ION customer support over-zealous????

In my ION Drum Rocker Review, I mentioned my kit was missing an Allen Wrench and the USB pigtail was faulty. I had messaged customer service through their website to get the problems resolved. They responded with a form used to request replacement parts.

They never sent me any kind of confirmation, so I've been wondering on the status. On Halloween, I received an unexpected package from an unfamiliar address from Customer Service. Upon cutting through the packing tape, I was greated with a white box labeled "360 module". It was the whole brain unit with the mounting bracket...

I thought "Allen Wrench Tool" and "USB Pigtail Attachment" would be pretty obvious. And a mere $5 worth of parts. But hey, if they want to send me a backup brain with that pigtail, there's no complaints here. In a final humorous twist, the Allen Wrench Tool was not included, but I have no quarrel; I'll use my own at this point.

Scene It? Box Office Smash demo on XBLM

The Scene it? demo is now up on the marketplace. A game that tests your knowledge of movies answering trivia and puzzle games. As this game is integrated with the "NXE" gameplay value with the new avatars (picture above) is considered, "phenomenal".

n+ DLC Pack 3 Free on XBLM

This free pack comes with 150 new single-player levels, 50 new race levels and 50 new co-op levels. Along with a few new characters you can choose from. kidz lets get some more blood action.

Edited 10/20/2008 by SuicdeNinja: Fixed HTML code

NIRVANA Rock Band:DLC Tuesday, October 21st

Nirvana heading to marketplace next Tuesday for Rock Band. The DLC includes 7 master recordings for 800 Microsoft Points or individually for 160 Microsoft Points. The DLC includes:

• Breed
• Lounge Act
• On a Plain
• Polly
• Something in the Way
• Stay Away
• Territorial Pissings

Source

New Xbox Experience Nov.19th

So it's about time the dashboard update "New Xbox Experience" is coming up Nov. 19th. You'll see lots of improvements. Let's not say that the Avatars remind us of the Mii nor the dashboard reminding us as if were on a PS3. No no, this is unique.

ION Drum Rocker Review (without drum module)

A Rock-Band-Special Edition-sized box greeted me when I got home from work today. The ION kit had arrived quickly; thanks AMS! Truth is, I was expecting the kit to come in a bigger box, but smaller was easier to wrangle into the front door.

Digging into the box, the first question is: Whatever happened to packaging, anyway? Like the original Rock Band kit, the ION kit is cheaply packed with cardboard parts and next-to-no Styrofoam. Somehow they managed to make it good enough though, so I shouldn't complain.

The other blogsites sure made the kit out to be this huge living-room consuming device in words and in picture. Physically, it is probably 50% bigger than my RB1 drums, but the footprint still manages not to bother me.

Assembly is easy and obvious, especially for those who have setup a drumkit before. For those who haven't, a Lego-style instruction sheet is included. There is some text instructions in the corner but they are mostly worthless.

The parts look a bit cheap compared to the regular electric kits, but they also manage to feel sturdy. Their lightweight make for easy relocation. I have no concerns of breakage, although I will say the wingnuts should NOT be over-tightened. The clamps are plastic, so finger tight should be good.

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The most difficult part about the assembly is aligning the pads to your specific tastes. Pad adjustments are done with metal wingnuts, and the rack adjustments are done with an included drumkey. A few twists is about all it takes to get things moving. I recommend setting the rack up so the clamp wingnuts and the drum "boltheads" are facing outward. This will make for easier adjustments.

The only hardware that bothers me is the kick pedal. While it feels fantastic, it has a thin metal piece in it that vibrates. It gets annoying when the music is turned low. Why ION didn't put a simple dampener on it, I have no idea.

I should note that I had two problems after getting it together. My kit was missing an allen wrench used to prevent the cymbals from turning. This wasn't a problem since I have my own tools. However, when I first plugged the kit in, the 360 was not recognizing it and the control ring wouldn't light up. Minor panic ensued, and I ended up swapping the detachable USB pigtail with the pigtail from my RB1 kit. The ring lit up and I was in business. I'll see about getting replacements on these minor parts from ION later.

