Microsoft’s karaoke game is coming out in a little less than a month and today we were given the track listing for what songs will ship on the disc. A few selections are predictable, but the inclusion of stuff like Radiohead’s “Fake Plastic Trees” was a nice surprise. Oh wait, I’d never play a karaoke game, so what do I care? Anyway, here are the songs.
- “Take on Me” by a-ha
- “No One” by Alicia Keys
- “Potential Break Up Song” by Aly & AJ
- “Complicated” by Avril Lavigne
- “Stand by Me” by Ben E. King
- “Irreplaceable” by Beyoncé
- “Call Me” by Blondie
- “With You” by Chris Brown
- “Yellow” by Coldplay
- “Personal Jesus” by Depeche Mode
- “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child
- “White Flag” by Dido
- “Mercy” by Duffy
- “Hungry Like the Wolf” by Duran Duran
- “Take Me Home, Country Roads” by John Denver
- “Ring of Fire” by Johnny Cash
- “Bleeding Love” by Leona Lewis
- “Lip Gloss” by Lil’ Mama
- “Superstar” by Lupe Fiasco (featuring Matthew Santos)
- “Makes Me Wonder” by Maroon 5
- “In Bloom” by Nirvana
- “Young Folks” by Peter Bjorn and John
- “Another One Bites the Dust” by Queen
- “The One I Love” by R.E.M.
- “Fake Plastic Trees” by Radiohead
- “I Wanna Be Sedated” by The Ramones
- “Stand” by Rascal Flatts
- “Umbrella” by Rihanna
- “Listen to Your Heart” by Roxette
- “Love Song” by Sara Bareilles
- “Soak Up the Sun” by Sheryl Crow
- “I’m Only Me When I’m With You” by Taylor Swift
- “Walk Like an Egyptian” by The Bangles
- “Over My Head (Cable Car)” by The Fray
- “ABC” by The Jackson 5
- “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic” by The Police
- “Love in a Trashcan” by The Raveonettes
- “Ladies Love Country Boys” by Trace Adkins
- “Island in the Sun” by Weezer
- “Bust a Move” by Young MC
I can’t wait to see the first video of some dorky emo kid busting out Avril Lavigne’s “Complicated” while pretending the whole time he doesn’t like it.
Once again Brad and I kick out a show where it’s just the two of us. Hopefully we can get the full Stupid Gamer crew together soon for a bigger and more involved show. I do my best rude guy routine and dominate the air time (sorry, Brad). Again, the sound isn’t perfect as Brad’s side came in low and my software is a little too basic for the post production to even things out. Stick with us fellas, we’re getting there and our recording quality will improve. Also, you’ll have to click the download link below to listen, because our streaming player is busted for the time being (podpress issue, not mine). The show was a good one, so enjoy! Here are the show notes:
- Snacks
- NPDs and news
- This week’s discussion
- The return of E3
- June 2nd-4th, possibly with public days later (unconfirmed)
- ESA will ease the admission restrictions a bit over what it has been the past 2 years
- The whole spectacle is expected to be back, ESA called last two shows a mistake
- Are we happy about this? Excited? Any thoughts and opinions
Links
IGN PC on Star Wars: The Old Republic – http://pc.ign.com/articles/922/922115p1.html
Newsweek on E3: http://blog.newsweek.com/blogs/levelup/archive/2008/10/20/scoop-expanded-e3-2009-take-place-first-week-of-june.aspx
Fable 2 is out this week and we’ll finally know once and for all if the game is all it’s cracked up to be or just another Molyneux overhyped piece of garbage (sorry, I’m still pissed about how Fable 1 was nothing that it was pushed as being by ol’ Pete). Far Cry 2 should also be raising interest with gamers this week, but BioShock on the PS3 is guaranteed to be the best shooter of the week. Wii Music is out, and it’s going to cause some pretty fun bickering on the message boards, keep an eye out for that. Here’s the rest of the (huge) list.
Xbox 360
- Fable 2
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles
- Far Cry 2
- Disney Sing It
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
- Dance Dance Revolution: Universe 3
- Legendary
PlayStation 3
- BioShock
- Rock Band 2
- Midnight Club: Los Angeles
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- Far Cry 2
- The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
- Eternal Sonata
- Disney Sing It
- Legendary
Nintendo Wii
- Wii Music
- SpongeBob: Nicktoons Globs of Doom
- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?: Make the Grade
- Penny Racers Party: Turbo Q Speedway
- Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game
- Carnival Games: Mini-Golf
- Disney Sing It
- Petz Rescue Wildlife Vet
- Jillian Michaels Fitness Ultimatum 2009
- Think Fast
- Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- Circus Games
- High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE
- The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
- Dancing with the Stars: Get Your Dance On!
