The short answer to the question above is: No. You would have thought that Nintendo would have learned a few lessons from last year, but their conference this year was very similar. Someone should remind the Big N that doing a Show & Tell requires you to actually show things and not just talk for a majority of the time. You may be pretty proud of what you are achieving, but that doesn’t mean we want to hear about it ad nauseam. If you are really being as innovative as you claim, perhaps it would be a good idea to show us rather than to stand there talking about it.

Nintendo kicked things off with a montage promo video followed by a lot of talk about how gaming is for “everyone”. They then showed off New Super Mario Bros Wii, a scrolling 2D platformer featuring the rotund plumber and his pals. The game is designed to be played with up to four people at once. A multiplayer Mario was a good start, but Nintendo just couldn’t seem to stop talking long enough to show many games, and most of the ones they did show were rather lackluster.

Next up was the reveal of WiiFit Plus, an expansion of Nintendo’s popular fitness software that is coming in the fall this year. After a lot of talk about the importance of interface to gaming, WiiMotionPlus is mentioned, and WiiSports Resort is shown. Some new minigames were revealed including skydiving, archery, and basketball. After a trailer for Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers it was time to move on to the Nintendo DS.

Several DS games were mentioned with a small amount of footage to go with them. Notable titles coming for the handheld include Kingdom Hearts, Mario and Luigi: Bowser’s Inside Story, and Golden Sun DS. Non-notable titles that still got quite a bit of attention were James Patterson Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion, C.O.P.: The Recruit, and Style Savvy.

When Nintendo’s global president, Satoru Iwata, took the stage, I thought something good was in store. Surely he would have something interesting to reveal. Instead he took several minutes to talk about innovation only to show a new Wii peripheral called the Wii Vitality sensor. Basically, you stick your finger in it and it takes your pulse. Someone must have thought it would be a good idea to turn some basic hospital equipment into a video game accessory.

Nintendo went back to talking about games for a while to reveal Super Mario Galaxy 2. The trailer for the game looked a lot like the original Galaxy, with the addition of Yoshi into the mix. I loved Super Mario Galaxy, so a sequel is welcome news, but unfortunately Nintendo said nothing about a release date. After that, Nintendo “wowed” the crowd by talking about three third party games coming this year: The Conduit, Resident Evil: Darkside Chronicles, and Dead Space Extraction. I think all three games look interesting, but we have already seen a lot about each before this conference started, especially for The Conduit which comes out in a couple weeks. Where were all the new games that we should be clamoring to play?

The show closed out with a welcome surprise for me. They revealed that Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden fame) is collaborating with Nintendo on a new Metroid title that is supposed to be “edgier”. It is called Metroid: Other M, and the trailer for the game looked pretty good, despite the generic title. As a Metroid fan, I’m all for a new Metroid title, and right now it is slated for release in the spring of 2010. As welcome as this news was, it was too little and too late to save Nintendo’s briefing.

Nintendo seemed too focused on talking about how innovative they are and how gaming is for everyone. Instead of showing a lot of titles, all we got were a few short trailers peppered in between lots of lecturing. Red Steel 2 was notably absent from the show, a big mistake in my opinion as it looked great during Ubisoft’s conference Monday night. The demo of that game did a lot to convince me that WiiMotionPlus is actually worthwhile, and it looks to be everything the first Red Steel should have been. Also missing from Nintendo’s show was any mention of a brand new Pikmin sequel, something that has been confirmed that Nintendo is working on (and rumored to be at the show this year). A new WiiMotionPlus Zelda title was a no-show, even though I wasn’t particularly expecting it to show up.

Had Nintendo included more games in their briefing, it would have been a much better outing. As it was, they totally dropped the ball again, in similar fashion to last year. The few interesting announcements were revealed to little fanfare, and they weren’t enough to keep the conference afloat amid all the boring lectures. At this point, Nintendo is so far out in left field that they seemingly don’t know how to create a show that actual gamers are interested in. Todays showing felt more like something geared towards investors, and I think even they would have had a hard time staying awake.