Starting in Freestyle mode, I was happy to find that the cymbals and tom pads of the same color made different sounds. Tour and Quickplay mode don't seem to care whether cymbal or tom is hit. However, that's a pro since it's not always apparent which it's going to be. From my experience, when the kick is hit in conjunction with green it is a cymbal hit rather than a tom.

To exaggerate profusely, this kit is a million times better than the standard Rock Band kit. It feels fantastic to play in a real drum configuration rather than the stiff in-a-row pads. The cymbals alone make a monumental difference, so I recommend that anyone who sticks with the RB2 kit get the cymbal add-ons. Hitting the crash adds the missing satisfaction from the original layout.

As some have reported, it does take some effort to get acclimated to having multiple options for certain colors. I caught myself delaying mid-song to try and figure which hit made the most sense. For me, this mostly went away after about 2 songs.

For those "real" drummers that want to play Rock Band, I can tell you that this kit is the only way to go (unless modding is your forte).

Good news so far, eh? Well, I do have to complain about what will hinder many purchases of this kit: The price. I think $300 should have netted us one of two things: either a real kick pedal setup, or the third cymbal. Getting both would probably be asking too much on the consumer side. I'd lean toward the 3rd cymbal to remove the awkward switch-up during ride parts. Unfortunately, that option is another $50 to an already expensive rig. For what the buyer gets, the price really should have been less.

As for turning this into a "professional" kit, I'd say that is giving too much credit. The ION kit would serve great to get basic beats in a studio, but the trigger pads would fall short for a full drumming experience. No cymbal choking or rim shots does suck a little. Thankfully, it provides enough for my purposes; I'd even be happy using RB2's freestyle mode for my drum sounds. Too bad there's no hi-hat trigger though.

While I'm happy with my purchase, I recommend prospective buyers think carefully before dumping money into this rig. If you want a real electronic drumkit, your money would be better applied to an Alesis or Yamaha kit that would cost around the same (if the Alesis brain was added to the ION kit). If you have extra money and love Rock Band, then this is the kit for you.

Massive fills:
-Authentic drum feel
-Good response from all pads
-Easy to configure

Stick clicks:
-Annoying kick pedal sound
-Short a cymbal
-Overpriced

Resembles/Feels like:
A high quality electric kit from a low quality vendor (this is probably better than their usual line of electric kits).

Rent or Buy: N/A, but try a friend's first or at the store if you are considering it.

Personal Appraisal:$250
MSRP:$299
Other Opinions:
IGN: good for drummers, more durable, "more realistic feel"
Joystiq: cymbals a novelty, not for limited space, over-priced
Engadget: good for hardcore, beefy hardware, not a midi controller

Edit 10/15/2008: I said plastic wingnuts originally, but they are indeed metal. The cymbal-top wingnuts are plastic, but they should be.

Easing back in finally: Mass Effect

It's been a while, but I decided to sit down and pick a game to play. A non-Rock Band game that is. The To-Do list is still sizable, and that's just counting games I've already purchased but not really played. The inclination to pick a shooter came about, but I had already beaten Call of Duty 4 and played enough Halo for the time being. I wanted to play Lost Odyssey, but realized I'd probably have to start over because I have no idea what was going on when I left.

Mass Effect seem to compromise between the genres.

My first 20 minutes with the game at launch didn't really do much for me. But then again, no game was grabbing my attention at that time frame. This time around, I ended up playing almost 8 straight hours. The story doesn't seem as epic as a Final Fantasy, but it plays close to home, since it centers around humans and a future that doesn't seem too far-fetched. The interactions are a lot more personal, which is probably the game's best strength. Just walking around talking to people and delving somewhat into the backstory is entertaining on its own.

Lunch has ended, so we'll see if I get around to doing a late-review after I get further into the game.

Xbox's Revenge: 10 worst PS3 ports

I remember being annoyed in noticing that multi-platform releases on the Xbox seemed to suffer in general because of the wussy-specked PS2. After seeing that games like Halo 2 and Ninja Gaiden be gorgeous and possible on the original Xbox, a lot of PS2 games were hard to look at. You could always tell when graphics were dumbed down so they would function on the PS2. Early Splinter Cells and Indigo Prophecy were good examples.

