Saturday, November 24, 2007

Rock and roll party a-go-go

If you own one of the big three systems and have any interest in pretending to be a slammin bangin rock god, then you owe it -owe it I say- to yourself to go out and buy Rock Band by EA Games. This thing rocks like nobody's business.

In the bundle pack (which is gigantic, so clean out your car before you get it) you get a guitar, a microphone, and a set of drums, along with the game of course. All this stuff is pretty much full size too- it's not chintzy or embarrassing to play around with at all.

The other night I had a 4 player game going- lead, singer, drums, and bass (I used my GH3 guitar for the bass- works perfectly with RB). I had everybody in the same room but you can get a game going over the net too. I haven't tried that one yet but it sounds really, really cool.

In my opinion, Rock Band's head and shoulders above Guitar Hero. We were up till about 2 in the am playing 'Learn to Fly' and 'Creep' over and over. Un-freaking-believably fun.

Saturday, November 17, 2007

Zune is the new Wii

Or something like that.

The new 80gig Zune was released on November 14th and is just about as hard to find as the Wii has been all this year. The reasons for the shortage are few and far between, in fact the only scuttle I've been hearing about it is that the manufacturing was started too late in the launch cycle to have a solid amount available right off the bat.

I'd hate to think that's true as it would tell me that Microsoft has very little confidence in the media player for the holiday season. Not something I would have thought as the original Zune sold quite well.

The other option is that the units are being shorted deliberately. This is a very real possibility that doesn't sit all that well with me. Nintendo has done it all year with the aformentioned Wii and Sony has done it with the PS2 and PS3. I know it's supposed to build a demand for the products but really, it's just frustrating for the consumer.

And these are quality items by the way. Microsoft would do well to get them out. The 4 and 8gig Zunes are terrific and the 80 looks to be of the same mold. The Zune 80's audio and video are actually better quality than the iPod classic and the screen is way bigger at 3.2" over the 2.5" display of the 'Pod. It even has some really neat built in podcast (audio and video) support.

Now all Microsoft has to do is get the product into the stores. Now.