NextGen Player followed the Amp Energy National Gaming Tour all summer long last year. We even had the pleasure of getting our asses whooped by one of the Amp pro team members, and won some money for our charity of choice in the media challenge.Well, we just received a media note that the Amp-wielding octopus is back for another year. This year the Amp Your Game national tour will be featuring Rock Band 2 and wannabe bands will have a chance to compete for a $100,000 first place prize.
A new Canadian poll commissioned by Amp Energy reports that almost one-third (31 per cent) of Canadians play music video games like Rock Band. Among 18 to 34 year olds, that number jumps to 61 per cent. These insights spurred the decision to bring Rock Band 2 as the focal point of this year's tour.
This year, Amp Your Game will visit 40 campuses between February 23 and April 23, providing free access to video game titles on all gaming platforms in the entertainment zone. The playable games include Madden 09 (Xbox 360), Gears of War 2, Prince of Persia (PS3), Resistance 2, Super Mario Galaxy, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and many others.
Each campus stop will feature a two-hour live Rock Band 2 competition on PS3. Bands in the competition will perform for one of 40 semi-finalist positions.
Semi-finalist performance videos will be posted on the AMP Energy Facebook page where bands will solicit votes. The top four voted bands will qualify as finalists to compete in the Amp Energy $100,000 Rock Off! finale following the end of the tour. The finalist band with a combination of best performance (70 per cent) and game score (30 per cent) will win a guaranteed $100,000 cash prize.
After having a look at the Facebook page, it looks like the next stop on the tour is Brock University (Ontario) on March 2. The tour will also be stopping at other provinces such as Nova Scotia, Alberta, BC, and Quebec. For a full list of unversity/college events, check out the Amp Energy Facebook event page.
For a deeper look into this year's Amp Your Game tour, here's a cool promo video I found: