FingerGaming

App Store first-timer Monad has launched Rhythm Spirit ($1.99), a unique rhythm-based take on the fighting genre.

In Rhythm Spirit, all character movement is mapped to a series of scrolling musical cues. As movement and attack cues reach a marker at the center of the screen, players must tap the appropriate button to dodge incoming attacks or counter with moves of their own.

Rhythm Spirit features an original “zen remix” soundtrack that plays throughout its 10 included levels. A free Lite demo version was released earlier today.

Tags: Fighting, Music, rhythm, rhythm spirit

Developer Gaijin Games announced that it has partnered with Namco Networks to bring the retro-flavored rhythm game Bit.Trip Beat to the iPhone and iPad.

Originally released as a WiiWare title, Bit.Trip Beat is a Pong-inspired action game in which players control a paddle to reflect incoming pixels. Enemy pixel squadrons arrive in sequence with a background music track, and players must deflect as many as possible to keep the surrounding world brimming with color.

The Wii version of Bit.Trip Beat was controlled via controller rotation, so it’s likely that the iPhone’s accelerometer will figure into the App Store edition. No release date for the iPhone version of Bit.Trip Beat has been announced.

[via GameSetWatch]

Tags: bit.trip beat, gaijin games, Music, rhythm, Upcoming, wiiware

Rating:

• Price: $2.99 (Download here)
• Version: 0.1.0
• Official Site: Activision

A rhythm game’s tracklist is its greatest asset. It needs to not only appeal to varied taste and musical preference, but it also needs to feature instrumentation that translates into a challenging and fun experience for players.

Guitar Hero for the iPhone includes six tracks.

It’s with only six tracks that Activision hopes to appeal to all App Store customers. EA’s iPhone adaptation of Rock Band features a 30-song tracklist, which covers several genres. Guitar Hero, on the other hand, includes two classic rock songs, two modern (-ish) alternative tracks, and two pop-punk songs. Let’s look over them.

The Rolling Stones’ “Paint It Black,” in addition to being one of the best songs the band recorded over its 200-year history, was a standout in Guitar Hero III’s tracklist, and is still fun to play. The guitar charting is varied and challenging — the bass chart is less so, but it’s still enjoyable.

The White Stripes’ “Seven Nation Army” was another excellent choice for the game. It has an iconic bass line, features interesting guitar work throughout, and — most importantly — it holds up well to repeat listenings.

Weezer’s “Say It Ain’t So” belongs to a weird little category of songs that I personally like, but never want to hear again. This list also includes Faith No More’s “Epic,” Foo Fighters’ “Learn to Fly” and a handful of other tracks that wore out their welcome after being endlessly repeated in the original Rock Band. It’s not a bad song, and the guitar portion is actually pretty catchy. I’m just tired of hearing it.

The same can be said of Queen’s “We Are the Champions,” which every human will endure hundreds of times over a lifetime of movies, TV shows, and sporting events. I don’t hate it; it’s just not a song that I would ever listen to by choice. Its inclusion in Guitar Hero is questionable, too, given its relative lack of guitar and bass. If you’re going to map half of any song’s guitar chart to piano chords, why bother putting it in the game?

Vampire Weekend’s “Cousins” and Rise Against’s “Savior” are terrible songs by terrible bands. I actively hate them and never want to play them again.

So, really, I like one-third of Guitar Hero’s paltry tracklist. I haven’t counted how many songs I hate in Rock Band, but I think it’s safe to say that Rock Band has a much better music selection.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: activision, guitar hero, Music, reviews, rhythm

During today’s keynote address at Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference 2010, Activision announced the immediate availability of an iPhone adaptation of its band simulation franchise Guitar Hero ($2.99).

Guitar Hero’s gameplay challenges players to tap, slide, strum, and use a virtual whammy bar to jam along to the guitar and bass tracks of six included songs:

• Queen – We Are The Champions
• Rise Against – Savior
• The Rolling Stones – Paint It Black
• The White Stripes – Seven Nation Army
• Weezer – Say It Ain’t So
• Vampire Weekend – Cousins

Additional tracks can be purchased from an in-game music store, which offers a number of three-song packs priced at $1.99 each. The majority of available song packs feature three different bands contributing one song each, while a select number of “featued artist” packs feature three tracks from the same group.

Guitar Hero’s current selection of downloadable content features bands including Queen, Vampire Weekend, Minus the Bear, Silversun Pickups, The Faint, Band of Skulls, The White Stripes, Obits, Darkest Hour, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Protest the Hero, Breaking Benjamin, A Day to Remember, and AFI.

Guitar Hero also includes a detailed character creation mode, along with social networking functionality that allows players to share their best scores via Facebook.

Tags: activision, guitar hero, Music, rhythm

Masaya Matsuura, creator of the rhythm genre pioneer title PaRappa the Rapper, will lend his creative talents to non-profit charity fundraiser publisher OneBigGame for the upcoming iPhone and iPod Touch game WINtA.

