watched the usatoday video a couple of times, very impressed with the piano notation.

they did say they will have the gh5 anyone can drop in / drop out capability.

I just hope they let players play whatever instument they want like in GH5. It's not realistic at all but when my friends come over they are always fighting over who gets to play guitar. With GH5 that doesnt happen but I dont like the GH series personally so I dont own it. Its a small, simple feature I hope they add into RB3.

'rock band 3': What's new, what's notable

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.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/...and10_va_n.htm


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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

awesome!

HMX downplays all statements not made by them. :)

I believe the new guitar controller is happening because there has been a lot of development in that area in the past 18 months by other companies; HMX went out of their way earlier in the year to state that they weren't that interested in continuing to make hardware, which fits nicely with using one of these other company's stuff as the new guitar; and the guitar playing is the stale-est part of the game right now so it makes the most sense to re-energize that.

Sorry, bit I just had to dig up my old prophetic post. :)

Six-string guitar, keyboard, new song sorting, cymbal charting. If there's a built in vocal trainer mode like the drum trainers but for voice then HMX will have covered all the bases for me. :)

I just hope they let players play whatever instument they want like in GH5. It's not realistic at all but when my friends come over they are always fighting over who gets to play guitar. With GH5 that doesnt happen but I dont like the GH series personally so I dont own it. Its a small, simple feature I hope they add into RB3.Yeah--I'd like that, too. My housemate/landlord introduced me to this game (by forcing me to play TBRB with him after he went to pick it up at midnight on launch day :rolleyes:). I thought that it was stupid at first but now I'm a fanatic and have spent a small fortune on the games, controllers and DLC. I'm considerably better than him now, so we can't both play guitar at the same difficulty without it being either frustrating for him or boring for me (also, he has no real ability to use overdrive, so score duel is futile in any case). It'd be nice if he could play along on guitar at a level that he handle, while I play at my level.

Cymbal charting conjecture: I'm betting all existing songs will work with the cymbal charting because the on-screen drummer already hits the cymbals for cymbal sounds, and that means the cues that distinguish a blue cymbal from a blue pad are already in the individual song code.

No unprofitable update to the existing catalogue required.

In the RBN tools, you distinguish the cymbal for animation but not for chart. I don't think it'll be that easy.

No unprofitable update to the existing catalogue required.I strongly doubt that they'll update anything in the old catalogue to add any specific support for the new features and/or controllers.
In the RBN tools, you distinguish the cymbal for animation but not for chart. I don't think it'll be that easy.Seems to me that if the game sees a code in an old-style chart for a drum pad that might be a cymbal, it could reference the corresponding animation code. Of course, I say that knowing nothing of the program's internals :D.

So do you get all of the songs in one giant and unalterable pack? Or are they exported as individual song files?

This question got overshadowed by the RB3 news. I would like to hear the answer as well.

I strongly doubt that they'll update anything in the old catalogue to add any specific support for the new features and/or controllers.
I doubt they will update anything but I strongly suspect that a lot of material done in the past year already was encoded with RB3 in mind.

Now that RBGD is out do we know if the existing GD tracks required updates to get harmonies? If not then that would be a strong indicator that some new features have already been incorporated into existing DLC.

There won't be new drums and there'd be no need for a revised drum brain (unless you're saying you'd like two red ports.) The lefty flip problem can be fixed in software.

Two red ports would have been nice, even the standard RB2 drums suffer the same bug with the cymbols in lefty flip mode. I suspect that if this was fixable via software, they would have done so by now for RB2.

I am going to hold off on this one until more info comes out about how they are addressing lefties for RB3.

Now that RBGD is out do we know if the existing GD tracks required updates to get harmonies? If not then that would be a strong indicator that some new features have already been incorporated into existing DLC.Can you play the existing tracks in GDRB? You couldn't in TBRB. (You can in LRB, but it has generic character animations, just made out of Legos :D).

Can you play the existing tracks in GDRB? You couldn't in TBRB. (You can in LRB, but it has generic character animations, just made out of Legos :D).
I don't have it (waiting for the bargain bin) but we were told it would be compatible with the previously released 21st Century Breakdown tracks (since the rest of the album is in the game) and that they would have vocal harmonies in the game's pre-release. Nowadays dropping promised features is par for the course but HMX seems to do a pretty good job in that department, though the RB1 release was a little spotty.

Not a fan of the 2000s stuff from the confirmed tracks, but the 60s-90s stuff is awesome. :D

I don't have it (waiting for the bargain bin) but we were told it would be compatible with the previously released 21st Century Breakdown tracks (since the rest of the album is in the game) and that they would have vocal harmonies in the game's pre-release.That's true, but I strongly suspect that the extra content is included in the base game, since they also add new animations for them and new achievements.

See this (http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/04/12/exclusive-one-on-one-with-green-day-rock-band-project-lead-chris-foster/) Plastic Axe GDRB interview:
How are you doing DLC? Are you planning to do it like The Beatles, where you have specific DLC for this game?

This is actually different. In this game we’re taking a different approach to performances: We’re building these crafted, linear sequences. One of the reasons we could do open-ended DLC for The Beatles is that it’s all tiny clips, and we could just reconfigure them for different songs as needed — and dreamscape backgrounds similarly had that. With this, we’re really creating sculpted experiences for every single song; there’s an animation that plays all the way through, pretty much. That’s something that’s not really practical to do open-ended. So we decided we were going to make DLC just about finishing 21st Century Breakdown, using the DLC that was already out. That created a great three-album game, and also let us give each of those [six DLC tracks] unique assets, more than we could easily pack into a DLC pack. Those songs have their own video-wall assets, their own [motion capture].

So does that mean that there’s no hope at all for Kerplunk!?

Kerplunk! would not show up in this game in terms of DLC. Like I was saying before, we didn’t have access to masters — so you never say never, but the game is sort of sealed off. [Restricting the DLC] also let us build spaces in the “meta-game,” have collectible photos and prize videos specifically tied to it. So we really took advantage of making it a closed set of DLC that we could support fully, and more than we’d be able to do in an open-ended fashion.

So you don’t have access to the main Rock Band store through this game?

Yeah, that was a choice on our part — we want to have Green Day performing Green Day songs. The advantage of this disc is that we have these venues and these characters and these unique performances. So there’s no sensible way to bring in the rest of your library. So if you want to play all of your library, you can export these songs into Rock Band. The export has a fee, but the GameStop preorder or the Deluxe Edition are ways to sort of get around that.

But if you want to play as Green Day, you can play all the Green Day songs [in this game], including the ones that are in Rock Band now. To get all the cool custom assets and Green Day stuff, it has to sort of sit on its own disc, and we’ve just sort of embraced that, and made that about the place to play Green Day, rather than trying to mush everything together and give you access to everything — but then you have a ****** experience, like Billie Joe singing Lady Gaga. Which, as awesome as that would be, is really not what we’re going for. Let someone else do that.

I completed the Green Day career mode. Overall pretty awesome. I've been somewhat disappointed that the fit and finish was a step back from Beatles but maybe I just had too high of expectations. No dreamscapes but I guess they went with more complex on stage scripting which does make sense.

I feel like I got my money's worth but like Beatles I feel like I've had my fill with Green Day for a while. I'm sure it will stay in the rotation.

Yeah the previous GD Dlc does work fine.

Yeah the previous GD Dlc does work fine.But you don't see your other exports in the track list, right?

Have you exported them? If so, do they show up as a individually deletable items in your memory settings?

But you don't see your other exports in the track list, right?

Have you exported them? If so, do they show up as a individually deletable items in your memory settings?

You do see the DLC in the GDRB game. It's in the third arena (or whatever) under the last setlist.

I exported the DLC and Game itself to RB2, and the GD file was a 1.2GB or so. I'm not 100% sure (I'll try to remember to check later tonight), but it looks like it's one massive file (and you can't delete individual songs).

You do see the DLC in the GDRB game. It's in the third arena (or whatever) under the last setlist.You see the DLC by other bands that you've downloaded and exported out of other games? If so, when you play them, what happens? Mike Dirnt singing in Joan Jett's voice? :D

Or were you talking about the six GD DLC tracks?

I'm not 100% sure (I'll try to remember to check later tonight), but it looks like it's one massive file (and you can't delete individual songs).AFAICT only one RB game (RB1) produced individually deletable exports songs. At least RB3 will let us filter the list. Once you get a few hundred it gets really tiresome to page through them all.

You see the DLC by other bands that you've downloaded and exported out of other games? If so, when you play them, what happens? Mike Dirnt singing in Joan Jett's voice? :D

Or were you talking about the six GD DLC tracks?

Sorry... just the 6 GD DLC songs. Only GD RB songs are available to play in GD RB.

yeah just to echo what has already been said -

a) gd rb export is one big 1.2 gb file
b) you can only see GD dlc in gd RB.

Silly question... Will the jump in and out or change instruments mid song apply to only RB3 songs or all songs? I would think all of them but Im not sure.

I doubt they will update anything but I strongly suspect that a lot of material done in the past year already was encoded with RB3 in mind.

Now that RBGD is out do we know if the existing GD tracks required updates to get harmonies? If not then that would be a strong indicator that some new features have already been incorporated into existing DLC.
A short while ago someone who had access to GD tracks on his computer found that files were already in there for the harmonies. I don't believe anyone has checked any other tracks, but the Queen tracks are prime for checking.
Two red ports would have been nice, even the standard RB2 drums suffer the same bug with the cymbols in lefty flip mode. I suspect that if this was fixable via software, they would have done so by now for RB2.
Why do you assume that? Lego Rock Band has superior score tracking, but they didn't update Rock Band 2 for it. Beatles and Green Day have a lot of features that Rock Band 2 doesn't, but they didn't update Rock Band 2. Green Day has already been confirmed to fix the lefty flip issue. It is and always has been a software issue.

There's an extensive preview of RB3 up at IGN (here (http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/109/1096470p1.html)) with prices and a gallery of pictures:

http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060006022_640w.jpg


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060008756_640w.jpg


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610054641162_640w.jpg


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610054643224_640w.jpg


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610013325628_640w.jpg


http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060012912_640w.jpg


The first thing is the plastic Fender Mustang Pro Guitar controller, with strings and 17 frets with 6 buttons each, one for every string. It reminds me of this (http://music.yamaha.com/products/main.html;jsessionid=55A60155F8BF92284D07F63B7D4F4E5E?produc tId=189&hierarchy_id=16148_16140) Yamaha "self-teaching" guitar. The third thing is the Squier Strat controller. I have no idea what that last thing is. I think that it's the "MIDI Pro Adapter".

The Pro guitar and keyboard controllers are both MIDI controllers.

Gamespot has an arguably superior article (here (http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6265161/rock-band-3-hands-on?tag=topslot;title;1)), with two video interviews and a very cool trailer.

Gamespot has an arguably superior article (here (http://e3.gamespot.com/story/6265161/rock-band-3-hands-on?tag=topslot;title;1)), with two video interviews and a very cool trailer.

tasty details I noticed:

*double kick support confirmed
*ratings are now for all songs playable in RB3 and songs rated 1 will be avoided in random setlists and the like.
*I think pro guitar mode is optional in that it's going to be that hard to actually do. With the stream of numbers changing on each note I think the idea is you just kind of match it on the guitar and the game is fine with that but if you choose you can learn the tab quickly and easily with the info provided(if you have guitar knowledge). That's a complete guess on my part.

*ratings are now for all songs playable in RB3 and songs rated 1 will be avoided in random setlists and the like.
Now all we need is confirmation of RBN songs in random setlists and I will squeal like a little girl.

EDIT: Also, 5 star rated songs will appear more often in random setlists. This is the greatest feature ever and I have been missing my random setlists ever since RBN came out.

turns out this:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060012912_640w.jpg

is this:
• Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO-Adapter – Xbox 360 / PlayStation 3 / Wii

Designed for use exclusively with Rock Band 3, the MIDI PRO-Adapter allows musicians to use their real MIDI keyboards or MIDI drum sets to play Rock Band 3. Plugging directly into the console via USB, the MIDI PRO-Adapter works as an interface between the console and MIDI instrument, converting the MIDI messages into console controller data which the game translates into on screen action. The MIDI PRO-Adapter features a velocity sensitive adjustment for MIDI drums designed to reduce cross-talk during play. A full D-Pad and standard gaming controller buttons are located on the PRO-Adapter to deliver seamless console integration and navigation of the game menus. Ships with a removable clip, allowing MIDI PRO-Adapter to be attached to a belt, or rest on a table top or similar flat surface.

MSRP: $39.99

turns out this: is this:Ah! Cool--I should have figured that out from the name and the clearly labelled "MIDI Input" jack. I could use my digital piano as an RB3 controller. Of course, given that it weighs a couple hundred pounds, positioning it in front of the television could be inconvenient :D.

Midi input for only $40 WOW

No new RB3 thread?

Midi input for only $40 WOW

No new RB3 thread?

this thread has gone on since rock band 1 why make a new one?

The Mad Catz guitar is insane. I wonder why you'd choose it over the standard six string, though. Maybe it's significantly cheaper. Of course, the Strat allows you to pick up a cheap electric guitar that also works with RB (if it is indeed on the cheap side for a real electric), and could possibly be hacked to output data to a computer like the Gibson ethernet guitars.

Also, does anyone know of any great deals on the RB2 drums? I never picked them up, but with pro mode for the drums I'm thinking I'll really want to give the cymbals a try.

turns out this:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060012912_640w.jpg

is this:

That's awesome!

I'm using the GHWT drum kit as my MIDI interface for RB to use with my Roland TD-3 kit and although it works great it's a pain to have to turn to the left all the time to access the buttons. It also takes up a fair bit of space next to my kit.

If I can mount this on my kit that would makes things a lot less cumbersome. I'll definitely be picking it up.

Yeah we don't want to start over and lose our lead over the COD threads!

I'm kinda stunned, these were all features i had in mind for RB3, but I didn't think they were doing all of them. :)

MIDI adapter looks great. Thinking about dumping the ION kit and getting a real E-Kit now....

Is the MIDI adapter wireless, and if so what would I need to do to make my ION wireless? A whole new drum brain I suppose?

I would really like to go all wireless but the ION is too cool to step back to a RB2 kit.

Also note the lack of a whammy bar on the new guitars, wonder if it is really dropped or if it will be added on the final versions.

