ROCK BAND

I LOVE YOU ROCK BAND

you getting this, antexit?

I can't believe I've been waiting for this for so long.

Oh yes, I preordered it like three months ago, Will. I am a 30-year-old man whose living room will soon be full of toy musical instruments.

To be fair, I was already a 29-year-old with a living room filled with toy musical instruments, so this isn't going to be a big stretch for me.

If you ever need another toy instrumentalist I live in Mile End and am only one xbox message away from ROCKING THE LOL OUT

Pretty much the instant it comes out on wii.

BOOO I REFUSE

I wonder why they would announce DLC before the game has even come out.

It actually comes out the same day the game's released, I think. And they didn't announce it, it was a leak.

I wonder why they would release DLC on the same day that the game comes out. (I know the answer why, thanks)

It leaked to the official xbox magazine?

"Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld" – Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld

this has got to be a joke.

Why a joke? Guitar Hero 1 or 2, I forget, had that Strongbad "Trogdor" song.

i think one. two had a Spinal Tap song tho!

You get an achievement in GH2360 if you beat the Trogdor and Dethklok songs.

GH80s also had the Limozeen song.

Let's see here:

FUCK NO * "Are You Gonna Be My Girl" – Jet

Hell yeah * "Ballroom Blitz" – Sweet

Enh. * "Black Hole Sun" - Soundgarden

Sure. * "Blitzkrieg Bop" – Ramones

Bleah * "Celebrity Skin" – Hole

Enh, could be worse. * "Cherub Rock" – Smashing Pumpkins

Not my first choice but okay * "Creep" – Radiohead

Bleah * "Dani California" – Red Hot Chili Peppers

FUCK THIS * "Dead on Arrival" – Fall Out Boy

Not bad * "Detroit Rock City" – Kiss

Fuck yeah, now we're talkin' * "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" – Blue Öyster Cult

Hmm. Okay. * "The Electric Version" – The New Pornographers

Enh. * "Enter Sandman" – Metallica

sure. * "Epic" – Faith No More

Why not. * "Flirtin' with Disaster" – Molly Hatchet

Enh. * "Foreplay/Long Time" – Boston

Okay. * "Gimme Shelter" – Rolling Stones

Not bad. * "Go with the Flow" – Queens of the Stone Age

???? * "Green Grass and High Tides" – The Outlaws

Can't remember this one * "The Hand That Feeds" – Nine Inch Nails

Pfft. * "Here It Goes Again" – OK Go

??? * "Highway Star" – Deep Purple

Enh. * "I Think I'm Paranoid" – Garbage
Why this one? * "In Bloom" – Nirvana

Why this one? * "Learn to Fly" – Foo Fighters

Okay. * "Main Offender" – The Hives

Sweet. * "Maps" – Yeah Yeah Yeahs

Heh. Sure. * "Mississippi Queen" – Mountain

Enh. * "Next to You" – The Police

Could be worse. * "Orange Crush" – R.E.M.

Okay. * "Paranoid" – Black Sabbath

Why not. * "Reptilia" – The Strokes

FUCK yeah. * "Run to the Hills" – Iron Maiden

Excellent * "Sabotage" – Beastie Boys

Enh. * "Say It Ain't So" – Weezer

Bleah. * "Should I Stay or Should I Go" – The Clash

Okay. * "Suffragette City" – David Bowie

Heh. * "Tom Sawyer" – Rush

Sure. * "Train Kept A-Rollin'" – Aerosmith

Bleah. * "Vasoline" – Stone Temple Pilots

haha. * "Wanted Dead or Alive" – Bon Jovi

Which version? * "Wave of Mutilation" – Pixies

Enh, okay. * "When You Were Young" – The Killers

Nah. * "Welcome Home" – Coheed and Cambria

Okay. * "Won't Get Fooled Again" – The Who

??? * "Highway Star" – Deep Purple

You don't know Highway Star!?

"Green Grass and High Tides" is a pretty awesome song. Not much singing in it though, I don't think. And imo Highway Star is the only even remotely tolerable Deep Purple song I've ever heard. Why is that horrible band so popular?

It's weird that there are multiple career mode songs that are on both RB and GHIII.

I thought so too, but all the crossovers are only songs you can play except as 2-player careerists in GHIII, so it doesn't affect most players at all.

all the crossovers are only songs you can play except as 2-player careerists in GHIII:

Not true!

"Cherub Rock" – Smashing Pumpkins: GHIII 1p career
"Mississippi Queen" – Mountain: GHIII 1p career
"Paranoid" – Black Sabbath: GHIII 1p career
"When You Were Young" – The Killers: GHIII 1p career

And then:
"Ballroom Blitz" – Sweet (the shitty cover of this song was on GHII:80s)
"Reptilia" – The Strokes: GHIII 2p bonus track
"Sabotage" – Beastie Boys: GHIII 2p bonus track

You don't know Highway Star!?

i've heard it, but i can't remember it offhand

Pretty sure the version of "Wave of Mutilation" they have is the Doolittle version (not the slow surf one), as I think that was the one in the demo kiosk that I played. It's a great song either way, though.

The crossover of songs between GH III/RB isn't that surprising - I started noticing a year or so ago that multiple music games are able to afford/get the same song in a short period of time - like it's out there for sale, so developers snatch it up. Hence seeing stuff like "Highway Star" or "Rock This Town" in several titles in the last 3 years.

If i actually could afford a next gen system I'd be slobbering all over this. Pixies! New Pornos! Weezer! Rush (though a cover, I think)! Black Hole Sun! I love music games, but you're lucky if you can get 1 for 3 good songs on a soundtrack - and RB/GHIII often includes the masters instead of cheap covers.

Also: why the hate on Deep Purple? Machine Head is classic.

Rock Band delayed in Canada until Dec. 19?

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/11/11/rumor-rock-band-delayed-in-canada-until-dec-19/

I played the drum demo at Best Buy and it was fucking sweet. Real wood sticks! I played "In Bloom", "Tom Sawyer", and "Paranoid".

I didn't understand what it wanted me to do when there were solid bars (just roll, I guess?), but I could fall back on, like, actually playing the parts! It was good practice!

I'm probably playing the full version tonight. Should be fun!

I am not playing this game for a month and I'm not happy about it at all.

the canada thing is definitely happening then?

Yup. The DLC was just priced, and it's cheaper than the GH songs and you can get one at a time rather than the packs if you want.

Just to be clear, I plan on only playing this game at Best Buy.

Someone (Matt, I'm looking at you) know when this is coming out on the wii?

I think it's interesting that the mechanics of playing guitar in this game has nothing to do with actually playing guitar, but playing with sticks is playing with sticks.

Did they have the bass pedal set up at BB? I'm interested to see how that works. How do they represent it on the screen?

I think the solid bar is the kick drum and the demos are setup to autoplay that.

I think you're right, judging from the youtube videos. They didn't have the pedal at the store.

With the pedal, it would be dangerously close to actual drumming. I wonder how many kids are going to make the leap from playing Rock Band >>> "I could really do this".

They say on Expert you're actually playing the drum charts, so you could sit down at a set just the same.

Review on IGN now up. They like it.

I'm gonna shake you ya ya ya ya, ya ya ya ya ya ya, IM A HIGHWAY STAR!

man, even the songs that kingfish didn't like are pretty good.
Vaseline, In Bloom, Orange Crush, Enter Sandman, Black Hole Sun...

the only thing that I see as a problem is that some of the songs are too chill. but that's good because faster songs seem to get annoying quicker - on the contrary, faster usually means more fun.

I always think there is something strange about hardcore Blue Oyster Cult and CCR fans by the way.. Actually all rock with strong southern influences (I rather listen to The Who myself).

wait a second... someone was dissing Deep Purple!

"Green Grass and High Tides" is a pretty awesome song. Not much singing in it though, I don't think. And imo Highway Star is the only even remotely tolerable Deep Purple song I've ever heard. Why is that horrible band so popular?

-- antexit, Saturday, November 10, 2007 3:45 PM (1 week ago)

I have the greatest hits and I must say that My Girl From Tokyo, Sweet Child in Time, Stormbringer, Space Truckin', Speed King, Fireball, Strange Kind of Woman. I won't go on because they are cool in the funniest rockenest sense of the word.

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I am not prepared to defend my opinion of Deep Purple.

So, this is really very fun. The Expert song maps for guitar are a lot easier than on GH, but the guitar is harder to play, so it winds up being even harder than GH at times. The vocals are really difficult above Medium, and the drums are pretty scary for a guy like me who's never played drums before. I played exclusively on Easy after one disastrous try on Medium. My drummer friend, on the other hand, played successfully on Expert without struggling too much.

IMPORTANT QUESTION - is this going to lead to a resurgence in unironic use of those electronic synth pad drum sets in bands in the next three to five years?

oh god :(

"The V-Drums feel more natural to me, you know, cause I learned on Rock Band."

To be honest, I have truly been hopnig that these would make a comeback since 1992 when I first saw a commercial for kids' ones, and again in 1998 when I got to play some at Science North in Sudbury, Ontario. Completely unironically then AND now.

Well a Fender guitar has already been modded to work with GH, so maybe someone will do the same with Rock Band and a Simmons kit.

The tracklist on this thing really sucks.

sez you.

Most of the songs are just not very fun to sing, and that really drags the game down a lot.

Not that I've played this, but it seems like they went for balance between instruments with vocals taking a third after guitar and drums, no? I imagine people aren't going to want to yowl along every time and will just turn the original vocals on a lot. There's already Singstar.

