40°

PlayStation Store Global Update 04/01/2010

Each week Sony brings PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable owners new content, add-ons, games and more. PlayStation LifeStyle catalogs the PlayStation Store updates for the major regions across the globe. Check back every Thursday to keep up to date with each week's PlayStation Store Update.

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playstationlifestyle.net
ftwrthtx5140d ago

I found a free Motorstorm dynamic theme on the UK store

130°

Rock Band Doesn't Need Plastic Instruments to Work

TheGamer Writes "Harmonix has proven plenty of times it can make Rock Band work without instruments."

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thegamer.com
Christopher489d ago

I mean, yeah, but was anyone saying otherwise? The fact is people liked the plastic instruments rather than pressing buttons on a controller. They enjoyed the simulated experience.

isarai488d ago

"Work"? No, but to be good? It's absolutely necessary. Not having the accessories is like playing a lightgun shooter with an analog stick sure it works, but one experience is completely unique and fun as hell, and other is torture trying to make do playing in a way it was never meant to be played

LucasRuinedChildhood488d ago (Edited 488d ago )

"trying to make do in a way it was never meant to be played"

I disagree. The accessories were a fun gimmick (and very marketable) but they were added AFTER the genre had been well established with games like Frequency and Amplitude (both also made by Harmonix).

The gameplay formula is different on a controller - there's a focus on switching lanes and contributing to all of the instruments.

Never played Frequency, but Amplitude and Rock Band Blitz were really good. I would love to get more of that kind of game. It's basically a different part of the genre, and stands on its own.

isarai488d ago

The insurmountable difference in popularity between Amplitude and Rock Band proves my point

LucasRuinedChildhood488d ago (Edited 488d ago )

Popularity isn't proof of quality. If it was, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now. lol. Our disagreement wasn't over which one is more popular. Amplitude and Blitz just aren't "torture" to play.

Rock Band 4 and Guitar Hero Live failed to revive their sub-genre, and Rock Band 4 caused Mad Catz to have to file for bankruptcy. Doesn't mean that instrument-based music games are bad.

It does mean that there's too much overhead and risk for anyone to take a gamble on a big budget game that needs instrument accessories now though.

For the genre to thrive, for now, it needs to do so without the instrument accessories. That's just a fact, unfortunately.

VR games like Beat Sabre (a new sub-genre) and traditional music games make more sense and are more viable right now.

LucasRuinedChildhood488d ago (Edited 488d ago )

*"If quality is always proved by popularity, then Harmonix wouldn't be making music for Fortnite now."

Yi-Long488d ago

I think CHEAP plastic instruments is THE reason why the instrument-genre ‘died’.

People invested in buying the game AND the peripherals, so the guitar, the dj-set, the drum, whatever, and the experience was absolutely fantastic. Great fun, great music, etc.

But then the instruments would break. A button would stop working, or your hits wouldn’t register, and that kind of hardware failure would end in you not being able to play the game as intended, and thus you not getting the scores you deserve.

So, now you had a great game, but a broken instrument, and nobody is gonna buy a new plastic instrument every 3-6 months in order to keep playing the game.

A solution would have been to release better quality instruments (obviously), at a slightly higher price, so you could have kept the new games coming and the genre alive, but sadly, that didn’t happen.

dumahim488d ago (Edited 488d ago )

The only issue I ever had with any of the hardware was the drum pedal on the original rock band set stared to crack in half. The reason I, and other friends I know who played, lost interest is they weren't putting out new tracks that we were interested in anymore. I think earlier this year I looked through the releases for the last 2 years or so, and there was maybe 3 songs I would have bought.

slayernz488d ago

Yeah I had this happen too with my drum controller, I ended up attaching a metal strip to it which fixed it up nicely.

sinspirit488d ago

Can it work? Yes. Does it compare? No.

monkey602488d ago

Bust a Groove, Gitaroo Man and Parrapa the Rappa were such good games. Neither needed any extra peripherals

Show all comments (20)
90°

Active Quest Episode 100: Our Favorite Games of All Time

Chris, Joseph, and Josh celebrate Active Quest’s 100th episode by discussing their favorite games of all time.

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activequestpodcast.com
100°

Please stop comparing video games to movies

"Many video games catch not only great commercial attention but remarkable critical attention as well. We have seen games like Heavy Rain, The Last of Us Part II, and even entries in the Metal Gear series described as fantastic interactive experiences, even heralded in the same way as Hollywood's greatest films.

I would suggest that not only is this an unfair comparison but also a harmful one. Video games, by their very nature, are an intricately different medium and should be weighed against one another rather than another form of media," Phillip writes for GF365.

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gamefreaks365.com
Fist4achin1260d ago

Yes, please stop. They're better than most hollywood drivel nowadays.

BLAKHOODe1260d ago

I think Hollywood films will becoming increasingly more like video games in the future, especially as the world embraces the "new normal" from the pandemic. It makes sense, as games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales showcase just how realistically we're reaching in graphical capabilities, as well as showcase extreme action sequences in spectacular ways. And as time goes by, it'll get easier and cheaper to produce such "art", as well as create new star "actors" that never age, never die, never complain, never gets involved in scandals, etc. Technology is amazing and we're only just getting a taste of what it'll eventually be.

sourOG1260d ago

No. Some games are like movies.

medman1259d ago (Edited 1259d ago )

No. For the money spent, a quality game provides far more entertainment value than a quality movie. Especially when looking at what is going on in the world, and how a studio can attempt to pilfer from consumers by charging 30 dollars for Mulan via streaming. Ridiculous. There is no comparison....games all day.