Wednesday, November 21, 2007

The Romantics sue over 'virtually indistinguishable' cover in Guitar Hero '80s

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What I like about you, if you really know how to sue. The Romantics are suing Activision, Harmonix, and Red Octane over their song "What I like About You" in Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the '80s because -- and try not to laugh -- the cover of their song sounds too much like them! The Romantics want to stop sale of the game (their lawyers use the fancy term "enjoin") and want accounting of all profits from the game, along with unspecified "compensatory and punitive" damages. That's totally tubular dude!

The suit alleges that the cover of thier song used in the game is "virtually indistinguishable from the authentic version" and therefore would confuse the consumer. Ironically, if said consumer heard the song on the game and liked it, the version they would 99.9% be purchasing is The Romantics original version -- as cover artist "Wavegroup Sound" probably won't be found in the local HMV or on iTunes. We don't know the real technicalities of an issue such as this, but we're pretty damn sure that all corporations involved in the production of the title made sure to get the license to use it. So, yeah, um, dear rhythm game developers, for fear out of getting sued, please make sure all future covers you do for songs are really, really, bad.

[Thanks Qkthr]
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[via] Joystiq

Rock Band's satiric backlash begins

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Rock Band was bound to get the satiric backlash soon, because any game with this much hype has to. And if the writer's strike wasn't going on The Daily Show or Colbert Report would have probably done it by now -- but with those shows on extended hiatus, we'll have to accept Matt Downham's take.

Coming from a place of love, Downham tells his Rock Band tale. At first we thought he was some cub guerrilla marketing guy, but as the video goes on it's all about one fan's obsession and expectation turning to disappointment -- and rage.
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[via] Joystiq

Reminder: Rise of the Video Game starts tonight on Discovery

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Tonight the Discovery Channel begins its five-part series Rise of the Video Game. Part one goes from the 1950s to the early '70s. Dang, this thing should be on The History Channel. A new episode will premiere every Wednesday at 8PM. Discovery also has a poll on its site for the show to vote on "classic" games. Obviously the fanboys have taken over as New Super Mario Bros comes in first place over Pac-Man and Space Invaders.

The documentary definitely seems to be taking a highbrow approach to video games. So, go set your DVRs now if you'll be out or too busy watching Kid Nation (Lord of the Flies lite) or America's Next Top Model (Go Heather!).
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[via] Joystiq

Reminder: Win a $5K gaming PC from Falcon Northwest

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So, we're giving away this here gaming PC built by the folks at Falcon Northwest. Since they're the experts when it comes to building gaming PCs and we're the experts when it comes to asking obvious questions, we decided to combine our relative talents and present you with a short bit about a different component each day. We asked Kelt Reeves, CEO of Falcon Northwest, if the system's Intel Core 2 Duo E6850 3.0GHz was similar to our PC's 486DX2 processor. He replied: "Yes, very much so. I'm glad to hear your Falcon Mach V system from 1993 is still working for you. Oh shut up - what did you look like in 1993? Well this is the advertising-equivalent of our 'big hair days'. In 15 years our ads have gotten better."

So, that's the processor as relayed by comparing and contrasting advertising. Pretty fancy, eh? And here's your daily reminder to enter. Go to the giveaway post and answer the following question in the comments: What's your most embarrassing "big hair" memory? In 1993 we were rocking a Hypercolor shirt ... with matching Jams ... and braces. (Also virginity).
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[via] Joystiq

Critics: Hitman film more like Hit-meh

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Did you like that headline? Yeah, we did too. It's ironic, because if the critics weighing in on the new Hitman film are any bellwether, it's the only entertaining thing about the movie. Of the 25 reviews of the Timothy Olyphant starrer (released today) only 12% gave the movie a positive review. If you're not so much with the math, that translates to "Not good."

One of the few decent reviews comes from Daniel M. Kimmel, who says "There's enough intelligence behind it that you don't feel you're just waiting to hit the reset button," which is a video game metaphor so belabored we feel compelled to dismiss his opinion out of hand. Of the negative reviews, our favorite comes from Dustin Putnam who says "Abysmal in the extreme, Hitman is 100 minutes of soul-crushing nothingness." Wow, is it too late to pre-order tickets?
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[via] Joystiq

Unreal Tournament 3 on PS3 has gone gold, likely due mid-December

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PS3 owners can put their fears to rest: It looks likes you are going to get your hands on Unreal Tournament 3 before year's end. Epic's Mark Rein has just posted on the company's official forums: "We got news last night that Unreal Tournament 3 has been approved by SCEA and has been released to North American manufacturing."