I think the problem is that the guitar parts don't get old as fast. I can play a song on these games on guitar/drums over and over again and really feel a sense of satisfaction and progress, but there are no winners when you're trying to get good at singing that Coheed and Cambria song. Every extra time you have to sing it is a little worse than the time before, and in this game you have to play everything over and over just as a function of the career mode.

I kind of want to start a thread about this genre of games where I try to understand the difference between the massive hype and excitement in the hardcore press/blogs over "rock band" while Wii "waggle fest" party games are almost universally derided and misapprehended by the same crowd. I mean I understand there's some big issues with the milieu, overall perception of quality, etc but as I'm a dude who couldn't care less about either genre I don't necessarily think I grasp the (evidently crucial) Big Difference

because music is cool while nintendo is seen as "kid's stuff" by a lot of people?

(not me, but the dudes i know who will smoke weed and play hours of GTA etc.)

It is pretty stupid. Looking like a fool with Guitar Hero, or looking like a fool passing the remote around the room during a WarioWare session, requires the same lack of self-seriousness. Both are a great time.

The excuse I can see, is that Guitar Hero has more room to appeal to both casual AND hardcore players, so putting in all those hours to get really good at a music game really shows. Not that there's anything wrong with that (I've spent a ridiculous amount of time playing Elite Beat Agents), but it seems critics will more easily deride a game that depends much more on how chilled out your friends are, than one with a thorough, deep single player campaign.

But who knows, maybe those guys just need to get over themselves and admit that those party games are fun as hell.

I was thinking more along the lines of gh/rb games offering a clear path to achieving elite bad-ass high scores status while something like mario party or olympic games is just something you're supposed to readily pick up and play in a casual sense. One strongly rewards spending a lot of extra time with it while the other seems completely dumb if you have to play it by yourself for 30 minutes, I figure, and most game blogger/reviewer types are obv into the former a lot more than anything resembling the latter.

or kind of what nhex just alluded to, yeah. And I was also going to make the point that playing toy guitars and drums seems just as much "kid's stuff" as anything Wii Play makes you do

maybe it is, but it doesn't seem that way to many people! and i maintain that the drums aren't very toyish at all.

the practice/scoring thing is a good point.

any word yet on how this is selling? as it appeals to the same people who buy GH games, if they've just bought GH3 i'd imagine a lot of them would baulk at the $170 just to add drums & mic (yes i know theres other differences but that what it practically boils down to).

All I can say for sure is that I have the 20,000th highest score on some of the songs, and that there are plenty of people behind me.

maybe cuz it's cooler to play a guitar than to pick cartoon's characters noses with a remote control?

i mean, that is pretty much indisputable.

It's also easily the first party game, and probably the first VIDEO GAME, that you wouldn't be embarrassed to bring out when you have girls over. That is a major cultural moment, guys.

haha what?

like the girls I know are always like excited at the prospect of some really cartoonish wii shit
I tremble at the approach of mario kart for this little box

I guess that's true. The Wii sports games have a lot of girl appeal. I think music based-rhythm games have the most, because they're low-investment and high-reward in terms of the gaming experience, and the music creates common interested--I mean, every single person I ever showed GH to loved it-- my dad, my middle-aged politico aunt who has never liked a game besides Tetris and Snake, my girlfriend, my kid's mother--and in my ENTIRE LIFE I've never shown a game that I thought had crossover appeal to a non-gamer and found it held their interest as anything except a novelty. They may think it's cool in a movie-type way watching it but you can't convince them it's worth it to learn to play. I can't really say exactly what it is, since it's not affinity with the music necessarily, as these games are obviously geared toward people who grew up in the 80s and 90s and the games are real popular with young kids and dad-types alike. Maybe it's about a game that you feel cool playing? The advance press for Rock Band was pretty incredibly embarrassing, listening to these gaming journalists write about a game that made them feel cool playing and writing in the voice of someone who's in a cool band when they're actually nerds playing a video game just like the rest of us (the name of the IGN team's band was "the ignorant sluts"-- why didn't they go ahead and call themselves the Dead Parrots?). Maybe it's as simple as that this is the first video game adults can play with friends and feel cool. I mean, as Mark will tell you, I'm not the world's coolest guy, but when I get Rock Band I'm going to have a party and probably invite over some of our friends who are pretty successful and well-known musicians and expect them to play this game with us and have fun with it-- if that works, then Rock Band is to music as Madden is to football, and that's a pretty awesome accomplishment.

Ya and Nhex totally otm about the casual/hardcore sweet spot.

>>It's also easily the first party game, and probably the first VIDEO >>GAME, that you wouldn't be embarrassed to bring out when you have >>girls over. That is a major cultural moment, guys.

This fellow calls it a form of birth control.

Disrespect.

Both appeared to be selling very briskly at the local BestBuy. The slave labor-made real guitars adjacent to the demos were not.

indie rock blogger in blustering righteous indignation re appearance of jealously-held cultural touchstone in popular medium SHOCKA

Tho my buddy Ben remarked the same thing this weekend, Gorge, that he was trying to sell a real and working guitar on Craigslist at the same time I was selling my plastic toy PS2 Guitar with GH1 and 2, after I switched to xbox, and I got way more interest in my fake guitar than he had in his real guitar, which was at a lower asking price than the plastic one I had. I sold a fake guitar for more money than he was asking and didn't get for his real one.

>>indie rock blogger

The Who weren't indie rockers. No offense taken, though. Actually, you will probably enjoy this about slave labor made guitars.

They're actually cheaper at BestBuy than the Rock Band box.

I sold a fake guitar for more money than he was asking and didn't get for his real one.

the fake guitar holds a very real promise of being able to feel that special feeling of competence and skill, one day, and probably soon - the real guitar presents the risk of never feeling that way despite one's best efforts

I just nailed it. I get it now.

indie rock blogger in blustering righteous indignation re appearance of jealously-held cultural touchstone in popular medium SHOCKA

LOL!

My local Guitar Center just sent me a catalog in the mail. On the cover, there's a spot for Guitar Hero III and Rock Band. At first I thought this was kinda funny and ironic, but I guess it must be working as a sort of gateway drug to get kids to buy the real instruments, otherwise you'd think they'd stay the hell away from selling it. (The Rock Band drums especially, they feel great and at the highest level, you're playing the real drum charts straight more or less.)

I never really thought about the Slave Labor guitars, though even the $400 Fender acoustic I bought almost a decade ago was actually made in Korea... Surprised to discover it later.

yeah real instruments are in fact guaranteed to make you feel horrible about yourself at some point

re: games for non-gamers.
http://animalcrossingtragedy.ytmnd.com/ :'(

I was really wishing cankles was around to make fun of that just the other day

haha seriously

Real indie rocker weighs in! Probably of interest only to me!

One by one, he pulled out the game instruments. The bass and guitar are exactly the same (which is a slight dis for bass players, but I suppose the only other option would have been to make the bass piece 10 times heavier).

Interesting article! Though she does downplay the utterly depressing amount of effort and failure you go through just trying to get a real life band together (or hell, just a buddy or two with their equipment and amps in one spot at the same time) when everyone has day jobs, while getting a bunch of people together on Saturday night to drink some beers and pass the toy guitars around is a lot easier and more fun for most of us.

Not that I've given up my own Rock n' Roll dreams yet, but... I do find it kinda ridiculous to compare the two experiences so directly. Just seems... obvious.

This is my favorite of the recent Rock Band articles:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/27/DDGNTHTE7.DTL

It's lucky we didn't have Rock Band around decades ago, or else -- oh no -- Green Day might not exist!

three decades from now, when they run out of material for song packs, all the best rock band players will be forced to go out and dig up real instruments and try to write new rock and roll songs

November sales in US
Rock Band (PS2/PS3/Xbox360) : 382,000
GH3 (PS2/PS3/Xbox360/Wii) : 1,900,000

Considering how much the thing costs, that seems like a pretty good number of Rock Bands.

Also considering that there were way way fewer Rock Bands available.

also that maybe you have groups of friends going in on it together?

Is there a naked version of Guitar Hero? That'd help it greatly, since people w/ GH2 only need to buy the disc, in that case.

If there was, I'd play with the girl characters a lot more.

I played a bit of band at my local Best Buy today and was not impressed. Why don't the drums make any noise when you hit them????

*Rock Band

For some reason the drum track volume is WAY too low on those kiosks - you tend to hear your own CLACKing far more than the actual game audio. I wonder if this problem carried over to the full game?

I don't have that problem at all. The main problem with the drums is that the sticks don't bounce back enough. My friend glued mousepads over his to give it some spring, which works great.

Still no Rock Band in Canada :( :( :(

I just got this for my birthday. IT IS FUCKING AWESOME.

I finished the Expert vocal career, am one song away from finishing the Expert guitar career (fuckin' Outlaws song, grumble grumble), but slogging my way through Medium drums. It turns out that drumming requires coordination and timing that I don't have yet!

who would've thought!

my rock band date fell through due to a scratched disc or something. ;_;

That must be the geek version of "i have to wash my hair"

My wife had a lot of fun laughing at me playing the drums last night. I made my drummer character look like her.

antexit you should get this.

???

my sister and i got this for my bro-in-law

our band is STD (initials lol), we constantly switch instruments.
we rule all the foo fighters, police, weezer and pixies and punk jams.

we suck on classic rock and metal.

i got a 100% on Vox (med.) for Buzzcocks "Ever Fallen In Love", fuck yeah I'm Pete Shelley!

