Jeremy Azevedo

In an obvious bid to silence those that would accuse Activision of resting on it’s laurels while Rock Band evolves the music game genre far beyond the scope of Guitar Hero, The developer has made a shocking announcement in this month’s issue of Game Informer.

Apparently, the next installment of Guitar Hero will not only feature the addition of drums and vocals, but will also feature a six piece drum kit and a new guitar peripheral with an as-yet-unannounced new feature. No word yet on whether or not these new instruments will be compatible with Rock Band or vice-versa. But judging by the fact that the Rock Band drum kit is only a four piece, I’d say the chances are slim. I’d also say that both Activision and Harmonix are getting just a little bit carried away with all the goddamn controllers. How many more do they really expect consumers to buy?

Additionally, Guitar Hero 4 will allow greater customization of band members, logos, and instruments in-game. Of course, due to legal entanglements with former sponsor, Gibson, this may not include actual real-world instrument models. The really big news, though, is that this installment will raise the stakes one step further by allowing users to actually record their own music. That’s right, honest to goodness digital video game bands will soon be peddling their wares on MySpace. Obviously, Playstation 2 Guitar Heroes can suck it when it comes to actually uploading their custom creation on the web.

The only bands that have even a tentative confirmation for the game are Van Halen, The Eagles Linkin Park, Sublime and contest winners The Answer. No idea what songs will be featured yet, so don’t ask. You’re welcome to guess though!