It looks like the PS3 will suffer a similar fate on this iteration. Better graphics performance is still hypothetical as far as the PS3 is concerned, but since the processor is a little bit more capable we'll go along with it.

videogamer.com covers a self-proclaimed top 10 360-to-PS3 ports that standardized the term "Epic Fail." FEAR, Splinter Cell, Lost Planet, Tony Hawk, and Orange Box all made the list. The problem with each port is highlighted for each game in the article, so gander on!

Itagaki leaves Tecmo and starts suing

See my coverage of Itagaki's departure over at EGN.

I'm sad to see him go. I love Tecmo and the games he's created, but he has to watch out for his own interests. The apology to fans was good to see.

Resistance 2...Cant' say I'm excited

While PS3 fans everywhere were putting Resistance: Fall of Man on a pedestal, I just couldn't join in. RFoM because an example as to why Blu-ray may not be a good thing for games; the game was dragged out too long.

Sony is trying to compare Resistance to Gears of War 2, but I have little faith in their apathetic take on Gears. They attempted to build similar hype about Killzone against Halo, which turned into a joke in theory and in execution. While Resistance is leaps and bounds above the original Killzone, it failed to have the replay value and intensity of Gears of War.

Behind the scenes, we know that the Gears vs Resistance conversation is driven by graphical comparison. Fans and big-wigs alike have somehow come to the conclusion that graphics are everything. While Resistance 1 looked good, Gears of War was undoubtedly a step above it. What Sony's Steinberg is really trying to say is that Resistance 2 should compare aesthetically to Gears 2. In execution, however, graphics won't be enough.

If Resistance 2's experience is anything like the bore of its predecessor, it won't even be in the same competing bracket as Gears. While the non-shooter-experienced Playstation fan is easily impressed, 360 fans have come to expect a lot more. Regardless of console preference a good game will go noticed by peers. Even now that PS3 fans have experienced Call of Duty 4 and Rainbow 6, it's hard to imagine even PS3 gamers giving Resistance much attention.

Lost Odyssey: the JRPG we've been waiting for

I see many mentions in reviews of how Lost Odyssey doesn't offer anything new to RPG gameplay. For the most part, this is true, but I wasn't ware that JRPG fans were desperate for change anytime soon.

I will say that so far, the battle system on FFXII was far more interesting. But the stories involved in LO put the sleep-inducing FFXII storyline to shame. While the dream sequences may turn players off due to being text-only, I find it the most appropriate fit for what they are trying to convey. For the impatient, none of these sequences are required. But the short stories are well put together for the most part, and had me reacting the same as I would do a beautiful cut-scene.

The opening scene is worth watching a few times. Mistwalker did a stupendous job with it.

I'm strolling through the game right now, and I'm quite happy with it. It easily makes up for the drudgery that was Enchanted Arms and Blue Dragon. Hopefully LO will get a decent fanbase enabling Mistwalker to polish up their next adventure and expand into unfamiliar territory. In the meantime, I'll happily plug along at this latest offering.

I will do an official review once I complete the game.

Rented my first XBL movie

I'm going to admit right now, unless it's ALIENS or ALIENS related, I'm not really a movie fan. But that doesn't stop me from watching the occasional flick.

To date, I've refused to wait for the download and to pay money for a movie rental that's a mere 24 hours once activated. For the money, I'd think 72 hours would be a bit more fair, matching rental stores. On the other hand, my friend tells me that pay-per-view is similar in price but offers only half the time. Interesting.

I figure Batman Begins would be a good trial run, since I wanted to see it, but had little faith in a non-Keaton version. Clooney and Kilmer were awful in my opinion, and even Batman Returns was a bit lame. But Batman has always been a favorite of mine since the comic book "Batman vs Predator".

For Batman Begins, it was $3 for SD and $4.50 for HD. Since Blu-ray isn't exactly the most amazing thing to me, I figured I'd save download time and money and just stick with SD. I started the download, and went out for some errands.

I have no idea how long the download took, but I was ready to go after I got home a couple hours later.

For being compressed and the "lowly" 480p, the movie looked great. It was better quality than a lot of downloaded films I've seen, and the 1.5GB size was impressive. The movie itself was better than expected, although it misses the magic of the original movie. For a film that I expected to be a one-viewing deal for me, the whole experience was near-perfect.