- Backyard Football 2009
- Naruto: Clash of the Ninja Revolution 2
- Build a Bear Workshop: Fur Seasons
PlayStation 2
- SpongeBob: Nicktoons Globs of Doom
- Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game
- Disney Sing It
- The Legend of Spryo: Dawn of the Dragon
- Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- Backyard Football 2009
Sony PSP
- Midnight Club: LA Remix
- Crash: Mind Over Mutant
- Star Ocean: First Departure
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- Cake Mania Baker’s Challenge
Nintendo DS
- Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia
- SpongeBob: Nicktoons Globs of Doom
- Rock University Presents: The Naked Brothers Band The Game
- Back at the Barnyard: Slop Bucket Games
- Lovely Lisa
- Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?: Make the Grade
- Pass the Pigs
- Whats Cooking? Jamie Oliver
- Dancing with the Stars: Get Your Dance On!
- Ener-G: Dance Squad
- Mechanic Master
- Backyard Football 2009
- Spider-Man: Web of Shadows
- Tornado
- Touchmaster II
- Barbie Horse Adventures: Riding Camp
- Ener-G: Gym Rockets
- The Legend of Spyro: Dawn of the Dragon
- High School Musical 3: Senior Year DANCE
- Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell
- Transformers Animated
- Ener-G: Horse Rider
- Master of the Monster Lair
- Smart Girls Party Games
- My Baby Girl
SCEE announced today that LittleBigPlanet is being delayed so that they can recall each and every disc that has been pressed and sent to retail for sale. Yes, every disc is being recalled so that they can press new ones that will eliminate a sound track is only 2 seconds ong on 2 different occasions in a barely audible foreign language. So why the fuss? Well, apparently that little snippet contains “two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an” according to SCEE. Media Molecule prepared a patch that would have fixed the issue, but Sony is opting for a full recall so that those with limited or no Internet connectivity won’t be subject to such vile and dangerous behavior.
Kratos Sackboy is not happy.
Honestly, this is just stupid. The track itself was recorded by a Muslim artist, so I highly doubt it’s offensive in the least. I try to be as sensitive and tolerant as possible, but there are just times when people decide that making a fuss is their sole calling in life. This whole thing is stupid and anybody that thinks that delaying the game is warranted is either an oversensitive ninny or just plain idiotic. Whistle blowers, get a life.
Here we go, let’s start off with hardware and then move to the software top ten.
Hardware
- Nintendo Wii – 687,000
- Nintendo DS – 536,800
- Xbox 360 – 347,200
- Sony PSP – 238,100
- Sony PlayStation 3 – 232,400
- Sony PlayStation 2 – 173,500
Software
- 360 – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – 610,000
- Wii – Wii Fit w/ Balance Board – 518,000
- 360 – Rock Band 2 – 363,000
- Wii – Mario Kart Wii – 353,000
- PS3 – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – 325,000
- 360 – Mercenaries 2: World in Flames – 297,000
- Wii – Wii Play w/ Remote – 243,000
- 360 – Madden 2009 – 224,000
- Wii – Star Wars: The Force Unleashed – 223,000
- PS2 – Madden 2009 – 158,000
360 4/10 – Wii 4/10 – PS3 1/10 PS2 1/10
So on the hardware side the Xbox 360 was able to reclaim its lead over the PS3, thanks to a price drop, but Nintendo still holds the top two spots with the Wii and DS. On the software side of things, Nintendo and Microsoft are basically just mopping up the charts, but only one of the Wii titles on the list is from a 3rd party. The coming months will be very interesting as all the big guns will be rolling out from both the 3rd parties and each company’s 1st and 2nd party developers. Fanboys, commence fighting…NOW!
Some fine YouTube user has uplaoded some shaky cam footage of the BioShock 2 teaser. The game is going to be a prequel to the original BioShock, and I can’t wait. Here’s the clip.
Update: Sorry if the background music is too loud. I’m way too tired and way too lazy to fix that. Next week I’ll do better, mmkay?
Aaaaaaaand we’re back! Our 21st podcast is a offering up something new as I’m joined by a new co-host, Brad Mosbacher. Here are the notes.
- Running Time: 54:03
- Snacks
- News (TGS, BlizzCon, MS “Memory Upgrade Program”, MegaMan)
- Discussion Topic – Slow down the holiday releases!
- What we’ve been playing
- Closing comments
Links
- Master Chief Helmet – http://www.80stees.com/products/Deluxe-Master-Chief-Halo-Mask.asp
- World of Warcraft Costumes – http://www.anniescostumes.com/world_of_warcraft_costumes.htm
As always, due to the unscripted nature of the show, it’s a bit rough around the edges, but I wouldn’t have it any other way. You can stream the show right here, or you can download it for later. Thanks for listening, and remember, we love feedback!