Is the MIDI adapter wireless, and if so what would I need to do to make my ION wireless? A whole new drum brain I suppose?

I would really like to go all wireless but the ION is too cool to step back to a RB2 kit.

The bit logicalnoise posted above says it connects to the console via USB.

MIDI adapter looks great. Thinking about dumping the ION kit and getting a real E-Kit now....

I played the ION kit at a friend's house and there really is no comparison with my Roland kit. The difference in rebound on the rubber pads is big enough as it is but my kit came with the mesh snare as well and it's night and day. However, we're talking the difference between $300 and $1000 so it's up to you whether you want to make that kind of investment.

I bought my kit about 3 years ago so I guess this would be the current equivalent:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TD4S/

I also recently upgraded the kick to a mesh version as well.

We replaced 2 ion pads with roland TD8 mesh pads, so you can upgrade that way too.

Without a doubt RB3 is mankind's greatest achievement. If aliens spied in on us they would go back and tell their homeland about RB3.

turns out this:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060012912_640w.jpg

is this:

Now that's pretty sweet and cheap! Nice. Pretty good solution for everyone from newcomers to veterans.

I noticed the three cymbals in the preview pic up above. With pro mode and cymbal tracking I may just need to pick up that third cymbal for my ION's.

Blatantly ripping off a post by Markleford on the RockBand.com forum:

http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/11/exclusive-interview-new-details-on-rock-band-3-pro-mode-peripherals-and-drum-functionality/3/

OK, right. So, it supports three cymbals, right?

DS: Correct. [Editor's note: Yes, I know I missed something. Wait for it.] Although it’s pretty modular. In Rock Band Pro, you can play if you only have one cymbal, but you’ll suffer on the leaderboards. The game behind Pro drums is that you get extra score for hitting the correct surface. And if you don’t, it makes it a little harder to survive through the end of the song. But that covers the one-, two-, or three-cymbal configurations. Depending on what you have, the game adapts to that.

Let me back up for a second. You said that the legacy content already supports cymbals. Did you mean that you’ll see the cymbal icons when playing older DLC in Rock Band 3?!

DS: [clearly amused] Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

Wha — How did that happen? Have you guys basically been planning to do this all along?

DS: Well, yeah. Most of the content — some of the early Rock Band stuff doesn’t have it, but by and large, the vast majority of the entire Rock Band catalog supports cymbals in gameplay.

Wow. I, uh…wow. I don’t have a cymbal kit for my Rock Band 2 set — have I been missing something? Has this always been the case?

DS: No. Without devolving into too deep of a technical discussion, our authoring guys have basically been putting in information that has gone unrealized up until Rock Band 3. So there are a lot of cues and “hooks” in our authoring flow that have always been there; we just haven’t had the software cycles to take advantage of them. Cymbals are an example of that. [Our authors have been] authoring the distinction between a tom hit and a cymbal hit, but the software has never taken advantage of that distinction until Rock Band 3.

turns out this:
http://ps3media.ign.com/ps3/image/article/109/1096281/rock-band-3-20100610060012912_640w.jpg

is this:

Ok, I just messed myself. :eek:

Blatantly ripping off a post by Markleford on the RockBand.com forum:

http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/11/exclusive-interview-new-details-on-rock-band-3-pro-mode-peripherals-and-drum-functionality/3/

OK, right. So, it supports three cymbals, right?

DS: Correct. [Editor's note: Yes, I know I missed something. Wait for it.] Although it’s pretty modular. In Rock Band Pro, you can play if you only have one cymbal, but you’ll suffer on the leaderboards. The game behind Pro drums is that you get extra score for hitting the correct surface. And if you don’t, it makes it a little harder to survive through the end of the song. But that covers the one-, two-, or three-cymbal configurations. Depending on what you have, the game adapts to that.

Let me back up for a second. You said that the legacy content already supports cymbals. Did you mean that you’ll see the cymbal icons when playing older DLC in Rock Band 3?!

DS: [clearly amused] Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

Wha — How did that happen? Have you guys basically been planning to do this all along?

DS: Well, yeah. Most of the content — some of the early Rock Band stuff doesn’t have it, but by and large, the vast majority of the entire Rock Band catalog supports cymbals in gameplay.

Wow. I, uh…wow. I don’t have a cymbal kit for my Rock Band 2 set — have I been missing something? Has this always been the case?

DS: No. Without devolving into too deep of a technical discussion, our authoring guys have basically been putting in information that has gone unrealized up until Rock Band 3. So there are a lot of cues and “hooks” in our authoring flow that have always been there; we just haven’t had the software cycles to take advantage of them. Cymbals are an example of that. [Our authors have been] authoring the distinction between a tom hit and a cymbal hit, but the software has never taken advantage of that distinction until Rock Band 3.

Ultra sweet! RB3 is going to be awesome. :)

There's a page up at plasticaxe.com (here (http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/11/rock-band-3-the-peripherals)) displaying the peripherals with bullet lists of features for each and prices for everything except the Squier guitar.

Yeah we don't want to start over and lose our lead over the COD threads!

I'm kinda stunned, these were all features i had in mind for RB3, but I didn't think they were doing all of them. :)

Last time I checked, 10,003 (COD / MW2 thread..) > 9,543 (Rock Band thread)...

COD FTW!!!!
http://cdn0.knowyourmeme.com/system/profile/icon/2215/small/CoolFace.jpg

Last time I checked, 10,003 (COD / MW2 thread..) > 9,543 (Rock Band thread)...

COD FTW!!!!
http://cdn0.knowyourmeme.com/system/profile/icon/2215/small/CoolFace.jpg

Which is amazing since RB thread was started a year earlier than the MW2 thread.

COD FTW!!!!


I'm more of a HALIBUT kinda guy, but whatever.

DS: No. Without devolving into too deep of a technical discussion, our authoring guys have basically been putting in information that has gone unrealized up until Rock Band 3. So there are a lot of cues and “hooks” in our authoring flow that have always been there; we just haven’t had the software cycles to take advantage of them. Cymbals are an example of that. [Our authors have been] authoring the distinction between a tom hit and a cymbal hit, but the software has never taken advantage of that distinction until Rock Band 3.[/I]

The way this is phrased makes me wonder what other hooks have been programmed in and unused. Harmonies are an obvious one, but possibly pro mode charting, or even other cool things that haven't been announced?

They've said not to expect any other features like harmonies or pro charting in older DLC and hinted that DLC between now and then will probably have some or all of these features.

I'm just looking forward to being able to disable songs from showing up in random setlists :)

I'm just looking forward to being able to disable songs from showing up in random setlists :)

Same here. Looks like RB parties will be much more fun and manageable.

Yeah and I also love the fact that one person can be designated to navigate through songs so that you don't get kicked back to the menu when a friend of a friend hits every button on the guitar while trying to get the strap over their necks :)

You can also hide songs completely. There are many Rock Band 2 songs that I'd delete if I could but permanently hiding them would be just as good. There are named saved playlists, which I've also wanted to see.

Some features I'd love to see have to do with practicing. I love how GH breaks down the stats and shows you which segments you aced and which you tanked. When playing Solo Quickplay, I like to be able to go into practice mode for a song from the pause menu and come back to playing the song for a score in Quickplay when I exit practice (you can get there from the boo'd-off-stage menu, but when you exit you have to drill up and back down through the menus to return to Quickplay). I'd also like an A-B repeat in practice. There are tracks where I only have a problem with a few seconds which happen to be at the end of a section playable in practice (the end of the chorus of "She's a Genius" in the Expert chart comes to mind).

Have you exported them? If so, do they show up as a individually deletable items in your memory settings?

I exported the DLC and Game itself to RB2, and the GD file was a 1.2GB or so. I'm not 100% sure (I'll try to remember to check later tonight), but it looks like it's one massive file (and you can't delete individual songs).
Bleh...If true, I'll be disappointed. However, I'll wait to reserve final judgment until you verify.

If you have RB1 and RB2, HMX DLC currently goes into the RB1 game directory with "file names" equal to the song titles. (If you have only RB2, it might be in the RB2 game directory, which is where my RBN DLC currently goes, oddly.)

Example: System --> Memory --> HDD --> Games --> Rock Band [2] --> "GDRB Export Pack 1.2 GB"

...would be what it would probably look like if it's one giant pack. If it's separate songs, each GD song title will appear in the list of files and be ~30MB or so.

So look there for the final say on whether it's one ginormous pack or the much more pleasing solution of individual song files. I fear it's the former, since that's the lazy way to do it.

[EDIT: Nevermind...this was already confirmed as one giant pack. Bah. I've got to remember to update the thread before responding...]

Right...so I'm a little late to the party here what with this recent machine-gun stream of new RB3 updates and videos.

My thoughts:
The 20 songs previewed from the setlist so far: 3 or 4 "Legendary" tracks, several "Awesome", some "Solid", and quite a few "Messy". But that's always the case with varying musical tastes, right? :cool:

The keyboard peripheral: I was truly worried it would be some lame-ass 5 button keyboard mockery. Thank god HMX has once again shown that my Activision-induced paranoia is completely unjustified. Well done, HMX! :)

The DOZENS of awesome feature enhancements (song filtering, song RATINGS to eliminate or increase likelihood of track appearances, playlists, 7 person bands, new tour mode features, etc.: WOW. Just...wow. :D

The all-encompassing PRO mode, including cymbal charting on drums, playing guitars with real strings and tab notations, etc: HOLY F*CKING SH!T. :eek:


This. Is. Awesome.

Those Mad Catz cymbols for the drums suck. If they're anything like their old ones you can expect them to break after a very short time and randomly miss hits.

They aren't even in the right places. How the hell is that setup "pro"?

I can only hope someone like goodwoodmods or Logitech gives me something decent. :mad:

So look there for the final say on whether it's one ginormous pack or the much more pleasing solution of individual song files. I fear it's the former, since that's the lazy way to do it.

[EDIT: Nevermind...this was already confirmed as one giant pack. Bah. I've got to remember to update the thread before responding...]Well, you can take solace in that when you get RB3, you can permanently filter the songs you don't care for out of the list :). You can always wait until after then to buy GDRB--you should definitely be able to find it for a reasonable price by then :D.

Well, you can take solace in that when you get RB3, you can permanently filter the songs you don't care for out of the list :). You can always wait until after then to buy GDRB--you should definitely be able to find it for a reasonable price by then :D.
Excellent point!

That is just a super awesome feature that I never really believed they'd put in. Naturally, you'll still have to play all the songs (even the ones you've flagged with 1 lighter ratings) for things like the Endless Setlist and other such challenges, but damn it'll be nice to permanently hide "songs" like Visions.

Those Mad Catz cymbols for the drums suck. If they're anything like their old ones you can expect them to break after a very short time and randomly miss hits.

They aren't even in the right places. How the hell is that setup "pro"?

I can only hope someone like goodwoodmods or Logitech gives me something decent. :mad:



you could go with ion and maybe even go 3rd party cymbols. heck with the new midi input you should be able to use just about any serious e-drum set.

I may have missed this, but if I'm not interested in "pro" mode on guitar, do the existing instruments work?

Not to be negative about it, but if I wanted to learn guitar, I'd have done so sometime in the last 37 years, and I consider RB is more of a party game I can play with my non-gamer friends since it's so easy just to pick up with no experience and be able to at least play on easy-level.

Just curious how many instruments I'm going to have to re-invest in.

I may get a one of the "pro" guitars anyways since my kid might be interested, but not sure yet.

Definitely interested in the drumming stuff, harmonies and all the other features that will make parties easier to manage. Keyboard though...not very interested.

I myself am excited about the Squier and can't wait to get one. I used to drink and make noise with a guitar in high school and have always wanted to try and learn again, but somehow never do. Learning drums via RB has been great fun, so I'm imagining that guitar with the Squier will be similar fun since HMX has so far done things right.

I'm wondering if you'll be able to play the Squier in "dual mode", as a controller and plugged in to a practice amp. :)

All of the existing instruments work. You don't have to buy anything new to use any of the regular modes. Pro mode will just be another choice in difficulty that you can ignore entirely (but there will be easy, med, hard, expert in pro mode as well.)

I may have missed this, but if I'm not interested in "pro" mode on guitar, do the existing instruments work?
I'm not particularly interested in pro guitar but will probably pick up the Squier down the road. I'm with you, I actually have a few guitars around the house and spent a chunk of my youth trying to get it down and it just never took.

I am however very interested in pro keyboards and to a lesser extent pro drums. I think pro-mode is the ultimate direction these games have to go even if it is a niche within a niche.

I just started studying guitar (I play piano). Like every instrument, practicing the fundamentals sucks, and it can be quite a while before you can play anything that you really want to hear. Right now I need to run scales and finger stretching exercises, but maybe by the time this comes out I can buy the Squier and inject some fun into the process :).

I'd probably buy the game packaged with the keyboard and get the Squier by-and-by.

I may have missed this, but if I'm not interested in "pro" mode on guitar, do the existing instruments work?

Yeah regular rb guitar mode is fully supported. They even have some enhancements like trill sections you don't have to hit perfectly.

I've played guitar for about 14 years now and I'm not excited about the new guitar coming out. I also don't think it's one of their greatest ideas. I am, however, excited about all the other changes and the added keyboard.

For the new guitar, how will they do slides, bends, and vibratos? Will it support palm muting? I doubt it can do any of those, and I'd most songs include at least one of the above (if not all).

There's no possible way you could site read most songs on RB with if you're playing exactly as they do in the song. Songs will need to be memorized in order to be played. That involves "learning" instead of "playing." And even if you wanted to use RB as a learning tool to learn new songs, I think it would be a poor choice. Even if you have some knowledge of the guitar, learning the chords and notes does not mean you could play it on a real actual guitar. There are so many factors that come in when you play on a real guitar. But I guess this is the next step it taking the music games further. I just feel like, at least for the guitar, it's going to be too complicated... no longer fun... and will not translate into better real guitar playing.

I think this may be a great addition for someone who is already leaning guitar and taking lessons. They can load up the game and learn the fingering for a new song... then work on that song outside of RB. RB would simply be a more hands on way of learning a new song using TAB.

The pro drum charting sounds awesome though. I bought my ION's a few months ago and picked up 3 cymbals so I should be ready for that. The keyboard sounds like a great addition too... although I'm not sure how many of the 600 songs I have work with a keyboard. Hopefully it can be incorporated into songs that don't have a keyboard so someone at a party doesn't have to sit out of songs 90% or of the time.

