The whole world is 3D, so maybe I should be more specific. This article is to discuss the optical effect of making something appear 3D to a human viewer. This effect can be done a number of ways, but in pretty much all instances this is achieved by having each eye see a different image to create the illusion of depth.

Close one eye at a time and you’ll see that each eye sees something slightly different. This is the real trick to 3D called paralax. The left eye needs to see an image as it would appear from a few inches to the left than the right eye and your brain is smart enough to use this to extrapolate depth. An easy way of showing this to be the real source of the effect is to try closing one eye while using pretty much any kind of 3D technology, and you will see the effect disappear.

Iconic blue and red 3D glasses

The most iconic type of 3D glasses are used to view what is called an anaglyph. This 3D effect uses coloured lenses on glasses to create a different image in each eye. The typical glasses used for this have one red eye and one blue eye. The most basic images that can be viewed with this effect are 2 black and white images superimposed with one being red and the other being blue so that the red eye only sees the blue image and the blue eye only sees the red image. This is common in old sticker books as it’s an easy trick to reproduce with inexpensive printing. Similarly, since it only uses simple colours, this effect is easily reproduced in images or video regardless of the medium.

Tinted lenses can be curved with no ill effect making these Terminator style glasses a possibility

This effect can be done to colour images as well, and this can be seen with most of the home video 3D movies that have been released in the past like the Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert or Spy Kids 3D. The particular refresh rate of an LCD, plasma or CRT TV won’t have any effect on this effect. The down side here is that without using a purely black and white image as the source there will be some amount ghosting from one image to another which can be quite distracting.

Cheap disposable blue and red 3D glasses ideal for packaging with children's DVDs

If you do have a pair of blue and red 3D glasses, please put them on to check out these images I made back in the day:

3D Dinosaur

3D Robot

To get better colour in 3D other options are needed, and lately polarization is a good way to do this. It’s hard to explain how this works without explaining polarization… so here we go…

Light is a wave. Think of it as a tiny particle bobbing up and down as it travels through the air, with the frequency at which it does so determining it’s colour, though that’s not really relevant. It doesn’t really matter in which orientation that wave travels, you will still see that image as light when it hits the back of your eye. Using specialized glass you can block out light which has waves with certain orientations and not others. This is what your 3D glasses do. The trick is to get the image to be projected in such a way that the image that is to be seen by one eye, through one filter, is composed of light with a certain polarization, and the image to be seen by the other eye has another orientation. This can be done easily, or very expensively.

The easy way to do it uses normal projectors, you just need two of them. You put a filter on one camera that only lets through the light that one eye sees and you put a filter on the other camera that only lets through the light the other eye sees. This has a few draw backs. The need for two cameras. The difficulty in synching them, but it does in a pinch when you don’t want to go rehauling your entire theatre. This simple technology was widely used during the 3D craze of the early 1950s.

Polarized 3D glasses must have flat lenses so there's no making these things stylish

Then there’s the complicated fancy way that the RealD 3D theatres use. If you didn’t see Avatar in IMAX and got to keep the glasses, this is probably what you say. Basically, something called circular polarization is used. This is best illustrated with an image, but basically the the polarization is constantly rotating in a circular motion. The image to be seen in one eye has a circular polarization in one direction and the other eye has it done in the other direction. This avoids problems with standard polarized lenses which cause them to behave differently when the viewer’s head is tilted.

I hope I’ve thoroughly confused everyone. It goes without saying that polarized 3D is a bit complicated, so if you are looking for a proper explanation I would suggest checking out a few of these links for more detailed information:

Wikipedia: Polarizer
Wikipedia: Circular Polarization

A simple method which blocks out one eye at a time is called the eclipse method. This can be done with LCD technology which makes one of the lenses opaque at a time at a very high rate. This is the method used by the new 3D TVs that will be hitting the market shortly and is also what is seen in IMAX 3D theatres. The TVs required to do this must have a high refresh rate to look decent, so 120hz TVs are capable of having a 60hz 3D image since only half the frames are seen in each eye. The draw back of this technology is that the glasses need to have electronics in them to black out one lens at a time and they need to be properly synched with the source video. This is pretty much why you’re not allowed to take your IMAX 3D glasses but you’re allowed to RealD 3D glasses.

3D video games being developed for these types of TVs must be made to compensate for this lowered frame rate. To use the same processing power to render a 1080p 60hz game in 3D will require either reducing the visible frame rate by half or alternatively reducing the resolution in order to double the effective frame rate to maintain the same smoothness. A 1080p game will likely to rendered at 720p to preserve the same frame rate. Games already rendered at 720p may be rendered at even lower resolution, and then upscaled to appear to be 720p just to look smooth.

You don’t actually need a fancy TV to do this, as old CRTs can do it, though naturally they will suffer from a lot of flicker from the low frame rate. A simple device called the Split Fish Eye FX 3D was made for the PS2 which uses the eclipse method with a device which manually changes the game’s camera angle many times per second by overriding the controller port. The effect is very effective, though the seizure enduringly low frame rate can be quite annoying and not all games work with it. Like with the NES zapper it won’t work on anything but an old CRT. Ironically, if HDTVs had never become common we would be able to have 3D games today without needing to “upgrade” to 3D TVs, though we would have the low frame rate to contend with. So much to say, there’s nothing inadequate about the frame rate of newer HDTV as 3D goes, it’s mostly just the whole synching up with the glasses properly thing which is a challenge.