Nintendo’s conference was by far the worst of E3 this year. Even taking the talkative James Cameron into account, Ubisoft’s conference Monday night was far more successful at showing off games than Nintendo was able to do this morning.

Be sure to say hey when you come in so we know who we have with us. 

Take the best things about a chat room, and combine them with the best things about Blogging, and you have Live Blogging. Users will be able to log in, ask questions, discuss the latest news, etc. However, the primary purpose is actually to get the news out there. So whether or not people show up to discuss everything, the show will go on. The blog will get posted, and people will be able to read through the history very easily. 

However, like most things, this is the most fun if people are there to participate. So I hope to see some video game fans for the following dates and times:

Microsoft: June 1st – Live Blogging begins at 1pm EST (Set a Reminder)
Sony: June 2nd – Live Blogging begins at 1:30pm EST (Set a Reminder)
Nintendo:  June 2nd – Live Blogging begins at 4:30pm EST (Set a Reminder)

Hopefully, everyone that cares will be there to share their opinions as they roll in. Watching the show and talking about it at the same time. What could be better? Live blogging begins 30 mins before each conference.

Bullworth Academy is home to snobby rich kids, oppressive teachers, and more bullies than you can shake a stick at. Enter Jimmy Hopkins, a rebellious teen who has been kicked out of several different schools in the past. He is dropped off at Bullworth by his mother and his brand new stepfather on the way to their honeymoon cruise (that just happens to last an entire year). Jimmy is soon working towards taking over the school in between going to (or skipping) class and getting on the principal’s bad side.

There are two classes every day at Bullworth, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Classes cycle through every few days, so you won’t be slogging through the same English class every single day. Of course, you can decide to skip classes entirely, but it will have several consequences. First, the school prefects will try to bust Jimmy if they find him being truant. Get caught, and you’ll be sent straight to the class you were supposed to be attending. This isn’t as big of a deal once the gates of the school open up, allowing you access to town. The cops there will also bust you, but there are a lot more places to hide outside Bullworth Academy’s walls.

The second consequence to skipping out is missing out on key skills that are learned during class. Gym class will teach you additional fighting moves, and Shop class unlocks better bicycles for you to ride around town. Each type of class is passed by completing different types of mini-games. English consists of a word scramble game, Chemistry has you pressing buttons to mix chemicals together, and Gym class will either be a wrestling match or dodgeball. Most of the things earned by completing classes have tangible benefits during the rest of the game.

When Jimmy isn’t attending class, he’ll probably be completing some sort of task for somebody else. It seems like he is a magnet for people that want something. New tasks are always popping up, some of which progress the story, and some of which are optional missions that net you some cash. There is a nice mix of things that Jimmy ends up doing, like sneaking into the girl’s dorm, escorting nerds across campus, collecting miscellaneous items, and pulling various pranks, among other things. Every mission is fairly short, so the game rarely gets frustrating due to failed tasks.

Bullworth feels like a living place due in large part to the interesting and humorous characters that populate the school. In fact, each character is so memorable that you will quickly begin to recognize the different students roaming around the campus. Bullworth is far from a realistic place with everyone falling somewhere between caricature and satire. For example, you will meet a fat nerd named Algernon who’s pants are always unzipped, the ultra grungy lunch lady who chain smokes and spits in the food, and the perpetually drunk English teacher.

The school is divided into several cliques that each have their own hangouts. Depending on your actions, the respect that each group has for you will go up and down, causing them them to become more hostile towards you if their respect goes down. During your time at Bullworth, you will encounter the Bullies, Preppies, Jocks, Nerds, Greasers, and Townies. Teachers fall into their own group, but each one has tendencies for one group or another, such as the coach falling in with the jocks.

