Rock Band developer Harmonix recently announced its Rock Band Network feature for the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 2. This nifty new feature will allow players to upload their own originally recorded music and apply the  gameplay mechanics (meaning the matching button combinations) to them. Even better, any tracks that fulfill Harmonix’s technical specifications while receiving enough positive peer reviews will be put up for sale on the Rock Band Network Store.

The system is similar to the feature found in Activision and Neversoft’s Guitar Hero: World Tour, which allows players to create music within the game and upload it to the online store, but MTV and Harmonix have obviously taken it one step further. Personally, I find this idea extremely exciting. The more ways there are for unsigned/indie label bands to be heard the better. Some people (i.e. me) love to be the one who listened to the band before they were cool, but imagine mastering the band’s song on expert before they were cool.

This leads us to the obvious question: will bands bite? In other words, will unsigned bands, or even bands attached to a label, leave the safe haven of Myspace behind and allow potential fans to play their music? More importantly, would you use the Rock Band Network as a tool to discover new music? Your chance to be heard, loyal readers, is in that tiny link above that image!

(Image Via Playstation UK)

Those regular readers of Geekadelphia will know I am a huge fan of  horror and monster movies.  So when I saw this shirt by Sean Mort I squee’d like a little school girl. Sean has managed to get some of my all time favorite monsters onto one shirt. From the Rancor from Star Wars to the Cloverfield monster you get a comparison chart of sizes of the different monsters in question and how they stack up against one another. While some have disputed Megatron’s size on the shirt, I still think this is a brilliant idea pick up yours here.

via i09

Oh sweet Lord. The Franklin Institute is giving away a telescope signed by Spock. Friggin’ Spock! Say it with me now. Ready?

WANT.

The good folks at the museum will be dishing out a vintage Celestron C-11 telescope, signed by no other than Leonard Nimoy. The telescope debuted in the institute last week on July 9th, during the Franklin’s monthly night skies program. The winner will also receive a framed photo of Nimoy signing the telescope. Nice!

How can you win this sweet piece of telescope? Visit the Franklin’s page for the Star Trek exhibit, and answer some Star Trek trivia questions. You can earn bonus entries by uploading a special photo or video. The contest runs through September 30th.

Good luck, me and the Geekadelphia gang will be entering like CRAZY starting… now.

Update: The Franklin Institutes’s contest page crashed after the Geekadelphia crew entered a record breaking three thousand and sixteen times, completely disregarding the one entry per person rule. The Franklin promised us a prize for this.

Update #2: They gave us a Tribble.

As the San Diego Comic Con gets closer, you’ll discover two things. One, that I will become more and more depressed as the days go by, knowing I cannot attend. And two, that my disposition will radically change each time I log onto the net to see what sort of ridiculous trouble Tony Trov and Johnny Zito are getting into, as they video blog their way across America.

On July 18th, these Philadelphia based comic artists will make their way across the country to San Diego, video blogging the whole trip on the Black Cherry Bombshells’ blogspot. What sort of shenanigans can we expect? A lot of them.

According to the blog, the video segments will “feature giant balls of yarn, engine grilled hot dogs and NSFW truck stop shenanigans.” They’ve got planned stops in Vegas, LA, and Graceland. “This is Manifest Destiny meets Fear and Loathing,” say the duo.

Updates start on Saturday, and continue through the Comic Con. Have fun guys!

I apologize, my fellow Geekadelphians, for the lack of “Coffee Talk” last week . Condensing a semester’s worthof material into a four week study abroad session combined with endless day trips and bus tours can be unforgiving (everything is under control… for now). On to the discussion!

We assume you know Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, the sequel to 2007 theatrical debut of the robots in disguise,  released June 24th. It’s also safe to assume that you either A) have seen the movie already or B) have read or seen the reviews. Personally, I have yet to see it (currently across the pond in Ireland) and after reading Rotten Tomatoes’ verdict I am afraid to part with the $10.50 (€10.50, rather) to see it in theaters.

Knowing how the original film was  publicly and critically accepted, what gives? Maybe Michael Bay simply dropped the ball on this one (hold your fire) or maybe the script could have been passed over a few more times. Regardless of what caused this film to flop critically, the movie has clearly succeeded commercially with a draw of over $200 million in less than a week.

So, was it merely hype and expectations that carried this release or the Transformers franchise itself? Obviously, these films carry the clout of nostalgia about them, which can lead to their commercial success, but what do you think, Geekadelphians? Do you feel that these memories should be left untainted by modern technologies and interpretations or do you simply enjoy reliving the good ‘ol days? Also, let us know what you thought of the film or its reviews. Let your voices be heard, loyal readers, in the comment box below.

Google is once again proving that they are cooler than your average company. In celebration of Chrome expanding into other languages they released a Google Chrome Manga drawn by Yutanpo Shirane (Let’s English, hon-nin) on their blog. This 9 page manga commission by Google Advertising and Information services is an addition to the previous Chrome comic done by Scott McCloud (Understanding Comics).

From what I have read on The Anime News Network, “The manga explains the major issues that the Japanese developers on the Google Chrome team faced in ensuring that multilingual web pages are displayed quickly but accurately. For example, the web browsers tries to automatically and quickly determine which fonts to use in different Asian languages, without needing the user’s assistance. The manga also highlights the contribution of one Japanese team member, software engineer Masanori Harada. Harada and his team developed the Navigational Suggest feature which suggests which web sites to visit as the user types.” Wow, I just thought it was talking about some forbidden martial arts techniques involving web browsers. You can read the manga here free of charge.

