sephfire

http://kotaku.com/5317081/harmonix-msoft-will-filter-artist-music-uploads Okay, so they will be policing profanity and copyright infringement. Some of our rearrangements may be a bit of a grey area, but remixes and covers are probably still a no-no. Still, OCR artists' original work in Rock Band will be great. Not to mention the countless other bands that can contribute freely.

Yeah, I wonder how they'll handle that. There's bound to be a lot of submissions of tracks that aren't even close to rock. Guess we'll see. Also, I wonder how strict they'll be on the issue of remixes? Odds are, they probably won't allow them for legal reasons. But can you imagine playing the entirety Metroid Metal in Rock Band? My hearts skipped a beat typing that.

Harmonix just announced something huge: the Rock Band Network. Set to appear on the 360 this year and the other platforms sometime after, the RBN will allow anyone to chart and submit their music to Rock Band. So long as the music is yours (or you have the artist's permission), you can use the official Harmonix tools to prepare your song for Rock Band, create a note chart, and submit it to a team of Harmonix-associated devs for approval. You'll even get a percentage of the profits. More details, as well as a video describing the process HERE. This could be something amazing. We could be playing songs by OCR artists in Rock Band before the year is over. Spread the word to any bands you know!

In the end, I recommend getting both. I would choose an Xbox 360 over either of them, but I think they're all worth owning. So whichever one you buy first, I recommend picking the other up down the line, especially once all of these upcoming exclusives have been released.

Congrats on the new console then!

I didn't think it was amazing, but Resistance 2 previews did look pretty cool. Not a console-seller, but worth a look-see at any rate.

I don't play many of them outside of the Mario Kart type. That's usually how I am with sports games too: always favoring the "video-gamey" versions rather than the simulations. SSX, Mario Kart, NBA Street, etc. Let me go add those suggestions ...

I will attempt a PS3 list. I fully expect to miss a few, so please tell me what I skip. 1. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots and, by association, Metal Gear Online. MGS4 is a strong "conclusion" to the series and Metal Gear Online is great fun as well. 2. LittleBigPlanet is an extremely unique, adorable game. There's really nothing else like it right now. 3. Valkyria Chronicles is a great blend of strategy and shooter with a gorgeous water paint aesthetic. I'm still surprised by how well this game works. 4. Disgaea 3 is exactly what you expect from a Disgaea game. If (like me) you like the series, you'll love this. Otherwise, it probably won't change your mind. 5. Flower is breathtaking. I can't recommend it enough as a beautiful experience. 6. Killzone 2. Solid shooter, from what I hear. 7. Ratchet & Clank Future: Tools of Destruction. Described by quite a few people as a big reason to own a PS3. 8. Resistance: Fall of Man. Another solid shooter. Also, there's its sequel: Resistance 2. 9. Uncharted: Drake's Fortune is loads of fun. Imagine a really good Tomb Raider game, except with a male character and Whedon-esque dialogue. 10. flOw is simple, but calming. 11. Pixeljunk Monsters, a tower defense game with co-op mode. Lots of fun. 12. Pixeljunk Eden is rather difficult to describe, but very fun as well. 13. EchoChrome is great if you like mind-bending puzzles. 14. Noby Noby Boy. A game by the creator of Katamari Damacy that somehow manages to be 10x weirder than its predecessor. 15. inFamous, I hear, is pretty darn fun. 16. Heavenly Sword, not so much for its gameplay, but for its presentation. Great acting, great music and Andy Serkis. 17. Folklore didn't grab me personally, but a lot of people like it and it is definitely unique. 18. MotorStorm is a pretty fun racing game. Apparently, so is its sequel: MotorStorm: Pacific Rift 19. Wipeout HD is good too, I hear. And those yet to be released: 20. Final Fantasy Versus XIII. I don't need to say much here. 21. Heavy Rain, a murder mystery from the creators of Indigo Prophecy. 22. The Last Guardian, Team Ico's new game. 23. God of War III would have to work pretty hard to not be awesome. 24. MAG, an online shooter said to support 256 players. Army tactics, my friend. This could be huge if it works. 25. Fat Princess is a weird cross between Team Fortress, Capture the Flag and Animal Crossing. This might be the PS3 game I am most looking forward to. 26. Katamari Forever is apparently a tribute to the series. I don't know what that means, but it looks great. 27. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves looks to be everything that was great about the first Uncharted, but better. 28. White Knight Chronicles is a highly-anticipated RPG title. 29. Mod Nation Racers seems to be a Mario Kart clone with a cool track-building tool suite. 30. L.A. Noire is a noire-style game from Rockstar. Enough said, I think. 31. Final Fantasy XIV Online looks to be a spiritual sequel to FFXI. This may mean nothing to some, but to Tweek and I, this could mean obsession if they fix the problems FFXI had. 32. Gran Turismo 5 might also be of interest to you racing enthusiasts. On the whole, I think the Wii has more killer app exclusives at this point, but there's a lot to look forward to on the PS3's end. I expect they'll be pretty neck-and-neck. Not mentioned: 30. Kingdom Hearts 3. Every day this game isn't announced angers me.

