Originally published on Bemanistyle

Back when news of this year’s brand new DanceDanceRevolution titles surfaced during July’s E3 event, Konami of America went out of its way to state it was going to feature “major licensed master Latin tracks.” While we were initially ignorant about the impact these Latin tunes would have on the final product, DanceDanceRevolution X2 released in North America on Oct. 27 and it became clear exactly how far Konami was looking to go in featuring Latin-style music in the title. Of the title’s 60 songs, nearly 17 percent of the list features Latin songs and/or artists and it seemed as if the company purposely went out of its way to reproduce Konami originals in this styling in bringing revival songs from previous entries into the mix. It’s hard to deny DanceDanceRevolution is as global as it has ever been, originating from its humble, nine Konami original songs on the original DDR arcade cabinet, evolving to later include European influence with the company’s Toshiba EMI partnership and, finally, breaking out into recognizable tunes made popular in America. While Latin-style songs are hardly nothing new to series, what attributed this focus to load almost one-fifth of DDR X2 with this music genre?

“We believed that the PS2 market in Central America is relatively large, so we decided to implement Latin/Spanish-influenced licensed and Konami original songs that might be better accepted in that region and for the residents in North America who enjoy this type of music,” stated series producer Naoki Maeda in a recent e-mail interview with Bemanistyle.com. Looking at recent events that have unfolded in 2009 between Central America and Sony, perhaps saying the previously untapped video game market in the territory is large could be an understatement.

A February announcement made by Sony Computer Entertainment America officially put the company’s consoles and services available to the territory for the first time(1). Prior to this point, residents of the area had to either swallow heavy-hitting price tags for systems and games thanks to customs taxes and import tariffs or take part in playing pirated copies of games titles. In fact, a 2008 editorial by Pascal Clarysse, who was formerly a marketing manager for Lik Sang, commented on Edge Online that a popular title such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl could cost as much as $110 U.S. at retail in Columbia – a real slap to the wallet when you take into account that Clarysse states the minimum and average wage in the country is $260-280. Because of these limitations, he states the Game Boy Advance and Playstation 2 continue to be the best-selling systems in Central America(5) and when you factor in the huge install base the PS2 has in Brazil – the largest in the territory - it becomes easier to understand SCEA’s decision to officially enter the market(2).

“The significance of the Latin America market is huge. Obviously from a population standpoint I don’t think it’s a big secret that this is a huge opportunity. We will put a number of resources in place to cater to that market,” stated Sony Computer Entertainment America’s Vice President of Sales Ian Jackson one year ago at a BMO Capital Markets Interactive Entertainment Conference. “… We’ve identified the Brazilian market as probably the biggest market opportunity for us, and that will be the third part of our launch which will take place over Spring 2009."(3)

Thanks to the official distribution of Sony product in Central America, the distribution has made the prices of official games a bit easier to swallow for the 13 countries within reach of Sony Latin America, even though the territory has some fierce competition in the form of the regional Zeebo console and pirated discs that provide games at a lower price. Regardless of where players are receiving their games, it can’t be denied that gaming is a huge hobby in Central America and the Playstation 2 is a common system, much as it is worldwide, where it has been cut to a $99.99 U.S. price tag. Konami’s efforts to market DanceDanceRevolution to this territory rolled off of Sony’s momentum in the region as X2 and Hottest Party 3 made appearances the weekend prior to the titles’ release at Latin America’s largest video game event, the eighth-annual Electronic Games Show in Mexico City, which saw more than 30,000 attendees(4). As such, Konami certainly isn’t ready to give up on the system, which still has a full year to follow Sony’s intention to give the Playstation 2 format a 10-year life cycle.

“We still look at the PS2 as a competitive platform in today's global market but the so-called next generation consoles like the PS3 and Xbox 360 have great possibility of permeating throughout the world even more,” noted Konami's Naoki Maeda. “Our goal is to foresee the needs of the market and provide titles with the hardware that best suits these needs.”

Before the attempted penetration of DDR into the Central American territory, however, local players had long been accustomed to Andamiro’s Pump It Up series, a cheaper arcade alternative that served as the go-to dancing title for this territory along with Korea. In 2005, Mastiff CEO Bill Swartz, who was at the time preparing Pump It Up Exceed for a home console release in North America, told Edge Online, “It's insanely popular in Latin America and Korea. Every year in Mexico City there are tournaments. This year's drew more than 15,000 people and they had to open the doors an hour early to avoid a riot. " Interestingly enough, the same interview has Swartz stating the release features “lots of Latin music,” showing the dancing game market has in some form catered to the territory for a number of years(6). According to Maeda, the global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution stems from the art of dance being a global language that is enjoyed by everyone across the world, however, cultural differences are what tend to bring such “market targeting” into play.

“The global appeal of DanceDanceRevolution lies in the fact that the main idea of the game is ‘dancing,’ which is a method used to express oneself that can be seen throughout the world,” he explained. “However, there are several different types of dancing which can come from elements such as the characteristics of a country or what they deem beautiful. We believe that holds great importance in that the recorded music fitting the dance type of a specific region is essential.”