^You have valid concerns. Let's see when more details come out. Luckily the Squier is a real guitar as opposed to the Madcatz version. Harmonix employs musicians so I'm hoping for a working knowledge of guitar. They did say you'll be able to play at a campfire as opposed to a gig. :D

some good guitar pro mode info:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/11/interview-harmonixs-daniel-sussman-on-rock-band-3s-new-tune/

Those Mad Catz cymbols for the drums suck. If they're anything like their old ones you can expect them to break after a very short time and randomly miss hits.I've been drumming on mine (and I use them as appropriate, to the best of my ability, as appropriate) for about a year and a half now. YMMV. But I hear the later cymbals are a lot more reliable than the earliest ones.They aren't even in the right places. How the hell is that setup "pro"?While you are restricted in how you place them, you don't have to use that set up (which is admittedly idiotic). Mine are set up completely differently, and much more appropriate.

I've played guitar for about 14 years now and I'm not excited about the new guitar coming out. I also don't think it's one of their greatest ideas. I am, however, excited about all the other changes and the added keyboard.

For the new guitar, how will they do slides, bends, and vibratos? Will it support palm muting? I doubt it can do any of those, and I'd most songs include at least one of the above (if not all).
Those are a lot of my concerns as well. I fear it will become too much like singing where everything that makes singing great is stripped away and rock band vocals have actually made me a worse singer. Guitar playing will be judged on technical accuracy alone. Cool for total novices, not really helpful to those with a working knowledge of the guitar used to adding their own flavor to what they play.

Though one thing I actually do look forward to is presumably being able to use that Squire to play in non-pro mode, if only to be able to use picks and strings instead of the strum bar.

I am also curious how the strings on the Madcatz work, surely they will break from time to time. How easy will they be replaced?

lots & lots of pro guitar mode info:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0AAy-NGf2VQ

There's no possible way you could site read most songs on RB with if you're playing exactly as they do in the song. Songs will need to be memorized in order to be played. That involves "learning" instead of "playing." And even if you wanted to use RB as a learning tool to learn new songs, I think it would be a poor choice. Even if you have some knowledge of the guitar, learning the chords and notes does not mean you could play it on a real actual guitar. There are so many factors that come in when you play on a real guitar. But I guess this is the next step it taking the music games further. I just feel like, at least for the guitar, it's going to be too complicated... no longer fun... and will not translate into better real guitar playing.Exactly the same is true for the keyboard, when it's used to mock piano playing (it's probably a fine emulation of the playing of some synthesizers). Piano playing is far more complex than just hitting the right keys at the right time--the entire dimension of dynamics will be missing, and dynamics is what makes a piano a piano. (A colleague of Bartolomeo Cristofori, who invented the piano at the turn of the 18th century, called it "gravicembalo col piano e forte", Italian for "harpsichord with soft and loud"--the word "piano" is Italian for "soft". The revolutionary thing about it was that it could be played softly and loudly, there having been no control of dynamics in previous keyboards).

This game will not, as they claim, teach people to play music--at most, it can teach them make the performance gestures of parts of some songs. Of course, that's hugely more than what the previous games did. Is it useful in terms of training someone who's never played. I don't know. But they've been working on this for a long time and have stated in some of the interviews that its been fascinating to watch the progress of people testing it. As Doom878 points out, Harmonix has claimed that everyone who works for them plays and that most of them play in bands. I should hope that they'd hired music education experts to assess the potential benefits of Pro Mode and to make sure that, at least, nothing that they do has the potential to be harmful.
I think this may be a great addition for someone who is already leaning guitar and taking lessons. They can load up the game and learn the fingering for a new song... then work on that song outside of RB. RB would simply be a more hands on way of learning a new song using TAB.I'm hoping that that will be true :).

Exactly the same is true for the keyboard, when it's used to mock piano playing (it's probably a fine emulation of the playing of some synthesizers). Piano playing is far more complex than just hitting the right keys at the right time--the entire dimension of dynamics will be missing, and dynamics is what makes a piano a piano. (A colleague of Bartolomeo Cristofori, who invented the piano at the turn of the 18th century, called it "gravicembalo col piano e forte", Italian for "harpsichord with soft and loud"--the word "piano" is Italian for "soft". The revolutionary thing about it was that it could be played softly and loudly, there having been no control of dynamics in previous keyboards).

This game will not, as they claim, teach people to play music--at most, it can teach them make the performance gestures of parts of some songs. Of course, that's hugely more than what the previous games did. Is it useful in terms of training someone who's never played. I don't know. But they've been working on this for a long time and have stated in some of the interviews that its been fascinating to watch the progress of people testing it. As Doom878 points out, Harmonix has claimed that everyone who works for them plays and that most of them play in bands. I should hope that they'd hired music education experts to assess the potential benefits of Pro Mode and to make sure that, at least, nothing that they do has the potential to be harmful.
I'm hoping that that will be true :).

by including midi out I'd say HMX knows what they are doing. I'm sure the standard keyboard controller supports velocity, something anyone would discover after plugging the keyboard into a computer with a synth suite running.

by including midi out I'd say HMX knows what they are doing. I'm sure the standard keyboard controller supports velocity, something anyone would discover after plugging the keyboard into a computer with a synth suite running.I'm sorry but I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Whether or not the keyboard controller is velocity sensitive, if the game doesn't chart it then it doesn't teach you to use it or help you practice that.

I'm not sure why they even bother to make it a MIDI controller. A 2-octave MIDI keyboard is a useful tool for a musician using synthesizers and there are many such products on the market, but it's pretty much useless as a student keyboard.

Has there been any news yet on if anything else has been changed during pro mode?

I mean, for example, I'd love if on drums, instead of giving you the freestyle section during fills, it actually overlaid the actual notes the real drummer played during that so that you could do that if you choose to.

Also, I feel like overdrive would detract from a pro mode, but maybe that's just me.

I'm sorry but I'm not sure what point you're trying to make. Whether or not the keyboard controller is velocity sensitive, if the game doesn't chart it then it doesn't teach you to use it or help you practice that.

I'm not sure why they even bother to make it a MIDI controller. A 2-octave MIDI keyboard is a useful tool for a musician using synthesizers and there are many such products on the market, but it's pretty much useless as a student keyboard.

The point is rock band isn't for learning the instruments its for showing people the potential of learning them and pushing them to seek out the necessary and more competent tools to get the knowledge. Providing a viable midi output allows people to start easier and cheaper on a real keyboard learning suite. Their pledge that you'll learn the basics in pro mode is still true you'll learn part of basics. The point of pro mode is to round out their correct statements about rock band 2 in that if you mastered drums on rock band 2 then you'd be at a great start to learning the real ones. Everything coming in Rock band 3 meets those assertions.

I feel like overdrive would detract from a pro mode, but maybe that's just me.Why? It's sort of an emulation of real stage performance wherein a musician does something extra and keeps playing without missing a beat, like tilting his guitar or twirling his drum sticks--a flourish. You get extra points for pulling it off or lose points for trying to do it and failing. It's a reasonable gameplay mechanic. No one ever has to do it.

Why? It's sort of an emulation of real stage performance wherein a musician does something extra and keeps playing without missing a beat, like tilting his guitar or twirling his drum sticks--a flourish. You get extra points for pulling it off or lose points for trying to do it and failing. It's a reasonable gameplay mechanic. No one ever has to do it.

Mainly because it lets you struggle through the song hitting only a few notes at a time and still pass.

Mainly because it lets you struggle through the song hitting only a few notes at a time and still pass.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MI-_jWAmlE
ahem

some good guitar pro mode info:

http://www.joystiq.com/2010/06/11/interview-harmonixs-daniel-sussman-on-rock-band-3s-new-tune/
Wow. I'm lapping up all of this awesome RB3 info, too...but that may be one of the worst interviews I've ever read. Bloody awful.

Two more Rolling Stones songs will be revealed on the wall in the HMX booth at E3.

On a related topic, there's some media about Power Gig: Rise of the SixString up on their site, on this (http://www.powergig.com/media) page. Apparently they managed to get DMB, Clapton and Kid Rock to agree to have some of their songs in a music game for the first time, ostensibly due its inclusion of a functional electric guitar. It's sad for them (though good for us :)) that that distinction is rendered moot by the RB3 reveal. I suppose that it's still true that their game is the only one which can only be played with a functional guitar, by fretting and strumming strings.

Check out the video at the bottom of the list, some gameplay of Clapton's "Layla" (a Derek and the Dominoes cover--I thought they had Clapton's blessings :rolleyes:). Strange and kind of intrigueing notation. Also check out the little videos of their "AirStrike" drum peripheral, which is bizarre, though certainly more convenient to use than the drum kits in the other games. Apparently they only support guitar, drums and vocals.

The game is already available for pre-order ($180 for the game/guitar package) and is out on 10/15. As listed on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=bl_sr_videogames?_encoding=UTF8&store-name=videogames&search-type=ss&index=videogames&field-brandtextbin=Seven45%20Studios) they have a whole range of periphernalia. It seems like a worthy effort. It's a shame that they're doomed.

On a related topic, there's some media about Power Gig: Rise of the SixString up on their site, on this (http://www.powergig.com/media) page. Apparently they managed to get DMB, Clapton and Kid Rock to agree to have some of their songs in a music game for the first time, ostensibly due its inclusion of a functional electric guitar. It's sad for them (though good for us :)) that that distinction is rendered moot by the RB3 reveal. I suppose that it's still true that their game is the only one which can only be played with a functional guitar, by fretting and strumming strings.

Check out the video at the bottom of the list, some gameplay of Clapton's "Layla" (a Derek and the Dominoes cover--I thought they had Clapton's blessings :rolleyes:). Strange and kind of intrigueing notation. Also check out the little videos of their "AirStrike" drum peripheral, which is bizarre, though certainly more convenient to use than the drum kits in the other games. Apparently they only support guitar, drums and vocals.

The game is already available for pre-order ($180 for the game/guitar package) and is out on 10/15. As listed on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=bl_sr_videogames?_encoding=UTF8&store-name=videogames&search-type=ss&index=videogames&field-brandtextbin=Seven45%20Studios) they have a whole range of periphernalia. It seems like a worthy effort. It's a shame that they're doomed.

Honestly it looks all kinds of terrible.

Check out the video at the bottom of the list, some gameplay of Clapton's "Layla" (a Derek and the Dominoes cover--I thought they had Clapton's blessings :rolleyes:).

You've got it backwards. Layla is a Derek & the Dominoes original, a band of which Clapton was a member. He later performed the song solo many times (very famously on the MTV Unplugged performance/album).

The game is already available for pre-order ($180 for the game/guitar package) and is out on 10/15. As listed on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=bl_sr_videogames?_encoding=UTF8&store-name=videogames&search-type=ss&index=videogames&field-brandtextbin=Seven45%20Studios) they have a whole range of periphernalia. It seems like a worthy effort. It's a shame that they're doomed.

Well, the price isn't terrible. It would be nice if this guitar worked with RB Pro, because I'm willing to bet even $180 is significantly cheaper than the Squier Strat will be.

Clapton's "Layla" (a Derek and the Dominoes cover--I thought they had Clapton's blessings :rolleyes:).
Not sure I'm misinterpreting your smiley there, but Clapton was in Derek and the Dominoes and Layla is entirely his song (about banging George Harrison's wife, if I recall correctly).

I could care less about DMB and Kid Rock. Clapton would have been nice in Rock Band but I won't really miss him with the library I already have.

On a related topic, there's some media about Power Gig: Rise of the SixString up on their site, on this (http://www.powergig.com/media) page. Apparently they managed to get DMB, Clapton and Kid Rock to agree to have some of their songs in a music game for the first time, ostensibly due its inclusion of a functional electric guitar. It's sad for them (though good for us :)) that that distinction is rendered moot by the RB3 reveal. I suppose that it's still true that their game is the only one which can only be played with a functional guitar, by fretting and strumming strings.

Check out the video at the bottom of the list, some gameplay of Clapton's "Layla" (a Derek and the Dominoes cover--I thought they had Clapton's blessings :rolleyes:). Strange and kind of intrigueing notation. Also check out the little videos of their "AirStrike" drum peripheral, which is bizarre, though certainly more convenient to use than the drum kits in the other games. Apparently they only support guitar, drums and vocals.

The game is already available for pre-order ($180 for the game/guitar package) and is out on 10/15. As listed on Amazon (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/ref=bl_sr_videogames?_encoding=UTF8&store-name=videogames&search-type=ss&index=videogames&field-brandtextbin=Seven45%20Studios) they have a whole range of periphernalia. It seems like a worthy effort. It's a shame that they're doomed.
The game looks like garbage and I doubt it would've generated any interest at all if Rock Band 3 hadn't gone the realistic route. The majority of interest in Rock Band is still in catering to the crowds that play on easy and medium.

Not sure I'm misinterpreting your smiley there, but Clapton was in Derek and the Dominoes and Layla is entirely his song (about banging George Harrison's wife, if I recall correctly).

I could care less about DMB and Kid Rock. Clapton would have been nice in Rock Band but I won't really miss him with the library I already have.I was ignorant of that bit of Clapton history (though I knew the story about Harrison's wife). Thanks for the correction.

Personally, I'm a DMB freak and love Clapton and would like to see both in future RB DLC or even "DMB Rock Band" or "Clapton Rock Band" games. I could care less about Kid Rock, though I do enjoy Southern Rock in general.

The game looks like garbage and I doubt it would've generated any interest at all if Rock Band 3 hadn't gone the realistic route. The majority of interest in Rock Band is still in catering to the crowds that play on easy and medium.I'm pretty sure that the real-guitar angle would have gotten it some market share, if it had been unique. As you say, it probably would not have cut into "music party game" market segment, which has to be the meat of RB and GH sales.

It would be nice if this guitar worked with RB Pro, because I'm willing to bet even $180 is significantly cheaper than the Squier Strat will be.Assuming the standard $60 for the game disc, the ala carte guitar controller would cost $120, $10 less than the quoted price of the RB3 Fender Mustang "fret-button" controller. I'll bet that it's a plastic-body instrument, though, as opposed to the Squier's wood body.

It seems doubtful that they'd have gotten (or even sought) licensing to make it RB or GH compatible.

