“The Beatles: Rock Band” is released today {thanks, MTV GAMES}

The Beatles’ history is intertwined with one pop-culture landmark after another.

The appearance of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr on “The Ed Sullivan Show” in 1964 proved the power of then-fledgling rock ’n’ roll. Their 1965 concert at New York’s now demolished Shea Stadium ushered in the era of stadium rock. And their quick-cut, effects-filled musical comedy “A Hard Day’s Night” inspired a generation of music videos.

Will the release of “The Beatles: Rock Band” on Wednesday provide another landmark — an event that will introduce a huge percentage of baby boomers to the video games they have been buying their children and grandchildren for years?
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The masterminds behind Saturday’s 64 Bit Gen Gamer Fest (from left): Tyler Merchant, John DeCampos and Chris Baines {thanks, THE BALTIMORE SUN}

To some, it’s background noise. To others, it’s the nostalgic sounds of childhood. But to John DeCampos, video game music is a constant source of sonic inspiration. On Saturday, DeCampos, 26, of Patterson Park, and his band Entertainment System, will play and host the 64 Bit Gen Gamer Fest at the Ottobar ($17 tickets). The show, in its fourth year and first at the Baltimore rock club, is not a video game convention — it’s a wall-to-wall celebration of everything video games, including original art and TVs set up with old and new consoles. But the main attraction is the music — 10 bands will hit the stage (starting at 5 p.m. and lasting until after 1 a.m.), playing rock and metal interpretations of songs inspired by the “Mega Man” series, “Street Fighter” and more. Earlier this week, we sat with DeCampos, who was appropriately wearing a Tanooki suited Mario T-shirt (read: Raccoon Mario), and fellow band member Tyler Merchant and discussed the Bit Gen show, games with the best music and whether they care that others label them as geeks. (Big surprise: They don’t.)

How did the Bit Gen show come together in the first place?
DECAMPOS: For a while we were just trying to pick up a lot of out-of-town shows. A band we became friends with, This Place Is Haunted from State College, Pa., put on a show called Video Armageddon, which is kind of the same deal. It was four bands. I e-mailed them and begged them to get on the bill. … We did it and we had a great time. Shortly after that, a friend of mine who had an art space of Load of Fun Studios down on North Ave., was like, “Hey guys, I’ve got this space. I want to start doing shows there. If you have any gigs you want to put together, let me know and I’ll do what I can.” … I basically mirrored [Video Armageddon]. I did a lineup of bands I wanted, including our own. We charged a $6 donation cost, and had BYOB, and it was just a huge success. After that, we were like we should do this every year. It’s kind of second nature now.
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How we miss thee, Donkey Kong {thanks, AP}

Which classic video game to you miss the most?

Outrageously cool art project or has too much time on his hands?

You decide.

home cooking ROUGH START TO ‘HOME’ BETA

“Home,” the social network for PlayStation 3 users, has finally arrived — at least in part. Sony has begun an open beta test for anyone with a PlayStation Network account, so if you have an Internet-connected PS3, you’ve probably been invited to join.

Unfortunately, unlocking “Home” wasn’t easy for a lot of gamers, many of whom got connection error messages when they clicked on the “Home” icon that had materialized on their PS3 toolbar.

So far, the world of “Home” fairly desolate, which is disappointing considering that it’s been under development for three years. Still, this is a beta version — so let’s hope that “Home” lives up to Sony’s lofty promises. {AP}

brutal truths GAMING INDUSTRY NOT-SO BULLETPROOF

Forget everything you’ve heard about the video-game industry being recession-proof. Even the mighty Electronic Arts is hurting, and has announced that disappointing sales this year will lead to cuts in its scheduled releases for 2009.