The missus and I have been playing this every day for a month now, her singing and me on guitar. We do okay on expert on about a third of the songs, ace another third on hard, and still struggle with stuff the Outlaws and "Highway Star" on hard. I'm pretty awesome on "Highway Star" until one part about 3/4s of the way through the solo that kills me like half the time.

But hey - does overdrive confuse the hell out of anybody else? It kicks in all the time without me doing anything, but almost never works when I try to do it on purpose.

Perhaps you're accidentally activating it by pressing one of the buttons behind the strum bar? Or maybe you're playing while sitting down? Those are the two most common reasons for that sort of thing.

So the start/select buttons activate it too? I'll just do that instead of the tilt thing, then. And I'm standing like 95% of the time when I play, so that's probably not an issue.

I think my guitar is faulty because half the time the whammy bar triggers extra strums that ruin my streaks.

I had to replace my guitar twice before I got one that worked consistently. It was a mini-nightmare.

So the start/select buttons activate it too? I'll just do that instead of the tilt thing, then. And I'm standing like 95% of the time when I play, so that's probably not an issue.

Select does, I think, but Start pauses the game. Kinda more trouble than it's worth if you accidentally pause the game in the middle of a good run, but if you can do it well it can work a little easier.

Hey, does the Rock Band guitar work with the Guitar Hero games (and vice versa)?

yes i think so!

played this at antexit's for the first time tonight.

AWESOME.

The GH guitar definitely works with AWESOME Rock Band, but I think somehow the reverse isn't true. Haven't tried it, though.

By the way, has anyone successfully plugged the headset into the guitar and used it as the primary mike to sing and play at the same time? I can't figure out how to get it to recognize that I'm only one player but I want the vocal prompts as well as the guitar. It can't be that you have to plug the headset into another controller and put it in your pocket, can it? Because that would suck.

Should we put together an online ILG band, like a bunch of cool guys?

omg TEMPTING

You can play cross-platform, right? (IOW, not everyone in the band has to be using the same type of console?)

i played it it was fun the drums were hard wanted dead or alive was the best!

When is this out for the wii already?

Should we put together an online ILG band, like a bunch of cool guys?

As far as I know you can't do online co-op, only versus.

it would be hilarious to hear other guys singing over the online whatnot.

In-game store FINALLY!

I've been playing drums non-stop for about 4 months (excepting a few breaks here & there), going so far as to buy the DRUMSSSSSSH felt pads (omg SO MUCH BETTER) and a replacement pedal kit (because I busted the original thanx to COHEED AND FUCKING CAMBRIA) (and omg SO MUCH BETTER). And I'm somewhere around 700-800 on the Solo Drum Score rankings. And I still suck when playing head-to-head.

One of my friends seems to have developed carpal tunnel from playing RB guitar (and, um, spending 10+ hours a day coding).

I'm about this close to buying a mic stand so I can try to solo Tour Mode, but I think I'll have to actually sign up for guitar lessons like I've been thinking of doing in order to not feel like a total dead-end shut-in.

i still haven't gotten to play drums with anyone yet. :(

David, you can just use your Xbox headset and put the controller in your hoodie pocket or whatever to sing while playing guitar. That's what I do. I love this game but I'm dismayed at the suckiness of the RB guitar and never use it, favoring my year-old GH2 guitar.

Oh shit I didn't think of that! Next stop: Don Henley!

I'm slowly working my way through Expert drums, which is easily the best part of the game. I finished Expert vocals in an afternoon and kinda cruised through Expert guitar (except that I still haven't beaten "Green Grass and High Tides" ... I will need to borrow a GH controller for that, I think).

I just recently finished Hard drums thanks to some good advice about how to play the disco beat on "Run to the Hills" / Expert "Orange Crush". I was doing it all wrong.

i still think there should be a "learning" mode with bars & rhythmic notation. they could sell/donate it to schools. also, if i don't know the tune i am bad at "reading" it just by watching the bars come down.

What is the advice on playing "Run To The Hills"? That shit still trips me up. I just barely 3-star it 50% of the time. Unless there's some little trick, the only way I can see myself doing better is lots of practice w/ left-handed solo tapping.

The funny thing about drumming: sometimes when I'm playing, even if I'm getting credit for the notes, I feel out of sync just a smidge, and when I notice it totally throws me off, more so than when I actually muff notes.

left-handed solo tapping.

what do you mean by this?

Ha, that's actually pretty redundant (given what I meant to say). I mean playing drum rolls (albeit short ones - 2-3 note ones) w/ one hand. And since I'm a righty, trying to pull that shit off on the red pad w/ my left hand (w/out crossing over, which is hard to do w/ the pads all @ the same height) is a pain.

Actually, it's the spacing of the pads that's an issue w/ crossing over, not the height. Or maybe it's just me :\

haha, i still don't know what the hell you're talking about in the context of 'run to the hills', sorry daver.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Bk8kb7Pow

?

haHAha what we have here is etc.

The main verse bit -- RRR (motherfucking beat) RRY -- that goes on and on and on, I can't do with two-handed rolling. Something w/ me being totally off-tempo and trying to switch my right hand from red to yellow on that 6th note and timing that w/ the bass pedal. It might not be any faster than, say, "Orange Crush" (which I can totally ace), but putting that little space in between those three-note clusters totally throws me off and makes it seem faster. So I'm thinking that maybe if I just hit the red w/ my left hand, and save my right for the yellow, I'll be able to do better.

Or I could just play and play and play "the right way" and eventually break on through (hopefully before they actually release the albums they promised, since that seems less likely every passing day).

What is the advice on playing "Run To The Hills"?

Well, it wouldn't work on Expert (http://youtube.com/watch?v=c7Bk8kb7Pow), but on Hard, there are six "notes" there, and the 3th and 6th alternate between red and yellow, with the other four as red notes. So I started hitting notes 3 (red) and 6 (yellow) with my right hand, and that helped me coordinate with the foot pedal. When I tried hitting all the red notes with my left, or when I tried to play it like the guy in the video is playing it on Expert (both hands over, moving to hit yellow), I would just fall apart again and again. I just don't have enough spatial control to do that yet.

both hands over, moving to hit yellow)

this is how a real drummer would play it - alternating 16th notes on the hi-hat, hitting the backbeat on the snare.

this is how a real drummer would play it

Therein lies my problem, as I am very much not a real drummer.

maybe it would help to watch nicko!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQW9wD00Twc

I really need to get a drum kit.

this is what's so weird about rock band, that it has people learning all this real drumset independence (if not tone, dynamics, etc.).

Define "real drumset independence".

Honestly, I've always been more of a vocals guy, and Rock Band and Guitar Hero have really helped decode guitars and drums for me. I just hear them a lot more clearly than I ever did before.

What do you mean by "drumset independence" -- folks being able to play hand & foot separate from each other? That was a huge problem for me -- if there was a run of bass notes, along w/ a corresponding snare or tom, but one or the other took a beat off (cf. the chorus in every damn early Police song on RB), I'd end up filling the space w/ what was missing, because foot and hand must play together urgh. I've gotten better, but it's still a pain, and I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be able to do it w/out the scrolling notes (and/or years of practice).

xpooooooooooost

Then how did you get through "Vaseline"? That song is like an epicenter of that shit.

yeah, just the basic coordination of it, being able to play rock beats, being able to keep 8th notes going on a cymbal and putting the snare and kick on different beats.

(hey Jordan, want to move to Boston and drum for my band?)

The pattern's more regular in "Vaseline," tho that did give me fits for a while. ("Detroit Rock City" on Expert is like "Vaseline" on whatever junk Weiland stuck in his body.) But in the Police tracks, there are always these little irregular flourishes that are hard for me to pick up on. I think some of the Grateful Dead tracks are like that, too -- whoever the fuck the drummer/s is/are, they're dirty bastards.

Also -- 16th bass notes can suck on a rifle.

haha. dan, can't you get some young berklee dude?

i still think there should be a "learning" mode with bars & rhythmic notation. they could sell/donate it to schools. also, if i don't know the tune i am bad at "reading" it just by watching the bars come down.

-- Jordan, Thursday, March 20, 2008 1:04 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

this is so my problem too. i have to learn the song first.

like i would any other song playing the drums. can't sight read on expert.

One problem I had with Rock Band is that the drums on each song are too easy! There needs to be a "super expert rock god" level.

Must be nice.

If Mr. Snrub turns out to be Keith Moon or someone that played on Aja, I will take back every shitty thing I ever said about his clueless dead ass.

We had one young Berklee dude but he drummed like a jazz drummer.

Hi, because I can't find the Guitar Hero thread I'm putting this here. I just watched the trailer for the Aerosmith pack for GH3, which I'm sorry to say I'll probably wind up playing, and I noticed that the stage they're playing on is marked Max's Kansas City. Will this game have all real-life venues? And will the be rendered to look like the real venues did? Because that's kind of cool. Of course I have no idea what Max's Kansas City actually looked like, besides the chick peas.

the idea is that it will actually play out like a documentary of aerosmith, so yes, real venues, made to look like the places, real bands they played shows with at times (so it's not just all AS-- other bands in there as well). i don't dig aerosmith but the concept is actually kinda AWESOME-- VG as a documentary!

If they kept that cockfarming battle mode shit in there, then count me out.

I think I'm going to try to rent this one.

DLC this week (FOR FREE) is "Still Alive" (AKA The Song From Portal)!!!!

