Review: 'Rock Band' Tribute to Green Day May Leave You Feeling Jaded

Only a few bands have catalogues deep and versatile enough to carry their own version of "Rock Band." The Beatles? They've already pulled it off. Beyond the Fab Four, it's a short list: the Rolling Stones, the Who, maybe Pink Floyd or Led Zeppelin.

Green Day? Not so much.

And this is a band I like a lot — far more than Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen, the acts that have anchored "Guitar Hero" editions. The problem is that despite Green Day's ambitions and accomplishments, there's not much variety in its set list. You have your fast, punky songs and your slow, melancholy ballads, but a sort of sameness settles in after a few hours of "Green Day: Rock Band" (MTV Games, for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, $59.99; Wii, $49.99).

That becomes more apparent when you play the career mode.Developer Harmonix pulled out all the stops when it came to the Beatles, producing elaborate, psychedelic animations for the songs. Green Day, however, gets just three venues to play in: a club called The Warehouse, the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, England, and the Fox Theater in Oakland, Calif.

The disc has 47 songs, including every track from 1994's "Dookie" and 2004's "American Idiot." There's a smattering of singles from the period between those two landmarks, including "Brain Stew/Jaded," ''Good Riddance (Time of Your Life)" and "Minority." And there's about half of last year's "21st Century Breakdown" — if you want the rest, you have to pay to download it.

And that's ... well, infuriating. If you're paying $60 for "Green Day: Rock Band," the publisher ought to throw in those extra six tracks for nothing extra. And if you want to transfer the songs on the Green Day disc to your hard drive (so you can play them in other "Rock Band" games), you have to fork over another $10. You get those things free on the $70 "Green Day: Rock Band Plus" edition, but it feels like MTV is nickel-and-diming its loyal audience.

Some of the songs here — pop-punk gems like "Hitchin' a Ride" and "Holiday" — will make it into my regular "Rock Band" rotation. Almost all of them are fun to play, even if just once, and if you're a Green Day fan, this is an essential purchase. With "Rock Band 3" right around the corner, though, casual admirers of the threesome aren't likely to get $60 worth of fun out of this edition. Two stars out of four.

Via:
canadianpress

Review: 'Rock Band' Tribute to Green Day May Leave You Feeling Jaded

Welcome to FarmVille: Population 80 million

How did virtual chickens, £10 tractors and acres of soya beans become the world's biggest video game?


By: Tim Walker 


My strawberries have withered. I planted them this morning, after acquiring the seeds for the bargain price of 10 coins and being assured of their profitability as a crop.

But I let the day get the best of me – I had work to do, lunch to eat, emails to read – and when I finally returned to check on my plot, the fruit had flourished, matured and died in the space of just a few short hours. This is not the real world, and these were not some mutant GM strawberries; in fact, they weren't really strawberries at all. This is FarmVille, a Facebook game for which I've been tilling digital soil all week, planting crops made up of mere bytes and pixels.

Perhaps you've only heard of FarmVille from your cluttered Facebook news feed, informing you that so-and-so has just planted their 15th field of soybeans, or built their first barn, or earned a brightly coloured ribbon in recognition of their virtual agricultural achievements. Perhaps you've joined one of the Facebook groups that have been created in protest at the game's pervasiveness. But your protests would be in vain: FarmVille, the world's biggest social game, has almost 80 million players – that's around 20 per cent of all Facebook users; more people than use Twitter or, indeed, live in the UK. Some 30 million of them tend their crops daily.

When the site allowed its gamers to exchange virtual Valentine gifts online, 220m were sent and accepted within 18 hours; to get that into perspective, it's worth noting that Hallmark sells approximately 200m e-cards over the entire Valentine season.

The object of FarmVille (which was recently launched as a standalone game for Facebook-refuseniks on Microsoft's MSN Games platform) is to build and maintain your own virtual farm – pay virtual coins for seeds, plant virtual crops and earn virtual profits. As the game goes on, players can gross enough to buy tractors and livestock, construct outbuildings and expand their plot well beyond the borders of their browser window. The key to its success is social: if a player persuades their Facebook acquaintances to become their FarmVille "neighbours", they can be rewarded for fertilising their friends' fields or feeding their hogs.

Once, online gaming was the preserve of youngish men in darkened bedrooms, studying strategy guides for World of Warcraft and Halo. Now, thanks to FarmVille and other games like it, that demographic has shifted dramatically towards the mainstream, taking in office workers and stay-at-home mums, children and their grandparents. A recent survey concluded that today's average social gamer is a 43-year-old woman. Crucially for its players, it is free to join FarmVille and you can enjoy a long and fruitful relationship with the game without ever spending a (real) penny.

Crucially for its creators, there's a second option: you can use your real-world credit card to buy virtual goods and stay ahead of your friends in the FarmVille rankings. Most of these digital products are reasonably priced, but among the Valentine gifts on offer was a limited edition, $50 "diamond ring", which protects its recipient's crops from withering in perpetuity. My strawberries are still dead; romance, it would appear, is not.

***

FarmVille was reared by the world's most successful stable of online social games, Zynga, which was founded in San Francisco in July 2007 and already has more than 500 employees and an estimated annual revenue of around $150m (£97m). Mark Pincus, its 43 year-old founder and CEO – who named the company after his deceased bulldog – is a serial web entrepreneur whose previous businesses include the early social network Tribe. "Our intent when we founded Zynga," he says, "was to design a gaming experience for the mass market. Back in 2007 nobody offered games on the web that were available and accessible to everyone. They were confined to niches of hardcore gamers."

Thanks to Pincus's connections, Zynga's launch was supported by some of the smartest money in Silicon Valley. Once it became clear how profitable social gaming was going to be, more cash followed. One Russian finance group, which also invested heavily in Facebook, recently backed Zynga to the tune of $180m. That investment looks like being a good one; including FarmVille, Zynga today boasts 230 million monthly active game users. Among their other successes are Café World (a restaurant management title that's the world's second biggest social game, with more than 30 million users), Mafia Wars, Fishville and Texas Hold-Em Poker – all of them ranked in the top 10 social gaming applications of 2009. As well as Facebook, Zynga's games also populate MySpace and the iTunes App Store.

Zynga may dominate its market, but it's not the only game in town. The London-based Playfish, for instance, owns Facebook games with combined player numbers of more than 50 million, prompting a massive traditional games firm, Electronic Arts, to acquire it (for more than $300m) in December. Zynga has made no bones about copying the successes of its smaller rivals, and Pincus was always a fan of farm games such as Farm Town – by the developers Slashkey – which looks and sounds eerily familiar to FarmVille fans. FarmVille itself was launched quietly on 19 June, 2009. Zynga's staff expected that about 2,500 of their friends and family might take it up overnight. Instead, the game had 25,000 users within 24 hours. A week later, FarmVille's population was more than one million.

***

The continued success of The Archers should be evidence enough that people are fascinated by farms, whether they live in the country or not. Though the game bears almost no relation to real farming and its concerns, Pincus attributes FarmVille's fanbase to an urban fantasy of owning one's own smallholding. "I've lived in a little row house in the middle of San Francisco for 14 years," he says, "but I dream of having my own organic farm with lots of space, and animals running around. I think that might be the ultimate fantasy for anyone who's cooped up in an office all day. It's also universally acceptable: you can show somebody a field and, whether they live in China or Manhattan, and whether it's your grand- mother or your niece, they'll all know what they're supposed to do with it."

Farms are a compelling daydream, agrees Tom Chatfield, the author of Fun Inc: Why Games Are The 21st Century's Most Serious Business: "Psychologically, people like greenery; they like having grass, water and sky on their computer screens. But FarmVille is also very good at demanding your time, forcing you to tend your crops. It's like a virtual pet, a Tamagotchi; you have to nurture it and look after it every day."

Cassandra Innes, an MBA graduate from London, is 49 and a FarmVille addict. "Normal business principles apply to FarmVille," she insists. "It's a strategic process. But you have to decide whether you just want to get rich quick, or whether having fun is part of the process. It's not enjoyable if it's just about grabbing as many coins as possible." No strawberries are permitted to wither in the Innes household: when her partner accidentally planted a field full of them in the evening, Cassandra set her alarm for 3am so that she could wake to harvest them as they ripened. "FarmVille reminds me of the toy farm I had as a child," she says, "We'd make our own buildings out of cardboard and spend our money on the animals. My 19-year-old daughter, who's my neighbour on FarmVille, says she's grown up with The Sims and other computer games, and she sees FarmVille as a free version of that."

Maya Forrester, a 39-year-old human resources executive with 57 FarmVille neighbours, is less romantic about her reasons for loving the game. "It's the competition that got me hooked," she says. "I don't have a farm fantasy, but FarmVille fulfils my inner need to beat my Facebook frenemies."

