I’m checking out Famitsu this morning and what do I see but an interesting slightly non gaming news article about EXILE and Takaratomi toy company of Japan releasing a collaboration Optimus Prime as they call it. Read more…

Prince of Persia games have a history of being an all-around awesome gaming experience (unless you happen to be playing on PSP). So it’s not surprising that the music also excels in quality. A mix of traditional eastern instruments with a dash of the all-time American favorite electric guitar and some orchestral flair gives you a quality of music normally associated with blockbuster movies. So it’s no surprise that some familiar names are returning to the series to bring us a soundtrack for the new game that Ubisoft boasts will be “a compelling and epic original score.” You hear that? It’s gonna be freaking epic! Read more…

LittleBigResistance: Delay of Sackboy

The recent controversy surrounding Sony’s decision to delay the release of LittleBigPlanet, over a Qur’an reference made in one of the tracks, has many gamers flexing their memory muscle in an attempt to illustrate a double standard.

The belief is that Sony’s 2006 decision to essentially ignore the Church of England’s request asking for the removal of the Manchester Cathedral from their Resistance: Fall of man game, paired with the company’s recent willingness to comply to the perceived wishes of a Muslim community, demonstrates favoritism.

Several prime examples appear as comments appended to Kotaku’s recent post regarding the recall. Here are excerpts from a few of my favorites:

“Where’s the balls you had when it came to standing up to the Church of England, Sony?? Fuck you and your double standard, you bastards.” - Lachoy

“Sony, clearly, not willing to lift a finger to defend Western values or preserve our sensibilities, but willing to bend over backward to appease Islamic twits. They take our market for granted.” - rateoforange

To all those bringing up the Church of Manchester incident as a valid analogy: where the fuck have you been for the past 15 years? Stop thinking in absolute terms: “Christians are OK with it, so Muslims should be too.” Yes, there is a double standard here, and no, it’s not the end of the world. - Antiterra

This got me thinking about the two scenarios from a pure business standpoint. Armed with only an opinion, my belief is that Sony isn’t demonstrating favoritism, rather they are making what they believe to be sound business decisions based on a bottom line mentality.

While opinions are nice, I realized that any level of convincing was going to require more than a hunch. I needed proof that the cost of a potential Cathedral replacement would drastically exceed those associated with the recent LittleBigPlanet delay. Read more…

Dave Chappelle once said, “Nobody likes getting their ass beat to a soundtrack.” Dave never played FaceBreaker. EA’s arcade-style boxing game’s soundtrack has been announced, and it’s full of Grateful Dead and Jack Johnson. You know — good, mellow stuff.

OK, I lied. The FaceBreaker soundtrack contains tunes with such auspicious names as “Sucker Punch,” “Knock Me Down,” and “Girl Fight.” How appropriate.

Hit the jump for the full list of songs that make you want to punch your friends in the face. Read more…

We all know the feeling, you’re sat at home in your boxers playing Resistance: Fall of Man and you start thinking “you know, I wish I could watch that latest Rihanna music video, but I’m so lazy to simply go to YouTube in my PS3’s browser, I wish there was another solution”.

Well, Sony have heard your call and announced today at Leipzig that they will start trialling their new VidZone service across all PAL territories early next year.
Read more…

Flyleaf (pictured above, minus singer Lacey Mosley) join Guitar Hero as DLC

If you’ve played through every track on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, there are now some fresh tunes courtesy of Interscope Records.

The Interscope Track Pack offers up three new songs: Flyleaf’s “Tina,” “Carcinogen Crush” by AFI, and a remix of goth rocker Marilyn Manson’s “Putting Holes in Happiness,” a la Nick Zinner of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.

The tracks are now available on Xbox Live and the PlayStation Store.

Nothing says hardcore hip-hop like the Nintendo DS (snicker!) but Ignition Entertainment is now serving up a web demo of their upcoming Breakdancing game for the DS, Red Bull BC One. It plays like Elite Beat Agents, only instead of tapping in time to the music, you’re playing connect-the-dots against the clock.

From this demo, it seems like the music is the best part of the game– the dots on the bottom screen aren’t terribly exciting, and it’s impossible to focus on the dancing on the top screen while you’re playing.

Before you go running back to your “conventional” Nintendo games, why not give this oddball a quick try? Just be sure to use Internet Explorer and download the 3d plugin. If you’re into the hippity-hop or whatever the damn kids are doing these days, you might actually enjoy it.

Source: Red Bull BC One website

Ripten is lucky enough to be joined by Anthony Putson, a freelance video game composer who is part of a company with over 30 years of experience in producing game audio, amalgamating into one of the largest portfolios in gaming history. Their output includes Driver 1 and 2, Rollercoaster Tycoon 2, the Duel Masters trilogy, Micro Machines, Xaolin Showdown, Clive Barker’s Jericho and many more.

We discuss every part of creating video game music, from how a freelance composer makes his way in the industry, to how you can get your work noticed. Join us after the link. Read more…

At CES Sony had something nice to announce for all you avid PSP users, a huge 16GB Memory Stick Pro. This is great for people who use their PSP as a portable media centre that holds all their favourite movies, music and photos. Read more…