So I'm curious at this point: is there any consensus here on whether GH 3 or Rock Band would be a better buy at this point? Suppose money's not an issue. This is for 360, and I have none of the previous games or controllers. Any help?

ROCK BAND -- GH3 is for dudes that jerk off too much.

I don't know anyone who actually bought Rock Band, but people seem to say, if you have friends would will come over and play it (or online) Rock Band is the way to go. RB seems to have better DLC too. OTOH like I said, I actually know people who have bought Guitar Hero and have the guitars, unlike RB. There's still a lot of good stuff in it and good times for all.

Then again, GH doesn't have drums, which is an enormous plus for RB.

If you want to play with other people, Rock Band. If you don't think you'll play it with other people, get Guitar Hero II (not III) unless you find the idea of playing drums appealing, and Rock Band drums are fantastic. Guitar Hero definitely is more fun on guitar than Rock Band, but RB guitars are fun enough in a group setting (but not as rewarding on 1p).

GHIII is a rental.

This is helpful. One thing that swings in favor of GH III is that you can use the guitar on Rock Band, but not vice-versa. On the other hand, I'm not sure I'll ever finish playing Rock Band, so this isn't super important. The DLC for Rock Band looks way better. I need to think more about this, but this is helpful so far. Any other advice would be appreciated, too.

Yeah, the downloadable content is much, much better. Guitar Hero III does come with more songs on the disc than Rock Band, though. It's nice to be able to pick and choose but it adds up if you keep buying songs (which I do).

Me and the missus have been waiting for "Simple Man" for what seems like MONTHS. That shit'll be downloaded the instant I get home.

and to contribute somewhat to this conversation: GH is entirely superfluous now that Rock Band exists. The drums, vocals, and superior DLC are definitely worth the extra hunnert bucks.

Also, GH3 is saddled with bullshit mandatory head-to-head matchups in single-player that are super-tedious. And even the non-Dragon-Force songs play like wanky super-strummy power-metal "my garbage chops, let me show you them" crap.

NB: I might be anti-GH3 because I can't get past "Holiday in Cambodia" on Expert.

Wii in June, eh?

No online play or DLC, though.

sounds like teh wii version is totally crippled.

my broseph bought rock band, earlier.
expert guitar is a bit easy compared to GH2. and i can't play drums on anything over medium.

Why the fuck is this game taking so damn long to come out for the Wii?????

got this (thanks for the recommendations) and it's totally fantastic. I haven't tried drums above medium yet, in fact mostly on easy so far, but it's great. I'd never played any GH before this except at friends' houses, so I'm just getting up to speed on guitar, but it's great too. I just blew out my singing voice on "Say It Ain't So", guess I'm a lightweight. But this game is great!

Cars self-titled debut out on Tuesday. Doolittle coming next month.

how are the screamy bits of doolittle going to work?

The same as all the other screamy bits: you just hit the cadence, or it's a freestyle section.

I got my wife to start a band with me! She's playing bass and every now and then gets mad at me because on easy, the guitar parts are way easier most of the time.

Also, I took a quick look at "Should I Stay Or Should I Go?" on expert and wtf

I still suck at guitar on this. When there are a bunch of notes together, can I just click the strum bar up and down? /newb

The drums on "Should I Stay Or Should I Go" get pretty hard too.

Also wtf New Pornographers that song is a bear on guitar and drums.

I ask again: WHY ISN'T THIS OUT FOR THE WII??????

With the new drum kits coming out for GH4 and Konami's game, UGH. An extra pad, yeah, revolutionary! Just thinking about this is annoying -- I hate being tied down to one "platform" because these guys are all trying to cash in with the controllers. I'm guessing Rock Revolution will be be a casualty if they don't make their peripherals cross-compatible with the other games. Of course I'm a poor ass who hasn't even bought one of these game systems yet, but uh. (Damn you crippled Wii versions!)

Harmonix is based one town over from me, I could stop by their offices and ask them why they're on crack with the expert level.

OH I meant to ask, how much of the DLC is worth it?

Anything without an asterisk is an original track, and everything is previewable in the in-game music store, so you should have a pretty good idea of how hard a given track is (or not) and what it sounds like.

The expert level is so easy compared to Guitar Hero.

i was over at a friend's house the other night and we spent like an hour trying to get the drums calibrated, but no dice. there was always a split-second delay between hitting the pad and triggering the sound, which made it completely unplayable. lame.

I had that problem as well. Turned out to be a TV thing.

(xxpost)
This dude puts up videos of all the DLC Expert charts when they are released: http://www.youtube.com/user/Npeaen

My Xbox has died, so I'm currently missing out on DOOLITTLE action.

"Silver" on drums = ????????

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuEypm6smJ8

Haha.

Now I ask: WHY DOES THE WII VERSION SUCK SO FUCKING BAD???

Screw it. I'm getting an X-Box 360 and buying that version. I don't care if it costs $550 or whatever.

How the mighty have fallen:

One problem I had with Rock Band is that the drums on each song are too easy! There needs to be a "super expert rock god" level.

-- Mr. Snrub, Thursday, March 20, 2008 9:13 PM

Slowly slipping out of the top 1000 in drums, alas. I seriously need to hire a personal trainer to get thru "Run to the Hills" on Expert -- my arms give out 1/3rd the way thru the bridge.

Rock Band Two will have 'improved instruments', i wonder if that's worth hanging on for or if i should just take the plunge.

Hi dere please do not cost £150

I'm still skeptical, but if Guitar Hero somehow pulls out DLC for World Tour and RB2 still doesn't do it for Wii (sounds like this is definite, as they've practically avoided talking about this version at all, even though it comes out the same time as PS3, probably November)... damn, harmonix, get with the program.

Out of curiosity, how much space do DLC tracks take up? Nintendo doesn't seem to want to give on the storage front... I guess SDHC's not gonna cut it? Or does the Wii even read those cards?

ROCK BAND 2 SONGS:

"Panic Attack" by Dream Theater or Finger Eleven
"Chop Suey" by System of a Down
"Give It Away" by Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Everlong" by Foo Fighters
"Kids In America" by Kim Wilde
"Ace of Spades" by Motörhead
"Hello There" by Cheap Trick
"Anyway You Want It" by Journey
"Pinball Wizard" by The Who

http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10929&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=0

Now there is a great reason to spend your time and money on some improving book.

* "Man in the Box" - Alice in Chains
* "We Got The Beat" - The Go Go
* "American Woman" - The Guess Who? (or Lenny Kravitz)
* "White Wedding" - Billy Idol
* "Aqua Lung" - Jethro Tull
* "Bad Reputation" - Joan Jett
* "One Step Closer" - Linkin Park
* "Peace Sells" - Megadeth
* "You Oughta Know" - Alanis Morissette
* "Testify" - Rage Against The Machine
* "Spoonman" - Soundgarden

http://rockband.scorehero.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10938

lol good grab before the deletion

Man, are those some SHITTY songs.

"We Got The Beat", "White Wedding" and "Aqua Lung" are shitty????????

This looks great! Even the songs I'm not really into, like the one by Rage Against the Machine, are probably gonna be fun to play. The more female vocals the better, too.

"Bad Reputation" and "Spoonman" look fun, too, though I am not any closer to being able to afford these games.

lots of crazy rumours flying around about rock band 2. over 300 songs, all of the songs from rock band 1 for free, shoegaze, etc

OK I've had this game for like three days now and I can already get a 97% on Expert for "Cherub Rock" on the drums. TOO EASY.

game still needs more NWoBHM/80's thrash/speed metal, but it's slowly getting there.

I was surprised at how much fun playing GH: Aerosmith was, for the album tracks like "No Surprize." Flashback to high school, i guess.

I started downloading Doolittle today before I went to work. Can't wait to go home tbh.

Getting DLC on my imported PS3 version was a real fucking hassle, but it's totally gonna be worth it

Also, has anybody tried the AWESOME "Drum Machine" prog? Basically it lets you plug the drums into your PC, assign samples to each pad and just fucking let rip.

I've been Rock Band drumming so much lately that I can't fucking wait until next band practice so I can tear it up on our drummer's real drums.

Prediction: I will play HEY about 100 times tonight.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/14/rock-band-2-on-disc-track-list-revealed-features-over-80-songs/

ROCK BAND 2 FULL LIST:

1. AC/DC "Let There Be Rock"
2. AFI "Girl's Gone Grey"
3. Alanis Morissette "You Oughta Know"
4. Alice in Chains "Man in the Box"
5. Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man"
6. Avenged Sevenfold "Almost Easy"
7. Bad Company "Shooting Star"
8. Beastie Boys "So Whatcha Want"
9. Beck "E-Pro"
10. Bikini Kill "Rebel Girl"
11. Billy Idol "White Wedding Pt. I"
12. Blondie " One Way or Another"
13. Bob Dylan "Tangled Up in Blue"
14. Bon Jovi "Livin' on a Prayer"
15. Cheap Trick "Hello There"
16. Devo "Uncontrollable Urge"
17. Dinosaur Jr. "Feel the Pain"
18. Disturbed "Down with the Sickness"
19. Dream Theater "Panic Attack"
20. Duran Duran "Hungry Like the Wolf"
21. Elvis Costello "Pump It Up"
22. Fleetwood Mac "Go Your Own Way"
23. Foo Fighters "Everlong"
24. Guns N' Roses "Shackler's Revenge"
25. Interpol "PDA"
26. Jane's Addiction "Mountain Song"
27. Jethro Tull "Aqualung"
28. Jimmy Eat World "The Middle"
29. Joan Jett "Bad Reputation"
30. Journey "Anyway You Want It"
31. Judas Priest "Painkiller"
32. Kansas "Carry On Wayward Son"
33. L7 "Pretend We're Dead"
34. Lacuna Coil "Our Truth"
35. Linkin Park "One Step Closer"
36. Lit "My Own Worst Enemy"
37. Lush "De-Luxe"
38. Mastodon "Colony of Birchmen"
39. Megadeth "Peace Sells"
40. Metallica " Battery " 1980's
41. Mighty Mighty Bosstones "Where'd You Go" 1990's
42. Modest Mouse "Float On" 2000's
43. Motorhead "Ace of Spades" 1980's
44. Nirvana "Drain You" 1990's
45. Norman Greenbaum "Spirit in the Sky" 1960's
46. Panic at the Disco "Nine in the Afternoon" 2000's
47. Paramore "That's What You Get" 2000's
48. Pearl Jam "Alive" 1990's
49. Presidents of the USA "Lump" 1990's
50. Rage Against the Machine "Testify" 1990's
51. Ratt "Round & Round" 1980's
52. Red Hot Chili Peppers "Give it Away" 1990's
53. Rise Against "Give it All" 2000's
54. Rush "The Trees" 1970's
55. Silversun Pickups "Lazy Eye" 2000's
56. Smashing Pumpkins "Today" 1990's
57. Social Distortion "I Was Wrong" 1990's
58. Sonic Youth "Teenage Riot" 1980's
59. Soundgarden "Spoonman" 1990's
60. Squeeze "Cool for Cats" 1970's
61. Steely Dan "Bodhitsattva" 1970's
62. Steve Miller Band "Rock'n Me" 1970's
63. Survivor "Eye of the Tiger" 1980's
64. System of a Down "Chop Suey" 2000's
65. Talking Heads "Psycho Killer" 1970's
66. Tenacious D "Master Exploder" 2000's
67. Testament "Souls of Black" 1990's
68. The Donnas "New Kid in School" 2000's
69. The Go-Go's "We Got the Beat" 1980's
70. The Grateful Dead " Alabama Getaway" 1980's
71. The Guess Who "American Woman" 1970's
72. The Muffs "Kids in America " 1990's
73. The Offspring "Come Out & Play (Keep 'em Separated)" 1990's
74. The Replacements "Alex Chilton" 1980's
75. The Who "Pinball Wizard" 1960's
76. Abnormality "Visions" 2000's
77. Anarchy Club "Get Clean" 2000's
78. Bang Camaro "Night Lies" 2000's
79. Breaking Wheel "Shoulder to the Plow" 2000's
80. The Libyans "Neighborhood" 2000's
81. The Main Drag "A Jagged Gorgeous Winter" 2000's
82. Speck "Conventional Lover" 2000's
83. The Sterns "Supreme Girl" 2000's
84. That Handsome Devil "Rob the Prez-O-Dent" 2000's

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/14/rock-band-disc-content-can-be-ported-to-rb2-for-5/

"owners of the original Rock Band will have the ability to export most of the Rock Band disc tracks and upgrade them into Rock Band 2 gameplay-the first time ever in videogame history!" You will need to pay an unlocking fee to do so, which will be "under 5 dollars."

if this is right then I WANT, that family of songs RULES

Lush "De-Luxe"

:-O ^_^

61. Steely Dan "Bodhitsattva"

feel the pain WIN
float on WIN
drain you WIN
pretend that we're WIN

ps have played Hey about 40 times so far tonight.

Very nice setlist. I was really skeptical about the Rock band 1 import thing actually being true, but that is pretty awesome!

Lush? Bikini Kill?? a track from "Chinese Democracy"?!!?!?

Harmonix loves to hire musicians. Most of the staffers play an instrument, and if you're in a band, you can take indefinite unpaid leave to go on tour and pursue your dreams, a policy they liken to maternity leave.

hello dream job

omg

Both my wife and I should try to work there.

wows

teenage riot!

i remember telling my buddy like 3 weeks ago "rock band is ok but it'd be better with psycho killer." that shit is the best 8 beers and sing song ever.

if only my other drunken wish came true: new noise by refused

The folks on The Today Show rock out to Bon Jovi:

http://www.bestweekever.tv/2008/07/30/lets-go-to-willard-so-i-can-slit-my-own-throat/

http://img258.imageshack.us/img258/4786/rockbanddciu4.jpg

eh, all the songs you can get for rockband 1 right now
linky

Are there any black musicians in any Harmonix guitar/band games?

Harmonix is in Boston, so obviously they're racist.

That is a joke.

Why does black people never want to rock?

Cult of Personality's in the new one, innit?

Oh, and Slash, of course.

And Chuck D in Kool Thing.

Phil Lynott

Tom Morello, too, come to think of it.

rush plays rush on rock band!

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/cc_insider/2008/07/rush-plays-rock.html

loooool

I'm playing Rock Band 2 this weekend, I think. Should be fun.

Cool. Are you in Boston? There's a chance I'll be getting a preview, too.

wtf how

I'm in Oakland. My pal writes for the mags.

I played Skate 2 at an advanced press screening a few weeks ago. They fixed the two main problems I had with the first one, so I'm pretty excited.

Which two problems were those?

Can't get off your board and walk around / can't grab coping.

Played this last night. Disappointing. It's like they just released the first game with new songs, and even made it harder to unlock songs. Maybe it's better if you have the $300 drumkit, but the regular new kit isn't much better than the old one. And a lot of the early songs in the playlist kinda suck, and are too easy even compared to the last one.

The following items have been shipped to you by Amazon.com:
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Qty Item Price Shipped Subtotal

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Amazon.com items (Sold by Amazon.com, LLC):

1 Rock Band 2 $59.99 1 $59.99

wow

I was just sucking it up at RB 1; I cannot complete "Green Grass and High Tides" on medium drums, and so I can't complete the solo tour.

That song was a tough nut for me to crack. The main thing I'd suggest is to refine the angle of your leg until you find a place that allows you to keep tapping without your leg getting tired. Also, I strongly recommend keeping your foot pressed down on the pedal when you're waiting for the next beat to come, instead of hovering above the pedal.

Also, make sure to use a chair that isn't too low. Drum stools tend to be a little higher than some chairs. Definitely don't drum while sitting on a couch.

They've really improved on the bass parts in 2.

ROCK BAND 2

So pissed that I haven't been able to unlock (and fail) Steely Dan yet, but I have the Foo Fighters & Motorhead & Sonic Youth to play (and fail), so it's all good! How "E-Pro" got a mid-level drum rating, tho, I don't know -- that damn song ties me up in knots. Also, if I get "Young Man Blues" one more damn time when I play a random set, I'm driving up to Cambridge and crapping on Harmonix's front stoop.

I was going to hold out for the full kit, but I figured that I could play w/ my old drum kit & buy the guitar when it's available. But my red pad isn't picking up drumroll hits (and occasionally misses straight-on baps, too), so wireless cymbals here I come!

BTW, I am available for all challenges & co-op nonsense via the DEFGWANK XBox Live handle. Let's fail at "Teen Age Riot" together!

I just unlocked everything from the get go. This is strictly a party game for me.

in Rock Band 2, when you play online can you hear the vocals from a remote player?

Are there any black musicians in any Harmonix guitar/band games?
"Singer of Faith No More in We Care A Lot is black."
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=57498

Move along; nothing to see here.

The Aerosmith song was written by black folks. Also: BLACK FRANCIS duh.

But seriously Harmonix and/or MTV give Prince whatever he wants so I can klump my way through "I Can Never Take The Place..." and "When You Were Mine"!!!!!

Bad Brains DLC

NB: Sevendust or King's X will not fill the quota.

If you can include Dick Dale on Guitar Hero, certainly you could include any number of funk or soul songs. You don't have to limit it to the five famous rock bands with black contributors.

That said, Phil Lynott was represented in GH.

why does black people not want rock (band)?

Beat It is in Guitar Hero World Tour-- does the guy actually playing guitar have to be black, to count?

This thread has taken an unsavoury turn.

the 20 free rb songs = shitty

I play Rock Band 2. Hell, I bought an X-Box (after getting it on the Wii) so that my wife could sing her beloved No Doubt songs (discussions about second/third/nth-wave ska can go elsewhere). WTB Radio Birdman DLC pack.

I can't believe I got banned from Live just in time for Drive-By Truckers DLC.

anyone yet tried "Sex Machine"?

8BITAR HERO

Awesome, I would kill to have this setup and working with Ninja Gaiden 2 or Contra.

OK Pixies are really hard for me to sing. I can nail some of the other stuff but gd it does not like it when I try to sing anything by Pixies. Boo.

I have to admit I REALLY want Beatles: Rock Band - I'm dying to try out those multipart vocal harmonies and all of Abbey Road...

Yeah I want to play that real bad.

I'm buying this tomorrow -- my wife decided we had to get it in preparation for Beatles Rock Band.

So... is Don't Stop available as a download yet?

If you are asking about "Don't Stop Believing", it is available.

Make sure to buy Rock Band 2, not 1.

Right. We're getting Rock Band 2. Any recommendations on what downloadable songs are worth getting? Or should I just download the stuff I know and love already?

Go with the stuff you know and love, but remember that some songs have fun vocals ... but boring drums. Or some songs are good songs, but not very fun to sing on karaoke. I love "Doolittle", for example, but most of those songs are pretty boring to play in the game. So it helps if the song actually features guitar and/or drums in a noticeable way ... but most of those songs are boring for girls to sing unless they happen to be hard rock chicks.

