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G3ck0
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 Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 4:38 pm Post subject: Rock Band 3 - Amazing! |
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Oh my god. Rock Band Pro sounds so awesome! Now I am gonna have to buy one of those real guitar and keyboards though :\. I can't wait for this, I reckon I'm gonna start saving now.
And here's a video of it 
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-06-10-rockband10_ST_N.htm
I am so damn excited for this, I can't wait. It is going to be my GOTY easily.
| Quote: | •Better story. Design your own characters and session musicians from improved character models and watch their story unfold throughout the game. Your band members are seen getting into the van to go to a show, and practicing as well as performing. They even appear as you choose songs to play. "It is a really cool way to make sure you are always in the narrative no matter which mode you are in," Teasdale says. "The entire game is essentially one story of your band."
Everything you do earns achievements in the goal-based career mode. "Previously our career modes weren't really about getting better as a Rock Band player, it was about investing time," Teasdale says. "We developed this entirely new career mode based around unlocking achievement-like goals to show your progression through the game, and also give you incentives to get better.
"We have hundreds and hundreds of these goals across instruments and gameplay modes and across (downloadable content). It is a really great way to finish Rock Band in your way, based on your skill, and not on some predetermined path of songs."
•More fluid gameplay. Players can jump in or out of songs without interrupting a song already in progress. They can also change instruments or difficulty settings during a song without pausing. "It's a really cool way to get rid of that friction that players have when they are in a party situation," Teasdale says.
Another party-friendly mode, "road challenges," is described by Teasdale as "taking Rock Band 1 and 2's band world tour (mode) and merging it with Mario Party. We tried to find a way to get the core experience people had playing the band world tour and the things they really enjoyed, like getting the van or getting random set lists, and putting that into a setting that you can finish in an evening instead of a week. So now we have all these tours which are actually you going on a tour of the East Coast or touring across the world, and you are finishing that in three hours or whatever time you think you have to play."
•Revamped song-filtering system. With the Rock Band library expected to grow to about 2,000 songs by year's end, it has grown too big for simply scrolling. With the new system, "you can say, 'only show me songs in Rock Band 3' or 'only songs under three minutes' or 'Eighties metal songs from my (downloadable) collection,' " Teasdale says. "It's a really cool way to take your full library down to a manageable list of songs."
Not to be forgotten, the keyboards' addition — along with carrying over the three-part harmonies from The Beatles: Rock Band and new Green Day: Rock Band games — means that "you can play as a seven -player band," Teasdale says, "which is an amazing experience."
•Rock Band Pro. This new music learning mode lets players develop real-world music-playing fundamentals for keyboards, guitars and drums. More realistic music notations replace the standard color-coded notes during gameplay. For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum.
Two new guitar controllers in the works have actual strings where you strum; one is a full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster from Fender. "It can tell where your fingers are based on technology in the neck and the bridge of the guitar. No buttons," Drake says. "While you're playing it, it feels exactly like playing a real guitar," because that's what you're doing.
The other is a Fender Mustang Pro controller from accessory maker Mad Catz with a field of buttons in each fret. As your fingers compress the smaller non-colored buttons on that guitar's neck, your finger positions are represented in the game's display. "You can go from plucking single notes to power chords and bar chords, we have crazy stuff like tapping and slides," Dubrofsky says. "If you ever had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way ... you are really going to like Rock Band 3."
For drums, three new cymbals are added to the standard four drum pads, and you are forced to play the correct cymbal at the right time. "It really immerses you more. You feel more like a drummer," Dubrofsky says. "It's not only for expert levels. You can come in on easy and actually play Pro drums. We have all the different levels established. It's actually really fun. You are playing up on the high hat or down on the snare, and it feels more like a kit than ever before."
On keyboards, Sussman says, "we're actually utilizing the full two-octave range that the keyboard controller has. Everything that you are playing, whether you are playing on easy or expert, is accurate musical information. The track looks like a real keyboard track, and you are playing notes on the keyboard that if you were to step away from the game and were to play on a real piano, they would be the right notes."
