Anyone else looking forward to this game? I can't wait to try it out. I think it'll be awesomeness to pull out your DS on a bus or train and just start jamming out on some blues chords.
I'd sing the blues too but I'm kinda tone deaf when it comes to singing.
From 1up.com:
The 1988 ode to failed love, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn," by Poison, inspired an entire generation of rockers (in tight leather pants and acid washed denim jackets) to raise their lighters and reach for their softer, more sensitive side. And now, thanks to Jam Sessions, a Nintendo DS guitar simulation published by Ubisoft, fans won't need a guitar, let alone an amp, to evoke the raw energy of their favorite hair band.
Nailing those C-D-G chord progressions won't be as difficult and intense as, say, the expert mode in Guitar Hero. In fact, the execution is simplified for anybody to pick-up and play: Users toggle through 16 different chords (all customizable before the session and displayed on the top screen) with the D-pad. Holding any direction on the D-pad selects the chord you want to use. Only eight chords appear at a time, so to access the other eight chords, you must press the L or R shoulder buttons. At first for us, it was difficult choosing specific chords on the small D-pad, especially the diagonals, which caused chord progressions botched with choppy transitions. But it's a surmountable problem through conditioning and repetition.
Once you've decided what chords you want, it's time for some strumming fun. On the touch screen sits a single, thick string that the player must pick, strum -- or, for those living on the edge -- lick. Just like playing the guitar, the direction of your stroke, up or down across the string, creates different sounds. Unfortunately for guitar virtuosos, the single string doesn't allow for fancy-pants guitar licks such as sweep picking, a technique often used in metal songs where the player quickly picks each string, note by note, in an "arpeggio."
And cranking things to 11, Jam Sessions boasts a batch of effects to modulate your acoustic sound -- tremolo, flange, chorus, low and hi cut, and, surprisingly, distortion. You can customize all the effects to fit your own unique sound by fine-tweaking the knobs.
Jam Sessions also includes a mode where it's possible to jam along to a song, as if you were playing with the band. As you strum with the backing band, the top screen will act like a music sheet, displaying the lyrics and chords. But which bands you will jam with remains to be seen, since Ubisoft hasn't released any info of the songs and artists. Considering the game emphasizes the natural intonations of the acoustic guitar, perhaps we'll see a subdued song list focusing on soft rock, folk, or love ballads.
What makes Jam Sessions different from rhythm games, such as Guitar Hero, is that you can create and save your own music.
The game is set for September 2007 release in North America.
Gamespot Preview
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Az8rPABdT8M[/MEDIA]
Some dude jamming out with the DS hooked through a amp, pure pwnage
[MEDIA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mDYyVKliqiA[/MEDIA]
Linear Mode