Of course, targeting the Latin music market isn’t an unfamiliar endeavor, with Konami of Japan releasing Mambo a Go Go (which, unfortunately, missed the U.S. market with an intended, but cancelled, release under the name Mambo King) and SEGA developing Samba de Amigo during the Latin pop craze that hit at the turn of the century. Even though neither title had a huge impact, if any, on North America, Maeda noted Konami hasn’t given up on the theme as long as its games are openly available to the region.

“Yes, depending on the location of where we release our titles and the characteristics of the people in the country, we would like to provide content that is geared more toward that region,” he stated. “Music in Southern America has its own characteristics with a very unique history and developing games with these themes are in one of our best interests.”

Will the adjusted focus help Konami and its DanceDanceRevolution series in the long run? Only time will tell in the long run, but, currently, the company is keeping a positive focus on the market for now.

“Our view of Central America is that there are several unknown elements in the market, but features such as their national trait where they look at things objectively and with the way ‘dancing’ is positioned in their lifestyle, we believe that it is a very hopeful market,” concluded Maeda.

[1] Official SCEA Press Release, “Sony Computer Entertainment America Expands into Latin America” - GameSpy
[2] Theo Azevedo, “Produção do PlayStation 2 e jogos no Brasil é aprovada” – UOL Jogos
[3] Staff, “SCEA: Latin America is a Huge Opportunity for PS2” – Playstation Universe
[4] Official Michael Meyers Public Relations press release – “Eighth-Annual Electronic Game Show Draws 30,000” – (received internally by Bemanistyle.com)
[5] Pascal Clarysse, “Gaming in Latin America” – Edge Online
[6] Staff, “Pump it Up” – Edge Online 

The Nestlekwik Happy Hour for July 12, 2008

Nes:  Welcome one and all once again to the podcast you have to read, The Nestlekwik Happy Hour.  Of course, I am your host nestlekwik, welcoming you back from what I hope was an enjoyable holiday for all of our US readers.  Hopefully you didn’t blow off any thumbs with those fireworks as that would make playing video games quite a chore.  If you were expecting some sort of holiday theme based on fireworks games such as Fantavision or Boom Boom Rocket, we apologize as the GemuBaka crew was catching some much needed rest (and hamburgers) for the holiday weekend.  Of course, by “we,” I mean myself and your Happy Hour co-host, MixMasterLar.


Lar:  I can see you had your share of hamburgers over the past week Nes.  It might be time for you to fire up Wii Fit and hit some of those jackknives.

Nes:  We’ll just wait for Dance Dance Revolution X to hit and it will give me a reason to get moving again.

Lar:  Understood.  Well, even though we were conspicuously absent last weekend, we want to point out that The Nestlekwik Happy Hour now has a new segment – the stickied thread entitled “Swag Museum.”  The feature kicked off with 10 pieces of gaming history (or junk depending on your view) and today we have updated with an additional two entries.

Nes:  I hope that hot sauce ages well.  It could get really gross in a couple more years.

Lar:  Well, you should probably talk that over with your girlfriend.  I’m just glad I won’t be there to smell it when it turns green.

Nes:  … But it was green to begin with.

Lar:  Oh, I see.  Well, moving on, speaking of things aging, let’s dive a little into the past and see how our latest review prospect has aged.

Review: Virtua Fighter 2

Lar:  Sega broke all kinds of records with the release of the first Virtua Fighter. When Namco jumped in on the action, Sega and AM2 decided to release a sequel to the first 3-D fighter ever made. The game is considered to be one of the best 3-D fighters of the ‘90s and many believe that it did to its genre what Street Fighter II did with 2-D fighting games.

The graphics of the arcade and Windows port were pretty good for the time and made Namco's efforts look pitiful. Sadly, the game's looks haven’t aged well over 12 years - characters look like Legos and move a bit sluggish compared to newer games (but it was the first 3-D game to run 60 frames per second with no slowdown whatsoever).  Backgrounds are drawn well for the time and the characters all look and fight unique from one another (something that wasn’t - and still isn’t - a real standard).

The game is not known for music and that only means the music reeks ‘90s game style. The speakers are filled with a mix of rock guitar and ‘90s tech, with very little composition. I didn’t care for the soundtrack and not many people seem to either.

Gameplay is pretty standard VF fare: There are punch, kick and guard buttons that perform what you would expect, with a few extra moves when more than one button is pressed together. The game is the only one in the VF line up that has re-sizable rings and health bars, which is good since the default heath bar doesn’t hold up to much damage (even for the time). This really hurts replayablity since matches are so short. Speaking of replay, you pretty much have no real reason to play this game unless you have memories attached to it. The arcade mode is as predictable as it gets and if you’re playing on a port with the Team Battle, Time Attack and two-player modes, then you'll realize there just isn’t any diversity in the game. It also doesn’t help that the later Virtual Fighters have upped the ante on everything four-plus times already. Unlike Street Fighter where playing the old version of Street Fighter II still holds some merit, you're more likely to feel like you did surfing on Windows 95 at your library after you had gotten use to the new release of Window's XP at home: You'll feel like your using a old, watered-down outdated game instead of getting your dose of classic gaming. That said, you can probably still enjoy it if your hardcore about fighters, so it isn’t all bad news.

Overall, if you're looking for a classic fighter then stick with either Street Fighter or the better-aged Tekken 2/3 releases. This game has outlived its time.


Nes:  People can say all they want about how the game has aged, but there is a reason why there is a Virtua Fighter 2 arcade machine in the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of American History in the field of Arts and Entertainment. 

With the game hitting the Sega Saturn with nearly every single facet intact, Virtua Fighter 2 wiped clean the flickery skidmark that was Virtua Fighter (although it was patched through VF Remix) and was one of the many home games at the time to show perfect ports of arcade games were finally here.  Virtua Fighter's raw appeal has always been its 3-D implementation and vast selection of martial arts moves made possible by the simplest number of buttons and at the time, Sega felt the title was such a high point that it received a number of updates and spin-offs - and rightfully so as very few 3-D fighters on the Saturn hold up to VF2.

Ideally, most complaints about the game today will stem from the "1995" feel of the port - the polygonal counts aren't comparable to today's games, the jumping is floaty, the music has a slightly cheesy '90s electronic vibe, there are "only 10 fighters" - however, the port was quite a success for its time.  While the PC version has had the bonus of updated graphics over the Saturn, the console version still holds up incredibly well.  Nay sayers of the Saturn's 3-D prowess should look at the title's relatively high polygon count for its time on consoles, rotating backgrounds and rotating camera views during replays.  The sound may be the title's weakest point as while the music plays very well and fits each stage's theme, the sound has muffled quality and lacks the punch of effects from other popular fighters.

Thankfully, VF2 doesn't fail where it matters - in its game play.  The move list for each character was quite jaw dropping for its time and on the Saturn, the control is just as responsive as ever thanks to the system's stellar controller.  To make the control even more convenient, button combinations can be mapped to a single button to make pulling off throws or other moves flawlessly easy.  I would definitely agree by default the matches end too early, but this obviously either comes from trying to emulate real fighting (where in reality people don't take multiple heavy blows and keep fighting) or rushing the fights to keep the quarters pumping in arcades.  However, this can be suitably changed in the options to increase players' health and expand the ring size for a real last-man-standing affair.

There are no unlockables in the game, so replayability does fall quite a bit.  That's not to say there isn't any longetivity in the title, especially for fighter buffs, as there are a ton of moves to master, a number of difficulty modes, a handful of Easter eggs to dig up and, of course, you have multiplayer.

Overall:  Between the PC and Saturn versions, I think we both agree the foundation of Virtua Fighter 2 is a solid one that shouldn't be overlooked by fighting fans.  While the title pales in technicality when compared to Virtua Fighter 4 or 5, the engine still feels familiar and is as fun as ever.  While it lacks replayability depth, it is a quick game you'll find yourself coming back to time and time again as long as the aged feel of the title won’t get under your skin.  Seeing as both formats of the game shouldn't cost you more than $5, Virtua Fighter 2 is a no-brainer for anyone looking to start a Saturn collection and PC buffs will enjoy the extra attention to graphics (this version is also available through the GameTap subscription service and the Playstation 2 Sega Ages series).

Nes:  I loves me some Saturn.  It was good to fire it up again.  I had to switch out my hard drive though after not plugging it in for a good amount of time.

Lar:  The Saturn has a hard drive?

Nes:  Oh, yeah.  The ever-popular CR2032 battery … unlocking your Fighters MegaMix characters every time you play it gets old after a while, you know.

Lar:  Definitely.  Some things will never get old, though, including the music featured in this week’s top five feature …

The Happy Hour Top 5:  Underappreciated Game Themes

#5  Zoom Down


Music Artist Toshikazu Tanaka should be proud of the overlapping guitars and the use of synth he used in this Metal Slug 5 theme and he should really get some credit for it beyond "Oh. This was in a Metal Slug Game."  While the vocals make no sense in the tense game, it's still a very fast-paced song that goes well with the game's famous run and gun gameplay. If I had to pick a song to request as RockBand's next DLC, it would easily be this one.

That said, no one seems to ever remember what this song is or where it came from and it's never gotten respect as a game theme. In our opinions this song is one of the better MS themes.

#4  Pandora No Hako Yori-Dai Ichi Ban-Souguu


Loosely translated as "He who came first from Pandora's Box" this is the first boss battle theme that plays while fighting against Jin Choushu in SNK's Fatal Fury 3. The theme refects the situation the player encounters at the end; a mysterious 2,200 year-old kid looking for the secret scrolls that will make him immortal (as if living 2,200 years wasn’t good enough) has appeared out of nowhere to claim them.