***

The power of online social games first became apparent in 2007, with the spectacular rise and fall of Scrabulous, a wildly popular Facebook game that imitated Scrabble to such a degree that Hasbro had it shut down; for a while Scrabulous catered to half a million users daily. Facebook had opened its site to external developers that year, allowing anyone with the necessary programming nous to create add-on games, services and other applications for its users' accounts. FarmVille relies on Facebook for its existence, and without the social network its success would have been impossible.

"With Scrabulous," explains Chatfield, "people realised that a social platform like Facebook gives people ways to show off to, or compete with, their friends. It's so much more engaging to do something with people you know than to do it with strangers. You can cheat if you're playing online with strangers, but playing with friends is an incentive to be fair, and that brings the emotional rewards of competition. FarmVille is in the tradition of family board games, as are many of the most successful social games. These are not high-production, high-budget, high involvement games like World of Warcraft or Halo. They're low-risk, low-barrier games. Lots of people are playing FarmVille who never played a proper videogame before, but now might."

"Social" videogames have already found a place in the family home with the success of the Nintendo Wii console and family-friendly music games like Guitar Hero. But online social gaming allows people to enjoy that traditional gaming experience with friends anywhere in the world. Significantly, Scrabulous did not require its players to be online at the same time; like FarmVille, they could check their game's progress at intervals. This, says Chatfield, "was a way to get people playing one another across time as well as space."

Cassandra Innes has even made new friends via FarmVille, after visiting fan sites in search of neighbours. "I introduced one of them to my sister because they had similar interests," she admits. "I find myself talking to my family more about our nutty farms than about normal things. We have long phone calls about it. The farm is like a comfort zone; it's easier to communicate about that than about who's going where for Christmas."

Thanks not only to social networking, but to the rise of mobile digital marketplaces like the iTunes App Store, casual gaming is expected to explode even further in the coming months and years. Positive buzz surrounds Glitch, a forthcoming "MMORPG" (Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game) whose developers claim the puzzle-solving sci-fi title will bridge the gap between FarmVille and World of Warcraft. Meanwhile, the Apple iPad and its imitators will make perfect platforms for casual online games. "[Those devices] will let people play games with high fun and social delivery," says Chatfield, "but which can be done in small amounts of time, picked up and put down, with long-term aims to keep you hooked."

Where else but FarmVille could you spend a tenner on a tractor and have enough change for a horse and a bag of aubergine seeds? And where else, you may ask, would anyone be prepared to spend real money on a farm vehicle that appeared only as an icon on their computer screen? Analysts agreed that the worldwide market in virtual goods was worth $6bn last year, with games accounting for 75 per cent of that figure. Customers at the Facebook gift shop, which is full of useless objects rendered even more useless by their non-existence, spent $150m.

Then again, few people question the success of the iTunes App Store, which has shifted more than 3bn downloads in less than two years – many of them no more elevating than an electronic whoopee cushion, or a fake glass of beer. "The concept of spending money on virtual goods ought not to be as foreign as it sounds," Pincus insists. "Most things that we buy are based on virtual perceptions anyway, whether it's a branded orange juice or a watch. If you go to a movie, that's an entertainment experience that you can't take with you."

According to Pincus, FarmVille derives more than 90 per cent of its income from virtual goods, but the ways it earns the other 10 per cent have caused controversy. "Zynga is very aggressive about finding techniques to keep people coming back and spending money on games," explains Chatfield. "They compel you to feed a virtual beast." Zynga's CEO was once quoted as saying that in the company's early days, he "did every horrible thing in the book, just to get revenues." An early Facebook poker game from Zynga allowed players to spend real money on their chips – but not to cash out. Those "horrible things" that Pincus may or may not have been referring to, however, were so-called "lead generators": in-game ads offering players FarmVille cash in return for filling in a survey or similar. The survey would ask users to give their phone number and create a password, and the user would thus unwittingly sign up to some unwanted subscription service that added mysterious charges to their phone bills. These scams earned Zynga the ire of Silicon Valley's most powerful tech blogger, Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, and Zynga and Facebook are now defendants in a federal class-action lawsuit.

Since the criticism, the company has cleaned up its act and removed all the offending ads, which it insists had been allotted their slots by third-party advertising networks, not by Zynga itself. Now every FarmVille ad comes from a small list of top brands, vetted personally by Pincus and his team. "We want to build a service that people will love and trust and keep using for many years – and feel comfortable letting their children use," says Pincus. "So we took those criticisms very seriously, not just for us but for the growth of social gaming."

There are some positive uses of the virtual goods economy, besides the simple pleasure it affords its users, and Zynga's founder is keen to emphasise its benevolent possibilities. Even before the recent earthquake, the company supported charities in Haiti. But when the disaster struck, Zynga introduced a new crop to FarmVille – sweet seeds – the profits from which were channelled into the aid effort. Within five days, FarmVille alone had raised $1m. "Because there are no costs attached to each individual virtual good sold, we can afford to do it," Pincus explains. "If we can productise causes or doing good, it would be good for the business, the user and someone else – and it could be a billion-dollar business."

***

Back in FarmVille, the players are concerned with simpler things than lead generators. Maya disapproves of some of her neighbours' approach to agriculture; particularly the factory-style farmers who sacrifice their integrity in favour of easy profits. Cassandra, meanwhile, is worried for the welfare of FarmVille's animals. "Some of my neighbours' farms are awful," she says. "Their whole plot is given over to crops, and their cows and horses are all squashed into a corner with no room to move. The game should be structured so that it's more animal-friendly and you get punished for having too many battery chickens."

Pincus would no doubt be overjoyed by the sincerity of his players' views on the game. "To be that impactful on, and that representative of, the culture totally excites me and my team," he says. "I love the idea that we can put out a game that's as popular as Seinfeld."
Parallel worlds: The top online games

World of Warcraft

WoW is the mother of all MMORPGs (that's "massively multiplayer online role-playing games" to you and me), and more than 11.5 million players have been sucked into the Warcraft world since it was first launched in 2004. The game's users pay a subscription for the privilege of becoming a sword-wielding knight of the digital realm. After choosing a character avatar to control, they wander through a fantasy world of trolls, orcs and assorted monsters, taking on quests and interacting with fellow players, often collaborating in order to complete said quests. And if they die on the way, they even have the option of resurrection. Lucky, that.

Scrabulous

This online version of Scrabble began life in India in 2005, the creation of the Scrabble-loving Agarwalla brothers. When Facebook opened its platform to third-party developers in 2007, the network of Scrabulous lovers expanded to 500,000 daily users, with more than 800,000 people adding the game to their Facebook accounts. After Hasbro (which owns the rights to Scrabble in North America) and Mattel (which owns them for the rest of the world) noted the game's success, they tried to purchase Scrabulous, and then took legal action to shut it down. Scrabulous is now known as Lexulous, with minor differences in gameplay – and far fewer users.

Second Life

The virtual world of Second Life is not, technically speaking, a game. It has the same social pull as FarmVille, but none of the competitive goals. Its 18 million "residents" instead go shopping, hang out with friends, work, trade and even have romantic entanglements. Sort of like real life, but without its consequences – or pleasures. The world has its own currency, the Linden Dollar, which is worth around 400 Linden to every £1. Last year it was revealed that thanks to their online trading nous, a number of players had even become Second Life millionaires. The virtual world was the creation of California entrepreneur Philip Rosedale, whose avatar within the game is known as Philip Linden.

Pet Society

Pet Society is the most successful game produced by Zynga's closest rival, Playfish. Played, like FarmVille, via Facebook, it allows users not to nurture a patch of land, but a series of animals, customising their appearances and keeping them fed and groomed. They can also persuade their pets to socialise with one another and earn "Paw Points" accordingly. Just as in the real pet economy, the virtual one gives owners a vast array of products for their pet to choose from, be it a garden to run around in, or a Jacuzzi to bathe in. Despite having almost 19 million users, Pet Society remains outside the Top 10 Facebook applications.

MyTown

MyTown has been described as "Monopoly for the real world". An iPhone app that mixes the digital world with the outside one, it works along similar lines to the "location-based" social network FourSquare, which allows its users to "check-in" to geographical locations. MyTown, on the other hand, allows you to "buy" and manage virtual versions of your favourite venues. Created by developers Booyah, the game now has more than 800,000 users.

Source:
www.independent.co.uk

Welcome to FarmVille: Population 80 million

Video Game Expands the Concept of Dark Energy for Mass Effect

Mass Effect 2, the new sequel of the popular video game, lets players battle enemies by channeling something akin to the unknown force that causes the universe to continue expanding.

Could a person harness the power of dark energy—the mysterious and pervasive force suspected of speeding the universe's expansion—to block bullets, hurl adversaries around like rag dolls, and create small gravitational vortices out of thin air using nothing more than thoughts? The short answer: no. That is, unless that person exists in the intricate cyber universe created by the makers of the video games Mass Effect and Mass Effect 2, the latter of which drops on January 26.

In the Mass Effect games, humans (excuse me, that is certain humans known as "biotics") have the ability to channel dark energy if they can survive in utero exposure to a substance known as "element zero," which causes them to develop nodules throughout their nervous systems that enhance the body's natural electrical impulses. If a biotic's natural abilities are cultivated properly, he (or she) is able to generate and control dark energy to move objects, generate protective barriers or restrain enemies. Got all that?

