My Existence

Ok, I have recently gotten into a band.  A virtual one, of course.  Drumming has always been one of those idle interest’s of mine, you know how it goes.  Some like singing, others guitars.  Well I have been playing the drums through Guitar Hero and / or Rock Band the past week since first really playing it at the last Nor’Easter LAN and then at a long time friend from HS and current co-workers place!

As I was driving into work this morning and was beating on the steering wheel to some song that was playing and I thought to myself “How cool would it be if I could play with a band LIVE while they were playing at some concert somewhere!!!!

Think about it - with technology the way it is, don’t you think it would be possible to take the music they are playing and stream it live to a PC or console and have the game display the notes, simplified more than likely to only display the ones that are available or to make it more “real” it could be done so that all the notes are displayed and the playable ones stand out like in current games.  Maybe the non-playable notes could be in the background or something?  A redesign of how the notes are presented to the user could be in order.

I think this idea has real potential personally.  There is no reason that I can think of why this wouldn’t be technically possible.  Latency wouldn’t be an issue.  It would be like live TV, you would just stream the audio and synch it with notes from the source.  You wouldn’t have to be “real-time” with the band.  They would be about 5-10 seconds ahead of you but you would be playing with them, so to speak.  I think it could even work for audio singing, though that may be more of an issue as there is a lot more with vocals to decode and change up than with just notes.
In terms of a pricing model, there are many ways this could be handled.  If there was one game package or service that the bands went through, that would be best.  After that, I figure you could sell “shows” or “songs” and also have the songs you are about to play as DLC songs, of course.  And of course, songs I would hope would be a part of the product when you purchase the right to sit down and play with them.

Since everyone would be networked, a service could display stats after the song was finished, give out awards and track users details like how many notes they hit, streaks, etc.  On the 360, they could get achievements for example, or their information could be viewable in their profile to see how well they did and all that information could be tracked.

Could be turned into a good service to find new music talent?  Who knows.

Man, I really want this to be a reality now, LOL…

If that didn’t catch your attention:  YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW!!!

I finally got a new computer!  Well, new CPU, mobo, RAM and Video card!  New computer as far as I am concerned and I am soooo happy right now.  the only drag in my life at the moment is my GF, and as I continually pound into her( haha, not like that…I only wish ) she NEEDS to step up, grow up and stop acting like a spoiled brat.

But, onto the good stuff!

An Intel C2d E4300, an MSI P6N SLI with 2GB of OZC DDR2800 and a Gigabyte 512MB 8500GT!  Thing runs Supreme Commander, X3 and of course, CSS.  I get an average of 70-80 FPS on all maps in the game now, very decent from my 25-40.  The game still lags though, isn’t that pathetic?  I can’t see the lag as much now that my rig is a lot better, but I can still see the effects of it.  So annoying, I wish I was ignorant of the latency issues that are in Counter-Strike:  Source.

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-05-01

 This webcomic is about The Half-Life and Death of Gordon Frohman.  I only need to say one thing:  Hilarious.

 I can’t tell you how many times I busted out laughing at some of the stuff I read.  Mad props to the creator, sadly he is no longer producing the comic but I am at comic #164 with about 40 left and loving every one.

 A must read for any HL / Hl2 fan!!!

http://www.hlcomic.com/index.php?date=2005-05-01

Best place to go on the net for all your Command and Conquer needs, from the best game in the series Tiberian Sun, to the newest in the franchise, Tiberium Wars.  So visit www.cncgamer.com today and take a look around!

I have been frequenting this place for just over a year now, I first signed up for Tiberian Sun..looking to get in touch with a few people from back in the day when the game was still very popular, and perhaps..get back into playing a bit.  I quickly found out however, that the same reasons I left…cheating, ego, and lame ass n00bs winning through nothing resembling strategy, was still around if not more so!  Real-Time Strategy, at its best!

I played a few games, lost most of them miserably due to being sooooooo rusty, and just couldn’t get into it.  Kinda been hanging there every now and then voicing my opinion in the TS world here and there, and then they created a TW section.  Been going there everyday since just about, reading topics, having a few discussions with people.  Quite a few intelligent people there too, they actually know what they are talking about!

Anywho, one of the Staff Members suggested( forced! ) me into applying for Moderator, and I have been accepted..should be interesting.  Been a few years since I have had to be responsible for any part of a forum, and last time…wasn’t as big a deal.  TW is coming out in just over two weeks, and it is going to be a big game, a lot of people talking about it, strategies, opinions, flaming, the norm, etc!