Note the cables needed for power, controller override and synching

A draw back of all these 3D technologies is that the image will look like garbage without wearing the 3D glasses. It’s really not an option to watch Avatar in 3D and then just decide you don’t feel like watching it like that and taking off your glasses, though closing one eye will do the trick.

When it comes to 3D on broadcast TV, it’s just a bad idea to broadcast something that viewers without the 3D glasses can’t watch without the annoying double image for a number of reasons. TV is a more passive medium than film, so people like to watch it while doing other things, or not watching it at all. You also can’t expect people to buy 3D glasses just to watch a show or event. This is the challenge that the 1992 TV series “The Bots Master” tackled quite well by using a technique known as the Pulfrich Effect.

Though the lenses are different colours, it's how dark the lenses are that makes the effect

The Pulfrich Effect creates 3D based on a simple concept, the human brain is capable of processing a brighter image faster than a darker image. Although the lenses for a 3D show like the Bots Master are different colours, it’s not the colour which creates the illusion, but the fact that the images seen in one lens are slightly darker than the other. So what you see is that the image seen from the brighter lens will be seen by your brain faster than the image seen through the darker lens. The image perceived through the darker lens will actually be from slightly further back in time than the image your brain is simultaneously perceiving through the brighter lens.

Fancier Bots Master 3D glasses which came with the toys

How exactly does this create the illusion of 3D? Static images can not be used to create this effect, but moving images can. By having different layers moving at different speeds on the screen, an image that is slightly more recent, and seen first through one eye, appears to be seen from a slightly different perspective than the other. In the Bots Master this illusion is achieved through animation with different layers moving all the time. This can be achieved using a video camera but the camera needs to be moving in order to make the effect work. This effect can be very distracting as it’s not really normal to have objects constantly moving on screen but it does have the effect of allowing viewers with or without 3D glasses to be able to appreciate the effect.

Regardless of the techniques used to recreate the 3D, there’s a huge difference between different 3D films. There’s a good technical reason for which Avatar is simply superior to tripe like Clash of the Titans and Alice in Wonderland.

When Avatar was filmed special 3D cameras were used. I’m sure I could include some really detailed explanation of how that works, but basically think of it as two cameras. In order to accurately film something which should be seen by two different eyes, you need two different cameras! Simple enough.

Well there are lazy people out there who want to do a cash grab with 3D but don’t want to actually go through the trouble of shooting in 3D. I first encountered this filth when I had the misfortune of watching “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” in what was being advertised as IMAX 3D. What was done to a few scenes in this film, and what was done to many recent 3D cash grabs, is a travesty to cinema. Basically, after the film had been done in 2D with a single camera, post production work is done to the image to create the illusion of 3D. This mostly means manually taking parts of the image that should be in front of others and creating a resulting set of images where these will be perceived by each eye as being slightly off center. The end result is not a convincing 3D effect to anyone who’s spent more than a few hours in the real world. While the people themselves are at different depths, they will often still be in 2D, or otherwise parts of the people will be at different depths, making them all look like paper cutouts who’s hands are sticking out of the screen.

Unfortunately, people are idiots. Alice in Wonderland and Clash of the Titans, while not as successful as Avatar, were huge commercial successes. Movie studios who only care about making money will be perfectly content in putting out this drivel while we can only hope that some respectful filmmakers will take a stand against it by insisting their films are either done in proper 3D or not at all. Michael Bay, for all the criticism he’s gotten, seems adamant about not making a Transformers movie in fake 3D. On the other hand we have filmmakers like Ridley Scott who would rather take a chance on 3D with an Alien movie and see how it turns out than take the time to see if it’s a viable option ahead of time.

It remains to be seen if 3D movies are here to stay or if they’re a gimmick we’ll get sick of in a few years. While I find the technology interesting I ultimately find it distracting in a full length film, but I have much more respect for the James Camerons of the world who chose to treat the technology with some amount of respect than those who are just interested in a quick buck.

Would you like to see every romantic comedy in 3D, just your special effects masterpieces sci fi movies or nothing at all? Leave a comment and let us know what you think.

Roger Ebert: Why I Hate 3-D (and You Should Too)

Thanks to strategically placed bugs, enemies randomly disappear and reappear to the extent that you’d think that they were re-spawning somehow. To spice things up even further, collision detection issues place enemies inside walls, crates, and other objects so that while they can shoot you, you can’t return fire! The soundtrack, a soon-to-be-classic, includes a rap song that talks about the game! The game includes the ultra-crunk line “Fugitive Hunter, PS2/Coming for me and coming for you”, which effectively helps remind the player what game they’re playing and what system it’s for. This is helpful, especially for anyone who has Anterograde amnesia (a condition in which the brain is unable to remember anything after the even causing the memory loss occurred), because lord only knows how many times someone forgot the game of the game they were playing as well as the system they were playing it on. It’s a shame no one has made a sequel to this game, as the world needs another fighting/fps hybrid glitchfest with re-spawning enemies who magically appear inside objects. If we can’t engage Osama Bin laden in Kung Fu battle on our Xbox 360s and Wiis, then THE TERRORISTS WILL HAVE WON!!!! Look below to see Powet’s official strategy guide, Sindra’s special tribute, and secret cheat codes!

