Rock Band

[cmlancas]

I finally played the demo for Rock Band today in a Best Buy and I have to say that I was very impressed by the feel of the guitar. The non-raised keys really made a difference for me on slides; playing big solos will most certainly be easier. However, I played through Black Hole Sun on Hard (A quick warmup) and noticed it was more like Medium on GH2 with the orange keys thrown in. Anyone else notice this?

Has either company released details about compatibility of guitars? I'm too lazy to google it, since I have to put together all my furniture from today and watch the Bolts tonight.

Thumbs up so far.

[NiX]

GH3 guitar works with Rock Band. Rock Band guitar does not work with GH3.

Also, DLC pricing is announced

[schild]

They are picking the worst fucking songs from each band.

[cmlancas]

No way. The worst fucking songs from Metallica would be:

1) The House that Jack Built
2) That song from MI:3
3) Anything off that stupidass new album.

Those songs aren't bad at all. The other bands I can't really speak for.

[schild]

Fade to Black, their cover of Stone Cold Crazy, and Master of Puppets would have been, oh, I don't know worthwhile. Those 3 songs are not worthwhile. Well, 1 of them is. And it's the EXACT SAME REASON GUITAR HERO SONG PACKS SUCK.

[cmlancas]

Fair enough. I giuess you don't like them, but I for one will most certainly pay for that as soon as it is available.

Blackened will be a fun song to play and so will Ride the Lightning.. It has a nifty solo at the opening.

Looking at that list further, The Police, Punk Pack, and the first Individual pack are a joke. I'd buy the Buddy Holly/My Iron Lung pack though.

Hopefully whoever is running the DLC will just do individual songs like iTunes. That'd be far superior -- just pick and choose what you want, none of this bundle in a shittastic song.

[Phildo]

Songs Phil would like to play: Ride the Lightning, Roxanne, Fortunate Son and Buddy Holly.  Only two of them are being sold individually.  They lose.

[Lantien]

Songs Phil would like to play: Ride the Lightning, Roxanne, Fortunate Son and Buddy Holly.  Only two of them are being sold individually.  They lose.

Nope, from the article: Rock Band will still feature pre-selected three-song packs for download, but they will instead cost $5.49 (440 Microsoft points on Xbox 360). Songs will also be available individually for $1.99.

Neutral on the song selections for Metallica.  My musical tastes don't really lean metal, so it's a non-issue for me. I'll probably get maybe one of the Police songs, 3's and 7's (go go GH3), and half of the Individual tracks.  Fuck. 

[schild]

Man, the fucking Queens of the Stone Age are the worst addition to this genre. How could you possibly enjoy 3s and 7s?

[Azazel]

Those packs are pretty fucking uninspiring. Full albums? How much are those going to cost, based on what we're already seeing?

And the same, full price for "made famous by" versions? Fuck that.

[Phildo]

Yeah, too many of those songs are covers.  Also, I'm assuming that the songs they mention as 3 packs are going to stay 3 packs, and the others that were mentioned as "Individual Tracks" are the ones being sold, well, individually.

[schild]

I understand completely why packaging 3 songs together.

It's not like we're going to get Unforgiven and Fade to Black with Ride the Lightning. They want to package shit that won't sell a pack with one thing that will.

It's brilliant and completely fucking evil.

[NiX]

And the same, full price for "made famous by" versions? Fuck that.

They mentioned .99$ songs. I'm assuming those are covers, though I'm not sure. I'd assume they are as on their forums they implied that they wanted to sell them cheaper because we all know they aren't master tracks and therefore lose some value.

[Lantien]

I understand completely why packaging 3 songs together.

It's not like we're going to get Unforgiven and Fade to Black with Ride the Lightning. They want to package shit that won't sell a pack with one thing that will.

It's brilliant and completely fucking evil.

Yeah, too many of those songs are covers.  Also, I'm assuming that the songs they mention as 3 packs are going to stay 3 packs, and the others that were mentioned as "Individual Tracks" are the ones being sold, well, individually.

Hmm, lemme make this more obvious:

http://community.rockband.com/index.php?do=/public/blog/view/id_610/

Some more random small things that you may or may not know about Rock Band.