After delivering that grim news, though, EA turned around and announced something truly wonderful: It has picked up “Brutal Legend,” the Jack Black-starring heavy-metal epic from “Psychonauts” mastermind Tim Schafer. “Brutal Legend” was dumped by Activision earlier this year, but Schafer now says, “I think it’s clear that this game, like metal itself, cannot be killed!” {AP}

black diamond 2008 VIDEO GAME AWARDS RECAP

Speaking of Jack Black, he hosted Spike TV’s Video Game Awards this year. Amid the usual gratuitous female pulchritude, stilted comedy skits and irrelevant musical performances, Spike did manage to anoint a game of the year: Rockstar’s “Grand Theft Auto IV.”

The 2008 VGAs were probably more notable for a bevy of new trailers for games like Sony’s “God of War III” and “Uncharted 2: Among Thieves.” And Electronic Arts made news with the previously announced “Dante’s Inferno.” The teaser didn’t show much, but we need more games based on 14th century poetry. {AP}

AP

Following in the footsteps of John Madden and Tiger Woods, Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps wants to start his own video game empire. But curiously enough, swimming might not be the main event.

European publisher 505 Games is hoping its new U.S division can make a splash with games, due in 2010, built around the swimmer and local native. The Olympic hero looks at the deal as “a tremendous opportunity to help continue my quest to raise the profile for the sport of swimming.”

“Swimming will be a part of it, but it won’t be set in an Olympic pool going back and forth,” said Adam Kline, president of 505 Games, the company releasing the series. “This is a pure action game.”

More details will emerge closer to the first installment’s planned release in spring 2010. The game should be available on consoles and the iPhone. But the lack of specifics hasn’t stopped video game experts from speculating.
{THE BALTIMORE SUN AND AP}

With his new project, Immersion, UK photographer Robbie Cooper has single-handedly debunked the theory that kids’ attention spans are growing increasingly shorter.  Part art piece, part behavioral study, Immersion uses a camera embedded in a TV screen to capture children’s faces as they interact with video games, the Internet, and other media stimuli.

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Fanboy FeastingIt’s good to be the king, er … prince. Or, at least in the case of this year’s holiday gaming season, simply a pre-order holder for Ubisoft’s upcoming Prince of Persia series refresher.The cel-shaded (and subsequently re-imagined) “Prince of Persia” has gone gold from preorders and appears to be on track for the game’s Dec. 2, 2008 release date on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. According to the publisher, gamers that pre-order the game will apparently receive the Limited Edition at no extra cost (Yay!), which includes:

You can check out the rest of the press release below:

PRINCE OF PERSIA GOES GOLDSAN FRANCISCO – November 21, 2008 – Today, Ubisoft announced that Prince of Persia has gone gold for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and PC. The game will ship December 2, 2008 and has an ESRB of “T” for Teen.About Prince of PersiaSet in a land rooted in ancient Persian mythology, the Prince finds himself caught in an epic battle between the primal forces of light and darkness: the God of Light, Ormazd versus his brother Ahriman, the destructive God of Darkness. The Prince arrives just in time to witness the destruction of the legendary Tree of Life – an act which threatens to plunge the entire world into eternal darkness. Manifested in the form of the Corruption, a dark substance that physically contaminates the land and the skies, the Prince must partner with Elika, a deadly companion, to heal the world from the evil Corruption.Prince of Persia will be available at the manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $59.99 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation®3, and $49.99 for the PC. 

Fanboy Feasting [I’m stopping with the whole number system:P ]

Whether you’re into gaming or not, or a console elitist and don’t touch anything at all closely related to a PC for gaming, you’ve probably still heard of a little thing called the “World of Warcraft.”

Well, there are about to be a few substantial changes to this world that some of you might care about. For those of you who care and want a refreshingly quick sum up of the “Wrath of the Lich King” expansion, read the last few paragraphs of this post. If you’re like the most of the folks around the b newsroom, keep reading — you might realize how possible and incredibly plausible it is that this game affects someone you know/close to you.

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Fanboy Feasting No. 19

So over the weekend I picked up a Wii and a little game I’ve heard some chatter about called “de Blob.”

The story is plainly simple: A nasty corporation of ink people have essentially sucked all the color out of the now-monochrome city, and it’s your job as de Blob to paint the town red, along with a host of other colors based on various objectives and competitions.

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