Another unofficial group at Bullworth are the girls. Pulling pranks on guys is frowned upon, but harassing girls will instantly get the prefects after you. So if you’re planning on throwing a stink bomb into the middle of a crowd, it might be a good idea to make sure there aren’t any girls in the group. Jimmy is quite the ladies man on campus, and there is a tangible benefit to kissing as many girls that you can. After completing some Art classes, kissing girls will give you a health bonus, something that is a major help if you get into any big fights against multiple opponents. The more art classes that you complete, the bigger your health bonus. Of course you must get the girls to like you before they will even think about kissing you. If you’re not careful, you might just get a kick in the crotch for your trouble.

You might expect to find fisticuffs in a game called Bully, and you’d be right. Jimmy has several different fighting moves to help him deal with the more antagonistic citizens of Bullworth. More moves are unlocked through gym class, but if you want to unlock the really good moves, you’ll have to talk to the homeless vet that lives near the school. In exchange for transistor radio parts, the hobo will teach you secret moves he claims to have learned in the military. In addition to his fists and feet, Jimmy will acquire many different weapons throughout the game including a trusty slingshot. Many are classics used for pranks such as eggs, stink bombs, marbles, itching powder, and firecrackers. You will also come across some more powerful projectile weapons later in the game that pack more of a punch than your slingshot, however they lack the infinite ammo that makes your slingshot a “go to” weapon. Jimmy can also temporarily pick up disposable weapons such as baseball bats, trash can lids, and wooden planks.

So what if you just want to tool around town instead of going to classes or doing things for people? There are plenty of options in town to keep you busy. Simply riding around on your skateboard or bicycle is fun in its own right. You can also visit the several different stores in town to procure new clothes, a new haircut, or even a new tattoo. The Preppies have a boxing club in town where you can spar against several opponents. You can also find your way into the local carnival to play several different games including a shooting range and a dunk tank. The carnival also has a go-kart track with several different races to beat.

If you want to do all these things, you’ll need copious amounts of spending money. Certain missions will net you some cash, but there are also a few different jobs in town that are also a good way to make money. You can start a paper route or mow the grass in the park. Eventually, several bike races show up around town that are a good way to earn money while having a bit of fun at the same time. Bullworth also has a ton of collectibles to track down including rubber bands, “Grottos & Gremlins” trading cards, and smashable garden gnomes.

Now with all these different things to do, you might think that the quality of each activity might not be up to snuff, but you’d be wrong. Each task, job, and mini-game is well-polished and fun to play. I tip my hat to Rockstar for making a ton of disparate parts come together into a cohesive whole where everything feels like it belongs with everything else.

As a kid, almost everything has the potential to feel like an adventure, and Bully does a great job of capturing this vibe. A large contributor to this feeling is the excellent use of music in the game. In particular, the music that plays when you are riding your bicycle around captures the spirit of running off on random escapades. Additionally, different “chase” music will play depending on what clique is trying to run you down. Bully’s score also helps to set the somewhat tongue-in-cheek tone of the game. The world containing Bullworth Academy isn’t to be taken very seriously, and the music definitely fits within the humorous atmosphere.

Bully overcomes some of the inherent problems with sandbox-style games by providing a more focused experience in a world that isn’t quite as sprawling as some open-world games. The world is big enough to feel pretty open, but it is also small enough that you won’t be getting lost and it doesn’t take forever to get to your next objective. The game gives you enough freedom to play it like you want to, and there is enough variety in the missions that you’ll never get stuck doing something you don’t like for very long. Pretty soon you’ll be back on your skateboard, causing mayhem, and having a ton of fun.

Overall Grade: B+

The DSi is the third version of Nintendo’s dual-screened handheld following the original design and the wildly popular DS Lite. The new hardware will remove the GBA slot in the front of the handheld in order to facilitate the system’s slightly slimmer design. However, the DSi will add two cameras (one on the outside and one facing the player), more internal memory, support for SD cards, and the ability to play music (in AAC format). The platform will also feature the DSiWare application, a downloadable game store similar to WiiWare.