EDIT: I was partially wrong about that. From the Power Gig FAQ (http://www.powergig.com/faq):
Q: Are Power Gig & its peripherals compatible with other music games & peripherals?
A: Yes, Power Gig: Rise of the SixString and its peripherals are fully compatible with other music games currently on the market and vice versa, minus advanced features that require the SixString Guitar Controller, like Chording Mode.So it is compatible with the RB and GH original controllers, but not the new RB3 Pro guitar controllers. You can apparently use their funky AirStrike drums as well, and it would seem that you can conversely use RB and GH controllers with their game.

E3 booth:

http://vimeo.com/12578646

The extra Rolling Stones songs are a typo. Boo.

Oh snap!
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs557.snc3/30475_421233825208_19744285208_4285962_6416739_n.jpg

E3 booth:

http://vimeo.com/12578646Cool video. That Harmonix Kinect dance game is a new one on me (not that I'd play it, but it's interesting).
Oh snap!Yeah--they showed that chart on the wall of the HMX booth in that video. It's kind of hard to believe that there are only 349 downloadable GH songs.

Yeah--it's kind of hard to believe that there are only 349 downloadable GH songs.
Considering their focus on retail SKUs and that they've mostly stuck to the 3 a week formula and had almost zero compatibility until 2 years ago, I'm actually surprised they have that many.

Cool video. That Harmonix Kinect dance game is a new one on me (not that I'd play it, but it's interesting).Check out this (http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265676/?tag=top_stories%3Btitle%3B11#toggle_video) clip of HMX' stage presentation of Dance Central. Very cool--the only interesting use of Kinect I've seen thus far (other than Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265698/?tag=top_stories%3Btitle%3B6)). I'm not sure that I'd buy Kinect just for Dance Central, but if I did find a compelling reason to buy it, I'd probably check it out.

Kinect just might be more than the very-cool-but-essentially-useless-technology that I'd heretofore accessed it as being :D.

Check out this (http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265676/?tag=top_stories%3Btitle%3B11#toggle_video) clip of HMX' stage presentation of Dance Central. Very cool--the only interesting use of Kinect I've seen thus far (other than Ubisoft's Your Shape: Fitness Evolved (http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265698/?tag=top_stories%3Btitle%3B6)). I'm not sure that I'd buy Kinect just for Dance Central, but if I did find a compelling reason to buy it, I'd probably check it out.

Kinect just might be more than the very-cool-but-essentially-useless-technology that I'd heretofore accessed it as being :D.
Wow...hadn't heard of Dance Central before now. That looks pretty awesome. I agree completely with your observation that it's an excellent application of the Kinect technology.

I'm not a great dancer, but my wife and friends have really enjoyed DDR games. We might have to give Dance Central a try, too. Could be a fun party game, especially after a few adult beverages. I can totally see some hilarious dance-offs breaking out. :p

Assuming the standard $60 for the game disc, the ala carte guitar controller would cost $120, $10 less than the quoted price of the RB3 Fender Mustang "fret-button" controller. I'll bet that it's a plastic-body instrument, though, as opposed to the Squier's wood body.

I thought the Mustang was $150.

EDIT: I was partially wrong about that. From the Power Gig FAQ (http://www.powergig.com/faq):
So it is compatible with the RB and GH original controllers, but not the new RB3 Pro guitar controllers. You can apparently use their funky AirStrike drums as well, and it would seem that you can conversely use RB and GH controllers with their game.

Yes, I'd imagine it's not too difficult to make it emulate the standard 5 button mode, but I bet it's unlikely it works with the Pro mode. Like I said, it would be neat because you'd be getting the stringed version of a guitar in addition to another game for only $30 more than the Mustang. If the Mustang is $130, that changes it up a bit, and we still have no idea how much the Squier will end up being.

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/16/rock-band-3-squier-stratocaster-plays-both-real-and-virtual-guit/

Stuff like that is just going to force me to buy the damn thing even though I know from years of experience with real guitars I am going to suck at it. Damn you HMX for being so slick.

Any pricing announced for the Squier yet? Engadget crashes my outdated browser at work...

http://www.engadget.com/2010/06/16/rock-band-3-squier-stratocaster-plays-both-real-and-virtual-guit/That was an excellent demonstration. I was planning on eventually getting one before this but that got me even more excited about it. I do sense, however, that the guy playing it was an experienced guitarist (supposedly every HMX employee is a musician). I'd love to hear one of their beta testers who'd not played guitar before learning to use that for the game.

I love the line in the text stating, "what initially gave us hesitation about Mad Catz and Squier's Stratocaster Pro guitar controller was that, well, it's Fender's second-tier brand" :rolleyes:. What--does he want to pay for a guitar controller built on top of a Fender Standard Strat, which lists for $690 at the low end ($500 retail)? Even a Squier Standard Strat lists for $350 ($230 at retail); their Affinity Strat lists for $280 ($180 retail). (You can see Fender's price list here (http://wpc.077d.edgecastcdn.net/00077D/fender/support/pricelists/2010/FL2010_USDom.pdf)).

But this isn't any stock Squier strat, with game controller stuff tacked on. All stock Squier strats have 3 pickups; this has a neck pickup and an interesting white square above the bridge--I'm guessing that this is some kind of combo MIDI/bridge pickup. It also, of course, features game controller buttons and pads. I'm really curious about the price.

There's a PR (http://www.squierguitars.com/news/index.php?display_article=144) about this on the Squier website.

I agree that it is silly to get all semantic over Squier, yes they are the second tier brand but there are Squiers that are better than Fenders, there are pros that use Squier as their signature brand, etc. Some of the most popular vintage guitars were cheapo models when they came out because people strive to get the tone of 60s garage bands so they want the same instruments. I have a Strat HM that I got for half list when it came out (a few hundred bucks), made in Japan which at the time was a "bad" thing yet today it is actually a desirable model while many standard issue strats from the late 80s are considered junk.

There's a 19-minute demo/interview of RB3 up, here (http://e3.gamespot.com/video/6265935/?hd=1&tag=top_stories%3Bplay_btn%3B11) from GameSpot's "Live Stage Show" as recorded last night. It starts off with a 7-piece band (guitar, bass, keys, drums and 3 vocalists) playing "Power of Love". As indicated by the buttons on the controllers, they're playing on an Xbox, proving once and for all that you can have 7 players on the Xbox. The guitarist is using their Fender Mustang Pro controller (17 frets, 6-buttons-per, with strings and MIDI out) and the drummer is playing a kit with cymbals. They're playing in some level of pro mode (being all HMX employees, I assume it's Pro Expert :)). I'm guessing that Pro mode doesn't mean anything for the vocalists and bass player.

After "Power of Love" there's a discussion of the instruments, Pro mode and the changes made to the game. The clip ends with the HMX people playing through the entirety of "Bohemian Rhapsody" with some glimpses of the chart. Maddeningly, whoever edited this faded back to video of the band whenever the guitar was doing anything interesting :rolleyes:; you do get to see a little of the pro guitar notation during "Power of Love".

Looking at the keyboard controller, it's interesting to see that, for non-Pro play, they separate the keyboard into zones for each color, with orange being a single key, the high C. I think that might be to force people to use both hands, it looks like you could play green-red-yellow with your left hand and blue-orange with your right without moving your hands around at all. As a pianist, this might feel a bit strange--we'll see :).

Nothing new revealed, I don't think. I think that they've already said everything they planned to say about the game at E3. I found it interesting to see full songs played, and more of the new chart notation.

That was an excellent demonstration. I was planning on eventually getting one before this but that got me even more excited about it. I do sense, however, that the guy playing it was an experienced guitarist (supposedly every HMX employee is a musician). I'd love to hear one of their beta testers who'd not played guitar before learning to use that for the game.

I'm with you. That video made me really excited for the real Strat. I can pick up a guitar and a tab and pluck out a song, but I'm crap at playing chords and moving them around. One of the previous videos had a guy talking about how they had hundreds of trainers and even song specific trainers because they'd found in testing that just displaying the note highway didn't give novices any indication on the proper way to finger the frets. I'm wondering if those are good enough to give somebody with little knowledge of how to play a guitar a good base to learn from.

One thing I found interesting was the indicator for which string was depressed at the bottom of the note highway, where you'd normally see the G,R,Y,B,O light up when you hit a button. I couldn't tell if the height of the indicator changed based on how hard the string was depressed or not. It looked relatively consistent, but he could be a pretty good guitarist (although he was missing a lot of the game notes by being off-time).

As you pointed out with the prices, though, I'm really hoping this thing doesn't come in at $350 or more. I know it's a real electric guitar, but I'd imagine for a lot of players its uses outside of RB3 would be limited.

Im 100% behind the Strat, but I'm thinking the MadCatz one might be worth picking up too.

I have a guitar which Im starting to learn but usually the first thing to give out is my fingers get sore on the strings. So its back to RB2 :o

The lighter, smaller, button-tar might be nice to grab sometimes.

Im 100% behind the Strat, but I'm thinking the MadCatz one might be worth picking up too.

I have a guitar which Im starting to learn but usually the first thing to give out is my fingers get sore on the strings. So its back to RB2 :o

The lighter, smaller, button-tar might be nice to grab sometimes.
No way! You have to build up those fingertip callouses!

<guitar_nazi> NO BUTTONS FOR YOU! COME BACK...ONE YEAR! </guitar_nazi>

One of the previous videos had a guy talking about how they had hundreds of trainers and even song specific trainers because they'd found in testing that just displaying the note highway didn't give novices any indication on the proper way to finger the frets. I'm wondering if those are good enough to give somebody with little knowledge of how to play a guitar a good base to learn from.If you learn to read tablature (albeit sidewise :)) and to rapidly fret, strum and arpeggiate chords, that's a huge chunk of technique. It's probably as much fundamentals as many if not most rock musicians have, since most can't read music. If you have a really good ear, you might actually be able to pick out the notes and chords in the songs that you like a lot and play them. Hopefully you'd be encouraged by that to learn to read music--if only for the beat of unfamiliar songs, even if you always have the tab--and to learn some theory.

This game can't teach you to generally play an instrument (though it can teach you to play specific songs), but what it does teach you should provide a substantial head start should you decide to do that.

It's not a big deal that Rock Band 3 can have seven players because Beatles did six. It will be a big deal if they allow more than one vocalist on Live.

The vocalists all count as one player, so its a semi big deal that they can do 4 instruments + vocalists. That means that the mics are likely no longer tethered to a controller. What I would like to know is if this means there will be the option as to which players have mics, including a guitar/lead vox, guitar/bass + harmonies, or background singers, or if it will be some fixed combo of lead vox + harmonies at the guitar spots.

It's not a big deal that Rock Band 3 can have seven players because Beatles did six. It will be a big deal if they allow more than one vocalist on Live.
Apparently, one of the changes is that vocalists in a band don't have to use the Xbox controller anymore. (On one of the E3 videos you can even see on the screen where it says vocalists will join automatically. Here's a screenshot (http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4054/4707960079_b81835134f_b.jpg).) It apparently has something to do with "All Instrument Mode," which I presume will simply register each mic that's plugged in. But how will they determine difficulty for the vocalists, I wonder? Not sure how that will work exactly, but it intrigues me.

Harmonies online would be very cool since my best friend and I had a blast harmonizing with TB:RB when he was in town, but he lives 600 miles away. But somehow I fear the complicated netcode needed to do vocal harmonies over the WAN might be too much of a challenge to pull off. But then again, HMX has surpassed my expectations numerous time before, so I guess we'll have to wait and see...

I don't think that doing harmonies over netcode would be that difficult if it just works the way it does now. You would just go for the part that you're going for and if your partner hits it too, too bad, or if he hits a different part, then great. It would work like Beatles does locally, except you wouldn't be able to complete each other's (same) phrases, so I think it would work better (because you can cheat a little on Beatles and Green Day.)

Also, Harmonix stated the day that Rock Band 3 was announced that in 7 player (local) sessions, vocalists are no longer tethered to a controller.

Where does this leave the awesome Stage Kit? If the mic isn't tied to a controller, does that mean Stage Kit support is gone?

Here's what they need: three USB ports on the midi box to plug in one to three stage kits. Connect the keyboard to that via midi cable for 4 instrument triple-stage-kit fun.

I mentioned the 7 players thing because there'd been much contention in forum discussions (probably not here) that the Xbox wouldn't support 7 player bands, since it can't handle more than 4 controllers.

You can see the "All Instuments Mode" screen in that Gamespot clip, just before "Bohemian Rhapsody", though you have to be quick with PAUSE.
Where does this leave the awesome Stage Kit? If the mic isn't tied to a controller, does that mean Stage Kit support is gone?

Here's what they need: three USB ports on the midi box to plug in one to three stage kits. Connect the keyboard to that via midi cable for 4 instrument triple-stage-kit fun.Sorry--the Xbox can only handle 4 controllers. This is an architectural limitation (recall the 4 segments of the ring of light); adding a USB hub does not allow you to exceed that limitation. If you use the stage kit, you can't use 4 instuments (though it might be possible on the PS3, whose controller limit is 7). That's just life in the big city.

It is interesting that, without a controller, vocal difficulty can't be set in any obvious fashion and shots of the pre-song set-up screen only show instrument/difficult selection menus for four instuments.

I don't know why there's been any discussion or debate whether the Xbox would support seven players because Harmonix settled that the day that the USA Today article came out. It was known that if four instruments were plugged in, that the vocalist wouldn't be tied to an instrument. I think it is obvious that one of the four instrument owners will be able to select the vocal difficult (or all of them will have access to it) but it is not known if there will be different difficulties available for individual singers.

If Rock Band 3 supports the stage kit (not guaranteed) then it will definitely not work if you have four instruments.

Because the harmonies currently allow any player to sing any phrase I don't think they will allow multiple difficulties for vocals.

I think it is obvious that one of the four instrument owners will be able to select the vocal difficult (or all of them will have access to it) but it is not known if there will be different difficulties available for individual singers.
Because the harmonies currently allow any player to sing any phrase I don't think they will allow multiple difficulties for vocals.
I'm pretty sure the vocals will all be on one difficulty (at least if they are all local...if they manage to pull of online harmonies, all bets are off). Especially since any mic can sing any of the vocal parts. That's the way it worked with the Beatles game.

And it *may* be that you select the vocals difficulty FIRST, when initially choosing the "All Instrument Mode", although giving any/all of the instruments access to it would also work.

