Guitar Hero Under Fire!
Hailed by some as one of the most addicting games of the century, Guitar Hero has rapidly become a party favorite. Allowing players to pit their guitar-strumming skills against one another in either head to head battles or a complex career mode, it seems that Activision (the makers of Guitar Hero) has outdone themselves in sales.
There is a catch, however. Gibson Guitar Corporation has announced a lawsuit against many retailers of this popular game as well as Activision itself. The accusations state that Activison has violated a patent filed in 1999 that described a “System and Method for Generating and Controlling a Simulated Musical Concert Experience,” as found in a filing by Activision.
Don’t fret my friends…no pun intended…as Activision continues to declare that they will fight the lawsuit saying that they are clear of any allegations that have been brought against them. With the difference between the actual game and experience and what Gibson Guitar filed for in 1999, I don’t expect to see Guitar Hero to stop selling any time soon.
Lockout fans rejoice as you will now get to play your favorite, ice-cold map! Blackout, also know as Moonlight Sonata, is a very strict remake. Unlike Avalanche, it holds the [almost] exact layout as its predecessor. Aside from, of course, some minor gameplay tweaks, jumps among other things, to make it feel and play at 100%. However, as you’ll notice on the left, the environment is holds very distinct differences. For one, it is no longer the Forerunner structure that Lockout was, now deemed a UNSC research station — At night! Hence its code-name. I for one love nighttime maps, so this’ll be a really fun play.
This may as well be old news to some, but if you haven’t yet seen or heard anything about Halo 3’s Legendary Map Pack you’re missing out. The pack will be released April 15 for 800 MS points, the same as the Heroic Map Pack — Indicating it will only contain three maps. The first of the three is 
As if the sixteen maps packaged with Call of Duty 4 wasn’t enough to satisfy you hungry fanboys, XBox.com has announced that four, count ‘em four new maps will be available for download via Marketplace April 3rd. The Variety Map Pack will include Creek, Broadcast, Chinatown (seen on the left), and Killhouse. The maps will be downloadable for the price of 800 MS points or (US)$10. Plus, if that wasn’t enough, and it never is, Infinity Ward has promised that on the very same day the Game of the Year Edition will be released as well. And still no word about CoD’s appearance on the PS3. Sorry Sony.
I suppose you can’t call something that debuted in April of last year news, but I just discovered the little, yellow, limbless, dancing marshmallow, Keepon, a couple nights ago. Programmed by Marek Michalowski of Carnegie Mellon University and developed by Hideki Kozima, Keepon was originally created for research on social development and communication in, to a large extent, autistic children. He has two cameras in his eyes, and a mic in his mouth to ensure Keepon’s lifelike attention. “Human social behavior shares much in common with dance. Our speech, as well as the movement of our body, head, and hands, is periodic and rhythmic,” says the official website of Keepon. This rhythmic robot is also capable of eye-contact and emotion. Plus, he’s damn entertaining to watch.
