The K Gurn Special

The other night a few of us headed out for some food and adult beverages at Landmark. Apparently it was Rock Band night, so of course we had to join in. This video is of Dani California with myself on drums, podcast regulars Brian and Stephen on guitar and bass, and our friend Ronnie on vocals. The video is mostly Ann giggling and Zac heckling us.

He Really Broke The Pedal

My Rock Band drum set has been resurrected. Thanks to Pedal Metal the nightmare is over and brighter days are ahead. This comes right on the heels of the announcement that full albums are starting next week with Judas Preist's Screaming for Vengeance. It should be fun to get back into the drums to break up this mini late April cram of games.

The Decline Of The Rhythm Game

Have we reached the summit of rhythm gaming? Have we ventured to the top of the viking metal mountain and now we look down on a rockier road full of dead plastic guitars?

I think we have seen a flawless (cough) progression through rhythm gaming that got better and better. Lets take the uphill climb. Pa Rappa, Um Jammer Lammy, Frequency, Gitaroo Man, Amplitude, Donkey Konga, Guitar Hero 1, 2. This is where we were a year a go. Loving Guitar Hero 2 on 360 and thinking it was only a taste of things to come. And it was. But for as much innovation and popularity that Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band have brought us, they are officially the top of the mountain and the first games to introduce problems into the genre.


Guitar Hero 3 was everything you could of wanted out of the 3rd game... on paper. It had mostly all master tracks, hd- graphics, online, and wireless guitar. But after a few weeks of heavy metal shredding and enjoyment, the beer goggles came off and a few problems became evident. Characters were lame, models looked weird, online works... but what fun is it without being in the same room.

Rockband had a similar feeling after a while. This game is amazing, I mean amazing, but I need 3 friends to commit to playing the same instruments every-night for the next month to keep it fun.

And that is where I am right now. Guitar Hero 3 seems is wear I wanna be when I play alone but the songs and graphics really lack at this point compared to Rockband. But then when I want to shred in Rock Band I quickly drift back to earth as I realize this game this game is much less fun with one guitar.

This problem of which to pick and neither satisfying my full urge to tear ass, is the first in what I feel will be many many more dissatisfactions with the series. The music is getting less and less impressive as most of the best rock songs have already been used and the music pool with drain up eventually. As for new music being debuted on Rock Band, I think this is only a good idea in theory. People are always hesitant to spend their virtual change on things they are not familiar with. (Frogger is a top seller on XBLA) With band oriented games on the way and more product placement in the games, it feels like the best days are behind us. Sure we can still find some fun in the Aerosmith game and more songs in the future, but I think the instal thrill has defiantly worn off and we need innovation to propel the genre at this point. We are at the mercy of Harmonix now to tell us what is cool and see what the next trick they have up their sleeves.

Rocked

Currently looking for suggestions for how to fix my broken Rock Band bass pedal. Our friend Chadwick was rocking out just a bit too hard to Dani California on easy, and the damn thing went crunch. This has caused me to spiral into a deep depression. Luckily for me Brawl should be in my hands in a matter of hours and I'll forget about the incident completely. Expect many, many, many posts and such on Smash Bros. Brawl in the coming days, weeks, and months ahead. Time to stock up on controllers, batteries, energy drinks, and legal pads. My excitement for Brawl at this point shouldn't be legal.

Legends of Rock Heroes in Paradise at Twilight

I gave myself a rather large gaming task list today. Finish Twilight Princess, get 80% completion in Burnout Paradise, beat the solo guitar tour on hard in Rock Band, and finally bang out as much of No More Heroes if time would allow.

The first task I decided to bang out was completing the solo guitar tour in Rock Band. While Rock Band's guitar difficulty doesn't touch Guitar Hero III, things can get a little rough at the end. The final song Green Grass and High Tides by The Outlaws is quickly becoming a new favorite of mine with its two really long and quite frankly pretty insane solos. This of course rewarded me with a respectable 90 gamerpoints and a golden guitar for my efforts. Status: Complete

In Burnout I have begun working on banging out some of the road rules times around the city. While I am starting to narrow down my options there is still way too much to do in Paradise City (EA talking about DLC will only help this statement). I have 44 events until my burnout elite license, around 20 some billboards, lord knows how many smashes, and just about every showtime left just waiting for me to stamp on my license. With that said I'm sitting at around 77%. Status: Currently playing

This brings us to Twilight Princess, which I can now safely take off of games I need to beat. I was a little late to the party, but I still had a good time. That said it didn't win over my heart like some past Zelda games. The world of Hyrule feels like an after thought with very forgettable characters and areas. While there are a few dungeons that keep you on your toes, I found most of them a little slower than I'm use to, with boss fights that didn't really get going until the very end. With all this said it is by no means a bad game, its just not a step forward for the series in my opinion. Twilight Princess feels like a game that was made for those that didn't bother to play Wind Waker because of its cel-shaded graphics, when I for one believe Wind Waker is a much better game. Status: Accomplished

I didn't get too far into No More Heroes today, but I have enjoyed it for the most part so far. The combat is extremely fun, and Travis Touchdown is earning a spot in my heart of hearts. The Wii remote finishing moves help keep the repetitive nature that you find in most action games fresh. The characters in No More Heroes are equally as fresh, if not more so. Each assassin has a style all their own, and Travis is never short on words. Some of the drawbacks to No More Heroes are that the open world isn't very appealing. With so much style in the story and the characters, I wonder if it is on purpose that the world is so bland in order to make them stand out more. Either way it just doesn't look nice to the eyes, and the side missions are really just a way to draw out the length of the game between missions. Hopefully I'll be able to have a full review sometime this weekend or early next week. Status: 8th ranked assassin

It was a great day to catch up on the games I've had sitting around (no car for a day will do that). With what seems to be a gap from here until mid March, I thankfully won't get backed up anytime soon.