Timesplitters places players in the shoes of various heroes throughout the ages as they do battle with a mysterious race of mutants known as the Timesplitters. You’ll begin in 1930s Egypt, travel to Chinatown in the 70s, and you’ll even travel towards the distant future. Rather than the hyper realistic graphics of most FPS titles, Timesplitters has a cartoonish art style, and there is very little blood and gore (although a few women characters are quite scantily clad The campaign mode (which you can play co-op) is easily the weakest part of the game. The story is virtually nonexistent, and all you do in each stage is head out to retrieve an object, then bring it back to the starting point while being chased by the Timesplitters. However, the game’s arcade mode is where the game really shines. It allows players to complete challenges, get used to the game’s multiplayer modes, and unlock new maps and characters. The arcade and multiplayer modes are guaranteed to keep Timespliters in your PS2’s tray for months after finishing the Campaign mode.

The game also includes a user-friendly mapmaker, so that players can create their own multiplayer maps. You basically select a motif, lay down room tiles, and you’re ready to go. Throughout the series’ next few entries, the mapmaker’s functionality had been expanded, and by the third entry, Future Perfect, players were able to create story mode single player missions and share them online. This helped pave the way for more user-generated content in console games.

Before Halo burned up Xbox Live, Timesplitters helped bring buddies together so that they could blast each other to pieces, and its sequels improved on the formula. Sadly, the status of the franchise is up in the air as Free Radical was absorbed into Crytek after 2008’s Haze, a flop of epic proportions. Long before their premature demise, Free Radical shown a teaser for Timesplitters 4. Hopefully they will be able to proceed, because I’m ready to see what they can do on current generation hardware.

‘Nuff said.

…

Okay, maybe a little more said. Do agree with these picks? Why or why not? What would you have chosen?

Leave a comment below!

Enjoy this special Powetcast for the week of June 1st, 2009! Tune in in two weeks for our regular news and features.

(Did you go to BotCon? Go to the Paramount Party? Leave a comment and tell us what you thought of this year’s convention!)

Audio Netcast Details
Subscribe to the Powetcast on iTunes
Direct Link: Powetcast Episode 10: War of the Prequels

Show notes after the jump!

Panel
Sean “Didn’t Get Mistaken for Zac Braff” Corse

(BotCon) News
*Animated is definitely no more
**Working on a new show for their new children’s network, hence the cancellation of the Cartoon Network property
*”Animated will set the tone” for the new series
*Toys 2009-2010
**Animated: Arcee, Rodimus Minor, Cybertron Ratchet, Cybertron Ironhide, Fugitive Waspinator, Blackout (Earth mode), Electrostatic Soundwave, Goldfire Grimlock,
**Any remaining Animated toys may come out as part of Classic/Universe/whatever-it’s-called
**Movie Bludgeon (enemy of Jungle Assault Ironhide)
**Sideways movie toy not an Audi
*Nimoy (rumored as The Fallen) might not have made it into the movie — could just be a shout-out
*Tyrese stories

Roundtable
*Ten Years of TF Fandom
**1999 – Ben Yee, Beast Machines, Bigbot, Allspark
**2001 – First general meetup
**2003 – OTFCC
**2006 – First Powet convention video
**2009 – More Powet! Two Transformers movies. Lots of kids.

Cool Beans

Movies
*Transformers 2 Clip (from Paramount Party)

TV
*Transformers: Animated Series Finale

Games
*Activision Game (Xbox 360/PS3, Wii, PS2, DS)

Toys
*Botcon Hauls

Pimpin’
*LOTS of BotCon coverage. More going up during the week.
*Orci and Kurtzman Q&A
*Activision Games
*Transformers: Animated – Weird Al and David Kaye
*Star Trek review (last week)
*Powet Toys: BotCon edition? (this week)
*More BotCon stuff! (next week)

Following the cut are the press release and debut trailer

ACTIVISION UNVEILS GUITAR HERO® WORLD TOUR – THE DEFINITIVE ROCK & ROLL MUSIC VIDEOGAMING EXPERIENCE

New State of the Art Wireless Instruments

Innovative Music Studio Lets Players Compose, Record, Edit and Share Music

Biggest Selection of On-Disc Music with All Master Tracks

Robust New Eight-Player “Battle of the Bands” Mode

First Game Ever in the Guitar Hero® Franchise to Allow In-Game Downloadable Content on Wii

Santa Monica, CA – May 22, 2008 – When the house lights go down this fall, a new generation of axe shredders, drummers and fearless frontmen will come together and rock with Activision, Inc.’s (Nasdaq: ATVI) Guitar Hero® World Tour. The latest installment from the #1 best-selling video game franchise of 2007, Guitar Hero World Tour will transform music gaming by marrying Guitar Hero’s® exhilarating guitar gameplay, with a cooperative band experience that combines the most advanced wireless instruments with revolutionary new online and offline gameplay modes. The game will feature a slick newly redesigned guitar, a genuine electronic drum kit and a microphone, as well as an innovative Music Studio music creator that lets players compose, record, edit and share their own rock and roll anthems, along with online Band Career and 8-player “Battle of the Bands.”

