MotorStorm 2 Does Not Feature Elvis

There is commercial pressure from Sony who want us to create a viable business product but we're more after the critical acclaim. I think there's less pressure now because when we were an independent developer we had the pressure of paying the wages every month. Now we don't have to worry about the next game or what we're going to be doing.

Korn Talks Haze

GTA Soundtrack A Little Too Obscure For Amazon

Chocolate Rain on Mario Paint

Guitar Hero III Revisits Its Muse

British 360 Vid Marketplace Gets...Michael Jackson Videos

Aerosmith Exclusive to Guitar Hero

Newsweek this morning is reporting that Aerosmith and their music will be a Guitar Hero exclusive for an "unspecified period of time." Activision CEO Bobby Kotick first hinted that the band would be "proprietary to our format" at last month's Morgan Stanley Technology Conference.

"It's an exclusive deal for this game," Aerosmith publicist Marcee Rondon told Harris. We confirmed this with Tim Riley, Activision's vice president of music affairs, who told us through Activision PR that "I can say that we do have the band exclusively, and their catalogue should be exclusive to us beyond the one or two tracks they had licensed out to Rock Band before we made our deal." (According to MTV's Rhythm Game Track Finder, it's one song: "Train Kept a Rollin'.")

Hit the link for N'gai's take on the info he uncovered and why it was both inevitable and, likely, will not be the last time this happens in the increasingly broad genre of rhythm games.

The Guitar Heroes at Red Octane Lock Up Aerosmith With An Exclusive Arrangement, Leaving Harmonix and Rock Band to Dream On [Newsweek]

Ghostbusters Stays True To Ray Parker Jr.

Developer Terminal Reality was at one point pondering having a modern band redo the classic Ghostbusters theme for their upcoming game, lovingly previewed earlier today by our own Flynn De Marco, but as executive producer Brendan Goss would soon realize, people don't react well to blasphemy.

"When we were doing the focus group testing, we asked people how they'd feel about a remix done by a current band. We got booed out of the place," Goss said. "People were really against it, going, 'You can't do that, there's only one song for Ghostbusters!' It was incredible. So we were like, okay, we won't mess with the Ray Parker Jr. song then."

No theme tune remix for Ghostbusters [Eurogamer]

What's On GTA IV's Soundtrack?

The console wars between Sega and Nintendo ended years ago, but the folks of the RemixArtistCollective are bringing it back with a special 4-track remix album of classic tunes from both systems. On the Nintendo side of things you've got Mario and of course The Legend of Zelda, while Sega is represented here by Sonic the Hedgehog and...Sonic the Hedgehog. Does Nintendo win on sheer variety, or can two Sonic remixes stand up to the double threat of Mario and Link? Find out for yourself by downloading the electro dance versions of these classic tunes below. Not bad at all.

NINTENDO VS SEGA EP [RAC]

Almost a year ago the Xbox Boys exploded onto the game music scene with a mix of game-inspired rock that seemed to ooze equal parts religion and Xbox fervor.

Shortly after they hit the scene, we tracked down the bands members to talk to them about their apparent connection to New Hope International Church, a Bellevue, Washington-based Christian church that hopes to "turn lost people into fully devoted Spirit-filled disciples of Jesus Christ in our city and all over the world."

The band's leader, Phil Fischer, denied the connection and said that the band was formed in hopes that Microsoft would eventually back them.

Today Fischer contacted Kotaku to let us know that Microsoft has officially nixed the idea, saying that they couldn't take the time to track how their logo and name was being used:

Korn Debuts Haze the Song

Alright ... there's "Bark at the Moon" on expert, and then there's "The Swan" by the Berliner Philharmoniker's number one asskicking cellist, whomever that is. Considering that success in this genre involves at least knowing the major riffs before you play it, I'm thinking that this flash game is more difficult by half than anything Guitar Hero or Rock Band has ever cooked up.

The game helpfully advises us that there are "one million possibilities to get tones from a cello." I am definitely expert on the first: a sphincter-clenching, fingernails-against-the-chalkboard grind.

Post your high scores in the comments. I can get to about 455 points before I start writing apologies to everyone who has ever handled this graceful instrument.

Cello Challenge [Berliner Philharmoniker, via Reddit]

Weezer Dude Recommends Real Guitar Over Fake Guitar

I've never played it. I don't get those games at all. I mean, I haven't tried them. But they must be fun because people love them. But, to me, it seems like if you're going to put that much effort into playing something, you should just play a real instrument. [laughs]

Mötley Crüe Still Alive, Releasing New Song Via Rock Band DLC

Def Leppard Debuting New Single In Guitar Hero (ie Videogames Killed The Radio Star)

Kicking off right here in Denver, MTV2 is going on the road with Flyleaf and Seether's Spring tour to give concert-goers a chance to check out Rock Band.

Beginning tomorrow and running through May 21, people who attend the Seether and Flyleaf tour will get a chance to play against members of the two bands on Rock Band. Competitions will be held at each venue with winners receiving a copy of Rock Band and a chance to co-hose Saturday Rock the Deuce on the channel with the two bands.

The whole tour, and the Rock Band offs, will be documented on MTV2.com with some of the better stuff showing up on the All That Rocks block on Saturdays at 6 p.m. from now through May 24.

"Sponsoring the Seether and Flyleaf tour is another way for us to give Rock Band fans the opportunity to connect with the bands they love and provide a stage for them to live out their rock fantasies," said Paul DeGooyer, SVP DVD, Gaming and Audio, MTV. "By supporting this tour, it allows us to expose great young talent like Flyleaf, who are a true Rock Band success story. The inclusion of their single "I'm So Sick" in Rock Band has helped propel them from gold to platinum selling artists."

The release isn't totally clear on how people will be selected to jam against the bands, but I suspect it will be pretty obvious at the venues.

Charlie Daniels - Guitar Hero Perverted My Song

I want any of you parents out there whose children have this game to know that I did not grant these people my permission to pervert my song and am disgusted with the result. Unfortunately I lost the publishing rights on the song many years ago in a settlement with a former partner and the license to Guitar Hero was granted by the company who now owns the publishing.