Trainer games are no stranger to the Kinect platform. There’s only about a million weight training programs, as well as games that teach you how to dance, etc. It’s was only a matter of time before developers branched out even more; such as today’s announcement from Ubisoft of Self-Defense Training Camp. It advertises that it “helps players develop the self-confidence they need to react more efficiently when facing troublesome situations, and allows players to discover ways of protecting themselves from various forms of physical assault”. Kind of an ambiguous mission statement.

The idea behind the game is sound: use the Kinect sensor to help train for self-defense situations. It sounds like a good idea, but in practice, the inexact nature of the Kinect may prove to be more infuriating than anything. In addition, without having a training partner it will be very hard to actually practice any techniques in a meaningful way. Still, the idea is intriguing, and it will be interesting to see how it works when it’s released. At the very least, it can add to the ever-growing ranks of fitness trainers already available for the Kinect.

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Little known fact; I play the drums. Another little know fact: I play the drums poorly.

As sure as I am that playing Rock Band as often as I can won’t help improve my drum skills, Harmonix intends to prove me wrong by adding a new ‘Drum Trainer’ mode to Rock Band 2, for those of you who are sick of hearing “GO PLAY REAL DRUMS” and not being able to do so.

The mode in Rock Band 2 is intended to help you improve your actual drumming skills by introducing you to basic drumming vernacular, intermediate drumming skills, and some of the more complicated repetitions of beats you’d be playing in an actual band. Hit the jump for the full details on Rock Band 2′s Drum Trainer mode, as well as some videos of the mode in action.

Though the Rock Band 2 Drum Trainer is a mode in itself, Harmonix decided to go all Matryoshka doll on us and have several modes inside of the mode itself. The modes are  Beat Trainer, Fill Trainer, and Freestyle Mode, and they each have a different intention.

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The first mode is Beat Trainer, which will offer up 75 different beats for you to learn, ranging from easy beats such as “Surfin’ on 2 Hands”, which only uses the red & yellow pads, to Fast Punk, which varies in use from the pads to the bass pedal. So you’re not just jumping in head first to a difficult beat, you can select your rhythm from a section on the right using the kit’s D-Pad, and you can preview your selection as well. On the left side of the screen is a secion where you can adjust the speed of the beats using the up & down arrows. The Beat Trainer will also let you know when you’ve mastered a section of the trainer by flashing 100% on the screen. At that point, the beat will just loop until you quit the mode.

If you don’t enjoy the sound that the Beat Trainer gives you, pressing the Select/Back button will allow you to change the sound between 6 different kits: Standard, Roomy, Electric, Trashy, Vintage, and Rock Band 1.

The second mode in the Drum Trainer is the Fill Trainer, which focuses on the multicolored sections that you’d bash nonsensically to activate Overdrive in Rock Band. Fill Trainer gives you 45 different fills, as well as the ability to change the sound and tempo, just like Beat Trainer. For the most part, the fills are pretty easy, but it also requires you to master the beats you’re given before you complete fills.

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The very last mode in the Drum Trainer is the Freestyle Mode, which I think has the most potential. Like the actual trainers, you will be given 6 different kits to choose from, as well as a metronome, though you can opt out of that if you want to. Freestyle Mode gives the player the ability to do what they’ve always wanted and to play their own music as they want, but it comes with a catch.

To do so, you have to open up the custom soundtrack option via the Xbox 360′s dashboard and choose an MP3 to play along with. The catch in this case is that the game doesn’t create notes for you, you just wail on the pads as you want. Though I’m sure that this will prove to be fun for most people, it will seem a bit confusing to most. You’d also have to time it well to start the song as you start drumming, which could be a hassle. According to Harmonix, its likely that the PS3 will also support the custom soundtrack option in RB2, but its not confirmed as of yet.

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Though nothing has been confirmed for the Wii and PS2 versions of the game, the Drum Trainer in all of its glory will be hitting the PS3 and 360 versions on launch day when the game hits this fall.

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