Rock Band Blitz is Harmonix's next effort to revive rhythm games, a creation that uses a standard console controller rather than specialized music peripherals. At PAX East 2012, the team showed off video of the game in action and explained a little more of its genesis.

Its first builds were too easy and, therefore, too boring, according to the panel. So a programmer suggested that Rock Band Blitz completely remove difficulties, because the expert track seemed to be the most fun for players. In easy modes, players were just hopping from one track/instrument to the next (the "Pre-Blitz" game seen in the video below) out of boredom and the note placements seemed totally at random; on expert, they were actually rising to the challenge because the commands were more in rhythm.

The game is pretty much done, says Harmonix. They're just working on polish and balance. The development team really strove to emulate the "Rock City" feel of Rock Band 3.

Harmonix showed off an early prototype of Rock Band Blitz, which they refer to as Pre-Blitz. This is what Blitz looked like before they enlisted in the help of a new team of developers in the Summer to help transform the game into a style more closely resembling Rock Band 3.

The Boys of Silence are BioShock Infinite bad guys. The original plan was for them to make you pay for all your noise.

The Boys were going to wait to attack the player, BioShock Infinite 's art director Nate Wells explained today during a panel about the game's bad guys at the PAX East convention. They were going to wait for you to make too much noise. The bullets you fire? They'd hear them and sort of collect their sound. The steps you take? They might collect those too. Eventually they'd have enough and attack. These enemies would compel you to choose quieter weapons, the game's creative director, Ken Levine, added.

Unfortunately, the Boys won't do that. Well, maybe it's fortunate, because the Irrational guys said the concept didn't work. Players wouldn't understand what was happening. They'd not see a Boy of Silence who was collecting their sound and wouldn't understand why one was suddenly attacking them. The Irrational team tried to compensate by having ambient noises drop from the game's environment as a Boy of Silence collected sound. That wasn't the right fix. So the function of the Boys of Silence has changed. We'll find out their new set of rules when BioShock Infinite is released this October.

This Big Daddy and this Little Sister walked into the BioShock Infinite panel at PAX East today.

Pretty good cosplay, folks!

Shown off at PAX East 2012, this is Crimson Dragon and if it reminds you of a Kinect-based Panzer Dragoon, there's good reason. Not only is Land Ho, which handled the PS2 version of that game, working on this one, Panzer Dragoon's creator, Yukio Futatsugi also is involved.

If it's not clear in the video, you're riding the dragon, not playing the dragon itself, so hand motions seem to correspond with how you'd use the reins for such a beast. Microsoft is pitching this as more of a core gaming experience for its Kinect lineup. Developers are shooting for a summer release.

Walking around the PAX East show floor, you're bound to see some crazy cosplay inventions. From simple hats to elaborate costumes, these gamer and anime fans run the gamut.

This Transformers cosplayer posed around the convention center as the lovable Bumble Bee. The real question, though, is whether he can actually transform himself into a car. Doubtful, if you ask me.

Update: Transform into a car, you say? Thomas, the creator of this awesome Bumble Bee cosplay, says he actually can transform into a car. He tells Kotaku about the massive amount of work put into it, "BB is 85 pounds, with stilts, arm extensions and many gimmicks, and about 500 moving parts. I believe my BB is the ONLY transforming GIANT robot." Impressive indeed!

What's happened in the business of video games this past week ...

QUOTE | "PlayStation Orbis has the jump on next Xbox."—Industry sources talking about how Sony, unlike this generation, will actually launch its next PlayStation ahead of the next Xbox.

QUOTE | "In a new Star Wars game, the biggest threat to the empire may be homosexual activists!"—Tony Perkins, head of the Family Research Council, drumming up thousands of letters to Electronic Arts protesting same-sex content in EA games.

QUOTE | "The next generation of freemium PC games will be indistinguishable from AAA games."—Ben Cousins, head of ngmoco studios in Sweden, talking about how ree-to-play games will dominate console gaming.

QUOTE | "The era of exotic, vision-driven hardware from Sony ... is over."—Richard Leadbetter, hardware expert at Eurogamer, talking about Sony's Playstation 4 'Orbis' and its switch to a new CPU/GPU architecture.

QUOTE | "EA [has] messed up studios, marketing campaigns and beloved franchises (sometimes all at once)."—PopCap co-founder John Vechey, addressing EA's winning the Worst Company in America award by saying the company's not perfect, but no company is.

QUOTE | "It might be time to flip the console business upside down and take a 'nothing's sacred, anything goes' approach."—Dan "Shoe" Hsu, Editor-in-Chief of GamesBeat, talking about what new Microsoft Interactive Entertainment Europe head Phil Harrison should do with his new role.

QUOTE | "Are you spelling the end of retail? I don't think so, and I don't want that actually."—Chris Early, VP of Digital Publishing at Ubisoft, explaining why he thinks retail stores still have an important role in the games business.

