According to Kotaku, Harmonix will be delivering Rock Band 3 in time for Christmas:

Viacom President and CEO Philippe Dauman officially outed Rock Band 3, due for release this Chrismas, when it will “will innovate and revolutionise the music genre” all over again.

I know something I’ll be asking Santa for this year

Wired is running an article on the 10 Gaming Gadgets That Will Make Us Hurt Ourselves. I’m seriously hoping that some of these don’t make it past the prototype stage. Just look at the Wii 8-in-one weapons bundle. That shit shouldn’t be going anywhere near a child’s hands!

That being said, when I first saw the article’s title, I thought it would be a list of peripherals that had already caused damage. I mean, as much as I love Rock Band and Guitar Hero, I get serious amounts of RSI from extended shredding, and people complain about the muscle pain from the drum’s kick pedal.

And everyone remembers the dangers that the Wii-mote introduced us to when it hit the market.

I’ve been a bit slack in the video game department lately. Well, slack may not be the right word, but I certainly haven’t stopped playing.

I’ve played a lot of Rock Band 2 since my return from Phenomenon. I’m very happy with the gameplay changes – playing solo in “Tour” mode, challenges and so forth make for a much richer experience. I’ve also dumped a ton of cash on DLC for the game, so I’m not anywhere near to being bored with it.

I also like the extended experience you get by linking to rockband.com. I think it’s very clever marketing, and am seriously considering getting miniatures made of my band members when I’m happy with the way I’ve styled the models. Stroke my vanity visit my profile, and feel free to link me if you have an RB account.

In other news, I downloaded a couple of demos recently (thanks to the purchase of a 120GB hard drive).

Resident Evil 5 is a really poor demo. You’re dropped in the middle of a firefight with zero instruction and expected to survive. I’m assured that the gameplay is not as impenetrable as the demo shows, so I’m willing to give it a second chance.

Red Faction sounds really good in review, but neither of my regular approaches to FPS (super stealth, or gung ho) seemed to work. Again, not sure if I’ll bother with the game.

Crackdown, on the other hand doesn’t seem quite so bad. I know the game’s pretty much been and gone, but I can’t afford to ride the wave the whole time. While I’m not generally a fan of sandbox games, this one seems to encourage my “can’t be fucked” approach to things. It worked in Fallout 3, and I think it may work enough to justify a purchase for Crackdown.

Finally, I’m beginning to feel the urge to play Jade Empire again. Well, since I already own it, I won’t have to spend any money…

What are you guys into these days?

One of the main reasons I haven’t put out many updates in the last week or so was due to being in Canberra for Phenomenon. Overall, I had a good time. As usual, the con was held at Daramalan College, which was close to the amenities of Dickson shops and all the takeaway Asian you can stomach, and the classrooms with ceiling heaters that made some sessions seem as though they were set in ovens.

Click over for a review of the games we played. Read the rest of this entry »

I know that people probably say that every year, but I’m excited. Between Monkey Island, MGS5, Dragon Age and others, I ‘m cautiously optimistic about what’s coming.

I can’t compete with the regular gaming sites, and I’m far too busy to even aggregate everything interesting into one place, so you’ll just have to go check out the usual suspects.

In the meantime, checkout these screens from The Beatles: Rock Band