With a little over two weeks left before BandFuse: Rock Legends hits retail for the PS3 and Xbox 360 on November 19, here’s another slice of one of the many tracks you’ll be learning to play. My fingers have been tingling and there’s a nice loaner electric guitar warming up in the corner for this one is all I’ll say. This one’s a straight up guitar school in a game case with everything unlocked and a free-form play and learn as you go style that might shock some music game fans expecting something more “video game”-like. Me, I love the idea of dropping the faux-rock god veneer for something that’s going to teach you to play and will be a piece of software those who “get” will go back to over and over again. I’ll save the rest of my words for the actual review, so keep an eye peeled for that…
Category Archives: Holiday Gift Guide 2013
Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army 2: Your Next “Horror Movie/FPS” Is Here…
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Sure, Activision and Treyarch did the Zombie Nazi thing first as a Call of Duty bonus, but in my opinion, Rebellion is doing it better thanks to the much more realistically violent Sniper Elite V2 engine and its not for the kiddies gore. The first NZA was a nicely nasty surprise (and pretty damn scary when it needed to be) and the just released Sniper Elite Nazi Zombie Army 2 is bringing the pain (wait, can undead even feel pain? Nope? Oops…) in what’s looking like an even better experience. The developer has even gone and posted two live gameplay videos on YouTube (one yesterday and another today) you can check out if this one seems up your alley. Hey, it’s better (and a LOT more interactive) than digging out those musty old VHS copies of Shock Waves and The Keep, right?
Yes, I know Nazi zombies getting filled full of lead (well, actually… that lead is passing through their bodies from what I’ve seen) isn’t for ALL tastes. But the appeal for me is seeing this dev team do such great work on a few fronts and yes, keep the whole “zombies in games” flame alive just a bit longer. It’s so played out that it’s gotten predictable to a fault, but the best zombie games seem to be the ones that go for the expected gore (although a tip of the head goes to the Plants vs. Zombies folks for making the words “cute” and “undead” work perfectly…
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The Walking Dead Season Two: More of the Same Is A GREAT Thing From Telltale and Skybound…
Telltale Games is going to drive me nuts one day, but that’s probably a good thing. How the heck do they keep knocking it out of the park with these adventure games (a genre some not in the know say is “dead” or “dying”)? Eh, maybe I don’t need to know what voodoo they do out thataway, as the end result is always enjoyable and in the case of The Walking Dead series, scary as hell and completely engrossing. Developer extreme Skybound is going all out to make sure fans of the first game are just as (or even more) thrilled with this follow up and as this teaser trailer shows, a familiar face is back and set for some pretty intense times ahead…
Even better, PC gamers who pre-order the digital download of Season Two NOW get 10% off ($22.49 instead of 24.99) and get a collectors DVD at the end of the season just for the cost of shipping and handling. Very cool, I say. Current-gen console and Mac owners won’t be left out it seems, as the game seems to be headed to PS3, Xbox 360 and Mac as well. Guaranteed hit on anything it lands on, I bet. Commence the waiting period! Back with an update when it hits…
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Vampirella Gets Tooned Up For The New Year Thanks To Sideshow Collectibles
Growing up reading and collecting those Warren magazines she starred in, I don’t recall ever wanting so say “D’aaawwww!” (ever!) at anything Vampirella did, but THIS figure is so stupidly cute I couldn’t help myself when I clicked on the link in the email I got. Sideshow Collectibles has teamed up with Tracy Mark Lee of Electric Tiki to bring fans of that Girl From Drakulon this lovely 10.5 inch statue in a limited edition of 750 pieces, set for a January 2014 launch.
Naturally, pre-orders are being taken NOW and at $159.99 (with free shipping AND you can pay in installments if you so desire), this one’s geared for the core collector who wants something fun for that shelf, desk or airtight display case. Of course, there will be some fans who turn up their nose at this statue because they want a more SERIOUS Vampi, buy fear not, you elites… Sideshow is going to be taking care of your blood frenzy pretty soon, too.
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Mega Man Might Not Be Getting A New Game, But Music-Wise? He’s Quite Well Covered…
And of course, Capcom is being trolled harder since these announcements by “fans” who are more like nasty barnacles more than people who seem to “enjoy” anything the company is putting out on the game front these days. Yes, poor MM has been through some development hell lately (although he’s popping up in some interesting fan-made and professional non-MM game projects) and sure, you can scream at Capcom until you turn bluer than the Blue Bomber about anything else you believe they’ve done wrong since the Great Clock was first constructed. But, NO. You can’t poop on the work of these talented musicians that happen to be Mega Man fans as well who’ve worked an ass cheek or two off making music for your listening pleasure just because the Internet allows you to rant at your leisure (no matter how ignorant you sound)… Continue reading
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Two Reads From Dark Horse For The Scary Season…
Yeah, yeah… I know for SOME of you every day is scary, but get up and out in the sunshine once in a while and you’ll see that people aren’t SO bad after all. Then again, Halloween most certainly seems like a more than good time to stay IN after a certain hour in some places, so you’ve hopefully stocked up on food and drink, have enough TP to last a while and maybe some nice and scary movies queued up on your favorite device. Yeah, I know you still use that Betamax, so I was purposefully being vague in that previous sentence…
Now, If you’re a reader and like your things with words a bit on the scary side, you may as well venture out before it gets too dark and boogie on over to your nearest comics emporium just to pick up these two finely illustrated fright-filled tomes from the fine folks at Dark Horse Comics. Tales From the Crypt: The EC Archives – Volume 4 is a chilling collection of classic 1950’s horror from some of the best in the business back then and despite their age, the pre-Comics Code tales of terror and that excellently detailed art will have your eyeballs dancing in their sockets as your brain tells them to calm down so it can process that scary stuff it’s trying to also see.
