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Activision cranks up the hard rock for second batch of Guitar Hero Live tracks
Last week, Activision unveiled the first 24 songs that’ll make up the final tracklist for Guitar Hero Live. The tracks covered a wide range of musical styles including blues (Gary Clark Jr.), pop (Ed Sheeran), pop punk (Fall Out Boy, Green Day, My Chemical Romance), alternative (The Killers), and even some techno (Skrillex).
But for this week’s “Tracklist Tuesday,” Activision wanted to go a little harder with ten selections from the hard rock and heavy metal acts that’ll be included on Guitar Hero Live’s soundtrack:
- Bring Me the Horizon – “Shadow Moses”
- Deftones – “Diamond Eyes”
- Killswitch Engage – “In Due Time”
- Marilyn Manson – “Disposable Teens”
- Marmozets – “Move Shake Hide”
- Mastodon – “High Road”
- Of Mice & Men – “Bones Exposed”
- Royal Blood – “Little Monster”
- Trivium – “Strife”
- Vista Chino – “Sweet Remain”
Most of these bands are unknown to me, but I think I was most surprised to learn that Marilyn Manson is still a thing. Guitar Hero Live will be released this Fall for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Wii U.
Kickstart This! CCTV Nation, Overdosed, Power Drive 2000
While my own Kickstarter campaign, The Illuminant Midnight Project, didn’t reach its funding goal, the first big crowdfunding story of 2015, Playtonic’s Yooka-Laylee, zoomed past its initial funding goal of £1,000,000 in less than 24 hours, and met its “final” stretch goal a few days later, pushing Playtonic to add further stretch goals. The campaign still has a little less than a month left to run, so there is little doubt it will reach the £2,000,000 goal of free DLC for everybody. The campaign’s success has been built on months of anticipation, coupled with a sweet price point for backers. I pledged £15 to get the game on Wii U, which is insanely good value for the money.
Of course, the former Rare employees have two decades worth of nostalgia to help them succeed, whereas other developers must rely on more modest means to help them complete their gaming projects, bringing us to this week’s Kickstart This! We start with the curious augmented reality game CCTV Nation, before plunging into the depths of hell with top-down shooterOverdosed. Finally, there is stunning sci-fi racer Power Drive 2000.
Where we’re going, we don’t need roads… (more…)
Catlateral Damage will be released on Steam, Ouya next week
Have you ever wanted to become a cat? Now you can… in Catlateral Damage. The game, from developer Chris Chung, will be released for the PC (Windows, Mac, Linux) via Steam and the Android-powered Ouya microconsole on May 27.
Players will have all the freedom of their favorite feline as they embrace their cat’s uncaring nature and completely wreck the house without any sense of remorse or shame. Catlateral Damage will include a wide variety of procedurally-generated levels including an entire suburban home, a supermarket, and a museum. Knock dishes off the counter! Tear up unread magazines! Destroy priceless family heirlooms and antiquities! The choice is yours!
Act now and you can also view the brand new “Informercial” trailer for Catlateral Damage, which has been embedded above.
2K has NBA 2K16, WWE 2K16, Battleborn, and a “new triple-A title” on tap for 2015
Take-Two Intereactive CEO Strauss Zelnick announced a trio of new titles during the company’s quarterly financial report yesterday. But two we already knew about and the third will remain under wraps until this year’s E3 Expo.
First, Zelnick confirmed that both of 2K’s annual franchises would receive new entries in 2015. WWE 2K16 will be released for the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One on October 27 while NBA 2K16 will be released for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile platforms sometime in the Fall, though NBA 2K titles typically launch in early October.
The CEO also revealed the company will release a “new triple-A title” during their current fiscal year:
Throughout the coming year, we will continue to execute our proven strategy of launching a select array of the highest-quality titles, led by new annual releases of NBA 2K and WWE 2K; Battleborn, a groundbreaking new intellectual property from Gearbox Software; and a soon-to-be announced new triple-A title from 2K.
This unannounced game is likely in development at Hangar 13, Take-Two’s newest internal studio. Rumor has it that Hangar 13 is working on Mafia III, but we won’t find out for sure until next month. And we may not get to play it until early next year as Take-Two’s fiscal year officially ends on March 31, 2016.
Finally, Zelnick confirmed that Gearbox’s latest, Battleborn, will also be released during the current fiscal year. More details on the colorful (and character-ful) shooter will be revealed ahead of the E3 Expo and during the show itself.
So your big takeaway from this announcement should be that Take-Two Intereactive is going to have a big presence at the 2015 E3 Expo.
UPDATE: 2K Games has confirmed that their “new triple-A title” is actually XCOM 2, which is currently in development at Firaxis.