The New Xbox Experience is coming in November and Microsoft has stated that it will require a minimum of 128MB of space for users to be able to download and use the new dashboard. When it was first announced, everybody jumped on Microsoft’s back and began to question what would happen to all those people who got suckered into buying the Core or Arcade versions of the 360. Well, to bail out the most thrifty of their fans, Microsoft has instigated a “Memory Upgrade Program” that will give owners of the gimped systems either a free 512MB memory card or a significant discount on a 20GB hard drive. If you choose the hard drive, it will run you $20. The details of the program can be found here: http://www.xbox.com/en-US/support/hardware/memoryupdate/default.htm
It’s really cool of Microsoft to offer up a free solution for people who went the cheap route to hop into the current generation of consoles, but it really shows how shortsighted Microsoft was when they chose to remove the hard drive from the 360 as a standard feature. Not only could developers not count on the hard drive being there, neither could the internal teams at MS. I have no idea how much this program will cost Microsoft, but here’s hoping that with the next console the hard drive is standard. Heck, even the Wii has more built-in storage than the 360.
Dead Space looks pretty interesting to me and it’s been said that it offers some pretty solid thrills and scares, so it might be worth checking out. From here on through the end of the year there will be plenty of play, and these posts will be much better week to week.
Xbox 360
- Dead Space
- Saints Row 2
- Blitz, The League II
- Golden Axe: Beast Rider
- Rock Revolution
- FIFA Soccer 2009
PlayStation 3
- SOCOM Confrontation
- Dead Space
- FIFA Soccer 2009
- Blitz, The League II
- Rock Revolution
- Saints Row 2
- Golden Axe: Beast Rider
Nintendo Wii
- Boogie Superstar
- Sam and Max: Season One
- Ten Pin Alley 2
- Avatar: The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno
- Bratz: Girls Really Rock
- Tak: Guardians of Gross
- Littlest Pet Shop
- Dokapon Kingdom
- Penny Racers Party: Turbo Q Speedway
- Safe Cracker
Virtual Console
- Secret of Mana (SNES)
- Street Fighter II: Special Champion Edition (Genesis)
PlayStation 2
- FIFA Soccer 2009
- Tak: Guardians of Gross
- Bratz: Girls Really Rock
- Avatar – The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno
- Dokapon Kingdom
- Nitrobike
Sony PSP
- FIFA Soccer 2009
Nintendo DS
- FIFA Soccer 2009
- Littlest Pet Shop: Garden
- Prey the Stars
- Bratz: Girls Really Rock
- Tak: Mojo Mistake
- Kage Densetsu: The Legend of Kage 2
- Cesar Millan’s Dog Whisperer
- Rock Revolution
- Lovely Lisa
- Battle of the Giants: Dinosaurs
- Littlest Pet Shop: Winter
- Littlest Pet Shop: Jungle
- My Japanese Coach
- Smart Girls Party Games
- Naruto: Path of Ninja 2
So yeah, one of my most anticipated games of all time is getting the money grubber’s treatment courtesty of Blizzard and Activision. In case you missed it, at BlizzCon this year Blizzard announced that StarCraft 2 was going to be split into three titles, one for each race. Yep, instead of paying $50 and getting all three campaigns in one package, like you did in StarCraft, you’ll now have to pay $50 for three seperate packages. In speaking with IGN, Rob Pardo, executive vice president of game design, said a few things about the decision. Here’s a direct quote from the IGN piece (bolded emphasis is mine):
“We really wanted to emphasize player choice a lot more,” he said. “We really wanted to tackle more of a branching storyline, [a] branching campaign; allow players to choose things like their own technology. And as we kind of developed [the game], we had to figure out how all there? How many missions do we actually need to tell an interesting story and what’s the player’s critical path to it? We have to make all of these tough design decisions about how this was going to work for us?”
“What we realized that whenever we put in the similar amount of content that we put in our previous games–as far as missions, characters, cinematics, things like that–it never really felt like the player had enough choice; it wasn’t really living up to what our hopes and dreams were at first. That’s when we realized we’re kind of at this fork in the road. We really have to make a choice. Do we want to back away from those philosophies? Or do we maybe just delay the game a lot and kind of do a little bit more? Or do we go for it?”
The whole quote is pretty circular and sounds like some dodging away from the obvious fact that this is nothing more than an attempt to milk the teat for all it’s worth. Yeah, maybe the campaigns are each going to be a bit longer, but do we really expect that each campaign will be as long as the previous StarCraft? That would be impressive if that’s the case, but somehow I really doubt it. Maybe I’m starting up the whining a bit early, but there’s no hiding the fact that it will cost $150.00 to experience the entire StarCraft 2 storyline. In a struggling economy, that’s a really steep tag to ask. I kind of hope that the strategy falls flat and gamers wait until cheaper 3-packs are available a year or two down the line rather than giving Blizzard and Activision the full asking price.
Click to enlarge.
What I’m guessing is that piracy on StarCraft 2 is going to be extreme. Gamers will probably buy the first title and find a way to get the other two installments through less than ethical means. I’m not advocating that, but I’m starting to understand why piracy is so much on the rise. You’re doing it to yourself, developers/publishers.
