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Rock music

Power Gig: Rise of the Six String! Like Guitar Hero but Better and More Useful!

by Jay Garrett on March 9, 2010

If you enjoy a good game of Guitar Hero and/or Rock Band but can’t help that nagging feeling in the back of your mind telling you that playing these is all very well but it’s not actually teaching people to play an instrument – well, my gadgety friends, Seven45 Studios may be our saviours for they bring Power Gig. The first instalment of this game sounds almost like a ManOWar album: Rise of the Six String!

As the title suggests – the game controller is an actual, real, stringed instrument.

It sounds like the proto-axes and alpha build of the game were pretty impressive and the fact that not only will you be able to buy individual packs you’ll be able to get you buddies involved with the “band bundle” that includes the game, a guitar (plus a strap, picks and an extra set of strings), a drum set and a microphone. Unfortunately the latter two items are still in the very early stages of production and weren’t available when Engadget was there.

The Guitar Hero/Rock Band beat matching game is still very much in evidence but Power Gig turns it up to 11 and brings “chording” into play. Yup, you’ll have to strum actual power chords that match the chords used in the song. This means that whilst you’re playing you’re learning a real song on a real guitar.

That real guitar can really be amped-up so you can rock out with your newly learned skills. All you have to do is depress the dampening pad beneath the neck and you can Smoke on the Water to your hearts content.

The good news is that Rock Band and Guitar Hero guitars will work with the Power Gig titles. The even better news is that Seven45’s guitars will work with existing music band games.

For more pics and info slip on your leather pants and rock over to Engadget!

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Stone Age Cranberry DVD will Last Another 1,000 Years – DiamonDisc

by Jay Garrett on November 14, 2009

Cranberry-DVDOk – so this is actually new tech and not something from when flint knapping was actually a life-or-death skill to have.

There’s a new company going by the name of Cranberry who is selling a DVD made from high-tech stone (yes, stone) that will store data for up to 1,000 years.

That obviously dampens the touchpaper of regular writeable DVD’s who are said to only last between two to five years (listens to folk running to back-up their five year-old discs).

Before you start weeping over your film collection; mass-manufactured DVDs last much longer thanks to better production standards.

You have to send your precious data to Cranberry who will then transfer it onto the rock-based format named DiamonDisc. However, the discs can be read by any DVD player or drive.

For $34.95 per disc (or $69.90 for two) you can store up to 4.7 GB of data on a format that will outlive you. That equates to roughly 2,000 photos, 1,200 songs or three hours of video.

They don’t guarantee that you wont put it somewhere so safe that you forget where it is though ;)

This will be ideal for people that own businesses, have a family interested in keeping records of their ancestry, or if you plan on hiding the fortune that you’ve amassed and will only let your great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandchild be the benefactor.

Shame you wont be around to see if it actually lasted the 1,000 years the company claims.

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DJ Hero Gets Superstar UK Price

July 2, 2009 Click to read more →
Thumbnail image for DJ Hero Gets Superstar UK Price

DJ’s generally have it slightly easier than bands.
Their gear is easier to break down, they don’t have to split their fee with 2, 3, 15 (if you’re in Dexy’s Midnight Runners) other people and ultimately most of the music they play has already been written and recorded by somebody else.
This easy run may explain Activision’s [...]