The DSi will retail for $169.99, a fairly significant increase over the DS Lite’s $129.99 price tag. The new system will only be available in black and blue when it first launches.

Mario has branched out from his roots into several different types of games over the years. The number of spinoffs featuring Nintendo’s favorite mascot is so large that there are plenty of entries in each category of the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The Super Smash Bros series falls squarely into the Good category, and the second entry, Super Smash Bros. Melee, improved upon the winning formula created in the original Nintendo 64 game in almost every way.

Part of what makes Melee so successful is because it is so easy to pick up and play, yet the gameplay is deep enough that you can spend a lot of time mastering moves and strategies. Novice players can have a fair amount of success just smashing buttons. However, expert players can spend a long time learning the strengths and weaknesses of each character and how to exploit them. The game is a blast to play whether you land on one of the extremes or somewhere in the middle.

If you’ve never played Smash Bros before, it differs from other fighting games out there in that you don’t win by draining your opponents life bar. Instead, each hit you land adds some percentage of damage to your opponent. As the percentage climbs, the farther your opponent gets knocked back when hit. In timed rounds, you get a point every time you knock somebody else off the stage, while you lose a point every time you are forced off yourself. Stock battles pit you against your opponents with only a set number of lives (losing one each time you are knocked off), fighting to the last mascot standing.

Two's Company, Twenty-Six Is A Crowd

Each character in the game has a set of general attacks that they can execute in several directions. These moves cause a small amount of damage, but they are also very quick, requiring simple button presses. If you want to cause some more serious damage, you should employ a Smash attack. As the name implies, these moves are executed by “smashing” the control stick in a direction followed immediately by the attack button. Smash attacks are a bit flashier, and they also knock opponents much farther than normal attacks. Each character also has a few unique special attacks to unleash.

Now you know how to knock your opponents around, but what do you do if you are on the receiving end of too many fisticuffs? As you might expect, Smash Bros characters can jump into the air, but they can also jump a second time in mid-air. There are also a few characters with the ability to fly for short periods. Taking to the air can help you avoid attacks or launch your own, but it can also help you to get back to the stage when you’ve been knocked around. When that double-jump just isn’t quite enough to get you to safety, most of the characters also have a special move used for recovery. Some of these moves act as a third jump while others teleport your character a short distance. Learning how to get back to the stage from mid-air is a skill that comes in very handy. Being good at recovery can make all the difference in a close match. Everyone also has a limited shielding ability to help avoid taking damage and several dodge moves. Be warned though, if you hold on to your shield for too long, it will eventually break, stunning your character for a few moments and leaving you open to attack.

So, you ask, with all this punching and kicking, is there anything else to this game that can spice things up a bit? Smash Bros has you covered! Throughout a match, random items will appear that can turn the tide of match. There are several items that recover lost health, but the real fun comes from the offensive weapons. Grabbing items like a home run bat, a hammer, or a laser sword (not that kind!) will help you get an edge on your opponents by providing some extra oomph to knock them around, and a well-placed Pokéball can turn the tide of a match. However, if you decide that items are more of a nuisance than a help, you can toggle which ones appear or even turn them off completely.

There's Nothing Like A Toasted Kirby Sandwich

Super Smash Bros is best when played with a bunch of friends on a couch. Pretty soon the trash talk begins to fly, and time ceases to have any meaning. Several hours can melt away like nothing to the point that you are surprised when it is suddenly three in the morning. It is certainly possible to play just a few rounds, but Melee has a way of pulling you into a “just one more game” rhythm that can be hard to break out of….not that I’m complaining. The game also includes several single player modes to play through. These can be a good place to practice your skills, but the computer-controlled opponents can’t provide the same kind of experience that multiplayer does. Smashing your friends is what will keep bringing you back to this game.

The overall setup to Super Smash Bros Melee is a collector’s dream as there is a ton of things to discover and unlock including music tracks, trophies, characters, stages, and game modes. The trophies feature everything from various characters out of Nintendo’s history to items specific to the Smash Bros universe. Perhaps the game’s best feature, the soundtrack is excellent across the board. It features new recordings of classic Nintendo tunes, as well as many selections you may not have heard before. The track list is massive, and it is sure to include many favorites for any Nintendo fan.

Super Smash Bros Melee is a great game for all kinds of players. It has outstanding pick up and play appeal for casual players, and it also has a large amount of extra content and depth to satisfy more “hardcore” gamers. If you’re looking for a game that is a blast to play (especially with others), you can’t do much better than Super Smash Bros.

Where else are you going to find out who wins in a four-way battle between Captain Falcon, Samus Aran, Fox McCloud, and Pikachu?

Final grade: A

For those of you who play old school RPGs or are fans of the Final Fantasy franchise, yesterday was a great day. We saw the release of Final Fantasy IV for the Nintendo DS. If you don’t know what this is all about, let me give you a little history lesson. Final Fantasy IV was originally Final Fantasy II on the Super Nintendo. The series was published in Japan but seemed to stop here in the US. In 2002, Final Fantasy Anthology was released on the Playstation and included FFIV. This was just a port of the original Japanese with a new CG intro. The game was more difficult and many players didn’t like the lack of an update to the graphics. Square Enix, following the success of FFIII on the DS decided a 3D remake of FFIV would be a good idea. Thank you to Square Enix!

I’m playing right now and believe that this has to be one of the prettiest games on the Nintendo DS. I have played almost all the way through the original on the SNES and plan on finishing the story on the DS instead. So far the game is a little harder than I remember, but the extra features and the 3D facelift make this a winner. I’ll have an update once I complete the game to let everyone know what I thought about it overall.

Alright, I have to apologize up front. The evil podcast faeries came along and stole 2 hours of this episode from my computer. I went into the living room, and came back to an 11 minute episode. I don’t know what happened. One minute it was there, the next it was not.

So, what you are about to hear is the live version of the show. For the most part, it is decent quality. There are some sections where it has bad echos though. My apologies. Again, I have no idea what happened to the good version. If the echoing gets too bad, it fixes itself after a little bit. Hope you enjoy!

Following on the heels of yesterday’s Microsoft  conference, it’s time for Nintendo to step up to the plate. In my opinion, Nintendo needs a good show. I considered last year to be a flop with only Wii Fit and Mario Kart as their major announcement. But more importantly, I feel that Microsoft threw down the gauntlet yesterday when they announced their Avatars (Creepily similar to Miis). Either way, I will be covering the event live. I’ll type everything as it happens here, in case you can’t or don’t want to watch. Then I’ll try to post some actual articles about what happens. Though with the Sony event coming up following the Nintendo conference, it may be a bit later.

12:00pm – Here we go. Getting started…

12:08 – The show is live now.

 12:10 – Shaun White Snowboarding announced using Wii balance board. Saw that coming. Looks pretty intuitive and easy. An improvement on using the board purely for aerobics.It’s exclusive to Wii. Duh?

12:15 – Nintendo president is on stage now.

12:18 – The makers of Mario and Zelda are hard at work on new games (I take that to mean they won’t be announcing anything then). However, the new titles like Wii Sports and Wii Fit are also important, and have been well supported by consumers. Sales stats, sales stats, sales stats. Microsoft kept it to like 5 minutes. Why can’t everyone else? Hearing it in Japanese heavy English makes it even hard to take.

12:22 – Zzzzzzzz

12:23 – Creator of Animal Crossing on a video now to announce "Animal Crossing: City Folk". World goes on without you. Adds a city-scape. You can choose to "Put on a mask to look like your Mii" rather than that creepy looking little boy. New accessory called "Wii Speak". Allows everyone in your room to talk to a room full of other players. That sounds like a "bad idea". They didn’t want to make a head set. Ultimately, it looks like the DS version. Guess that’s cool if you dig that game.