And it *may* be that you select the vocals difficulty FIRST, when initially choosing the "All Instrument Mode", although giving any/all of the instruments access to it would also work.Since the "All Instruments Mode, vocalists will be added automatically" message was displayed immediately after the last instrumentalist locked in his instrument choice and difficulty, I suspect that it either asks for a default vocal difficulty before you go into the band setup menu or that its some kind of persistent setting. Or maybe it asks for it whenever it sees microphones plugged in with no pad attached.

Rumor has it a Miley Cyrus pack is up for next week's DLC. :eek:

If true, then another week of disappointing DLC. Oh well. I wish I could have been excited over the Ozzy pack, but the songs did nothing for me. I hope this is not a trend that continues until RB3 comes out. If it does, I guess it means that I will be saving my pennies to buy the Pro Strat.

No More Tears was decent but the rest of the Ozzy tracks looked meh.

I'll be surprised if the DLC will be announced at exactly 10 because it will be put up by a guest poster.

Here's the DLC hitting the RB Music Store next week! 5 Miley Cyrus singles, perfect for the pop fans out there, the female vocalist, parents looking for more family friendly content for Lego Rock Band and HMXjohnd. Yes, HMXjohnd dances to Miley Cyrus and at one point he explained that "her hooks are insane". Between Ozzy last week and Miley this week, we've pretty much got both ends of the spectrum covered!

Available on Xbox 360®, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (June 22):

“7 Things” +
“Can’t Be Tamed”
“Fly On the Wall” +
“See You Again” +
“Start All Over” +

(All tracks are original master recordings)

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system June 23)

These tracks will be available as individual tracks on Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii, as well as “Miley Cyrus Pack 01” on Xbox 360. Songs marked with “+” will also be available in the family-friendly LEGO® Rock Band Music Store.

Price:

$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track
680 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360 for Miley Cyrus Pack 01
$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track
A Miley Cyrus song that isn't family friendly? Imagine that.

Rumor has it a Miley Cyrus pack is up for next week's DLC. :eek:

If true, then another week of disappointing DLC. Oh well. I wish I could have been excited over the Ozzy pack, but the songs did nothing for me. I hope this is not a trend that continues until RB3 comes out. If it does, I guess it means that I will be saving my pennies to buy the Pro Strat.


Good time to pickup a few RBN tracks. Here is what I got this week and they are fantastic:

Bang Camaro: Nightlife Commando 160
Bang Camaro: Bang Camaro 160
Jonathan Coulton: Shop Vac 160

I concur on the JoCo song but the Bang Camaro songs are dead boring on drums, unlike most of their other songs. They look crazy on guitar (which I don't play.)

You can pre-order Rock Band 3 from Amazon (go to amazon.com and do a search for "rock band 3", in quotation marks). They claim that the release date is 31 October. They have the game disc, keyboard, cymbals and Pro Mustang guitar controller all ala carte, with keyboard/game disc packages.

Given this, it's probably pre-order-able at other stores. I'm an Amazon Prime member (I pay a price once a year to get two-day shipping on everything for no added cost for the rest of the year), so I ordered the keyboard package from Amazon.

If you aren't monitoring the RB thread in the PS3 forum, Bryn Bennett of Bang Camaro (and HMX SW Eng) has responded to my criticism of his performance in the demo for GameSpot's Live Stage, here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18796577#post18796577). Of course, there's no knowing whether it's the real Bryn Bennett, but I'm assuming that it is :D.

A Miley Cyrus song that isn't family friendly? Imagine that."Family Friendly" was the old Miley Cyrus:

http://i.walmartimages.com/i/p/00/05/00/87/13/0005008713240_500X500.jpg

This is the new Miley Cyrus:

http://www.disneydreaming.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/Miley-Cyrus-Cant-Be-Tamed-Album-Cover.jpg

I listened to the song. It's a woman telling her boyfriend not to bother to try to change her; its harshest lyric is "I'm not here to tell you to go to hell". I suppose that (combined with a thumbnail of the album cover) is family-unfriendly enough :D.

No More Tears was decent but the rest of the Ozzy tracks looked meh.

I'll be surprised if the DLC will be announced at exactly 10 because it will be put up by a guest poster.

I saw the drum video of I think Scream and it looked pretty fun. The guitar solo was a disco beat with extra kicks. Looked pretty vicious.

I saw the drum video of I think Scream and it looked pretty fun. The guitar solo was a disco beat with extra kicks. Looked pretty vicious.
It looked pretty vanilla for a disco beat to me.

I posted a link to an article giving some impressions of playing both the Squier and Mustang pro guitar controllers and a video of Bryn Bennett demonstrating expert pro guitar (I think) while Sylvain Dubrofsky explains their interesting notation in the Playstation Rock Band thread, here (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18808003#post18808003). (I posted it there to taunt Bennett again--he's responded to that thread).

Just being a good Do-Bee by not multiple posting :).

Interesting article on Rockbandaide.com confirms Stage Kit support (thought not in all instruments mode, of course) and Ion Drum Rocker support for Pro mode (for those who doubted it.)

Interesting article on Rockbandaide.com confirms Stage Kit support (thought not in all instruments mode, of course) and Ion Drum Rocker support for Pro mode (for those who doubted it.)I'm guessing that you're talking about this (http://rockbandaide.com/5880/15-things-weve-learned-at-e3-about-rock-band-3/) article?

Yes' "Roundabout" will be in the game! I'm squealing like a happy little girl :D. Being a somewhat older gamer, Yes was part of the soundtrack of my teens. Another great keys and harmonies song. "Roundabout" is 8 minutes, 35 seconds long; I wonder if it'll be reduced in some fashion. Are there currently any tracks that long in the game?

"Roundabout" is 8 minutes, 35 seconds long; I wonder if it'll be reduced in some fashion. Are there currently any tracks that long in the game?

Green Grass and High Tides might have that beat. :)

Green Grass and High Tides might have that beat. :)Cool--so there's hope that they'll use the full version instead of one of the radio edits.

Now, if I can only have "South Side of the Sky", most of the songs on Yes Album, and the four or five best tracks from 90125, I will acheive Nirvana :D.

As Expert players who often struggle with slower note highways when playing in bands with other difficulties on board, this makes me and my wife unbelievably happy:

Q: Will each instrument lane have their own speed based on their difficulty?

A: By default, all lanes will move at the same speed, as in Rock Band 2, however there will be a modifier that you can enable to have different lanes move at different speeds.Source (http://rockbandaide.com/5885/rock-band-3-lead-designer-dan-teasdale-answers-your-questions/).

And the confirmed (but expected) bad news:

Q: Will multiple vocal players be available over Xbox Live or PSN?

A: No. Latency issues makes this impossible, unfortunately.
Also, there is some speculation that vocals simply don't score at all in "All Instrument Mode," which would certainly resolve that "how do they set the vocals difficulty if there's no dedicated vocals controller" issue. Still speculative, afaik, but it is definitely one possible solution.

The filtering and saved setlist options shown off in that monster E3 video (http://rockbandaide.com/5807/full-video-of-mtv-games-rock-band-3-e3-demo/) look awesome. WHY ISN'T IT OCTOBER YET?!?

I'm guessing that you're talking about this (http://rockbandaide.com/5880/15-things-weve-learned-at-e3-about-rock-band-3/) article?

Yes' "Roundabout" will be in the game! I'm squealing like a happy little girl :D. Being a somewhat older gamer, Yes was part of the soundtrack of my teens. Another great keys and harmonies song. "Roundabout" is 8 minutes, 35 seconds long; I wonder if it'll be reduced in some fashion. Are there currently any tracks that long in the game?

Panic Attack from Dream Theater is just over 8 minutes, And Justice For All by Metallica is almost 10 mins and Camera Eye from Rush is just over 11 minutes. I think there would be a huge outcry if it were edited down.

Bring on Close To The Edge!

Two of the Green Day songs are also over 9 minutes and Jailbreak by AC/DC is about 11 minutes long.

An awesome song if people like long songs and would also have keyboards is Dream Theater's A Change of Seasons. It's like 22-23 minutes long. This would be epic to play in Pro mode. Playing it for real on a 7 string guitar is fun. They have a few other very long songs as well that approach the 20ish minute mark.

So why no price on the Squire Strat? We have prices for all of the other instruments. Do you think there are issues or complications with it? I personally detest Fender guitars but I can't wait to be able to finally play a real guitar even if it is a Fender/Squire :)
Hopefully the next evolution of the music game will be the use of a special pickup device to slip under your strings so we can use our own guitars.

[QUOTEYes' "Roundabout" will be in the game! I'm squealing like a happy little girl :D. Being a somewhat older gamer, Yes was part of the soundtrack of my teens. Another great keys and harmonies song. [/QUOTE]

A Yes pack would be awesome. Bring on "Starship Trooper" and "Yours is no Disgrace". Guess I am showing my age as well.

Hopefully the next evolution of the music game will be the use of a special pickup device to slip under your strings so we can use our own guitars.There are pickups that you can buy to add MIDI functionality to an existing guitar, but they wouldn't work for this. The game needs to know where your fingers are on the frets so that it can display that to you before you strum, requiring instrumentation on the fretboard. While playing with the current controllers, it lights up the indicator on the bar when you put your finger on the fret button, whether you're strumming or not, so you can see what you're doing without looking at your hands; the new game does the same thing in pro guitar, with fret numbers and a graphic which describes the shape of the chords (see this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5De9eCH1EU) video clip).

Pricing the Squier Strat controller is going to be difficult. I give a rundown of Fender pricing back in this (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=18785309#post18785309) post (there's one cheaper option, the Squier Bullet Strat, which lists for $180 and is commonly priced $120 at retail). I'm expecting this to come in somewhere between $200 and $300. Mad Catz' "Official Rock Band™ Wireless Fender™ Wooden Stratocaster Replica" lists for $300 and it's just a bog standard RB guitar controller built into a Fender Strat body (I bought one recently for an insanely good price during an Amazon "lightning deal").

I have a feeling the Squire will start around $300 which is what the Ion kits ran when they first came out.

But if they price it too low they screw Madcatz on the Mustang. I don't see how it can be lower than $300 to start, frankly I could see it even higher but I'm trying to balance that out with the fact that they won't want to price themselves out of the market.

I have a feeling the Squire will start around $300 which is what the Ion kits ran when they first came out.Possibly. I think that they'll bend over backwards to make the price encouraging. After all, it's an opportunity for Fender to gain customers that they might not have otherwise because those people would never chose to learn to play guitar in a more conventional fashion.

You can get the Squier SE Special Strat Value Pack for $200, including guitar, practice amp, cables, extra strings, electronic tuner, soft bag, guitar stand, picks and an instructional DVD. Same principle--get a cheap guitar into the hands of a beginner for as little as possible; he or she will eventually "outgrow" the instrument and hopefully come back to you for something better.

(Sorry that I "leap-frogged" your reply--I have a tendency to delete and repost when I'm the bottom post because I hate that little "last edited by..." annotation).

I think that the Mustang Pro will have separate special appeal and its $150 price will be a stretch for many people who wouldn't be willing to pay $225 for the Squier--there's no need for the Squier to cost twice as much. The Mustang's special appeal is that it will be a lot less painful to learn to play than a normal steel string guitar. I speak from current experience--I just started taking lessons a couple of weeks back and after 30 minutes of practice I have to stop and wait for my left hand fingertips to stop bleeding (I exaggerate, but just a little :(); I'm fairly sure that I could press fret buttons and strum plastic strings all day long without discomfort :D. I'm sure that this will be pointed out in many reviews.

Possibly. I think that they'll bend over backwards to make the price encouraging. After all, Fender it's an opportunity for Fender to gain customers that they might not have because they never chose to learn to play guitar in a more conventional fashion.

You can get the Squier SE Special Strat Value Pack for $200, including guitar, practice amp, cables, extra strings, electronic tuner, soft bag, guitar stand, picks and an instructional DVD. Same principle--get a cheap guitar into the hands of a beginner for as little as possible; he or she will eventually "outgrow" the instrument and hopefully come back to you for something better.
Consider that the list price on that is actually $320 and balance the RB fretting tech vs. a cheap practice amp and tuner and other throwins and you're right back around $300 MSRP. Sure it will probably be had for around $200 after a few months but video game stuff holds its retail value a lot better than actual guitar stuff which is usually half of list or better. Its like buying a safety gate for babies vs. one for pets or a recliner vs. reclining "home theater" furniture, sometimes the application dictates a premium.

I'll be happily surprised if I am wrong, but if they want $150 for the Mustang and wanted $300 for the hardwood Strat I'll be surprised if a real working guitar comes in in-between.

Probably a bit early for this (and pessimistic) but has there been any mention of increased prices for DLC?

I ask because in addition to the RB2 version (4 instruments, 4 difficulties for charts), they will now have keyboards, cymbals, harmonies, and another 4 chart difficulties (for pro mode) to do.

Seems it will be at least 3 times as much work as the current process, so curious if we'll still be seeing the normal $1.99/track DLC.

I'll be happily surprised if I am wrong, but if they want $150 for the Mustang and wanted $300 for the hardwood Strat I'll be surprised if a real working guitar comes in in-between.Fender is apparently manufacturing and marketing the Squier controller (Mad Catz branding would severely detract from its versimilitude :D). The $300 list price for the MC Fender Strat replica was in part due to its status as a luxury novelty--very few people would choose to buy it inasmuch as it doesn't do anything that the $80 plastic controller doesn't. I'd expect volume sales of the Squier controller to be much higher.

Only time will tell what they ask for this, but I expect them to cut their profit margin thin.

Probably a bit early for this (and pessimistic) but has there been any mention of increased prices for DLC?

I ask because in addition to the RB2 version (4 instruments, 4 difficulties for charts), they will now have keyboards, cymbals, harmonies, and another 4 chart difficulties (for pro mode) to do.

Seems it will be at least 3 times as much work as the current process, so curious if we'll still be seeing the normal $1.99/track DLC.Every track which comes with RB3 supposedly has its own pro guitar trainer; it seems probable that there'll be individual pro keyboard trainers as well. I wonder if they'll require that of all DLC? I suppose that it could be automated, with the game analyzing the specific chords, etc, that you need to play the track and drilling the player on that, both separately and in the context of the passages which use them.

