Do Androids Dream of Fake Plastic Turntables?
 

The sales numbers for DJ Hero are in, and they are disappointing at best.  122,300 copies of the game were sold across all platforms.  That's very low for a music game, especially one that was as heavily promoted as DJ Hero.  Ars Technica attempted to explain the low sales, and fans of co-op will likely appreciate this particular reason:

Rhythm games work best with crowds, and DJ Hero is a solitary experience. That's not a knock against it; playing the game is great fun. It's just hard to share with others, compared to the more popular Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises.

In other words, the lack of a compelling co-op mode may have been a factor in the game's lack of sales.  Music games seem to work best in a party setting, and DJ Hero just doesn't work due to the single-player focus.  Other reasons are listed in the article, but it just goes to show you that co-op is a major selling point for any game, especially one in a genre known for excellent co-op.

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LEGO Rock Band. It's a mix of two of the greatest casual game franchises. What could have been just a cookie cutter track pack is actually an innovative addtion to the Rock Band franchise. Adorable characters, hilarious cut scenes, and a fun song list will keep people of all ages interested.  For Co-Op Casual Friday this week, we bring you our full review!

From the darkest depths of the internet, we bring you this startling insight into the minds of today's youth.

Begin chat transcript.

TaylorFan4Evah: r u buying band hero?

Sparkles14: omg ya of course it has Taylor! why wouldn't I buy it? you can meet her if you buy lol

TaylorFan4Evah: MEET HER?  how?

Sparkles14: just buy the game and enter a code u can go backstage and meet her i think i would die shes so awesome

TaylorFan4Evah: i know right? but what about gwen stefani she's all mad at band hero or something

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A truly titanic tussle of tremendous talents hits your favorite console today.  LEGO Rock Band in one corner, Band Hero in the other.  Plastic David Bowie versus sparkly Taylor Swift; who will prevail?  Not your wallet, which is likely still empty after Guitar Hero 5 and The Beatles Rock Band.  Though both games are intended for the younger set, there's still plenty of good songs for all to enjoy on your well-worn fake instruments today.  Remember to purchase through Amazon using the links below to help support Co-Optimus! 

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Quite a bit of Band Hero news for you today.  We've been curious about whether Band Hero songs would be importable to Guitar Hero 5.  Turns out 61 out of 65 of them are, for a fee of $5.  Songs from World Tour, Smash Hits, and Guitar Hero 5 will be importable into Band Hero, as well.  Confusing?  Yes, but at least the feature is being offered.

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Music games are great fun, so it's only natural that folks want to play them on the go.  Previous efforts haven't exactly been strong in the co-op aspect, either implementing it poorly (Guitar Hero: On Tour) or eliminating it entirely (Rock Band Unplugged).  That trend looks to change with Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch.

Using the bluetooth capabilities of the iPhone, up to four players can rock out together, on drums, guitar, bass, or vocals.  Twenty songs will be included with the app, which is scheduled to be released sometime this month.  More songs, naturally, will be available for download in-game.  If I had an iPhone, I'd be all over this app.  (Curse you lousy AT&T coverage in my area!)

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We've just recieved word of the latest songs revealed for tween friendly music game Band Hero.  The big focus of Band Hero seems to be young Taylor Swift, featuring her in three different songs as well as an in-game avatar.  If you were looking to "rock out" to You Belong With Me, Picture to Burn, and Love Story, you'll get the chance on November 3.

Considering there are several decent tunes in the Band Hero song list, we wondered if we'd be able to import them into Guitar Hero 5.  We asked Activision about it several days ago, and thus far, we've not received a response.  Sometimes, no news is good news, but in this case, we're guessing you won't be able to export these songs to Guitar Hero 5.  Too bad, because, hey, MR. ROBOTO IS AWESOME.

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If there was one thing holding Rock Band 2 back from being the perfect music game, it would have to be the lack of support for wireless microphones.  A patch has just been released that fixes this problem, allowing rockers to use the Lips microphones (also recently released seperately) in a fully wireless environment.  We're pleased with the addition of this feature, but curious as to why it took so long.  After all, wireless mic support was announced last year!

The patch also includes several other fixes, incorporating some of the tweaks from The Beatles Rock Band.  The change most relevant to gameplay is improved hammer-on and pull-offs for chords.  For those who download a lot of music (raises hand), you no longer have to wait for a song to download, and can just queue as many songs up as you like while you play.  There are a few other minor features as well.  Nice to see the support still going strong for a year old game!

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With music games this fall coming out that cover Rock, Pop, Classic and Techno music, you'd think the market is saturated enough.  But there's one genre that's been sorely missing from music games in general, and that's Rap/Hip-Hop.  Enter Def Jam Rapstar.

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The finalized set list for Guitar Hero 5 has been revealed.  While certainly a bit more "pop" than its predecessors, there's still plenty of hard rockin' tunes.  Dire Straits is a welcome addition to the franchise, appearing for the first time with one of their best tunes, "Sultans of Swing".  Live versions of a handful songs are on the list, notably "Lithium" by Nirvana and "Spirit of Radio" by Rush (wewt).  With the welcome addition of drop in/drop out co-op rockin', Guitar Hero 5 is certainly intriguing.  It might just be the shot in the arm the faltering franchise needs.

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