I can't help but admire a developer with a vision, or more specifically, a VP of product development with a vision. Greg LoPiccolo of Harmonix is just that. His vision for the future of Rock Band is bigger than even I had previously thought was possible.

LoPiccolo recently went on record with GamesIndustry.biz in regards to the direction in which he would like to see Rock Band grow. While I have heard people suggest additional instruments (LoPiccolo addresses the oft requested keyboard peripheral), bringing the concept of user-generated content to the platform is not something had not crossed my mind.

"We would like to make it possible for people to introduce their own music into the Rock Band ecosystem, which is a pretty complicated topic. We'd love to have it be a vehicle for people to be able to express themselves in terms of creating their own music and bringing it to a wider audience."

Admittedly, there are many technical obstacles to overcome in order to allow Rock Band users the opportunity to create and share their own tracks (think intellectual property issues) but LoPiccolo sees nothing but future opportunities for you and your band mates.

Peruse GamesIndustry's full interview, including LoPiccolo's thoughts on adding a keyboard, via the link below.

LoPiccolo: We Want User-Created Music In Rock Band [GamesIndustry.biz]
[via: QJ.net]

It's not often that a game is so awful that I feel I have to warn people about it, but sadly, Warner Brothers Games' Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal necessitates just that. This game is so bad that I beg of you -- don't buy it, don't rent it, don't even borrow it.

After being unimpressed by the demo available on Xbox Live Marketplace, I really didn't expect to pick it up. But seeing as how I'm a total sucker for a cute bear, when my better half showed some interest in it while playing the demo with me, I thought to myself, "Well, it might be a fun co-op experience and easy gamerscore." Oh, how wrong I was.

I guess with several genuinely fun co-op experiences under my belt recently, I have just begun to take for granted that "co-op" is equal to "fun with a buddy." Lego Star Wars is a good example of cooperative play done correctly. The same goes for Gears of War, Crackdown, The Simpson's Game, and even Eternal Sonata. So it was with blind optimism that I traded for Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal on Goozex, expecting to spend a few casual afternoons and evenings plodding through story mode with a partner. Instead, we saw the "if it's not fun, stop playing" rule enacted faster than ever.

I don't understand why it's 2008 and some developers don't seem to grasp the fact that having to manually control the camera completely blows ass tarts. Taking into consideration the level designs found in this abomination of a gaming experience -- lots of turning, exploring, a lack of melee targeting -- the game quickly devolves into a ever-spinning experiment in motion sickness. Add a second player and the problem only worsens. When you're spending more than half of your play time simply trying to position the camera so you can see what's going on, the fun stops (if we had any to begin with). If you really can't set up a decent camera angle, at least design the levels to be more linear so that a player can primarily move forward and can concentrate on the "action" rather than just struggling to see what's going on.

So, while I might have written a full review of Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal, this is all you're getting. Why? I think I mentioned my long standing rule before: If it stops being fun, quit playing. That's exactly why we didn't even make it twenty minutes into the game. So heed my warning, ladies and gents, avoid Looney Tunes: Acme Arsenal at all costs. Avoid it at retail, avoid it at rental, avoid it at the bargain bin. Your sanity will thank me.

The years of waiting have finally come to an end. Super Smash Bros. Brawl is now available for your frenetic fighting pleasure. With many stores holding midnight launches last night, I have no doubt that many of those gamers spent their entire night awake, their eyes glued to their televisions with wavebird controllers in hand. That is, unless you were one of an unlucky few who experienced difficulties getting your Wii to read your SSBB disc.

From Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. Brawl support page:

Super Smash Bros. Brawl utilizes a double-layer disc which has a large memory capacity. A very small percentage of Wii consoles may have trouble consistently reading data off this large capacity disc if there is some contamination on the lens of the disc drive. Nintendo has specialized cleaning equipment that can resolve this problem. (Please do NOT attempt to clean the lens yourself, as you may damage the system.)

I hope that none of you are affected by this hiccup. I have to say, discovering this problem after attending a midnight launch must be pretty disheartening. We don't have anyway of knowing how many people will be affected or exactly how the contamination could have happened. If you are one of the unfortunate people affected, be sure to let us know before heading over to Nintendo's support page to arrange for your Wii's return trip to Nintendo for repairs. If you're not affected, how much are you loving Brawl right now?

Nintendo SSBB Repair Form [Nintendo]
[via: QJ.net]

As all of my Xbox Live buddies may be aware, I'm huge fan of Futurama. So it is with great pleasure I bring you this little tidbit of Futurama and gaming goodness. The Futurama game (or rather the half-hour of cut scene material) will be making an encore appearance on the second upcoming DVD release, Futurama - The Beast with a Billion Backs, tentatively scheduled for a June 24th release.

Continue reading past the break for more details, as well as a nice embedded Futurama video.

From the Futurama video game's Wikipedia entry:

Development on the game started before the series' cancellation, but the game wasn't released until after the last episode had already been shown. Thus, the game has been known as a "lost episode" of sorts since it includes around half an hour of completely new material.

Many of the crew from the Futurama series worked on the game. Matt Groening served as Executive game developer and David X. Cohen directed the voice actors. These voice actors were the original actors from the series: Billy West, Katey Sagal, John DiMaggio, Tress MacNeille, Maurice LaMarche, and David Herman. Also adding to the authenticity of the game was the original music composition provided by Christopher Tyng who also composed the music in the series and Futurama scriptwriter and producer J. Stewart Burns who scripted an original storyline for the plot. Indeed, the music used in the end credits was later used in the intro for the straight-to-DVD film Futurama: Bender's Big Score.

For more info on the upcoming release, head over to DVDShowsOnTV via the link below, they've even been so kind as to include storyboards from The Beast With A Billion Backs. It should be noted that the original article found there has now been updated with a reminder from FOX that the DVD's features are tentative at this point, but that still isn't keeping me from breaking out a Slurm and taking a celebratory spin in my Thundercougarfalconbird.

Futurama DVD News [TVShowsOnTV]
Futurama video game [Wikipedia]
[via: Joystiq]

Despite some previous reports that the upcoming Wii version of the acclaimed title, Okami, would not feature a full widescreen picture but instead would be black-barred on both sides. Well here is video proving that, without a doubt, we can expect to see it in a full 16:9 widescreen aspect. It's moments like this that make me glad that I own a 40" HDTV. Of course, it's these same moments that also wish the Wii would support HD period -- and don't give me that "but it does 480p!" crap. That's not HD and you know it, especially when even my phone can output video at that resolution.

Okami's 16:9 On Wii Looks Just Lovely [Kotaku]