Delivering the largest on-disc set list in a music-rhythm game to-date, Guitar Hero World Tour is comprised entirely of master recordings from some of the greatest classic and modern rock bands of all-time including Van Halen, Linkin Park, The Eagles, Sublime and many more. Additionally, the game will offer significantly more localized downloadable music than ever before on all of the next-generation consoles. Budding rock stars will also be given creative license to fully customize everything from their characters’ appearance and instruments to their band’s logo and album covers.

In addition to a newly designed more responsive guitar controller and microphone, Guitar Hero World Tour will deliver the most realistic drum experience ever in a video game with an authentic electronic drum kit. Featuring three drum pads, two raised cymbals and a bass kick pedal, the drum controller combines larger and quieter, velocity-sensitive drum heads with soft rubber construction to deliver authentic bounce back and is easy to set up, move, break down and store.

“Guitar Hero has set the standard for music-based gaming and with Guitar Hero World Tour and the game’s groundbreaking Music Studio, we are once again delivering unprecedented innovation that has the potential to revolutionize consumer generated music, much in the same way that video sharing hubs have driven user generated video,” said Dusty Welch, Head of Publishing for RedOctane. “With the introduction of our advanced high-quality new wireless instruments, in-depth customization options and advanced online functionality, the game enables music fans and gamers globally to share in the most social and expressive music experience ever.”

Guitar Hero World Tour delivers more ways to play than ever before. Virtual musicians can live out their rock and roll fantasies by playing either a single instrument, or any combination of instruments, in addition to the full band experience. In addition to all of the online gameplay modes from Guitar Hero® III: Legends of Rock, Guitar Hero World Tour introduces Battle of the Bands mode which allows eight players to join online and challenge each other band-to-band to determine who is the best of the best. In the Band modes, up to four players can jam together, online or off, as they progress through the game, and in single-player Career Mode, players can jam on any of the instruments in branching venue progression enabling them to rock out in the order of their choice.

The game’s innovative new Music Studio lets players express their musical creativity by giving them access to a full compliment of tools to create digital music from scratch, utilizing all of the instruments, and then play their compositions in the game. Music creators will also be able to share their recordings with their friends online through GHTunes™ where other gamers can download their unique compositions and play them.

Guitar Hero World Tour is being developed by Neversoft Entertainment for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. The Wii™ version is being developed by Vicarious Visions. The PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system version is being developed by Budcat. The game is not yet rated by the ESRB.

SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION, the U.S. publishing arm of the SNK PLAYMORE CORPORATION, today announced SNK ARCADE CLASSICS: VOLUME 1 for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system and the PSP(r) (PlayStation® Portable) system.

SNK ARCADE CLASSICS: VOLUME 1 will include the following SNK games:

• ART OF FIGHTING – The first game in SNK’s second fighting-game franchise, set in the same universe as FATAL FURY.
• BASEBALL STARS 2 – The sequel to SNK’s popular baseball arcade game.
• BURNING FIGHT – New York detectives battle organized crime in this fighter.
• FATAL FURY – First released in 1991, FATAL FURY introduced the two-plane fighting system.
• KING OF FIGHTERS ‘94 – The first game in the popular KING OF FIGHTERS series.
• KING OF THE MONSTERS – In KING OF THE MONSTERS, giant monsters fight for power in epic battles.
• LAST RESORT – A challenging futuristic shooter.
• MAGICIAN LORD – Players help the wizard Elta save his homeworld in this platformer.
• METAL SLUG – Known for its humor and fast- moving gameplay, this run-and-gun side-scroller was the first in the popular series.
• NEO TURF MASTERS – A golf game which debuted on the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 1999.
• SAMURAI SHODOWN – Set in the 18th century, SAMURAI SHODOWN features bladed-weapon combat and an international cast f characters.
• SENGOKU – In SENGOKU, players face off against undead feudal Japanese armies.
• SHOCK TROOPERS – In this run-and-gun adventure, players save a scientist and his granddaughter from the Bloody Scorpions.
• SUPER SIDEKICKS 3 – A soccer game featuring teams from all over the world.
• TOP HUNTER – Bounty hunters protect colonists from space pirates in this futuristic action game.
• WORLD HEROES – This classic fighter pits players against historical figures in a tournament enabled by time travel.

“With 16 of our most beloved games, SNK ARCADE CLASSICS: VOLUME 1 is a must-have addition to any arcade fan’s collection,” said Ben Herman, president of SNK PLAYMORE USA CORPORATION. “It’s the most comprehensive SNK compilation to date.”

SNK ARCADE CLASSICS: VOLUME 1 will be available for PlayStation2 system and the PSP(r) (PlayStation(r) Portable) in the first half of 2008.

This almost makes up for being four months late about the rest of our video coverage!

There’s no mention of a Wii title in the release, but we’re confident there will be one eventually (as per our video report), and various other sites have mentioned finding an ESRB rating for a Wii version.

Thanks to sites like Nintendo Wii Fanboy for giving credit where due.

Also new online is the official website, though it opens with a teaser trailer with no in game footage. It does however have some great screen shots of Slimer, Ray, and Mr Stay Puft.