As for the theme itself, GemuBaka has opted to select the rearranged version found on the Fatal Fury Collection Vol 1, though we still enjoy the original 24-bit version. This arrangement has a very classical feel to it with string instruments, cymbals, violins, drums and many others making their way into an epic rhythm that can be both relaxing to hum to and still be upbeat enough to suit a fighter like Fatal Fury. The song is hugely underrated and in (at least) Lar's opinion can rival a few of Nobuo Uematsu's famed compositions.

#3 Lil Bonus Room


It could be said the entire game of SkullMonkeys, released for the Playstation by The Neverhood, is underappreciated.  Sparing no expense in the presentation department, SkullMonkeys has some of the most bizzare claymation graphics in video game form, but even more bizzare is its completely insane soundtrack.

With such cult hits as Elevated Structure of Terror, Klogg is Dead, Beans and more under its belt, if you could say any one song in the game has the most notority (even though Death Garden Jive is completely awesome), it's definitely the one which drives players to acheive those bonus rooms every time.  With nothing more than an acoustic guitar and a set of vocal pipes, your "little invisible friend" is here to assure you players are completely safe in the most calming voice ever.

You might be safe in the bonus room, but when the singer goes on about always being with you and being just like your parents, you might eventually be afraid to leave your house.  Also, what kind of friend tries to scare you into thinking there is a monster directly behind you?  Regardless, the tune makes you feel like you are actually taking a break from the meat of the game and the sheer obscurity of the title ranks this one high.

#2 God Hand End Theme


If Clover left us with anything, it is damn well one of the greatest ending themes ever etched in the annals of video game history.  While the cheese factor is certainly high here, it's cheese cranked all the way to 11 as the kids would say, resulting in a hilarious theme you just can't take seriously but, still, the God Hand ending theme will still manage to kick your nuts and dragon kick your ass into the Milky Way.

While 80 percent of the song will probably fail to make any sense to those who have never played the title, the video is filled with enough inane para para dancing and Sentai knockoffs to make any J-fan go into epileptic joy.  God Hand is a mockery of conventional video game themes and this certainly carries over into the ending theme which bodly proclaims that the God Power will keep your pimp hand strong.  Themes aside, the song is severly infectious, already serving as a basis for many AMV videos flowing around YouTube and the most insane of fans recreating the dances performed in the ending.

While God Hand may have come and gone with little fanfare, it is most certain its ending theme will live on in the memory of its fans.  If only more companies could make more ending themes this compelling, the world would be a better place.

#1 Silent Hill no Uta


Half the reason the number one song might be so underappreciated is the fact you have to bend over backwards to hear it as part of Silent Hill 3's super-secret ending.  Thankfully, through the bag of magic that is YouTube, any regular Joe can fill their nostrils with the catchy aroma that is Silent Hill no Uta.

For the Japanese deficient, the title translates to a simple "Song of Silent Hill" and as such, it goes through with a description of the games' main characters and provides loads of fan service to those who pay attention to every detail that is Silent Hill.  Perhaps the raw appeal of the song lies within the oxymoronic situation which it overlaps - with a completely destroyed Silent Hill laying in the backdrop, everyone gathers with joy to sing an upbeat ditty about the game that was just played.  The scenery maintains a creepy feel reminescent of Castlevania: Symphony of the Night's hallowing Game Over screen, but that hardly stops the kiddies from gathering around.

With the leading charge of "one, two, five, seven!" it becomes clear Silent Hill no Uta isn't going to be an ordinary song and the futuristic sound effects and robotic delivery of the lyrics are quite laugh inducing. But, again, that is the point, as it seems the people are purposely trying to sing as poorly as possible.  Singing talent aside, who can't resist lyrics that falsely place the characters of the game as fish salesmen or single parents?  I guess those fallacies are what prompts the song's bizzare and slightly distrubring (depending on your views) ending.  Much like a nasty car wreck, Silent Hill no Uta is so odd, but you just can't look away and its obscurity places it at the top of our list of underappreciated songs.

Nes:  Man, I’m going to have God Hand stuck in my head for weeks now.

Lar:  It is indeed that catchy.

Nes:  Well, it just freaks out my mom when I just randomly spout “Dragon Kick your ass into the Milky Way” out of the blue.

Lar:  That’s not normal.

Nes:  Should I get that checked?

Lar:  Possibly, but people will definitely want to check out more about these future titles hitting consoles next week.

The Nestlekwik Happy Hour Picks of the Week for July 14, 2008

*As a friendly reminder, these picks are based on hype and preview media and merely suggest what titles we are looking forward to most.  We have not actually played builds of these titles unless indicated and do not guarantee their quality.

Nes:  It’s a no-brainer what will sell the most next week as NCAA Football 09 hits every system under the sun next week.  Sports fans will have plenty to do next week, but for those who can’t stomach the good-old 10-yard fight, here are three suggestions that we’re looking forward to next week.

