So I was flipping through the San Jose Mercury News in order to see the comics, when I found an E3 Day One Recap (the Mercury News has shrunk to only three sections), and I thought I could get a blog post out of their column on E3.  Basically, they say three things happened at E3:

1. Double Fine Productions is Doing Something

Personally, I'm still a little miffed at how Double Fine totally ignored my resume, so I skipped over that part.

2. Beatles Rock Band

The Beatles reunited at E3 to promote Beatles Rock Band. This was the biggest picture in the article, becase most newspaper readers are over sixty.  Paul McCartney and his buddy Ringo Starr (who, I presume, wrote the song "There was a farmer had a dog / and Ringo was his name-o / R I N G O! / R I N GO") sang some sort of song together.  I am guessing that they did not use Rock Band instruments.

3. Project Natal

Not happy enough with the Beatles, Microsoft also brought out Steven Spielberg to promote Project Natal: their 3D motion sensor camera. "This is not about reinventing the wheel," Spielberg said.  "This is about having no wheel at all."  Spielberg, of course, is an old pro at driving without wheels, if anything is to be gathered from Indy IV.

The article went on to say that "Other companies have started to build on the idea of having gamers interact with games using natural movements and gestures, rather than punching buttons. Gamers can play Electronic Arts' 'Rock Band' and Activision's 'Guitar Hero'".  Yes, that's right.  Guitar Hero is a prime example of game which does not involve punching buttons in any way, shape, or form.

Yesterday, I went back to campus to give someone a birthday present, and I finally got to see this phenomenon known as "Guitar Hero Rock Band".  Apparently, it involves pressing five buttons when the screen tells you to.  Sort of like Dance Dance Revolution or various "follow the pattern" minigames we've seen over the years.  Only it comes with a fake guitar, which looks kinda cool.

Not only is there a guitar, but there's also a drum set to play, just like in Nancy Drew (at 4:30) or Donkey Konga.  Finishing off the band is the guy on a microphone, although I'm not sure what the microphone does.

I recognized about two of the songs they had on the set list, but that's to be expected, because I've only heard of those famous rock bands like Metallica and Areasmith and Rage Against the Machine and, um...the Beatles.  I know they exist, and that they're famous, but I have no idea what songs they play. So I wasn't a big fan of the song selections, but like I said, that was to be expected.

In conclusion, Guitar Hero Rock Band is an okay game, but it's not the game for me.  I'll stick to playing piano for my music fix. I might look into Wii Music someday, but Captain Eric warned against it, so I probably won't.

Let's talk about something I hate; Dumbasses.

Last Thursday, six teenagers were arrested at a New York supermarket, after robbing a woman of her cigerattes, and then proceeding to destroy a man's car. So, they've already got two strikes against him; the first for stealing cigs, who no one should be using unless they have "Solid" or "Snake" in their name, and the second; just look at this stud!

I don't care what his taste of music is, he's an absolute joke! But, sadly, the joke doesn't stop there. Apparently the teens involved with the robbery were "emulating" Nico Bellic, the main protagonest of GTA IV. According to the NY Post; They decided they were going to go out to commit robberies and emulate the [lead] character Nico Belic [sic] in the particularly violent video game Grand Theft Auto... These teens have difficulty separating fact from fiction, fantasy from reality . . . It was quite alarming... They were bored and they decided this was a good idea.

... ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?

Now, ok. I know there are some mentally ill people in this world, and sometimes, reality and fiction does blur. Something to do with some kinda voice in the head or something. But then I read the very last paragraph. Stop me if you've heard this one before: Police would not say specifically how they knew that the teens crimes were motivated by Grand Theft Auto, and not by some other motive. They said they discovered it during their investigation.

... Yeah. Don't get me wrong, what they did was still bad, and they still did it, BUT JUST BECAUSE THEY'RE 17/18 DOESN'T MEAN GRAND THEFT AUTO TOLD THEM TO DO IT. I mean, if not for that last paragraph, I wouldn't be in this hate filled rage right now, believe you me.

But let's discuss something that fills my heart with Joy. Harmonix announced Rock Band 2 today! And not only that, Rock Band 1 DLC will be fully compatable with RB2! That means the 50+ songs I've already picked up for my favorite fake instrument game will be all there for me to pick up when I buy my next favorite fake instrument game! Not only that, but it'll also work the other way as well. Even after RB2's release, all DLC released will be compatable with the orignal title. So, if you don't want to shell the money for the on disk stuff, you can still nail yourself all the goodies to come with the game spinnin in your 360 right now. Harmonix also stated that many changes and improvments in the Band World Tour mode would be coming forth for the better. Click the link for check out IGN's interview.

Not actually an RB2 screen, but we can pretend it is and fantise about the setlist now.

Harmonix also confirmed that RB2 will hit the 360 in September, acting as a timed exclusive until the PS3 and Wii releases a few months later. If you manage to add Shinedown's "The Sound of Madness" album to the DLC list, I may just place you in my favorite game company ever; At least until Nuts & Bolts comes out.

I love you, Rare!