“Our historic groundbreaking first show ever was at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles back in 2005 so it’s pretty cool that this milestone is taking place in the same city where it all started,” said Video Games Live creator, host and executive producer Tommy Tallarico. (You’ll be able to meet him after the show.)  “Having so many talented game composers coming out to support us and to be a part of this special show not only means a lot to me, but to the fans as well.  It’s going to be an incredible night to remember.”

This show will include a few classics, but it’ll also be the place to see a few premieres…here’s a full list of the goings-on from the VGL website.

The show in Los Angeles will include the following performances…

The live music World Premiere of the award winning song “Invincible” from Warcraft®: Cataclysm™ with Blizzard composer and audio director Russell Brower conducting.

The World Premiere of the music from Resident Evil® 5 conducted and orchestrated by Award Winning composer Wataru Hokoyama.

The Grammy Award Winning Civilization IV conducted live for the first time by composer Christopher Tin and featuring PBS Special vocalist Kendrew Heriveaux.

The World Premiere of the Award Winning music from Red Dead Redemption™ featuring composer Bill Elm on guitar.

Street Fighter® II featuring Video Games Live creator and world renowned game composer Tommy Tallarico on guitar.

New Guitar Hero™ competition featuring the Foo Fighters Grammy Award winning song “The Pretender”.  Pre-show festival winner to appear and perform on stage with the symphony.

The music of Castlevania® featuring original Castlevania composer Kinuyo Yamashita on organ.

The music of Chrono Trigger™ and Chrono Cross™ with composer Yasunori Mitsuda in attendance, on stage and taking part in the post show meet & greet.

Heroes of Might & Magic® segment with composer Rob King including music from the yet-to-be-released Might & Magic® Heroes® VI.

The L.A. Premiere of Halo®: Reach by Award Winning franchise composers Marty O’Donnell and Mike Salvatori.

The “Video Game Pianist” Martin Leung performing brand new solo piano arrangements from Final Fantasy® and Mario™ including the World Premiere of a brand new internationally published Zelda™ segment.

The video game rock band “The Megas” performing their popular hits from Mega Man® 2 & 3.

Award winning and renowned film composer John Debney (The Passion of the Christ, Sin City, Iron Man 2, Spider-Man 2 & 3) conducting his music from Sony Computer Entertainments’ Lair video game.

Metal Gear Solid® 3: Snake Eater featuring vocalist Laura “Flute Link” Intravia.

Music from the yet to be released MMORTS End of Nations™ featuring industry veteran composer Frank Klepacki (Command & Conquer) on guitar.

The L.A. Premiere of the Tetris® Opera featuring award winning international vocal soloists.

Jonathan Coulton’s Award Winning “Still Alive” from Portal™.

…and many other surprises!

Post Show Meet & Greet (FREE to all ticket holders) includes…

Tommy Tallarico (Earthworm Jim, Metroid Prime, Advent Rising)
Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Xenogears)
Akira Yamaoka (Silent Hill)
Hirokazu “Hip” Tanaka (Metroid, Duck Hunt, Tetris, Pokemon)
Russell Brower (World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Diablo III)
Kinuyo Yamashita (Castlevania, Mega Man X3, Power Blade)
Marty O’Donnell (Halo series)
Wataru Hokoyama (Resident Evil 5, Ace Combat X2, Afrika)
Christopher Tin (Civilization IV, 1st video game Grammy Award Winner)
Frank Klepacki (Command & Conquer series, End of Nations)
John Debney (The Passion of the Crist, Sin City, Lair)
Richard Jacques (James Bond 007: Blood Stone, Mass Effect, Little Big Planet 2)
Gerard Marino (God of War series)
Christopher Lennertz (Warhawk, Medal of Honor, The Simpsons)
Joe Trapanese (Tron Legacy – Film Arranger/Orchestrator)
Bill Elm (Red Dead Redemption)
Neal Acre (World of Warcraft, StarCraft II, Stargate Atlantis)
Rob King (Heroes of Might & Magic series, Fable II)
Jon Van Canegham (game designer/creator/director Heroes of Might & Magic series)
Laura Karpman (Everquest II, Kung Fu Panda 2)Sean Murray (Call of Duty: Black-Ops, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)
Penka Kouneva (Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands)
Tim Wynn (Warhawk, Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3, Red Faction)
Arthur Inasi (Guitar Hero, Rock Band, Dance Central)
Mike Rubino (Pac-Man World Rally, Jaws Unleashed, Line Rider)
Martin Leung (The Video Game Pianist)
Laura Intravia (Flute Link)
Kendrew Heriveaux (PBS Special vocalist)

…and MORE SECRET SURPRISE GUESTS TO BE REVEALED AT THE PERFORMANCE!