Max Wishlist: Rockin - Rodeo

Late last week Gurney through up his pic for most wanted rhythm game song, and today every other damn blog on this lemmings hill known as the internet, had their pics. Wow. Any how, here's the Rockin Rodeo Core RunDown that is: Max's Rhythm Game Wishlist. Please enjoy this tool and then hit the breaks for the real jams




Every Time I Die - We'rewolf
MiniBosses - MegaMan 2
Pretty Girls Make Graves - Speakers Push Air
Protest the Hero - Sequoia Throne
The Darkness - Permission to Land (THE WHOLE BLOODY ALBUM)

Pleasure!

Few things bring a bigger smile to my face than thinking about Brian Mihaich screaming Pleasure during our first night of Rock Band. So when the birthday money came rolling in I was forced to purchase Rock Band to try to recreate this experience. Of course I could go on and on about Rock Band, but I think we've done that enough through old posts and podcasts.


Speaking of pleasure, Rez HD was released on XBLA this week to the masses. I for one missed Rez the first time around, and its no secret that I love games made by Q Entertainment (endless hours of Lumines are proof of that). For those that don't know Rez was a cult classic on the Dreamcast and PS2. Rez didn't sell very well, so there weren't too many copies floating around in the used piles at your local Gamestop. I gameplay of Rez best be described as a rail shooter, but its the look and feel of the game that makes it stand out. With music and rhythm that has never been used in a such a genre, Rez grabs you and puts you in a trance like state. You could take this a step further with the trance vibrator or up to three other Xbox controllers that will vibrate to the beat of the game. At 800 MS points Rez HD is the perfect game to throw on your hard drive and pick up anytime you wish.

Top 5 Games of 2007: Max Edition

So if your done slamming your wrench into wall after Bioshock didn't win our game of the year in the first annual Shear Awards, than here comes a few more logs to throw on your fire, in the form of the Personal Top 5's. These are games that you wont see in the back of Maxim or your local newspaper's year in review because they maybe they didn't crack a million units in November or show up on Spikes yearly shit fest of a show. These are games that for no rhyme NOR reason were great to us. So I'm gonna kick this pig started with my number 5 pick , Skate.

# 5 Skate

Skate was hard. Painfully hard. The controls could be brutal and made me weep for Mr. Hawk at times, but in the end, I came out of it feeling like I shredded like a monster. Sure I have no idea how to skateboard but after trying the same kick flip on the same rail for over an hour, I think I get the overall feel. The style and presentation are top notch and the crush effect overlayed on top of the graphics was on par with 300. This game was greatly overlooked at the end of the year.

#4 Crackdown

This was a blast online. Running around a city, trying to throw cars at a friend from the top of skyscraper, thats just quality fun. This is as close as we are going to get to playing with action figures in your bedroom. And lets not forget collecting orbs, I miss those orbs.

#3 Rouge Galaxy


I don't know what it was about Rouge Galaxy, maybe it was my destine or FFXII or my love for the studio's previous game Dark Cloud 2, but HOT DAMN did I love me some space pirating. This is one of the MOST over looked games of the year and will mostly likely find popularity in the bargain bin.

#2 Rock Band


This game has more value and things to do that PS3 had for a year. There is offically nothing left to say about this game.

#1 Team Fortress 2


Not Orange Box. TF2 all by itself. Thats right. In case you haven't noticed I have major wood for this forest of a game. I love EVERYTHING about it. The style. The humor. The levels. The weapons. The simplicity and the depth. Team Fortress 2 gets up in the morning, shits style bricks, and then eats cel-shaded cornflakes and bullets.

Turn it up to... 4 maybe 5....

Less than one week away from the release of Rock Band and my drum blisters can't wait to get reopened. But for some (morons), the pre-verbal rocking may be not so loud. Here at scissors61, we are huge fans of Game Fly and their rental service; we play everything without paying for everything. They offer a service of superb quality and make you feel happy to throw 20 bucks at them once a month. But all that might change for some subscribers (morons) who decide to rent Rock Band from them next week, because it comes with NO peripherals!

Now I was the first to scratch my head at the fact that they were renting out Guitar Hero, but you could technically play that with a controller, if you like punishing yourself and drinking glue. I look forward to seeing youtube videos of bottom dwellers playing the game with 3 controllers and their mom singing into a wired headset.

Before you say "that will never happen", I would like to remind the jury of the guy who beat Soul Caliber on DreamCast with the fishing rod controller.