Thanks to the Apple’s dominance along with a tough competition from some of the Android phones, BlackBerry has been the one affected the most, especially after its 3 days of BBM service outage recently. But that doesn’t seem to stop RIM to move ahead, with the company launching a new application called BBM Music, which is now available for free download from the BlackBerry App World.

The BBM Music app offers users with Premium subscriptions, with which you can download upto 50 songs from the available wide range of catalogs. After that you can add more songs to your playlist by adding more number of BBM friends with Premium subscriptions, which lets you access their playlist as well as makes yours available to them. You can also comment on the songs as well as see others comments too and lets you listen music while you are offline too.

BBM Music is nothing but a social music service which allowss all the BBM as well as BlackBerry phone users to connect, share and access each others music at one place. There are two types of subscription available for the BBM Music app- Premium and Free subscription. The Premium costs US $4.99 ($4.99 CDN and $5.99 AUD) which also comes with a free trial offer which will allow users to enjoy the Premium features for a limited time(Free trial for a period 2 months in US and Canada, 1 month in Australia). The Free subscription is similar to the Premium features, but you get only a 30 second preview of the songs.

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Rocksmith uses a real guitar to play real songs.  As a guitarist, I struggled to get used to the plastic guitars that Guitar Hero and Rock Band utilized.  The weight, the size, the layout, the spacing, and the fret board were all new to me so even though I could play a real guitar, I needed to learn to play THIS plastic one.  I found it somewhat detrimental to my real guitar playing skills.  My spacing was off, my picking was off, and my fingering were off.  All due to being accustomed to playing a plastic guitar.  Rocksmith is here to change all that.

Using your own guitar, Rocksmith allows you to play along to the music.  Showing you chords, notes, and a fretboard.  If you are used to playing Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you won’t take long to get the gist of your screen.  Using the many game modes, you can improve your skills, on YOUR GUITAR, and actually put those skills to the test when you actually play a song.  That’s right, you actually play the song.  It’s not mimicking a song with 5 plastic buttons.  What you learn on Rocksmith is what you can play in front of a crowd.

 If you are reading this, then you are familiar with the “music game” genre so I won’t bore you notes on the screen and what not.  What I’m telling you is this is the real deal.  Seasoned guitarists like myself or a beginner, like my son, can pick this up and learn to play a guitar.  And the best part about it is the automatic difficulty setting.  When I first picked it up, I didn’t see the challenge.  The game thought of me as a beginner and “taught” me guitar as such.  But after a few short minutes, the game did something I didn’t expect it to do….  It adjusted the difficulty on it’s own.  The game got a little tougher, the notes became more frequent, and I found myself learning a new song.  And I also learned something about my guitar playing.  Even though I can play many a songs, I still find myself looking at my guitar’s fretboard.  I wasn’t confident enough on trusting my hand being where it needed to be.  By using Rocksmith to play a song, your hands WILL learn to be where they need to be.  Learning the position of 5 plastic buttons is easy, but learning the position of a full fretboard is definitely more difficult and as you continue to “play” the memorization starts to kick in and before you know it, you can trust your hands to be in position to rock on!

Rocksmith is not only a game, it’s a learning tool.  It takes the boring out of practicing and with many mini games to teach you many techniques, the game gradually teaches you to become a better guitarist.  Along with the free play mode (along with many customizable “pedals” to change your guitar sound), this game can revolutionize the music genre of gaming.

Guitar Hero had an idea, Rock Band expanded that idea, Rocksmith is revolutionizing it.  Become a real guitar hero with Rocksmith and finally get to learning to play a guitar.  I do not doubt that this game will influence many young ones to get into music.  My son owns a guitar and I’ve tried to teach him how to use it but it’s hard to sit there and teach boring techniques.  With this game, and a little determination, I’ve already seen that spark light up in him.  Get to it, friends.  This is the real deal.  This is not a gimmick.  This is a real guitar instructor disguised as a video game and a new generation of guitarists will have Rocksmith to thank.  Later!

Rocksmith is available for the Xbox 360, Playstation 3 or PC platform too!

Rocksmith

Playstation 3, Video Game

• $79.99 List Price
• $49.99 at Amazon.com

Product Description Introducing the next stage in the evolution of the music game. Rocksmith, the first and only game where you can plug into any real guitar. Featuring gameplay that automatically adjusts to your personal ability and innovative game design that makes playing music visually intuitive, Rocksmith will engage experienced musicians as well as those who have never picked up a guitar in their life. You'll unlock mini games to hone specific skills.... Read more

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Image Credit: ShardsOfBlue

Avid gamers across the globe are spending an average of 23 hours per week playing video games. With so many hours spent in front of a screen, a decent soundtrack is essential in order to elevate atmosphere, or provide the right kind of mood. Whether you’re a nostaligic 8-bit freak, or a lover of mega budget orchestral works, here is a rundown of the finest gaming soundtracks ever to grace our consoles.