There's much, much more to know about the Mass Effect games (enough to populate several wikis, blogs and online communities), but what of its fascination with a relatively new scientific concept as purely theoretical as dark energy?

Incorporating the concept of dark energy into a video game is "not completely implausible," says astrophysicist Tamara Davis, a research fellow at the University of Queensland in Australia and an associate of the Dark Cosmology Center in Denmark. "To the best of our knowledge, dark energy is everywhere. We do think it would change slightly in the presence of matter, but we don't know how."

Still, it's unlikely that dark energy as portrayed in the game has anything to do with "real" dark energy, says California Institute of Technology physicist Sean Carroll. "I like to think of what's being used in the game as some force out there that resembles dark energy," he says. "There's a small amount of dark energy in every cubic centimeter of the universe, but it's not powerful enough to do the things described in the game."

It was very important for BioWare to incorporate science into the Mass Effect trilogy (a third game is in development) and do so in a way "that didn't offend people who know about science," says Casey Hudson, project director for Mass Effect 2.

What makes dark energy a promising component of a fantasy video game is that although scientists are learning more about it, "there's still so much more that we don't know," Hudson says. Taking this thought a step further, he asks, "What if we could understand how dark energy worked and manipulate it the way we've manipulated electromagnetism to create electronic devices like cell phones and computers?" Hudson likens the way that Mass Effect biotics summon dark energy to the way electric eels can sense and manipulate electricity in their environment.

Hudson didn't formally consult any scientists during the making of the game, but he says that he and his staff soaked up the available research on dark energy. Neither Davis nor Carroll has played Mass Effect, but they're intrigued by the concept.

"I sort of like the idea of having people who could sense [dark energy] and manipulate it," Davis says. In fact, "one of the reasons we're studying it is to find some way to manipulate it." One of the roles of video games and science fiction is to stretch what we know by using our imagination, she adds.

"It's a fun idea," Carroll says, adding that introducing gamers to even the concept of dark energy is a step in the right direction. "Someone might hear that term as part of a game and then hear it again in a more scientific context, and that might help them ultimately gain a better understanding of what it is. There's a tremendous untapped potential in games for incorporating cool science."

Source:
www.scientificamerican.com

Video Game Expands the Concept of Dark Energy for Mass Effect

The Future Starts Here

2010. It sounds so futuristic, doesn’t it? And given the torrent of hi-tech tricks coming our way this year, it looks like we’ll be playing with the toys of tomorrow today (well, some time in the next 12 months at least...) Motioncontrol will finally be at our fingertips, whatever console we use.

Sony is launching its sensor- based controller in spring, while Microsoft aims to release Project Natal, its ambitious movement-based controller, in the second half oftheyear. 3Dgamingis set to boom,withSony planning athree-dimensional update for the PS3 in 2010, aswell as 3D televisions from Panasonic heading toawallmount near you. On the small scale, iPhone gamers will have the chance to play the firstmobile MMORPG with the launch of ‘Tibia Micro Edition’ in the next three months. Rumours abound that Microsoft will create a handheld console, while gossip about Apple’s as-yet-tobe- confirmed tablet grows. The future’s bright and it’s coming soon.

Source:
www.independent.co.uk

The Future Starts Here

From Android to Spotify: Top Tech of 2009

What digital developments moved you in the last 12 months? Spotify? Kindle 2? Google Latitude? Rhodri Marsden marvels at the machines of 2009 and drools over the technology due in 2010.

It was all the fun of the share in 2009. If a gadget or a piece of software didn’t allow you to share something or other with other people, it scarcely seemed worth buying. And, as ever, our uninhibited surrender of personal information raised substantial privacy concerns.

Google sat centre stage in the debate; last year had already seen the company receive criticism over its Street View service – a fairly benign collection of city photos – but the release of Google Latitude, a service where you share details of your location with friends, provided a more substantial worry for privacy campaigners. Google-fear reached such absurdity that the launch of Goggles, a picture recognition search engine, immediately sparked discussion about how it might be used as a face recognition tool to dig up information about us online – a possibility flatly denied by Google.

Microsoft sought to dent Google’s internet dominance with the launch of its Bing search engine, which quickly leapt over Yahoo! into a very distant second place. But it could take consolation from the positive reaction to Windows 7, the successor to the much-maligned Vista operating system.

Apple, meanwhile, seemed relatively unscathed by the news at the beginning of this year that CEO Steve Jobs was going to be taking a back seat while undergoing a liver transplant; the iPhone 3GS was universally cooed over, while the new Mac operating system, Snow Leopard, effortlessly became Apple’s best seller.

Five to watch

1 Google’s push into mobile. Google is rumoured to be launching its own handset, the Nexus One, on 5 January on both sides of the Atlantic – but the success of mobile phones is becoming much less about the handset, and more about the software they’re running. Google Android will be appearing on a large number of cheaper phones in the next 12 months, and may dent the iPhone’s dominance.

2 The long-awaited Apple tablet. Does an Apple touchscreen computer straddling the line between netbook and iPhone, even exist? Or is it, as one commentator put it, “the most masterfully conceived shadow marketing campaign ever”? If it does appear in 2010, the most fascinating effect will be on the burgeoning e-reading market.

3 The move to the cloud. The benefits of storing data online rather than on your computer are still a mystery to many, but the expansion of Google’s App Engine and the launch of Microsoft’s Azure Platform on 1 January both indicate that we’ll be running more software direct from the web, too.

4 The life recorder. The quantity of personal data you own will take an almost surreal leap with the appearance of life recorders; they hang around your neck, capturing photos, video, sound and location data, like a personal black box.

5 Flexi-displays. Taiwanese manufacturer Wistron is rumoured to be launching an e-reader next year with a flexible, pull-out display – heralding a new era of affordable and foldable electronics.

The gadgets of the year

Pocket camcorders became the latest lozenge-shaped device to pop into your pocket. HD models made by Flip stood out: the cute, stylish Mino, and its ugly sister the Ultra, which looked more like some chunky 1970s sci-fi hand-held teleportation device but delivered fantastic video quality. Video recording capability also came to the iPhone with the launch of the 3GS, while the T-Mobile Pulse and Motorola DEXT, both running on Google’s Android platform, both dropped substantial hints that Apple isn’t going to have it all it’s own way in the smartphone market. The DEXT consolidated all your social networking accounts into the heart of its system, ushering in a new era of keeping preposterously in touch while on the move, while Pure’s much-praised Sensia radio also incorporated social networking tools – but, more impressively, allowed you to pause and rewind live radio.

Two developments felt more than a little space-age. Dyson’s Bladeless fan may cost 10 times more than its bladed cousin, but its appearance – a pedestal-mounted ring that gently pushes air towards you – made it the gadget most likely to be gawped at. Meanwhile, the quest for an end to multiple chargers hotted up: the Powermat brought wireless recharging to owners of Blackberries, Nintendo DSs and iPhones for a sub-£100 price tag. PowerPad and WildCharge, both offering wireless chargers, also entered the fray.

Five tech turkeys of 2009

1 Microsoft’s online advertising. Microsoft began the year with a video advert for its dubious sing-along musical tool, Songsmith, that was so excruciating that doubts were expressed over its veracity. It was real – and so was the promotional video for Windows 7, in which a group of four people extolled the virtue of using Windows 7 to host your own Windows 7 launch party. Anyone making it through to the end of either video deserved awards for endurance – but if they hadn’t been so notoriously awful, would they have achieved such enormous viewing figures?

2 Predictions of global computer meltdown. The “Conficker” worm was estimated to have put some 10 million machines under the control of hackers, and hysterical reports suggested that 1 April 2009 would see criminal masterminds put evil plans for world domination into practice. Maybe said masterminds were so spooked by the magnitude of their success that they did nothing; in any case, we all just used Microsoft’s removal tool to get rid of it, and promptly forgot about it.

3 Apple banning apps from the App Store. The often arcane criteria for approving new apps proved baffling to many, and many developers threatened abandoning the iPhone platform altogether in favour of Google’s Android, where they could at least be certain of their app being made available to the public, even if the public didn’t want to buy it.

4 Attempts to curtail The Pirate Bay. Four founders of the filesharing site were convicted in April 2009 of breaking Swedish copyright law, fined £2.4m and sentenced to a year in jail. The appeal process is set to take years, and in the meantime the site continues to flourish.

5 Google Wave. Invitations to Google’s new real-time collaborative internet tool were hotly pursued, even selling for up to $70 on eBay. But once people had joined, the cry was unanimous: “But what does it do?” We still don’t have a clue, and we’re hoping for enlightenment in 2010.

The socialweb

It was the year when the world was forced to take social networking seriously. These websites were no longer merely playgrounds for bored students or receptacles for inconsequential blather – although they certainly continued to be both of these things – but finally became the long-predicted “pulse of society”. Back in January, umpteen newspaper articles were mocking “celebrity tweeting”, but at the end of the year the verb “to tweet” is even being deployed without quotation marks. While people deserted MySpace in their droves (including at least one of its co-founders), Twitter and Facebook surged forward.

They demonstrated an extraordinary ability to quickly bond people together in a cause: the controversial court ruling that stopped newspapers reporting the text of a parliamentary question relating to Trafigura, the oil trader connected with dumping toxic waste in Ivory Coast, was quickly rendered preposterous by mass distribution of said question online, while collective anger at the content of an article about the death of Boyzone member Stephen Gately in the Daily Mail caused the biggest number of complaints ever received by the Press Complaints Commission. Even the supposedly inevitable rise of an X Factor winner to the top of the Christmas charts was halted by a social networking campaign. Whether you see it as a herd mentality, mob rule or just likeminded people making connections, its effect on the real world became profound and unignorable.

Listening, watching, reading...

The furore surrounding the illegal downloading of music was no quieter at the end of the decade than it was at the beginning, with the music industry, the government and internet service providers exchanging harsh words as the controversial Digital Economy bill lumbered its way towards the statute book. Notes of optimism were struck over our willingness to shell out for music for games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero – but the most fundamental change to music consumption habits was the take-up of Scandinavian streaming service Spotify.

While we got to grips with the concept of an exhaustive (and free) digital jukebox, however, the industry fretted over the economics of streaming following meagre advertising revenues. We embraced video streaming, too; BNP leader Nick Griffin’s appearance on Question Time drove take-up of the BBC iPlayer service, with requests in October up 70 per cent. The British gave e-readers a wide berth, not least because Amazon’s Kindle device is still only available on import with a customs charge tacked on; the displacement of books by such devices looks set to take longer than the iPod’s triumph over the CD.

From Android to Spotify: Top Tech of 2009

The 50 Best Console Video Games

GAMES FOR ALL THE FAMILY

Professor Layton and Pandora's Box (DS)
The second Layton adventure blends beautiful animation with a series of logic puzzles guaranteed to engage brains of all ages.

We were so excited by this game, and by its predecessor Professor Layton and the Curious Village, that we travelled all the way to Japan to meet its makers.

Wii Fit Plus (Wii)
The console that can do anything now offers this improved structured fitness course, complete with yoga classes. It's brilliantly executed, and it has the power to make you feel guilty.

Want to know what Nintendo has planned next? Check out our June interview with Nintendo boss Satoru Iwata.

Guitar Hero/Rock Band (PS3, Xbox 360, Wii)
The play-along genre really deserves a feature in its own right, but both of these series are great fun, and the instruments required to play are interchangeable (on the same console).

Check the track listings for individual preferences before you buy. Beatles Rock Band (see video link) and Lego Rock Band are both available.

Just Dance (Wii)
Before play-along and sing-along, there was dance-along. Here is the latest Wii version of an arcade staple.

To see a truly appalling video of Times Online staff playing Just Dance, follow the link above.

Forza Motorsport 3 (Xbox 360)
While the world awaits the PlayStation's Gran Turismo 5, Forza on the 360 is just about the most realistic racing sim you can buy. One for serious petrolheads.

Wii Sports Resort (Wii)
Sky-diving, fencing, archery and more; it's all here in a package that combines Nintendo's propensity for cuteness with its ability to make even the dullest games seem fun.

Rabbids Go Home (Wii)
The latest in the series that includes two Rayman Raving Rabbids titles. None of them will disappoint, though for party fun the earlier games are a better bet with their stupid tasks such as cow-tossing.

Mini Ninjas (DS, PS3, Wii, Xbox 360)
A fabulous little Zelda-like adventure game in which you chase around the Japanese countryside liberating animals that have been turned into baddies. Great for adults and kids, though could benefit from a multi-player mode.

Lego Star Wars: Complete Saga (Wii)
The Lego games, which now include Batman, Indiana Jones and even Rock Band titles, are all great fun, but Star Wars remains the pick of the bunch. Familiarity with the films is a prerequisite.

Brain Training (DS)
With the backing of a Japanese professor, Nintendo re-aligned handheld gaming for an older generation with this collection of puzzles designed to maintain and improve mental agility.

Known as Brain Age in the United States, where the trailer comes from.

ScribbleNauts (DS)
A platform game with a twist: you draw your own solution to a level on the DS screen, and the built-in dictionary brings it to life. Addictive and entertaining.

Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins (DS)
A puzzle game that works equally well played casually or for hours at a stretch. It involves solving a variety of puzzles in order to get at a bigger mystery.

FIFA 10 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Electronic Arts' football series just about shoulder-charges the Pro-Evolution Soccer competition in our book. The 2010 version provides a plethora of AI tweaks, though not enough to justify the purchase price over the excellent FIFA 09.

Madden NFL 2010 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Another venerable sports series from Electronic Arts, Madden really does seem to get better with every iteration, and this new version is tougher and more authentic than ever before.

Ashes 2009 (PS3, Xbox 360)
Codemasters' first cricket game since the last Brian Lara in 2007 is the best cricket game on the next generation consoles, though there is still room for improvement.

Grand Slam Tennis (Wii)
This EA game may lack the graphical excellence of their efforts on the high-def consoles, but the Wii control system more than makes up for it.

Compatibility with Wii MotionPlus means that accuracy is unprecedented.

Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time (PS3)
We are highlighting the latest in the extraterrestrial platform and puzzle series, but any game that bears their name is a guaranteed hoot.

Inventive, brilliantly designed and executed and lovely to look at, the Ratchet and Clank games are one of the Sony console's best kept secrets. Watch the trailer and admire.

Okami (Wii)
One of the best of the late crop of games released for the last-generation PS2, Okami works equally well on the Wii. This mythical adventure relies, uniquely, on the power of calligraphy to get you out of trouble, and the storyline drags you right in.

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games (Wii, DS)
Brilliant family fun, especially if you have a Wii Fit Balance Board, used here for snowboarding and ski-ing.

Once the real sports have been successfully completed, you can unlock Mario Kart style versions of them too.

Little Big Planet (PS3/PSP)
The pioneering British title that gave the world Sackboy is an addictive platform adventure that really comes into its own when you create your own levels and share them online.

Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure (Wii)
This Japanese cartoon puzzler and platform game is a forgotten gem, with intriguing puzzles and a classic desert-island setting.

Singstar (PS3)
Sony’s console-based karaoke system is now available in flavours that include Motown, Queen (see video), Take That, Abba and many more.

Addicts are now filming and uploading their own performances via the PlayStation Network. Lord preserve us. Available with mics and without.

Eyepet (PS3)
Augmented reality comes into the home with this stunning game, designed to fascinate children and baffle adults.

Create your Eyepet, who (thanks to the PS3 camera) then runs around your real living room and builds objects you draw for him.

New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)
Mario, Luigi and friends are back in 2D, but with a twist. This time, up to four people can play on one screen, adding competitive fun to the Mario mix for the first time.

Lips: Number One Hits (Xbox 360)
The Xbox take on karaoke lacks the variety but is strong on tracks. This one includes Barbie Girl, Heart of Glass, Karma Chameleon and over 30 more.

New tracks can be downloaded. Available with mics and without.

WeSing (Wii)
More karaoke, this time for the Wii, with 30 instantly recognisable songs here to massacre. Available with mics and without. Confusingly, U-Sing, from Universal, does much the same job, but comes with only one mic.

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)
The Brooklyn plumber takes off for outer space, and a platform game that will bend your brain out of shape as it plays with gravity and physics.

While we’re on the subject of Mario on the Wii, may we also suggest Super Paper Mario, and the all-new New Super Mario Bros Wii (above), which brings four-player multi-player to the party? Buy any one of them and you won’t regret it.

Mario Kart (DS and Wii)
This is the game that can make racing fans out of the most determined car hater, and both DS and Wii versions are absolutely brilliant, with multiplayer modes that never lose their fun. On the Wii, the chance to compete against players from all over the world is irresistible and brilliantly presented. Be warned, though: you will lose.

The Legend of Zelda: The Twilight Princess (Wii)
The only Japanese role-playing series that is almost as popular here as in its home country, Zelda offers a unique combination of great story, cute characters and brain teasers that is as addictive as it is enjoyable.

The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass (DS)
We make no apologies for putting a second Zelda game in this mix, since Link’s first outing on the DS was so good it made you rethink what was possible on the console. From the moment you blew out the torches, you were hooked.

A new Zelda game, Spirit Tracks, is out on the DS on December 11, and from brief glimpses earlier this year, it looks the business.


GAMES FOR ADULTS


Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
The first Modern Warfare game was good, but the new one racks the realism up a notch, and has generated more than its fair share of controversy in the process.

As a first-person shooter, it’s challenging, but what really sets it apart is the power of its story-telling, which brings the brutal dilemmas of the modern world into sharp focus.

Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 (Xbox 360)
There is no real plot to Left 4 Dead, other than being stuck in the middle of a zombie outbreak.

You join up with three other people online and kill zombies. You get to a safe house where you fill up on health and ammo and kill some more zombies.

These are not the 1970s version of the undead that lumber around at a snail's pace, but the noughties incarnation that run full tilt at you, hoping to snack on your brains. What's not to love?

Grand Theft Auto IV (PS3, Xbox 360)
How could we ignore the game that showed us what next-generation consoles were capable of?

Of course, the morality of a world in which you must commit crimes to get to the top is dubious, to say the least. Still, exploring the meticulously re-created New York City can take almost as much time as exploring the real thing.

The recently released expansion pack set Episodes from Liberty City contains two extra storylines that are almost extra games themselves. In particular, we recommend The Ballad of Gay Tony, and our recent interview with its main writer, Dan Houser .

Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars (DS, PSP)
The handheld companion to GTA IV is a great game in its own right, with hidden subtleties that can take time to appreciate.

On the DS in particular, the touchscreen adds a new dimension to GTA’s mean streets. Back in March, we caught up with its developers in Leeds.

Batman: Arkham Asylum (PS3, Xbox 360)
The Dark Knight, as re-imagined for the recent Christopher Nolan films, gets the game he deserves with this entertaining prison-set rampage through a gallery of grotesque villains. Great fun.

God of War Chains of Olympus (PSP)
The handheld Sony console doesn’t have much in the way of must-have software, but the portable version of the myth-based beat-em-up was so good that you forgot you were playing on a portable device.

Bioshock (PS3, Xbox 360)
The rules of the first-person shooter were rewritten in this atmospheric sub-aquatic adventure, which plays differently each time you switch it on.

The sequel, Bioshock 2, is due in February next year. Need I say that it’s one of the most eagerly awaited games of the year?

Halo ODST (Xbox 360)
A lot like Halo 3, with a little bit of the early Bungie game Marathon smashed in for good measure, says our Halo correspondent, Michael Moran. This is a good thing.

Infamous (PS3)
You are Cole, wrongly identified as the terrorist who destroyed Empire City.

You are mysteriously endowed with incredible agility and resilience, and you can drain electricity from streetlights, machines and car batteries, then release it in violent but controlled bursts. It’s a blast.

Resident Evil 5 (PS3, Xbox 360)
The latest instalment of the zombie-plague saga with a brain is a blast, complete with zombies on motorbikes.

Uncharted 1 and 2 (PS3)
The closest that video games have come to producing a genuine action thriller, the Uncharted games grab you from the outset and don’t let go.

The first game is now available at a bargain price.

Killzone 2 (PS3)
The good guys of the ISA take the fight to the Helghans in this challenging sequel, which is still one of the best shooters on the PS3.

Dead Space (PS3, Xbox 360)
Yet another shooting game, this time on a space station where monsters are rampaging and the only language they understand is a bullet through the head. Atmospheric and very violent.

Gears of War 2 (Xbox 360)
A highly enjoyable combat sequel, with an impressive coop mode and great visuals. One of the best games of 2008.

House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii)
Sometimes you want your horror shooters to contain tactical subtleties and ask the big questions.

Sometimes, all you want is a big gun, lots of zombies to blast, and a knowing sense of humour about all the carnage. This is one of the latter.

Resistance 2 (PS3)
The sequel to one of the PS3's most controversial titles, the game plays out in the same alternative universe where the Second World War was cut short by an alien invasion.

The Chimera are everywhere, and you've got to kill them.

The Orange Box (PS3, Xbox 360)
Stunning value for money package from the develop Valve, which gives you five games in one box.

Our pick of the titles is Team Fortress 2, though older gamers will be happy to revisit Half Life 2.

Prince of Persia (PS3, Xbox 360)
Not as impressive or as enthralling as Assassin's Creed, from the same studio, this is still a well crafted, beautifully designed modern version of a game that is rightly regarded as a classic.

Assassin's Creed 2 (PS3, Xbox 360)
One of the best games of 2009, this sequel to the graphically impressive but flawed first game brings us forward in time to Renaissance Italy, and plunges you right into the heart of a struggle for power.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (PS3, Xbox 360)
We were torn between this and Fable 2 for a fantasy adventure, but the tragic experience of one Times reviewer, who spent two sleepless nights playing this before suffering a system crash and the loss of all data, swung it for us.

Via:
technology.timesonline.co.uk

The 50 Best Console Video Games

The 10 Best-Selling Games

1. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

2. FIFA10

3. Wii Fit Plus

4. Wii Sports Resort

5. Assassin’s Creed 2

6. Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Winter Games

7. New Super Mario Bros. Wii

8. Forza Motorsport 3

9. Mario Kart Wii

10. Just Dance

Via:
www.independent.co.uk

The 10 Best-Selling Games

The Beatles Rock Band finally goes on sale

Paul DeGooyer was standing backstage when reality finally set in.

It was June, and the 43-year-old executive at MTV Networks Music Group was fretting the details of the presentation going on in front of him at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in Los Angeles, when the familiar chords of "All you need is love" suddenly filled the amphitheatre.

At that moment, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr sprang from the wings and bounded across the stage, greeted by a raucous roar from the crowd.

The two legendary Liverpudlians were on hand to show off features for a new video game based on the music of the most famous rock and roll band in history, The Beatles. The project that Mr. DeGooyer had sweated over had finally come to life.

"It was pretty mind blowing," said Mr. DeGooyer, senior vice president of electronic games and music for MTV, based in New York. "It really was the moment that it became real."

Wednesday that reality comes full circle when The Beatles Rock Band finally goes on sale in North America, giving gamers the chance to relive the Fab Four's historic catalogue while rocking out on plastic guitars, bass and drums.

For MTV, the Beatles game represents the beginning of the latest chapter in the ongoing battle for music game supremacy between its own Rock Band familiy of games and Activision Blizzard Inc.'s Guitar Hero franchise -- the latest edition of which, Guitar Hero 5, hit stores last week (Sept. 1). Both games will be available on all three major consoles, Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 3, Microsoft Corp.'s Xbox 360 and Nintendo Co. Ltd.'s Wii.

Beatles Rock band is also just the latest example of the expansion of the new video game after-market economy.

Users will also be able to purchase a special edition bundle of the game, which includes plastic replicas of Mr. McCartney's iconic Hofner bass and Mr. Starr's Ludwig drum kit -- plastic versions of John Lennon's Rickenbacker 325 guitar and George Harrison's Gretsch Duo Jet guitar will be sold separately.

For Beatles fans, the Rock Band game marks the first time the band's catalogue has ever been available digitally -- the group's music is still not available on Apple Inc.'s iTunes store, nor any other digital distribution outlet -- and arrives on the same day Apple Corps. and EMI Music will release re-mastered editions of each Beatles album. The game comes with 45 songs and the complete albums Rubber Soul, Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band will be available for download, for a price.

Together, the hardware and software add-ons represent one of the most high profile examples of how game publishers can continue making money on a game once it's been bought by a consumer, by selling peripherals and downloadable content (DLC).

Together, the two franchises (Rock Band and Guitar Hero) have generated more than US$3-billion in global sales since the first copy of Guitar Hero hit store shelves in 2005. Although gamers will have to fork over about $60 to purchase the Beatles game itself, the special edition instrument bundle will cost $250. Each additional guitar runs about $100 while songs in the Rock Band store generally cost about $2 each.

Game developers are increasingly turning to peripherals and downloadable content (DLC) as a means of generating new revenue streams once a consumer has left the store after purchasing a game.

Although some video games -- such as Electonic Arts' John Madden Football -- can sell millions of copies of new versions on a yearly basis, the video game industry has often suffered from a lack of recurring revenue, a problem downloadable content helps solve, said Carl Howe, an analyst with the market research firm The Yankee Group.

"One of the great contrasts between entertainment software and other kinds of software is that unlike Microsoft Office, for example, video games aren't the sort of thing that you buy over and over again," he said.

It's not just music games that are making the most of DLC. Games such as Tiger Woods PGA Tour 09 allows users to purchase new golf courses or equipment to spruce up their gaming experience, while other games such as Call of Duty 4 offer gamers new maps to use while playing online.

"Certainly from a top level there's been a shift from the buying of the plastic to the buying of the software," said Mike Hickey, a financial analyst who tracks the video game industry for Janco Partners.

["Downloadable content] is a significant priority. Even though it's hardly material right now, digital is certainly where the future is."

***For console makers such as Sony and Microsoft, the DLC for games such as Rock Band and Guitar Hero are important for getting consumers more comfortable with using their proprietary Web-based networks to purchase other content such as full games, movies and music.

To date, more than one billion pieces of content -- movies, music, games, etc. -- have been downloaded through Microsoft's Xbox Live network, while Sony's download total tops 450 million.

Of course, extra content keeps games fresh for players, which keeps them coming back and playing online. As long as enough gamers keep playing the game online to sustain a competitive community -- as is the case in games such as Halo and Call of Duty 4 -- publishers can continue to charge top dollar for the game at retailers.