Pro players can use the mode for private practice or incorporate it while others play the game's standard arcade modes. "You can be an expert keys-player playing with an all easy band, no problem," Drake says. |
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grim-one
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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Wow full six-string guitar. That's hardcore. Wonder how much it'll cost. Full electric guitar plus some sort of tech for sensing finger positions? Sounds expensive
I wonder how they'll visualize that on the screen? 5 scrolling notes won't do for 6 strings with different positions on the length of the neck (and all the other stuff that comes with strings).
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Last edited by grim-one on Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:47 pm, edited 1 time in total
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Sin Ogaris
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:36 pm Post subject: |
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I'd rather not spend over a grand on a game thanks, Harmonix.
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G3ck0
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 5:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Sin Ogaris wrote: | | I'd rather not spend over a grand on a game thanks, Harmonix. |
Then don't, you don't need any expensive instruments to play it, you can use absolutely any guitar controller to play it. It's for people who want something more realistic. Just like you don't need the Ion drums to play it, but I got them because they are more realistic than the base set.
And grim-one, I think this line answers your question:
| Quote: | | For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum. |
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Appel
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:14 pm Post subject: |
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I hope you can use a MIDI keyboard. I've got a 25 key AXIOM controller that would be perfect.
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grim-one
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 6:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | | For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum. |
Awesome, sounds like The Matrix!
... and too hardcore for me =)
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Eyce
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:33 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-06-10-rockband10_VA_N.htm
| Quote: | Development of Rock Band 3 began immediately after the September 2008 release of Rock Band 2, says project director Daniel Sussman at Cambridge, Mass.-based Harmonix.
As work continued, the music category's slide in sales made the design team deepen their focus. "We saw a kind of staleness in terms of game-play innovation," Sussman says. "Really, the main focus of Rock Band 3 development was finding new ways to experience the music and actually doubling down, if you will, on our investment in compelling game play.
"We are adding a new instrument (a 25-key, fully functioning MIDI keyboard) and we're adding a whole new mode, which is designed basically to answer that staleness factor."
The result, he says, is "an experience that is both accessible to players who are just getting into this thing, and builds something for the hard-core player who is maybe a little bored with where music games are."
Sussman and several key members of the Rock Band team (Harmonix senior designers Sylvain Dubrofsky and Dan Teasdale, and public relations gurus John Drake of Harmonix and Jeff Castaneda of MTV Games; you can see them all playing the game in the accompanying video) recently demonstrated Rock Band 3 for USA TODAY's Game Hunters and offered a test drive of the new keyboard controller, as well as the game's new authentic Pro mode aimed at helping players develop skills usable on real instruments.
"Everybody who wants to keep playing on the instruments they already have, we have enhanced new features and new gameplay for you," Dubrofsky says. "It's up to you to decide where you take this."
More on the advances for Rock Band 3 (due for the holidays for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS):
•Better story. Design your own characters and session musicians from improved character models and watch their story unfold throughout the game. Your band members are seen getting into the van to go to a show, and practicing as well as performing. They even appear as you choose songs to play. "It is a really cool way to make sure you are always in the narrative no matter which mode you are in," Teasdale says. "The entire game is essentially one story of your band."
Everything you do earns achievements in the goal-based career mode. "Previously our career modes weren't really about getting better as a Rock Band player, it was about investing time," Teasdale says. "We developed this entirely new career mode based around unlocking achievement-like goals to show your progression through the game, and also give you incentives to get better.
"We have hundreds and hundreds of these goals across instruments and gameplay modes and across (downloadable content). It is a really great way to finish Rock Band in your way, based on your skill, and not on some predetermined path of songs."
•More fluid gameplay. Players can jump in or out of songs without interrupting a song already in progress. They can also change instruments or difficulty settings during a song without pausing. "It's a really cool way to get rid of that friction that players have when they are in a party situation," Teasdale says.
Another party-friendly mode, "road challenges," is described by Teasdale as "taking Rock Band 1 and 2's band world tour (mode) and merging it with Mario Party. We tried to find a way to get the core experience people had playing the band world tour and the things they really enjoyed, like getting the van or getting random set lists, and putting that into a setting that you can finish in an evening instead of a week. So now we have all these tours which are actually you going on a tour of the East Coast or touring across the world, and you are finishing that in three hours or whatever time you think you have to play."