 

It’s a music nerd’s dream, really. Kind of makes me sad I won’t be there. But if you are, let us know how it is, okay?

[D]ue to continued declines in the music genre, the company will disband Activision Publishing’s Guitar Hero business unit and discontinue development on its Guitar Hero game for 2011.

So, it’s not completely dead (perhaps living on as DLC), but instead they might be spacing the installments out. But it seems more likely that the whole thing is on the chopping block for good. If we see another title, maybe it can just be a big surprise. But that franchise, as a whole, probably was turning into diminishing returns as far as the money side is concerned.

Activision also canned the already-in-development True Crime: Hong Kong, as well as the entire development team in the UK. Apparently, they weren’t happy with the current product – during the earnings call, it was said that it just wasn’t any good. (Ouch.)

What else went down during the call? Well, for one – we’re getting more Call of Duty. Also, the sun will go down tonight. Bungie is still working on some mystery product for them. And we’re probably not getting Diablo 3 in 2011. At least, Activision Blizzard isn’t willing to use it for projections – Blizzard is doing their usual thing of not announcing a date until they’re really sure the game will be ready, so at least that’s one thing that will never change.

This free PC game, winner of ‘Top 10 Games of the Year in China (2007)’, takes place in a fantasy world where you can create and customize your own character, and then race them against other players from around the world. The game’s locale, Weimar Island, is a theme park hub for skaters to style themselves and test their characters on diverse skating tracks. In addition to clothing and tracks, Weimar Island also offers adorable pets that can help you during races.

Rhythm racing is a new style of gameplay exclusive to R2Beat. Simplifying the controls down to the 4 arrow keys, the player simply has to jump, dodge, and power through obstacles in their racing path to generate tones. The tones complement the background beat, and as soon as you’ve begun, you’re effortlessly making beautiful music. Don’t believe it’s as simple as it sounds? Check it out in action:

Developed by Seed 9, R2Beat has several thrilling gameplay modes to keep the player interested.

• Team Battle: Join up with friends and select either the blue or red team and go head-to-head
• Solo Battle: Be your own hero as you battle up to 5 other players individually
• Relay Battle: Just like a real race, play a part and pass the baton off to teammates
• Item Mode: Items populate the track, making the race that much more interesting!
• Speed Mode: Speed is the name of this game – try to beat the race on your own, hurry!

While this may sound like fun on its own, R2Beat also offers a leveling system designed to keep the player challenging themselves on different modes and missions. For example, different gameplay types offer more or less XP. As you gain experience, you can then use your new levels to unlock things unavailable to other players, like licenses for other channels with a wider variety of music. The music becomes harder to play to at higher levels so the player is always kept on their toes. By adding an allure of challenge and reward, R2Beat entices the player to keep pushing themselves to be the first with the best. Some clothing items and pets are only available by completing these in-game challenges, so the payoff is tangible!

With a combination of ease of control, an adorable MMO aspect, customizable characters, collectable trinkets, and loveable pets, there is no real reason to not play R2Beat. As a music lover, I enjoy the ability to control the action with my character on screen, rather than having my actions and the game’s subsequent reaction disembodied or mechanical. There is nothing more fun than strapping on a pair of roller blades and skating down the street to your favorite songs, and R2Beat gives you this at the comfort of your computer.

BUY

The Guitar Hero series has been a long road for Activision and Neversoft. Unfortunately for Neversoft, their part of the road ended with the sixth installation of Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock. The title implies epic-ness that in some ways it reaches and others it falls short.

The “Quest Mode” narrative storyline is one of the best parts of the game: There is an ax-guitar encased in stone that was once lost by a hero. The game’s cast are all challenged to battle for the ax. They morph into altered selves which also have additional perks, like multiplier bonuses. Each set contains songs that make sense for that character. The character morph designs are all exaggerated but awesome. I especially like Warrior Echo’s steampunk zombie look.

There have been some complaints that the set list is not excluded to hard rock but you’ll hear no complaints about the songs from me. The songs matched to each character make sense and I enjoyed playing ALL the songs. I found myself playing all the songs when I didn’t need to (there are always a song or two left over that you won’t need to play after you morph). The “boss fights” have a good level of difficulty and the Rush “2112″ set was epic.

Will people care for the storyline? Maybe not. It’s a bit out there and most gamers just like the idea of unlocking songs and getting the most accurate percentage.

