Romperz

Will Wright leaves EA

The Sims and Spore mastermind Will Wright is leaving EA to start up a think tank called Stupid Fun Club. He isn’t leaving EA on bad terms. In fact, EA plans to work with Will in this new endeavor.

Will’s plan is to have a place where ideas can be spun off into games, toys, TV shows, etc. If it’s an idea from Will, then it’s probably a pretty good one. I’m biased since I love everything Will has ever done. So I look forward to what comes out in the future from Stupid Fun Club.

Rock Band 2 Set List

Rock Band 2 will first be available for the Xbox 360 in September. Later this year it will be released for PS2, PS3, and Wii later this year.

Rock Band 2 On-Disc Track List:
Artist Song Title Decade
1. AC/DC “Let There Be Rock” 1970s
2. AFI “Girl’s Gone Grey” 2000’s
3. Alanis Morissette “You Oughta Know” 1990’s
4. Alice in Chains “Man in the Box” 1990’s
5. Allman Brothers “Ramblin’ Man” 1970’s
6. Avenged Sevenfold “Almost Easy” 2000’s
7. Bad Company “Shooting Star” 1970’s
8. Beastie Boys “So Whatcha Want” 1990’s
9. Beck “E-Pro” 2000’s
10. Bikini Kill “Rebel Girl” 1990’s
11. Billy Idol “White Wedding Pt. I” 1980’s
12. Blondie “One Way or Another” 1970’s
13. Bob Dylan “Tangled Up in Blue” 1970’s
14. Bon Jovi “Livin’ on a Prayer” 1980’s
15. Cheap Trick “Hello There” 1970’s
16. Devo “Uncontrollable Urge” 1980’s
17. Dinosaur Jr. “Feel the Pain” 1990’s
18. Disturbed “Down with the Sickness” 2000’s
19. Dream Theater “Panic Attack” 2000’s
20. Duran Duran “Hungry Like the Wolf” 1980’s
21. Elvis Costello “Pump It Up” 1970’s
22. Fleetwood Mac “Go Your Own Way” 1970’s
23. Foo Fighters “Everlong” 1990’s
24. Guns N’ Roses “Shackler’s Revenge” 2000’s
25. Interpol “PDA” 2000’s
26. Jane’s Addiction “Mountain Song” 1980’s
27. Jethro Tull “Aqualung” 1970’s
28. Jimmy Eat World “The Middle” 2000’s
29. Joan Jett “Bad Reputation” 1980’s
30. Journey “Anyway You Want It” 1970’s
31. Judas Priest “Painkiller” 1990’s
32. Kansas “Carry On Wayward Son” 1970’s
33. L7 “Pretend We’re Dead” 1990’s
34. Lacuna Coil “Our Truth” 2000’s
35. Linkin Park “One Step Closer” 2000’s
36. Lit “My Own Worst Enemy” 1990’s
37. Lush “De-Luxe” 1990’s
38. Mastodon “Colony of Birchmen” 2000’s
39. Megadeth “Peace Sells” 1980’s
40. Metallica “Battery” 1980’s
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones “Where’d You Go” 1990’s
42. Modest Mouse “Float On” 2000’s
43. Motorhead “Ace of Spades” 1980’s
44. Nirvana “Drain You” 1990’s
45. Norman Greenbaum “Spirit in the Sky” 1960’s
46. Panic at the Disco “Nine in the Afternoon” 2000’s
47. Paramore “That’s What You Get” 2000’s
48. Pearl Jam “Alive” 1990’s
49. Presidents of the USA “Lump” 1990’s
50. Rage Against the Machine “Testify” 1990’s
51. Ratt “Round & Round” 1980’s
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers “Give it Away” 1990’s
53. Rise Against “Give it All” 2000’s
54. Rush “The Trees” 1970’s
55. Silversun Pickups “Lazy Eye” 2000’s
56. Smashing Pumpkins “Today” 1990’s
57. Social Distortion “I Was Wrong” 1990’s
58. Sonic Youth “Teenage Riot” 1980’s
59. Soundgarden “Spoonman” 1990’s
60. Squeeze “Cool for Cats” 1970’s
61. Steely Dan “Bodhitsattva” 1970’s
62. Steve Miller Band “Rock’n Me” 1970’s
63. Survivor “Eye of the Tiger” 1980’s
64. System of a Down “Chop Suey” 2000’s
65. Talking Heads “Psycho Killer” 1970’s
66. Tenacious D “Master Exploder” 2000’s
67. Testament “Souls of Black” 1990’s
68. The Donnas “New Kid in School” 2000’s
69. The Go-Go’s “We Got the Beat” 1980’s
70. The Grateful Dead “Alabama Getaway” 1980’s
71. The Guess Who “American Woman” 1970’s
72. The Muffs “Kids in America” 1990’s
73. The Offspring “Come Out & Play (Keep ‘em Separated)” 1990’s
74. The Replacements “Alex Chilton” 1980’s
75. The Who “Pinball Wizard” 1960’s
Bonus Artist Bonus Song Title Decade
76. Abnormality “Visions” 2000’s
77. Anarchy Club “Get Clean” 2000’s
78. Bang Camaro “Night Lies” 2000’s
79. Breaking Wheel “Shoulder to the Plow” 2000’s
80. The Libyans “Neighborhood” 2000’s
81. The Main Drag “A Jagged Gorgeous Winter” 2000’s
82. Speck “Conventional Lover” 2000’s
83. The Sterns “Supreme Girl” 2000’s
84. That Handsome Devil “Rob the Prez-O-Dent” 2000’s2

