Rock Band

[Margalis]

Yes, South Park nailed it.

I played Guitar Hero for the first time the other day in Gamespot. My advice: learn to play a real fucking instrument. Girls dig it. The end of South Park perfectly summarized harcore Guitar Hero players.

[cmlancas]

Frenzy: Thanks for rewriting my post in a shitload of words ;)

Guitar Hero/Rock Band will continue entertain as long as beer exists and people have friendships.

 

[Lantien]

Launch Day is either now, or tomorrow morning for Americans.  One last set of gotchas that may or may not be deal breakers for people on the fence!

1) There's no Hyperspeed.  However, they slightly increased the speed of the Expert scrolling to compensate.

http://community.rockband.com/vbforum/showthread.php?t=8210&page=3&highlight=hyperspeed

2) There's some talk on the forums how the PS3 GH3 guitar isn't working as well as it should/at all with Rock Band for the PS3. Pray for a patch folks.  This isn't a problem with the Xbox 360s.

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/19/rock-band-rejects-ps3s-guitar-hero-controller/

Looking forward to rocking out with my friends tomorrow morning/afternoon/night.  I might be down for some online jam sessions later in the week.. depends on how busy Thanksgiving gets.

[Margalis]

Guitar Hero/Rock Band will continue entertain as long as beer exists and people have friendships.

See that's cool, I can get down with that. I had fun laughing at my friends who have never played any instruments and have no rhythm, for one he literally got two notes right and his play session faded out in 15 seconds. (Then I got a 94% on my first try, heh)

Turning it into something ultra-competitive where you seriously practice? Dude, you are practicing FAKE GUITAR. Lol. It's like people who enter air guitar competitions.

[Phildo]

Well, that's an interesting experience.  I just blew through the first four tiers of guitar on expert and, so far, the difficulty is right where I wanted it to be.  Not face-melting.  I suspect it ramps up pretty fast, but learning the new guitar controller takes a while also.  I found myself constantly hitting extra buttons with the palm of my hand while playing until I put in about two hours and realized I needed to hold my hand differently.  Otherwise, not so bad.  And I'm playing on the ps3 with no controller-related problems so far.

The drums, though... I need to put in a solid day getting used to sight-reading their notation.  I gave it one try on expert and failed epically.

Not going to open the microphone.  Ever.

[schild]

PHIL, NUMBA WAN!

[caladein]

Awesome-o, Grats Phil.

Not going to open the microphone.  Ever.

Funnily enough, the only thing holding me back from picking it up right now is that I haven't heard anything to contradict "Expert Vocals are broken" .

Also in that vein, lyrics: http://joshmedia.net/RockBandLyrics.pdf. Yay for not having to deal with LyricWiki!

[Driakos]

Well I beat the solo guitar tour on Hard a few minutes ago.  I'm like ranked #60!  In a few hours, multiply that by 1oo.  Lots of polish.  More true to the songs than Guitar Hero, as far as Lead/Bass/Rhythm, which also means quiet a few stretches of buttonless play.  I found myself having a lot of fun.  I'm sure when I get to play with others, it'll be even more so.

Hammers were easier to hit than GH2, but more difficult than GH3.  I was using my GH2 guitar (I got the buttons all loose).  Overall, Hard was easier than GH2/GH3.  Most songs were 5-starred first shot, and I don't forsee any problem going back and fiving them all.

[schild]

As to the hammer-on things. By Guitar Hero 7 and Rock Band 4, Neversoft will have so technologically passed Harmonix that people are going to realize that Harmonix is amateur hour in the technician department. Neversoft has been creating some of the most technically proficient games in... gaming since the ps1 era, though they hit their stride on the Dreamcast.

Basically, Neversoft should have gotten a hold of Rock Band. They also have better taste in music and don't have to suck the teet of MTV.

[Big Gulp]

Basically, Neversoft should have gotten a hold of Rock Band. They also have better taste in music and don't have to suck the teet of MTV.

I didn't think it was possible for a single person to be so very, very wrong.  And "better taste in music"?  Now I know you're on crack.

[schild]

Basically, Neversoft should have gotten a hold of Rock Band. They also have better taste in music and don't have to suck the teet of MTV.

I didn't think it was possible for a single person to be so very, very wrong.  And "better taste in music"?  Now I know you're on crack.

We'll see what happens when MTV starts jamming pop sensation shit into Rock Band, won't we?

[Lantien]

As to the hammer-on things. By Guitar Hero 7 and Rock Band 4, Neversoft will have so technologically passed Harmonix that people are going to realize that Harmonix is amateur hour in the technician department. Neversoft has been creating some of the most technically proficient games in... gaming since the ps1 era, though they hit their stride on the Dreamcast.

Basically, Neversoft should have gotten a hold of Rock Band. They also have better taste in music and don't have to suck the teet of MTV.

Not touching the Neversoft technical proficiency comment, sure I bow to your expertise.  However as to the taste in music thing... I'd argue almost all the "on paper" crappy song choices can either be explained away, or matched by GH3.

- GH3 was smart of enough to lock in Velvet Revolver, Poison, GnR, and Rage against the Machine.  So Rock Band couldn't score an comparable (bye-bye Welcome to the Jungle). My guess is that the Harmonix crew would have liked to score at least 2 songs from the above group of 4, as opposed to some sort of hate for Guns and Roses.

- Hole's Celebrity Skin shouldn't be in Rock Band.  However, without it you have to figure that Nevermind has no chance of getting on as an album DLC without Courtney's help blackmail.  And uh, Smells like Teen Spirit will be a rocktacular song for the drunken masses (the Pubbies).

