PopStar Guitar (for the Wii) Game Review

PopStar Guitar is XS Games' first foray into the virtual band music video game space. There are a couple of unique twists to this release that could make this title a big hit for the holidays.

The first is that the game is targeted at the Tween/Tween demographic - the music is from artists like Miley Cyrus, Jonas Brothers and Fall Out Boy. I hadn't really considered this but when I played Guitar Hero with my pre-teen but artists like Social Distortion, Pearl Jam and Guns N' Roses mean very little to her. Even though, I've never heard of half of the acts on PopStar, my daughter spent hours focused on the game and built up her skills/points so that she could get to play Miley Cyrus' "See You Again". There are 60 songs in total so it doesn't look like this game is going to get old quickly.

The game controller also further differentiates PopStar from its competitors as the concept is that you are playing an air guitar. The game comes with an "AirG" peripheral that attaches over the remote and the nunchuck is used to "strum" the guitar. These controllers seem a bit more flexible and forgiving than the Guitar Hero guitar, which is good for a younger user.

Similar to other virtual band/music games, the user gets to form and customize their band, there are multiple male and female characters and there are three levels of difficulty. Earning points and building skills allows you to unlock new venues, songs and solos and videos of your band in Studio Mode.

All-in-all, both the music and game play seems very relevant to this teen/tween age group and it added a high level of enjoyment for my daughter. It is definitely worth checking out if you have kids in this age bracket.

Fall Out Boy's Pete Wentz Opens "a bar for all the rejects" in East Village

Who is kidding who? Pete Wentz needs to open a "dive bar" in Alphabet City because he is tired of 'pick[ing] between crappy clubs...and get[ting] stuffed into some cramped stupid VIP section.' I didn't know there were any velvet rope clubs left in the East Village and there are certainly a number of great drinking bars (Continental, Mars Bar, St. Mark's Ale House, and Manitoba's are just a few). My guess is that 'Mr. Black-Eyeliner' is looking for a bit of street credibility and his bar will be grossly over-priced and patronized by kids.

Below is the original article...

Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz is opening a bar in New York City. According to New York magazine, Wentz, his managers and members of Gym Class Heroes are launching a new watering hole called Angels and Kings, also known as AK-47, on 11th Street near Avenue A in Manhattan's East Village. The bar is scheduled to open on Monday, April 30th. As for why he decided to invest in the volatile New York nightlife scene, Wentz said, "When I go to New York, I always have to pick between crappy clubs and then call the promoter ahead of time and then still get hassled at the door and get stuffed into some cramped stupid VIP section and hear bad techno."

The new venue was described by Wentz as "a bar for all the rejects." He added, "I'm not trying to make it cool. It's not being designed for dudes with Rod Stewart hair and white belts to go hang out at, you know?"

Wentz said he came up with the design for the bar as well as its promotional T-shirts. He added that the restrooms will be interchangeable and that the club might also feature karaoke.

Panic! At The Disco was reportedly interested in investing, but its members are not yet of drinking age.

Here is a chuckle -- where do you think the VIP area would be at the Mars Bar?