Heavenly Harmony Gold Update!

I received an email from Cloud9 Games today, with a couple of quick updates and corrections to our recent article on Heavenly Harmony Gold.

1.  Since the game was originally built as a karaoke game, only the lead singer is depicted in the graphics.  The next iteration of the game will feature a full band.

2.  There are 12 different performance venues to play in.

3.  It is compatible with the Guitar Praise controller!

4.  There are no plans for a Mac version at this time.

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SuperCandid Games: Heavenly Harmony Gold totally PWNS Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

Remember Guitar Praise: Solid Rock ?  Well, fugedabout!

In the battle for Christian computer games inspired by hit video games like Rock Band & Guitar Hero , Heavenly Harmony Gold by Cloud9 Games is clearly ahead in terms of features!

Feature 1:
6 players simultaneously!  Not even Rock Band manages this!  4 singers at one time!  That''s 'Bear is driving car' crazy!

Feature 2:
Full compatibility with xbox 360 and Playstation 3 USB-based Guitar Hero and Rock Band controllers! No need to have any extra fake guitars hanging around your house!

Feature 3:
Actual graphics of singers and a performance venue!  Click here for video!

Feature 4:
Only $49.95!  & That includes a USB microphone!  Plus free upgrades for owners of the original Heavenly Harmony!

The only real advantages that Guitar Praise: Solid Rock brings are a bigger song list(but see below), and an OS X version of the game.  The Guitar Praise: Solid Rock bundled controller is wireless, but Heavenly Harmony Gold can use the wireless Guitar Hero controllers from the xbox, since they use a usb dongle to get their wireless functions.

You can check out a partial songlist for Heavenly Harmony Gold here , and they promise that in addition to adding full instrument compatibility for tracks from previous releases(backwards compatibility!), they have an all new game coming out in 2009!  This is an exciting year for Christian video games!

(The Christian Post)
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Trailer, gameplay footage & an excellent article on Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

If there is one thing that Don & I like as much as movies, it is obviously video games.  Despite my lack of any sort of musical skills, I even like Guitar Hero  & Rock Band,  mainly because they are the best way to experience video games with a group of people who don't necessairly play a lot of video games.

We were both interested in Guitar Praise: Solid Rock  when it was announced, and we both hoped that it would buck the trend of Christian video games being either awful or bizarre.  I felt that a good precedent had been established by Left Behind: Eternal Forces , because no matter what you think about its content a good amount of production value was put into that game.

The few reviews that have come out have been pretty positive , but I think that it would be pretty simple to make a knock-off of a popular game.  Especially when there is already an open source knock-off  who's code you can peruse at your leisure.

GameSetWatch has a fantastic opinion piece  about Guitar Praise: Solid Roc k, which puts it in perspective with other Christian video games (although they leave out Left Behind: Eternal Forces ),  and comes down with some strong thoughts about what it means to have "Christian" video games.  Much of what is said can also be applied to "Christian" movies, so it is a great read.

(GameSetWatch Opinion Article)

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Guitar Praise to have sequels?

Guitar Praise , is, inconceivably, a huge hit.  I shouldn't say inconceivably, because I knew it would be a huge hit.  I should say, it would have been an even huger hit if they had released it on the the Playstation or Xbox instead of the PC & Mac. 

But, apparently it was such a big hit that now they are considerng doing what they should have done in the first place.  They are also considering adding multiple instruments, bringing them in line with the latest Rock Band & Guitar Hero games.  This game was apparently created mostly in house at Digital Praise, with the help of 2 dozen contractors, and has gotten positive write-ups, and even incorporates innovative features like Rock Band 2's 'no fail' mode.  



All of which begs the question:  why was this released on PCs again?

Now that the PS2 is officially an open platform, there should be nothing holding them back.

(MTV Multiplayer via Kotaku )
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Guitar Praise: Solid Rock

Today we have a story so big, even Penny Arcade weighed in on it. There is a Christian Guitar Hero, Guitar Praise: Solid Rock. Like I said the other day, I don't really think that calling something "The Christian ...." is very accurate or intelligent, but here there really isn't any other way to say it. This is a long time coming. Christian video games have a checkered past, but they have regained a modicum of respect recently. Now they are finally jumping on what is arguably the biggest franchise in current video games. Don & I were talking just recently that Guitar Hero or Rock Band need to release Chrisitan music add-ons, the way that they have done with Aerosmith. My guess is that the reason they haven't is that the Christian record labels and bands don't want people to be able to play songs like Chris Tomlin's "Made to Worship" while playing as some of the characters in Guitar Hero. Personally, I'd love to see Youtube videos of these worship songs being performed by Slash, "Grim Ripper," and The Devil. The track list for Guitar Praise: Solid Rock includes "Jesus Freak" by dc Talk, and a bunch of other songs that will be familiar to youth groups across the country. I recognize a lot of the songs from my own youth group days, so that probably indicates that the music is a bit dated. It includes a USB-corded guitar, but I imagine that it will work with the wireless guitars that are available for PC. Which is the worst thing about this. PC & Mac only. No Xbox. No PS3. No Wii. Not even PS2. Come on Digital Praise! Put this out for $20 on the PS2, make it compatible with the millions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band guitar controllers that people already own, and let the money just flow in! If this was on the consoles then every youth group in the world would own a copy on day 1! The system requirements are pretty light, so I guess they could run it off a cheap laptop, but this game is made for consoles! Also, like so many Christian products, Guitar Praise: Solid Rock is ridiculously over-priced. $100 for the game + guitar. Guitar Hero 3: Legends of Rock with guitar is selling for PCs for only $60. Is this really a better value? Or are they just playing to the fact that they have a corner on this segment of the market? (Original Story on Kotaku) (Guitar Praise official site) (Penny Arcade Commentary) EDIT Stop the presses! So... You know that CAG podcast we're always talking about, CheapyD and Wombat and all that? Well, its a podcast about cheap gaming, and wouldn't you know, someone found a cheap deal on this game! $20 off and free shipping... The thread language is a little rough and largely anti-Christian, so beware...! Subscribe to the SuperCandid Podcast, the number 1 podcast for Christian movies Subscribe to the SuperCandid Blog Save This Page