Also, if you want a challenge on drums, the Who songs are really fun and hard, as is "Ever Fallen in Love" by the Buzzcocks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_downloadable_songs_for_the_Rock_Band_series

My wife is really looking forward to doing the vocals -- any recommendations for stuff she'll enjoy?

What kind of music does she like?

Weezer + SoCal Pop-Punk, mostly.

No Doubt?

She loves No Doubt. That's a good idea. Lots of Gwen vocals there.

My suggestions: The Pretenders, Blondie, "Cherry Bomb", "My Sharona", the Police songs, "Moonage Daydream", The Ramones, "Interstate Love Song", "Roam", Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Duran Duran, "You're No Rock n Roll Fun", "Bandages", "Kickstart My Heart" & "Dr. Feelgood", "On a Plain", "Pretty in Pink", "Monkey Wrench", most of the No Doubt (especially "Sunday Morning"), "Sweetness", "Losing My Religion", "New Slang", etc.

I'm obsessed with this game but have no gaming system. How much do you think I could get a system/game/instrument package for used?

note to Mordy, bit late but fyi: you won't be able to play Beatles tracks on the regular RB2. you need to buy the special ed.

I read on the wiki that the Beatles disc will work with the RB2 equipment.

All currently available Rock Band peripherals will be compatible with their respective console version of The Beatles: Rock Band.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beatles_Rock_Band

You can even get a GHWT band kit right now from Gamestop for around $90 - pretty sure those instruments work on RB2?

I'm pretty sure they do. Almost everything is cross-compatible with RB2.

Mordy, i meant you will have to buy the Beatles disc to play any Beatles songs. i figured you could rent the disc and copy all the songs onto the HD (like with RB1) and that they would release downloadable songs that you could use with regular versions of the game, but Beatles songs will only work with the special ed disc. sorry, my post was poorly worded.

Ah. Yeah. I knew that already. I don't rent discs anyway. I've got a bunch of friends with Xbox's and we just swap em.

It does seem kind of lame that for all the selling they did of a Rock Band "platform", they eventually did the Guitar Hero thing with the separate disc/DLC store. Then again I can't completely blame them, since that strategy seems to have relatively failed them despite (in my casually considered opinion) RB having better taste in song selection in general, both online and on their discs. I mean... the fact that while Activision has been cashing in with Aerosmith and Metallica discs and more upcoming, while Harmonix spent this whole time seemingly going after The Beatles kind of shows it...

I think a lot more people are interested in The Beatles than in Aerosmith and Metallica discs combined. We only bought Rock Band because my wife decided we must have the Beatles disc.

I hope you're right!

I played Fall Out Boy "Dead on Arrival" like 6 times today and am now purchasing my first Fall Out Boy album as a direct result. Great fuckin song.

I've used my drums probably under 10 times and they're already broken. The pads work but it's not registering the pedal for some reason. Apparently something's wrong inside the actual pad apparatus (bad connection?) as the pedal worked fine plugged into a friend's set up. That shit kinda half-ruined a little drunken get-together a few weekends ago. :(

Pretty sure they'll replace them for free.

A question:

I bought RB1 a few months ago when Best Buy had it on sale for $10, so I could have it on hand to import into RB2 later on. Sadly, I missed the insane half-off RB2 sale at Gamestop (they sold out completely while I was at work) but I did manage to pick up GH:WT with a guitar, reasoning that it would give me something to do while I wait for another sale and provide a compatible second guitar. Months have gone by, I'm getting kind of bored and antsy, and what I want to know is this: if I buy DLC for RB1, will it be transferable to RB2 relatively easily later on?

DLC works for both RB's, I think.

My friend had very good things to say about the Beatles Rock Band. I guess he spent about three hours with it.

Ugh, I blew like $20 on songs for this over the weekend. "Number of the Beast" is awesomely fun though.

We love playing Number of the Beast. I wanna get the Green Day pack this week.

I've only got a pair of guitars, so we haven't tried vocals yet- does it make you do the whole"WOE TO THEE etc" speech? Because it should.

'Here Comes the Sun' looks incredibly trippy

After months of owning the game I finally decided to try out the DLC. 'Perfect Drug' is the only song I've ever played that is actually impossible to play on drums. 'Wolf like me' is dissapointingly boring on drums.
I'm very excited about downloading Doolitle but all the songs on the album are not difficult enough to be fun... or are they? Any DLC recommendations you might want to give out and save us some money?

Is there a thread around ILX for songs or bands that we would like to see on the series?

I was making a draft for that 'ultimate setlist' section on the Rock Band forums for no other reason that I've got to much free time and that I love giving myself false hopes. So far I've only completed my 60's section :P

60's (14)

Cream - Tales of Brave Ulysses (Psychedelic Rock, 1967)
Dick Dale and the Deltones - Misirlou (Surf rock, 1962)
Fleetwood Mac - Oh Well Pt. 1 (Classic Rock, 1969)
Jimi Hendrix - All Along the Watchtower (Psychedelic Rock, 1968)
King Crimson - In the Court of the Crimson King (Progressive, 1969)
Love - A house is not a motel (Psychedelic Rock, 1967)
Marlena Shaw - Woman of the Ghetto (Funk, 1969)
Spirit - Dark Eyed Woman (Hard Rock, 1969)
The Animals - It's My Life (Rock, 1965)
The Kinks - You Really Got Me (Garage Rock, 1964)
The Standells - Dirty Water (Garage, 1966)
The Stooges - No Fun (Garage Rock, 1969)
The Guess Who - Undun (Pop-rock, 1969)
The Zombies – Time Of The Season (Pop-Rock, 1968)

I'd love to see the entire Appetite for Destruction instead of the entire Chinese Democracy.

I want more soul & r&b.

I'm very excited about downloading Doolitle but all the songs on the album are not difficult enough to be fun... or are they?

They are not difficult enough to be fun. The vocals are the only part worth anything (and they're more fun than they are challenging), so I would suggest just getting "Here Comes Your Man", "Debaser", and "Gouge Away" and skipping the rest.

I mean, imagine playing this song on "Rock Band":

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K1GFWRicUmU

'Perfect Drug' is the only song I've ever played that is actually impossible to play on drums.

Have you tried the Who stuff on Expert? Keith Moon was a maniac.

'Perfect Drug' is the only song I've ever played that is actually impossible to play on drums.

Have you tried the Who stuff on Expert? Keith Moon was a maniac.

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― Your heartbeat soun like sasquatch feet (polyphonic), jueves 6 de agosto de 2009 10:15 PM

I play 'Who Are You' and 'Pinball Wizard' fairly good on Expert. I get 92% on the former and 94% on the latter. I still haven't downloaded any other Who songs. They're difficult but I can at least understand what's going on in there. On 'the perfect drug' I find myself jumping like a crazed crack monkey, no idea what's happening on that one. I have never been able to finish it on Expert.

Have you tried "Battery" by Metallica?

"Everlong" is surprisingly difficult.

"Won't Get Fooled Again" has a really tough section.

"March of the Pigs" is hard, too.

Oh holy shit, somehow I missed that a bunch of Spinal Tap songs hit the RB store this week (and proper Spinal Tap, too, not the weak sauce from their new album we got a few weeks back:

"(Funky) Sex Farm" (160 / $2)
"(Listen to the) Flower People (Reggae Stylee)" (160 / $2)
"America" (160 / $2)
"Big Bottom" (160 / $2)
"Cups and Cakes" (160 / $2)
"Gimme Some Money" (160 / $2)
"Heavy Duty" (160 / $2)
"Hell Hole" (160 / $2)
"Rock 'n' Roll Creation" (160 / $2)
"Stonehenge" (160 / $2)
"Tonight I'm Gonna Rock You Tonight" (160 / $2)

I'll be giving the new versions of "Sex Farm" and "Flower People" a miss, but that's not bad at all.

http://www.brainygamer.com/the_brainy_gamer/2009/08/rock-band-university.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lego_Rock_Band

November 3rd, 2009

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5b/Lego-david-bowie.jpg

lol bustin makes me FEEL GOOD

I'm probably going to be shunned by ILM for admitting this but I am super fucking hyped about Electric Six songs coming to rock band, even if there's no "Dance Commander."

Yet.

not really into them, but c'mon how is GAY BAR not gonna be fun to play/sing

START A NUCLEE-YUH WORE

http://img146.imageshack.us/img146/6238/legoiggypop05xlarge.jpg

Update: yes Gay Bar is totally awesome in Rock Band. Still need Dance Commander though. I WENT TO THE STORE! TO GET MORE FIAH! TO START THE WAR etc

Meh. My memories of the Electric Six are still colored by the knowledge of what the singer did to the rest of the band once they put out their major label debut and he & the record company decided that things should change just a lil' bit...

Do they actually put out these Legos in real Lego? I would buy Iggy Lego.

i finally played this tonight! twas fun!! though i will say, everything except the singing got a lot harder when a little drunk. and Beatles Rock Band is pretty awesome, religious almost

http://www.smh.com.au/ffximage/2008/02/06/maharishi_070208_wideweb__470x362,0.jpg

The full Sgt Pepper album is on the live marketplace now. Kinda tempted, and at 1080 points I think it's less than they originally said it was going to be? I'll probably grab it.