    * All downloadable content can be purchased as single songs, even if it’s in a pack 
    * All downloadable content can be used in all modes of the game - either by yourself in the Solo Tour, integrated into your band's setlists in Band World Tour, available for head-to-head competition either locally or online, and from any Quickplay mode.
    * You can play bass in every mode except Solo Tour. This means you can do stuff like play Bass Quickplay by yourself or Bass vs Bass ranked matches.
    * Yes, you can use the Xbox 360 headset to sing. You’ll want to use a USB Microphone if you’re singing more than a few songs though or playing Vocals vs Vocals, because the Xbox 360 headset has pretty low fidelity in comparison.
    * If you’re playing on thesimexchange, I would start buying both Rock Band November NPD stock and total copy stock if I was you. That stuff is rated ludicrously low.

If you do some looking up, he's the senior designer at Harmonix.

[WayAbvPar]

Agreed on the 'paying full freight for covers sucks ass' point. Why would they bother with non-masters when so many artists are already cooperating? Leave the other fuckers out in the cold and let them watch when 16 year old kids start buying Black Sabbath albums on iTunes.

[Abagadro]

My Rock Band bundle just shipped from Amazon. Giggity.

[Lantien]

Played a little bit of Rock Band at a local best buy....

Actual game is fun, on more than one occasion, the crowd starts to "sing" along with the singer, which is pretty awesome.  My friend and I who did a fair amount of drumming were able to rack up big scores, but the Best Buy demo units are modified to automatically register kickpad hits without the need for a kickpad. Adding the kickpad will probably add a new dimension of difficulty.

Drumming is pretty fun. The yellow pad was broken, but we were able to work around it by having someone press the yellow keypress button.  The center of the drum unit has a set of standard buttons that can be used instead of the drumsticks.

Guitar is unknown, since the strum bar is totally broken. In addition, while the store had a mic, they didn't allow it to be used because they had complaints with noise from other customers at the store. The store employee also explained that all the parts that came with the demo unit are pre-production. In addition, kids have the capacity to be destructive little monsters.  However, going forward I'm definitely treating the sturdiness of the Rock Band pieces with some wariness.

And looks like someone has gotten a copy of Rock Band early (no drums however), and this is the same guy who managed to snag a copy of Guitar Hero 3 early.  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.  Anyways, here are some of the songs that he's uploaded via YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=pdtecrj

The general consensus around the internet seems to be that the Rock Band's guitar expert is comparable with GH2, and a notch below GH3. There's even talk that GH3's Hard is more difficult than Rock Band, but I think with the smaller hit window (as compared to GH3) and looking at some of the higher tier songs (Green Grass and High Tides), I have a really hard time believing that.

[NiX]

And looks like someone has gotten a copy of Rock Band early (no drums however), and this is the same guy who managed to snag a copy of Guitar Hero 3 early.

You'd be surprised how early games leak these days. My friend beat Super Mario Galaxies before it even shipped.

[schild]

These songs look like dick for serious Guitar Hero types. Like, every single one of them.

[Lantien]

These songs look like dick for serious Guitar Hero types. Like, every single one of them.

http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=corporalgregg

Slightly tougher songs, but even the author admits that on his second try he was 5-starring Expert for all the songs. Makes you wonder if Gold Starring will be the new 5 star (note, Gold starring =! FC, it possibly means that you averaged a 5x score on the song).

Like I said, for my skill level and for my friend's skill level, the lowered difficulty bar is NOT a gripe.  I'm really interested to see amongst the more competative community (read: schild) if the lower-ish difficulty will completely turn off that group or not.  At the same time I want to see if that matters to Rock Band's popularity; while you want to feed the desire of the ubers to keep on playing, there's nothing wrong with broadening the base (especially on the "initial" outlay).

[HAMMER FRENZY]

I think I am totally done with these types of games. I was really hoping that RB would have some fun guitar parts but all the videos I've seen make it look like all the note charts are made for retards, by retards. I can understand that some people may find expert mode on GH hard, but it is no excuse for making the note charts in RB look like utter shit. I will play at a drunken party capacity and nothing more. These douches aren't getting anymore of my money.

This all really makes me respect Neversoft even more. Their note charts were damn fun to play, even on the shittier songs.

[bhodi]

These songs look like dick for serious Guitar Hero types. Like, every single one of them.

Fuck serious guitar hero types.

