Monday, February 1st, 2010
We stumbled upon an interesting article from USA Today that gives an overview of some Fender’s digital strategy. The No. 1 guitar manufacturer is embracing the Rock Band phenomenon (we noticed this trend in 2008) by trying to bridge the gap between the casual gamer and the beginner guitarist. The article is also interesting in that in gives some industry-wide figures on sales for last year.
Wednesday, September 9th, 2009
Just a little in advance of the game’s official release today, the New York Times published their review of The Beatles: Rock Band. They freakin’ loved it. In the words of Seth Schiesel, “it may be the most important video game yet made.” (Apparently Schiesel never played Lesiure Suit Larry.)
In particular, the Times loved the way the game is not only enjoyable, but the way is has “intergenerational cultural resonance.” (Traslation: Old people and young people will like it.) While the game follows the traditional Rock Band structure (players simulating instrument playing and singing), The Beatles: Rock Band brings rich “psychedelic dreamscapes” and of course the incredible Beatles music. If you were thinking about picking up a copy of The Beatles: Rock Band, this new review should put you over the top. With the software-only version starting at $53.99 on Amazon, how could you resist?
But if you still aren’t sure, check out the trailer.
New York Times Review of The Beatles: Rock Band
Sunday, August 16th, 2009
We’re old school here at Fretbase. When we want to play like Johnny Cash, we don’t turn on a video game. Rather, we pick up a Martin D-35 and start working on playing “Hurt.” But the tide is turning. According to Wikipedia, Guitar Hero has now earned more than $2 billion in sales worldwide and its popularity can’t be underestimated. And let’s be honest, once the Beatles started doing it you had to imagine a lot of major artists or their estates would start making their songs and likenesses available for games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.
So it is no surprise that we learned from Kotaku today that Johnny Cash will be featured in Guitar Hero 5. We hope the man in black isn’t rolling in his grave. If it is any consolation, it does sort of look like him in the video.
To see the video preview, see the whole story.