STAT | 65%—Percentage of all game hardware sales in Japan achieved by the Nintendo 3DS, according to the latest sales figures from Japan.

QUOTE | "It'd be ironic if the oft predicted death of consoles were actually precipitated by the manufacturers themselves."—David Radd, veteran game journalist, writing about the possibility of next-generation consoles making it impossible to play used games.

STAT | 50 million—Number of times Draw Something has been downloaded, taking the #1 slot in the App Store back from Angry Birds Space.

QUOTE | "Overall the Wii U just can't quite keep up."—Game developers talking about how the Wii U is less powerful than the Xbox 360 and the PS3.

STAT | One trillion dollars—The potential value of Apple if the stock hits $1,000 by 2014, as predicted by Gene Munster at Piper Jaffray.

QUOTE | "New titles will have even greater odds against their success."—Steve Peterson, West Coast Editor for GamesIndustry International, reporting that developers think next-gen console game budgets will double.

QUOTE | "Most first parties see Nyko as a threat to their business."—Nyko's founder and CEO, Herschel Naghi, talking about how console manufacturers look at unlicensed peripheral maker Nyko.

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They got 1200 Mass Effect fans into one room at PAX East this weekend. They—some folks from the game's development studio BioWare—asked people to raise their hands if their favorite game was the first Mass Effect. Some raised their hands.

Mass Effect 2? Most people raised their hands.

Mass Effect 3? Few hands went up.

And then they asked who favored FemShep, which I guess is another way to ask who plays as her. The very short video here shows the result.

There's nothing cheaper than free, right? This weekend, there's a free trial of Star Wars: The Old Republic. And we're already seeing discounts on the upcoming Prototype 2 if you preorder online. Those deals, plus more than 50 others in both retail and digital sales, await in this week's edition of The Moneysaver.

Software

• This weekend Star Wars: The Old Republic (PC download) is available for a free trial, no credit card required. Trial period ends Monday at 2AM Central. [Dealzon]

• April 24 release Prototype 2 (360, PS3) is $47.99, free shipping from NewEgg through Sunday. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]

• Tuesday, April 10 release Phantom Breaker (360) for $39.99 comes with a $10 bonus credit from Buy.com. Elsewhere no bonus. [Dealzon]

• May 15 release Test Drive: Ferrari Racing Legends (360, PS3) is $37.49, free shipping from ToysRus. Next best is $41. [Dealzon]

• Last day for the Toys 'R' Us "Buy One, Get Another 40% Off" sale. Choose from all in-stock games, including recent releases like MLB 12 The Show but excludes pre-orders. [Dealzon]

• Also last day for Best Buy's "Buy 2 Pre-Owned Games, Get a 3rd FREE" sale. [Dealzon]

• Mass Effect 3 (PS3, 360, PC) is $39.96 from Fry's Electronics, store pickup only. Next best is $50. [Dealzon]

• Wipeout: In the Zone (360 Kinect) is $24.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $40. [Dealzon]

• Earth Defense Force: Insect Armageddon (360, PS3) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $22. [Dealzon]

• Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition 3D (360) is $14.99, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• Deepak Chopra's Leela (360) is $14.96 from Amazon. Next best is $29. [Dealzon]

• Amazon's PC download games Spring Sale started yesterday and runs through April 15th. Nearly 200 titles included, with some of the best picks listed below. [Dealzon]

• MLB 2K12 (PC download) is $19.99 from Amazon, starts off Amazon's PC Download game spring sale. [Dealzon]

• The Darkness 2 (PC download) is $12.49 from Amazon. Next best is $50. Activates on Steam. [Dealzon]

• Serious Sam 3: BFE (PC download) is $12 from Amazon. Next best is $40. Activates on Steam. [Dealzon]

• Dragon Age Pack (PC download) is $9.99 from Amazon. Activates on Origin. [Dealzon]

• Crysis 2 (PC download) is $7.49 from Amazon. Next best is $30. Activates on Origin. [Dealzon]

• L.A. Noire: (PC Download) is $4.99 from Amazon. Next best is $30. [Dealzon]

• Shift 2: Unleashed (PC download) is $4.99 from Amazon. Next best is $20. [Dealzon]

• Serious Sam (PC download) sale at Amazon gives 70% off five titles in the series: Serious Sam 2, Double D, The Random Encounter, Serious Sam HD: The First Encounter and The Second Encounter. [Dealzon]

• Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning (360, PS3) is $39.99, free shipping from Amazon. List price is $60. The PC version has been floating around $32 shipped. [Dealzon]

• Final Fantasy XIII-2 (360, PS3) is $29.99, free shipping from Best Buy. Next best is $42. [Dealzon]

• The King of Fighters XIII (PS3, 360) with The King of Soundtracks '94-XIII is $29.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $44. [Dealzon]

Hardware

• Hori SoulCalibur V Arcade Stick (PS3, 360) is $109.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $150. [Dealzon]

• Razer Banshee StarCraft II Gaming Headset is $69.99, free shipping from Amazon. Next best is $144. [Dealzon]

