Is it terrible of me to be waiting for a big scandal featuring Lady Gaga for the sole reason of seeing the headline “GaGaGate”? I’m joking of course, I wish no such fate on the crazy bespectacled one.

So, we have the BRAND NEW LADY GAGA VIDEO live on the service and a VERY SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT that we will be revealing later on today but we love to keep you in suspense.

Also, as you are all aware now we will shortly be live in 11 new countries see HERE for dates (I told you we get it sorted by the end of the yearJ). We of course will be having some great content and features for each country,

Now, the update…

Homepage Features

Artist of the Week
Alicia Keys (France, Italy, Germany, Spain) – This doesn’t mean anything, apart from her new single “Doesn’t Mean Anything” is available for your viewing ecstasy along with all her other hits.

Powderfinger (Australia, United Kingdom, Ireland) – Imagine if your finger was actually made out of powder… impractical at best. Aussie superstars have a new single “All of the Dreamers” and we have the video… and all their other videos too.

Celebrity Playlist
Groove Armada – The GA takeover continues with this playlist that the boys picked themselves for you. Nice of em heh? Many thanks gentlemen.

Spotlight
N-Dubz (UK & Ireland) NANANAAAAIIIII, Dappy, Tulisa and Fazer have torn up the charts over the last few years becoming one of the most recognizable acts on the scene today. Check them out here.

Total Dance
You can totally dance until you are totally tired out of totally dancing to total dance. Say that five times quickly… bet you can’t.

Recomended Playlists

Reality TV Stars
Lemar, Girls Aloud and… Darius?!? Everyone you loved to hate or hate to love or love to love or… whatever are here to get your heart racing or your blood boiling.

Hits That Live Forever
“I wanna live forever… I wanna learn how to fly” Bonnie Tyler once said… That seemed a lot more relevant in my head… anyway. Billy Joel, Shabba Ranks and Amy Winehouse among other greatness that stands the test of time.

Songs About Girls
Can you think of anything better to write a song about… Me neither. Big girls, super girls, crazy girls… Just girls

NEXT WEEK

Homepage Features

Artist of The Week
Mika – To celebrate his new single we give Mika the chance to blame it on anything he likes… He chose to blame it on the girls, as he explains in his new video “Blame it on the Girls”

Ultimate 90’s Guilty Pleasures
Eagle Eye Cherry, Ace of Base, Crystal Waters… Need I say more?

Winter Warmers (excluding AU… Obviously!)
The audio visual equivalent of a log fire and a big blanket… Mmm toasty.

BBQ Music (AU Only… Obviously!)
While we all freeze our Australian cousins are getting out the sun cream and prepare for the BBQ season.

That’s it I reckon, check it out and get commenting

Ben

Rate: (Average: 4.05 out of 5)

33 Comments 4 Replies

I am so excited I have almost lost bodily functions!!

You have all been screaming for these dates and we finally have everything finalized, it’s felt like a lifetime but the day is finally here… You have no interest in anything I have to say apart from these dates so I’ll shut up and get on with it

The dates that the new VidZone Countries will be live are……….(Long X-Factor style pause)……
……….…………………………………………………………

• Thursday 26th November: Netherlands, Portugal, Austria
• Thursday 3rd December: Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland
• Thursday 10th December: Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, New Zealand

After downloading the VidZone application from the PlayStation Store and opening it for the first time, you may have to wait up to 15 minutes for it to update so it shows all up to date videos and playlists. THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN THE VERY FIRST TIME YOU START VIDZONE. The next time you open it will open within seconds. I promise!

Just as a little taster and to prove we have are paying attention to every countries local artists here is a couple of artists you will be able to find on the service in each country. This is obviously in addition to the amazing international artists that you come to expect, Everything from Rihanna to Metallica, Eminem to Eurythmics

• Austria – Falco, Herbstrock, Mondscheiner, Valerie
• Netherlands – Armin Van Buuren, Leaf, Fedde Le Grand
• Portugal – Buraka Som Sistema, Paulo Gonzo
• Sweden – Darin, ABBA, The Hives, Peter Jöback
• Denmark – Infernal, Thomas Helmig, Nephew
• Norway – Madcon, Maria Mena
• Finland – The Rasmus, Anna Puu, Lordi
• Belgium – Sylver, Lara Fabian, Lasgo, Kate Ryan
• Luxembourg – Laurent Wolf, Eros Ramazzotti
• Switzerland – Gotthard
• New Zealand – Ladyhawke, Smashproof

You cool with that? Let me know what you think.

Ben

Rate: (Average: 4.54 out of 5)

156 Comments 17 Replies

Sorry for the awful title… Believe me it is better than the first couple I came up with (“Born ExcluSlippy” was by far the worst). Got a better one? Answers on a postcard.

Anyway, from that rubbish title you can probably guess what I’m going to say. Underworld are back and guess who they have given the exclusive first look of their new video to? MTV… No, I’m kidding… They gave it to us

For those of you who don’t know, here is how their label describes them (far more eloquently than I ever could).

“Having created a defining soundtrack to a chemical generation with the almighty ‘Born Slippy’ and countless club crossover hits including the likes of ‘Rez’ and ‘Cowgirl’, Underworld are highly regarded as one of the best in the business.”