•Revamped song-filtering system. With the Rock Band library expected to grow to about 2,000 songs by year's end, it has grown too big for simply scrolling. With the new system, "you can say, 'only show me songs in Rock Band 3' or 'only songs under three minutes' or 'Eighties metal songs from my (downloadable) collection,' " Teasdale says. "It's a really cool way to take your full library down to a manageable list of songs."
Not to be forgotten, the keyboards' addition — along with carrying over the three-part harmonies from The Beatles: Rock Band and new Green Day: Rock Band games — means that "you can play as a seven -player band," Teasdale says, "which is an amazing experience."
•Rock Band Pro. This new music learning mode lets players develop real-world music-playing fundamentals for keyboards, guitars and drums. More realistic music notations replace the standard color-coded notes during gameplay. For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum.
Two new guitar controllers in the works have actual strings where you strum; one is a full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster from Fender. "It can tell where your fingers are based on technology in the neck and the bridge of the guitar. No buttons," Drake says. "While you're playing it, it feels exactly like playing a real guitar," because that's what you're doing.
The other is a Fender Mustang Pro controller from accessory maker Mad Catz with a field of buttons in each fret. As your fingers compress the smaller non-colored buttons on that guitar's neck, your finger positions are represented in the game's display. "You can go from plucking single notes to power chords and bar chords, we have crazy stuff like tapping and slides," Dubrofsky says. "If you ever had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way ... you are really going to like Rock Band 3."
For drums, three new cymbals are added to the standard four drum pads, and you are forced to play the correct cymbal at the right time. "It really immerses you more. You feel more like a drummer," Dubrofsky says. "It's not only for expert levels. You can come in on easy and actually play Pro drums. We have all the different levels established. It's actually really fun. You are playing up on the high hat or down on the snare, and it feels more like a kit than ever before."
On keyboards, Sussman says, "we're actually utilizing the full two-octave range that the keyboard controller has. Everything that you are playing, whether you are playing on easy or expert, is accurate musical information. The track looks like a real keyboard track, and you are playing notes on the keyboard that if you were to step away from the game and were to play on a real piano, they would be the right notes."
Pro players can use the mode for private practice or incorporate it while others play the game's standard arcade modes. "You can be an expert keys-player playing with an all easy band, no problem," Drake says. |
Also for people who care, the first 22 songs in the track list:
| Quote: | 2000s
Combat Baby -- Metric
Dead End Friends -- Them Crooked Vultures
Get Free -- The Vines
Lasso -- Phoenix
Me Enamora -- Juanes
Oh My God -- Ida Maria
Portions of Foxes -- Rilo Kiley
The Hardest Button to Button -- The White Stripes
1990s
Been Caught Stealing -- Jane's Addiction
In the Meantime -- Spacehog
Plush -- Stone Temple Pilots
Walkin' on the Sun -- Smash Mouth
1980s
Crazy Train -- Ozzy Osbourne
Here I Go Again -- Whitesnake
I Love Rock and Roll -- Joan Jett
Just Like Heaven -- The Cure
Rainbow in the Dark -- Dio
The Power of Love -- Huey Lewis and the News
Sister Christian -- Night Ranger
1960s-1970s
Bohemian Rhapsody -- Queen
Break On Through -- The Doors
Crosstown Traffic -- Jimi Hendrix |
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G3ck0
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 7:38 pm Post subject: |
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Bohemian Rhapsody is going to be so awesome, I'm glad they waited to do it with a keyboard and 3 part vocal harmonies instead of releasing it earlier and missing out on those things.
And I think it's safe to say that Rock Band is now far ahead of Guitar Hero.
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DancesInUnderwear
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:02 pm Post subject: |
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I said it before, but I'll say it again...
| DancesInUnderwear wrote: | | Keyboard + Vocal Harmonies = Bohemian Rhapsody, surely. Keyboard justified right there. |
I'm pretty psyched. Keyboard looks very cool, and the realtar stuff sounds interesting, though I'm not sure I'll buy it. Hope the keyboard isn't too expensive, though.