12:28 – Reggie announces the game will release "by the end of the year" with the Wii speak microphone. Oh for crying out loud. More freaking sales numbers. I get it. Wii and DS sells. Announce some stuff.

12:33 – Thought he said he was going to keep this short.

12:36 – Thank God. He shut up finally. Now showing Star Wars Clone Wars with light saber duels. Easily the coolest thing shown so far. Holiday 2008.

12:37 – Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party – Looks like another big mini-game game. Which is cool. Rayman is very fun.

12:38 – Call of Duty World at War. Looks meh, like most realistic games on the Wii.

12:40 – More stats. Girls like DS. Guitar Hero On Tour Decades is on the way. As is Spore Creatures. Also known as the gimped version.

12:43 – Pokemon Rangers: Shadows of something or another. DS Game. Plus Grand Theft Auto Chinatown Wars. Set in Liberty City. That’s pretty big, for a hand held.

12:44 – Using the DS for Airport stuff, resteraunt locators, etc. Ok? Oh, and a cookbook.

12:47 – Reggie comes on stage to talk about the Wii Motion Plus. Something that was announced yesterday or the day before. It’s a clip-on for the Wii-mote that makes it more accurate. Thank God.

12:48 – Wii Sports Resort "is literally a day at the beach".The first game on the title…discus with your dog. The motion plus seems to improve your control a lot. The game looks a bit cheesy. Also, the game will come with a motion plus and a Wii mot jacket.

12:50 – A Jet Ski game in Wii Sports. That looks pretty cool. Should be a full Wave Race game.

12:52 – 1 to 1 (What you do, your Mii does) sword dueling. Cool.

12:54 – Wii Sports launches next spring. Did it seriously take that long to realise such a cool idea needed a sequel?

 12:56 – Some free range drumming being shown using the wiimote/nunchuck as drum sticks. And the Balance Board as a bass pedal. Now, Miyamoto is play the Saxaphone with the wiimote. It’s for Wii Music. Sounded pretty good. How will it sound for regular people. And ultimately, what’s the point? Apparently, there is no skill involved. The Wii plays the notes based on the song you are playing.

1:01 – Violin, Sax, Drums, Guitar, Piano, A variety of percussion instruments.The drums feature a lesson to teach you to play the drums "in just a few weeks". Orchestra game is included in Wii Music.

1:05 – Got a group of people making a band to play the Mario song live. Very weird. Kind of cool, but games that play themselves don’t usually end up being much fun.

1:08 – Are they seriously wrapping things up now? I hope to God they have a cool announcement to wrap things up with.

1:10 – ….nope. God, what a horrible conference. That’s worse than the Sony E3 2006 conference.

VAMPIRES BEWARE: BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER HIGH-KICKING HER WAY ONTO DS FOR THE FIRST TIME

Milton Keynes, July 11th – 505 Games today announced a deal with Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising to unleash an official new game based on the world-famous Buffy the Vampire Slayer franchise, exclusively for the Nintendo DS.

Currently under development by Romanian studio Beast, Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice combines third-person and first-person gameplay to create an experience like nothing else on Nintendo DS. The stakes are high for players as they take on the role of Buffy to seal the re-opened Hellmouth in an original story penned by Rob Deshotel, a writer from the TV series.

This action-packed 3D survival horror game sees Buffy using a range of special weapons, powerful spells and martial arts to take out vicious vampires and demons. In addition to these enemies, players also come across recognisable characters from the show, including Spike, Angel, the Master, the First Evil, Caleb and, of course, the Scooby Gang.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for 505 Games and we’re working extremely closely with Fox to ensure this is the definitive Buffy the Vampire Slayer experience,” said Rowan Tafler, Global Brand Manager, 505 Games. “Buffy’s return to videogames is great for long-time fans of the franchise and we hope the huge market reach of the Nintendo DS will help to create new fans too.”

