More Rock Band 2 goodness tonight. I played a little bit of the game with two of my cousins, and we got to test out the drum kit. I still struggle a bit on Hard, so I may tone it down to Medium when going solo to give my feet and arms a rest.

A bit of advice that should be obvious…it’s best to try to focus on one instrument at a time. Unless you’ve got a mic stand, trying to sing while playing either the guitar or drums is going to be very awkward to do. My sister had to hold up the mic for me while I sang “Today” and played on the guitar. I’m pretty sure that wasn’t very comfortable for her. I had trouble keeping my eyes on both note charts as I played and sang, and only got three stars for that song for only performing “average” with both. Think I’ll just stick with the guitar for now…that’s the instrument where I’ve had the most practice.

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: drums, family, guitar, playstation 3, rock band, singing

I’m a year behind the rest of the world, but thanks to Santa Claus, I am now among the proud owners of a new copy of Rock Band 2. I had originally only put the RB2 guitar kit on my list, because I figured it would be really cheap, and because my sister doesn’t play PlayStation 3 that much. I wasn’t expecting to get the whole kit, complete with guitar, drum and microphone controllers. I’ll probably still wind up practicing on the guitar and drums, but I’ll leave the mic to my sister in the event that she does decide to play.

As you could probably guess, I got right to playing it an hour after everyone’s Christmas presents were opened. After trying out a few songs on Hard with the guitar, I moved up to Expert so that I could get some more fans, and an opportunity to obtain gold stars (you have to play well enough to score above the five-star threshold to get it). Just for laughs, I named my band “Scissors 61″, after a stupid-but-funny line from Metal Gear Solid 2. I think I may be a month away from completing the game, if I play it consistently enough. Time to get crackin’!

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: christmas, gifts, rock band

• Disney is reportedly going to purchase Marvel Comics for about $4 billion. Does this mean we’re going to start seeing a lighter-and-softer Incredible Hulk soon? Or maybe a stab at a Kingdom Hearts-style crossover: Marvel vs. Disney vs. Square Enix?
• Speaking of video games and sequels, I saw Professor Layton and the Diabolical Box and the Metroid Prime Trilogy out in stores today. Guitar Hero 5 hits streets tomorrow, and The Beatles: Rock Band invades on September 9. Needless to say, it’s going to be a busy next two weeks for video game retailers.
• Are you ready for some college football? The first week of games starts this Thursday. Penn State was ranked 9th in the preseason polls, and have a fairly light schedule this year, giving them a good shot at a meaningful Bowl game, if things pan out in their favor (preseason polls are pretty meaningless anyway…).

Category: Comics, Sports, Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: college football, disney, guitar hero, kingdom hearts, marvel comics, metroid, penn state, professor layton, random bits and bytes, rock band, square enix, the beatles

• So, three days after losing Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson, we’ve learned that infomercial pitchman Billy Mays died in his home today. I doubt this is going to get half the media coverage that Jackson’s death has (and likely will have for the next few days), but when my brother told me about it, he was in shock.
• At the flea market in Upper Darby today, I managed to score both parts of Kill Bill, the first eight episodes of Cyborg 009 (an anime series about a multinational team of cyborg that reminds me a bit of Astro Boy), and a few PlayStation 2 games, including Silent Hill 3 and Primal (the latter seems to be pretty cutscene-heavy in the first part of the game…I’ll see how that pans out as I play it). I wasn’t able to get any super-duper bargains this time around, but I’ll take what I can get.
• Thanks to this video of someone full-clearing “They’re Red Hot” (Red Hot Chili Peppers’ cover version of a Robert Johnson song) on Rock Band 2, I haven’t been able to get that song out of my head all day. I have the album on which that song’s featured, and I’m still wondering how the heck Anthony Kiedis was able to sing all of that in under one minute and not flub any lines.
• Speaking of Rock Band, I got past Rock Band Unplugged this morning. The only thing that stands between me and legendary status at the moment is the famed “endless setlist”, where I have to play and pass every single song in the game without interruption. Right after the credits rolled, the game gave me a message that roughly translated to “Good luck! You’ll need it!” For once, I agree with the damn game. This is a feat I’ll need to do on a Friday or Saturday night, as the work day isn’t long enough to give me sufficient after-work break time.

Category: Anime/Manga, Music, Shopping, Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: awesome, billy mays, celebrities, cyborg 009, dead, kill bill, primal, red hot chili peppers, rock band, silent hill, youtube

Six tiers in, and I’ve hit my first big roadblock playing songs on Rock Band Unplugged’s Hard difficulty. The drum track on The Offspring’s “Come Out and Play (Keep ‘Em Separated)” comes fast and furious right out the gate. It takes pretty nimble fingers to get the drumbeats down., as they alternate between single and double beats throughout every beat of every phrase. The other three tracks are pretty easy to handle (relatively speaking), but I think that was the first time I almost failed a song. With a sound technician backing up my band, I just need to play in London for a world promoter before I have a chance to try my hand at more of the OMG!-level songs (“Chop Suey” is one of them…good luck surviving the guitar track on Expert).

Category: Video Games
Author: WillyFourEyes
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Tags: fail, psp, rock band