hmvblogs - blogs by hmv

GTA IV DLC coming Feb 09

E3, 2006, and Microsoft have two very special announcements to make. Not only will Grand Theft Auto IV be launching on the Xbox 360, but there’ll also be exclusive downloadable game content in the form of 2 separate episodes, made available after the game is released. The deal worked amazingly well for Microsoft, and helped them beat PlayStation 3 in day one sales of the game by a ratio of about 60/40.

Two and half years later, and over 6 months since GTA IV was released, and the first details of any substance about the first piece of downloadable content have emerged. The Episode is called The Lost and Damned, and will be available on February 17th 2009. Which is slightly disappointing, as we were semi expecting to be playing it by Christmas Day. Anyway, definitely something to look forward to.

In the game, you’ll play as a protagonist Jonny Klebitz, who you may remember from the original game - he was the head of biker gang The Lost Brother hood, and one of the early missions actually features him. According to Rockstar boss Dan Houser: “Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background. I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."

 

Stay tuned for more details!

covered in food but it's alright

Reading Jonny's picks of the year post reminded me that i've yet to settle on mine. Whilst there's been loads of good music i'm finding hard to pick out a clear winner. Far easier, but only just, to choose from one of the great singles to have been released. Currently in the lead would be one of the 2 Hunx sevens, 'Good Kisser' probably just edging 'You Don't Like Rock & Roll' for top spot. Both remind me of the first time i heard 'Leave Home' or 'Rocket To Russia'. The formula seems to be Glitter Band drums, girl group backing vocals & ultra camp singing (Paul thought it was a girl singing when i was playing this the other day). Anyway, i'm looking forward to an album arriving in the new year.

Larkin around last night...

Had the pleasure of attending a cracking showcase last night from Sky Larkin, a new three-piece indie outfit from Leeds at London's quaintly intimate 12 Bar Club in Denmark Street. Katie (vocals, guitar, Korg), Doug (bass) and Nestor (a real pocket dynamo on drums) make up the group. They're signed to the excellent Wichita label and their debut The Golden Spike is out in January. They have a terrific energy and their sound is like a real throw back to good old fashioned indie guitar thrash from the late 80s / early 90s, nice and loud with shimmering guitars and  Katie's very distinct vocals rising above the din. Think Harriet from The Sundays but louder and more in-yer-face. Current comparisons for me would be Duke Spirit, certainly on the vocal front. I can't wait to see them again soon, only next time i hope for their sake the stage is bigger than a snooker table! No offence intended to the 12 Bar!  

My favourite releases of the year...

A lot of best of the year charts are starting to appear in magazines and on the net at the moment, so i thought I'd post mine. When thinking this over i realised this has actually been a great year for releases of both CDs and DVDs, and both lists could easily have been twice or three times as long! I've agonised over this in my head for ages, so here goes, starting with my favourite DVD releases this year...

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beat neversoft at their own game

Ever wanted to take on the makers of Guitar Hero and try to beat them at their own game? Log on to Xbox LIVE next weekend, and you’ll be able to do just that! Throughout the weekend of the 28^th November, guitarists, drummers and vocalists who register and play Guitar Hero World Tour multiplayer (co-op) can win special prizes, such as a Samsung television home theatre package, collector’s edition GHWT drum sticks, 1GB memory sticks and Guitar Hero portable USB/battery powered speakers.

Highlighting the weekend’s activities, on Sunday, November 30 from 10:00pm – 01:00am GMT, virtual musicians will have the opportunity to prove their rock god skills online against none other than Neversoft Entertainment, the creators of Guitar Hero World Tour. For those up for the challenge, be on the look-out for the following development team Gamertags:

GHDevTina – Producer

GHDevLee – Associate Producer

GHDevCorey – Production Coordinator

GHDevAnthony – Midi Designer

GHDevChris – Midi Designer

GHDevJason – Lead Animator

GHDevZack – Junior Programmer

GHDevJosh – Jr. Sound Designer

GHDevKristina – Mocap Supervisor

GHDevJustin – Mocap Tech

GHDevAdry – QA Tester

GHDevBrandon – QA Tester

GHDevTravisR – QA Tester

Of course, if you ever fancy a real challenge, I’m always up for a good game of Guitar Hero. So add my gamertag Ninnero to your friends list, ands hopefully we can have a good online jamming session sometime soon.

when the going gets tough...