First Wii U trailer for The 90s Arcade Racer drifts into view
The 90s are alive on the Wii U. Developer Antonis “Pelikan13” Pelekanos and publisher Nicalis have released a new Wii U gameplay trailer for The 90s Arcade Racer, giving us a new look at the Daytona USA-inspired title. In addition to the de rigueur jungle course, the game will also include a track modeled after a slot car set. Pay attention to the background as the car whizzes around the very 90s bedroom for a host of Easter eggs including a television with an NES underneath it.
The trailer closes with a glimpse at Pop Dat!, a minigame embedded in The 90s Arcade Racer. Players will control a gun-toting mouse who has to shoot down a series of balloons. Yup, that’s pretty 90s.
The 90s Arcade Racer is also in development for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and PC platforms (Windows, Mac, and Linux), and should be available sometime this year.
Telltale will release Game of Thrones Episode 4: Sons of Winter “soon”
Telltale Games began teasing the fourth episode of their Game of Thrones adaptation on Twitter last night. One tweet promised the game’s next episode, Sons of Winter, would be released “soon” for the PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and mobile devices:
.@GameOfThrones: A @TelltaleGames Series – Ep 4 of 6: Sons of Winter – Download It Soon on Consoles, PC, Mac & Mobile pic.twitter.com/jM05RI5ntC
— Telltale Games (@telltalegames) May 17, 2015
Telltale followed up the tease with a stream of new screenshots featuring Daenerys, Beskha, a meeting between House Forrester and House Whitehill, a Wildling with a spear, and Gared Tuttle talking to Frostfinger.
As is Telltale’s MO, a trailer for Game of Thrones: Sons of Winter should appear sometime this week alongside an official release date.
The Walking Dead Season 3 won’t be out until 2016 but “something BIG” is coming in 2015
Job Stauffer, Telltale’s Director of Public Relations, has some bad news for fans of The Walking Dead. Tweeting today about The Walking Dead Season 3, Stauffer revealed the first episode of the game won’t be released this year:
To re-clarify, no, TWD S3 is *not* starting in 2015. But what I am seeing this week will be, and it is insanely cool. Stay close, news soon!
— Job J Stauffer (@jobjstauffer) May 12, 2015
However, you shouldn’t despair too much. Stauffer followed that tweet with a second one promising that “something BIG for [Walking Dead] fans” would be released this year. We don’t know for sure, but Stauffer could be referring to another bridge episode, similar to the way The Walking Dead: 400 Days was released about seven months after the completion of Season 1, but five months before the beginning of Season 2.
In hindsight, its likely that Telltale never planned to launch The Walking Dead Season 3 in 2015. With multiple episodes for Game of Thrones and Tales From the Borderlands still in the works and the launch of Minecraft: Story Mode penciled in for a Fall 2015 release, Telltale’s plate was already pretty overflowing.
These 24 songs will be featured in Guitar Hero Live
Guitar Hero Live will do battle with Rock Band 4 for the hearts and minds of plastic instrument virtuosos this Fall. However, before that we’ll have to deal with the inevitable series of announcements to reveal each game’s soundtrack. And Activision is first out of the gate with a list of 24 tunes that’ll be playable in Guitar Hero Live.
The publisher plans to announce new songs every Tuesday, but for now, here’s what we’ll definitely be rocking along with in Guitar Hero Live this Fall:
- Alt-J – “Left Hand Free”
- Alter Bridge – “Cry of Achilles”
- The Black Keys – “Gold On The Ceiling”
- Black Veil Brides – “In The End”
- Blitz Kids – “Sometimes”
- Broken Bells – “Leave It Alone”
- Gary Clark Jr. – “Don’t Owe You a Thang”
- Fall Out Boy – “My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark (Light Em Up)” by
- Green Day – “Nuclear Family”
- Judas Priest – “Breaking the Law”
- The Killers – “When You Were Young”
- The Lumineers – “Ho Hey”
- My Chemical Romance – “Na Na Na”
- Pantera – “Cowboys from Hell”
- Pierce the Veil (featuring Kellin Quinn) – “King for a Day”
- The Pretty Reckless – “Going to Hell”
- Rage Against the Machine – “Guerrilla Radio”
- Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Higher Ground”
- The Rolling Stones – “Paint it Black”
- Ed Sheeran – “Sing”
- Skrillex – “Bangarang”
- Sleigh Bells – “Bitter Rivals”
- System of a Down – “Chop Suey!”
- The War on Drugs – “Under the Pressure”
Guitar Hero Live will be released for the PS3, PS4, Wii U, Xbox 360, and Xbox One this Fall. Prepare yourself for many more of these musical memos in the weeks to come.