Ion Rocker drum kit review

By guest contributor Anthony Guzzardo

As a real drummer, the drum kit that came packaged in the deluxe bundle for Rock Band 1 frustrated me to no end. The cross talk was horrific and caused me to needlessly fail out of too many songs that should have been within my grasp. The pads had no bounce to them (as a real drum would) and the bass pedal was a dinky piece of crap that offered no resistance, making rapid pedal hits a frustrating affair.

Flash forward to nearly a year later and e-drum maker, Ion has created the antidote for the woes of real drummers languishing in the misery of having to deal with a substandard toy drum kit. They created a drum kit specifically for Rock Band players with the dual purpose of being able to use it outside of the game as a real electronic kit (with the addition of the drum brain). The cleverly-named Ion Drum Rocker is a fully loaded drum kit that gives both music gamers and real drummers alike a more realistic experience behind the skins.

What makes it so realistic? Well, right out of the box, the drum kit contains 4 "tom" pads and 2 "cymbal" pads that can be configured practically any way you like. If you felt comfortable with the pad setup of the original Rock Band kit, you can keep it the same on the Drum Rocker. Why pay over $300 dollars just to keep it the same though? The numerous clamps and in which the pads attach to allow you to customize your setup as you wish. In fact I highly recommend that you so as it leads to a greater sense of freedom and comfortability while playing. Setup time figures to be around an hour or less with the suggested drum configuration, however if you customize your kit as I had, then you better clear out a few hours on your schedule since it can take a lot of trial and error to get things absolutely perfect.

As much as you strive for perfection, there are certain aspects to the kit that make it tougher to achieve. The bolts, for one, can be easily stripped so you must be careful not to screw them in too tightly. You can't over-tighten the clamps, either. I found that out the hard way after trying to stabilize a swiveling "hi-hat" pole that the tighter you make the clamp, the more likely it is to snap in half. While you can RMA these things, thankfully you can find a suitable replacement for most of the faulty hardware at your local drum shop. What you won't be able to find, however, are replacements for the underly sensitive cymbals. My cymbals didn't really respond to normal sticking. In order for any of my hits to register, I had to first loosen the cymbal on the stand a bit (which is what you should do with real cymbals anyway), but then i had to literally slam down hard on them. Ion even recommends that you hit the cymbals harder than the drums. For those with proper drumming technique, that's a big no-no. Especially Ion's other recommendation to hit the cymbals at the top, not catching any part of the top. If you want the most realistic drumming experience possible, RMA your cymbals immediately and strive for something with greater sensitivity.

Despite these problems, the kit is a million times better than the original Rock Band drum kit. It is quieter, you get more bounce on the toms (though still not as much as an acoustic kit, which is a drawback) and even the cymbals - as insensitive as they can be - are actually a great addition and give added depth and realism to the game. It's so in depth that if you go into the freestyle drum trainer mode, the cymbal and tom pads actually register as separate entities, meaning that if you hit a cymbal, it sounds like a cymbal, etc. That's something you can't get out of the regular kit for sure.

Saying that the drum rack is durable and sturdy is an understatement. It's so sturdy in fact, that it has all but eliminated crosstalk and accidental double hits from my Rock Band vernacular. That's right! No more failing a song at the last second thanks to an unstable RB1 kit, shaky toms and a long succession of red pad hits!

The biggest improvement of the kit is the bass drum pedal. For one, it no longer attaches to the rack and you can now place it in a more natural-feeling position on the floor. Unlike the pedal provided with the original kit, this one provides greater resistance, allowing you to spring your foot up and down with greater ease. The greater resistance also allows for better weight support and allows for better use of advanced pedal techniques like heel-toe. I hope you don't have thin floors or downstairs neighbors wherever you play this! This sucker is loud, clunky and can scratch your floor if you're not careful, so I would recommend using a rug underneath the pedal.

Overall, from the perspective of a real drummer, the Ion Drum Rocker is the most realistic "fake" instrument intended for video games on the market today. It is customizable enough to make gameplay much more comfortable and makes good on every single pitfall that plagued the original Rock Band kit. The Ion Drum Rock is absolutely worth your time and money. Even if you're not into music games, it is durable enough to be used as a practice drum kit at the very least. However if you're serious about music gaming, want to pump up your scores or just want to look cool (and believe me, you will) the Drum Rocker is an absolute necessity.

Ninja: a restaurant review

Some of the awesome places that I have been to in New York I have just stumbled upon. Others I’ve heard about from the recommendations of others. Ninja is one of those places, and it’s something that I’m sharing with just about everybody.