I was missing my motorbike over the weekend so I decided to watch the Tough One, one of the most extreme dirt bike races, there's some great on-board camera moments on this taking you closer to the action allowing you to see how tough and physical these enduro comps really are. It all made me reminisce about the tv programme Kick Start and Junior Kick Start that I used to love when I was a kid, especially the bit when they used to ride over the VW Beetle, be great if it got released on dvd, gonna start a petition now.  Here's a clip of the Tough One,  I'll hunt one out from Kick Start later, watch this space...

downloadable content worth killing for!

I’m loving my copy of Guitar Hero World Tour, which I picked up on Friday – the drums are amazing, and the track list is fantastic. We had friends round on Sunday night, and when you’ve got four people rocking out to good music, it’s a great experience (at least it was a great experience until the drums broke!).

Anyway, I found out yesterday that from November 25th you’ll be able to download three tracks from The Killers to play in the game. As well the tracks ‘Human’ and ‘Losing Touch’ from the new album, you’ll be able to play the awesome classic track ‘Mr Brightside’, which I think is just going to be incredibly cool. I swapped my broken drums over for some news ones today, so roll on the 25th!

The three tracks will be available on Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox for 440 Microsoft Points, and on the PLAYSTATION Store for the PS3 for around £4.

Starting with the girl in the mirror

Friday was such a good week for releases, with titles like Call of Duty: World at War, Guitar Hero World Tour and Football Manager 2009 finally getting released. However, if there was one game that I played all weekend more than anything else, it would have to be the massively anticipated Mirror’s Edge, which finally got released last week...

Click the 'more button' to find out what I thought.

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everyone's searching for wii fit

I was given some interesting stats from our marketing boys this morning. Online search intelligence company HitWise have pulled together a list of the most searched for games in well known internet search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo throughout October.

Rather unsurprisingly, Wii Fit was top of the list, with almost 17% of all internet searches for video games last month being for Nintendo’s much-loved, but hard-to-come-by fitness game. Though most titles in the list are multiformat releases like Guitar Hero and FIFA, it's nice to see the Xbox 360 exclusive title Fable II in second place, being responsible for almost 5% of video game searches.

Click the 'more' button to see the list in full. Good to see GTA San Andreas still being on a lot of people’s searches, despite being released four years ago!

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From the guy who gave you The Wire...

Generation Kill is a new mini series based on a book by Evan Wright, a Rolling Stone reporter stationed at the front line during the invasion of Iraq. I've seen a trailer and it looks really exciting and full of the sort of traits that made The Wire so great. This is no coincidence, as the series was written and produced by David Simon, creator of The Wire. HBO have a history of making great television (probably the best America has to offer), and I'm expecting great things from this. Looking forward to watching it on FX in January.

To boldly go...to see Star Trek 11!

Yesterday, i was invited to a very special first screening of some scenes from the new Star Trek movie (Star Trek 11). In attendance (and introducing the scenes) was the one and only J.J.Abrams, who it has to be said is the man of the moment in Hollywood, and for that matter TV, having either produced or directed a long list of hugeley successful shows and movies including Lost, Alias, Fringe, Cloverfield, Mission Impossible 3, and many others. Watching him speak, you can really imagine him pitching a movie to studio bosses. He certainly has the gift of the gab, and was quite funny too. Like me, he's never been the number one Star Trek fan, but has a certain fondness for some elements of the show and movies. Simon Pegg, who plays Scotty in the new movie, was also there and said a few words too.

Star Trek 11 is a fresh take on the Star Trek franchise, and will tell the story of how the crew of the enterprise came together, and of it's maiden voyage. It looks fantastic, and i would say it will not only please long-time fans of the franchise, but will almost certainly attract plenty of new ones as well, in the way that Christopher Nolan's take on Batman has reinvigorated that franchise with Batman Begins and The Dark knight.

LOOK AWAY NOW!!! - SPOILER ALERT - LOOK AWAY NOW!!!

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wow! look at all these proper fans...

We’re hosting the official UK launch of World of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King tonight down at hmv Oxford Circus. We’ve got a load of cool WoW activities happening, including us welcoming Blizard COO Paul Sams and associate producer Lee Sparks, who’ll be there to meet the fans and sign copies of the game. We’ve also got a small amount of Limited Edition copies there to sell as well – so it’s going to be a good night.

Anyway, when I got into the office this morning I heard that there were already a few hardcore WoW fans in the queue over at hmv, obviously eager to be the first people through the door tonight. So I wondered on down to the store to meet a few of them. Click the ‘more’ button to read about some of the friendly folk who make up the horde of true Warcraft fans that I spoke to…

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