Now, the big question is when you or Santa (wink!) will be able to get your hot/gloved hands on it. Rein says Midway will have a formal announcement early next week, but he guessed they "will start shipping the title to North American retailers on Monday December 10th and it could show up in stores as early as December 11th, but more likely toward the middle of that week."

Rein still isn't sure about PAL territories because of some localization issues. His best guess is that the the game will ship there in January or February.
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[via] Joystiq

Joystiq Holidaze: best of Black Friday

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dead rising
Stuffed full of poultry, pork, potatoes, pie and gravy you rise from your food coma dazed, angry, and ready to shop. It's still dark outside. Welcome to Black Friday.

We've trimmed the fat and cut the crap, bringing you the gaming highlights from the retail world's annual sale. Remember, the best shopper is an armed a prepared shopper. Use this guide to target the needs of your whiny loved ones, while avoiding bold-lettered traps (Joytip: It's no bargain price if you're cleaning out retail garbage). This year's sales favor Xbox 360 products, though there are valuable savings in the PlayStation 3 department. As for PSP? Not so much (actually, none at all). And only a few Nintendo-brand listings pop out (Joytip: Unless you're camping on the concrete, ignore Wii bundle listings; the console will be as scarce as ever).

This Joystiq guide focuses on brick and mortar retailers (Amazon's Black Friday listings are here) and only includes our recommendations. (Joytip: Each image is linked to additional information about the corresponding product). Please use the comments section to share additional deals you've discovered!

Continue reading Joystiq Holidaze: best of Black Friday

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[via] Joystiq

Amazon.com's great Black Friday deals -- including Wii supply

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Well look what we've got here, a nice list of Amazon.com's Black Friday deals that was conveniently left on our doorstep. The above photo reminds us not to venture anywhere near a retail space on Friday, but, darn it, we gotta shop!

Some of the highlights of the list are Halo 3 Legendary Edition for $80 (saving $50) and BioShock for $40 (saving $20). We've also been told that there will be an allotment of Wiis, but don't expect those to last more than [fill in insanely short amount of time here]. There are also a slew of other deals for every system, check out the full list after the break. Make sure to check Amazon.com on Friday for other deals and revel in shopping from the comfort of your home.

Continue reading Amazon.com's great Black Friday deals -- including Wii supply

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[via] Joystiq

Rock Band store accessories and the drum bag

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Harmonix's Rock Band store is mostly full of unnecessary merchandise, but there are a few things that might help in protecting your $170 "music platform." As the drum set taking up a square meter of real estate in the living room grows into an eyesore, the one handy thing the store has is the Rock Band drum bag.

The $50 drum bag is an easy storage solution when "company" comes over. Nobody likes the first question out of a new visitor during the holidays when they see the drum kit to be, "What the hell is that thing?!" There are also guitar and drum stick sleeves, plus new drum sticks and stickers in the store that are neat, but the drum bag does feel like an obvious solution to something that will be an issue in time. Disassembling the kit and putting it into a Bloomingdales Big Brown Bag just seems wrong. But if someone finds other DIY storage solutions we're all ears.

Gallery: Rock Band accessories

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[via] Joystiq

Rock the Halo theme free for Guitar Hero III tomorrow

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Like the Pilgrims and Native Americans breaking bread together, Microsoft and Activision are giving Xbox 360 owners something to truly be thankful for tomorrow: the Halo theme (MJOLNIR Mix edition, featuring fretwork by none other than Steve Vai) is coming to Guitar Hero III. Though the track was rumored to be included in Guitar Hero II (it wasn't) and fans took the situation into their own hands, making custom tracks (as evidenced by the video above), we have to admit we were more than a little disappointed learning it wasn't in the GH3 retail package. But now, thanks to the miracle of downloadable content, that wrong will be most certainly righted.

How much will the privilege of playing one of gaming's most beloved (not to mention most rocking) scores in Guitar Hero III cost you? How does 0 Microsoft Points sound to you? Download the track here and brush up before tomorrow.
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[via] Joystiq