April fuel

I've been most neglectful of the blog so far this month. But I've been keeping up on my own research, playing GH: Metallica, GTA: Chinatown Wars, and Rhythm Heaven. I have to admit that GH:M is much better than I'd expected, and is even making me appreciate the band; 'tallica is more entertaining to play than to listen to, I think. Rhythm Heaven is silly beyond words.

Here are some links I've been not posting all week.

In further Metal news, I see Jack Black is "starring" in a new game called Brütal Legend from the many who brought us Secret of Monkey Island. And speaking of legends, two members of the Blue Oyster Cult contributed to an original song for Warhammer Online titled "Kiss My Axe (While I Drink My Beer)".

Meanwhile, Technology Review asks "Can Video Games Be The New MTV?" My personal answer to this question was, "Wait, what's MTV again?" In a similar vein, something called the World News Network (I think that's where Ron Burgundy ended up) has a piece on "Rock Band and The Future of the Music Industry". Nothing very new in it, but still good to see the meme spreading.

And finally, video games -- and shoot'em ups specifically -- improve your eyesight. It's science!

Next MVGRP-hosted Open Gaming Session this Friday, April 3

This coming Friday the NYU Music Video Games Research Project will host its second Open Gaming Session on the 9th floor of Tisch, from 4-8pm. Hopefully this will be a more convenient time than the last one. New additions to the library include Guitar Hero: Metallica (including double-pedal drumming) and GTA: Chinatown Wars on the Nintendo DS.