Rock Band DLC Review, Dualshock, and Statistics.

"Boston" is Definitely "Still Alive"

*This review is based on guitar part only*

2 Tuesdays ago the Boston 6-pack was released and I must say, all of the songs are pretty damn good. More Than A Feelin' being the easiest of the bunch and Smokin' being the hardest (I'm the only one of my friends to beat it in solo), the rest of the songs are good, but feel the same. The solos and tone of the each song are the only real difference between each song. The chorus and verse of most of the songs are very much the same, but I still enjoy playing them. I'd say that this is a great deal for 10 bucks, and if you're a fan of tricky guitar parts this is s must-buy.

*this review based on Bass, Vocals, and Guitar*

"Still Alive" is a song that is more nostalgic than anything else. None of the parts are very difficult, but it's still a very fun song to play if you have played Portal. If you haven't played portal and like tricky guitar parts or tricky vocal lines, this is not the song for you. However, the song is free(!) and how can you pass up a free DLC?

The TwoShock Three?

The Dualshock 3 is (finally) being shipped worldwide. It should be readily available by the end of the week. The going price is set at $54.99.

For all you PS3 enthusiasts who miss that familiar rumble in your hands when you get shot, punched, or crash your car into a concrete wall, your prayers have finally been answered. However, not all games already out that support the rumble feature. You can look at a complete list of them here. All of the important games seem to have the feature (Burnout Paradise, Devil May Cry 4, Resistance: Fall of Man), so it seems to be a moot point to me that the rumble wouldn't work with some games.

One other thing that pokes me in the ribs with a pointy stick is the fact that the controller costs $54.99(!!!). While this is only $15 more than the wireless 360 controller ($23 more than a wired controller on Amazon), this is the controller that should have come packaged with the PS3 16 months ago. Nintendo sent out their Wii condoms for free because they meant to have them developed by launch day, but didn't get it done in time. This should be the same way. The Six-Axis controller should not be tolerated.

Regardless of the crazy price point, this controller, I hear, is the cat's meow, the bee's knees, the $30 porterhouse of controllers and I'm glad to see it's return.

*I don't even own a PS3, so don't accuse me of trying to get free stuff*


Gaming Population Rises!

It has been reported the NPD Group that 72% of the US populous plays video games, up from 64% last year. Some of the statistics within are somewhat surprising though.

-65% of people who say that they play games online regularly are over the age of 24.

-only 2-3% of console owners own more than one of the three "Next-Gen" game systems.

-90% of gamers who said that they play online regularly play on PC, 19% play on console, and 3% play on phones and other mobile devices.

-It is also stated in the report that, "despite all the buzz in the industry about online gaming, it is still relatively small compared to offline gaming."

Good report overall, and good news for gamers.

Original Video Content, Cruisin' USA, STILL ALIVE, and More.

Original Film Releases on LIVE Marketplace.

Mediaweek is reporting that Safran Digital Group is going to be releasing six original short films that are going to be exclusive to the XBox LIVE Marketplace. However, the man who runs SDG, Peter Safran was a producer of an abortion of a movie. Maybe you've heard of it. It's called Meet the Spartans.

When I first read the news story, I was excited because I'm not going to rent movies on my 360 that I can go buy for twice the price and watch as much as I want and this allows me cheap access to some experimental indie films. However, now that I know that this yahoo is in charge of the company that is going to be releasing said films, I have little to no faith that this experiment will work on a business level.

"Cruisin' Virtual Console"

Cruisin' USA has been released on Virtual Console on the Wii this week. The mid-late 90's arcade racing game that was very much like outrun in it's gameplay, but had it's own unique feel to it. This just brings me back to my childhood. Playing this game for hours on end on my N64 with my friends was awesome. I can hardly wait to DL and play this game.

Rock Band DLC is "Still Alive"

Rock Band DLC this week is the Jonothan Coulton epic, "Still Alive" from the game "Portal." By the way, it's also free.The VP of product development at Harmonix, Greg LoPiccolo, stated that the free song is a kind of "Thank You" to all the supporters of their game.

This song is probably the best video game song ever created. If someone knows of a song from a game that is more melodic and more entertaining, please post here to refute my claim. The fact that this song is being released at all for Rock Band (much less, for free) really shows how in tune with gaming culture the higher-ups at HMX really are, and thus my respect for them is massive.