Well, winter break is about to be over. I had a pretty good break. The first part was pretty unremarkable; I just worked, hung out with friends, and did stuff with my family. After Christmas, my girlfriend Catherine came to Buffalo, and that was great. I took some time off work (and off of this blog, too, as you can see) and had a good time.
This next semester is my last, and I don’t really know what to think about that. I have some cool stuff lined up though. I’m gonna be doing an internship, and taking only 3 classes: Advanced Digital Art, Japanese 402, and Programming for the Web. All are really relevant to what I like doing, so it should be cool. I think I can get a schedule going that isn’t too strenuous.
My roommate and I got the game Rock Band this week, and last night we had a bunch of friends over. It’s amazing! For those who don’t know, it’s like Guitar Hero with drums and singing added as well. I knew I’d like the drumming quite a bit since I play “real” drums, and the game definitely is pretty close in terms of what you’re doing and how it feels. The guitar parts are really entertaining too. What surprised me the most was singing. I thought I’d never do it at all–I haven’t sang anything since middle school–but last night we were all rotating through all the instruments, and Metallica’s Ride the Lightning was calling out to me, so I gave it a shot. It wasn’t too hard, and (according to the game) I did an alright job, so I sang a few more songs too. It’s really fun getting everybody into the game. Playing with two of your friends is really great, especially when you can (as the old Nintendo commercials used to say) “play it loud!” The company that developed Rock Band has stated that their goal in making games is to bring the joy of musicianship to a wide game-playing audience, and I think Rock Band is an unprecedented success in doing this. Even my friends who weren’t playing seemed like they were having a good time.
| Posted January 13, 2008
2 Comments
1. Widgett Walls | February 4th, 2008 at 5:27 am
I’ve been meaning to write up my experience singing on Rock Band since I sang in a real rock band for a couple of years. I found it difficult since you’re having to stick to a very rigidly defined pitch and such and you can’t “wing it” at any given moment (unless you go paisley). The guy who was there was a real drummer also and he said he had to hold back lest he hit the “drums” so hard they didn’t actually register…wonder if you had that problem as well.
2. mslicata | February 4th, 2008 at 9:59 pm
I haven’t had any problems hitting the drums too hard - no matter how hard I hit the drums, they always register. I have had some issues like you though; when playing drums, there are a lot of things you can do as long as you’re staying on beat. However, the game forces you to play exactly what’s on the screen. In the end I don’t really mind, because I figure the fact that it forces me to play very particular parts will, if anything, lead me to be a more diverse drummer in real life.
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