Go play a real guitar if you want to put that much time into it. GH3 is too hard; GH2 should be the baseline for difficulty.

[schild]

Wrong. Expert is too hard for you. Just because you can't beat expert doesn't mean it's not fun.

[bhodi]

No, it's just pandering to the minuscule amount of people who can move their hands that fast. The unlockable only-on-expert songs are just a kick in the balls to people like me who will never be able to play at that level. The difficulty bar is simply too high for us plebes, and I'm definitely not your average gamer.

What exactly is wrong with this note chart anyway? I assume you mean the tabbing but that looks fine. It's like we're seeing and playing different games.

This is just a big middle finger from Neversoft straight to me. Starting at 3:20.

[murdoc]

...serious Guitar Hero types.

Not much makes me LOL on a Monday, but that phrase makes me giggle.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

The idea of serious guitar hero is hilarious. Learn to play a fucking instrument. 

And the whole GH is too hard on expert is silliness. Schild can't play any instruments and he is a monster on the GH. All it takes a little practice. My kid can beat most the game on hard and he doesn't play many rhythm games at all.

I can agree that you SHOULD be able to open all songs regardless of what level you play on though, but there absolutely HAS to be a more difficult mode for people who have better than average hand/eye coordination.

At this point, it is nearly useless for me to buy GH3 cause I can kick the shit out of 95% of the songs. At this point I would be buying the game for a handful of songs that I SHOULD be playing on my real guitar anyway.

By the way that Faith No More song was BORING. I love that song but that is one boring ass song to play guitar for. I am all for changing up the note charts or adding some extra stuff is it makes for less "me standing there with a plastic guitar looking like a tool and not playing anything at all" moments. That not chart was straight up boring, but in Harmonix's defense, it is a boring song to play on guitar period.

And that Devil Went Down to Georgia is insane. Play it on hard or medium, expert is not for everybody, I for one would love to play that though. I loves me a challenge. 

[Bokonon]

I've played 3 quite a bit, and while I beat 1 on expert, and got half to two-thirds through expert in GH2/80s, I can't beat one or Raining Blood on Hard in GH3. I can 5 star, and even gold star medium, and I can 5 star most of the first 2-3 tiers of hard, but those songs above suck for my skills. I can't imagine what Expert is like, and I have no really strong desire to find out. I also think of most of the people I know who bought any of the GH games, or tried it out on my system... Most of them can barely get through Medium, and they enjoy that difficulty. GH3 expert is out of their range, regardless of how much they practice.

I like to play the GH games for completely different reasons than schild; reasons that probably put me in the RB sweet-spot. I play them to feel that moment Zen where a song clicks, and it feels like I'm rocking out. That doesn't mean harder note charts, it means good note charts. I'd rather RB be a little easier, than harder. I guess I want to be challenged, not WOULD YOU LIKE A CHALLENGE?!?!?!, and I think RB going to be that game for me.

[Phildo]

You know, if you just want a challenge, aren't there mods for the PS2 version?  You could just make a song with tons of skittles on it and put it over whatever music you want.  In the meantime, I'll continue to play the songs that I like to listen to and ignoring anything past tier 6.  Except for Cliffs of Dover, which is a great song half of the time.

[WayAbvPar]

Make it harder!

Jesus, you guys sound like the fucking poopsock catasses that blow through MMOG content and then bitch that there is nothing else to do. I am sorry, but if you are shredding expert on GHIII then you are in the minority and might need to find other games to play. The rest of us 'retards' want a fun game to play that doesn't force us to find a coked up spider monkey to unlock content on our behalf.

Had a minor hiccup with my Xbox 360 over the weekend. Went to plug in my guitar for some GHIII MP with trotski. I couldn't get the Xbox to respond to the guitar. Plugged in my charger unit for my controller- no light. I figure my USB port is fucked, so I mention it to my wife. She is about to head out the door to Costco (I got my Elite through Costco.com), so I pack the whole thing up and return it. They don't have any Elites for sale, so I get almost $600 in cash. After 6 or 7 stops, I finally find an Elite for sale. It comes bundled with a game I already own, but fuck it.