Pick of the Week Runner-Up #1 - B-Boy – Playstation 2

Just when your mom thought the world was safe from the Hip-Hop/”gansta”/street video gaming craze, Sony and FreestyleGames has decided to bring the UK's rhythm-action game B-Boy to the US this week.

The game is played almost like a fighter, but with break dancing moves instead of hadoukens, akin to games such as Bust-A-Groove. You learn moves that require a command on the controller's four face buttons and the shoulder buttons in a fashion similar to a minigame from Zelda or Rocky Legends - the exception being that you decide when to time the move you pull off (with the goal being to do it in time to Hip-Hop and Rap beats).  The graphics are looking pretty standard for today’s PS2 games, but it seems that the PS2 has reached its limit now and all we can ask for is standard suit.

While the game received a 7-score average in its UK release, we're guessing that it will be fairly popular over here in the states in light of EA Big's success and Rock Band's popularity.

Pick of the Week Runner-Up #2 - We Love Golf – Nintendo Wii

The Wii is getting another golf game in the form of We Love Golf!  Camelot Software Planning, the team that has made many of the Mario sports games has teamed up with Capcom for another Wiimote swinging outing.

Interestingly, the Wiimote seems to just replace button presses when it comes to gameplay: You time maneuvers with the Wiimote to a pretty familiar-looking power bar on the bottom of the screen. Once you've locked in power and speed, you swing the controller to match the onscreen indicator to send the ball flying.  We're not sure how this method will work seeing as it's mostly cutting hairs on the last generation games and the Wii, but it looks solid so far. The game also boasts unlockable characters, courses and classic Capcom character outfits to have your selected golfer wear (Chun-Li, Jill Valintine, Phoenix Wright were named and Lar spotted a Dino theme course which may mean Regina from Dino Crisis).  So far it looks like these really are just costumes as the character's face and skin tone remain unchanged when wearing a red gi, but it's nice to have them.

The Pick of the Week for the week of July 14, 2008 - Puchi Puchi Virus - Nintendo DS


While this game will have you battling a virus that causes people to turn into party animals, Puchi Puchi Virus shouldn't prove to be a buzz kill, especially for puzzle fans, when the title hits shelves next week.

Players will control a doctor who takes a look at a list of people who are down with the sickness.  As they say, each person is unique and in Puchi Puchi Virus, each patient will have their own unique goal players will have to tackle to cure the ill.  To perform the feat, players will use the stylus to pick out similar blocks on a hex grid to eliminate them in triangle-based patterns and owners the cart can do so in single-player or multiplayer (single and multi card) modes.

With a unique mechanic and plenty of charm to its pre-release screenshots and videos, Puchi Puchi Virus looks good enough for puzzle fans to call in with a sickness of their own to stay home and play the title.

Nes:  While we have music on the brain, it’s no surprise to point out that gamers have done some crazy things with the in-game music they love.  From the pure – www.ocremix.org - to the crazy, video game music has carried over to a number of media and many have reproduced the tunes in a style of their own.  Let’s take a look at some examples where players use video games as a means to further glorify the music.

Fly through the air on Mario Paint


Street Fighter Music is so legendary that it's been done one hundred different times - per theme.  While the techno remixes, vocal arrangements and countless rock version are fun, I think seeing Mario hop to an 8-bit version is pretty cool (even Mario pays tribute where it's due). My one gripe is the cat sound effects, but it does show that the artist put some time into making the theme in Mario Paint not as redundant as it might have been otherwise.

Blaze Heatnix's Theme


Ever wonder what some themes would look like when allowed to be in another rhythm game? This is fairly popular song from Mega ManX6 being played in a Beatmania IIDX emulation (on auto, of course).  It's a wonder that people can even dream of hitting keys that fast.

God Hand


You didn’t think we were done with this theme did you?  Someone evidentially loved this theme as much as we do and took the time to create a custom Guitar Hero II file for it.  While most of the level questionably fails to follow the … um, you know … guitar, it certainly earns brownie points for the fact it is God Hand.

Super Mario Bros. Medley


Sometimes these crossovers occur officially as well.  This is a Super Mario Bros. Medley as seen in the Japanese arcade release of Konami's Pop'N Music 14 FEVER.  The song gets pretty tough toward the end!

Super Music World


If Youtube has proven anything, it's that with enough dedicated time and effort you can be recognized as someone who has nothing better to do than crazy ROM hacks that no one has even thought of yet.

And nothing is a better textbook example of that than this game music video of a custom world's objects being timed to Niko Niko, a medley of Touhou, anime and other familar game themes. The amazing part is that the player isn’t really playing for the most part of the video at all but is being pushed along for the ride. The topping on the cake is the unique use of the boxes, turtles, and ropes used: Even if the song repeats itself, the game stays fresh with different sound effects to play all through 11 minutes worth. Oh; and the song is nice, too.

Nes:  As always, we hope you enjoyed today’s show.  We know you’ve been experiencing withdrawal from us, so you should be glad to know we are back on schedule and our next show will be hitting J2Games.com on Saturday, July 19.