Only time will tell what they ask for this, but I expect them to cut their profit margin thin.
Why should they? It's not Harmonix is putting this out so they can sell more copies of the game or DLC. Fender is not a charity.

I'd be highly suspect of the guitar quality if it can list for $200. The Ion kit really is the closest comparison we have.

The $300 list price for the MC Fender Strat replica was in part due to its status as a luxury novelty--very few people would choose to buy it inasmuch as it doesn't do anything that the $80 plastic controller doesn't. I'd expect volume sales of the Squier controller to be much higher.

Only time will tell what they ask for this, but I expect them to cut their profit margin thin.

The Squier will likewise be an extreme luxury novelty. I really really want one and would love to hope for a $225 price, but I really don't see it coming in any lower than $299...and unfortunately $349 sounds like the most realistic price for the thing.

You can try to rationalize lower predictions all you want as no one knows the real price yet, but just look at the history of the premium controller pricing.

we know its got the xbox stuff in it and a special pickup. does anyone know if it has custom technology in the neck to identify the finger positions?

i would guess $399.

i'm a little more concerned with how accurate is it?

on dlc pricing i think they leave it the same. if they raise the price there will be a big cry for non-pro dlc, i don't think they want to worry about multiple versions.

we know its got the xbox stuff in it and a special pickup. does anyone know if it has custom technology in the neck to identify the finger positions?

i would guess $399.
Yes supposedly it does. I can see anywhere from $300-450.

I expect this thing to be built on top of a bottom-of-the-line POS electric guitar that wouldn't be worth owning if not for the game controller: semi hollow body, crappy tuner, crappy bridge. Fender's current bottom-of-the-line POS electric guitar, the Squier Bullet Strat, lists for $180 and retails for $120. Add the cost of the electronics for gaming and I'd truly be surprised to see them mark it up a lot.

Fender is not a charity, but they sell a lot of beginner guitars at what can't be much of profit, like those cheap "Stop Dreaming, Start Playing!" kits, which are intended to encourage kids to start playing and eventually to buy a decent instrument from which Fender will really profit.

If I can buy a beginner electric guitar and the Mustang Pro controller for less than what the Squier controller comes in at (which'd total $270 for Mustang + Squier Bullet Strat, $330 for Mustang+Squier Affinity Strat) , then frak it--that would make the Squier controller a very poor deal on principle, even given its increased realism. (Given my history of impulsively throwing away money I can't really afford to spend, I'd probably buy it anyway and feel foolish for a while, if it weren't too much over $300 :rolleyes:).

Hopefully they won't keep us in the dark about the price for too much longer :).

See, I think if they throw together the most POS guitar in this package it is going to irritate and turn off a lot of people - beginners and experts alike. Nobody wants something that plays sloppy, can't hold a tune and offers no fine tuning. A fixed bridge will help in some of those areas and keep the cost lower but still if it feels like a crappy kids toy and not a real instrument that is not a good thing. I don't think its a good thing for Fender either. They don't need to get their name out there by making someone's first experience miserable.

See, I think if they throw together the most POS guitar in this package it is going to irritate and turn off a lot of people - beginners and experts alike. Nobody wants something that plays sloppy, can't hold a tune and offers no fine tuning. A fixed bridge will help in some of those areas and keep the cost lower but still if it feels like a crappy kids toy and not a real instrument that is not a good thing. I don't think its a good thing for Fender either. They don't need to get their name out there by making someone's first experience miserable.What portion of Rock Band players is currently an expert guitarist? I can't believe that it's a very large group that any company would care much about pissing off. In any case, expert guitarist who play the game don't need for this to be a good guitar--they'll own multiple expensive good-to-excellent guitars already.

Actually, I've read some very positive reviews of the Squier Bullet Strat, some from people who've been playing it for years and some from experienced guitarist who had high praise for some of its features (google "bullet strat review"). Not a toy, quite durable and from most reports a very good instrument for beginners. Again, if you're not a beginner, you probably already own a good-or-better electric guitar. (I've also read a few review which tore it apart, but those people knew enough about electric guitars that they shouldn't have expected excellence for their $180 :rolleyes:). To my mind, there's no justification for mounting a game controller on top of a really good guitar. As you say, a truly crappy, completely frustrating guitar might turn beginners off, but Fender already sells these rock-bottom-of-the-line Squier Bullet Strats in low cost "Stop Dreaming, Start Playing!" packs.

If they price this thing unreasonably, I'll probably just spend $230 for the You Rock Guitar (http://yourockguitar.com/)+Xbox gaming module, once their claim that it will work with Rock Band 3 pro mode is verified. It's similar to the Mustang, with a pressure sensitive fretboard with string-like ridges instead of buttons and a buttload of features above and beyond being a MIDI guitar and game controller (and unlike the Mustang, a full 22 frets). They've got hours of testimonial from highly credible professional guitarists and guitar educators on their YouTube channel (http://www.youtube.com/yourockguitar) (check out the George Pajon Jr (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QC_Z0SCRvDc) and Michael "Fish" Herring interviews here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WcJB1OmLdc), here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXopUVAPXX0) and here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NG4SY7xf0g0)). All of these pros have great things to say about it and its apparently the best tracking MIDI controller any of them has ever used. I was planning to buy it before I saw this. Had they shipped it before last week I'd already own one :rolleyes:.

Hey Mike, you can believe whatever you want but I fear you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If the price comes announced at $300 it sounds like you're going to be unhappy while I will think it will be more than a fair enough price. If its lower then you may be happy while I will think its a complete steal.

:)

Meanwhile as someone who is primarily a vocalist there is this whole vocals won't be scored on "all instrument mode" matter.

In all reality its no big deal since I rarely have a full band over and I don't play online so much because I prefer to play my DLC over the disc stuff.

Hey Mike, you can believe whatever you want but I fear you're setting yourself up for disappointment. If the price comes announced at $300 it sounds like you're going to be unhappy while I will think it will be more than a fair enough price. If its lower then you may be happy while I will think its a complete steal.Actually, at this point I'm fairly indifferent. I'm not sure that I'll buy it even if the price is "a steal" as you say. After hearing the announcement about Rock Band 3's pro controllers, I forgot all about the You Rock. If it actually will work as a RB3 pro guitar controller, I think that I'd rather own it than either the Mad Catz Mustang or Squier Strat controller, given that it has 5x the connectivity (amp, USB, MIDI, headphones and aux in) and 10x the functionality of either (midi-guitar/game-controller, built-in synth with a ton of sample sets, headphone out/mp3-player in, etc, etc).

If the You Rock won't perform as an RB3 pro guitar controller, then I'll re-evaluate by options :D.

There are pickups that you can buy to add MIDI functionality to an existing guitar, but they wouldn't work for this. The game needs to know where your fingers are on the frets so that it can display that to you before you strum, requiring instrumentation on the fretboard. While playing with the current controllers, it lights up the indicator on the bar when you put your finger on the fret button, whether you're strumming or not, so you can see what you're doing without looking at your hands; the new game does the same thing in pro guitar, with fret numbers and a graphic which describes the shape of the chords (see this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5De9eCH1EU) video clip).


I think the next evolution should go beyond the tracking of the fingers all togther and get down to the root of it all, the notes. That way a special pickup type device could then be used and we could slip it under our strings and between the pickups on our guitars. This type of pickup would need to be slim however because guitars with a hum-single-hum configuration (like my Ibanez Jem, Ibanez Universe and ESP Custom shop) have very little space that can be used.

Still, I'm definitely looking forward to this in the fall.

I think the next evolution should go beyond the tracking of the fingers all togther and get down to the root of it all, the notes. That way a special pickup type device could then be used and we could slip it under our strings and between the pickups on our guitars. This type of pickup would need to be slim however because guitars with a hum-single-hum configuration (like my Ibanez Jem, Ibanez Universe and ESP Custom shop) have very little space that can be used.Again, several such pickups exists, like the popular Roland GK-3 (http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=651&ParentId=55) (Fender sells a few "Roland Ready" electric guitars with a similar mechanism built in). If they wanted to, HMX could allow the use of MIDI guitars with their MIDI Pro Adapter, just as it can be used to play pro keys and drums with arbitrary MIDI keyboards and drum kits. I doubt that any non-experienced guitarists could deal with it, but who cares? Also, the instrument would have to be in tune, which I don't think that the Squier controller will have to be. Still, it's an option which they should probably allow. After all, you can't see what you're about to play on any instrument other than guitar and bass.

Again, several such pickups exists, like the popular Roland GK-3 (http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=651&ParentId=55) (Fender sells a few "Roland Ready" electric guitars with a similar mechanism built in). If they wanted to, HMX could allow the use of MIDI guitars with their MIDI Pro Adapter, just as it can be used to play pro keys and drums with arbitrary MIDI keyboards and drum kits. I doubt that any non-experienced guitarists could deal with it, but who cares? Also, the instrument would have to be in tune, which I don't think that the Squier controller will have to be. Still, it's an option which they should probably allow. After all, you can't see what you're about to play on any instrument other than guitar and bass.

Oh I understand the technology is out there I was just saying it would be nice if Harmonix would look into that as an option in the future. You're probably right about the guitar not having to be in tune when in Pro mode this fall as I'm not sure how many will have an actual amp to have it running into while playing the songs (or want to even bother) thus making an out of tune guitar standing out like a sore thumb a moot point I guess.
I guess one obvious downside of going the pickup route vs the whole guitar is that with your real guitar it's not a controller so it'll make navigating the menus a pain as I'm not sure how that could be solved other than some sort of adapter that attached to the pickup allowing you to use your controller.

I guess one obvious downside of going the pickup route vs the whole guitar is that with your real guitar it's not a controller so it'll make navigating the menus a pain as I'm not sure how that could be solved other than some sort of adapter that attached to the pickup allowing you to use your controller.You would use their Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO-Adapter ($40, see here (http://www.engadget.com/photos/mad-catzs-rock-band-3-midi-pro-adapter/)). It's a box into which you plug a MIDI cable from a MIDI keyboard or MIDI drum kit which would allow you to play the game with real instruments that you already own. The MIDI PRO-Adapter has a full complement of controller buttons on it. As currently defined, it will only work with MIDI keyboards and drum kits.

You would use their Rock Band 3 MIDI PRO-Adapter ($40, see here (http://www.engadget.com/photos/mad-catzs-rock-band-3-midi-pro-adapter/)). It's a box into which you plug a MIDI cable from a MIDI keyboard or MIDI drum kit which would allow you to play the game with real instruments that you already own. The MIDI PRO-Adapter has a full complement of controller buttons on it. As currently defined, it will only work with MIDI keyboards and drum kits.

Cool, thanks. I completely forgot about that device. All it would need is to be modified for the guitar.

Interesting article at plasticaxe.com (http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/06/23/the-real-and-real-ish-guitars-of-e3/), wherein the author, a guitarist, compares all of the string-oriented guitar controllers that he saw at E3, ranked from his least to most favorite.

His least favorite was some half-assed effort from Peavey, called the "Hero Maker"; you can use it to play five-lane guitar parts in rhythm games by fretting and picking the high E string and only the high E string (the thinnest and most painful to fret string of them all :rolleyes:). His second least favorite was the guitar controller from Power Gig: Rise of the SixString, whose slick design impressed him, but not its limited capabilities. His third favorite was the Mad Catz Mustang, which he felt had the least realistic feel of the five (the only other one which isn't an actual steel string electric guitar is the YRG).

Not surprisingly his favorite was the Squier :D. He did, however, really like the YRG:
As surprised as I am to say it, I loved playing this thing. The rubberized faux-strings on the fretboard felt natural and realistic, making it seem almost as if I was playing a real guitar with the action set impossibly low. The sound quality of the on-board generator wasn’t the most lifelike I’d ever heard, but I imagine you could run the faux-clean sound through a real distortion pedal or amp and it’d sound pretty solid. My biggest complaint is that the guitar seemed to drop notes occasionally — though this could have been due to my unfamiliarity with the sensitivity of the neck. In any event, it’s as realistic as I imagine you can get without moving to a fully stringed controller. I’m hoping to be able to check this one out at greater length sometime soon.(Of the YRG's built-in sample sets I've heard the acoustic guitars are by far the best. It is, however, a MIDI controller so you can use it to play a synth if you want something better). Then he voices my concern about the YRG:It’s not clear at this point whether the You Rock will be able to support Rock Band 3′s Pro mode. The rep I talked to hinted that they were working hard to make sure it happens, and as long as both the You Rock and the Rock Band 3 guitars use standard MIDI messages, it shouldn’t be a problem, provided you’re willing to shell out the extra $40 for the Mad Catz MIDI adapter.

But it might not happen — which means that the You Rock may be able to only generate the traditional five-colored-button signals. (I’m going to call this “GRYBO” from now on, because I like the way it sounds.)There are a couple of things that I hadn't realized about the Squier controller. That weird white block above the bridge is the only pick up element, making it less versatile as an analog electric guitar than any of Squier's beginner models, all of which have 3 pick ups and a five position pick up selector (the fake ones on the guitar controllers are used to select overdrive effects). The apparent pick up at the neck is just a mute which can be raised into contact with the strings to stop them from audibly ringing as you use it to play the game.
One important note: I was under the impression that the guitar included all the electronics necessary to interface with a console, but Harmonix has now confirmed that it will use Mad Catz’ MIDI interface box to talk to the game. They’re not saying at this point whether the box will be packed in with the guitar, but it seems like it’d generate some pretty nasty feelings from consumers if they had to shell out top dollar for this guitar and then spring for another $40 on top of that to make it work with the game. So I’m guessing it’ll be packed in. I’m also guessing we’ll see a price of $250 to $300 for the package.I didn't realize that either--hopefully the MIDI Pro Adapter is wireless. Given that, it seems probable that fret fingering information is transmitted as a continuous stream of custom MIDI messages; if that's true, it's something that can be easily reverse engineered into the YRG. Will it happen? We'll see.

Apparently someone at MTV games has stated that the Squier controller might not be ready when the game ships. Doesn't matter too much to me, since even if I end up buying it, there's such a ton of stuff due out at that time that I will definitely not have the funds to buy all of what I want at once. Kind of a nice problem to have :).

Interesting reading, thanks for posting.

I didn't realize that either--hopefully the MIDI Pro Adapter is wireless. Given that, it seems probable that fret fingering information is transmitted as a continuous stream of custom MIDI messages; if that's true, it's something that can be easily reverse engineered into the YRG. Will it happen? We'll see.