Guitar Hero and Rock Band have also been credited with helping bring the market for gaming peripherals -- a niche market once reserved for fans of racing games willing to buy expensive steering wheels -- into the mainstream. The success of Nintendo's Wii Fit game last year, which featured a balance board that allowed users to perform various exercises, and other accessories has allowed manufacturers to enhance the gaming experience while shipping more products.

Via:

www.nationalpost.com

The Beatles Rock Band finally goes on sale

Beatles' remastered box set, video game out

The Fab Four looks to start making big 21st century bucks with new Rock Band game and digitally remastered CDs.

John, Paul, George and Ringo are getting the band back together, in a manner of speaking, with a new Beatles-themed video game and digital upgrade of the group's entire catalog both released Wednesday.

"The Beatles: Rock Band," which was produced by MTV Games and Harmonix, allows players to sing and play along with 45 of band's songs using simulated guitars, drums and a microphone.



Also out Wednesday are digitally re-mastered versions of all 15 Beatles albums. The entire catalog will be available as a 16-disk set with special features including album art, liner notes, rare photographs and short documentary films. Re-mastered versions of each album will also be sold individually.

Not that The Beatles, nearly four decades removed from their last performance together, need the exposure. According to Apple Corps Ltd., which markets the Beatles worldwide, the Fab Four has sold more than 600 million records, tapes and CDs since they exploded on the scene in the early 1960s.

But the new products will help "bring the band into the 21st century," said Bruce Birch, director of the University of Georgia's music business program.

"Great music is great music, but the ways of introducing it to a younger audience are different now, and this will help expose the Beatles to a whole new generation," Birch said.
Downloads?

The buzz generated by Wednesday's releases has raised speculation about a possible deal with Apple Inc. to make the band's music available on iTunes. Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) is holding an invitation-only special event Wednesday and some are fervently hoping the timing is more than just coincidence.

The Beatles are one of the few bands whose music has never been approved for sale as downloads on the popular music site. Both EMI Music, which holds the master recording rights for the music, and Apple declined to comment.

While CD sales have been slipping for years, analysts expect the new box set, which has a suggested retail price of $260, to be a hit with die-hard Beatles fans who are willing to pay extra for the added features. It was sold out on Amazon.com (AMZN, Fortune 500) even before the official release.

"The set is really targeted at heavy Beatles fans who have the money to spend on a collectors item," said Sonal Gandhi, a media industry analyst at Forrester Research. "The video game is more for people who aren't that familiar with the Beatles."

"The Beatles: Rock Band" builds on the already popular Rock Band format, which has sold 13 million units since coming out in 2007.

In the new game, players choose from a variety of Beatles songs ranging from the early hit "A Hard Day's Night" to the later "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds." Players can also select one of several famous venues from the band's career, including its two most famous American venues -- the Ed Sullivan Theater and Shea Stadium in New York.

The game software retails for $59.99, but a "limited edition premium bundle," which includes a full set of instruments designed to resemble those played by the Beatles, is available for $249.99.

"There's no doubt this game will be successful," said Jesse Divinich, an analyst for the video game research firm Electronic Entertainment Design & Research. He said the game would have to sell 1.2 million units to break even, which he expects to happen within one month.

All rights reserved

That could help boost overall sales for the Beatles' music. In the third quarter of last year, more than a third of music buyers under the age of 35 reported playing a music-based video game, according to

For the game to come to fruition, MTV Games/Harmonix had to tap a complex consortium of entities that own rights to the various songs, as well as the images of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr.

Paul DeGooyer, MTV's vice president of home entertainment, said the deal required the cooperation of EMI Music for all of the songs. Rights to the intellectual property -- the words and music of the composers --required the participation of a variety of owners, he added.

The bulk of the songbook of Lennon and McCartney, who are responsible for most of the band's hits, is owned by Sony/ATV Music. That's a consortium which includes Sony Corp. and the estate of Michael Jackson, who died on June 25.

Most of the Beatles' songs composed by Harrison, including "Something" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps," are controlled by Harrisongs Ltd. Ringo Starr, one of two surviving Beatles along with McCartney, controls his own work.

Lastly, the Beatles' likeness is owned by Apple Corps, which was formed by the band in 1968 to market its recordings and other related material.

Via:

money.cnn.com

Beatles' remastered box set, video game out

The Beatles: All they've got to give

The Beatles: Who's buying the new box sets?

Currently, there is not a day put aside to celebrate the musical legacy of The Beatles. So why not today? September 9 -- or the marketing-friendly 09/09/09 -- sees the release of a bonanza of new collectibles for fans of the Fab Four, from the highly anticipated video game, Rock Band: The Beatles, to the release of two new career-spanning box sets: The Stereo Albums and The Beatles in Mono.

The Stereo release is the first complete set of The Beatles' studio recordings -- 13 albums (four of which are being released in stereo for the first time), as well as a remastered version of Past Masters. The Beatles in Mono includes all of the original mono recordings, and Help! and Rubber Soul include the original 1965 stereo recordings. Packaged with replica original vinyl art, it makes a unique, almost museum-like collection.

Complete and stunning as they are, the cost of the box sets must be considered. The Stereo Albums retails for $290, while the The Beatles in Mono goes for $350 (if you can find it -- its initial print run of 10,000 has been upped by EMI after overwhelming pre-sales). At those sums, the question might be: who exactly will benefit from this wealth of material?

THE BEATLEMANIAC

If you own a set of John, Paul, George and Ringo bobblehead dolls or have made a pilgrimage to The Cavern Club, these sets are, foremost, for you. There is material here you won't find elsewhere, including the first-ever stereo release of The Beatles' first four albums, Please Please Me, With The Beatles, A Hard Day's Night and Beatles For Sale. In addition, the remastered stereo versions bring new surprises to old songs, such as an emboldened piano line on I Want To Tell You and a more vibrant horn section on Got To Get You Into My Life.

Also embedded on each of the studio albums are new mini-documentaries containing archival video, rarely heard studio chatter and photographs from individual studio sessions.

THE NEOPHYTE

Perhaps as a youngster you were more of a Stones fan. Maybe you found The Beatles too poppy, didn't like their haircuts or were turned off by all the screaming and fainting. Then, over time, you couldn't help but feel like you'd missed a signifant part of the cultural dialogue. Time to catch up, friend. Start with the Mono set, which replicates the look and feel of the original British vinyl run, right down to the record protectors charmingly touting the use of "Emirex cleaning cloths to preserve your microgroove records," and reminders to "check your gramophone stylus regularly." By the end of it, you'll feel like you didn't miss a thing.

THE MUSIC TEACHER

The Stereo Albums serves as an aural history of the band, from fresh-faced Motowninfluenced head-boppers to long-haired, raga-influenced head-trippers, and would make for a great Beatles 101. Starting at Please Please Me, take your class to a time before Autotune was king right through the birth -- for better or worse--of world fusion.

THE INDIE ROCKER

Some of The Beatles' early recording sessions sound less like glossy studio arrangements and more like today's hip, lo-fibedroom recordings, and a good lesson in how to properly use a four-track can be found in the Stereo set's liner notes. Plus, in any Beatles recording, there are lessons to be learned in weaving harmonies with your band-mates, and the Beatles' vocal intricacies are only highlighted by remastering. Take No Reply, the first track on Beatles For Sale. On the stereo version of the track, unlike previous versions, you can really hear the way Lennon's vocals mesh with McCartney and Harrison's on the chorus.

Legendary Beatles producer George Martin was no slouch in the studio, and he had some great mixers and recording engineers. People like Geoff Emerick, who at 20 years old was brought in to work on Revolver. According to the recording notes, Emerick "embraced the spirit of experimentation that characterized the sessions," which "took an unprecedented 300 hours to record and mix." If you're a fledgling record producer looking to up your game, the tales told in these notes are in themselves worth the price of the Stereo box set. More valuable than upgrading to the latest version of Garage Band, at any rate.

By:

Brad Frenette

Via:

www.nationalpost.com

The Beatles: All they've got to give

'Guitar Hero 5' tracklist

Activision has revealed the complete 85-song setlist appearing in their upcoming music game Guitar Hero 5, scheduled for release on September 1.

The latest installment of the publisher's massive music franchise will now allow players to use any combination of instruments to play songs as well as a Party Play Mode. Head here for more details.