Legacy Interactive becomes official Nintendo Publisher

Legacy Interactive makes some fun casual game titles, so it only seems fitting that they should bring their games to Nintendo platforms.

In October, they will release Zoo Vet: Endangered Animals for Nintendo DS™ and Pet Pals: Animal Doctor for Wii™.

Bot games will probably most likely appeal to those who like simulation games. Game play might include buying items like pet beds for your pet or nursing an animal back to health.

Legacy Games in the past have been either simulations or based on TV shows. They are branching out, so it will be interesting to see what other titles they will bring to the Nintendo systems.

Peggle Nights

Boy am I glad that I don’t dismiss every newsletter that comes to my inbox because I would have missed this news.

The latest version of Peggle, Peggle Nights, is due to be released this summer. This is one of my favorite casual games. Think of Peggle as pinball but with less control because once you shoot the ball, then you have little control over it. You have to clear the board of all orange objects to advance. Clearing the board completely will earn you extra points.

Peggle is from Popcap Games and is a lot of fun. It’s also a fairly long casual game although you may complete the ten levels. There are many other challenges to this fun casual game.

Peggle Nights is set to be released at the end of July.

Relay for Life

Our local Relay for Life event is coming up in a few weeks, and our team captain is trying to quit smoking. You’re surprised he’s a smoker? Well, I was when I first found out. He’s doesn’t look like a smoker. In fact he barely looks old enough to be of legal age.

Relay for Life is a yearly event that raises money for cancer research. It is ironic that our team captain places himself at risk of developing lung cancer by smoking. Hopefully he can find the will-power to quit for good. Of course, it could be just as easy to be at risk for lung cancer as any other cancer like mesothelioma. We do work in an older building. There’s no telling what we’re exposed to.

I’m looking forward to taking part in Relay for Life. This is my first time to walk and probably won’t stay all night but hope to make it at least past 11pm.

More Details about The Sims 3

Finally! some more details about The Sims 3 have been released. First of all, The Sims 3 will be available sometime next year. There are two major areas that will be different about The Sims 3. It’s been in production for three years and will feature a new game engine that will take the game to a whole new level.

Now your Sims will be able to roam the neighborhood. No more having to take the taxi or phoning a friend to come over. Sims will be able to actually move about outside of their own lot. This is very exciting and should add a lot of gameplay possibilities.

The other big change will be the Sims creation process. You will now be able to create Sims with up to five personality traits. With the wide variety of personality traits, there are over 700 million combinations.

While we will have a long wait until we see it on the shelves, The Sims 3 does sound like it will have some nice improvements over The Sims 2, which I was doubtful could be done.

The Sims 2 Castaway

I’m so behind on The Sims 2 expansions that it’s not even funny. Now I see that the next Sims 2 expansion will be Sims 2 Castaway, which is very exciting to me since I”m a huge Survivor fan.

In Castaway, the Sims are stranded on a desserted tropical island and you must help them find their way back to civilization. In the spirit of Castaway, Gilligan’s Island, and Survivor, this could be a fun situation to have our beloved Sims in. Now if there is just a Wilson basketball in the game, it will be perfect.

Church of England Upset over Video Game

The Church of England is upset over a new video game by Sony that features the Manchester Cathedral as a backdrop. The game for the PS3, Resistance Fall of Man, pits humans against an alien invasion. The church wants an apology from Sony as well as a substantial donation of the profits of the game. Other demands are that the church be removed fro the game entirely or the section featuring the church be heavily modified.

Officials with the Church of England say that Sony did not receive permission to use the image in the video game while Sony contends that they thought they had. The game has already sold 1 million copies. Sony plans to contact church officials to discuss this matter further.

Technorati Tags: Sony, Manchester Cathedral, Resistance Fall of Man

Video Game Helps Cancer Patients

Video games are great entertainment, but I love to see stories like this where they have a greater purpose. Remission- the video game - helps young cancer patients by education and empowerment.

Game Rentals

Game Access is a game rental online portal based out of Canada. Game Access seems to operate much like GameFly or Netflix. You pay a monthly fee and can rent as many games as you like. There’s not late fees, so you return the games when you want to.

Plans start as low as $13.95. At the price you can apparently have one game out at any given time. Not a bad plan and a relatively cheap way to play a game for a while and then get another one. Too bad there isn’t a PC casual game rental plan out there. If there is, I haven’t found it yet.