The Mad Catz MIDI adapter connects via USB. Sadly it isn't wireless.

I just found out there is now a Wargasm song on RBN! OMFG, I was hoping this would happen - since a lot of old Boston Indie bands get an easy in on RB. For those who don't know, Wargasm was Boston's own Thrash Kings - a Power Trio with a sound in the realm of Slayer. RBN rules...

Next week:
Next week's DLC will feature a 6 pack from Rock Band newcomers Nickelback. What more do you need to know?! I think that says it all right there. Here's the run down of tracks and pricing.

Available on Xbox 360®, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (June 29):

“Burn It to the Ground”
“Figured You Out”
“Never Again”
“Photograph”
“Rockstar”
“This Afternoon”

(All tracks are original master recordings)

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system June 30)

These tracks will be available for purchase as “Nickelback Pack 01” as well as individual tracks on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii.

Price:

$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per track

$9.99, £4.99 UK, €7.99 EU (800 Microsoft Points) for Nickelback Pack 01

$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track

Next week:

Next week's DLC will feature a 6 pack from Rock Band newcomers Nickelback. What more do you need to know?! I think that says it all right there. Here's the run down of tracks and pricing.

Available on Xbox 360®, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (June 29):

“Burn It to the Ground”
“Figured You Out”
“Never Again”
“Photograph”
“Rockstar”
“This Afternoon”


I guess it was inevitable.

NickelBack... I just threw-up in my mouth a little bit. "Hey, but don't worry, it looks good on YOU though!"... (Rodney Dangerfield)...

I thought Nickelback thought these games sucked, which was cool because I think Nickelback sucks.

I just threw-up in my mouth a little bit.^^^

this is what happens when country is first allowed.

I thought Nickelback thought these games sucked, which was cool because I think Nickelback sucks.

This is troubling news because the HMX guys used to berate Nickelback and say they would never be in rockband.

NickelBack... I just threw-up in my mouth a little bit. "Hey, but don't worry, it looks good on YOU though!"... (Rodney Dangerfield)...

I am by no means a Nickelback fan, but I distinctly remember seeing them open for Sevendust (or maybe it was Staind) back in 2000 or 2001 and thinking to myself, "They are not an opening band; they know what they are doing. They will headlining soon." Their setlist was a bit more heavy back then and not as sing-songy.

It weird to think they were opening small theater stops for Sevendust (or maybe it was Staind) one minute and within months headlining larger venues. The only other time I have seen that is when I saw Limp Bizkit open the third stage at Rockstock in Chicago in '97. They didn't have a setlist... they just asked the crowd, all 100 or so of us, what we wanted them to play. Only a handful of people where familiar with 'Three Dollar Bill Yall' at the time, so they got to hear what they wanted. I must admit... that album is great and that show was great. Wes was fun to watch.

^^^

this is what happens when country is first allowed.

Damn that's harsh. Some of those country songs are amongst the funnest to play.

NB, however, seems more suited to Dance Central.

Hey, what do I know. I secretly want them to release a "Las Vegas Lounge Act" track-pack. Robert Goulet... BOO-YAHHHHHH!!!

I'm not joking.

I really don't understand the disproportionate amount of hate that Nickleback gets. Sure a lot of their stuff tends to sound similar but I fail to see what is so BAD about their music.

They're decent musicians, they write some catchy melodies and the singer can actually sing and he sounds just as good live (you know, actually singing, not lipsyncing). I really don't understand it. There are certainly far worse bands out there.

I only know one of those songs by name (I'm sure I've heard some of them) but they'll likely be fun to play.

Once again we've fallen to the level of deriding other people's taste in music. Of course, no one here is admitting to being a Nickelback fan, but still :rolleyes:. Take it to the "We Hate Nickelback" forum--there's got to be one out there somewhere :D.

EDIT: I just google "we hate nickelback". The results were amusing :).

I really don't understand the disproportionate amount of hate that Nickleback gets. Sure a lot of their stuff tends to sound similar but I fail to see what is so BAD about their music.

They're decent musicians, they write some catchy melodies and the singer can actually sing and he sounds just as good live (you know, actually singing, not lipsyncing). I really don't understand it. There are certainly far worse bands out there.

I only know one of those songs by name (I'm sure I've heard some of them) but they'll likely be fun to play.

I was just going to post that, but I know all those songs except "This Afternoon" and like all of them except "Photograph."

I don't get all the hate either. I wouldn't go as far to say I'm a fan, but I certainly think they're a decent band (and actually sound nearly as good live as they do recorded...a rare feat these days). I'll be buying the pack so I can sing "hey hey...I wanna be a Rock Star" while strumming away on my faux guitar and wishing I was a rock star. Then I'd get all the chicks.

I guess it's "cool" to hate Nickelback :confused: But whatever...hate away like the sheeple that you are :)

Awesome....

Nickelback.

*gags*

:p

I love NickelBack. Not so much for their music, but because of the fact they all look like different versions of "Sawyer" from LOST. Sooooo "Red-Neck Dreamy"! Oops, I just threw-up in my mouth again...

I think it is great there are bands like them out there. Teenage Appalachian Girls definitely need background music to get pregnant by, in some primer colored '78 Trans Am.

ROBERT GOULET!!! FTW!!!

Wow, the Nickelback hate page on Facebook has 130,000 members. Their music doesn't sound all that awful to me, but I am surprised that I don't recognize any of those six songs, despite three or four of them being in the iTunes top 5 for the band.

Wow, the Nickelback hate page on Facebook has 130,000 members. Their music doesn't sound all that awful to me, but I am surprised that I don't recognize any of those six songs, despite three or four of them being in the iTunes top 5 for the band.

If you have not heard the first 5 songs, you don't listen to much radio. At least they constantly play those around here.

To be fair to Nickelback, I don't hate them any more than I hate dozens of other soulless corporate rock bands. They just happen to be the most prominent. They are like fast food, take a familiar dish and serve it up ready made in a formula that is consistently consistent. Its just boring to me. Which isn't to say I don't like simple music, but I prefer my simple music to have a soul.

to me all this new modern "hard" rock sounds the same for good or bad. it drives my wife nuts, but I call almost every band on the radio Nickelback, because they all sound the same. Disturbed is nickelback, shinedown is nickelback, whoever sings that horrid whskey hangover song is nickelback. she just rolls her eyes, because she can tell the difference. it's like a brand name. they might be different brands of snot rags, but they are all kleenex to me.

problem with nickelback - very repetitive..annoyingly scratchy whiny voice lead singer..and way overplayed.

i really would like to see some more red hot chili peppers..they have some great songs that aren't in the game.

to me all this new modern "hard" rock sounds the same for good or bad. it drives my wife nuts, but I call almost every band on the radio Nickelback, because they all sound the same. Disturbed is nickelback, shinedown is nickelback, whoever sings that horrid whskey hangover song is nickelback. she just rolls her eyes, because she can tell the difference. it's like a brand name. they might be different brands of snot rags, but they are all kleenex to me.
Nice.

I don't hate on Nickelback despite it being the apparently cool thing to do. But I understand this position very well. Nicely articulated, jbsimm2.

I think they are good tunes. I can't wait to play them on RB. They will be alot of fun with a group because everybody knows the songs.

The Chili Peppers might (will probably) be getting their own Guitar Hero game so kiss them in Rock Band goodbye!

I wonder if they'll better support the wireless mics in RB3.

I've heard there's lag issues with them in RB2 (though I've also read it's not an issue in Beatles). Also, I was told that RB2 doesn't support the built-in accelerometer in the wireless mics for cowbell and other parts where you either tap the mic or press the A button, it'd be nice in RB3.

The Chili Peppers might (will probably) be getting their own Guitar Hero game so kiss them in Rock Band goodbye!

yeah i seent that rumor a while back but didn't see anything else on it..but that's pretty disappointing. GH blows.

yeah i seent that rumor a while back but didn't see anything else on it..but that's pretty disappointing. GH blows.It's a terrible shame. I'm a huge Chili Peppers fan, but I'm not buying a GH game.

GH5 has a few nice features (and some crappy ones), and the charts tend to be a bit more difficult, which can be good sometimes and bad sometimes. I've tried to learn to like it, but the gameplay graphics don't do it for me. (Not the band animations, which I never see while I'm playing anyway--the stuff on the highway). I feel somehow disconnected from what's going on; I don't get the same sense that my actions are making the jewels explode.

From the glimpses we've been shown, it looks as though RB3 is adopting the GH5 features that I like anyway :).

LOL @ the comments. The Whiskey song is from Godsmack. I like some of their old stuff but their new singles do sound kind of generic IMO. I love playing I Stand Alone in RB. Like someone mentioned, let's get the generic stuff out of the way now so that Pro Mode will include the good stuff, no offense. But I'll be royally pissed if one of my favorite musicians comes out and I can't jam his song on a Squier.

FYI, I didn't see anyone mention that 2112 the song, was coming to both RB and GH. GH I believe is confirmed and Geddy Lee told a RB'er that we were getting it too.

FYI, I didn't see anyone mention that 2112 the song, was coming to both RB and GH. GH I believe is confirmed and Geddy Lee told a RB'er that we were getting it too.

I read a second-hand comment where he-said that she-said that Geddy said that GH Warriors was getting 2112 as a "level" and that Rock Band was getting something else. I think I read it on RockBandAide.com

The "quote" from Geddy in relation to getting more stuff in Rock Band:
“Yea, GH: Warriors of Rock is getting a whole “2112″ level. Oh wait, you meant Rock Band, right? Yeah, the one with the keyboards; that one is getting one as well.”

I think it is great there are bands like them out there. Teenage Appalachian Girls definitely need background music to get pregnant by, in some primer colored '78 Trans Am.

:D

ROBERT GOULET!!! FTW!!!
I'm reminded of... oh, what movie was that in... Scrooged? Where there's an ad for a TV special - "Bob Goulet sings!"

Level? He probably means that you have to pass the song to advance kind of like how Megadeth's song is the last boss?

Level? He probably means that you have to pass the song to advance kind of like how Megadeth's song is the last boss?
I would assume it means a stage or background themed around the song, but considering the source, he might not mean it that way.

According to a post on IGN (http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/110/1102718p1.html):

From July 6 to July 12 Microsoft is holding Liveapalooza on Xbox Live. During this time music game add-ons such as albums, track packs, and songs for Rock Band, Guitar Hero, Band Hero, and Lips will be put on sale.

Hope there's some good ones...

Kotaku says that for Rock Band 3 Harmonix has partnered with Izotope to utilize their realtime pitch detection and correction software for vocals gameplay. Well done HMX.

Kotaku says that for Rock Band 3 Harmonix has partnered with Izotope to utilize their realtime pitch detection and correction software for vocals gameplay. Well done HMX.

Izotope says the same thing: http://www.izotope.com/press/6.29.2010%20-%20iZotope%20Technology%20Licensed%20for%20Inclusion%20in%20 Rock%20Band%203.html

Of course a bunch of vocalists are crying about being autotuned over on the official forums.

Having watched many videos of the scorehero vocal whores I daresay most could use it.

Of course a bunch of vocalists are crying about being autotuned over on the official forums.

Having watched many videos of the scorehero vocal whores I daresay most could use it.I always insist that mic volume be turned all the way down. It's bad enough being in the same room with most vocal players without amplifying their efforts. I can still hear them all too well :D.

From my pathetic attempts at karaoke back in the day, let me just say that a little reverb can go a long way...so I am interested in what all effects they are talking about. Hopefully it's not only auto-tune and it's all selectable.

I myself could benefit greatly from auto-tune.

I can't imagine HMX would FORCE autotuning on anyone...that's just rude. Some of us don't need autotuning. :cool: So I suspect it'll be fully configurable.

But it would certainly be fun to play with...especially with all the harmonies. And punching up the reverb can definitely help at times, and such effects might make others more willing to grab the mike at parties BEFORE the heavy consumption of adult beverages...

Of course a bunch of vocalists are crying about being autotuned over on the official forums.

Having watched many videos of the scorehero vocal whores I daresay most could use it.

They needn't. The vocal effects can be turned off.

Praying Sony matches the MS deal but seriously doubt it since PSN+ came out.

Wow, half the fun in having people over to play Rock Band is hearing them sing badly. In fact, it's the only instrument that people can play poorly and still be entertaining.

They needn't. The vocal effects can be turned off.
Well of course they can but the people over there never overreact to anything.

Well of course they can but the people over there never overreact to anything.
Miley and Nickelback R00L!

Miley and Nickelback R00L!
Yeah I don't even look at the new release threads anymore, but every time a new feature is discovered from a screen shot or E3 speculation it is amusing to have 500 software designers crawl out of the woodwork and explain how HMX got it wrong.

Also the Total Rock Rewards thread this year has been quite a read. I mean anytime you give some relatively big bucks to something fun it quickly ruins all that was fun about it but last year's even seemed relatively smooth compared to all the whining this year.

Speaking of, did anyone wind up entering the contest and getting to the next round from here?

I tried to do it in Vegas last year and the people at Harrah's on the strip had no clue what I was talking about so I left.

Wow, half the fun in having people over to play Rock Band is hearing them sing badly. In fact, it's the only instrument that people can play poorly and still be entertaining.

I disagree. If I had taken a vid of a female friend that attempted to play drums it would have been viral by now.

New Ion drumset coming:

ION announced that they are making some improvements to the Drum Rocker series, with the introduction of the Drum Rocker Pro Premium Drumset for Rock Band.

The new drum kit may look the same as previous models, but features some noteworthy additions, including a new professional-grade kick pedal, which features steel reinforcement, dual chain drive and rubber trigger mechanism. The Drum Rocker Pro also now incorporates three cymbal pads out of the box, unlike previous iterations which otherwise had to be purchased separately.

ION has also teamed up with Alesis to further bridge the gap between Rock Band 3's pro mode with an add-on drum module that allows players to use the set as a real-life virtual drum kit.


http://gear.ign.com/articles/110/1103173p1.html

Liveapalooza Sale Prices are up:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/liveapalooza/default.htm

Or to see the songs in those packs:

http://rockbandaide.com/6138/are-you-ready-for-liveapalooza/

New Ion drumset coming:

ION announced that they are making some improvements to the Drum Rocker series, with the introduction of the Drum Rocker Pro Premium Drumset for Rock Band.