• Logitech G510 Gaming Keyboard (dented box but new) is $69.99, free shipping from Logitech. Next best is $90. [Dealzon]

• Plantronics GameCom X95 Xbox 360 Gaming Headset is $41.24, free shipping from Buy.com. Next best is $61. [Dealzon]

• XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB GDDR5 PCIe HDCP Video Card with coupon for Dirt 3 is $139.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $180. [Dealzon]

• Corsair 240GB Force Series GT SSD is $274.99 after rebate, free shipping from NewEgg. Next best is $326. [Dealzon]

• HP dv7t Quad 17.3-inch laptop with Quad Core i7-2670QM, Radeon HD 7690M 1GB, 8GB RAM, Blu-ray is $824.99. That's cheapest ever by $29. [Dealzon]

• HP dv6t Quad 15.6-inch laptop with Quad Core i7-2670QM, Radeon HD 7690M 1GB, 8GB RAM, Blu-ray is $749.99, free shipping from HP. That's cheapest ever by $25. [Dealzon]

• Lenovo K330 desktop with Core i5-2500, 8GB RAM, GeForce GT 545, Blu-ray is $739, free shipping from Lenovo. That's cheapest ever by $10 and $260 off the usual price of $1,199. [Dealzon]

Digital Distribution

The following listing of digital download bargains are grouped by distributor. For more, see Deals4Downloads' roundup.

Amazon
• Sword of the Stars: Ultimate Collection is $2.99, save 90 percent.
• L.A. Noire is $4.99, save 83 percent.
• Dragon Age Pack is $9.99, save 80 percent.
• Stronghold 3 is $10.00, save 80 percent.
• Lead and Gold: Gangs of the Wild West is $2.00, save 80 percent.

Beamdog
• Alexander the Great is $10.00, save 50 percent.

Desura
• Monster RPG 2 is $0.99, save 50 percent.
• Dragon Fantasy is $2.99, save 40 percent.

DotEmu
• Aura: Fate of the Ages is $2.49, save 50 percent.
• The Sting! is $2.49, save 50 percent.

GameFly
• Batman: Arkham Asylum Game of the Year Edition is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• The Darkness II is $24.99, save 50 percent.

GamersGate
• IndieFort Bundle Nr 1 is $5.99, save 91 percent.
• Racing Team Manager is $6.95, save 77 percent.
• The Sims 3 Deluxe is $16.98, save 66 percent.
• Serious Sam Complete Pack is $31.60, save 60 percent.
• Tom Clancy's Collection is $24.99, save 50 percent.

Gametap
• Dungeon Siege III is $11.98, save 60 percent.
• Patrician IV - GOLD Edition is $14.97, save 50 percent.

Get Games
• DiRT 3 is $5.99, save 80 percent.

GMG
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City is $2.49, save 75 percent.
• Fantasy Wars is $3.73, save 75 percent.

GOG
• Heroes of Might and Magic 3: Complete Edition is $4.99, save 50 percent.
• Heroes of Might and Magic 4 Complete is $4.99, save 50 percent.
• Might and Magic 6 Pack Limited Edition is $4.99, save 50 percent.

Impulse
• Crysis is $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Total Annihilation is $4.99, save 50 percent.

iTunes Store
• Command & Conquer Red Alert (iPad) is $0.99, save 80 percent.
• Fight Night Champion (iPhone) is $0.99, save 80 percent.
• Dragon Fantasy (iPhone) is $0.99, save 67 percent.

Mac App Store
• DeathSpank: Thongs of Virtue (Mac) is $2.99, save 70 percent.
• Duke Nukem Forever (Mac) is $9.99, save 67 percent.

Microsoft Games For Windows Live
• Osmos is $4.99, save 50 percent.

Steam
• Magic: The Gathering - Duels of the Planeswalkers 2012 is $6.79, save 66 percent.
• Hack, Slash, Loot is $4.19, save 40 percent.

Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. Be sure to bookmark and search their Kotaku hashtags (#dealzon, #deals4downloads and #dealtaku) for updates throughout the week. Further, to our friends across the pond and north of the border, check the #ukdeals, #europedeals and #canadadeals hashtags and be sure to flag any deals you might have with that.

As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.

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There are reports circulating that the latest issue of German mag PC Action contains not only confirmation that hardcore death simulator Dark Souls is headed to the PC, but that it features "new bosses".

Everything else, though, remains the same. It's apparently slated for an August release, and will be called the Dark Souls: Prepare to Die edition.

The game's PC release was strongly hinted at last month when it was none-too-subtly teased in Australia's PC Powerplay.

We've contacted Namco Bandai for confirmation, and will update if we hear back.

Dark Souls confirmed for PC [NeoGAF]

PAX has given us a new trailer for upcoming multiplayer shooter Hawken. Thanks, PAX. Giant mechs shooting the shit out of each other is always a lovely way to start the weekend.

[via Pixel Enemy]