Friends and I played through Sgt. Peppers last night. Kind of a bad fit for Rock Band. A lot of songs have you playing an oboe with the guitar or an orchestra or etc. But some of the visuals are trippy as hell.

http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/464452/green-day-perform-american-idiot-on-rock-band.jhtml#id=1615459

http://www.mtv.com/shared/promoimages/bands/g/green_day/rock_band/clip/seg_1/140x105.jpg

The full Sgt Pepper album is on the live marketplace now. Kinda tempted, and at 1080 points I think it's less than they originally said it was going to be? I'll probably grab it.

― JimD, Tuesday, November 17, 2009 10:18 AM (3 weeks ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

i did it :/

Green Day Rock Band is a full release? Damn. I actually do like Green Day, but wow that's kind of a big step down, isn't it? I guess the music game industry decline forced their hand...

Yeah the Activision business model is kinda repulsive, but makes a shitload of money :/

I'm wondering how many bands left could support a full RB/GH release. Stones/Led Zep/the Who? U2?

wld buy RB Radiohead, tho

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-06-10-rockband10_ST_N.htm
http://kotaku.com/5559801/rock-band-3-teaches-you-to-rock-with-real-guitars--keyboards

Video at USA Today is worth watching to see Bohemian Rhapsody with the keyboard in action. I like that it's getting more and more like the "real thing", though probably a bit less of a party machine for the wider audience. I want to see the Pro mode with real notation and the the new guitars.

Wondering how much the keyboard will cost, and how long before people get it to work as a standard midi controller on a computer...

I still get a little enticed when I see these upcoming song lists, though I don't think I've played a single one of these games since RB2 maybe two years ago? "Combat Baby"! "Portions for Foxes"! "Just Like Heaven"! "Rainbow in the Dark"!

sounds hard to me! (and I play guitar)

I would be more interested in picking this up if my drum set didn't die of old age and neglect. =(

Rock Band Beatles is easily the best thing they've ever made, fwiw. I play Rock Band games pretty regularly as a karaoke machine and it is almost always Beatles just because of the harmonies and the fact that all of the songs are so popular than everyone knows the melodies and some of the lyrics.

this seems a bit more to my taste: def jam rapstar!!!

Konami and 4mm Games issued a joint release this morning announcing a distribution deal for Def Jam Rapstar. Konami will help get the game on shelves for Xbox 360, PS3, and Wii this fall. Autumn Games will also receive some sort of co-publishing credit.

Rapstar will contain over 40 songs at launch, including specific tracks for the UK and European versions of the game. Here's a new list of confirmed tracks for the game.

* 2 Pac - I Get Around
* 50 Cent - I Get Money
* Dr. Dre featuring Snoop Dogg - Nuthin’ But a “G” Thang
* Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx - Gold Digger
* Lil’ Wayne - A Milli
* Notorius B.I.G. - Juicy
* Slick Rick - Children’s Story
* T.I. featuring Rihanna - Live Your Life
* Wu-Tang Clan - C.R.E.A.M.
* Young Jeezy featuring Kanye West - Put On goty 2011 confirmed

No word on if the game will support nine mics or ship with enough little white neck towels to properly convey the full Wu-Tang performance experience. When I played the game back at E3, it had "They Reminisce Over You" by Pete Rock & CL Smooth in it, as well, so this list is significantly shorter than the one we currently have on our game page. I'm playing an updated version of this tonight at a Konami event, so I'll try to figure out if that's still in there.
- http://www.giantbomb.com/news/konami-goes-def/1948/

* Biz Markie - Just A Friend
* Drake - Best I Ever Had
* Ice Cube - It Was A Good Day
* Outkast - So Fresh, So Clean
* Pete Rock and CL Smooth - They Reminisce Over You (T.R.O.Y.)
* Redman and Method Man - Da Rockwilder
* Salt-N-Pepa - Push It

is it basically rap Singstar + the GH/RB tour mode progression? no thanks

Prices and pics for new instruments:
http://www.destructoid.com/pre-e3-keyboards-and-pro-instruments-for-rock-band-3-detailed-priced-176055.phtml

$80 for keyboard (about what you'd expect for a cheap 25-key midi controller), $130 for game+KB bundle, $40 for keyboard pro adapter to use a standard midi KB(!)

new guitar ($150) is a big step up, midi instrument wise - 6 individual strings, 17 frets

i don't suspect these are gonna be huge hits in the marketplace, though it's all fake instrument fantasy fodder for me

Guitar Hero is for idiots! Go buy a real guitar and learn to play!
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=4718843150#!/group.php?gid=2214935568&ref=ts

1)Okay, great, you can play guitar, just like 75% of my friends, wow, that's amazing. j/k

2)There are far too many guitar based bands these days IMO. Maybe we should leave guitar buying up to the ppl who REALLY REALLY want to learn, rather than having a million untalented kids starting shitty bands because they were good at Rock Band and think 'Hey! Anyone can do it!'

3)Actually, the best advice you could give is "Buy a C++ programming manual!" Instead of spending his adolescence chasing basically a crapshoot dream (and doing tremendous damage to his ears & liver), the former Rock Band enthusiast will find himself poised to make serious $$$ in the job market, actually creating the video games he loves so much! Plus being rich will do far more for your sex life than being in a band.

Probably should scratch that last sentence.

welp, i bought the game and keys for PS3 and will update my progress here as I get incredibly frustrated and ultimately chuck the thing in the closet.
Stay tuned! It's gonna be fascinating!

As soon as Amazon delivers it. In 5-7 business days.
Hold your breath!

as much as anything, it's an investment for when there's the inevitable classical piano teacher game
gf is really unhappy about this as she surmises (correctly) that she's gonna be forced to listen to me play "Cold as Ice" like ninety zillion times this month.

yeeeeees!

you going to go for the Pro mode?

on keys, eventually.
gonna blog here bout it

I declare:

Keyboard pro mode: fun and intuitive
Drum pro mode (with two cymbals): Fuckin swete
Song list: Kinda terrible
Menus and navigation: Fixed

http://createdigitalmusic.com/2010/10/27/hands-on-rock-band-3s-keytar-a-surprisingly-serious-80-midi-keyboard/

game delivered
no controller yet

got the keyboard about a week ago
putting in about two, three hours a day; maybe an hour on scales and getting basics then some online non-pro keys
this is hella fun and my forearm REALLY HURTS

finally had a chance to play some rock band for the first time ever today and think we might've found something our family can genuinely bond over. esp. w/the beatles version. lots of fun having 4 player w/2 little bros and dad

Get extra microphones if you don't have em yet

I needed a new guitar and a new drum set so I bought the beatles rock band bundle on amazon for $120. If you buy this stuff separately its like $200+ so I saved some money (I guess not spending the money is savings too but whatever).

I probably could have gotten things cheaper on craigslist or whatever but at least the stuff is brand new.

Got RB3 + keyboard for xmas, enjoying pro keys a lot. Grabbed all the Billy Joel dlc, OMG IT'S HARD. But ace fun.

Only thing I'm finding jarring is that on a real piano, if I hit a wrong note, I can tell whether it was a tone too high or a semitone too low or whatever, then adjust accordingly. In this, if I hit a wrong one, I just get that CLUNK noise, so recovering is a lot more difficult.

Have played with the keyboard round at a friend's, and speaking as a non piano player, normal keys is much the same as guitar, was playing on expert no problem. Pro keys otoh - gah! Impossible! Are there tutorials to e.g. tell you which finger to hit which key with, or whatever?

Only thing I'm finding jarring is that on a real piano, if I hit a wrong note, I can tell whether it was a tone too high or a semitone too low or whatever, then adjust accordingly. In this, if I hit a wrong one, I just get that CLUNK noise, so recovering is a lot more difficult.

It has the same problem for guitar, unfortunately. But that's the part that makes it a game instead of playing an instrument I guess.

why is drumming so hard on this

was successfully making my guitar gently weep but my drums were howling in agony

What level are you playing it on? I think easy is actually a little harder than medium in some ways because so much of the drum beat is missing.

Yeah, there's a whole bunch of pro keys lessons built in - scales, chords, fingerings etc. Find them a bit tedious to trawl through myself (just doing it for the achievements bah) but I can imagine them being great for a keyboard beginner.

so if get RB3 - all the songs on my hd from RB2 are available yes? What about the songs on the RB2 disk? Do I have to rip them to the hd?

Almost all the downloaded rb2 songs can be transferred over. the ones that were on the original game soundtrack cannot.

I dunno whether it's different for RB2, but I've managed to import all the songs from Lego Rock Band into RB3. It's a bit of a faff though, first I needed the code from the card that came in the original Lego Rock Band pack, then I had to put that code into their website to get a Live Marketplace code I could redeem, then that allowed me to spend 800 points on a track ripper thingy which I had to download to the xbox, then it let me put in the LRB disc and rip the tracks from there onto the hard drive. I'm sure there must be an easier way.

Method also varies for each console.

I like rb3 so far. They pro keys are fun even though I'm not that good at them. I find that practicing the songs at 70% speed is more engaging than the scales/tutorials. I still need drums. And maybe the fancy pro guitar. But I will probably just get frustrated by it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pikWPRVFWJE

Took me many years, but I finally have been playing this game. Grinding through World Tour mode in RB2. Getting bored of guitar pretty fast - I'm at a bad difficulty spike, where Medium is boring but Hard is generally too tough for to handle. Lovin' drums though, probably because I can't play them at all in reality!

I hit the same issue with guitar. I actually had to relearn medium with my pinky on the orange button and work the index to cover both yellow and red. Kinda haven't played in a long time, but it's been summer vacation.