The new drum kit may look the same as previous models, but features some noteworthy additions, including a new professional-grade kick pedal, which features steel reinforcement, dual chain drive and rubber trigger mechanism. The Drum Rocker Pro also now incorporates three cymbal pads out of the box, unlike previous iterations which otherwise had to be purchased separately.

ION has also teamed up with Alesis to further bridge the gap between Rock Band 3's pro mode with an add-on drum module that allows players to use the set as a real-life virtual drum kit.


http://gear.ign.com/articles/110/1103173p1.html

I see two pedals in that pic. Will RB3 support a pedal for the hi-hat now with pro mode? If it does.... ssuuuuhhh-weeetttt!!! :D

Liveapalooza Sale Prices are up:

http://www.xbox.com/en-US/community/events/liveapalooza/default.htm

Or to see the songs in those packs:

http://rockbandaide.com/6138/are-you-ready-for-liveapalooza/
Kind of a bummer in that I either already have half of those or don't want the others. A few of the packs I picked and choosed and would have grabbed the whole pack at that price. I was hoping Rust in Peace which I planned on buying but never did would have made the cut, instead its Peace Sells...

I see two pedals in that pic. Will RB3 support a pedal for the hi-hat now with pro mode? If it does.... ssuuuuhhh-weeetttt!!! :D
Sure looks like it based on where that second pedal is positioned :cool:

Kind of a bummer in that I either already have half of those or don't want the others. A few of the packs I picked and choosed and would have grabbed the whole pack at that price.


Yep, bummer indeed...this sale is pretty much for people who have been holding out. Regulars need not apply. :(

Apparently a $20 Creedence pack is being released next week per Major Nelson. Not sure if song titles have been announced yet, but must be in the neighborhood of 12 songs for that price.

Sure looks like it based on where that second pedal is positioned :cool:

it's for double bass RB3 is supposed to support it. According to Q&A's during the big Press interviews done before E3.

I see two pedals in that pic. Will RB3 support a pedal for the hi-hat now with pro mode? If it does.... ssuuuuhhh-weeetttt!!! :D

Sure looks like it based on where that second pedal is positioned :cool:

1) Glad to see they're finally upgrading the bass pedal for the "Premium" ION kit...the crappy hi-hat pedal they include is garbage compared to a real bass pedal and a kick trigger.

2) I'm not so sure I would connect the ION kit photo with RB3 functionality. The ION Pro Premium would have to include both the (crappy) hi-hat pedal along with the bass pedal and the 3 cymbals in order to have any claim for use as a "real eDrum kit". That does not, however, mean RB3 will necessarily support a hi-hat pedal. In fact, I'd be quite surprised if it did. It would be awesome, but I don't think the stock photo can be seen as any kind of indicator.

It does beg the question, though, however...of how Expert Pro mode drums would render the blue "open" hi-hat notes. Will you have to hit the blue ride cymbal? It'll have to use the cymbal notation in Pro mode rather than a standard tom gem, right? But they couldn't "dynamically remap" the track from blue back to yellow...because visually you would no longer be able to tell that it's an open hi-hat. So even if your ION Pro Premium kit did register a hi-hat pedal and the game recognized it, you'd have to know to hit the yellow cymbal with the hi-hat pedal depressed even though the gem is a blue cymbal? I doubt it. I think unless they use a 3rd gem type for open versus the standard closed yellow hi-hat cymbal, there's no way to bridge that gap.

And what about songs where they map the closed hi-hat stream onto red? Are those going to be red cymbal symbols? Great...now my head hurts...

1)
And what about songs where they map the closed hi-hat stream onto red? Are those going to be red cymbal symbols? Great...now my head hurts...

HMX already confirmed that songs with fast red streams for cymabls were marked accordingly(as disco beats) when they were authored and will be fixed in pro mode(mapped properly to the yellow cymbal).

Rock Band 3 supports a hi-hat pedal but only in fills and freestyle mode. It will work the same as a regular hi-hat pedal in that depressed it will make the closed sound and otherwise it will make the open sound. It will not affect gameplay at all and open hi-hat will still appear as blue in gameplay. You can choose whether the second pedal is double bass or a hi-hat pedal. Similarly, the double bass will not be reflected in gameplay.

The picture of the new Ion kit shows the same old Drum Rocker brain (with no additional ports) so unless that is just a prototype, it looks only the Rock Band 2 and 3 drums will support the double bass and/or hi-hat pedal natively.
HMX already confirmed that songs with fast red streams for cymabls were marked accordingly(as disco beats) when they were authored and will be fixed in pro mode(mapped properly to the yellow cymbal).
I must have missed this. Do you have a link? I did know it was confirmed that songs are authored differently for the disco flip so that missing red doesn't hurt as much as it normally would (and therefore what you say would be possible.)

Major Nelson was right on:
Available on Xbox 360®, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (July 6):

· “Bad Moon Rising”
· “Born on the Bayou”
· “Down on the Corner”
· “Fortunate Son (Original Version)”
· “Green River”
· “I Heard It Through the Grapevine”
· “Lookin’ Out My Back Door”
· “Proud Mary”
· “Run Through the Jungle”
· “Travelin’ Band”
· “Up Around the Bend”
· “Who’ll Stop the Rain”

(All tracks are original master recordings)
(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system July 7)

These tracks will be available for purchase as “Creedence Clearwater Revival Pack 01” as well as individual tracks on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii.

Price:
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per track

$19.99, £9.99 UK, €14.99 EU (1600 Microsoft Points) for Creedence Clearwater Revival Pack 01

$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track

awesome pack, but i was really hoping for "Lodi" (RB3 Disc maybe?? :) )

HMX already confirmed that songs with fast red streams for cymabls were marked accordingly(as disco beats) when they were authored and will be fixed in pro mode(mapped properly to the yellow cymbal).

Thank heavens, this was one of the worst decisions they made IMO. I guess it sort of makes sense with the stock drum kit, but playing Ions with proper placement resulted in major suckiness.

The picture of the new Ion kit shows the same old Drum Rocker brain (with no additional ports) so unless that is just a prototype, it looks only the Rock Band 2 and 3 drums will support the double bass and/or hi-hat pedal natively.


I'm curious how the hi-hat situation will be handled when utilizing the midi adapter and a pro drum brain.

awesome pack, but i was really hoping for "Lodi" (RB3 Disc maybe?? :) )
Me too. Growing up in NorCal it was probably my favorite CCR tune. Buying this pack is a no brainer but I was fine with my cover of Fortunate Son so it feels like it is a slightly less discounted 12 pack only getting one "new" song "free".

I'm curious how the hi-hat situation will be handled when utilizing the midi adapter and a pro drum brain.

Wouldn't you just program your drum brain to output the blue cymbal code when the hi-hat pedal is up and yellow when it's down?

Maybe, but I seem to recall there being issues getting cymbal sounds when using the Guitar Hero drums as a midi converter in RB. I would think they will have a solution when these start shipping, I was just wondering if anyone had heard.

grabbed a stage kit when they were being cleared out. finally connected it last night (lights only), hehe pretty awesome...

If there was a better way to mount the lights and if the lights weren't also a controller, I'd like the stage kit a lot more. I used it for about two months and then put it away into it's box. I might never open it again.

I love the stage kit and picked up an extra when they went on clearance with the intention of eventually do the "dual stage kit mod"...and wire in some kind of controller that isn't connected to the lights!

You can pick up aftermarket products that let you use a hi-hat pedal to switch between yellow and blue cymbal notes.

http://www.rockbandkickbox.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=7

I bought one recently with the Ion Core kit and Pintech cymbals to try and learn to play "semi-properly" before RB3 comes out. I want to be ready for expert pro-drums on day 1. :) Although, it looks like it's going to take some time to train my brain to use my left foot indepentantly. It's very different than doing double-bass pedals.

You can pick up aftermarket products that let you use a hi-hat pedal to switch between yellow and blue cymbal notes.

http://www.rockbandkickbox.com/store/index.php?_a=viewProd&productId=7

I bought one recently with the Ion Core kit and Pintech cymbals to try and learn to play "semi-properly" before RB3 comes out. I want to be ready for expert pro-drums on day 1. :) Although, it looks like it's going to take some time to train my brain to use my left foot indepentantly. It's very different than doing double-bass pedals.

The hi-hat pedal will not affect gameplay in Rock Band 3. It will only affect fills and freestyles.

The HiHatKickBox does affect game play. It switches the yellow cymbal output between the yellow and blue inputs based on the pedal position. The game has no idea that the pedal or HH kickbox are there.

You hit the yellow cymbal and with the pedal down for yellow notes and you hit the same cymbal with the pedal up for blue notes.

Looks like 680 MS points worth of songs from "The Vines" is coming next week.

Songs are not specified.

http://gamerscoreblog.com/press/archive/2010/07/06/az654.aspx

The HiHatKickBox does affect game play. It switches the yellow cymbal output between the yellow and blue inputs based on the pedal position. The game has no idea that the pedal or HH kickbox are there.

You hit the yellow cymbal and with the pedal down for yellow notes and you hit the same cymbal with the pedal up for blue notes.
He said he was preparing to use the hi-hat pedal in Rock Band 3. I assumed (probably correctly) that he is referring to using the pedal natively in Rock Band 3 and not with the kickbox adapter. Therefore, it won't work in gameplay like the kickbox does.

He said he was preparing to use the hi-hat pedal in Rock Band 3.

I read it differently. :) He says he has the HHKB and is practicing for Pro Mode in RB3, where I would assume he is going to continue using his HHKB for what could be called "Super Pro Mode". He states he's working on his fourth limb independance.

No biggie, though. Not looking to start an argument.

No biggie, though. Not looking to start an argument.
Well you got one! Your momma is so fat...

I read it differently. :) He says he has the HHKB and is practicing for Pro Mode in RB3, where I would assume he is going to continue using his HHKB for what could be called "Super Pro Mode". He states he's working on his fourth limb independance.

No biggie, though. Not looking to start an argument.

Correct, Lord Flatus, you got it exactly right. I'm using my Ion pedal as my HH pedal. It's connected to the HH+kickbox adapter. I'm working on my left foot coordination and will continue to use the adapter in RB3 to gain an advantage on cymbals. Having the HHkickbox switch between yellow and blue is amazingly useful on some songs.

As far as I'm concerned, there's no reason to hook up a hi-hat pedal directly in RB3 if all it does is add sounds to fills.

Hooray DLC!
What's up guys and gals? Here's what's coming at your Rock Band library next week!

Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (July 13):

Sweet Billy Pilgrim – “Future Perfect Tense” +
The Vines – “Get Out”
The Vines – “He’s a Rocker”
The Vines – “Orange Amber” +
The Vines – “Outtathaway” +
The Vines – “Ride”

(All tracks are original master recordings)

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system July 14)

These tracks will be available for purchase as “The Vines Pack 01,” as well as individual tracks, on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii. Songs marked with “+” will also be available in the family-friendly LEGO® Rock Band Music Store.

Price:

$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per track

$8.49 USD, £4.39 UK, €6.55 EU (680 Microsoft Points) for The Vines Pack 01

$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track

So I was cleaning the den and found a Nickelback CD that one of my kids bought. It's got Photograph and Rockstar on it.

Photograph...oh, *that* song.

Anyway, it's certainly not terrible. A little crunchy edged wanna-be metal sound and pretty decent generic rock. For some reason I thought they were a "boy band", so it was a pleasant surprise. I might download a couple of their songs.

Any thoughts or opinions on the last three DLC packs, CCR, Nickleback or the Vines?

Any thoughts or opinions on the last three DLC packs, CCR, Nickleback or the Vines?

Like them but will pass, definite buy, who the hell are they?

I bought Proud Mary, Fortunate Son, and Heard it Through the Grapevine by CCR and all of them are pretty good on drums. Grapevine is ten minutes long(!), but it's very interesting on the drums.

I bought Figured You Out by Nickelback and that's pretty good on drums. I will probably get Photograph one of these days but I wasn't familiar with the rest of their songs and I thought they were kind of bland. No idea where all the hate comes from, because it didn't sound bad or awful to me.

I only bought Free by The Vines because I knew it. Their other songs look boring and repetitive on the drums and they sound too similar to me.

Much better stuff has been coming out on the RBN in that time.

Any thoughts or opinions on the last three DLC packs, CCR, Nickleback or the Vines?

I'd be willing to get some of the CCR tunes, but will hold out for another Xbox '1/2-off complete sets of Rock Band DLC' sale before grabbing them all...

And Rock Band 3 will probably be around before then, so I'll have plenty o' songs to keep the party going. Can't wait for that keyboard!

Kind of boring to me:
Here's the DLC coming your way next week! There's some all star content for the punks, with a 3 pack from the legendary Iggy Pop fronted 2010 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees The Stooges and 2 singles from Bad Religion, the unstoppable punk rock juggernaut that has continued to deliver the goods for 30 years. Enjoy!

Available on Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3 system (July 20):

Bad Religion – “New Dark Ages”
Bad Religion – “No Control” +
The Stooges – “1969” +
The Stooges – “I Wanna Be Your Dog” +
The Stooges – “No Fun” +

(All tracks are original master recordings)

(These tracks will be available in Europe on PlayStation 3 system July 21)

These tracks will be available for purchase as “The Stooges Pack 01,” as well as individual tracks, on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system, and as individual tracks only on Wii. Songs marked with “+” will also be available in the family-friendly LEGO® Rock Band Music Store.

Price:
$1.99 USD, £.99 UK, €1.49 EU (160 Microsoft Points) per track

$5.49, £2.49 UK, €3.99 EU (440 Microsoft Points) for The Stooges Pack 01

$2.00 USD (200 Wii Points™) per track

No Search and Destroy? Would also rather have I Got a Right but I'll take the Stooges they give us.

Bad Religion too. Not my favorites but I'll take the punk we get so we get more.

CCR was too good to pass up, but overall I'm kind of waiting for pro-mode dlc...

CCR was too good to pass up, but overall I'm kind of waiting for pro-mode dlc...I'll bet that the RB3 announcement had a significant negative effect on track sales, though after two years of RB2 gameplay, even its staunchest fans were probably getting fairly jaded anyway. I've only been playing for 10 months and I'm already getting a little bored with it (though there are still plenty of songs that I enjoy that I can't make it through on Expert :D).