MuchMusic.com | Blog

Today was X08 and Much.com was there to cover it for you. The Biggest draws of the day were definitely Gears Of War 2 and the massive Rock Band 2 drum kit. Apparently weighing in at about 300 bucks just for the kit alone, this thing has it all. The drum pads are bouncy and responsive and they reminded Mark of the great arcade drum simulators from Playdium many years ago.

The Rock Band drums are fun to play and could be a huge hit with people that felt the first Rock Band drums were a weak offering. Along with the drums, the guitar got a few improvements as well. The keys were more responsive, the neck of the guitar has a nice cherry wood tint and the start button had a round guard that makes it unique to the touch especially helping you avoid the accidental in-game pause or accidental premature star power.

We also saw the Guitar Hero Would Tour kit and there were hardly any people interested. This is Guitar Hero’s first attempt at a drum kit and it is worth noting that although it only has 3 pads and 2 cymbals it comes in the game kit and does not cost extra.

Gears Of War 2 will blow people away when it lauches this coming fall. The updated engine and gameplay makes this game a must have for the holiday season. Cliff Bleszinksi was in attendance showing off the new battle modes in multiplayer including the ability to crawl away to safey if you are hurt(go to the 24 second mark of the first video), the ability to have a chainsaw battle and you can now chainsaw people from behind (go to the 1:31 minute mark of the second video). Another added gameplay feature is the ability to use a body as a sheild to protect you from the enmey. This will become useful when there are a bunch of locusts around and have limited space to take cover.

We also had the chance to see the new blade-less Xbox 360 dashboard with its Nintendo Wii style avatars. We are hoping that we have the option of keeping the old one as this design looks overly simplified and nowhere as robust as the current dashboard.

One overlooked game that we had the chance of playing is Scene It. The game comes with 4 paddles and you buzz in when you think you have the correct answer. In the example below Mark guessed that the sketch was the Shamalayan film ‘Lady In The Water’.

Another game that will be launching soon is a Dance Dance Revolution style game for High School Musical. This combines the rhythm dancing genre with the crazy immensly successful High School Musical franchise. You can actually see Vanessa Hudgens and Zac Efforn in the game and play as them.

Other game titles that were there were EA Sports’ NHL 09, Fifa 09 and Activison’s Call Of Duty: World At War. Also making an appearance were Xbox arcade game Castle Crashers and the new rehash of Poral.

Posted on Thursday, August 21st, 2008 at 5:47 pm by Alberto and is filed under Gamers, Just For Fun.

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