Casual Friday: MTV's Virtual Music Scene

This week we play entire albums in Rock Band and cruise New York's virtual Lower East Side, then score you some sweet DS deals (while supplies last).

Drowning in Debt? Call 866-837-0610

Introduction
In our ongoing efforts to celebrate slack, here are a few great new ways to kill what little free time you think you have this weekend and beyond.
Music Appreciation
It's tough living the life of a fake rock star. You think life is all plastic guitars and 100-note streak achievement points? "You got another thing coming," man. My fingers bled this week as Rock Band rolled out its first complete album, Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance. The 10-song metal anthem costs $14.99 (or $1.99 a track) from the in-game store.
And more are on the way: The Cars and The Pixies will each release an album over the next two months, and the classic Who set, Who's Next?, is coming--eventually. Me? I'm more excited about being introduced to new artists.
Already, Rock Band slips in discounted tracks (from groups such as Paramore and Sprode) at a buck a pop to promote new music. But if music games aren't good enough for head Weezer, Rivers Cuomo, then I suppose it's time for me to hang up my color-coded frets and go see a "real" band.  
Luckily for me, New York City's hipster haunts are now opening for business on MTV's Virtual Lower East Side (vLES.com). It's a free Second Life-like tour of the East Village music scene with the MTV rubber stamp of "cool."
The good news: vLES is not Second Life or The Sims Online (nor is it trying to be). Better news: there are no ugly people in MTV-land. Even me. Trussing up a stylish avatar, I start cruising a detailed recreation of the neighborhood where I once kicked around (don't ask how long ago).
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone... First thing I notice: Man, the Mercury Lounge is DEAD! I'm standing at the corner of Houston and Ludlow looking for any signs of life. That's part of the problem with sampling an alpha-state digital playground. It's not ready for prime time yet.
In truth, it's like sneaking into some new club while the bar is still being built. Even though I'm feeling like The Omega Man, I stick it out. Sure enough, by about 8 p.m. EST, some other club-goers start to hit the scene with all their slacker emotes and all-caps-lock talkin'. Then I'm suddenly reminded why most of my friends who used to frequent the bars now hit Brooklyn. But I'm not here to meet people--at least not yet. Right now, it's about the music.
Hitting the Virtual Clubs (continued)
And those tunes are everywhere on the Virtual Lower East Side. Videos fill club walls. During the day, I catch videos by Liam Lynch, Oingo Boingo, and Sahara Hot Nights. At night, bands will perform on virtual club stages (or get pasted up on said video walls).
Kick back and watch a video at the club. Like that tune? Just click a link and it opens a link to iTunes. Walking down the street, a soundtrack spins in the background. As new tracks cue up, I get artist info. Y'know, like at the beginning of a music video. Hear a song you like? Click the link and it takes you to iTunes. Smart.
While nobody at MTV is ready to comment, its hand is already showing. Between its involvement in Rock Band and what it's trying to do with vLES, MTV is clearly dabbling with different media to get some new bands out there. Fine by me--I can't remember the last time I listened to the radio, anyhow.


DS Deals on Amazon
Calling all bargain-hunting Nintendo DS owners! According to omgnintendo.com, Amazon.com will have a bunch of Gold Box deals on Friday, April 25th. "5 great deals on 5 great games," says the ad banner. The sales will happen at:
12:01 AM PST 6:00 AM PST 10:00 AM PST 2:00 PM PST 6:00 PM PST
And while the items will be "available for 24 hours," something tells me you've got a matter of minutes (maybe seconds) to click the link and snag whatever games go up for sale. So gird your loins and prep your credit card! Hey, you know that old line: "Act now while supplies last!"


Game Pick of the Week
Battle of the Bands (on the Wii console)
My marching band can kick the butt of your emo rock trio, the heavy metal outfit down the street, and that interplanetary Hip-Hop group. Wait, what? In a day when everybody is cuing up Fisher-Price guitars and thinking that they are rock stars, this is probably the goofiest side-step in rhythm-based games. It also happens to be a lot of fun and pretty clever.
The graphics are grainy, raw, and a little on the dated side--even by Wii standards--but the game is simple to control. All you do is wave your Wii-mote to the beat. That makes Battle of the Bands a great game for parties--especially folks that aren't hardcore gamers but like some quirky audio. As you may have figured out by now, the real star here is the music, so pick a band.
Let's say you're playing as a marching band (that really is an option). Going up against a country band on The Ramones' Blitzkrieg Bop, you're basically hearing two cover versions of the same song mashing up on each other. Depending on who is winning, you can hear rigid oompah marching band sounds or the twangy guitars ringing out.
Just make sure that someone is in the room playing against you, otherwise, you're gonna feel dumb laughing at yourself. I did.
Until next week...
Senior Writer Darren Gladstone geeks out over gadgets, games, and odd uses for humdrum tech. In other words, he's a nerd--and he's okay with that.



Local Articles
Home Electronics
Home