“Feh!” you say? Followed by “Aw, how can some old smelly comic that’s older than my granny be SCARY?” and a smug “They didn’t even HAVE horror back then!”. Well there, dear troll child… let me give you a taste of things to come… Continue reading
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The Typing of the Dead Overkill Now On Steam: Shaky Hands May Actually Help…
…and some really BIG keys to type on if you’re really a scaredy-cat. Granted, Sega’s hilarious offshoot of it’s popular classic arcade game series is more fun to play for fast typists with nerves of steel who aren’t squeamish about a bit of digital blood and guts, but the game is fun no matter what your typing skills. Now, I’m from the two-to-three finger school myself (using more makes my hands confused because they all want to hit the same keys (stupid fingers!), but I’ve played the classic Sega Dreamcast game The Typing of the Dead with my untaught tapping skills and did pretty darn well.
Anyway, this gory great little game is on sale NOW through Steam for a measly $9.99 and yes, comes highly recommended if you’re camping out at home on Halloween and want something different to do besides the usual scaring the crap out of kids stalking your doorway for candy. Of course, in a perfect world, parents would get this game for their kids and keep them at home where it’s nice and warm, but hey – you can’t stop those little monsters from wanting to go on the prowl for free treats on NON-holidays, so I guess tradition wins in the end…
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Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut Out NOW On Steam AND GOG.com!
I think I’ve written MORE about Deadly Premonition: The Director’s Cut more than anyone else this year, so I can do this with my eyes stapled shut. Er, NOT type this post with my eyelids, as I’d be in enough pain already and please, I’d want to sanitize my keyboard first, you know. Anyway, Swery 65’s horror/adventure sleeper finally arrives on PC via Steam and (this just in!) gog.com, both at 10% off the $24.99 price for a LIMITED time with a ton of excellent Steam or gog.com exclusive content.
If you’re new to the DP experience, DON’T go in expecting it to look like some uber next-gen game (the resolution is higher, but your new 3D card won’t be taxed much pumping out those graphics) or blow you away with action straight from a non-stop FPS. DO expect a surreal, highly stylized game that surprises at many turns while being deeper on some levels you won’t even see coming (well, provided you didn’t scour the internet for hints and spoilers). This one’s strangely addictive and thanks to the included DLC, you’ll be spending many hours in Greenvale as York while enjoying that FK in your coffee. “Whatever the heck is FK?” You ask? Well, dear readers… you’ll need to play the game to find out. So go do just that, I say…
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WIN FREE STUFF! Killer Is Dead (Xbox 360) Download Awaits ONE Lucky Gamer!
HEY! Have you got a working Xbox 360 in your home? Good. ALL of mine have died and I’m not giving Microsoft another damned dime to fix them and I’m not replacing them with new models because I could use that money for something else. Like buying a PS4. So, you (Yes, YOU!) get to reap the rewards of my stubborn attitude with a FREE Xbox Live game code for Xseed Games’ Mature rated action game from Suda 51, developer grasshopper maufacture and Kadokawa Games Killer is Dead! So… just HOW do you get this fine FREE game from me, you ask? SIMPLE. First one to post below gets that code. Easy, huh. Well, not THAT easy, folks. You’ll NEED a US Xbox 360 and US Live Account, as this code is ONLY for the North American version of the game! Get it? Got it? GOOD! Now go get some, er ONE.
Fair Warning: This one isn’t for the kiddies, so if you win and you’re under age and your momma finds out and wants to throw your Xbox 360 in the trash, you deserve it. Don’t try to drag me into it, either. I’ll just be nice to her and agree with everything she says about your bad habits… ;^P
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Monster High: 13 Wishes Looks to Scare Up Some Halloween Fun on Nintendo Platforms
Although… it’s quite funny to me because some parental groups out there are more scared of Monster High than they are of actual bad things, blaming the hugely popular dolls for all the wrong things and in some cases, banning their daughters from even going near anything related to the show. Too bad for those eternal sourpusses, I say. Maybe they REALLY need to do some gaming to chill out for a bit and see that it’s not eeeeee-vil at all. Maybe they need to play Monster High: 13 Wishes out NOW exclusively for all current Nintendo platforms (Wii U, Wii, 3DS/2DS and DS).
This one looks like it’ll be simple and reliable platforming fun for fans of the dolls and yes indeed, I think I’d play this just because I like the unpretentious nature of the family-friendly licensed game. Okay, that sounded pompous, didn’t it? Hey, don’t let the “big” words scare you off now, I say. If you’re a fan of the girls, you’ll probably be giving this a by for that kid who wants it but then play it yourself once they’re asleep. Hey, we all need a guilty pleasure and if this keeps your head out of the fridge and out of that bowl of Halloween candy, it’s all good, right?
"DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!" 