25 Million Played Music Games In April

And that’s just US gamers.

Market research firm Interpret say that during the month of April more than 25 million people played either music or singing games.

Some other facts from their survey;

• People who play music games buy 67% more CDs
• They’re twice as likely to legally download a song
• Music game players are more likely to watch music videos online than the Average Joe (29% vs 15%)
• They’re also more likely to listen to music via a social network than Average Joe (45% vs 32%)

(more…)

Armin Van Buuren In The Mix

Foreign Media Games has released some more details about the upcoming DJ game ‘Armin van Buuren - In The Mix’.  Listed below are the playable modes as well as some concept art.

Tutorial

The tutorial explains the basic principles of the game. There is a step-by-step explanation of the concept of mixing and other basic DJ skills. This quickly prepares the player for the most important part of the game: the Career Mod

Career Mode

In Career Mode you follow the career path of the ultimate DJ; you start by spinning music in small clubs and, if you do it well, you can move on to spin at larger clubs, at festivals or even play in other countries! Give it your best shot and get tips from Armin van Buuren, who might even offer you a contract under the Armada label. You can perform at more than 30 venues in 15 cities worldwide. If your career takes off, you can earn more money, enabling you to purchase new and better DJ equipment, like new mixers, effect devices and similar.

More details and concept art after the break. (more…)

Scratch Hands On Preview

Destructoid interviewed Scratch: The Ultimate DJ publisher Genius’ Mike Rubenelli which included a hands on with the DJ controller and the game.

Video below, link to Destructoid article after the video.

Source:
Destructoid - E3 09: First Look at Genius’ Scratch

A Few More Confirmed Songs for Guitar Hero 5

Well, we know all of the artists and we’re just waiting on Activision to release all of the songs.  Why can’t they just release them all at once like Harmonix did with Rock Band 2?

Anyhoo…  the new song announcements are….;

• Love & Rockets – “Mirror People”
• Blink 182 – “Rock Show”
• Elton John – “Saturday Night’s All Right (For Fighting)”
• Santana – “No One to Depend On (Live)”
• White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”

Source:
IGN - Guitar Hero 5 Preview

Scratch The Ultimate DJ Artist Rumors and More

Scratch: The Ultimate DJ’s Website has been updated, and with that we have some speculation to share

Under the Scratch 101 > The DJ’s Section it has a listing the in game DJ’s with their favorite artists listed.  Seems to me that you wouldn’t claim a favorite artist unless that artist was in the game you were ‘alive’ in…   So.. here are the artists that were listed on the page;

• Tech N9ne
• Far East Movement
• RJD2
• Deltron 3030
• Beastie Boys
• The Knux
• Kid Koala
• Hollywood Holt
• Method Mand & Redman
• MF Doom
• Dr. Dre
• Eric B. and Rakim

Oh, and here are some Scratch videos to keep you occupied;

Guitar Hero 5 To Have Shirley Manson and Matt Bellamy?

According to a rating on the website for the British Board of Film Classification, we could expect to see Shirley Manson and Matt Bellamy as playable characters in Guitar Hero 5.

The BBFC website’s listing for Guitar Hero 5 indicates that both Shirley Manson and Matt Bellamy factor into some content in the game. From the description on the site, we would guess that it would come in the form of interviews. On previous Guitar Hero games it has been common to have an interview with someone who has done some motion capture to be an in game character.

Matt Bellamy is the lead singer of Muse, who have been confirmed to be a part of Guitar Hero 5, and Shirley Manson is best known for being the lead singer of the band Garbage, also confirmed for Guitar Hero 5.

Source:

BBFC - Guitar Hero 5 rated PG via ScoreHero

Paul and Ringo on The Beatles Rock Band

Paul and Ringo made a guest appearance during the The Beatles Rock Band Demo @ E3 and had this to say about the game;

Ringo:
The game is good, the graphics are very good, and we were great.

Paul
we love the game it’s fantastic, who’d ever thought we’d end up as androids?

Guitar Hero For PSP

(Not an actual product shot)

Activision had decided to stay away from E3 this year, but that hasn’t stopped them from using a time when all eyes are on the gaming community to make some noise of their own.  There was the DJ Hero demo, and of course Activision/Blizzards Investors Conference Call.

The big highlight from this conference call;

There will be a PSP Guitar Hero game that will feature a drum component.  I know, I know…  you were just thinking that Activision hasn’t released enough Guitar Hero games and now they’re finally pulling through.  Uh…

Anyways, that’s all the info we have thus far, but will bring you more as we get it.  We suspect there could be some announcements when the new PSP Go is revealed at E3 later today.

We can tell you however that bringing Guitar Hero to the PSP has been in mind for a while.  Sony Computer Entertainment’s John Koller said of the idea last year that

PSP is a lot different than your traditional handheld product and music is the number two use on the PSP, behind gaming. So, the marrying of those two concepts is of huge interest to us, and if there’s that opportunity to launch a title like that or even a new title that utilizes music in some way, then obviously we’re very interested.”

Activision also announced during the call that they will expand on the social networking component of the Guitar Hero series, whatever that means, noting that the music creation studio was just the beginning.

Picture Source:
http://www.mypsp.com.au/Post.aspx?id=10771

The Beatles Rock Band - E3 09 Debut Trailer

DJ Hero Demo @ Wiltern Theatre

The folks at Activision and FreeStyleGames threw a party last night to celebrate and demonstrate DJ Hero at the Wiltern Theatre.

There were definately some special guests including…

The Neversoft Band demonstrating Guitar Hero 5

DJ AM and Travis Barker made a special appearance.  Z-Trip was there as well.

As was Warren G

And to no one’s surprise…..

Jay-Z

And Eminem