The site also reveals some of the game’s story. You’ll be playing as a new recruit who will team with the original Ghostbusters team to take on the latest outbreak of the dead, undead, and recently dead.

Of course this is more than just a game cash-in. Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd are writing the games script and along with Bill Murray will reprise their roles as Dr. Egon Spengler, Dr. Raymond Stantz, and Dr. Peter Venkman. Of course this is no huge surprise since Aykroyd let slip to the Edmonton Sun back in February that Vivendi Universal had secured the rights and he was going to be involved. Around that same time we heard of an All CG Ghostbusters movie, but its hard to say if they were talking about the same thing or if that third movie is still happening.

Now lets get Sigourney Weaver, Annie Potts, and Ernie Hudson. And lets pull Rick Moranis out of retirement to bring back the brilliance of Louis Tulley.

It goes without saying that a sand box game where you roll around NYC taking calls to bust ghosts would be the ideal game style, but they’re not saying anything just yet. The actual story will have more info, and Game Informer subscribers will be able to access some of this material by logging on to the site this Friday.

UPDATE: Variety reports Ernie Hudson (Winston Zedemore), Annie Potts (Janine Melnitz) and William Atherton (Walter Peck) have all been cast. In addtion, Brian Doyle-Murray will play an unspecified charater.

Variety also specifies some of the developers. Terminal Reality will handle the PC, 360, and PS3 versions. Red Fly Studio will develop the PS2, Wii, and DS versions.

• Rolling Stones “Gimme Shelter”

1970s

• Aerosmith “Train Kept a Rollin’”*

• The Who “Won’t Get Fooled Again”
• Boston “Foreplay/Long Time”
• Mountain “Mississippi Queen” (cover)
• The Police “Next to You”
• David Bowie “Suffragette City”
• Black Sabbath “Paranoid” (cover)
• Blue Oyster Cult “Don’t Fear the Reaper”
• The Ramones “Blitzkrieg Bop”
• Deep Purple “Highway Star”
• KISS “Detroit Rock City”
• Molly Hatchet “Flirtin’ With Disaster”
• The Outlaws “Green Grass & High Tides” (cover)
• Sweet “Ballroom Blitz” (cover)

1980s

• Rush “Tom Sawyer”

• Bon Jovi “Wanted Dead or Alive”
• The Clash “Should I Stay or Should I Go”
• Faith No More “Epic”
• Pixies “Wave of Mutilation”
• R.E.M. “Orange Crush”
• Iron Maiden “Run to the Hills” (cover)

1990s

• Foo Fighters “Learn to Fly”

• Metallica “Enter Sandman”
• Nirvana “In Bloom”
• Stone Temple Pilots “Vasoline”
• Weezer “Say It Ain’t So”
• Smashing Pumpkins “Cherub Rock”
• Radiohead “Creep”
• Beastie Boys “Sabotage”
• Hole “Celebrity Skin”
• Garbage “I Think I’m Paranoid”
• Soundgarden “Black Hole Sun”

2000s

• The Hives “Main Offender”

• Queens of the Stone Age “Go With the Flow”
• The Strokes “Reptilia”
• Jet “Are You Gonna Be My Girl”
• OK Go “Here It Goes Again”
• Nine Inch Nails “The Hand That Feeds”
  

• Yeah Yeah Yeahs “Maps”
• Red Hot Chili Peppers “Dani California”
• Coheed & Cambria “Welcome Home”
• Fallout Boy “Dead on Arrival”
• The Killers “When You Were Young”
• New Pornographers “Electric Version” (sorry, no video, enjoy the others!)

The much talked about demo, which is available on Tony Hawk’s Proving Ground, in Official Xbox Magazine, and as a torrent, will be available for Xbox Live members tomorrow.

Continue for the alphabetically organized song list. Cheer for the artists, jeer for the “as made famous by” listings.