WINtA (War Is Not the Answer) is a beat-matching rhythm title that will feature music from Marvin Gaye, among other artists. GamesIndustry.biz reports that musicians will be able to contribute their own content to the game after its launch, which will be available to players as downloadable content.

OneBigGame contributes at least 80 percent of earnings from its published titles to its partners Save the Children and the Starlight Children’s foundation. OneBigGame’s debut release, the Zoe Mode-developed rhythm puzzler Chime, premiered for the Xbox Live Arcade platform in February.

WINtA is developed pro bono in a collaboration between Matsuura’s studio NanaOn-Sha and Dutch iPhone developer Triangle Studios. OneBigGame notes that WINtA will be released “later this year.” Matsuura demonstrates an early version of the game in the video below.

[via GameSetWatch]

Tags: masaya matsuura, Music, onebiggame, parappa the rapper, rhythm, Upcoming, winta

My Brute and Saving Private Sheep publisher Bulkypix has released Drums Challenge Charlie Morgan ($1.99), a rhythm-testing music game starring rock drummer Charlie Morgan.

Morgan has performed as a session drummer with big names like Elton John, Kate Bush, Tina Turner, Pete Townshend, and Paul McCartney. Morgan contributes six original tracks exclusive to Drums Challenge — players must repeat sequences of beats throughout each song by tapping on-screen drums.

Drums Challenge Charlie Morgan includes three difficulty levels and a variety of unlockable drum parts, which can be used to build a custom kit in the game’s Freestyle mode.

Tags: drums challenge charlie morgan, Music, rhythm

iPhone rhythm game developer Tapulous has a keen eye for picking popular music acts for its band-specific Tap Tap Revenge releases, having previously launched titles like Lady Gaga Revenge, Dave Matthews Band Revenge, and Christmas with Weezer.

This week, Tapulous brings us Nirvana Revenge ($4.99), a cue-matching rhythm game that features many well-known tracks from the seminal Kurt Cobain-fronted grunge band Nirvana.

The game features 10 studio master tracks, along with three live takes:

• All Apologies
• Breed
• Come As You Are
• Heart Shaped Box
• In Bloom
• Lithium
• Rape Me
• Smells Like Teen Spirit
• Stay Away
• You Know You’re Right
• Breed (Live)
• Lithium (Live)
• Smells Like Teen Spirit (Live)

Four difficulty levels are included, and all tracks are playable over a Bluetooth connection in a head-to-head multiplayer mode. Nirvana Revenge also includes a band history section and a variety of sound bites from Nirvana radio interviews.

Tags: Music, nirvana revenge, rhythm, tap tap revenge, tapulous

Luxury car manufacturer Audi has released Audi A1 Beat Driver, a free, rhythm-based action title for the iPhone and iPod Touch.

Similar in concept to the PC rhythm game Audiosurf (only without the puzzle elements), Audi A1 Beat Driver challenges players to collect shapes that appear to the beat of a background music track. Score multipliers can be earned by collecting multiple shapes in a row, and power-ups can be collected for further score boosts.

Audi A1 Beat Driver includes nine levels, each featuring a background music track from a different indie artist. The game itself is surprisingly competent and challenging, and global leaderboards provide additional replay incentive once you’ve played through each of the game’s levels. A single-track Lite version is also available, if you can’t quite spare 40 extra megabytes for the full game.

[via Bemanistyle]

Tags: Action, audi, audi a1 beat driver, Free Games, Music, Racing, rhythm

iPhone developer para9′s muBlip ($1.99) was a standout title in this year’s IGF Mobile competition, earning a finalist spot in the Audio Achievement category. The finished product is now available for download from the App Store.

muBlip is a rhythm-based puzzler in which players must match touch-based cues to the beat of a background music track. muBlip demonstrates a series of taps, drags, and holds at the beginning of each segment, and players must duplicate the cues in sequence, all while maintaining a steady rhythm.

muBlip’s excellent ambient music complements the simple geometric visuals, and the result is a unique and enthralling experience. Give it a shot, why don’t you? A brief gameplay video is below.

Tags: igf mobile, mublip, Music, Puzzle, rhythm

Universal Music Group has launched Six-String ($4.99), an interactive guitar application that allows users to match chords and strum along with a selection of licensed music tracks.

Promising “the most realistic guitar experience yet,” Six-String scores players based on accuracy and timing. The game includes Plus+ Network functionality, and features leaderboards sorted by region and song.

The following six tracks are included in the core application:

• Bon Jovi – “You Give Love A Bad Name”
• Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down A Dream”
• Peter Frampton – “Show Me The Way”
• Fall Out Boy – “Thnks Fr Th Mmrs”
• Scorpions – “Raised on Rock”
• Orianthi – “According To You”

Universal also offers a selection of 99-cent downloadable tracks featuring artists such as Angels & Airwaves, Beck, Dashboard Confessional, Kaiser Chiefs, Maroon 5, No Doubt, Papa Roach, Peter Frampton, Rise Against, Robert Palmer, and Sum 41.

Tags: Music, simulation, six-string, universal