Rock Band -- are you kidding me? (2 Viewers)

[Aaron Silverman]

A buddy just emailed me the following:


Heck, those seven songs alone are worth buying the game for. But the entire Who's Next album? Zounds!!!

 

[Nathan A]

I'm ashamed to admit...I don't know that album (or much Who at all, really!).

Here are the songs they've announced so far:

The Who - "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Mountain - "Mississippi Queen"*
David Bowie - "Suffragette City"
Black Sabbath - "Paranoid"*
Blue Oyster Cult - "Don't Fear the Reaper"
The Ramones - "Rockaway Beach"
Rush - "Tom Sawyer"*
Bon Jovi - "Wanted Dead or Alive"
Nirvana - "In Bloom"
Stone Temple Pilots - "Vaseline"
Weezer - "Say It Ain't So"
Foo Fighters - "Learn to Fly"
The Hives - "Main Offender"
The Strokes - "Reptilia"
Queens of the Stone Age - "Go With the Flow"

The asteriks are covers (including, sadly, Tom Sawyer and Mississippi Queen). Also, I could've sworn I saw a video of people playing GNR's Welcome To The Jungle in the game. I've been thinking to myself for a while now that Don't Fear the Reaper would be fun to play. And it's nice to see Rush in there, but they maybe could've not picked the single most (over)played Rush song ever.

I'm super-stoked about this game - even despite the drum kit having only 4 pads and a single kick.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

I'm holding out hope for a download of the entire Permanent Waves album.

 

[Paul Reiswig]

I wasn't aware that a cowbell was one of the instruments for this game...

 

[James_Kiang]

The microphone will serve as the cowbell in that song but it may also be used in other songs as a tamborine or some other instrument. That way the singer has something to do during stretches of songs when there is no singing.

 

[Morgan Jolley]

What's crazy is you're not kidding.

I'm still thinking about whether I want this. First of all, it's only on PS3 and 360, I have neither. Second, I'd probably only want it for a drum and guitar, I have interest in singing or hearing anyone I know sing.

But that tracklist is mighty tempting.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

Crazy AWESOME.

They are considering doing a Wii version.

 

[Chris]

IGN says a Wii version is in the works, also.

 

[Jeff Cooper]

I hope there is an option for MORE COWBELL!

 

[Steve Y]

I wonder how they're going to package this?

They should offer three different boxes, one for guitar, one for microphone, one for drum kit. This will steer users towards the title who are turned off by the "expensive" collaborative effort that is the "full rock band" experience. But they'll also have to make sure people don't just go out and buy the "cooler" guitar box every time and ignore the drums and vocals. That is, how to make sure the peripherals are distributed somewhat evenly? (That there are TWO guitar parts in the game should help the "guitars are the most cool" mindset)

They also need to make sure people realize that you CAN make Rock Band a single-player experience. The "full band" play mode should be Trojan-Horsed into peoples' homes. "You bring your drums, I'll have my Guitar..." etc.

They'll also need to distinguish themselves from their former product, Guitar Hero. Their great song selection should help this.

 

[Quentin]

Aren't there supposed to be two guitar parts (rhythm and lead) AND bass? Honestly, I'd be happy with guitar, bass, drums. I don't want to do karaoke, and I don't want anyone singing. Besides, if this is done a la Guitar Hero, how would the singing work?

 

[Aaron Silverman]

The singing works the same way as in the Karaoke Revolution games, which were done by the same developers. There's a moving meter like in GH, but more closely resembling an actual music staff (think the GameCube bongo game). A pointer at the end of the meter moves to reflect the pitch of your voice as you sing, and you try to match the notes as they slide past.

The screen shots I've seen show the karaoke meter across the top of the screen, with the other instrument meters (which look more like GH) below it.

I had my doubts about how a karaoke game would work, but KR is AWESOME. And you can calibrate it to be very forgiving if you're not a great singer.

(How they managed to screw up Get On Da Mic, I'll never know.)

 

[Nathan A]

I'll be buying a mic stand so I can sing/guitar and sing/drum at the same time. But how will I work the cowbell in?

 

[Greg_R]

Yep. I've played the American Idol version for PS2 and it's (surprisingly) a lot of fun. On the 'easy' setting you can completely miss every single pitch just as long as you start and stop at the correct times. It is important to match what the game wants you to sing (vs what you think the original song sounds like).

 

[Morgan Jolley]

I think there are a lot of little parts to Rock Band that make it interesting, like making a band online and playing with friends from all over the world, the parts of the song where you all need to do well for cool stuff to happen, etc.

Harmonix and MTV will have no problem selling this. With the Wii and Guitar Hero basically making the idea of unique gameplay methods not just acceptable but popular, they should have no problem getting the word out. As it is already, the serious GH fanbase already knows about Rock Band and Guitar Hero III.

 

[Christ Reynolds]

Fucking awesome. I had not heard of this game 30 seconds ago, and now I need it.

CJ

 

[RichardK]

I am psyched about this game. I got hooked on guitar hero II for the x360 and it is lots of fun. This game takes GH to another level.
My understanding is they are going to sell the game, mic, drum kit, and guitar for $200 bucks. You can also buy each item individually for 60, 30, 50, 60 respectively. I am not sure what which way I will go yet.

 

[WillG]

Has anyone heard anything about this. I was at GameStop today and I saw display boxes for Guitar Hero III but I have heard virtually nothing about this game, save for this thread.

 

[Aaron Silverman]

There have been some update articles and interviews posted at GameSpot.com.

 

[Wyz_sub10]

Official X-Box Magazine has a small preview of both RB and GHIII in this month's edition.