Nice heh? Their new track is called “Downpipe” and is a collaboration with house music aficionados Mark Knight and D Ramirez. Want more info on the tune this is what the label had to say…

“The combination of Underworld’s unmistakable talent for drawing on primal energies and Mark Knight and D.Ramirez’s unquestionable production skills and knowledge of the Dance Floor tells a powerful story that is ahead of the curve and pays off with a monster riff in the drop.”

WOW! You HAVE to be excited now, surely? Well all I have left in my arsenal of excitement is the fact that the video is pretty spectacular as well. I’m not going to give anything away but it’s definitely worth checking out for the video alone.

The video will be available from 17:00 GMT on Tuesday 17th November in all VidZone territories.

You still here? Go on… Check it out now… Go on… Please come back and tell me what you think though.

See you on the other side

Ben

Rate: (Average: 3.60 out of 5)

45 Comments 7 Replies

Sounds like Halloween all over again doesn’t it? I hope you all had fun frightening each other over the weekend. It really is the only time in the year that you don’t even blink as a man dressed up as a bleeding priest chases after a girl dressed up as a viking down your local high street as I did.

Things to watch out this week… MASSIVE SLAYER COMPETITION and EXCLUSIVE PRODIGY INTERVIEW. Be excited… Be very excited.

But first, I have some important info…

We are all working really hard to get all these new countries live in time for the end of the year, and everything is going really well so far and we should be able to announce some dates very soon. In order for this to happen we have to make some changes to our infrastructure (for all of you none techy people, that basically means tightening screws and bolting bits on). This means that the service MAY be interrupted periodically for 48 hours starting at 00:00 GMT on Tuesday 10th November. Hopefully this shouldn’t affect you too much and we will try and keep the outages to the veeeeeeeery minimum.

Ok… important stuff over…Let the fun stuff begin…

Homepage Feeds

Slayer Greatest Hits & Competition
Original 80’s American thrash metallers are a mildly scary but very giving bunch. Not only are they willing for their greatest hits be available as one of our homepage feeds but they are giving y’all a chance to win 3 pairs of backstage tickets, a pair for each date for the English leg of their World tour or a signed copy of their new album “World Painted Blood”. To enter go here and sign into your PSN account and answer a multiple choice question. Good luck!!

We also have similar giveaways for the German and French leg of the tour, check out the competition area of PlayStation.com on Friday 6th November for details how to enter. Good luck!!

ARTIST OF THE WEEK

Prodigy Exclusive Interview (All VidZone Countries)
These guys don’t talk to anyone… apart from us!!! Liam, Keith and Maxim. We get up close and personal with these dance music gods. I’m sure you must agree that this is pretty exciting and if you don’t keep reading I’m sure there is something to get your heart racing.

Wolfmother – (UK, Ireland and Australia)
“WOMAN, you know you, WOMAN” etc… Remember them?? Of course you do!! The Aussie rock’n’roll trio are fighting back onto the scene with their new album “Cosmic Egg”. Personally it’s the best album title of 2009 . We give to you a playlist including all their hits and their soon to be a hit new single “New Moon Rising”

SingStar Take That Special
In honour of one of Europe’s hottest acts, SingStar is releasing a Take That disc to sing along until you can’t sing along no more. Just in case you forgot… or if you just love them with all your heart… this playlist will make your day

Back to the 80’s
My favourite decade ever!!! Synthesisers , strange outfits and stupid hair… and probably the inspiration for your favourite bands today. George Michael to Cyndi Lauper to Pointer Sisters. Have an 80’s party all by yourself or with your friends.

Reccomended playlists

21st Century Rock
OK, so it may not have been possible to have the rock of today without the old school of rock… but forget that for a minute and get your air guitars out of the cupboard for the new style.

Hottie Videos
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm… Hotties…

Interview Room
We have changed the homepage feed into a full playlist so you can search though all the juicy interviews we have on VidZone.

Next week’s Hompage Feed

Artist of the week
Leona Lewis – With a voice as surprising (but a lot less disturbing and a lot more amazing) as finding your toothbrush covered in marmite, Leona has constantly has wowed the whole world with her towering inferno of a voice and that s no different to her new single “Happy”… You will be after you have heard it.

Indie Disco
You know it’s cool to mash genres together like slamming and apple against a mango. Indie disco is the new black and we have all the videos you need to keep you dancing all the way to the record store.

Award Winning Artists
To coincide with that ultra flashy annual affair they like to call the MTV Video Music Awards (The VMA’s if you wanna be cool about it) we have all the videos from all the winners.

Other Things

Genres
Loads of requests for new genres to be added so you will start seeing new ones being added sporadically over the next few weeks. Keep an eye out for them and let us know what you think.

Think that’s it, no doubt I will think of something as soon as I hit publish.

Ben

Rate: (Average: 3.53 out of 5)

47 Comments 6 Replies

Special people deserve special things. And you know what, we think you are all kinda special (not in that way… don’t be childish). So… We got something for you, just a little (not so little actually) token of our affection for all of you guys that just can’t get enough of VidZone and more importantly (much less importantly) my blog entries.

(more…)

Rate: (Average: 3.04 out of 5)

21 Comments