Rock Band Gets Keyboards, Guitar Hero Gets Hard Rock. FIGHT!

The battle of the band simulators just got interesting. Rock Band 3 Vs Guitar Hero 6 looks set to be the most epic plastic axe face-off ever, bigger than RB1 vs GH3.

In the RB corner, we have two massive additions (in terms of importance and price, no doubt) in the form of three-mic harmonies, lifted from The Beatles RB and keyboards. Yes, keyboards.

A recent Xbox 360 Green Day Rock Band demo hinted at the inclusion of keyboards with a little monochrome keyboard symbol along with the usual drums, bass, guitar and (three) mic symbols – all alongside a jagged, Rock-Bandy 3. Harmonix haven’t officially confirmed it, but it doesn’t take a Science Genius Girl by Freezepop to work out that the keyboards are coming to the next proper Rock Band.

What could this mean exactly? Well, a much needed reinvigoration of a stagnating music genre for one. And secondly, Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. If the epic seven-minute wonder is in RB3 and playable on keyboard, expect sales to fly like a rocket ship soaring through the sky (yes, I know that’s Don’t Stop Me Now, which would be equally welcome).

This brings us to Guitar Hero 6’s response. Well, it’s going to have to be big, isn’t it? Well, the setlist which has so far been confirmed by an Official Playstation Magazine UK leak isn’t so much ‘big’ as eye-wateringly, head-bangingly massive. Dragonforce are back, and Slayer, Megadeth, Metallica, Ozzy Osborne and Children of Bodom have come to join them. Oh, and it definitely has Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody (except without the keyboards, we assume). It’s going to be epic.

Activision’s response to Harmonix’s ‘ultra-realism’ band sim (they are, apparently, going for a more realistic approach to RB3) is to make Guitar Hero an axe-shredding, finger-burning cavalcade of killer rock again, like it used to be before they sold out and started putting in Coldplay.

That means no more turgid pop-‘rock’, no more teeny-bopper indie bands (that’s what Band Hero will do now, apparently). GH6 is going to be Guitar Hero III – The sequel, like everyone wanted World Tour  to be. It might still have full band support but the focus is squarely on guitar riffs and screaming solos.

Thus, we have two very different approaches to the music game genre from the two largest behemoths in gaming – EA and Activision. The original Rock Band sold like hot cakes despite GH3 having been out at roughly the same time and selling some 12 million copies in the face of EA’s full band sim (whereas GH3 had only guitar or bass support). This would suggest that there’s room for both in the crowded genre – but that was years ago when the phenomenon was still exploding.

Whether people opt for Harmonix’s super-real, keyboard-toting, all-in-one band sim or Neversoft’s monster rock and metal fest with a killer guitar setlist might decide the direction of the industry for years to come.

I’ll have one of each, thanks. It’s like Gran Turismo V Burnout – If they both keep to their own identities rather than ripping off each other, there might be room on gamers’ shelves for two new rhythm action games this year.

And really, who saw that coming?

ModNation Mindblowing

It's brilliant. Fantastic. Great.

That's all you need to know about Sony's latest Play Create Share title - the LittleBigPlanet of the racing world.

But in case you do want to know more, here you go: It's better. A bold statement - certainly - but it's true. In just a few hours, I've created a couple of genuinely fun-tracks, three karts (with 'Eat My Dust' on my rear bumper) and a bunch of celeb mods. The internet, too, has delivered. No sooner had I checked the servers was my hard drive teeming with pixel-perfect plumbers, bending units and villains (that's Mario, Bender and The Joker). I even found a Monaco F1 track (a free cookie for anyone who can recreate a Wipeout circuit, by the way) - and the game hasn't even hit US shores yet. I can only hope Sony doesn't start deleting the copyright-infringing content, because it would be a huge disservice to the extraordinary level of cartoony realism that can be crammed into every 'Mod'.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to rip off Mickey Mouse, build a Bugatti Veyron and maybe, just maybe,  even race.

Sony to give away free games on a premium PSN model

That's right, E3 is coming up. Which also means that the rumour mill has gone into overdrive. Aside from a supposed quad-core, cell-based PSP2 powerhouse portable set for 2011, the other big 'leak' (take it with a grain of salt) is the arrival of a premium PSN at this year's E3.

The rumoured features include a spotify-like music streaming service, which will also play in the background of games and one free PSN game every month for subscribers to the new premium model - free for only £50 per year.