They're really a completely different kind of shooter. I remember we all once had a long argument over whether the Prime series was really an FPS or a puzzle/adventure/whatever game. You do shoot a lot of things, but there's a lot more focus on exploring the world, getting past obstacles and building your arsenal with new weapons and abilities. Basically, do you remember what Super Metroid felt like? It's just like that. In 3D.

It really is a matter of exclusive preference at this point, and both consoles are pretty neck-and-neck with the number of good exclusives they have. PS3 If you've got an HDTV (which I assume you do, based on your interest in BluRay), you'll get a lot more mileage of the PS3 than if you didn't. I was pretty surprised how much I've enjoyed having the PS3 just for movies alone. It's my favorite movie player now. Killer exclusives include: LittleBigPlanet, Valkyria Chronicles, Metal Gear Solid 4. I would also personally suggest Uncharted, Heavenly Sword and Disgaea 3. The PS3 also has plenty to look forward to: Final Fantasy Versus XIII, God of War III, Katamari Forever, Heavy Rain, The Last Guardian, MAG and White Knight Chronicles. Also, Fat Princess. Wii The main benefit the Wii has going is probably that a lot of its killer exclusives are already out. Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess, Smash Bros. Brawl, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Mario Kart Wii, Punch-Out!!, Super Paper Mario, Boom Blox and de Blob. I would have included Metroid Prime 3, but you'll be able to buy the whole upgraded Trilogy soon, so might as well wait for that. Other games down the line include Mario Galaxy 2, A Boy and His Blob, FF Crystal Chronicles: Crystal Bearers, Metroid Other M, New Super Mario Bros Wii, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Cave Story (if you haven't played it already). Probably a Pikmin game, too. Animal Crossing: Wild World is fun if you haven't played an Animal Crossing before. And Wii Sports is still pretty fun too. Also recall the Wii's Virtual Console features. Tons of classics to be found in there if you don't own them already. But if you can't decide which set of exclusives excite you most and you can afford the PS3, I suggest just going with that. The Wii will always be there at a relatively cheap price point. And having a BluRay player around really is nice.

Yeah, I was at SCAD in Savannah a little while back. Now I'm living in the Athens area.

Yeah, I see what you're saying. I could see that sort of thing happening. Even in movies, you sometimes have to wonder if Hollywood threw in that pointless love interest just to get more women into the theater. I would argue that Final Fantasy 8 is criticized for more reasons than just emphasizing love story (the Draw system, the somewhat unlikable main character, etc). And it's not like playing up a love story is a sure-fire way to lose male interest. There are plenty of love story movies out there that hold our interest because they're just really good movies. If we had that level of storytelling prowess in our games, I don't think we'd mind a love story now and then. Heck, FF6 had a friggin' opera scene and we ate it up because we were so wrapped up in the characters and story. I guess I feel that, despite that possible downside, the gains would outweigh the losses. Bringing a wider variety of people onto a creative team lead to greater variety in the team's output. Everyone brings new experiences and perspectives. Not only would we see a broader range of stories, but new approaches to design, new aesthetics and new gameplay innovations. Still, I definitely understand your concern.

This is pretty reasonable, and you're not the only person to suggest this. I don't really want ALL games to become gender neutral. I wouldn't want to lose my Bravehearts either. Even with more women involved in the industry, I think there will always be room for "guy games." I'll stick with the film industry comparison. We've got a pretty decent male/female ratio going in that field, and there are movies for everyone. Guy movies, chick flicks and kids movies, as well as tons of movies that don't target anyone specifically. Movies don't have to be completely homogenized to suit a wide variety of tastes. But what if the movie industry was overwhelmingly majority male? Sure we'd have our guy movies and some women might even get into them along with us, but that industry's output would be significantly different. We'd see far less variety in the kinds of movies being made and stories being told. Over time, the industry might stagnate. That's kind of where I feel games have been. There are definitely games with universal appeal that have attracted both male and female fans (Sims, Zelda, etc), but there just doesn't seem to be much there to attract women to this medium. A lot of that might be the "Boy's Club" issue, but you see what I mean. One commenter on the video came up with a great analogy. Think about romance novels. They make up a small percentage of the books out there. They aren't for us. We don't have any interest in them. Now imagine if 80% of all books on the market were romance novels. We would feel pretty excluded from the novel world. That's probably what the game industry looks like to many women. In the end, I guess the main reason I want more girls getting into games isn't that I just want more girl gamers around. It would be fun having more girls around who liked our hobby, but that's just a minor issue. What I really want is to see more women involved in games, getting into the industry. Because that's a change that could really advance this medium. I really want to see the sort of games that industry produces. Wooooooooooorrrrds.

I liked her in Legend too. It was a pleasant surprise to see her become an interesting character. I haven't seen yet if Anniversary and Underworld continued the trend, but either way, I think most people (even most gamers, I'll bet) still think of her as Lara Croft: gaming's swimsuit model. Her reputation is just kind of solidified now. Shame, that.

Is that who she is? I just picked one of the only images I could find on Google that wasn't overly risque. My bad, I guess.

That could be pretty interesting. At this point, James is doing most of the topic-picking, but if I have any ideas on that one, I'll pass the word on to him. We've already got our next two topics picked and I'm already pretty excited about them.

That's mostly because my site is terrible and needs a complete redesign. I should put hers up, though. Good idea.

It's that time again. This time, we're discussing why more women aren't interested in video games. To assist in covering this topic, we have a special guest: Gamasutra's Leigh Alexander. Special thanks to AE for unwittingly providing end credits music and, as always, to CarboHydroM for my title theme. Enjoy!

Fun fact: Tim Burton studied animation at the California Institute of the Arts. His teachers included three of Disney's Nine Old Men and his classmates included John Lasseter and Brad Bird. That is a classroom where dreams are made.

This guy's stuff is awesome. Thanks for passing it on!

I don't know ... I think this is a case of preference. The inside of the tomb may have been so-so (I didn't dislike it), but XII's art design was no slouch job. There was a lot of detail in there.

All I know is that every time a new gaming interface is introduced, my first question is always: "What will this mean for lightsaber games?" And if Natal works properly, it could lead to one kick-ass lightsaber game.

I think PlayOnline makes FFXI private servers a little trickier to do. Maybe there are some out there, but I haven't seen any. I'd be all over it if there are.

I wonder what will happen to these online FF entries once they finally decide to take down the servers. It would be rather odd to have one of the numbered Final Fantasy entries just vanish completely. Deep inside, I nurse the hope that they will release a single-player modification of it at the end of the game's life. Or a kit for creating private servers. Or something. Pie in the sky. I know.

Every year or so, I get really homesick for Vana'diel. I switched to WoW years ago, but I have so many fond memories of FFXI. And then I log in and remember why I left. Always a bummer. If this game can capture the FFXI magic without the ridiculous tedium, I am 100% on board.