Crossover rhythms

Nice interview at Game|Life with Tsunku♂ -- aka Mitsuo Terada, the J-pop producer behind hit DS game and Beyoncé endorsed Rhythm Heaven. I liked these quotes:

Rhythm games have always transcended nationality, though. Rhythm is something that can be learned without complex theories; it just takes practice and repetition. This is true for children, adults, men and women. This is why I thought a worldwide release of this title wasn't just a pipe dream.
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I think there will be increased potential for game music to cross over into the mainstream in the future, but avid fans usually don't respond to gimmicks they feel are too contrived. The key is to start with as pure a game concept as possible, and give it the type of music that suits it best. If the fans respond well as a result, performing the song live in concert would be a natural next step. That sort of pattern seems ideal to me.

I was rocking away at RH quite happily this week until I hit the level with the off-beats, and now I'm stuck. Here's a Japanese trailer with examples of many of the mini-games within Rhythm Heaven.

Oh Activison, why must you be so eeeevil?

I've been quite looking forward to seeing this fall's DJ console games compete head to head, as they both seem different enough from each other to appeal to different types of music fan and/or gamer. But did Activision -- who publish GH, and therefore cannot be totally evil, right? -- really buy out a rival developer to make sure that its DJ Hero will be the only contender? What's going on, Gamestop?

Now yet another company is taking the Guitar Hero and Call of Duty publisher to court. Tuesday evening, Scratch DJ Game LLC, publisher of the forthcoming Scratch: The Ultimate DJ, filed a legal action accusing Activision of various misdeeds. The LLC is a joint venture between DVD distributor Genius Products and audio-equipment manufacturer Numark Industries, who commissioned indie shop 7 Studios to develop Scratch to try to break into the rhythm-game market.
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[The suit] alleges that "Activision has engaged in intentional interference with contract, breach of contract...and misappropriation of trade secrets obtained from Genius to purchase 7 Studios, which is under contract to develop the much-anticipated new hip-hop video game, Scratch: The Ultimate DJ." (Emphasis added.) The buyout, which had not been publicly announced, is already complete.

The whole case is a mess and it's far from obvious who's right and who's wrong, but it's still disheartening to see corporate shenanigans and lawyers decide what kind of innovation can be possible in music games, as well as in the music business per se. Bring the beat back!

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!

So LoudCrowd, what's this all about then?

A student waiting to see me this morning told me that she was getting into LoudCrowd, which I'd read about on Epicenter but still haven't found time to try out.

Conduit Labs' LoudCrowd, co-founded by former Harmonix employee Dan Ogles, generated tons of buzz with its Tuesday SXSW announcement of a social music gaming network, somewhat along the lines of Guitar Hero meets MySpace. After playing around with the LoudCrowd site for a bit today, we feel like that hype is somewhat justified.

The second paragraph has the twist -- using music discovery as the reward incentive for playing.

One of the coolest things about LoudCrowd is that it makes you want to earn virtual money by playing games to collect actual music. When we won our first track after performing well in a DJ game, we were thrilled even before we heard it. This is an intriguing way to get people excited about music, because it encourages active listening.

So I'm going to try it out at some point soon. Anyone else playing it already?

It's hard work

My mate Kevin D tweets over this video of hip-hop producer Just Blaze. At 4:50mins he laments that it's hard out there for a DJ -- scoring beats for a basketball video game. Plus there's scratchin'.

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.

Rock Band cracks $1 beelleeon!

From Rolling Stone, of all places:

In a press release, the makers of Rock Band have revealed that after only 15 months of business, the franchise has surpassed $1 billion in North American retail sales alone. MTV Games and Harmonix also announced than more than 40 million individual tracks had been downloaded and purchased via the Rock Band platform.

And this is before the Beatles RB game drops. I believe the term "ka-ching!" is in order.

Don't sweat the technique

The Daily Swarm is all over your DJ Hero/Scratch: The Utimate DJ games news these days. Both titles arrive this summer, with brand new large chunks of plastic with which to decorate one's living room.

The headline is a little TMZ-esque, but "DJ Hero gets Z-Trip and DJ Shadow Tiesto" sho is grabby. "Mixmaster Mike: Scratch Will Be Bigger Than Guitar Hero" is cockier than I'm sure Mike intended. What's the actual news?

Well, Daft Punk are said to be involved in DJ Hero somehow (did you know they're doing the soundtrack for Tron 2? The first Tron is a touchstone childhood memory for me so I feel strangely invested. I think it contributed to why I've played Ultimate Frisbee since my teens). Anyway, Activision will ship 1.5m units in June, no doubt with a flashy ad drive. Word has it that DJ Hero will focus more on mixing tracks in real time, and Scratch will be more about, well, scratching. From Kotaku:

Improvisation occurs in another of the Scratch’s segments, as portions of the note highway will encourage turntable tricks, not just button presses. This is where the "chika chika fantasy" comes in, with some 15 to 20 tricks available on the controller’s spinning wheel. The DJ will be able to throw in sounds from a pre-picked "battle record" which can be packed with custom beats, quirky sound effects or even custom-recorded sounds via a USB microphone.