Outside of the “Quest Mode” very little has changed compared to what people expect from a Guitar Hero title. “Quickplay+” allows players to enable certain perks to accomplish song specific challenges, and the multiplayer is still fun and easy for many people to join in. The character customization is strong with outfits unlocked as you go through the story mode. In the past, I have criticized Guitar Hero for their female character models. I felt they were too thin and looked sickly. And it felt with every iteration of Guitar Hero the females got thinner and thinner. How can they rock if they are wasting away? In Warriors of Rock, you have a little control over the size but in general the female character models look healthy and ready to rock. I enjoyed making my J-Rock inspired rocker and look forward to playing her in “Multiplayer”.

In the end, it’s what you expect from a Guitar Hero title. If you are looking for a good mix of alt rock songs that you are familiar with, then it’s worth picking this up. It doesn’t do much to revolutionize or change the rhythm game genre and will probably only be played/dragged out for parties after you’re finished with the story. But, I enjoyed Warriors of Rock more than I have previous Guitar Hero titles but I think the series does need to do some soul searching for future titles.

How to save money this week on Games

Hi Angels! It’s another Sunday and that means that brand new games will be out this week. Also another opportunity to save money buying both new and old games that you may be waiting for. Personally, I’m catching up on old games and playing Civ V. What are you playing?

Here are the releases this week:
Sims 3 Deluxe Edition (PC)
Farm Frenzy: Animal Country (DS)
Samurai Warriors 3 (Wii)
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock Super Bundle (Wii, PS3,360)
Deer Drive (DS)
Dead Rising 2 Collector’s Edition (PS3, 360)
Front Mission Evolved (360,PC, PS3)
Atelier Rorona: The Alchemists of Arland (PS3)
Morphx (360)
Dead Rising 2 (PS3, 360,PC)
Tropico 3 Gold Edition (PC)
Quantum Theory (360,PS3)
Petz Fantasy: Moonlight Magic (DS)
Rapala Pro Bass Fishing (360, PS2,PS3,PSP,DS,Wii)
FIFA Soccer 2011 (DS, PS3,PS2,PSP, 360)
Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock (360, Wii,PS3)
MySims Sky Heroes (DS,PS3,Xbox 360,Wii)
Plants vs Zombies (360)
Greg Hastings Paintball 2 (Wii,Xbox 360)
Opps! Prank Party (Wii)
Sid Meier’s Pirates! (Wii)
The Guild 2: Renaissance (PC)
Haunted House (Wii)
Get Fit with Mel B (PS3)
Scripps Spelling Bee (DS)
Deathsmiles (360)
Final Fantasy XIV (PC)

Where to save money:
Toys R Us
$25 gift card with any Mario Purchase of $100 or more includes all mario video games
2 for $40 select DS games
Buy 1 get 1 50% off: Halo Reach, Club Penguin, Just Dance, EyePet, SpiderMan, Dead Rising 2, Kidz Bop, Madden 11, Greg Hasting’s Paintball, Start the Party, My Sims Sky Heroes, NHL 2K11, Aragorn’s Quest PS3
$99.99 for Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock Wii Bundle

Best Buy
Battlefield Bad Company 2 $39.99 Ultimate Edition
Kayne and Lynch 2 $39.99
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 $49.99

Target
$10 gift card with purchase of Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock
$10 gift card with purchase of Halo Reach
$10 gift card with purchase of FIFA Soccer 2011
$10 gift card with purchase of MySims Sky Heroes

Frys
Halo Reach $59.96
Fifa 11 $59.96
Dead Rising 2 $49.96
F1 2010 $49.96
3D Dot Game Heroes $23.80
Sid Meier’s Civ V $39.96
Toy Story 3 #34.96
Dragon Age $24.96
StarCraft II $59.89
Lord of the Rings Aragorn’s Quest $49.96
Etrian Odyssey III $29.82
Super Mario Galaxy 2 $39.99

It really is just a teensy taste, however, with each demo getting only four songs.

On the DJ Hero 2 side:

• Pussycat Dolls Featuring Busta Rhymes “Don’t Cha” Mixed With Pitbull “I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)”
• Lady Gaga Featuring Colby O’Donis “Just Dance” Mixed With Deadmau5 “Ghosts N Stuff”
• MSTRKRFT Featuring N.O.R.E. “Bounce” (Battle Mix)
• Estelle Featuring Kanye West “American Boy” Mixed With Chic “Good Times”

The press release seemed to indicate that a couple of multiplayer modes will also be available in the demo, so grab your friends for a round or two. Or however long it takes for you to get tired of four (or, technically, seven) songs. The game lands on retailers’ shelves on October 19.