Ninja is a Japanese restaurant located in Tribecca. On the outside, it is a very unassuming place with blacked out windows, and lettering that says Ninja. Some fliers and a menu are in the windows as well, but it doesn’t prepare you for what is awaiting you after the smiling hostess sends you on your way down the elevator.

You are met by a ninja who gives you two options: take the “normal” way to your table, or take the super secret ninja passage. We chose the super secret ninja passage, who wouldn't? I had to go first and of course was not pleased. But we made it through, and were escorted through the medieval Japanese town into a long room that was down some stairs.

There was a large group of us (twelve), so people trickled in after being escorted by various ninjas. We were then introduced to our ninja for the evening, and were given our menus. These were on scrolls that he took out from his belt. The wine list he unfolded from a parchment. The menus included many interesting ninja cocktails, as well as a great selection of appetizer and meal choices.

My boyfriend and I decided on the Hanzou, which is a five course meal that may have been meant for one, but can really feed two. This prix fix option includes a good majority of what they call “Ninja art dishes,” meaning that they come with an added ninja flare. We enjoyed the Clam bombshell (of which there is a small explosion), a great sushi platter, Kirikabu (above thinly sliced Mishima Wagyu beef, rice, sautéed Zucchini, and Michinobu sauce), the Bonfire (pan seared lamb with a garlic butter sauce, involved a large fiery table side presentation), and for dessert, the Ninja Star (if you love chocolate, you’ll love this). Other dishes that were ordered included the Floating sashimi (below served so it looked like it was floating on a cloud thanks to some dry ice), dancing plantain, Batto Jutsu (involving a sword that they wouldn’t let us keep), and many other tasty treats.

Throughout the dinner, the ninjas would play around with us, like sneaking up behind us, throwing fireballs at us (yes, real fire), and threatening assassination. We were also entertained by the world’s tallest ninja, who also had a killer moustache that curled up at the ends. He did a great card trick where he was able to guess seven cards randomly chosen from the deck, as well as change $1 bills to $100 bills and back again, inches from my face. That’s a handy trick these days!

All in all, I highly recommend this place for special dinners, if you’re visiting, or just have some extra money to spend. It is fairly expensive, but you’re getting top notch food, as well as excellent service and atmosphere. You also need to make a reservation in advance. For more information, visit their website here.

Recommendation for Ninja thanks to the Totally Rad Show. Thanks guys!!

Totally Rad Guild affiliate = serious business

I am not a fan of fanboys. They get way too intense over stuff that really isn’t a big deal.

One of my new endeavors has been starting up a new guild in WoW on my server, Stormscale. This guild is a fan guild for The Totally Rad Show. A friend and I had been toying with the idea for some time now about starting a guild in general and this idea dawned on us. First and foremost, we contacted the TRS show. They responded with a very nice email saying: “Go for it!! We'd love the TRS guild to spread to other servers. :)” We get VERY excited and begin the charter business, tabard, etc.

My friend posts on the Totally Rad Guild message board that “Hey we started an affiliate guild on Stormscale for the fans on that server. :)” What do we get? Fanboy hostile reactions:

“what the fuck is this all about?”

“Who knows. I'm guessing its someone that doesn't want to pay for a server transfer?”

“I'm a fan of batman but putting on a mask and a cape to look like him doesn't make me batman. I'm sure there are fans on most realms. Nothing wrong with getting together with like minded individuals all sharing a common interest but there can only be one REAL Totally Rad Guild. Why would people want a bunch of Kind of Cool Guild's across twenty-seven realms when they could transfer over here and group with Goggins, cyber with DrDark or get called an idiot by me? Seems a bit silly if you ask me but whatever. Good luck with it.”

Seriously? I mean, this was a nice effort by us. My friend buys WoW membership cards in the store as he has no credit card. And I live in NYC, have ridiculous rent/bills to pay, and I can’t afford to pay the transfer fee for three characters, which would total $75.

This reaction has turned me sour, I’m not going to lie. I like the TRS guys, I like the Project Lore guys, but this fanboy bullcrap has made me want to take my gold back and not want to be bothered with it. But then there’s the part of me that wants to continue, wants to push through the hostile reactions we got, and make this affiliate just grow, gain more TRS/Project Lore fans, and become something. This is why we started it. We wanted to spread the fan base, and if there are fans on the server, to have a place for them to come and hang out.

On a plus side, we almost have the gold for our first bank tab. We had one hell of an active night last night, and so far it seems like we may prosper if we continue to put work into this. To the fanboys: it would have been nice if you guys welcomed us. It’s not like we were being high and mighty about this. It’s not like we’re trying to make the guys switch servers. We’re fans too.