The Guitar Hero guitars are much easier to play, though they look more toy-like. My friend had a wireless Guitar Hero guitar that worked with Rock Band. It was my axe of choice.

Yeah, the mistake a lot of folks make in switching from medium to hard is trying to get the pinky to take on the extra load. Matt's right, much better to give the shifts to the index.

Yeah, I use the GH3 Guitar still. The best.

prooobably shouldn't have waited until a few hours before the end of the sale but whoops

virtually all RB1+RB2 era DLC is on sale, 50% off. just picked up a bunch of singles, thinking about dropping on Doolittle or Blood Sugar Sex Magik ($10 each). any recs on fun to play tracks?

doolittle has a ton of tracks that are boring as hell to play. nothing happens in them.

oh yeah, you did say something about that a few years ago in this thread... mmm.. guess i'll pass. i got enough stuff tonight anyway

Gouge Away, Debaser, and Here Comes Your Man are all great fun of course, but even those have very simple charts.

i'd probably get them if i wasn't playing these pretty much by myself... as you're bring up the issue, i can see how they might not play that well. still hemming and hawing over BSSM.

also on topic - how's Rock Band Blitz?

dunno, heard it was okay?

if they had done this sale two years ago i would buy a ton of them. but i haven't played any fake instrument games in like a year.

Blitz is pretty good fun, it's really just Amplitude 2, if you ever played that. I seem to suck at it. Was thinking it'd be more fun if I had friends to compete against, I'm the only person I know playing it so far, so yeah, if you all join in that'll make me happy. Until you all beat me.

Think I spent something like £30 in that sale this week, AM AN IDIOT. Did pick up the whole of Doolittle, don't really mind playing simple parts if they're in songs I like hearing anyway.

Oddly enough, the sale we discussed is still going, just unadvertised

Finally tried out Rock Band Blitz. Yup, it's just the newest in the Frequency/Amplitude/Rock Band mobile series, but hey, it's good, cute. Was very very happy when I realized "Death On Two Legs" was in this (and if I ever open up my RB 3 kit, I can play it in that too!)

I always enjoyed playing this, but I never feel like getting out all the crap I need to play it. Plus I have the wii version and you have to put the wiimotes in the guitars. Pain in the ass.

I started playing Pro Guitar on RB3 last night:

http://cdn.arstechnica.net/GAMING/PROGUITAR.JPG

As a person who does not play guitar in real life I am finding it very very difficult to train my dumb hands to do things, but the tutorial system is very good imo.

that isn't my dumb hand ftr

genuinely curious how your experience will be. learning to play/fret guitar is rough

At the very least it's nice to not have to worry about developing calluses. The strings are soft, with a lot of flexibility.

Where did you pick the guitar up? I've been close to buying a kit and starting on pro drums recently but prices seem pretty nuts these days.

Acquired it from a friend. The non-pro Rock Band 2 guitar I bought last year cost more than it did retail, and was not in mint shape to say the least. (Rock Band 3 guitars are hard to find, pro or otherwise, because the game sold so poorly.) One of the benefits of the Pro guitar seems to be that no one really put much mileage on them because of how much harder they are to learn to play.

Yeah I can't find drums or pro guitars for sub-£100 anywhere, and can't bring myself to pay over around £40 for either. Meanwhile the pro keyboard (which I bought day one for some crazy price and love) seems to have dipped below £20 now, which is infuriating.

Been playing quite a bit recently though - turned it on last month for the first time in at least a year and found my pro keys ranking had dropped from the 400s to the 800s. Was incensed, have clawed my way back to the 600s now, but the problem at this stage is that the songs I haven't already got decent scores for are the songs I just don't like listening to, so have tended to avoid playing. Makes it a bit of a slog from here on.

Oh and the other thing I did recently was figure out how to add all the tracks from RB1 and 2 to my library. First was easy, just picked up a used copy for a couple of quid and then the game lets you export everything to your hard drive. Second one, I didn't even need to buy the game - there's a code system but there are dudes on ebay selling that code for around £6.

It's a real bummer how this stuff just disappeared from stores shortly after Rock Band 3 came out. I've resorted to checking ebay and gumtree every now and then in the hope that another kid has moved out of home, because I'm not paying $100 for a plastic keyboard.

http://www.ndolger.com/configuring-usb-keyboard-with-rock-band-3/

Huh. Didn't realize they started putting out DLC again last month.

They did, and somehow it broke all the leaderboards (on 360 at least). Pretty infuriating.

http://madcatz.com/rock-band-is-back/

wow that gabe guitar looks horrible
if they make good on legacy controllers and DLC working, that would be great
(too bad I jumped ship from Xbox to PS4)
and they dropped keyboard, it looks like?

Yeah, no to cross platform DLC compatibility, unsurprisingly. And honestly I'd consider buying an Xbox One just for this one game, if it wasn't for the fact they're dropping keys. But without keys I just don't want this, regardless of platform.

Harmonix seem like one of the good guys.. they made a SHITLOAD off of rock band, too.. but also thanks to viacom totally fucking up projections

http://www.polygon.com/2013/7/17/4532194/viacom-loses-harmonix-lawsuit-must-pay-299m-disputed-bonuses

sounds like typical corporate accounting to me, viacom "won" since they got to hold on to ~400mil over those years it was litigated

Final set list for 4:

.38 Special - "Caught Up In You"
4 Non Blondes - "What's Up?"
Aerosmith - "Toys in the Attic"
Arctic Monkeys - "Arabella"
Avenged Sevenfold - "Hail to the King"
Benjamin Booker - "Violent Shiver"
The Black Keys - "Fever"
The Both - "Milwaukee"
Brad Paisley ft. Keith Urban - "Start a Band"
Brandi Carlisle - "Mainstream Kid"
Cake - "Short Skirt/Long Jacket"
The Cure - "Friday I'm In Love"
Dark Wheels - "V-Bomb"
Disturbed - "Prayer"
Dream Theater - "Metropolis - Part 1 'The Miracle and the Sleeper'"
Duck & Cover - "Knock Em Down"
Eddie Japan - “Albert”
Elvis Presley - "Suspicious Minds"
Fall Out Boy - “Centuries”
Fleetwood Mac - "You Make Loving Fun"
Foo Fighters - "The Feast and the Famine"
Gary Clark, Jr. - "Ain't Messin' 'Round"
Gin Blossoms - "Follow You Down"
Grouplove - "Tongue Tied"
Halestorm - “I Miss The Misery”
Heart - “Kick It Out”
Heaven’s Basement – “I Am Electric”
Imagine Dragons - "I Bet My Life"
Jack White - "Lazaretto"
Jeff Allen - "Recession"
Johnny Blazes and the Pretty Boys - "Cold Clear Light"
Judas Priest - "Halls of Valhalla"
The Killers - "Somebody Told Me"
Lightning Bolt - “Dream Genie”
Little Big Town - "Little White Church"
Live - "All Over You"
Lucius - "Turn It Around"
Lynyrd Skynyrd - "That Smell"
Mark Ronson feat. Bruno Mars - "Uptown Funk"
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones - "The Impression That I Get"
Mumford & Sons - "The Wolf"
The Outfield - "Your Love"
Ozzy Osbourne - "Miracle Man"
Paramore - "Still Into You"
The Protomen - "Light Up The Night"
Queens of the Stone Age - "My God is the Sun"
R.E.M. - "The One I Love"
Rick Derringer - “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo”
Rush - “A Passage To Bangkok”
Scandal - "The Warrior"
Scorpions - “No One Like You”
Slydigs – “Light The Fuse”
Soul Remnants – “Dead Black (Heart of Ice)”
Soundgarden - "Superunknown"
Spin Doctors - "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong"
St. Vincent - "Birth in Reverse"
System of a Down – “Spiders”
Tijuana Sweetheart - "Pistol Whipped"
Van Halen - "Panama"
Van Morrison - "Brown Eyed Girl"
The Warning - "Free Falling"
White Denim - “At Night In Dreams”
The Who - "The Seeker"

Worst setlist for a main series title?
I mean... "What's Up?"
There's still at least a dozen or so good songs in there, but.. yeah, desire to drop $200 on a new band set is diminishing.
Also, lol at The Protomen somehow making it in there

Yeah pretty bad. Got a feeling this and the new GH are both going to flop hugely.

Dream Theater - "Metropolis - Part 1 'The Miracle and the Sleeper'"

loooooooooooool

hehe i love that choice!! would've preferred a track from Scenes from a Memory, though

That is one weird setlist. "That Smell"?!? Have they used up every single good Skynyrd song? And Suspicious Minds is a great karaoke song, but not exactly thrilling for anyone except the singer.

They got an amazing amount of success out of these games but they're crazy to think it hasn't run its course already.

will it ever again be as huge a popular phenomenon was it was circa RB2? unlikely...
(but it's in their interest to keep it going, IMO - as well as Guitar Hero - so that it might be a cultural mainstay like karaoke years down the line)
i believe that there's a lot of potential to exceed what they currently have in gameplay, interface, tracks, hardware, etc. that hasn't been explored.
hoping the revival of Amplitude does well, when it finally comes out...

https://www.fig.co/campaigns/rock-band-4-pc

Weird, desperate move coming off the disappointing holiday sales...

http://www.gameinformer.com/b/news/archive/2016/04/24/online-multiplayer-and-an-expansion-are-coming-to-rock-band-4.aspx

So they'll add multiplayer for Christmas? Maybe I can get a cheap band set by then...