Artists with original or licensed tracks in Scratch include - in order of my personal interest - Gorillaz, Eric B. and Rakim ("Don’t Sweat the Technique", swheet!), Beastie Boys, Run DMC, Deltron 3030. Oh. and Karaoke Kanye.

Life is a gateway drug

Fair's fair, it's encouraging to see the various members of Metallica promoting Guitar Hero as good for music generally in their SXSW interviews, along with the usual hype around their game coming out on March 29. Examples:

Edge - "Guitar Hero a 'Gateway Drug Into Music', says Hetfield" -- stupid expression, worthy point.
Rolling Stone - "Metallica’s James Hetfield Calls 'Guitar Hero' a 'Gateway Drug': Inside the Band’s New Game" -- ditto RS, which should know better.
Billboard - "Metallica Talks 'Guitar Hero,' Hall Of Fame at SXSW" -- I'm intrigued by Billboard's ordering of GH in front of the HOF.
CNET - "Metallica's Kirk Hammett speaks about Guitar Hero"

Photo from Brooklyn Vegan set.

Get uppa, get on up

The Godfather, Mr Dynamite himself, James Brown – my personal number one all-time music hero – brings a dose to the Rock Band download store. The Get The Funk Out 01 track pack features "Sex Machine Pt 1", Earth, Wind & Fire's "Shining Star", and The Average White Band's "Pick up the Pieces". Although the JB track is way too obvious a choice, I can only hope there’ll be more to come. Hello MTV/Harmonix, I’d like "Talkin' Loud and Saying Nothin'", "I Got The Feeling" and "Hot Pants" please! And "Funky Drummer" so I can actually be the funky drummer! And "The Payback", so I can sing the line "I don’t know karate, but I know ca-ray-zey!" Hell, put up "Living in America" and we can get a dash of Stevie Ray Vaughn into the bargain. I think you get my point.

Messed with Texas

Finally back from SXSW. Too overwhelming to summarize, though I'll have more to say about it after a long snooze. Meanwhile, a hat-trick of music game news from around the internets this week:

The Apple iPhone OS upgrade is going to great for music. Let’s see: iPod library access (Audiosurf, baby!); Bluetooth A2DP for streaming to speakers or ‘phones; P2P Wi-Fi connectivity, so two devices can communicate -- ie, jam together -- sans a Wi-Fi network; and audio recording using a standardized API, so everyone can go crazy. This is going to be great!

Always keen to see new instruments applied to the GH/RB model, I was intrigued by the Trumpet Hero mod played at the Tangible Tech Exhibition in San Francisco this week. I’m still waiting for Sousaphone Hero.

Beyoncé reveals herself as a gamer, including love for GH, although since it’s all part of a promotional drive for upcoming Rhythm Heaven on the DS one may be forgiven a small degree of skepticism. Her old man Jay-Z is also looking to get into the game business too. Cute quotes:

I've been rehearsing for my [upcoming] tour in stilettos and uncomfortable corsets, learning all these arrangements. Today I was playing the game with my socks on, on the couch, and it was very relaxing … I like all the Wii games. Love Guitar Hero. This reminds me a little bit of a portable Guitar Hero, which is great, because I don't want to carry around a big guitar! Growing up, I liked Tetris. I even like BrickBreaker on the BlackBerry.

The stars, they're just like us!

[My first gaming system growing up was] a Nintendo. I would play Super Mario Bros. We weren't supposed to play it after 9 o'clock, and I would sneak and play all night. I loved it.

Pre-SXSW news nibbles

This week saw our first open gaming session at the Tisch Games Center. Thanks to everyone who came out to play. After Spring Break we'll form a student-led steering committee, and all looks rosy. I'm packing to go and mess with Texas at SXSW for a week.

Quick links:
Ars Technica says that Rockstar Games and hip-hop producer Timbaland will be releasing PSP mixer game based on a loop sequencer the company developed for the Web three years ago.

Great piece at The Gamer Limit with some thoughts from futurist/genius/nutter Ray Kurzweil on the "Future of Gaming". I love Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines is a turn-of-the-century corker.

The BBC makes an old limey smile with two great stories this week. One on the particular "magical challenge" of composing for video games. Here's the best on though: the feature "Disability no barrier to gaming" opens with a biomechanics researcher at Duke University, who is also an Iraq war vet and amputee below the elbow, playing Guitar Hero.

To play the game, users wear electrodes on their residual muscles, such as those found on their chest and shoulder. The system translates the signals from the electrodes as if they were coming from the game controller, allowing players to strum along, despite not having any hands.

Dr Armiger came up with the idea after becoming a Guitar Hero fan himself. He realised that the movements used by the game were similar to those required during the hours of tedious rehabilitation needed to learn to control a prosthetic limb.

Oh, and Destructoid says that some Osaka elementary schools are requiring Nintendo DSs for every student, thanks to all the educational software released for it in Japan.