- For every Coheed and Cambria and Fall Out Boy, I give you Slipknot and AFI.

- I will admit, I'm a huge fan of The New Pornographers, so I'm way biased on that choice.

- If you're not in love with Friend-Of-Harmonix bands, then yeah, the GH3 Bonus songs will be superior.  But at the rate that Rock Band has DLC coming out, I can easily overlook that.

- And seriously, for sucking the teat of MTV they've showed an awful amount of restraint so far in not going ridiculous with the extraneous ads from what it sounds like. On the flip side, I'm not feeling too immersive shooting a video on the Pontiac Stage, or strumming my Axe bass.

I dunno, call it agree to disagree for me.

Re-worded some things that seemed unclear.  Stupid Graveyard shift.

[schild]

I think MTV is staying hands off the first iteration just to get units into people's hands.

This is a want the best, fear the worst situation for me.

Whoever announces Dookie as a downlodable album rules the day for me though. Or even better "...and Out Came the Wolves" from Rancid.

Man. I would fucking kill for that in Rock Band. Just KILL. You want me to fix the North Korea situation? Bring out Wolves.

[Big Gulp]

We'll see what happens when MTV starts jamming pop sensation shit into Rock Band, won't we?

I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.  If it comes in DLC form the easy thing to do is to not buy it.

[schild]

We'll see what happens when MTV starts jamming pop sensation shit into Rock Band, won't we?

I'll burn that bridge when I get to it.  If it comes in DLC form the easy thing to do is to not buy it.

Unfortunately, I think that bridge is less than a year away :( :( :(

[Cory Jacobs]

Did I mention how much I hate this new fucking guitar! I'm terrified that my erection ( caused by wicked solo) is gonna break the stupid thing in half!

[schild]

Caution: Wicked Solos may cause erection.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

Yeah the more I play the RB guitar the more I hate it.

At At first, I was like 

Then I Was like 

[Cory Jacobs]

then you were like

 

[schild]

[NiX]

Yeah, the guitar is iffy. I might just have to play using the lower fret buttons only.

[HAMMER FRENZY]

Yeah, I am going to just use a GH controller if I play at F13 house... Cause really I was all like



Then I Was like

[Phildo]

Dunno, I thought Celebrity Skin and the Fall Out Boy tunes were fun to play.  But then again, it WAS 3 AM.  I've also strongly disliked playing all of the Rage and Velvet Revolver tunes on Guitar Hero so far.  The only real tragedy with Rock Band is the aforementioned goat-sucking POS guitar.

[caladein]

Bulls on Parade just isn't that great of a song for GH/RB. It's one of my favorite RATM tracks, just that you can't really replicate what makes its guitar part awesome within the game mechaics.

[Nonentity]

Just snagged it this morning.

I will report back. I am dubious of the guitar, but we shall see.

[WayAbvPar]

That is really weird that everyone hates the guiitar- trotski (who came over today to help me break it in) and I both dig it. Anyone having issues with the kick pedal? I can't get it to work more than sporadically, if it all. Kinda tough to 5 star a song on drums without it...

[Driakos]

That is really weird that everyone hates the guiitar- trotski (who came over today to help me break it in) and I both dig it. Anyone having issues with the kick pedal? I can't get it to work more than sporadically, if it all. Kinda tough to 5 star a song on drums without it...

I think unlike the drums, the kick-bass is unforgiving on lack of precision.  I have to be really precise with it, whereas I can just kind of slob the little drum pads.

Or, yours could just be broken :)  I missed a bunch I thought I should have hit, but every time I really took great care, I hit.  So...  YMMV.

[Phildo]

I'd like to be able to adjust the tension in the pedal.  Otherwise, the drums are turning out to be a blast.  I'm about halfway through it on expert and have only failed one time.

[Big Gulp]

Dude, I can't even get past the intermediate tutorial on drums.  It absolutely sucks.   

[trotski]

Yeah, not sure what all the guitar hate is about. Rock Band guitar absolutely puts the GH guitar to shame, and it is nowhere even close. Doesn't feel like a POS Fisher Price toy in my hands, and the strum is nice and tight...not clunky like the GH strumming. Don't get me wrong, I GH, just saying the Stat pwns.

FWIW, Par totally rocked the mic today 

[schild]

Rock Band guitar absolutely puts the GH guitar to shame

I hate to be a raging dickhead. But I have to ask, are you good at it? I mean, expert only good.

Because anyone who puts their guitar through the paces (you should fly to AZ and feel my PS2 guitar) is saying the RB guitar is a big piece of shit and doesn't seem to register notes that are really really close together as well as the GH3 guitar. Also, it breaks. A lot apparently.

[Margalis]

Can someone explain to me how these games work? What I mean is, if I play a note with the first "fret" (button) is it always actually the same note, for the entire song? Does that mean there are only 5 distinct notes total? Or does the same "fret" (button) produce a different sound depending on where you are in the song?

[schild]

Different sounds. Think of it as air guitar with a score and a certain amount of skill rather than flailing. Particularly in 2 and 3. You could brute force most of 1 because the hammer ons and such were completely non-functional. 2 was better, but 3 really peaks in that department.

[Phildo]

My biggest gripe about the Rock Band guitar is that I'm still accidentally hitting extra buttons during chords with my palm, and during complicated solos where I have to move my hand I lose my place too easily.

[Margalis]

Different sounds. Think of it as air guitar with a score and a certain amount of skill rather than flailing.

Hmm that's lame. But I guess the other way would be lame too. I suppose replicating a guitar when you have 5 buttons to work with is impossible.

Someone should make a game that comes with a 24 button guitar (4 x 6) and secretly trick people into learning real guitar while they play.