• “3’s and 7’s” by Queens of the Stone Age
• “Anarchy in the U.K.” – Sex Pistols
• “Avalancha” by Heroes Del Silencio
• “Barracuda” as made famous by Heart
• “Before I Forget” by Slipknot
• “Black Magic Woman” as made famous by Santana
• “Black Sunshine” as made famous by White Zombie
• “Bulls on Parade” – Rage Against the Machine
• “Cherub Rock” by Smashing Pumpkins
• “Cities on Flame” as made famous by Blue Oyster Cult
• “Cliffs of Dover” as made famous by Eric Johnson
• “Closer” by Lacuna Coil
• “Cult of Personality” by Living Colour
• “Devil Went Down to Georgia” as made famous by Charlie Daniels Band
• “Even Flow” – Pearl Jam
• “Generation Rock” by Revolverheld
• “Go That Far” – Bret Michaels Band
• “Helicopter” by Bloc Party
• “Hier Kommt Alex” by Die Toten Hosen
• “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” as made famous by Pat Benetar
• “Holiday in Cambodia” as made famous by Dead Kennedys
• “I’m in the Band” by The Hellacopters
• “In the Belly of a Shark” by Gallows
• “Knights of Cydonia” by Muse
• “Kool Thing” by Sonic Youth
• “La Grange” by ZZ Top
• “Lay Down” – Priestess
• “Mauvais Garcon” by NAAST
• “The Metal” by Tenacious D
• “Minus Celsius” by Backyard Babies
• “Miss Murder” by AFI
• “Mississippi Queen” as made famous by Mountain
• “Monsters” by Matchbook Romance
• “My Name is Jonas” by Weezer
• “Number Of The Beast” as made famous by Iron Maiden
• “One” – Metallica
• “Paint It Black” by The Rolling Stones
• “Paranoid” as made famous by Black Sabbath
• “Pride and Joy” as made famous by Stevie Ray Vaughn
• “Radio Song” by Superbus
• “Raining Blood” by Slayer
• “Reptillia” by The Strokes
• “Rock And Roll All Nite” as made famous by Kiss
• “Rock You Like a Hurricane” – Scorpions
• “Ruby” by Kaiser Chiefs
• “Sabotage” by Beastie Boys
• “Same Old Song and Dance” by Aerosmith
• “School’s Out” as made famous by Alice Cooper
• “The Seeker” as made famous by The Who
• “She Bangs the Drums” – The Stone Roses
• “She Builds Quick Machines” – Velvet Revolver
• “Slow Ride” as made famous by Foghat
• “Story of My Life” as made famous by Social Distortion
• “Stricken” by Disturbed
• “Suck My Kiss” by the Red Hot Chili Peppers
• “Sunshine of Your Love” as made famous by Cream
• “Take This Life” by In Flames
• “Talk Dirty to Me” – Poison
• “Through The Fire And Flames” by DragonForce
• “Welcome to the Jungle” – Guns N’ Roses
• “When You Were Young” by The Killers

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s will be out this summer and will be functionally identical to Guitar Hero II, just with an 80s theme. It will be released only to the PS2, but songs from the disc are likely to appear as downloadable content on Xbox Live for Xbox 360.

Guitar Hero III will hit PS2, PS3, Wii, and Xbox 360. The new guitar designs will be based on the Gibson Les Paul (my guitar!) and the Gibson Kramer (seen at left with celebrity endorsement)

Songs revealed so far after the break

Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks The 80s

“18 And Life” (as made famous by Skid Row)
“Bathroom Wall” (as made famous by Faster Pussycat)
“Lonely Is The Night” (as made famous by Billy Squier)
“Nothing But A Good Time” (as made famous by Poison)
“Play With Me” (as made famous by Extreme)
“Shaken” (as made famous by Eddie Money)
“Synchronicity II” (as made famous by The Police)
“I Wanna Rock” (Twisted Sister) (original recording)
“I Ran” (Flock Of Seagulls) (original recording)
“Round And Round” (as made famous by Ratt)
“I Want Candy” (as made famous by Bow Wow Wow)
“Metal Health” (as made famous by Quiet Riot)
“Holy Diver” (as made famous by Dio)
“Heat Of The Moment” (as made famous by Asia)

Guitar Hero III

“Paint It Black” (by The Rolling Stones)
“Cherub Rock” (by Smashing Pumpkins)
“Sabotage” (by Beastie Boys)
“The Metal” (by Tenacious D)
“My Name is Jonas” (by Weezer)
“Knights of Cydonia” (by Muse)
“Rock And Roll All Nite” (as made famous by Kiss)
“School’s Out” (as made famous by Alice Cooper)
“Slow Ride” (as made famous by Fog Hat)
“Cult of Personality” (by Living Colour)
“Barracuda” (as made famous by Heart)

GameSpot also released 3 new screenshots from the game, shown here. All three feature Bumblebee fighting Decepticons.

Update! The rub with posting stuff like this in the morning is that by the evening all the press-releases are out and I gotta update the post. So, check out the new game site, http://www.transformersgame.com/. Make sure you’ve got your flash up to date and you’ll get more screen shots from the game , the developers’ blog, and, even a poll to name some of the new Transformers that appear in the game. Coolest of all is a new interview with Peter Cullen and Frank Welker. Just click through to the videos section for that. Bonus: watching Welker talk and hearing Fred from Scooby Doo.

Or maybe not. Eurogamer reports Tetsuya Nomura, the director of the Kingdom Hearts II, says the next title will be a completely new series. Why change it up? Maybe its not an RPG? Maybe it deviates too far from the conventions of KH? Who knows.

Also up in the air is where this series will be released. The pre-rendered video is no clear indication of hardware. It could easily continue on the PS2, jump to PS3, or even go cross platform to Wii or Xbox 360. The only certainty is that when it comes out it will sell a bajillion copies like the last one.

This is of course the “combat golf game” we heard about last month. Its not due out until fall, and theres no screen shots yet, but we can’t blame Midway for wanting to strike while the iron’s hot for Aqua Teens with the movie.

I only hope and pray the game fully respects the show’s low budget quality. I want sprites and limited animation!

Keep reading for the full announcement and the box art.


