Videogames this holiday season

Ken B. wrote:

I'm torn on the whole Guitar Hero: World Tour/Rock Band 2 thing.

I think it's stupid in one way that GH went with its own drum set. Incompatible with Rock Band because of the different layout. You could get both but who in the hell wants two sets of plastic drums in their house?

Yet...I think I like the GH kit more. The layout is much more like actual drums. The Rock Band drum kit is set up like tom toms and you just sort of accept that the right-most tom is a cymbal. Kind of weird.

And...I really don't like Rock Band guitars. They have a kiosk at Best Buy with the new Rock Band 2 guitars and they still feel "loose" to me in their strumming. Rapid strum passages are still hit or miss for me. I played through Rock Band on PS2 but I did so with a Guitar Hero guitar, and it worked MILES better. I never picked up the drum kit, just a USB microphone so all our Rock Band was a three-man jam sans drums. I want drums though so I'm going to have to choose one way or another.

But...I like the Rock Band 2 songlist and features better, including the party-friendly "no fail" mode (because let's face it, your friends suck at these games and always cause the band to flunk out about two minutes in). GH:WT has a song creation mode but they clipped the balls off it by not allowing you to lay down vocal tracks for it.

Decisions, decisions. If there were just one standard drum kit, there would be no need to make the decision--just get the whole kit for one of them and grab the other one. I guess I could still do that but then it would be back to "no drums" for one of them, and that would suck.

Rock Band 2 is a much better game. The song list may not be as pleasing to everyone but the game is simply more fun to play and that's really what matters. I, personally, LOVE the song library of RB2. Plus, I've imported ALL my RB1 and DLC tracks into it as well. It's seriously a total blast to play.

For compatibility questions, check out this AWESOME chart:
www.joystiq.com/Instrument-Compatibility-Matrix/#Xbox360

What system are you using, Kenneth? Cuz for the 360, we have some serious cross-compatibility going on. My RB drums work with everything. The GHWT drums will work with RB2 too.

I agree the RB guitars aren't great. The 2nd one is much better but still not fantastic. My personal fave is the Guitar Hero 2 controller. I have two of those and 1 RB1 guitar. The GH2 guitars are fantastic.

Anyway, I think you should get RB2 special package (with the improved drums and guitar) and RB1. You'll be a happy mama. You're gonna need a 2nd guitar anyway, so you can buy the one you like best (GH2, GH3, whatever)

Whichever I choose, it will be the Wii version.

The Wii GH3 guitars are freaking SLICK, man. My brother has one and that thing plays like a dream--super responsive, completely wireless, uses the speaker built in to the Wiimote...smooooooooove.

Right now, I've got: Guitar Hero 1, 2, Rock the 80s, and 3. I also have Rock Band. All of those for the PS2. I have a GH1 and GH2 guitar and a USB mike. What's sad is I'm tempted to go buy World Tour for PS2 as is (even though I know it's a stupid thing to do) just because I could drive over to Best Buy right now and buy it.


Probably best thing to do is get the Guitar Hero World Tour kit and also get Rock Band 2 and hope the compatability thing works out. But if what you're saying is true I need the RB2 drum kit to have better compatability for both games. But the Rock Band guitars SUCK.

See the problem?

I picked up Fallout 3 last night and started to play it for a little while. It seems pretty good so far. The eye candy in the game is pretty incredible. It actually felt like a post-nuclear wasteland. The game play so far is pretty good although there are a couple of things that are a little confusing about it. Can't wait to play it a little more.

You know what's rockin' my VC world right now? DEVIL'S CRUSH. Good god, that's a fucking awesome pinball game. Download now.

I'm also playing YS BOOK I & II...it's weird, kind of like a weird cross between ZELDA and a non-random ROUGElike. It has that goofy, esoteric charm that games used to have.

I have NO MORE HEROES, Benny...it's pretty interesting, kind of like a Miike picture. I dig it, but I haven't at down to beat it yet. Killed Death Metal though, that was good times.

As for the ROCK BAND thing...RB2 is great. I'll challenge all comers to vocals on "Hungry Like the Wolf" or "Ballroom Blitz". I think the songlist is really damn good, but I still think it needs less fucking WHITE PEOPLE's music. Why not put some freakin' Sly and the Family Stone, James Brown, or Parliament on there? Al Green's "Love and Happiness" would be SO bad ass on there. As it stands, it's all WHITE PEOPLE music, and that's a shame.

We'll probably be playing GHWT next week...it has a good setlist it looks like, pretty chuffed to see "Pretty Vacant" and "Kick Out the Jams" (yeah!) on there. I'm also gettin' ready to pull vox on the At The Drive-In track, "One Armed Scissor". Judging by my RB2 performance of "She Sells Sanctuary" I don't know if I'll be able to pull off "Love Removal Machine".

The RB guitars do suck. Fortunately, I get to play as a member of Frank Branham's Swamp Castle Jugband and Blues Revue and he has a mad setup- the big $300 drum set (played MASTERFULLY by his wife Sandi) and customized, Frank Branham tweaked guitars. He just got some new guitar (looks like a Strat with a sunburst finish) and it's great- best strum bar I've played on. I'm really more of a bassist though when I'm not singing.

Black Barney wrote:

2. Portal: Still Alive

I'm only halfway through the extra levels on this one, but I'd recommend it if you enjoyed Portal. You have to re-run the entire original game, but that isn't too much a chore (I did it in 1:32.) The extra levels are a challenge and so far once I've gotten done with them I slap myself on the forehead simply because I didn't see the simpler way of doing things right offhand.

cool, thanks.

Here's my updated want list for video games:

1. NHL 09
2. Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved 2
3. James Bond: Quantum of Solace
4. Portal: Still Alive
5. FIFA Soccer 09
6. Fable II

I started Fallout 3 last night (amazing) and preordered Gears 2 already

I got Dead Space for my birthday today, haven't got to play it yet (I also got the Dead Space animated movie which should be good) I am greatly looking forward to giving it a shot. The next game I'm really, really, really looking forward to is Empire Total War.

Oh, and what's the scoop on SPORE? Any good? Pros/cons? One I'd been eyeing...

God help me I have fired up Diablo 2 again. The Median 2008 mod is really well done.
I don't think I've ever seen another video game with legs this long. Diablo 2 will last forever, possibly even past Diablo 3.

I've heard bad things about Spore. Basically a bunch of shallow minigames. The only minigame with any depth is the "Space" stage but even that has a lot of limitations.

But that's just what I've been hearing.

I heard the same story from the guy down the road gary. He wasn't impressed.

On another note, Mirrors Edge demo was super cool, I recommend non-wii folks download the demo.

It's basically a lot like Prince of Persia in first person with a dystopian future setting. It's hard to describe it any better.

Also, Gears of War 2 is coming out this friday. To say I'm excited would be a massive understatement.

Gears of War 2 is completely fucking awesome. The single player campaign and story is good too.