What suprises me here is that people across the internet are already being pulled in by the marketing spin. Ooh ooh! A free game every month! Well it isn't free, is it? You're paying for it in the subscription charge. The beauty of the model - from Sony's point of view - is that you PAY to get 'FREE' stuff. The other extras, like a music streaming service, will cost a little for Sony to set up, but then next to nothing to run in the long term. Similarly, bonuses which we might get (purely speculation here) like giving new features to premium users, or updating premium user's PSN store a day earlier, again would cost nothing to Sony. It's just a gimmick to ensure that Sony can pull you into spending a dedicated amount of money on PSN every year - i.e., to ensure they make money, while pretending that you're really getting stuff for free to pull you in, and your wallet out.

And do you really expect the 'free' games to be top of the line ones? No, they'll be games over a year old and under £5 each when bought normally, anyway.

Don't believe the spin, is all I'm saying, if Sony really do bust out this pay-for-PSN model at E3 alongside the current free service.

Having said that, if Wipeout HD sells a few more copies thanks to giveaways under such a model, I'll be signing up. If you can't beat 'em and all that.

(Thanks to VG247.com for bustin' out this rumour).

Guns don't kill people, violent games do

Have you ever wanted to stab a man? Maybe you’re not a blade sort of fella; perhaps gunning down a group of helpless pedestrians on your nearest pavement just because you can, just to see quite what this murder lark is all about, before you hurtle your Ferrari, new-car smell still lingering, into the nearest wall/river/yawning chasm, is more your thing.

Probably not, though. Most of us would be horrified at the thought of such monstrous, inhuman behaviour. It just wouldn’t be polite, frankly. But more importantly, because we know there are consequences. That man had a wife and kids. He had dreams, ambitions. He was scared of bees. Similarly, that Ferrari took a group of underpaid Italians weeks to watch the automated machines to make, cog by cog. Wrecking it would be like licking the Mona Lisa clean – tragic, inexplicable and pointless.

That’s real life, though. What about in games?

Games are not real. Regardless of what Jack Thompson (that guy who hates GTA), Barack Obama or the BBFC (those stiffs who slap 18 symbols on our games here in the UK, along with PEGI) might have told you, the guy you just ran over on Liberty City’s grimy ‘street’ isn’t real. He didn’t have thoughts, feelings or a family to go home to. In fact, he’s the same guy who was in the gun shop a minute ago – and I swear he just came back from the dead and is now walking around the park without a care. In short, he was a just a bunch of polygons, duplicated ad nauseam. It doesn’t matter that you just checked your tyre pressure on his legs.

But that’s not how the government, angry mothers and the media seem to see it. Games, to these groups, are sick, depraved filth causing our youth to turn into violent yobs, stabbing everyone they meet for kicks because they saw it in Call of Auto 6: Generic Subtitle.

It is, quite simply, ridiculous. As a society, we’ve gone – in just a few hundred years – from ‘children’ marrying at 10, being industrial slaves by 12 and fighting wars by 16, to a bunch of mollycoddled fatties who might be influenced by the ‘horrific’ scenes in the latest shooter – so terrible that they’ll obviously cause an entire generation to run into the streets and overthrow society one pistol round at a time. By that logic, the 1980s should have seen a sudden uprising of sickening turtle stampings, ghost persecution and Italian u-bend menders eyeing apes suspiciously.  Violent games don’t modify children’s behaviour any more than watching darts makes us all fat beer drinkers.

Games are an arena in which we can live out our wildest fantasies; driving obscene race cars, saving the hot girl and shooting the bad guy. But they are also – and this is something that some people will simply never grasp – consequence-free simulations in which we can let our darkest curiosities play out; stealing a cop car, causing a 10-car pile-up and yes, mowing down every Tom, Dick and Harry in the latest ‘sandbox’ city just because.

After all, better that than on a real street; with real people, with real families. We can’t hide away our healthy desires any easier than we can our slightly psychotic thoughts (“let’s see what happens when I minigun that helicopter”), but we can at least have a place that we can explore both sides of our psyche without causing problems.

After all, parents shouldn’t be letting their children play these games anyway. They’re sick, violent, and they’re all mine. The difference is – I’m over 18. I understand where gaming ends and reality begins. Parents need to understand that they have the responsibility to protect their kids until they are old enough to realise, too – whatever age that is in each case.

Now pass me the pad; I’ve got this sick idea.