Every once in a while Rockstar will take a break from its proven franchises to take a unique genre in a new, ambitious direction. This is perhaps when I enjoy the company the most as evidenced by the stellar outing the company enjoyed with Rockstar Presents Table Tennis on the Xbox 360 – the releases seem to come out of nowhere, but in typical Rockstar fashion, a lot of thought is put into the release and it stands out among the crowd. The most recent example of this comes courtesy of Rockstar Leeds and Beaterator, which, in collaboration with Timbaland, has released to the Sony PSP.

Right up front here, I’ll want to stress that Beaterator isn’t a game, at least in the traditional sense, but rather, it is an application that serves as a tool to allow its users a streamlined mean in creating music on the PSP. This might turn off people expecting to find a new DJ Max-style game or such on the system, but don’t walk away just yet as anyone interesting in piecing together their own music can still pull fun out of the title even if Beaterator is more of a tool. A gamer’s mileage will definitely vary with this one, but that is entirely dependent on how much patience one has and how much they are willing to put into this title.

Beaterator revolves around two modes, but, surprisingly, both are very robust. The live play mode serves as the entry gates for getting into the title – it is much easier to use and while it doesn’t give users as much freedom and customization as there is to be found in the studio mode, there are still a number of options and functions to utilize with easy-to-understand button icons that are situated around the virtual Timbaland. Users can even record sessions from the live play mode and paste them as loops into the studio mode for tweaking and customization, doubling the usage of the feature. In this initial mode, while there isn’t much to it, it’s easy, accessible and users will be able to pump out some decent tunes in no time flat.

Once users roll over into the studio mode, however, Beaterator becomes a different beast, reflecting more of what you would expect to see in an eJay studio or any other PC tool that costs more than Beaterator. Users will be menu surfing through a string of complex options, which will no doubt intimidate some. There are tutorials tucked away in the game, but given the simplistic PSP layout, users will find the menu navigation to be a tad bit clunky as opposed to a similar mouse-and-keyboard setup that allows commands to be quite spread out when compared to a cramped PSP screen. Navigation and complexity aside, though, the user is given a number of impressive tools that dictate a mass of musical functions that even allow users to control settings on individual layers.

As an application, the modes offered weigh heavily on the quality of the overall package and, thankfully, Beaterator pulls through on these offerings. You can spend 15 minutes in live play fooling around or 15 hours mulling over every single detail of a creation in the studio mode, which tells me Rockstar Leeds understands how to craft a title fit for a portable system. That being said, however, there are some nuances to be had given the limitations imposed by the PSP’s layout that hamper the controls and the nature of the title and its depth certainly won’t be for everyone. Even so, Beaterator meets the goal it set out to accomplish, giving players a solid music application on the system and rewarding dedicated users with the fruits of their own labor.

With the game’s online functionality in tandem with a PC, users can share that fruit with other users, building a sense of community that is missing from the portable system outside of any game with Monster Hunter in its title. With Rockstar planning to host contests and highlight feature submissions, these motivations will intensify the dedication of serious users and if being able to endlessly create your own music doesn’t serve as replayability, this certainly fuels the fire a little more. If you can get lost in music like I can, it won’t be hard to get pulled into the community and it’s hard to put down the system until you finish a song or get a section of a song just right. It also helps that Beaterator is a one-of-a-kind title on the system right now, as while it is hardly the first console creation tool and definitely not the first on the PC, the online functionality and live play mode really brighten the appeal of the title, especially for music fans.

Honestly, while using Beaterator, users will be staring at a lot of menus in the studio mode, making the appearance of the title a standard affair. As a tool, this is generally forgivable as what is provided for users isn’t bad, it just does its part in giving players some visual feedback on what is going on and nothing more. You do get a few videos and Timbaland avatar moments that stand out, but, clearly, overall, the sound takes the full presentation stage in the title. Surely, not every user is going to agree on what genres, instruments, etc., should be represented but there is a healthy mix of samples provided in the game with a chunk coming straight from Timbaland himself. While some users might not find some of the samples useful, the samples do what they should and ring through pretty clearly (although this is definitely a title where headphones or earbuds are a must). You’ll also get a number of standard clicks and such for the menu navigation, but, as expected, the audio is where Beaterator truly shines.

