UMLOUD! A Rock Band Night for Child’s Play

Harmonix has teamed up with Penny Arcade’s Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik for ÜMLOUD!, a special Rock Band Night for the Child’s Play charity. Child’s Play is a charity that supports the National Children’s Hospital Organization by giving money, toys, games and gaming hardware to hospitals where children are going through often life threatening and difficult medical problems. Ümloud! is an annual fundraiser event for Child’s Play Charity, a “gamers’ charity” started by Penny Arcade’s Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik that provides toys and games to Children’s Hospitals around the country, including Oakland Children’s Hospital.

The spiritual-successor to last year’s successful Fünde Razor, and hosted by Chris Kohler (Wired), Joe Markert (Gamehelper), and John “Seg” Seggerson (Telltale Games), Ümloud! will hit the DNA Lounge in San Francisco, California on December 9th, and feature a full-blown Rock Band 2 main stage set up courtesy of Harmonix Music Systems, where Rock Band bands can rock out in the name of charity.

Doors open at the DNA Lounge at 7:00pm and the party will rage until 2:00am. There is a suggested donation of $10.00 (but you should give more if you can)upon entry to the event, and all attendees will be entered into a raffle that will go on throughout the night offering amazing prizes and limited edition gaming swag, courtesy of participating sponsors. You can sign your band up for either the Ultimate Band Package for $120.00 or the Standard Band Package for $40.00. If you are going to be in the San Francisco area, go and join the fun, be entered to win some totally awesome prizes and help raise money for a good cause.

0D Beat Drop now on Xbox Live Arcade

Arc System Works has released 0D Beat Drop, a game promising a fusion of rhythm and puzzle elements. The game is available for Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 MS Points. The game revolves arounf getting “beat drops” in time with the music playing. To get a Beat Drop, players drop similar-colored jewels next to one another in time to the music. A meter on the side of the screen shows the rhythm of the music, which players will need to keep their eyes on so they don’t miss the beat. The more Beat Drops you get, the stronger your attacks will be against other players. With two or three chains of jewels, you’ll send dozens of shadow jewels to your opponent’s field but If you miss a beat, then the power you’ve built up will drop back down to zero.

0D Beat Drop Key features local or online multiplayer in versus, co-op, or battle royale with up to 4 players; a variety of modes such as Planet Quest, Survival, Time Attack, Co-op, and Task modes; and 21 types of backgrounds and blocks to experience.

Log on to Xbox Live Arcade to check out the trial or buy the full game.

White Stripes make Rock Band debut next week

Harmonix and MTV Games will release a three pack of tracks from The White Stripes and singles from The Damned and Kasabian will be added next week to the Rock Band Music Store for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii.

Tracks from No Doubt and Dropkick Murphys will be available for download next week for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP.

Sadly, no LEGO Rock Band content mentioned unless I am missing something here, which Is highly doubtful. Anyway, here’s the completel list:

Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (Nov. 10) and PlayStation 3 system (Nov. 12):

- The Damned – “Smash It Up (Part II)” 

- Kasabian – “Club Foot”

- The White Stripes – “Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground”

- The White Stripes – “Girl, You Have No Faith in Medicine”

- The White Stripes – “Icky Thump”

Tracks available for Rock Band Unplugged (Nov. 12):

- No Doubt – “Excuse Me Mr.”

- Dropkick Murphys – “I’m Shipping Up to Boston”

Jesper Kyd scores Assassin’s Creed II

If you didn’t know, Jesper Kyd has created the soundtrack for Ubisoft’s upcoming third-person stealth action game, Assassin’s Creed II. Kyd scored the first game’s soundtrack and hopes to bring the same kind of magic to the follow-up - an atmospheric score that offers a “new direction and crafts an immensely diverse, melodic and progressive musical palette featuring acoustic and symphonic orchestrations with emotional depth and diversity.” Sounds fanciful and footloose. The original score was recorded with a Hollywood orchestra and choir at the Capitol Studios. The Assassin’s Creed II Original Soundtrack will be available for digital download from popular music stores on November 16th.

The game is scheduled to launch on November 17th, 2009 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and the PC. For more information about Assassin’s Creed II, visit www.assassinscreed.com.

Ubisoft’s Jam Sessions 2 in stores this week

Ubisoft has released Jam Sessions 2 for the Nintendo DS and DSi at retailers across the U.S. Jam Sessions 2 is a guitar game developed by Plato that attempts to make improving your guitar skills fun and rewarding.

Each song in the game play mode serves a different role in advancing players’ guitar skills and songwriting abilities. By progressing through the songbook, players can learn techniques that will help them play the guitar and write songs. Armed with their new skills, players can then play, create and share their original music with others.

Jam Sessions 2 is rated E10+ by the ESRB and has an MSRP of $29.99.

KORG DS-10 Plus coming in early 2010

Cavia Inc. is developing KORG DS-10 Plus for DS and DSi in conjunction with Procyon Studio, which will be published by XSEED in North America in early 2010, it was announced today. KORG DS-10 Plus builds on KORG DS-10 with new upgrades and improved performance that utilize the special features of the DSi.

KORG DS-10 Plus is a revamped version of the famous music-creation program offering per-track MUTE/SOLO built into the SONG mode, and EDIT/PLAY enabled for all modes within the SONG mode for further improved real-time performance. The touch-screen controls of Nintendo DS are utilized to provide an authentic feel and operability across a dual-screen layout and the 6-track/16-step sequencer enables control and a wide range of musical possibilities. Up to eight units can be linked via wireless connection to play together or to exchange sounds and songs.

Nintendo DSi owners can enjoy additional improvements including 12-voice polyphony, 4 tracks for the analog synthesizer simulator, 2 drum machines and more. Also available exclusively when played on the DSi are 2 effects layers, essentially giving users the functionality of two original KORG DS-10’s in one.

Queen headlines LEGO Rock Band

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and MTV Games today announced that LEGO Rock Band will feature the likeness of Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Queen. Appearing in the game as LEGO minifigures, front man Freddie Mercury, guitarist Brian May, bassist John Deacon and drummer Roger Taylor will be rocking out to their hits “We Will Rock You” and “We Are The Champions.”

Guitarist Brian May seems excited about it: “This is IT! I wanna play!,” he said. “When do I get my toy LEGO man?” Right on, we say.

Today also marks the release of the Queen pack for the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content, featuring 10 of the band’s most loved songs including Killer Queen, Somebody to Love, Fat Bottomed Girls and the Queen/David Bowie collaboration, Under Pressure. In addition, Queen will release Absolute Greatest on Nov. 17, featuring 20 of the band’s biggest hits.

LEGO Rock Band is scheduled for release holiday 2009.