Monday, June 08, 2009
ROCK & ROLL RULES AT E3 GAMING EXPO
on Rolling Stone
Submitted: June 8, 2009
After two mellow years, annual videogame conference E3, which attracted some 41,000 visitors last week in Los Angeles, saw a welcome return to the scantily clad booth babes, pounding speakers and sideshow atmosphere of yore. Between pre-show performances by Eminem, Jay-Z, Natasha Bedingfield and Travis Barker, cameos by Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, and several high-profile debuts (see Guitar Hero 5, The Beatles: Rock Band), fans were treated to a virtual Woodstock’s worth of cutting-edge musical material.
Sparser crowds, one less convention hall and a truncated exhibitor list couldn’t keep away audiences fiending for a peek of this and next year’s hottest high-tech outings. Fans’ enthusiasm wasn’t just rewarded with hands-on glimpses of dueling disc jockey simulators DJ Hero and Scratch: The Ultimate DJ either. (Both sporting custom turntable controllers, with the latter touch-sensitive, featuring five buttons linkable to USB microphone-recorded custom samples and co-developed by real-world deck manufacturer Numark.) Karaoke title Def Jam Rapstar, which sees amateur MCs rapping along with Kanye West, T.I. and Young Jeez —, and lets players form crews or share 30-second videos of performances — also made its first public outing.
Ditto for Guitar Hero: Van Halen, featuring simulated versions of Eddie, Alex, Wolfgang and Diamond David Lee Roth alongside 25 classic tracks like 1984’s “Panama” and “Jump,” which made a surprise showing at Sony’s booth. Visually and technically on-par with Guitar Hero: Metallica, its soundtrack will include contributions by 19 additional artists such as Queens of the Stone Age, the Offspring, Foo Fighters, Weezer and Blink-182. Sadly, no instant jump in/out of song or mid-tune instrument swap advances will be offered, as in GH5. In addition, “three signature Eddie Van Halen guitar solos” will appear within the game.
Also making cameos were a cavalcade of sing-along outings allowing aspiring vocalists to channel their inner Freddie Mercury or Chris Martin. SingStar: Queen, coming August 18th for PlayStation 3, offers more than two dozen tracks (20 on a downscaled PS2 edition) from “Fat Bottomed Girls” to “Another One Bites the Dust.” Voice recognition features let you browse highlighted tunes or purchase more via digital download by speaking into the mic, with performance videos ready for upload and sharing online. Rival Lips: Number One Hits for Xbox 360, packing a more contemporary set list including Coldplay’s “Viva la Vida,” Rihanna’s “Disturbia,” and Timbaland/OneRepublic duo “Apologize,” is set to follow in October.