That being said, though, there are some disc access quirks with the title. Samples can take a bit of time to load up, making the previewing process a bit of a pain. I also occasionally received messages stating the title couldn’t locate a sample on the disc and then played or loaded the sample anyway. These are just a few setbacks I encountered with the sound’s implementation, though, as I found the title’s sound to be very solid and I was able to create a few decent tracks just through goofing around and then tweaking the sound in the studio mode. Relying on loops and electronic production, the samples revolve around electronic genres such as D&B and U.K. garage and dabble into others such as hip-hop. Typically, I always make a point to say that tastes in music are subjective, but, perhaps this is one of the few cases I can say if you don’t like the music in the title, it’s most likely your fault for creating it. On that note, however, if you are a hater of the pre-made loops, Beaterator gives you tools to create your own loops as well as to import various sounds. The depth is great, however, again, the only thing holding users back from creating a masterpiece is their patience with the software’s complexity.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5

Beaterator is a cheaper alternative to the great PC music creation tools, yet it still manages to hang with those offerings in terms of customization and content. Gamers will have to know straight up, Beaterator is a tool as opposed to a “game,” but those that stick with it will be able to make satisfying compositions, even if the title is a bit difficult to work with due to the PSP’s layout. The community features for the title will have dedicated users going on the application for quite some time, meaning anyone serious about creating music will get their money’s worth here. The live play mode allows users to jam for a short time, while the studio mode can keep players wrapped up for hours, making it a perfect portable music tool. The title has a couple of setbacks to iron out, for sure, but Beaterator easily hangs with the best of the bunch in the console/handheld music creation group.

It only took the better part of a decade, but, now in 2009 video gaming is finally home to one of the most lucrative and sought-after catalogs of music in modern history. The inclusion into video games was undertaking that was nearly 50 years in the making, with the band originally performing in its five-piece ensemble starting in 1960, but Beatlemania was finally captured by Harmonix with The Beatles: Rock Band, immortalizing the fab four members that carried the name from 1962 onward in a familiar digital format. Given how difficult it was to procure these rights, one would have to assume Harmonix would put every ounce of effort it could into doing the source material justice and, thankfully, the end result should be enjoyable for anyone while serving up a once-in-a-lifetime interactive experience for any Beatles fan.

I’ll just start off by stating up front that I am not the biggest Beatles fan in the world. I appreciate the band’s music and mostly prefer its earlier material, but I am far from being a Beatles fanatic. On this grounds, I am able to look at the game a little more objectively, but, let’s be honest – what we have here is a brand new presentation with Rock Band 2 running under the hood. With this, obviously, the hook of The Beatles being featured in the game is the major draw here and for fans of the band will no doubt be the target audience for the title. However, looking at the title from a pure music gaming focus, the stranglehold placed on the likenesses and content of the game really put forth a good group of limitations that are hard to ignore for those not as enamored with the band and want to enjoy a new rhythm-based game title.

Eschewing the company’s standard of releasing handfuls of content at reduced prices, The Beatles: Rock Band storms in as a full offering, demanding a meaty $60 from your wallet, but, given we won’t see Rock Band 3 this year, it’s hard to suggest that Harmonix is milking the franchise. What players will receive is a stripped down Rock Band 2 experience, customized to accommodate The Beatles, which means features that players are normally accustomed to are absent from the title. The character creation tools are given the boot, which will probably upset some, but, for me, it is a godsend – I can finally just jump into a game without having to wait around because somebody decided they wanted to change the shoes their avatar is wearing. While players can still fail songs, The Beatles can never be booed and the band’s in-game tracks and material cannot be ported over to any other Rock Band offering, which shows the power Apple Corps. holds over Harmonix. A bunch of these omissions come across as minor gripes, as it is a miracle Apple even allowed such a game to come into fruition, however, this serves as another example of how spoiled Rock Band fans will hit a brick wall when the features they expect to see in every installment are absent in The Beatles: Rock Band.

Another question has been popping up in regard to the title’s value. At $60, Rock Band fans, which we no doubt have on a site dedicated to music gaming, may be wondering why they are only being presented with around 40 songs when Rock Band 2 easily doubled the offerings at the same price. If you were to consider each track as a DLC offering at $2 a piece, there does appear to be an evident value in the content, but the shilling of future DLC packs at an extra cost might disinterest some fans and the audience the game is trying to reach out to might not be frequent gamers, tasking them to put down around $300 for a full experience. Obviously, there has been much debate on the game’s value, but the attraction merely hinges on how big of a Beatles fan a potential buyer is.

Cracking into the actual game itself, players will have a quickplay mode and a career-based mode along with a few training features that can isolate the drum and vocal gameplay bits. Everything outside of the career mode works just like any other Rock Band entry, but it is sad to see the creativity of the career mode nerfed so much in The Beatles: Rock Band. This Rock Band iteration merely puts players into chunks of songs with the only “career” additions coming in the form of stylized cutscenes that depict the current phase of the band’s career and dictating the players’ song choices according to what songs the band had crafted at that moment in time. Harmonix creates some cheap replay value for the mode in opening up challenge segments that are nothing more than performing the aforementioned song chunks in a continuous setlist. Also, since the mode amounts to just playing the game’s song catalog, players will blow through the mode in a handful of hours with very little reason to come back to it. The mode still lets you jam to the band’s trademark songs, but the void of innovation and cycle of repetition really makes this entry’s career mode pale in comparison to Rock Band’s previous efforts.