In the meantime, here's the tracklist:

• 3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
• A Perfect Circle - "Judith"
• AFI - "Medicate"
• Arctic Monkeys - "Brianstorm"
• Attack! Attack! UK - "You And Me"
• Band Of Horses - "Cigarettes, Wedding Bands"
• Beastie Boys - "Gratitude"
• Beck - "Gamma Ray"
• Billy Idol - "Dancing With Myself"
• Billy Squier - "Lonely Is The Night"
• Blink-182 - "The Rock Show"
• Blur - "Song 2"
• Bob Dylan - "All Along The Watchtower"
• Bon Jovi - "You Give Love A Bad Name"
• Brand New - "Sowing Season (Yeah)"
• The Bronx - "Six Days A Week"
• Bush - "Comedown"
• Children Of Bodom - "Done With Everything, Die For Nothing"
• Coldplay - "In My Place"
• Darker My Love - "Blue Day"
• Darkest Hour - "Demon(s)"
• David Bowie - "Fame"
• Deep Purple - "Woman From Tokyo ('99 Remix)"
• The Derek Trucks Band - "Younk Funk"
• Dire Straits - "Sultans Of Swing"
• The Duke Spirit - "Send A Little Love Token"
• Duran Duran - "Hungry Like The Wolf"
• Eagles Of Death Metal - "Wannabe In L.A."
• Elliott Smith - "L.A."
• Elton John - "Saturday Night's Alright (For Fighting)"
• Face To Face - "Disconnected"
• Garbage - "Only Happy When It Rains"
• Gorillaz - "Feel Good Inc."
• Gov't Mule - "Streamline Woman"
• Grand Funk Railroad - "We're An American Band"
• Iggy Pop - "Lust For Life (Live)"
• Iron Maiden - "2 Minutes To Midnight"
• Jeff Beck - "Scatterbrain (Live)"
• Jimmy Eat World - "Bleed American"
• John Mellencamp - "Hurts So Good"
• Johnny Cash - "Ring Of Fire"
• Kaiser Chiefs - "Never Miss A Beat"
• The Killers - "All The Pretty Faces"
• King Crimson - "21st Century Schizoid Man"
• Kings Of Leon - "Sex On Fire"
• Kiss - "Shout It Out Loud"
• Love and Rockets - "Mirror People"
• Megadeth - "Sweating Bullets"
• Motley Crue - "Looks That Kill"
• Muse - "Plug In Baby"
• My Morning Jacket - "One Big Holiday"
• Nirvana - "Lithium (Live)"
• Nirvana - "Smells Like Teen Spirit"
• No Doubt - "Ex-Girlfriend"
• Peter Frampton - "Do You Feel Like We Do? (Live)"
• The Police - "So Lonely"
• Public Enemy Featuring Zakk Wylde - "Bring the Noise 20XX"
• Queen & David Bowie - "Under Pressure"
• Queens Of The Stone Age - "Make It Wit Chu"
• The Raconteurs - "Steady As She Goes"
• Rammstein - "Du Hast"
• The Rolling Stones - "Sympathy For The Devil"
• Rose Hill Drive - "Sneak Out"
• Rush - "The Spirit Of Radio (Live)"
• Santana - "No One To Depend On (Live)"
• Scars On Broadway - "They Say"
• Screaming Trees - "Nearly Lost You"
• Smashing Pumpkins - "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
• Sonic Youth - "Incinerate"
• Spacehog - "In The Meantime"
• Stevie Wonder - "Superstition"
• Sublime - "What I Got"
• Sunny Day Real Estate - "Seven"
• T. Rex - "20th Century Boy"
• The Sword - "Maiden, Mother & Crone"
• Thin Lizzy - "Jailbreak"
• Thrice - "Deadbolt"
• Tom Petty - "Runnin' Down A Dream"
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers - "American Girl"
• TV On The Radio - "Wolf Like Me"
• Vampire Weekend - "A-Punk"
• Weezer - "Why Bother?"
• The White Stripes - "Blue Orchid"
• Wild Cherry - "Play That Funky Music"
• Wolfmother - "Back Round"

By

Brett Molina

Via

http://content.usatoday.com

'Guitar Hero 5' tracklist

The History of Videogame on an animation film version

This animation film, make sure to embark on a time travel showing you the main videogames of History!


A Short Visual History of Videogames from Kyle Downes on Vimeo.

The History of Videogame on an animation film version

Chris Chike is Guitar Hero's Hero

THE sounds were coming from the basement: a rapid, staccato clicking of plastic against plastic, hundreds of times a minute, too quick and orderly to be described as a rattle and too rhythmic to be considered noise.

In the downstairs den of his family’s home, Chris Chike was sitting in an easy chair with a toy guitar across his lap. While his eyes were trained on a big-screen television inches away, his hands were frantically working the bruised plastic instrument held together with masking tape. His left hand was tapping manically at five colored buttons on the guitar’s neck, while his right hand made graceful leaps between the neck and a large black button on the guitar’s body, where a real musician would be strumming at strings.

His movements were precisely choreographed to the action on his television set, where color-coded musical notes stampeded down the neck of a simulated guitar in time to a relentlessly bombastic heavy-metal ballad called “Through the Fire and Flames.” Some 1,191 notes would whiz by before Chris missed a single one.

This is the now-familiar ritual of Guitar Hero, the video game series that lets players (and spectators) replicate the adrenaline rush of a rock-music concert as rec-room Eric Claptons and Pete Townshends press buttons in time to popular songs, scoring points as they show off their hand-and-eye coordination if not actual musicianship.

If Chris were not otherwise occupied, he could tell you that he is, by several objective measures, the most talented Guitar Hero player in existence: not only good enough to have attained numerous high-score records, but so skilled that he has parlayed his peculiar blend of athleticism and showmanship into online celebrity and a fledgling career designing and endorsing his own line of video game hardware. But at the moment, another barrage of notes was about to descend on him. “The chaos,” he said, “begins right now.”

Despite his preternatural dexterity, Chris, would seem to be just one more avid gamer who has helped make the Guitar Hero franchise a towering success. It has sold more than 20.7 million copies worldwide since its debut just three years ago.

Yet to the video game business Chris represents just the kind of player — the freakishly talented one-man spectacle — who could bring more revenue and legitimacy to the industry, and prove once and for all that video gaming is as much a mainstream American pastime as going to the movies or watching television.

“A lot of people still have this perception of gamers being spotty 13-year-olds stuck in their bedrooms,” said Keith Pullin, the editor of the gamers’ edition of the Guinness World Records book, which recently declared Chris the best Guitar Hero player on the planet. “But Chris is a great example of how you can be a wholesome person and still be good at games at the same time.” All of which can be a little overwhelming to a soft-spoken young man who’s still not sure how he wants to define himself.

“When a new person will come around,” Chris said, “my friends will be like, ‘Hey, did you know this is the No. 1 kid in the world at Guitar Hero?’ And I’m like —— ” He hid his head in his hands. “That’s not what I want to first tell people when I meet them.”

In his daily life Chris is a senior at the nearby Century High School; he is 6 foot 2, boyishly handsome, a soccer player, a long and high jumper on the varsity track team and painfully shy in conversation, particularly about his plans for college. “I don’t really like to think about it,” he said in a pregame interview, “because I like to procrastinate.”

But to millions of Internet users he is better known as iamchris4life, the Guitar Hero wunderkind whose astronomical scores and YouTube videos of his gaming exploits are, to these fans, as thrilling as actually playing the game. In messages sent to Chris’s account on the Xbox Live network and in notes posted on his personal YouTube page they declare their devotion: “yer god.” “do u wanna marry me?”

The youngest of four siblings, Chris has owned almost every home video game console since the 1990s-era Super Nintendo (all bestowed on him by his father, Anthony, 52, who runs a computer business, and his mother, Claudia Knowlton-Chike, 50, a general manager for GE Healthcare).

In recent years Chris became particularly adept at rhythm-based games like Dance Dance Revolution, in which players step on a special mat in time to onscreen arrows, and he began posting videos of his dance moves on YouTube. (At his mother’s request he videotaped himself from his shoulders down.)

He also breezed through the hardest levels of the original Guitar Hero, released in 2005 for PlayStation 2, and its 2006 sequel, Guitar Hero II. When he posted screen shots of his accomplishments at Web sites like scorehero.com, he noticed his scores were significantly higher than his closest competitors.

His unusual ascent was occurring at a time when the video game industry was discovering the potential of social games — which like Guitar Hero are meant to be played in groups and can be as much fun to watch as to participate in — to reach a previously untapped audience.

“It’s just like karaoke, right?” said Kai Huang, the president and co-founder of RedOctane, the division of the game company Activision Publishing that releases Guitar Hero. “People don’t have to be the best singer in the world, but they just love getting up onstage and performing.”

Every Guitar Hero needs a nemesis, and Chris found his in a song called “Through the Fire and Flames,” a track that appears in the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Performed by the British power-metal band Dragonforce, “Through the Fire and Flames” (or simply “TTFaF” to die-hard gamers) is a brutal tour de force of finger-tapping, consisting of 3,722 notes over seven and a half minutes. The song is available only to players who have completed all the other tracks in the game, and they are not expected to master it so much as simply to survive it.

“It’s what we would consider the pinnacle of difficulty,” Mr. Huang said. “The guitar shredding in there is just insane.”

Over a period of weeks and months Chris practiced the song in the family den, surrounded by walls decorated with his mother’s homemade Western shirts, family photographs and a picture of his maternal grandparents with President Bush. He completed the song to 96 percent accuracy, then 98 percent, but kept falling just short of perfection.

