Ryan & Amanda Keefer's Personal Site: Cycling, Family, Tech, Music, Software & Game Reviews, etc.
// February 15th, 2010 // No Comments » // Gaming
It’s moves like these that have put Activision on so many gamers’ “hate” lists. Red Octane created the current generation of rhythm video games and it’s sad that Activision has sliced their team up. Let’s hope the individual team members are able to take it as an opportunity to branch out and do even bigger and better things without the oppressive and money grubbing ways of Activision.
// December 29th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music
All of this articles’ suggestions are great for where the original full-band series needs to take it. New music isn’t enough for a sequel anymore. I really hope Harmonix is thinking along the same lines as the IGN author, or they are after seeing this piece.
// December 15th, 2009 // No Comments » // Holidays, Music, Tech
Every year, people utilize technology to one-up last year’s coolest and most over-the-top Christmas light displays on their property. 2009 is no different. Check out Christmas Lights Hero taking the music-controlled Christmas light display to a new level of power-billing inflating insanity. I like the “rotating” snow flake effects. View the the video below and the link beyond that has details on the whole thing:
// December 8th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music, Van Halen
So I’m excited over a thin piece of plastic. No surprises to anyone who knows me. This one I knew was coming — just surprised it took so freaking long. I got an email today about pre-ordering Guitar Hero: Van Halen, though any self-respecting fanboy of either/or Van Halen and the Guitar Hero/Rock Band rhythm game genre has already had the Van Halen game since October as part of pre-ordering Guitar Hero 5.
Anyway, the revelation in the email this afternoon was not the fact that Guitar Hero: Van Halen will be officially available just 3 days before Christmas, but the fact that on the same day, the famous red, black and white striped guitar will be available as a faceplate. Unfortunately for me, this means not only $10 I’ll definitely drop on the faceplate, but I will also need to get a new guitar controller, as my Rock Band Fender and Guitar Hero Les Paul controllers won’t accommodate this new plate. For some reason, it’s much cheaper from here than my usual go to: Amazon The good news there is there will be one less wire strung across our living room when four are rocking out on any of the Guitar Hero or Rock Band titles.
Sad, but yes, I am overly excited about this. No. I do not get out much.
Guitar Hero: Van Halen Guitar Faceplate (Xbox 360 / Playstation 3)
// August 30th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Gaming
I love the whole music video game genre and have spent countless hours across all the games I’ve played — from Guitar Hero II to Rock Band 2 to Guitar Hero: Metallica (and soon Guitar Hero 5 and Guitar Hero: Van Halen)
But making tracks for the game, taking 20-40 hours? Screw that. I’ll happily plunk down $2 for a track over spending 20-40 hours for a home grown one. I can’t see too many individuals going to that length to make tracks.
It sounds like the tools for composing are PC-based, which counts out Mac users (unless you’re running a VM tool like Parallels Desktop). Also, only PS3 and 360 can utilize the tracks. No Wii support at all. That may be a memory or other hardware limitation of the slower/older technology of Nintendo’s current platform.
Regardless, I’ll be interested to see how this plays out and the volume of tracks that actually pop up.
// August 12th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music, Van Halen
If there was any doubt that I’m completely enthused about Van Halen becoming the subject of the third band-themed Guitar Hero game, you haven’t been keeping up with posts here at Keefer Madness. Anyway, just a day after I discovered that Amazon.com had Guitar Hero: Van Halen available for pre-order, there’s even bigger and better news.
Guitar Hero 5, which is being released on September 1 now has a special offer. If you buy that one, you can send in a voucher to get the Van Halen game for free. Two GH games for the price of one? On top of getting it free, there’s a chance your GH: VH game could arrive before it’s in stores. Sign me up!
// August 7th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music, Van Halen
On the heels of yesterday’s announcement of the full setlist for Guitar Hero: Van Halen, here’s the official trailer and web site for the game. December 22, is quite a way’s off!
// August 6th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music, Van Halen
Woo hoo! Guitar Hero Van Halen hasn’t been forgotten and is eventually coming out. I was really looking forward to it dropping at its original date here in August 2009. Now it’s coming out just days before Christmas — December 22nd. What a weird release date. But regardless, I’m psyched for this one’s release!
Here’s the official list:
(more…)
// June 29th, 2009 // 1 Comment » // Gaming
It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of the rhythm game genre on my Xbox 360. I personally own Guitar Hero II, Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, Guitar Hero: Metallica and Rock Band, and this list will only continue to grow (Can we say, Guitar Hero: Van Halen?).
Ars Technica has a great list of five rules all these games and future ones should follow. They’re all pretty simple and make total sense. Activision, Red Octane, Harmonix and everyone else involved in the video game genre need to take these rules as gospel as well.
// June 4th, 2009 // No Comments » // Gaming, Music, Van Halen
You can mute this video, as the audio playing is from the trade show floor of E3 and is completely unrelated to the trailer for Guitar Hero: Van Halen. This is the first glimpse of the game that had been confirmed, but didn’t even have a release date, unlike Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band Beatles, etc. So it was finally good to get a visual confirmation, and to just see the visuals.
Unfortunately, it’s looking like a lot of this game is going to be the worst case scenario — current Van Halen lineup — meaning Wolfgang Van Halen on bass, rather than Michael Anthony (or Sammy Hagar). I am holding out hope that both will show up deeper into the game. The article at IGN below references four songs playable at E3 — “Panama,” “You Really Got Me,” “Jump” and “Ain’t Talking About Love.” All of those are Roth-era tracks. Again, I’m holding out hope that the game will have a mix of Roth and Hagar tracks. The trailer shown at the show references 25 Van Halen tracks, which is only 5 shy of my wish list that I wrote up a couple months back.
Regardless, as such a die-hard VH nut, I’ll still be purchasing this one upon release. My fingers are crossed that this one will be as much fun as Guitar Hero: Metallica (which I just snagged this past weekend — review forthcoming).
I’m pretty sure a Van Halen fanboy like myself will get my money’s worth out of this one, regardless of any shortcomings or limitations it may possess. Then again, maybe I’ll be pleasantly surprised.
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