MIDWAY AND CARTOON NETWORK ANNOUNCE
AQUA TEEN HUNGER FORCE ZOMBIE NINJA PRO-AM

Game Based on Hit Animated Comedy from Adult Swim Scheduled for Release on PlayStation®2 Computer Entertainment System this Fall

CHICAGO – March 21, 2007 – Midway Games Inc. (NYSE: MWY), a leading interactive entertainment industry publisher and developer, today announced that it will be developing an interactive title based on the hit comedy series from Adult Swim – Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is scheduled to be available for the PlayStation®2 computer entertainment system this fall. The series, which follows the exploits of a trio of sentient fast-food items, has also inspired a feature length film – Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters due in theaters April 13.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am is an epic, action-adventure combat golf, cart racing game that gives fans an opportunity to experience the Aqua Teen universe in a whole new way. When Frylock is admitted to the prestigious Jersey Pines Golf Club, Master Shake decides to show the uppity members that he is also just as good (and uppity) and deserves a place in their exclusive club. Meatwad is, of course, persuaded to join in, and the three crime-fighting food products use golf clubs and a variety of other weapons in ways not intended as they battle numerous villains, fan favorites and other show characters.

“Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a unique and completely hilarious property,” said Steve Allison, chief marketing officer, Midway. “We are working closely with Aqua Teen creators Matt Maiellaro and Dave Willis to bring the tone of the TV show and movie into a video game.”

“We are thrilled to be bringing the hilarious antics of Adult Swim’s Aqua Teen Hunger Force to a one of kind gaming experience,” said Christina Miller, VP of Consumer Products for Cartoon Network Enterprises, the network’s global merchandising division. “This game will set a new standard for crime-fighting, golf-obsessed, food battles.”

“This golden chalice represents a new age in gaming, the likes of which has never before been seen on this planet. The weak will tremble at the awesomeness of our full color, hand-made graphics!” said creators Maiellaro and Willis simultaneously and in unison.

‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force’ is an original comedy series that is part of Adult Swim, Cartoon Network’s top-rated late-night sister service which presents programming six nights per week for a total of 45 hours. ‘Aqua Teen Hunger Force’ had its series premiere in September 2001, when Adult Swim launched. More than 60 episodes of the series have been completed to date. The Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, also written and produced by Maiellaro and Willis, is scheduled to debut on over 800 screens on April 13, and will uncover the mysterious origins of Meatwad, Frylock and Master Shake.

Activision has announced another sequel for the award winning music game franchise to distribution and retailers. Guitar Hero 80’s Edition will arrive on the PS2 in June on the 13th and will retail for $39.99. Of course, release dates always like to shift around, but as this is Activision’s initial printing of the date to distributers, hopefully this one will stick.

Guitar Hero 80s Edition was originally mentioned as a forthcoming PS2 release back in the January issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly, but official word has been mum since then.

Oh, and obviously this game will include only music from the 1980s. Because we really need more ZZ Top.

Our favorite animated extra value meal will also appear on Playstation 2 with… a combat golf game. It’ll be written by series creators Matt Mallerio and David Willis, Midway will publish. Apparently Frylock has been admitted to a country club to play golf, but Shake and various villains from the show ruin your game with traps and boss attacks. If games based on comedy series in the past are any indication, this has the makings of a terrible game. Of course, it couldn’t be any worse than Home Improvement, and with the talent behind the show actually writing it, it may at least be funny if not fun to play.

Better yet, the console developer has been revealed as Traveler’s Tales, who are responsible for LEGO Star Wars, arguably one of the best movie games in the past few years. They’ve confirmed seperate Autobot and Decepticon campaigns, along with massive destructable environments, and on-the-fly transformations. IGN has a short interview with producer Andy Burrows, who hints that they’ll mix in some non-movie bots inspired classic Generation One characters. Confirmed playable characters right now include Optimus Prime, Ironhide, Bumblebee, Megatron, and Starscream.

Transformers on DS will be handeled by Vicarious Visions, who have a massive catalog of successful ports for Activison, including Doom 3 for Xbox, Tony Hawk and Marvel Ultimate Alliance for portables. Savage Entertainment(developer of Star Wars: Battlefront II) takes the PSP, and is promising a very different game with over 20 (!) playable Transformers spanning further into the movie’s extended universe.

A playable demo of the game will be available at Toy Fair in New York City this weekend. Since this is an industry/press affair, we’re hoping to see a video come along soon. We’ll keep an eye on the official site.

In the meantime, here is the first screenshot from the game. It’s a picture someone took of a catalog of Transformers merchandise that just happened to have a tiny page advertising the game. If you can’t make it out, it’s Bumblebee fighting the Decepticon Barricade in the first shot, and then a single shot of Barricade. Its not much, but we’re starving for info here, so give me a break.

UPDATE! IGN has added lengthy impressions of the demo, but still no screens. Read it all here.

I should really know better than to get excited about a video game based on anime, but Lupin is one of those characters and shows I have an endless supply of affection for. Look Inspector Zenigata is playable!

I should really grow my sideburns out again.

The original developers from Singletrac rejoined Sony to produce Black, and while it was removed entirely from continuity, it became an instant hit with fans and critics alike. The story took a much more darker tone, with a look inspired by films like “Se7en”. As a result, the game earned the series’s first “M” rating. Instead of the misfits from the provious games, the cast was made up of a group of psychotic killers escaping from a mental hospital to take revenge on a world that wronged them. For instance, instead of being the grim reaper, Mr. Grimm is a former Vietnam vet turned cannibal who wears the skull of his dead comrade. Spectre had also been changed from a super spy to a homicidal jealous bridesmaid. The specials hd also reflected the change. A preacher character attacks opponents by flinging one of his crucified followers at them.

