Categories
Recommended

Please Don’t Break My Kneecaps, Tony Carnivale

Friends, particularly those in NYC: Please come to Channel 102 on Monday.

If you are just tuning into me talking about 102 – it’s a short film competition that runs nearly every month. Up to ten television shows, of no more than five minutes in length, do their best to entertain the audience. At the end, the audience takes their ballots and votes for their five favorites. The top five survive, chosen to make another episode. The rest are canceled, never to be shown at 102 again.

Channel 102 has been the venue where a number of great, great shows have been screened. From the hilarious (Dr. Miracles, Cakey) to the silly (28 Day Slater, Cat News) to the strange and twisted (Sexual Intercourse American Style, Puppet Rapist) to the epic (Shutterbugs, Gemberling) – I could go on and on, but you can peruse the list of cancelled and failed shows on your own.

If you don’t come, there is a significant chance that Tony Carnivale will break my kneecaps. No one wants that. Tony has assured me he doesn’t *want* to break my kneecaps – but if push comes to shove, he might not have a choice. So come to the screening! I’ll be handing out ballots, taking photos, and hanging around the after party.

(I am joking. Tony is awesome and would never do anything to harm my kneecaps. I think.)

If you aren’t in the NYC area, you have a couple of options: add 102 to your MySpace, subscribe to the podcast to get new episodes, or hit the forums.

Categories
Puzzled Over

RedOctane Gets Nasty

Gamespot [is reporting](http://www.gamespot.com/news/6157917.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6157917) that RedOctane and Activision are doing something that seems mighty familiar:

>Last month, RedOctane and new parent company Activision filed suit against The Ant Commandos, a Chino, California-based company selling a lineup of wired and wireless guitar controllers for use with the PlayStation 2 edition of Guitar Hero. The developer and publisher of Guitar Hero allege that The Ant Commandos are guilty of a litany of offenses, including unfair competition, trademark infringement, copyright infringement, unfair and deceptive trade practices, false advertising, unjust enrichment, and more. The suit also names Hong Lip Yow as a defendant, saying The Ant Commandos is a shell company and that for all intents and purposes, he and the company are one and the same.

There’s something really, really hilarious to have RedOctane – a company that built its initial fortune on making 3rd party controllers for basically every Konami music game – suing another company for making 3rd party controllers. Base level irony. It is, as some would say, a hoot. A fucking hoot.

(This is ignoring the amount of inspiration In The Groove took from Dance Dance Revolution, and ignoring the amount of inspiration Guitar Hero took from Guitar Freaks. And don’t take this as a statement of which game is better in either case.)

Categories
Recommended

Singstar Rocks US Tracklist

Anyone who’s talked to me about music games since our trip to London in April knows that finally got my hands on Singstar, Sony’s karaoke game for the PS2.

US gamers haven’t experienced Singstar yet; their exposure has largely been limited to Konami’s Karaoke Revolution in terms of singing games. While K-Rev certainly has its appeal, I’ve always been captivated by Singstar’s clean design, original artist recordings and videos, and better designed songlists.

Singstar is coming to the US in two forms. There is the overwhelming PS3 version, scheduled for around the PS3 launch; this is the one that will hook into the online store and have a limitless track selection.

To get gamers warm to the idea of a different karaoke game first, Sony is releasing a new version of Singstar Rocks in the US on November 14th. (“New version” is because the 5th Singstar game in Europe shared the same title.) The game ships with two very nice microphones and is apparently priced at $49.99. I cannot stress how much I enjoy this series and how much you should pick it up.

Anyhow, the track list went out with the press release today, and I’ve broken the tracklist down by which game it came from.

From Singstar

Good Charlotte / Girls & Boys

From Singstar Party

Scissor Sisters / Take Your Mama
The Police / Every Breath You Take

From Singstar Rocks (Europe)

Bloc Party / Banquet
Blur / Song 2
Coldplay / Speed Of Sound
Hole / Celebrity Skin
Jet / Are You Gonna Be My Girl?
Keane / Everybody’s Changing
KT Tunstall / Black Horse And The Cherry Tree
Scorpions / Wind Of Change
The Hives / Hate To Say I Told You So
The Killers / Somebody Told Me
The Offspring / Self-Esteem
The Rolling Stones / Paint It Black
Thin Lizzy / The Boys Are Back in Town

From Singstar Anthems

Gloria Gaynor / I Will Survive

New To The Series

Aretha Franklin / Respect
B52s / Love Shack
D.J. Jazzy Jeff and The Fresh Prince / Summertime
Dusty Springfield / Son Of A Preacher Man
Elton John / Rocket Man
Fall Out Boy / Dance, Dance
Gwen Stefani / Cool
Joss Stone / Super Duper Love (Are You Diggin On Me?)
Lynyrd Skynyrd / Sweet Home Alabama
Marvin Gaye / I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Naked Eyes / (There’s) Always Something There To Remind Me
The Cure / Friday I’m in Love
The White Stripes / Blue Orchid