PC gamers will soon be able to rock out. Ubisoft’s bestselling guitar simulation game will be available October 16 for the PC for the first time. In addition, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 music enthusiasts will be able to purchase the Rocksmith Bass Expansion, which includes all 53 of the original on-disc tracks that feature bass, as well as any previous DLC purchased. Along with the ability to play the bass lines of favorite songs, bassists of all experience levels can improve their skills like 2-finger plucking, slapping, and popping with dedicated bass technique challenges, tutorial videos and mini-games. Players can even use any 6-string guitar to emulate a 4-string bass. Tracking learning has never been easier as bass progression is tracked separately from guitar progression. Simply put, nothing compares to playing a real bass guitar.

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Majesco Entertainment enlisted two-time NBA World Champion and Emmy Award-winning TNT NBA analyst Kenny Smith to get his game on with NBA Baller Beats. The new Kinect for Xbox 360 game comes with a Spaulding basketball, which is more than just show like in 2K Sports’ upcoming NBA 2K13 game. That basketball is part of the gameplay, as hoops fans will be challenged to dribble to the beat of hit songs from the likes of Common, Kanye West, Skrillex, and Queen. Smith, who provides in-game tips through tutorials, talks about the new game in the exclusive video interview below.

Electronic Arts has unveiled the music behind EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13. The soundtrack features a mix of genre-spanning music from 50 Gold/Platinum superstars and breakthrough artists representing 12 countries from around the globe. The game maker hopes this music reflects the passion and intensity of FIFA Soccer gameplay while defining the sound of the upcoming season for sports fans worldwide.

If there’s one thing I take pride in, it’s my music collection. Over 1600 songs on the iPod, and that doesn’t even include the large amount of playlists I’ve generated on Spotify. So any game that makes use of the music library stored on your computer, much like my beloved Audiosurf, is doing something right. And much like Audiosurf, Symphony combines stunning visuals, addictive gameplay, and the music you love into an all-around fantastic game.

SAN DIEGO -- Universal Music Enterprises (UMe) will release Rob Zombie’s Mondo Sex Head on August 7, featuring new and unique remixes of Rob Zombie classics by some of today’s top DJs, including KoRn’s Jonathan “JDevil” Davis, Photek, the Bloody Beetroots, Drumcorps and Ki:Theory. Each track was hand selected by Rob Zombie who road-tested many of the songs in his car, driving the LA streets. Zombie talks about this new project and discusses his own past with video games in this exclusive video interview below from Comic-Con 2012.

SAN DIEGO -- The American Society of Composers, Authors & Publishers (ASCAP) treated music fans to a behind-the-music look at fan favorite video games, film and TV for a fourth consecutive year at mega pop-culture-convention Comic-Con. This time the team offered two panels, responding to fan demand from the previous years, and to acknowledge the ever-evolving music industry.

The video game music of BAFTA award winner and five-time Original Music nominee James Hannigan will be celebrated in an upcoming Q&A and interactive event, "Conversations with Screen Composers: James Hannigan", presented by BAFTA and the Royal Albert Hall. The second in a series of events showcasing the craft of major film, television and video game composers, James Hannigan will be interviewed by BBC radio and TV host Tommy Pearson about his creative process scoring music for video game franchises such as Command and Conquer,Evil Genius, Republic, The Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter. "Conversations with Screen Composers: James Hannigan" will be held in the Royal Albert Hall's Elgar Room on Friday, June 29. 

Early this year, Bioware’s Mass Effect saga came to five year run. Rest aside the ending; the series is one of the most complete trilogies in video game history. There are two aspects that Mass Effect nails perfectly. The series was first to interweave choices all the way through the third and final installment captivating fans from start to finish. However, you can’t tell a great story if you forget to create the atmosphere for your game to breath in. The music in the game really doses shape Commander Shepard with it having one of the best scores in gaming, but do people notice? Do people look at soundtracks as a whole or as background noise?

Dylan Cuthbert and his team over at Q Games aren’t known for making routine downloadable game experiences.  Each one they’ve produced stands out in their own right, like the twin-stick shooting fun of PixelJunk Shooter 1 and 2, the sheer addiction of PixelJunk Monsters, or the crazy old-school-ness (that is a word) of PixelJunk Sidescroller.  But even with such an offbeat resume, there’s no way you could see something like PixelJunk 4am coming.  It’s as funky a game experience as you’re likely to find this year, if not really about being a game itself.

Retro/Grade has quite the story behind it.  This downloadable game for PlayStation Network has been in the works for some time, introducing a new style of music/rhythm gameplay that ties in with a space shooter -- in a way.  We've seen it at a number of events, including last year's PAX Prime in Seattle, but upon seeing it at this year's PAX East 2012 event, we were treated with some good news.  The game is finally coming out later this year, as part of Sony's push to bring innovative new downloadable experiences to the PlayStation 3.

For the longest time, Square Enix’s role-playing games have followed a usual tradition, a pre-set game pattern involving an intricate battle system or characters that could easily be adapted to, depending on their techniques and weaponry.  While fans can certainly appreciate such an approach, others can be turned off by it, merely due to the monotony.  But the company is listening, and ready to provide something a little different this summer with Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy.

Q-Games has always been a developer that’s been just as much about style as it has substance with its games.  Take a look at the PixelJunk Shooter games, or, for that matter, the gorgeous PixelJunk Eden or the entertaining (if slightly difficult) PixelJunk SideScroller.  However, its latest effort, PixelJunk 4AM, might be its most innovative to date.  The reason for that is, instead of giving you pre-set objectives, it instead lets you play around with a musical space, shaping it however you see fit using the PlayStation Move controller.