How much ‘Guitar Hero’ is too much?
The News Review:
- How much ‘Guitar Hero’ is too much?
- Rhythm games may reach saturation with glut of new titles
- Eastport music shop offers free lessons
- Tea Releases Second Album: “Dreams”
- New Music 05/19: Eminem Apostle of Hustle Jason Lytle
How much ‘Guitar Hero’ is too much?
msnbc.com
? The franchise is undoubtedly one of the most valuable and recognizable brands of all video games. It?s generated $2 billion in revenue for Activision. And the music-game genre which ?Guitar Hero? kick-started in 2005 is one of the main engines driving the success of the whole industry. But it?s also true that Activision can?t count on selling 5 million plastic guitars year after year. The massive growth in the sector is bound to slow down as consumers stop buying spendy instruments and focus more on buying $5 song packs. That?s one reason Sebastian predicts that music-game revenues will dip 20 percent in 2009. Another reason? Genre fatigue.
Related from Johnlawtonband: Guitar Hero 5 Details Unveiled
Rhythm games may reach saturation with glut of new titles
Ars Technica
Want a little more spice to keep things interesting? “New innovations such as Band Moments where bands are rewarded for hitting special note streams together and song challenges where gamers are tasked to play through a song a specific way add a new competitive layer of excitement and accomplishment to the music rhythm genre” Activision explains. The first songs that will be included with the game have also been released featuring:The Rolling Stones – “Sympathy for the Devil”Bob Dylan – “All Along The Watchtower”The White Stripes – “Blue rchid”Santana – “No ne To Depend n (LIVE)”Vampire Weekend – “A-Punk”Tom Petty – “Runnin Down a Dream”Johnny Cash – “Ring of Fire”Kings of Leon – “Sex on Fire”There will be 85 master tracks included with the game and downloadable content for World Tour will also be supported so you’re not wasting your money by buying today’s tracks. n the other side of the tracks Harmonix is releasing Rock Band: Unplugged which features the first online music store for the PSP. You’ll be able to download tracks for the game using the hardware’s WiFi connection or your PC or PS3. Those tracks are already available as DLC for the other version of the games although the main set list will have a few songs that will be exclusive to Unplugged for a limited time such as “ABC” by the Jackson Five and “Would?” by Alice in Chains. Without any peripherals the gameplay in Unplugged looks and feels like the classic Harmonix title Amplitude where you jump from track to track to keep the music going. Harmonix also has a potential cash cow as the company is sitting on a huge list of songs that can be resold to fans via the PSP.
Eastport music shop offers free lessons
27east.com
In response to this growing trend the Montauk Highway music shop owner said he offered a free guitar lesson on Sunday during which a small group of students learned how to play a real guitar—in the heavy metal style. In fact the class was the third in a series of nine free music lessons now being offered at Eastport Music Scene. The final class will meet on June 28.
Tea Releases Second Album: “Dreams”
All About Jazz
Nigeria’s Remi Kabaka (guest percussionist on the Rolling Stones’ Winter 2002 West Coast tour and the only African musician on Paul McCartney’s “Band n The Run” album) is featured on talking drum and percussion. Bassists Andr Manga from Cameroon (currently featured live on Josh Groban’s world tour additionally with Angelique Kidjo) and Bobby Tsukamoto (Neil Larsen Michael Landau) are also included. as well as Cameroonian EMI studio guitarist Louis Wasson saxophonists Randall Willis (Gerald Wilson B Sharp Quartet) and Bobby English (Lou Rawls the Spinners) as well as Frederic Meschin on trumpet and Chris Darrow (Kaleidoscope James Taylor) on slide guitar.
Music reviewers and radio DJs have given praise of TEA’s first musical and melodic collection:“TEA offers a bracing brew of boss nouveau French and Afro-pop refreshing as a sweet summer evening breeze washing over lovers in moonlight. It’s the perfect party music for the 21st hipoisie. ” — Roger Steffens “The Beat”“The staid album cover–with a photo of a teabag featured on the CD booklet gives no indication of the unique African-laced chill-flavored cosmopolitan music that lies within. r the fascinating history of the project’s two chief masterminds.
New Music 05/19: Eminem Apostle of Hustle Jason Lytle
CBC.ca
Relapse is a step up from the scatological embarrassment of Encore but it’s no great leap forward in the evolution of this artist — or for that matter in the evolution of contemporary hip hop. –Sarah LissDo the Hustle: Within Canadian indie supergroup Broken Social Scene star guitarist Andrew Whiteman is a little bit like the collective’s version of David Byrne — a wide-eyed collector who delights in expanding his musical palette (and that of other listeners) by incorporating gleaming nuggets of other forms into the often staid pallid form of indie rock music. While his influence on Broken Social Scene’s music is often rather subtle — a slick bossa nova guitar rhythm here the incorporation of a Middle Eastern tonal modality there — Whiteman lets his freak flag fly with his side project. The trio which includes drummer Dean Stone and bassist Julian Brown (also known as a core member of Feist’s band) has put out three albums including their brand new Eats Darkness; each release is radically and rather delightfully different from the one that came before.
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