Have a Great Thanksgiving Everyone!

photo via Lamebook

MAGfest Lineup Announced

The Music and Games Festival has announced its lineup. This years MAGFest will take place in Alexandria, VA on January 1-4. Some of this years guests include Sid Meier, The bands The One Ups, The Megas, Select Start and Entertainment System. The festival includes performances, charity game speedruns, film showings and jam session room and of course open gaming. Super psychedto end your winter break right? Sign up here.

Prof. Sam's Tweets Of The Week

If you don't already follow Prof. Sam's tweets, the music and games related ones are going to become a weekly feature, but if you do have a twitter make sure to show some love

• Scrolling shooter game uses your musical to generate targets. Clever. Symphony: Your Music Makes The Game.


• The Minds Behind Some of the Most Addictive Games Around - O'Reilly Radar


• Sumthing Else Music Works releases Borderlands Original Soundtrack: Latest News from Music4Games


• It's the approval process. Go Android! Respected developers begin fleeing from App platform

Spike TV Video Game Awards Nominees

Spike TV has announced its nominees for the 2009 Video Game Awards. Here's a quick recap of the music related titles:

Best Music Game
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero 5
Lego Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band

Best Soundtrack
Brutal Legend
DJ Hero
Guitar Hero 5
The Beatles: Rock Band

Best Original Score
Assassin's Creed II
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II
Halo 3: ODST
Uncharted 2: Among Thieves

Additionally Brutal Legend picked up a nomination for best cast and best voice (Jack Black as Eddie Riggs). Cast your vote here and leave your predictions below.

Wii News Update: Name Still Inspires Giggling

But besides that, there have been some interesting stories involving the Wii as of late.

In an interview with Nintendo Magazine on Monday, Shigeru Miyamoto talked about future iterations of Wii Music, "it's not really a sequel...but we have added some features to improve the overall experience." comparing it to the Wii Fit Plus. While there were no specifics given as to what those possible features could be, Miyamoto's track record in development of intellectual property for Nintendo has promise.

Additionally, while not directly music and games related, the Auburn Alabama Public Library has added a Wii to their game night roster usually consisting of board games, referencing the ability of the system to reach the elderly. The article states that the Wii "benefits the elderly because they can get physical, but also because it enables them to remotely partake in activities they are no longer able to fully engage in." The library plans to expand their game library with literature based games, such as Harry Potter and Nancy Drew. Just as the music industry is beginning to recognize that music and rhythm action games are providing a new way for consumers to experience music, the literary world seems to be coming to realize the same can be done to literature.

Rock Band 3 Update

While there are many speculations that the rhythm-action genre has become over-saturated with similar titles and is in decline, they may have spoke to soon. According to an interview with the Chicago Tribune Dhani Harrison stated that he is "working on 'Rock Band 3' and making the controllers more real so people can actually learn how to play music while playing the game." While he promises nothing in the immediate future, it's reassuring to see that Harmonix is continuing their overall mission of creating games that can impart the joys of musicianship to those who are not trained in music, not to mention continuing to not be satisfied for a set formula of what makes a rhythm action game.

When It Rains, It Pours - REO Speedwagon Game Announced

A press release from Merscom Games announced yesterday that it would be publishing a hidden object game developed by Curious Sense featuring REO Speedwagon. The game is called "Find Your Own Way Home" will require you to click the screen a lot to find a missing rock star for an album release party. The game will feature 12 REO Speedwagon songs two of which are unreleased recordings. The press release states that the game "is the first of several games Curious Sense will produce with music acts"



We may have just figured out where Margaritaville (see previous post) is going...80 levels of finding lost shakers of salt? Hells yes.

Margaritaville: The Game

There comes a time when everyone's beliefs are shaken. They question the higher power of their choosing, be it God, Jesus, Mohamed, Vishnu, or M. Night Shyamalan. This day has come for me, and I'm sure many of you as well, which is why I find it important for you to here this from a source as distressed as yourself.

"Margaritaville" has filed for trademarking in the realm of "Interactive Game Software". While it's impossible to tell if this is simply a legal precaution or if Mr. Buffet does have plans to release a game regailing us in the story of Mark, a late 40's, sock and sandal wearing "laid back kinda dude" just the idea is a bit frightening.

Check out joystiq for some humorous game theme possibilities.

Incredibox - Hey look, the french did something

Incredibox is a interactive flash based website that allows you to play around with a set of loops created by musician and beat box artist Paul Malburet. While the idea of an intuitive graphic interface to allow users who are unversed in music tech to mix and explore the creation of music is nothing new, this particular example has a great art style and unlockable "bonus" cut animations. The personality of the style in which the site is done leads one to wonder why more artists have not created similar applications to allow fans to engage in the music and artist if they're not comfortable giving out their complete stem recordings.