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A13x
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:07 pm Post subject: |
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Gotta say the keyboard demo from the video looked rather fun.
My house is full of plastic instruments
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the doag
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:23 pm Post subject: |
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SO over rockband and i hardly played it when i bought it. Give me guitar hero 3 anyday.
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redemption
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| Posted: Thu Jun 10, 2010 8:24 pm Post subject: |
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Keyboard = Awsome.
I've got to go out and find some big funky glasses
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DancesInUnderwear
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:18 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/11/exclusive-interview-new-details-on-rock-band-3-pro-mode-peripherals-and-drum-functionality/
Read that. It has lots of new info. Basically
- the keyboard and the new guitars support midi output, so you can use them for things other than the game
- there's gonna be a midi converter thingo that allows you to use midi keyboards and drum sets, so seemingly if you already have a midi keyboard, good news for you
- support for one, two or three cymbal set ups in rock band pro, this support has been secretly integrated from near the start, and so all your old dlc will have cymbal support
- unfortunately this is apparently not the case for keyboard or realtar support, it hasn't been secretly there all along 
also, not from that interview, but apparently, much like with the recent guitar heroes, your band can consist of whatever combinations of instruments you want (so if you want every player on keyboard, then go nuts)
This is all looking really good. I do hope they go through and somehow patch in keyboard and realtar support for at least certain old songs, but apart from that its all looking rather amazing.
Do want.
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G3ck0
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 4:23 pm Post subject: |
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http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/11/rock-band-3-the-peripherals/
There's a rundown on all the instruments. I think I might get the real electric guitar, if I can afford it >.<
Honestly, this game is going to be amazing. I don't know how I am going to afford the electric guitar and keyboard, but I am definitely going to get it all, so excited
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DancesInUnderwear
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 5:30 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: | Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard Controller
Can also be used to play the lead guitar or bass |
Wait.... what?
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Artificial Stupidity
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:07 pm Post subject: |
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I'm going to buy it for the Keyboard alone, nevermind the price. This is really a dream-come-true for me, as I am ( or used to be ) an avid pianist.
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grim-one
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IISpacebreakII
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 7:42 pm Post subject: |
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I'm going to love this keyboard
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Eyce
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 8:40 pm Post subject: |
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| DancesInUnderwear wrote: | | Quote: | Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard Controller
Can also be used to play the lead guitar or bass |
Wait.... what? |
Keytar bro.
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DancesInUnderwear
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| Posted: Fri Jun 11, 2010 10:24 pm Post subject: |
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| Eyce wrote: | | DancesInUnderwear wrote: | | Quote: | Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard Controller
Can also be used to play the lead guitar or bass |
Wait.... what? |
Keytar bro. |
Guiboard.
But, like, I don't get it. I assume the keys correspond to coloured buttons, but then, how do you strum? Is that what the touch strip is for? Or is it just pusing keyboard buttons but this corresponds to guitar / bass parts rather than keyboard?
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sobriquet835
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| Posted: Sat Jun 12, 2010 12:52 pm Post subject: |
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 Five buttons was enough for me... I'm nowhere near that co-ordinated.
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G3ck0
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| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 2:22 am Post subject: |
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I wasn't sure about getting new peripherals. But...
Oh man do I want these. I pulled out the original 4 piece drums today and as much as i do enjoy it I was thinking how great it would be with more drums to hit. Can't wait.
Just hope the song list improves, the songs listed so far are of no interest to me.
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BurnZ
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| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 3:25 am Post subject: |
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I am impressed on the improvements to the instruments, they look way better.
Plus the ability to use real instruments is a cool idea that others might be able to save some money. 
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GooberMan
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| Posted: Fri Jun 18, 2010 11:30 am Post subject: |
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My current Rock Band drums are held together with gaffer tape and metal clips from the inside of pegs. True story. They are the original design, and my problem of them snapping could have easily been solved with a very small modification to the pad design by incorporating a raised lattice design on the interior.
But whether I buy a new set of Rock Band drums or splash out on a fantastic electronic drum kit like my upstairs neighbour did is something I haven't worked out yet.
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