Get home, get NHL up and running, then have a sinking thought. Open my GHIII case. Yep, left the CD in the fucking drive of the old 360. Call Costco otw to the Seahawks game yesterday morning. They take my name and number and promise to call me back when they find it. 5 PM, and we are headed home from the game (and I am nice and drunk  ). We decide to stop by Costco before they close. The girl who was supposed to call me back is still there, and apologizes that she got busy. We eventually get a task force of about 6 employees searching for the goddamned thing, and I am the one who finds it (sitting inside a locked cage right next to the returns area). Clownshoes. Get the disk, head home.

I am starting to think I might hit Best Buy tonight at midnight to procure Rock Band. Fuck if I will go into a 4 day weekend without it!

[schild]

I am sorry, but if you are shredding expert on GHIII then you are in the minority and might need to find other games to play.

This is a game with 3 iterations all based around the same gameplay with ample training and a curve that's just awesome. I do not play guitar. I got this good at guitar hero by playing guitar hero. We're not in the minority because we're good. We're in the minority because we played enough to get this good. GH is not a game for dicking around and just having fun, because trust me, if you do [just dick around and "have fun"], you'll never ever get to the fun stuff. There's is nothing more fun than 2 very, very good players playing expert on coop. Jigglypuff and I should make a video of YYZ.

[cmlancas]

This thread needs a huge dose of YMMV.
If you're that fucking hardcore about Rock Band, play the god damn drums and ace singing. If you're so good at it, maybe you can do it better than the original fucking bands (see earlier in the thread). 

People do the same shit for every rhythm game that comes out. I know people who think the 13s on ITG2 and 10s on IIDX are too easy, but they definitely don't represent everyone.  Also, it'll probably be quite soon that an editor comes out for use with the ps3/x360 as opposed to only PC. Then you can have your dose of fun edits if shit is too easy for you.

Since schild beat me to the post,

There's is nothing more fun than 2 very, very good players playing expert on coop.

Everyone can have different amounts of fun. What denotes fun for you may or may not denote fun for others. My girlfriend loves playing medium/hard. I on the other hand want to catass to be as good as ya'll. But having been one of the pretty good rhythm DDR/ITG/IIDX players, I certainly believe that people at an arcade have fun playing (insert game here) no matter what skill level. It doesn't have to be almost-impossible to be fun; it only has to be fun.

That being said, a game should strive to be fun for all players. I sorta agree that there should be retarded hard songs for people who are very good, but I wouldn't mind them being edits or extra songs.

[Grand Design]

This conversation is soooo much better if you caught South Park last week.

...

Jigglypuff and I should make a video of YYZ.

Sadly, I'm not being sarcastic when I say that I would watch that.

It was a Youtube YYZ video that got me into this mess.

[WayAbvPar]

I don't mind people playing songs as hard as they can make them. I just get pissy when content gets cockblocked by the 'You must be this 1337 to play' bullshit. Give me everything I PAID FOR and let ME decide how hard I want it to be.

[Phildo]

Eh, they make you play career mode on several difficulty levels anyway if you want to unlock all the songs, guitars, characters, skins, etc.  I've beaten hard, most of expert and about half of coop and still haven't unlocked any of the optional characters.  So much crap to buy.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

Way Above Par: Agree and disagree with you. I agree that yes you should get all of what the game has offer regardless of how good you are at it. By that I mean you should have access to ALL the songs on easy if need be. BUT I don't think that people who are good at anything are in the minority and need to play other stuff. Some people are just better at rhythm games, and if they are good, there should be some level of content or a way for them to access challenging content. Just like it is unfair to make content unavailable to the less skilled, it is equally unfair to deny content to the higher skilled player base. GH3 has that level of play for people like Schild and JigglyPuff and to an extent myself. ( I suck at GH) and it also has fun stuff for the less skilled player. ( multiple skill levels unlockable content etc.) BUT I agree that they should have access to all the songs only because there is a pocket of players who wont ever beat song "x' on expert, and they should still have the opportunity to play the other songs on a difficulty they can handle. I think all companies need to make an effort to have accessible content and reward players with progressive difficulty or anything that doesn't exclude novice players, but also not put some BS cap on the acceptable skill level for a particular game. In my opinion there are fighting games that do this well, for example Soul Calibur and Tekken, which reward players of all levels equally. The high level rewards come int he form of titles and fights matchups where a player gets to use all their attained skill against another somewhat equally skilled opponent.