My suggestion for these films in the future: the price is right, but extend the duration of the rental. 14 days means nothing if only 24 hours of it is usable. Keep the 14 day time frame for use but extend the viewing period to 72 hours. Then I won't feel like my lack-of-trip to the video store is in vain.

Lost Odyssey isn't traditional for Xbox gamers

Joystiq's metareviews are great for peeking into multiple opinions within a short blogpost. One thing I've seen be to the distaste of reviewers is that Lost Odyssey seems "traditional" or fashioned amongst "old-school". While I don't agree with the SNES-era mechanics (try more PS1), it's easy to see how LO came about through prior Final Fantasy creators.

One thing these reviewers forget is that not all Xbox gamers are seasoned RPG gamers. In that sense, traditional means nothing. Xbox gamers had Fable, Phantasy Star Online, and Knights of the Old Republic. None of those are hardly standard. LO is a welcome addition to the Xbox line, and it is a starting point of better RPGs to come.

Making news out of minute sales differences

I'm getting tired of the gaming media making headlines about minor changes in sales statistics. Sometimes they compare a 100,000 or less difference when discussing millions of units sold. Whether it's the PS3, 360, or Wii, it's getting a bit out of hand. 5-10% or more may be numbers to be concerned with, but anything less is just market flux.

When it comes down to the wire, it is very realistic that we could see an even market. The Wii has captured the world, but we still question such over the long term. The DS has consistently had plenty of stellar games where the Wii cannot say as much. This could easily change, but it is too soon to say.

Prices on the more advanced consoles are coming down. One thing the 360 and PS3 can do is perform anything technical that the Wii can do. They are just a motion controller away (the PS3 will probably need a different controller form factor). The Wii can't do what the other consoles do, however. Once the more powerful, more feature-filled consoles are affordable to the masses...it's hard to imagine the Wii holding its top spot. However, don't consider that a proclamation that it will drop to the bottom. More than likely, they'll all stay evenly spaced unless a brunt of million-selling games ends up on one specific console.

Last time, the PS2 got most of the games, and plenty of exclusives. At its continually dropping price, it's no wonder why it came out on top. But in this generation, exclusivity is fading leaving many widely popular titles available on gamers' preferred platforms.

Seeing the market with these aspects in mind, I think the gaming media should ease up on the war. We've already lost a solid movie format because the media didn't concentrate on what made HD-DVD better, but rather Blu-ray's arbitrary maximum storage number. Rather than worrying about who sold a few more or few less units in a month or year, we should be correlating that information to specific game releases. Even better, we should be concentrating on what the console manufacturers will be doing to keep us entertained, not on meaningless short-term numbers.

PS3 vs 360 - Smackdown vs Raw 2008 Review

My martial arts background leaves me a little less accepting of the fake sideshow soap opera known as "Professional Wrestling". That said, I must say that collecting the physical form of that sideshow and hurling it into a video game is where it's at. You'd think that the TV show would have been based off a video game...not the other way around with how ridiculous it is.

Anyway, I've got the PS3 and 360 versions in my mitts. I was going to try to try to do a comparison...but the two versions are neigh indistinguishable aside from the onscreen controller instructions. I did notice that the PS3 version had a few more noticeable jaggies, but it wasn't anything horrendous. I attribute this to playing in 720p (PS3 doesn't upscale). The 360 version upscales to 1080p, but the colors take a little hit because of it (but less jaggies). As usual, the 360 version has achievements, so I'd tip in its direction.

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I decided to give SvR the "noob test". I let my button-mashing room mate give it the first go. Since the controls revolve around thumbstick movements more than button presses, his patience wore thin quickly. The controller almost became the next hole-in-the-wall; it was that bad. In short, the game is not noob-friendly, and it does not walk new-comers through on how to play the game very well.

Since I'm more comfortable with the current generation of games, my attitude was quite a bit different. I was slamming and flipping around with Mysterio within minutes. Most of the slams were cringe inducing, more so than expected. It was rather liberating, and it puts a game like Rumble Roses in its place (the forgotten Bargain Bin).

The character models are impressive; the developers captured most of the characters' details. However, uncomfortable polygon collision is a bit common here, along with some disappointing transitional animations. Don't expect much from the crowd either, but we don't' care about the background. The "superstars" are all that matters here.

The 24/7 career mode seems to cover the right bases. There's plenty of modes/match types to keep players going. Beyond that, creating your own wrestler and running the ropes will probably leave for quite a bit of play value. Unfortunately, creating a noob means for some potentially aggravating losses. The dedicated won't have a problem with it, however.

Even though wrestling fans don't have a lot of options for games, SvR 2k8 should fulfil their slamming needs. The character models enhance the experience for those with favorites, and the slams will leave real spectators crowingly entertained. Fans will not be disappointed here in either version of this pummel-fest.

Fan-worthy:
-Excellent detail on character models
-Cringe-inducing moves
-"Legendary superstars" available for play

SLAMS:
-Questionable transitional animations
-Not "noob" friendly; controls could be better
-Polygon collision is too common

Resembles/Feels like: An improved version of SvR 2007 with improved features
Rent or Buy: Buy for wrestling fans
Personal Appraisal: $49.99
MSRP: $59.99

Other Opinions:

7/10 (360 version) TeamXbox
7.5/10.0 (PS3 version) IGN
4.5/5.0 (360 version) GamePro
(no scoring system) (PS3 version) VideogameVagabond.com

Xbox 360: Guitar Hero III Review

As expected, I've been sucked into the black hole that is playing Guitar Hero. Even though I knew it wouldn't take me long to beat, it really doesn't matter. Yet again, I foresee tackling the seemingly unbeatable achievements for 5-starring songs that are ready to send my hands into a cramped zombie state.

There are changes this time around. As previously mentioned, it is obvious that some of the originals' rockin' feeling has been lost with the new developer. After completing the game though, I've found that those Harmonix nuances are easily forgotten. I've come to respect the higher detail on the characters and the more familiar track list.

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The new 360 wireless controller is awesome. Personally, I wouldn't care if it was wireless or not, but it is a huge improvement over the old Explorer guitars. My guitarist thanks them for making it more southpaw friendly. I even took the pocketbook hit and traded both my explorers in at a quarter of the cost just to buy another Les Paul style guitar. Unfortunately, Red Octane does not yet sell this guitar by itself; you actually have to buy ANOTHER combo pack to get a 2nd. I traded in Guitar Hero 3 in order to buy it again. Weird.

One thing that is notable is that the window of time that you can press a note is actually longer than the game's predecessors. But that's okay. There is a lot of "sweeps" so the purists can just shut up and take the forgiveness. You tell me that that increased window isn't a godsend for the DragonForce song on Expert. :)

The online play is an excellent addition as well. I don't see why Guitar Hero II couldn't include this. It did take several tries to finally get matched up with someone. Luck escaped me though; my first successful online match was against someone who choice DragonForce on Expert. Surprisingly, I won (70% to 47% or so), and even obtained the "Meet your maker" achievement. Did I play a programmer or something? There didn't seem to be any lag problems, and it went rather smoothly. High-fives to Neversoft on that one.

Lay any doubts to rest; this is still Guitar Hero, and it's still ready to absorb any gaming free time you might obtain. Put your foot up on the couch, tilt your rockin' Les Paul, and call up your hand massaging therapist.

Head Bangin' Pros:
*New Battle Mode
*Online Play
*Improved graphics

Booed off the stage:
*Iffy animations
*Spotty matchmaking
*Some menus aren't immediately clear

Resembles/Feels like:
DDR with a Fisher-Price My-First-Guitar, just like its predecessors (in the best way possible).

Rent or Buy: Definite Buy
Personal Appraisal: $99.99
MSRP: $99.99 (360 version with wireless guitar)

Other opinions:
8/10 @ cnet.com
8/10 @ gamespot
90/100 @ 1up.com

360 is crap in the exclusive department (per GamePro)

GamePro has much the opposite opinion of me when it comes to games for the 360. They say that the 360 has the weakest exclusive lineup while forgetting to mention a few key titles such as Splinter Cell and well...all of the new IP heading toward the 360. When it comes to established franchises though, they aren't far off. But everyone whines about sequels (myself included), so this would seem to be a double-edged sword.

Personally, I'm hoping Lost Odyssey competes directly with Final Fantasy. It'd be nice to not have to attach a number at the end of all RPG-talk for once.

I'd love to hear opinions on 360 vs Wii vs PS3 exclusives.