Elie Dekel, Executive Vice President Twentieth Century Fox Licensing & Merchandising added, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer is a franchise that continues to excite people around the world. Although there are no new productions of the series there is an enduring legacy that lives on through syndication, comic books and video games like these. We’re sure DS players are going to love this version.”

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Sacrifice will be available exclusively throughout Europe on Nintendo DS November 2008.

Key features:

• Play as Buffy the Vampire Slayer through 24 levels using a third person camera.
• Unlock and use more than 20 types of unique Slayer weapons.
• Fight more than 12 different level bosses and sub-bosses, including First Evil, the boss of all bosses.
• Play “Challenge Mode” in first-person for fast-paced action and an increased difficulty level.
• Solve puzzle missions to unlock new areas.
• Collect spells to increase Buffy’s supernatural and physical abilities.
• Explore 12 dynamic environments and search for up to four hidden ones.
• Use breakable objects located within in all environments to battle demons and vampires.
• Unique story set after the climactic seventh season of the TV series, written by Rob Deshotel, one of the original writers of the TV series.
• Explore locations from the TV show, including Sunnydale High, the Bronze and the Hellmouth.

A majority of the week’s events will happen on Monday and Tuesday, as the biggest surprises of the convention generally happen amongst the formal stage presentations (And even then, the majority of the news will likely come from the console makers’ shows).

As such, in order to allow for a majority of the news from the show to take place before we record (You know, so we can actually discuss it), we are going to have to hold off on the E3 Discussion episode. We apoligize to anyone that would’ve been available on the original day, but will now miss the show. However, it’s just about the only way of doing it properly.

The E3 Discussion episode of GeekiNput will take place on Wednesday, July 16th at 8pm EST/5pm PST. The remaining GeekiNput shows will not be effected by this change of schedule, and will continue to record on Mondays.

We hope everyone understands and can still make it.

Rock Band 2 has just been made official. Releasing in September on the Xbox 360, with the other consoles recieving the game "later this year". In addition, IGN has an excellent interview up with harmonix over at their site. Check it out. Some of my favorite bits from the article:

The most important question. Will Rock Band 1 DLC be playable in Rock Band 2?

Dan Teasdale: Yes. We’ve been developing Rock Band as a music platform from the start. All of the songs that you’ve purchased so far (and will be able to purchase in the future) are instantly playable and fully supported in Rock Band 2. We’ve even added some cool new features that let you play your DLC in different ways, which I think people will be very excited to get their hands on.

…

"Rock Band 2’s instruments will not disappoint. Like I mentioned before, our philosophy here is to innovate, then perfect. Along those lines, we’ve been able to take all of the feedback we’ve received to make quieter, more realistic, and more reliable instruments."

…

"Rock Band 2 has the strongest playlist we’ve ever assembled, and I think fans will be blown away not just at the spread, but also at the caliber of acts we’ve attracted."

…

"We’ve taken almost everything people have asked for in Rock Band and added it to Rock Band 2, as well as including some "first time ever" features."

More details will be released at E3 this year. Join us July 15th for GeekiNput’s live discussion of all the E3 events, including Rock Band 2!

Buffy Review Site

Discussion

First 360 games hits store shelves
Played Kiosk today
I DO like Nintendo, really
Spoilers

Movies

Goblet of Fire earns PG13
Robocop Remake
Castlevania Movie
Kameo Movie
An A-List Actor for Nick Fury?
Resident Evil: Afterlife

Television

More Dune?
Anthony Head Interview on Dr. Who
William Shatner plans Trek Prequel

Video Games

No More Trade-Ins?

Discussion Topics

Video Games
Marketing Brochure for Xbox 360
Nintendo Releases Fall Lineup
City of Villains Beta Test
PSP 2.0 Released
Resident Evil for DS

Movies
Serenity Viral Campaign
The Island is a Foreign Success
Alba Dreams of Jeannie
Halo in 2007

Discussion
Gadgets – Optimus Keyboard
High Definition