"What does not kill you, makes you stranger!"

This is almost a week over due, but I seriously had to get my thoughts together before I could write a proper review for Dark Knight.

I saw it opening weekend in the regular theater. I was bouncing with excitement between waiting to see Dark Knight and finally seeing the Watchmen trailer on a big screen had me excited to no end. Watchmen will have to be another post though.

One thing I liked about Dark Knight was that you were in the midst of the action from the start. No intro music and flashy screens with the title, directed by, starring, etc. Immediately you’re drawn into a bank robbery by guys in clown masks, who in the end all kill each other off, and then you’re face to face with the Joker before he sneaks away in a line of school buses. I think because you’re immediately thrown into the action is why for the first time in what seems like eons, I didn’t see anyone take out a cell phone or hear anyone talking, aside from the reaction noises to the film.

This is definitely the summer blockbuster for 2008. A great director, great story, and amazing acting from all of the actors in the film helped to bring this movie to a whole new level, trumping Batman Begins and making me wonder how they will ever top this movie.

From here on out, there will be some spoilers, so read at your own risk!

I will start off with one thing that I thought was done in a new manner that was particularly nice: The musical score. To be honest I barely remember specifics of the music, aside from the fact that it was very well done and was more of an accent to the action of the movie. There wasn’t a huge, anthem song in the beginning, nor was their one during poignant scenes or the final confrontation between Batman and the Joker. The music also had a sort of horror movie tone to it, mixed with some elements that were action movie-esque. The one musical cue that I remember is the buzzing noise that always seemed to begin softly, and then crescendo to a peak right before the Joker did something, or before his presence was known. It brought that character to more of a horror movie level, which accented his portrayal by Ledger even more.

On that note, let me talk more about the Joker. I’ve always liked his character as there was a funny air about him, but dangerous at the same time. Ledger’s portrayal of the Joker struck a chord with me because this is the Joker that I love. I love the darker Joker more than the cartoony Joker (whom I always felt was off). I felt that this darker Joker has more personality, more depth as a character, and more of a good opponent to Batman than the other villans.

The Joker is a sociopath and an anarchist. He enjoys chaos, thrives on it in fact, and has no relative care for anyone else in his surroundings. He has no affection for anyone, except maybe for Batman whom he states he has too much fun with. The Joker also believes in the worst in people. Prime example of this is his “experiment” with the people on the ferries. He expected either the convicts or the citizens of Gotham to hit the trigger and blow up the other boat. He made no contingency in case of the fact that they decided to sit and await their fate.

Heath Ledger got into the Joker’s mind and he played him so brilliantly that I feel bad for the actor who eventually has to step into those shoes. Those are some big shoes to fill, and I’m sure that will intimidate many people. Though I do think that someone may come along who can step into those shoes who will be able to bring the Joker alive again.

Another brilliant performance came from Aaron Eckhart as Harvey Dent/Two-Face. I was skeptical about the Two-Face plot line, but the minute I started watching the movie, that disappeared. Eckhart did such a wonderful job beginning as Gotham’s “white knight” and showing that sometimes it really just does take a push to bring someone over the edge. His most poignant line being: “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become a villain.” And no, I don’t believe Two-Face is dead. The eulogy held at the end of the movie was Gordon taking Batman’s advice and keeping Dent’s “white knight” status alive among the people as a hero, and not make them aware that after being let out of the hospital by the Joker, he went and killed people in order to try to get to a truth. If anything, he’s locked away in Arkham for the time being.

There were a couple things with the movie that I didn’t like that much. The first being Rachel. Yes, she served her purpose, her and Harvey were cute together, and I felt bad for Bruce, but yeesh did she begin to bother me a lot about halfway through. I must say, I like Katie Holmes in the role better than Maggie Gyllenhaal. I also didn’t like Batman’s voice. Yes, I know Bruce needs to disguise it so it’s a more raspy tone, but it was too raspy. Something about it just was too over the top for me. Christain did a better job in Batman Begins.

All in all, this movie was amazing, and is my top recommendation to people if they haven’t gone out to see it yet. And I’ll actually be seeing it again, except this time in Imax. ;)

Urban Decay

I've always been fascinated by architecture, both of large and small structures. I love old archetecture. And in the past few years, I've really become interested in the decay of buildings, even towns and cities.

The way nature slowly begins to take over abandoned buildings and their surroundings is an interesting process. Not to mention how paint slowly peels away from walls and bits of plaster and stone fall, it makes for some interesting settings to photograph.

