Harmonix has done it again, they have brought another great idea into their video games. I have played all the Guitar Hero's (own all but the first) and own Rock Band. I was hoping that with the downloadable songs, the game would last longer than a year. But one year later, it appears we will be getting another Rock Band. The biggest reason I hated a new one coming out was I had to switch games to be able to play all the games, and since they change many things such as the timing allowed to hit notes and how hammer on/offs work, you have to adjust how you played it.

Harmonix has fixed this problem by allowing you to not only use all your downloaded songs (for Rock Band) from the XBox Marketplace, but you can export all the songs from the first Rock Band to your hard drive and play all those songs in Rock Band II. THANK YOU. There will be 84 songs with the game at the launch (9/30/2008 for XBox 360, later this year for the other systems) and 20 will be released this fall for the low low price of free. This means by the year's end, Rock Band fans will have the ability to play more than 500 songs. It is currently unknown if the PS2 and Wii versions will allow the cross-game functionality.

The guitar is a sexy Fender Stratocaster and has an improved strum bar and buttons, softer neck, and is wireless.

The original Skate game was very nice change of pace from the standard Tony Hawk series and was well... pretty hard to get used to, especially for someone who doesn't play very many video games. But once you get the hang out it, it could be a very creative way of playing. Now if you take those ideas from skate, and combine them with a arcade game from 1997 called Top Skater then you get Skate It. Using the Wii Balance Board with the Wiimote, you get to control the board as if you were on a skateboard.

Just watching the video, it appears that Skate It is more forgiving in what you can do without crashing. Which is good, because with the Balance Board, it would just be cumbersome. The game takes place in the same city as Skate did, but disaster has hit the town and is almost absent of people. I am glad that the graphics look really good (for the Wii) because I am tired of games like this game that looks like it belong on the DS or the N64. I know it's not the graphics of a game that make it, but it is still important. But to get back on the subject, you can look for Skate It December 2008.

Resident Evil 5 is an all new story that follows Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar who are part of a new organization, B.S.A.A. The new story takes place in Africa where Chris has come to investigate a bio-terrorism incident. There will be an online multiplayer, with a few achievements that can only be accomplished through the co-op. The game play looks a lot like that of Resident Evil 4 with the over-the-shoulder camera angle and a laser for your aiming. Below is a movie of part of the campaign showing some of the game play, zombies, and co-op interaction.

Gears of War 2 appears to be shaping up to be a good game. I enjoyed the first game, not quite as much as many did though. The campaign was fun, but felt a little lacking in length. The multiplayer had the potential to be fun, but the rounds tend to be short and it just felt like the timing was always off (I don't have a bad Internet connection, but just not as good as others do).

The multiplayer will now allow up to five vs. five which should add a little more excitement to the game. But beyond that, there are chainsaw battles, new weapons, new maps and shields. But what my favorite addition is the ability to have a proximity mine by sticking a grenade to a wall.

Below are two videos: the first is a multiplayer overview from the game studio and Cliff doing his patent "bigger, better, and more bad ass." The second is straight multiplayer showing almost all the new features including using someone as a meat shield, all with no commentary, there is some pretty cool stuff in it.

Foxboro Hot Tubs (Wikipedia) is one of those bands that as soon as you listen to a song, you know there is something familiar about them. Well that's probably because there is. The Foxboro Hot Tubs are Green Day's alter '60s ego. Their CD Stop Drop and Roll!!! is a excellent throw back, combining Green Day's talent and sound with an older style from the days of Iggy Pop and The Stooges.

If you haven't got a chance to hear their stuff, you can check out the MySpace page for the Foxboro Hot Tubs and if you enjoy their music, you can buy their songs online at their website, at music stores, or my personal favorite, Interpunk.com

I don't need a reason to be a misfit - Foxboro Hot Tubs