1. Final Fantasy VII – Nobuo Uematsu

Thought to be the Mozart of our age, Nobuo Uematsu has composed the soundtracks for all the Final Fantasy’s entirely by himself. Although all are amazing, VII probably has to be the best including one song “One Winged Angel” which is the theme to the final battle and was composed on a synthesiser thought to be deep in Satan’s world.

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2. Halo 2 – Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori

Praise does not get much higher than a legend covering your track, but this is what happened to Martin O’Donnell and Michael Salvatori when guitarist Steve Vai remixed the Halo theme to be used on the follow up game. On the same wavelength as the game, a great soundtrack allows you to completely immerse yourself in the game.

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3. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City

Although not an original sound track, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, includes all the important tunes to help you slay the baddies, or innocent people, depending on how you choose to play it. Including songs from Iron Maiden, Anthrax and Slayer, they are played through different radio stations so all you need do is pick one to match your mood. Transporting you back to the 80′s, it will definitely bring back those memories while killing those innocent bystanders.

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4. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time – Koji Kondo

From the same composer as Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, actually includes the soundtrack as part of the game. The aim of the game is to learn songs and then play them on the Ocarina. This ancient woodwind instrument is thought by many to have produced the best Zelda soundtrack ever.

The Legend Of Zelda Ocarina Of Time – best of

5. Shadow of Colossus – Kô Ôtani

Released on the Playstation2, Shadow of Colossus, features extensive orchestral music only played during the limited play and Colossus battles. Although the game also includes background noise, the crescendo of the orchestra makes you really feel like you are living the game. Music from the game was released in 2005 and won Electronic Gaming Monthly’s soundtrack of the year award.

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6. L.A. Noire – Andrew and Simon Hale

Based in 1940′s Los Angeles, the player is tasked with becoming an LAPD officer required to solve various crimes. The soundtrack consists of an original score by Andrew and Simon Hale, plus songs in the style of the 40′s by The Real Tuesday Weld and sung by Claudia Brücken. A second remixed album followed including reworks of songs by Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.

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7. Castlevania: Symphony of the Night – Michiru Yamane

Set within a castle in Transylvania after Dracula has been defeated, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night was composed by Michiru Yamane who included influences from classical, jazz, techno, new age and metal. Credited with creating the sound of vampirism, it sets the tone for the action and follows the theme while characters are resurrected and the castle takes on new forms.

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8. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 – Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe

With the title theme produced by highly acclaimed Hollywood composer Hans Zimmer, and the remaining soundtrack composed by Lorne Balfe, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2′s soundtrack was released in June 2010. It aids the player’s intensity within the game and makes it memorable. It is a mix between military marching and classical ad would appeal to those that haven’t even played the game.

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9. Super Mario Bros – Koji Kondo

With probably one of the most recognisable soundtracks, Super Mario Bros sounds a little dated now. At the time, however, it was at the forefront of video game soundtracks. Interspersed with bleeps and burps and with only six songs, which speeded up towards the end of a level as time ran out, why would you want anything more?

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10. Tetris – Hirokazu Tanaka

Originally a Russian folk song, “Korobeiniki” is more commonly known as the theme from Tetris. In the game, it is simply known as “Type A”. The original song includes the lyrics “Bring your scarlet lips to me, sit closer to this fine lad.” Since appearing in Tetris, it has been remixed by a number of DJ’s including Scooter, Doctor Spin and is sung by Borat as this theme tune.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

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Google has been working on its new online music service since few months from now. There have been reports that many other companies are working on their own version of the cloud music services, to provide users to access all there favorite music irrespective of time and place, with Amazon already launching one a month ago. The new music service enables users to uploaded all their multimedia stuff to Google’s servers, which can later be accessed in streaming mode.

According to our sources, Google is planning to launch the service under testing mode, which will not be available for public for quite some time. The search engine giant is still in talks with the major music companies to get its license for the new music services.

The cloud storage will be made available on all the Android devices, which enables users to access all their music right from their smartphones. With Apple Inc. already working with its version of cloud music service, looks like Google is gearing up to take on the computer giant.

So after its dominance in mobile operating system, video streaming services, etc., looks like Google is planning to maintain the same trend in the Cloud music storage services as well.