Via Anime News Network

Next time you have your significant other over why not show your sensitive and geeky side at the same time, by setting the mood lighting with this designer Lego-like candle. Now due to certain understandable legal issues they are calling it a “knob” candle and not Lego, and for the low price of $91.41 you too can can dine to the light of a glowing red, yellow or blue brick. Sadly these are not stackable but are made from plastic molds to ensure a ‘toy-like’ finish. The brick measures 7-1/2″ x 3″ x 3″ and can be ordered here.

As you may remember from a while ago, famous Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto filed for a patent for future Nintendo games to include a skip feature. It seems that we’ll be seeing this technology sooner than we thought, as Mr. Mario himself recently disclosed to USA Today’s Game Hunters that his recent patent material will be included in Nintendo’s upcoming New Super Mario Bros. Wii.

Elaborating on exactly what this feature does, Miyamoto told Game Hunters, “In New Super Mario Bros. Wii, if a player is experiencing an area of difficulty, this will allow them to clear troubled areas and take over when they’re ready.”

So, how do you feel about this, loyal readers? Will this become a staple feature for all Nintendo published titles and if so, what do you think this means for the future of casual gameplay of which Nintendo is emperor king? Let us know in comment box.

(Image and Story Via Joystiq)

In these pictures that look like something out of the latest summer blockbuster we see the Japanese hard at work at what else, but building a giant robot. It’s a 1:1 scale model RX-78 Gundam to be exact and its being built in in Odaiba, Tokyo. Why are the Japanese building a giant robot statue you ask? Why to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mobile Suit Gundam anime series. When completed it will be full-scale, standing 59-feet tall, weighing 35 tons, and even shooting “light or mist” from 50 different points along its structure. The robot should be completed by July 11. I have been fascinated by the work in progress pics that have surfaced as this project has moved to completion.

But why Gundam? Gundam is probably one of the most popular and influencial anime shows in Japan and is probably more well known over here for the model kits or Gunpla of the robots than for the actual anime series, several companies have tried to launch the Gundam franchise in America with little or no success. The Basic story of the anime revolves around the mobile suits or mecha and their pilots fighting in an epic war that over the years has spanned many generations, and also many different anime series and many different toylines as well. Which is the other problem of an American launch this show, it has been running in various incarnations since 1979 and getting into Gundam is a daunting task for anyone to say the least. I have fared rather well with much research though. You could almost compare it to Star Trek but with giant robots with the many different series spanning many time lines being not only a great character piece but also filled with political intrigue. For more info on Gundam read the wiki here there is way more here than I could ever cover.

UPDATED: After posting this article the head, chest and arms were assembled and a new pic was posted! All I can say is WOW!

More Pics after the jump!

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We have a strange hunch you guys might know what this week’s discussion topic is (see image above). If you guessed “E3 impressions”, you’re right on the money! I’ll start with claiming that this year’s E3 trumped last year’s in almost every way. Ahem, I’m looking at you, Nintendo.

With major announcements from Microsoft, Nintendo and Sony as well as some of the most renowned independents, what more could you ask for (price cuts)? A few announcements and first-looks that excited me the most include Final Fantasy XIV, of course. Now, don’t claim that I’m all up in a hussy about some CG trailer, as it includes some footage using Square-Enix’s new gameplay engine. More of my impressions as well as (ideally) what you think after the break.

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This has to be one of the coolest and most original shirts I have seen in a while. It actually somehow is not only completely bad-ass but insanely geeky at the same time, which is pretty hard to pull off and this shirt does it well. The shirt is by Ruby Red who is also the mastermind behind the AT-AT Anatomy shirt that Eric previously wrote about in a earlier post.

What he did this time was he took the white keys from an extended white Mac keyboard and the black keys from the original iMac (the one with the half sized F keys) and used them to make a picture of a skull. From the outset this does look a bit 8-bit but upon further inspection your geek cred will rise exponentially. Get it here for the small sum of $26.13.

More pics after the jump.

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It should come as no surprise that if you have a group of heroes, there will eventually be a group of villains to ruin the day. It’s just a fact of life really. Otherwise, what would we need heroes for?  Which is why it shouldn’t come as a shock that the World Super Hero Registry has found it’s nemesis in ROACH (The Ruthless Organization Against Citizen Heroes) .  Their goal? World domination of course. Yet like any budding group of villainy, you have to start small. The group is lead by the masked menace known as The Potentate.  Says The Potentate:

These Superheroes were content on giving sandwiches to the homeless, “inspiring” children, and if they are lucky the occasional citizen’s arrest. Hardly super activites. The Potentate felt that one could not be a Superhero without a Super-villain as a foil, and thus The Potentate shouldered the burden of lighting the torch that will ultimately burn the straw houses of heroism to the ground.

Wow. That is evil. Super-evil if you ask me.  The ROACH website includes a list of villains, as well as missions for it’s members. They also have a recruitment video! So far their are only two missions, one of which is buying a T-Shirt, but the other one I found to be hilarious:

Find a local theater showing a summer Blockbuster that has a long line out front. In whatever way possible, ruin the film for that line. You may need to see the film first, so if you yourself are in line and see a fellow ROACH leaving, you may want to cover your ears.

This is what the Joker should have done in The Dark Knight! It’s obvious that the guys behind this site are having a bit of fun at the expense of their righteous counter-parts. However, this did get me thinking if there are any Superheroes in the City of Brotherly Love?

Via io9.com and ROACH