Twisted Metal had returned to gaming in a huge way. In 2005, Twisted Metal Head-on was released as a PSP launch title which bought the series back to it’s more comedic origins, and there is no doubt that Twisted Metal will be heading to the Playstation 3. For now though, do yourself a favor and grab this. Also if you can find it, get the greatest hits version which contains a second disk featuring an online mode.

In 1983, director Brian DePalma created a film starring Al Pacino that would forever change the way we would think about drug dealers, cocaine, Cubans, immigration, and pelicans. This film would be known as the story of a man named Tony Montana. It was the chronicle of his journey from yet another Cuban refugee looking for the American dream to the biggest drug dealer in all of Miami, all the way to his violent end as a desperate man consumed by a coccaine-fueled blind rage. This film would be the stuff of legends, serving as inspiration to entire generations of rappers, actors, gangsters, and other entertainers. This film is called Scarface. Nearly 2 decades later, Tony Montana’s story would continue on as a video game courtesy of Vivendi Universal.

Taking place in an alternate universe where Tony manages to not only survive Sosa’s wrath (the first level of the game even takes place during that fateful final scene. tip: look behind you as soon as the game starts!), but make his way to safety where he plots revenge. However, he must first regain the empire he lost, and that means making drug deals, purchasing new store fronts, laundering money, and going to war against rival organizations. After the mandatory training sequence which takes place during TOny’s days in the army, you’ll be treated to a pretty wicked intro recaping events from the film. You’ll spend much of this game building your reputation, and purchasing things from your exotics catalog. These items range from simple decorations for your mansion to cars and boats, (which your driver can deliver to you at any time) and even henchmen which you can take control of.

If for nothing else, this game will be remembered for being the first to have a ’swear’ button. By hitting this button, you’ll either make a wisecrack or send out a profanity-laced taunt. Why would you want to do this? Intimidating someone or taunting a dying enemy will cause your ‘balls’ meter to fill up faster. (I swear I’m not making this up.) A maxed out ‘balls’ meter will allow you to trigger Tony’s infamous “Blind Rage”, which briefly puts you in a first person view, gives you unlimited ammo for whatever weapon you’re carrying at the time, and restores a small amount of health for each foe you kill during this period of time.

As one would suspect, this game takes several pages from the Grand Theft Auto playbook. This would be expected though, as GTA is in no small part influenced by the film, so it would be surprising if Scarface didn’t share any similarities with Rockstar’s franchise. Like the other big GTA-inspired game that came out this fall however, this game addresses some of the shortcommings from GTA. The aiming system for starters, allows you to lock on and manually adjust your shot for precision shooting. ALso, this game does an excellent job of making you feel as if you’re building an empire instead of being a mere henchman. Every investment you make has a benefit. Stores act as fronts to distribute your coccaine, and companies you own unlock extra features.

Also worth mentioning is that it’s hard to simply cause random chaos. Tony’s moral code prevents him from shooting innocent civilians. DOing things like driving crazy and flashing your weapon will increase your police visibility, too much of which will bring the boys in blue down upon you, and it’s much harder to evade them than in GTA. In fact, the game is over if you don’t get away from them in a certain amount of time. Your only option is to pay them off to avoid heat. The golf-swimg mechanic used to govern everything from money laundering to drug deals is also pretty intense as well. A well timed release of the button can decide weather you make a good deal or blow thousands of dollars on a drug deal gone wrong.

Fans of the film or even GTA will be smart to add this to thier collection. With Scarface, the days of bad games based on licenced properties are slowly comming to an end. It might not be by the end of 2007, or even by the end of 2008, but soon the day will come when our favorite movies, TV shows, comic books, and novels are treated with the respect they deserve, and developers with start to put as much effort into the gameplay as they do with the atmosphere of the game.

Notice on which side the fret keys are curved.

The guitar turns on and off with a small switch on the back. It’s powered by three AAA batteries (included), and functions well enough for the average player. Communication with the PS2 goes through a base unit about twice the size of a memory card, that plugs into a controller slot. Both the controller and the base have a discreet red LED that communicates link status. Multiple units may be used simultaneously, as long as the second one isn’t turned on until the first has established a link. If a controller is left on for over two minutes without activity, it will enter a sleep mode.

I find that for my taste, the fret buttons sink a little too deeply into the neck, and they may therefore be prone to sticking during frenzied play. I’ve noticed a number of mid-run production changes in the corded controllers I’ve handled at friends’ houses and store demos, and this wireless controller falls within that quality spectrum somewhere closer to the earliest released specimens.

Now, if I may dispense with the connosseur baloney: this is my new #1 GH controller. I think it’s a fine item, and if it’s convenient for you, I reccommend it. Besides, the whole wireless controller thing is very fashionable these days.

With Metal Gear Solid 3, Konami onced again raised the bar on stealth action, a task usually shouldered by a certain Ubisoft franchise. MGS4 will be out on the PS3 sometime next year, so if you haven’t grabbed this yet, now is a good time to do so.*

*Or you can pick up the aforementioned MGS3 substance for $5 – $10 more. It features an online mode, new camos, and playable versions of Metal Gear 1 and 2.