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The game play is similar to previous titles, which makes picking it up fairly simple.  To quickly recap, you follow colored blocks down a “track” and strum/hit/strikle the corresponding button/drum/cymbol/key on the instrument.  Keeping intact a formula that works, new and veteran gamers will have no problems picking up an instrument to play.  I also loved the fact that all songs were readily available from the get go so there was no need to unlock the songs.  This makes it a lot easier to find music that all band members can agree on and if you can’t decide, you can always select the “party list”, which is random set list of 60+ songs.  Supporting up to three singers, 2 guitar players, a drummer, and a keyboardist, Rock Band 3 has the ability to support up to 7 players all at once!  And the best part of it is that any member can “drop out” or switch difficulty without risk of the band failing.  That’s a huge win for band members that don’t want to fail while everyone else is doing their part.  Huge points for Rock Band 3 for really gearing itself up to be more party friendly.

But the above is minor news.  Nothing too different from the previous installments of Rock Band.  If you are reading this, you are more than likely to be familiar with the instruments and how they work.  So I won’t discuss the ins and outs of what is already known.  I’m here to talk about the talk buzz that Rock Band 3 created.  Rock Band 3 introduces 2 major additions.  The new keyboard instrument and pro mode.  First, let’s talk about the keyboard.  It’s not a standard size keyboard (25 total keys) but big enough to have the feel of an actual keyboard.  It also allows 2 methods of play.  You can play the keyboard under the “keys” mode which will utilize only 5 buttons and under this mode, is the easiest instrument to pick up and play and really doesn’t make it any more different than playing the guitar for the first time.  The second mode is the “pro keys”, which brings me into the second major addition to Rock Band 3.

Pro mode is simply awesome.  When news of Rock Band actually teaching you how to play instruments first surfaced, I was in awe and skeptical.  How could a game help you learn the real thing without real instruments?  Well… I’m here to tell you that it can come really close to it!  Using the keyboard in pro mode is definitely a challenge.  Just as in “regular” mode, pro mode offers you a difficulty setting, allowing you to ease into playing in pro mode.  I was quite pleased by this since I naturally assumed that pro mode would simply be a level above Expert.  The keyboard does an awesome job of mimicking the artist’s hand movements of their actual play.  Using Queen’s uber popular, Bohemian Rhapsody as an example of the expert pro mode on keyboard, you can clearly see the usage of all the keys while playing.  Black and white.  And it’s not just single notes that fly by, you will also see 3 or 4 note chords flying down the screen.  An impressive sight to see.   And a huge plus for pro mode is that the learning curve is not as steep as you would believe but it will definitely provide a challenge to those that want to expand their musical horizons.  Starting off on easy and slowly learning your way to expert gives you a huge sense of accomplishment and you can definitely say that you have had a crash course on playing the keys!

I regret saying that I was not able to try out the drum pro mode and the guitar pro mode, since I do not have the additional hardware to play.  The pro mode guitar is currently on the market for approx. $150 and from what I’m being told is extremely accurate for having over 100 buttons and 6 guitar strings to strum.  When I asked the GameStop clerk about the guitar, he told me of a just announced second pro guitar that will have strings that run from the top all the way to the bridge and be more closer to a real guitar as opposed to a plastic video game guitar.  He said it would run closer to $250 when it finally comes out but because I have yet to read or hear of any talk of that guitar, I’m taking it as hear say.  As for the drums, you will need 3 cymbals to attach to your Rock Band drum set to experience the pro mode.  I have neither since I’ve been using my Guitar Hero drum set to play. From what I’m told, it adds a whole new dimension to drumming.  Having your Rock Band drum set closer to an actual drum set makes the transition from plastic to skins a whole lot easier and since I’m the drummer in the family band, I’d love to try out the pro mode one day.

If you’re a hardcore gamer and see Rock Band as more than just a game, than investing in pro mode hardware is definitely for you.  Guitar in pro mode will allow you read Rock Band tabs (which is similar to guitar tabs every where online) to instruct you which string and what fret button to push.  And since you’ll be using a pick to strum your guitar and moving your hand up and down the guitar, you’ll be building speed and dexterity that will definitely be needed towards some of the more difficult solos in the game. *cough Freebird cough*  It also will give you the know how of playing an actual guitar through the familiarization of strumming and finger movements.

All in all, Harmonix is doing an awesome job of adding innovation to the Rock Band franchise to keep it from going stale.  While many people mocked players for merely being awesome on “fake, plastic” guitars, Rock Band 3 answered the call with pro mode.  Though the instruments may still be plastic, the skills learned on them will translate nicely on real instruments.  Games are not just about smashing buttons anymore, friends.  Get a band together, strap on an instrument, and rock on with friends and family.  You might actually spark that inner musician in you and challenge yourself to take on pro mode.  Or better yet… create your own music with a real instrument.   Rock on, friends.  Later!

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