If you want to sample Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock‘s Quest Mode, the demo will let you do that and shred these four songs into oblivion:

• Black Sabbath “Children of the Grave”
• Foo Fighters “No Way Back”
• Slash featuring Ian Astbury “Ghosts”
• Dethklok “Bloodlines”

You can play the full version on September 28.

Several of these bands are making their Guitar Hero debut, but you might have played the songs before on other “Rock” music games. Cough.

You can start your shredding engines on September 28. Here’s the latest trailer, as well as the complete set list.

• A Perfect Circle – “The Outsider”
• Aerosmith – “Cryin’”
• AFI – “Dancing Through Sunday”
• Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy”
• Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind”
• Anberlin – “The Feel Good Drag”
• Anthrax – “Indians”
• Arch Enemy – “Nemesis”
• Atreyu            – “Ravenous”
• Avenged Sevenfold – “Bat Country”
• Bad Brains – “Re-Ignition (Live)”
• Band Of Skulls – “I Know What I Am”
• Black Sabbath – “Children Of The Grave”
• Blind Melon – “Tones Of Home”
• Blue Öyster Cult – “Burnin’ For You”
• Bush – “Machinehead”
• Buzzcocks – “What Do I Get?”
• Children Of Bodom – “If You Want Peace… Prepare For War”
• Creedence Clearwater Revival – “Fortunate Son”
• The Cure – “Fascination Street”
• Deep Purple – “Burn”
• Def Leppard – “Pour Some Sugar On Me (Live)”
• Dethklok – “Bloodlines”
• The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Setting Fire To Sleeping Giants”
• Dire Straits – “Money For Nothing”
• DragonForce – “Fury of the Storm”
• Drowning Pool – “Bodies”
• Edgar Winter– “Free Ride”
• Fall Out Boy – “Dance, Dance”
• Five Finger Death Punch – “Hard To See”
• Flyleaf – “Again”
• Foo Fighters – “No Way Back”
• Foreigner – “Feels Like The First Time”
• George Thorogood and The Destroyers – “Move It On Over (Live)”
• The Hives – “Tick Tick Boom”
• Interpol – “Slow Hands”
• Jane’s Addiction – “Been Caught Stealing”
• Jethro Tull – “Aqualung”
• John 5 – “Black Widow Of La Porte”
• KISS – “Love Gun”
• Linkin Park – “Bleed It Out”
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Call Me The Breeze (Live)”
• Megadeth – “Sudden Death”
• Megadeth – “Holy Wars… The Punishment Due”
• Megadeth – “This Day We Fight!”
• Metallica & Ozzy Osbourne – “Paranoid (Live)”
• Muse – “Uprising”
• My Chemical Romance – “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”
• Neil Young – “Rockin’ In The Free World”
• Nickelback – “How You Remind Me”
• Night Ranger – “(You Can Still) Rock In America”
• Nine Inch Nails – “Wish”
• The Offspring – “Self Esteem”
• Orianthi – “Suffocated”
• Pantera – “I’m Broken”
• Phoenix – “Lasso”
• Poison – “Unskinny Bop”
• Queen – “Bohemian Rhapsody”
• Queensrÿche – “Jet City Woman”
• Rammstein – “Waidmanns Heil”
• The Ramones – “Theme From Spiderman”
• Red Rider – “Lunatic Fringe”
• R.E.M. – “Losing My Religion”
• Rise Against – “Savior”
• The Rolling Stones – “Stray Cat Blues”
• The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 1 – Overture”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 2 – The Temples Of Syrinx”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 3 – Discovery”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 4 – Presentation”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 5 – Oracle: The Dream”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 6 – Soliloquy”
• Rush – “2112 Pt. 7 – Grand Finale”
• RX Bandits – “It’s Only Another Parsec…”
• Silversun Pickups – “There’s No Secrets This Year”
• Slash featuring Ian Astbury – “Ghost”
• Slayer – “Chemical Warfare”
• Slipknot – “Psychosocial”
• Snot – “Deadfall”
• Soundgarden – “Black Rain”
• Steve Vai – “Speeding” (Vault Version)
• Stone Temple Pilots – “Interstate Love Song”
• Strung Out – “Calling”
• Styx – “Renegade”
• Sum 41 – “Motivation”
• Tesla – “Modern Day Cowboy”
• Them Crooked Vultures – “Scumbag Blues”
• Third Eye Blind – “Graduate”
• Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers – “Listen To Her Heart”
• Twisted Sister – “We’re Not Gonna Take It”
• The Vines – “Get Free”
• The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
• ZZ Top – “Sharp Dressed Man (Live)”

“Younger fans getting exposed to true classic rock songs is one of my personal crusades,” said Alice Cooper.  “The new audience listening to the classic songs of today, like “No More Mr. Nice Guy,” will hopefully be inspired to write the classic songs of tomorrow.”