Then, late on the night of June 3, with his $80 video camera recording him for posterity, Chris played the song flawlessly. His hands still trembling, he shouted a few expletives and raced to upload his footage on YouTube, where the online world had already been tipped off to his accomplishment when his astonishing score was automatically uploaded to an Xbox Live leader board. Within a few hours, Chris estimates, the video of his perfect “TTFaF” performance had been viewed more than 10,000 times; it has since been watched more than 2.1 million times — a particularly astounding tally for what is essentially a video of someone pressing buttons.

By now the legend of iamchris4life was widespread. In March he was invited by Guinness World Records to visit New York and play “TTFaF” for a live crowd, which he did with 97 percent accuracy. (“I was kind of disappointed that I couldn’t do my best,” Chris said.)

This event, in turn, caught the attention of the Ant Commandos, makers of video game hardware in Ontario, Calif., which struck an agreement (negotiated by Ms. Knowlton-Chike) for Chris to be its public face. He now lends his gaming expertise to design sessions for a forthcoming line of Guitar Hero controllers, and his café au lait looks — he is the son of a white mother and a black father — to advertisements and packaging for Ant Commandos products.

“Internally we call him our Tiger Woods,” said Raymond Yow, the company’s chief operating officer.

Another name frequently invoked in connection with Chris is Tony Hawk, the skateboarding pioneer who parlayed his abilities into a multimillion-dollar empire of endorsed products, performance tours and, yes, video games, bringing the once-unfamiliar category of action sports with him into the spotlight.

The American video game scene sorely lags behind other nations’ in generating and appreciating personalities who would be the field’s equivalent of Mr. Hawk. In South Korea, for example, the top players of strategy games like StarCraft are regarded as rock stars, with entire television channels dedicated to covering their tournaments and competitions.

But American gaming culture may be approaching its own turning point. “We need that lightning-in-a bottle moment,” said Michael Arzt, a former marketing executive for the Gravity Games, an action-sports event, who is now the general manager of International Cyber Marketing, which runs a worldwide video game competition called the World Cyber Games.

Mr. Arzt said American gaming needed the equivalents of Mr. Hawk’s 900-degree skateboard spin at the 1999 Summer X Games, or Carey Hart’s motorcycle back flip at the 2000 Gravity Games, to break through as a truly mainstream sport.

“We’re not there yet, but it’s starting to happen,” Mr. Arzt said. “The video gamers are getting a little more savvy.”

Chris would sooner die a thousand deaths than discuss, say, the many Advanced Placement courses he will be taking this fall, or his score on the ACT. But put a fake guitar in his hands, and he becomes a different, dynamic person. Watching his Guitar Hero sessions, on video or in person, you can easily be hypnotized by the synchronized movements of his fingers as they bounce upon the diminutive plastic fretboard. He is clearly not making music with the instrument, but his performance is a feat of coordination in its own right.

And he is learning to add occasional flourishes to his act: tapping out the grueling solo to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” while he looks at the ceiling, or holding his guitar controller behind his back, just to prove he’s memorized it. (“Some things never leave your mind,” Chris explained.)

While Ms. Knowlton-Chike serves as her son’s agent and business manager, she said she trusted Chris to decide for himself which events and opportunities he will participate in. “He makes good choices,” she said. “There were nights when I used to go downstairs and say, ‘Hey, turn the game off and go to bed.’ But he knows how to manage himself.”

For example, she said, Chris agreed to appear at a gaming event in October in Amsterdam only after finding out that it would not conflict with his school schedule.

He is also sorely tempted to buy himself a full-size Dance Dance Revolution arcade machine, which would cost several thousand dollars. “We’re learning to pay for things when we have the money,” Ms. Knowlton-Chike said.

Chris is hopeful that his endorsed line of Guitar Hero controllers (scheduled for release later this year) will sell well. But he is also concerned about balancing his senior-year schoolwork and the time he spends with his friends, who he said were perhaps not as scholastically motivated.

“They’re like, ‘Yeah, senior year’s the easiest because you can slack off,’ ” Chris said. “That can’t be my case.”

Having demonstrated his prowess at Guitar Hero, Chris switched over to another music game called Rock Band, which lets gamers play drums in addition to guitar. He sat down behind a small plastic drum kit and proceeded to pound out an immaculate recreation of Keith Moon’s percussion from the Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” improvising a few embellishments to the solos.

Despite the display he had just given, Chris said he wouldn’t make a good musician. “I think I probably could if I tried,” he said. “But I’m not the rock punk type. I’m not a drummer boy. I just play video games.”

Via:

www.nytimes.com

Chris Chike is Guitar Hero's Hero

The games that make seeking so satisfying

The latest game in the blockbuster "Mystery Case Files" franchise takes hidden-object gaming to new heights ... and new frights.

There are few things more frustrating than losing your keys within the confines of your own home.

They’re not on the table where you thought you left them. They’re not under the sofa cushions where you’ve found them so many times before. And they‘re not on the key ring because, of course, you never actually use that thing for what it was intended. Surely, you tell yourself, they must be here … somewhere … and yet no amount of searching, sulking, or hissy-fit throwing will make them reveal themselves.

But here’s the question I’m forced to ask: Why is it that I get so blindingly frustrated when I’m obligated to hunt for some simple object misplaced within the cluttered reaches of my home … and yet I’m downright thrilled to spend endless mesmerized hours doing the same thing when it’s presented to me in video game form?

That is, over the recent holidaze, I found myself staying up into the wee hours of the morning playing the latest “hidden object” game from Big Fish Games. It’s called “Mystery Case Files: Return to Ravenhearst,” and it’s a game so absorbing that it will leave you staring unblinkingly at your computer screen until your eyeballs shrivel into raisins and begin rattling around in your skull.

For those of you who haven’t played a hidden-object game, these games typically present players with a static scene. For example, you might be given a picture of a bedroom. But while this bedroom is populated with the usual items (furniture and whatnot), it’s also festooned with an assortment of objects and knick-knacks. You’re then presented with a list of items that you must find secreted there among the bric-a-brac. A broom, a banana, a rolling pin, a key ring.

This may not sound like particularly gripping fare, but trust me, a good hidden-object game is easy enough for anyone to pick up and yet it’s such an enormous brain tease that when you go to quit it, it’s as if you’ve super-glued the thing to your hand. You want to put it down and walk away from it … but you simply can’t.

Must … find … one … more … object …

Big Fish hired the Berlin Film Orchestra to perform the game’s epic score and they sprinkled live-action sequences throughout the game to further immerse players in the ghostly and ghastly story of obsession and murder.

But more importantly, the game has evolved well beyond the hidden-object genre it pioneered. Taking cues from beloved games of the past, “Return to Ravenhearst” adopts the kind of exploration-focused adventure gameplay that made the likes of “Myst” so devilishly enthralling.

“We really wanted to push this one to the next level,” says Chris Campbell, the “MCF” series producer. “We wanted to show the rest of the industry what a casual game is capable of.”

Mechanisms of madness
Indeed, it’s a spine-chilling pleasure to explore Ravenhearst Manor, a sprawling and eerie place of hidden tunnels and secret chambers that have been decked out in an absolutely splendid variety of puzzles. To conquer the game, players must conquer a madman’s elaborate memory game and decipher his convoluted mathematical contraption. There are codes that must be cracked, mechanisms that must be manipulated and tools that must be unearthed and then used in the appropriate places.

Your memory skills and your logic skills will be put to the test. But all of it makes good sense. Think carefully and you will be rewarded.

Certainly the seek-and-find play is the best it’s ever been. The scenery is both gorgeous and gruesome as you find yourself combing the perverse nooks and crannies of a subterranean prison. And the objects have been so cunningly hidden you’ll be thrilled to see how the artists concealed them in plain sight (that is, once you’ve finally found them).

Ultimately, “Return to Ravenhearst’s” crowning achievement is the way it seamlessly blends puzzles, object hunting, exploration and story together. The result feels like an interactive mystery novel in which you get to be the star sleuth.

A mechanized memory game is just one of the clever contraptions you'll have to conquer in "Return to Ravenhearst."
Jay Bibby, founder of JayIsGames.com, couldn’t be happier. After wading through too many run-of-the-mill hidden-object games, he’s thrilled to see this evolution.

“They did just a brilliant job with this game,” he says. “This is where the genre needs to go.”

It seems unfortunate that “Return to Ravenhearst” was launched during the holiday season – a time when every gaming company on the planet seems to be flooding the market with titles. Though "Return to Ravenhearst" has popped up on a few best-games-of-the-year lists , I fear it could get lost among the clutter.

But then again, perhaps I should trust that, in the best hidden-object tradition, perceptive players will be able to find “Return to Ravenhearst” in the crowded scenery. A good place to start looking: MysteryCaseFiles.com.

Now you’ll have to excuse me, I have some keys I still need to find.

By:

Winda Benedetti

Via:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com

The games that make seeking so satisfying