Kidzworld's Official Blog

Our latest releases post announced that Konami’s legendarily difficult rhythm game is coming to North America, but much easier than the Japanese games. But, the real question is: Who has the hardest rhythm titles? Guitar Hero/Rock Band representing the west, or the Bemani rhythm games representing the east? These YouTube videos should let you decide for yourself.

Guitar Hero/Rock Band:

• Extreme difficulty drums on Baba O’ Riley

• Extreme difficulty Guitar on Bark at the Moon solo

• Extreme difficulty Guitar on Cliffs of Dover

Pop ‘n Music:

• a song apparently called “Super Japanesque“

• Classic 4 hyper, lets you see exactly what’s going on in the arcade version

• a song called Fantasia, in a performance that the game rates “No bad!”

Battle of the Bands

We’ve got two more Rock Band/Guitar Hero games this week, according to this here news post I just wrote. That’s added onto Beatles Rock Band, DJ Hero, Guitar Hero 5, Rock Band Unplugged, and Guitar Hero Smash Hits already over the past couple of months, and then we’ve still got Guitar Hero: Van Halen set for later this year. Time for them to battle, I’ve decided, in my own little tournament, to see which game is most likely to garner the most purchases.

1st Matchup: Guitar Hero 5 v. Rock Band Unplugged

GH5 moves on. I’m glad there’s a portable Rock Band now, and at least it’s original, but it’s still no contest.

2nd Matchup: Beatles Rock Band v. Guitar Hero: Van Halen

Well, let’s compare the album sales of the bands each game is using. Van Halen: 200,000,000 albums sold. Wow, that’s a lot. The Beatles: 200,000,000 albums sold… in the US alone. Beatles Rock Band moves on.

3rd Matchup: DJ Hero v. Band Hero

Two “Hero” games? Which will sell more? I have no idea. But DJ Hero is more interesting to me, so I’ll give it the edge.

4th Matchup: LEGO Rock Band v. Guitar Hero Smash Hits

Guitar Hero Smash Hits was basically just all the old Guitar Hero songs, but allowing you to play them with any instrument. Not a horrible idea, but it’s just an expansion, so LEGO Rock Band has to win.

2nd Round, 1st Matchup: Guitar Hero 5 v. DJ Hero

Guitar Hero 5. It’s the main series, and DJ Hero is just getting off the ground with its new turntable peripheral. GH5 will sell more than twice as many copies, I’m afraid.

2nd Round, 2nd Matchup: Beatles Rock Band v. LEGO Rock Band

Not even close, slightly modified Beatles will beat LEGO David Bowie any day of the week.

FINAL MATCHUP: Guitar Hero 5 v. Beatles Rock Band

Well, in the US Beatles Rock Band has sold more so far, and almost paradoxically, Guitar Hero 5 won in the UK. Is it a tie? Yes, but I’m not going to let that happen. Beatles Rock Band is the winner, by a coin flip. It landed tails.

Welcome back to school everyone! Whether you love or hate school, I hope you all wrapped up your summer in style. Myself, I represented Kidzworld.com at the Penny Arcade Expo 2009 over the Labor Day long weekend. It was amazing, you can read my quick recap of PAX 2009 here.

Nintendo was the first booths I hit, they always had great swag to pick up. This year, they had red, green and dark grey toques for Mario & Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story and an awesome t-shirt of Samus. To get the Metriod shirt, you had to line up and try out the new Metriod Prime Trilogy game for awhile.  I watched as some people struggled with the bosses, thinking that, if only they had access to our boss guide for the game.

There were many Rock Band stations set up throughout the convention center, including the new Beatles: Rock Band game and LEGO Rock Band. The new game is pretty cool, but I really liked the atmosphere of the free play area near the back of the convention, where people were lounging and eating until 3am.

There were lots of free to play games being shown, as well as indie games and download only games. I did not see Mini Ninjas anywhere, which was too bad since I was hoping to get some comments from the exhibitors since I was reviewing it this week. I did manage to pick up a bunch of beta invites for games like Dungeon Fighter and Hello Kitty Online. We may be consolidating these for a contest later on, keep an eye out for it!

Like always, the show was great and I enjoyed it a lot. I got tonnes of t-shirts and bought myself a few new board games. I also got to meet Steve Jackson, the man behind Munchkin, and got him to sign a few cards that I conveniently had. To Tycho and Gabe, thanks for the great show, I hope you recover soon!

Almost all of the songs in The Beatles: Rock Band have now been revealed, but one is being kept secret for now, likely an endgame surprise. Here’s the list, in order of the songs’ original release, and with which level the songs will be played in:

# Twist And Shout / Cavern Club
# Do You Want To Know A Secret / Cavern Club
# Can’t Buy Me Love / Ed Sullivan Theater
# I Wanna Be Your Man / Ed Sullivan Theater
# Eight Days A Week / Shea Stadium
# Paperback Writer / Budokan
# And Your Bird Can Sing / Budokan
# Yellow Submarine / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# With a Little Help from My Friends / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Within You Without You / Tomorrow Never Knows / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Revolution / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Birthday / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Dig A Pony / Rooftop Concert
# I’ve Got A Feeling / Rooftop Concert
# Boys / Cavern Club
# A Hard Day’s Night / Ed Sullivan Theater
# I’m Looking Through You / Shea Stadium
# If I Needed Someone / Shea Stadium
# Ticket to Ride / Shea Stadium
# Drive My Car / Budokan
# Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Getting Better / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Good Morning / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Hello, Goodbye / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Hey Bulldog / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Dear Prudence / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# While My Guitar Gently Weeps / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Helter Skelter / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Something / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Come Together / Abbey Road Dreamscape
# Don’t Let Me Down / Rooftop Concert
# I Want You (She’s So Heavy) / Rooftop Concert
# I Me Mine / Rooftop Concert
# I Saw Her Standing There / remainder unknown
# I Want To Hold Your Hand
# I Feel Fine
# Taxman
# Day Tripper
# Back In The USSR
# I Am The Walrus
# Octopus’s Garden
# Here Comes The Sun
# Get Back