And not only do we get this fun news, but we also have 20 more confirmed tracks for Guitar Hero: Warriors of Rock:

·         Alice Cooper – “No More Mr. Nice Guy”

·         Alter Bridge – “Ties That Bind”

·         Atreyu – “Ravenous”

·         Bad Brains – “Re-Ignition (Live)”

·         Blue Öyster Cult – “Burning For You”

·         Bush – “Machinehead”

·         Deep Purple – “Burn”

·         Edgar Winter – “Free Ride”

·         Five Finger Death Punch – “Hard To See”

·         George Thorogood and The Destroyers – “Move It On Over (Live)”

·         Lynyrd Skynyrd – “Call Me The Breeze (Live)”

·         Pantera – “I’m Broken”

·         Poison – “Unskinny Bop”

·         The Ramones – “Theme From Spiderman”

·         Rise Against – “Savior”

·         The Runaways – “Cherry Bomb”

·         Steve Vai – “Speeding”

·         Strung Out – “Calling”

·         Styx – “Renegade”

·         Sum 41 – “Motivation”

·         Them Crooked Vultures – “Scumbag Blues”

·         The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”

The DJ Hero Dance Party Mix Pack (640 MS Points, $7.99 on PS3) includes three new mixes:

• Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face” mixed with “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran
• Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons” beat juggle
• Rihanna’s “SOS” beat juggle

Each mix will be available as downloadable singles for Wii for 300 points a piece.

Guitar Hero, on the other hand, has a trio of pop songs up for play:

• “Just Dance” by Lady Gaga (if this looks familiar, Rock Band had it already)
• “This Love” by Maroon 5
• “Fireflies” by Owl City

The Guitar Hero tracks are available for 160 MS Points each, or $1.99 on PS3 and 200 points on Wii. If you want the full Track Pack, it’s 440 MS Points, $5.49 on the PlayStation Store, and 550 Wii Points. It’s obviously a better deal to just buy the track pack.

“With Guitar Hero for the iPhone and iPod Touch, we are once again leveraging our leadership position in the music/rhythm videogame space to deliver an all-new Guitar Hero experience that millions of people around the world can enjoy anytime, anywhere,” said David Haddad, Chief Operating Officer for Guitar Hero. “From our headliner set list in the base app and forthcoming song packs to the innovative new social integration and guitar shredding gameplay mechanics, Guitar Hero will let players experience and interact with music in all-new ways.”

Guitar Hero will come with the following tracks:
· Queen – “We Are The Champions”
· Rise Against – “Savior”
· The Rolling Stones – “Paint It Black”
· Vampire Weekend – “Cousins”
· Weezer – “Say It Ain’t So”
· The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”

The following song packs will also be available for purchase:
Song Pack featuring The Faint, Minus the Bear and Silversun Pickups:
· The Faint – “The Geeks Were Right”
· Minus the Bear – “Secret Country”
· Silversun Pickups – “Substitution”
Song Pack featuring Band of Skulls, Obits and The White Stripes:
· Band of Skulls – “Death By Diamonds And Pearls”
· Obits – “Two-Headed Coin”
· The White Stripes – “Blue Orchid”
Song Pack featuring Darkest Hour, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Protest the Hero:
· Darkest Hour – “The Tides”
· The Dillinger Escape Plan – “Farewell, Mona Lisa”
· Protest the Hero – “Limb From Limb”
Song Pack featuring A Day to Remember, AFI and Breaking Benjamin:
· A Day to Remember – “I’m Made Of Wax, Larry, What Are You Made Of?”
· AFI – “Medicate”
· Breaking Benjamin – “Diary of Jane”
Song Pack featuring Vampire Weekend
· “A-Punk”
· “Giving Up The Gun”
· “Holiday”
Song Pack featuring Queen
· “Another One Bites The Dust”
· “Fat Bottomed Girls”
· “Killer Queen”

Guitar Hero is available from the Apps Store for $2.99 while song packs are only available through the Guitar Hero app and cost $1.99 each.