That being said, however, stars earned in career mode go toward worthwhile unlockables for once. Instead of unlocking uninteresting avatar clothing, The Beatles: Rock Band instead unloads exclusive, never-before-seen photos, videos and sound bytes that will fascinate fans of the band and possibly intrigue casual players (I found the Christmas vinyl montage to be quite interesting, actually).
Looking at the gameplay itself, there is only one innovation to see in the harmonized vocals, which allow up to three people to grab a mic and sing simultaneously during a song. The feature works similar to the standard vocal setup, with each pitch determined by colored bars that anyone familiar with how Rock Band operates should be able to naturally follow. This does add a deceptive amount of interesting moments to the gameplay, letting an additional two players get in on the standard gameplay or challenging more dedicated bands to sing and play instruments simultaneously. Outside of this mechanic, however, players are getting Rock Band 2 pound for pound, although a number of the personal freedoms are taken away in order to wholly preserve The Beatles’ content. The overdrive drum fills are replaced by a single green note, misplaying the guitar does not result in a change of pitch and the beginning and ends of songs don’t allow for players to lay into the drums a little. In all, a bunch of minor changes add up to really limit the player in comparison to other Rock Band titles, which is disappointing considering the caliber of quality seen in those titles.

I don’t mean to cast a thunder cloud over everyone’s opinion of the title, though, as the fact the game is essentially Rock Band 2 with a fresh coat of paint means players are getting the foundation of what is arguably the greatest music gaming engine available on the market. Anyone who has had any shred of fun with any of the series’ other installments will continue to do so with The Beatles: Rock Band, with the only determination of enjoyability being the players’ opinion of The Beatles. Even on that note, however, fans of The Beatles might question the song selection slapped into the game, which does omit some classic and notable songs. With the source band and choice of songs included in the title, much of what is encompassed in The Beatles: Rock Band will boil down to subjective, personal tastes that I couldn’t fairly assess in a review. What I can look over, however, is how the tunes are implemented.

Audibly, the title is just as superb as any other Rock Band title – the songs ring through in high quality, which is most likely due to the fact the songs have been remastered, much like they were for the band’s audio CD release that hit stores, also on Sept. 9. The title also enjoys a number of other audible touches such as the crowds going bananas during the band’s touring years and the realistic mode toggle that has the crowd drowning out the band with a symphony of screams are quite interesting diversions and well implemented. With the manner the songs are implemented, though, it should be mentioned there are very few challenging segments to be found in The Beatles: Rock Band’s gameplay, even on the expert difficulty, which may disappoint band game masters, however, on the other side, the ease in difficulty allows for casual players to enjoy a wholly accessible game title. Fans of the band probably won’t care either way, but if you’re looking for the next challenging guitar solo to test your skills, you won’t find it in The Beatles: Rock Band and this may alienate some longtime players that have little to no interest in the band.

On the other side of the presentation, the graphics do the game justice as well. The graphics arguably take a step back with some fuzzy visuals and jaggies, but, somehow, the pastel-laden animated fab four works quite well, which is most likely due to the significantly pumped up animations given to the band. The close-ups of the crowd also give the visuals some juice with a variety of emotions ranging between 1960s girls going nuts and screaming in tears to street goers looking up solemnly to the top of the Apple Corps building, knowing this is the last time they will ever see The Beatles publically perform. For the most part, these animations really lend to the visual appeal of the title, showcasing amusing animations inbetween career sets and creating trippy, creative (although potentially distracting) “Dreamscape” sequences to compliment the band’s studio years. The game’s environments are also very well crafted, accurately reflecting the current time period with clothing fads, 1960s television presentations, hair trends sported by the band members throughout the decade and, of course, the Dreamscape sequences create plenty of interesting environments. If you look closely, you’ll find some graphical snags, but most players will be too wrapped up into the world of The Beatles to notice and, overall, the title is a treat to the eyes.

Overall, the game may rely a little too much on its source material, however, as players that have no interest in the band or are looking for a challenging outing to test their skills should more likely turn to Guitar Hero 5 for a more suitable modern experience. With the advancements made to Guitar Hero 5, the impression is given that The Beatles: Rock Band has done little to advance the series, however, this will probably not matter very much to the game’s target audience. When you put The Beatles to the side for a moment and look at the game as a whole, there are some very evident downsides to the way the game plays out, but, thankfully, the pros far outweigh the cons in this entry.

With the production of the title being all said and done, Harmonix has done well in crafting an experience that any true Beatles fan cannot be without. However, the game limits creative freedoms, provides an extremely shallow and potentially dissatisfying career mode, a lack of difficulty and features a handful of other minor downsides, which may eat away at the interest of music game fans that have little to no interest in the band. That being said, however, it can’t be denied that The Beatles: Rock Band is a very well crafted game overall. The main debate to be had with the title really lies in personal tastes – the player’s opinion of The Beatles, the choice of songs included/excluded, etc. – since the game is built upon the solid foundation of Rock Band 2. I would suggest to anyone on the fence about the game to review its content and if you feel the pros outweigh the cons, I could recommend picking up the title without hesitation.

GemuBaka Final Review Score: 4 of 5