Recently, I saw an article in a community I belong to on Livejournal about The 10 Most Amazing Ghost Towns. This list includes some old favorites of mine, like Prypiat in the Ukraine and Kolmanskop in Namibia.

This article lists a few others that are very interesting for their histories, as well as the photographs of their decay. Gunkanjima (pictured above) was the first to gain my interest because it's an entire island that is abandoned. Once a coal mining town that had an unbelievably high population, now more of a forbidden zone, except for a brief stint as a movie set for "Battle Royale 2."

I highly recommend reading this list and looking at the photos. All of these locations have interesting histories behind them, and the photographic evidence of what remains of these ghost towns are quite beautiful.

I really must go urban exploring someday... I know that there are plenty of interesting places in NYC and the surrounding areas to check out.

E3 announcement madness... my take on a couple of things

So there are a lot of things to talk about: from Rock Band 2 announcement mayhem, to the cry of many Sony fans upset that Final Fantasy won’t be an exclusive title anymore… my take on everything below.

First off, there has been a deluge lately of all kinds of Rock Band 2 announcements. The first one being the new, improved, and expensive drum kit. This revamped kit features 4 drum heads, bass pedal and three cymbals. The “standard” kit will feature drum pads that will not be as noisy and will have velocity sensors, slots to clip on cymbals, and a metal reinforced bass pedal. But more impressive is the kit that will be sold separately through a partnership with an outside company, Ion. This kit looks like it has a metal frame, 3 cymbals, and the ability to unplug it from the game to use as an electronic drum kit. It will also be going for $300.

The second big announcement was the track list for Rock Band 2. It features 80+ new songs, as well as 20 DLC songs that will be released for free on the Xbox Live Marketplace. You will also be able to import the songs from the original Rock Band game into Rock Band 2. Harmonix states that by the end of the year, there will be over 500 songs total for Rock Band 2. The tracklist for the game itself is pretty impressive. I am very excited about Presidents of the USA, Dream Theater and Judas Priest being in the lineup, among many, many others! I must say that I am very excited for this game to be released, and yes I started saving.

In other gaming news, it was announced yesterday that Final Fantasy XIII will be released for the 360 as well as the PS3. This has caused large mixed reactions: some are excited for the franchise being opened up to another console, while on the other side there are those who are very upset, and some posting on online forums that “it makes me want to cry L.”

Now personally, I have been a long time fan of the Final Fantasy games, as well as loving my PS2, but when it came to the PS3 or the 360, I wound up going for the 360. I felt that the PS3 was way too overpriced, wasn’t sure at the time who was going to with the DVD format war, and there were no games at launch that caught my eye. I wound up buying my Elite instead when that came out (and I had saved the money for that), and have enjoyed that so much more with the variety of games that have come out for it. I do plan on getting a PS3 in the future, but only once I have an HDTV, and for the sole purpose of a DVD player (Unless the next Kingdom Hearts game is PS3 only).

So yes, I am excited that the next Final Fantasy game was released for the 360, and I will definitely buy it when it comes out. And also, I do think that the fans that are up in arms over this should calm down, and remember that it isn’t being pulled off of the Playstation and becoming an xbox exclusive. If anything, it will make sure that people don’t have to buy another console just to play one game. I think it’s a great move by Square-Enix to open up the game, as it may increase the fan base as well as help revenue.

And just to end this on a lighter note, I bring you this video from G4 which never fails to make me laugh:

Guns don't kill people, but magic missle might...

This article astounds me: School shooter did not think that shooting someone would kill them

In 1997 Evan Ramsay (then 16 years old) took a twelve-gauge shotgun to school and went on a shooting spree, killing a fellow classmate and the school principal. He is now serving a 210 year jail sentence. In a recent interview with ABC News he admits the following:

"I honestly believed that if you shoot somebody, that they would get back up."

It's hard to accept, he admits, but Ramsey said his naivete left him unable to grasp that firing a gun in the real world is different from firing one in a video game: "I didn't realize that you shoot somebody, they die."

I'm sorry, but at 16 I knew already that if someone shoots you with a gun, depending on where you're shot, you could die. I watched plenty of movies, and paid attention in school to figure this out. Really, it's not to figure out, especially when you're already 16 years old and in high school! I also love the fact that this is, of course, blamed by video games. Video game violence is the new scapegoat, so rock music can have a break.

What I want to know is how his parents, or the school system, failed to help educate him about the difference between fantasy (video games, movies, etc) and reality. And that, yes, guns can kill you. I really have a hard time believing that someone at that age can be so naive. But if I'm wrong... yet another reason for me to fear for the future of humanity.