Rock Band details

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

- One disk with 4 separate campaigns. Guitar, Drum, Bass and Vocal. Each can be played on its own from start to finish, in addition, a full band game is designed to allow for one huge co-op playthrough.

- Will feature full support for four player online play on both 360 and PS3. Any combination of on/offline play will work and each player can pick their own difficulty setting.

- Flexible community system will allow you to find bandmates anywhere in the world

- There will be a way for you to share your band's triumphs with the world, but the details are still under wraps.

- Musical fret-boards are now transparent so you can see more of the background visuals. Guitar is on the left side of the screen, Bass on the right and drums down the middle. Vocals scroll from right to left along the top of the screen.

- Guitars and Bass now have 10 frets. 5 for the regular sections of the game and 5 for the newly designated solo sections.

- Whammy bar is back as is the tilt to activate rock band's version of star power

- there is a five way switch on the guitar that allows for 5 different self-applied effects to the sound.

- Singing is now more in depth. There is a phoneme detector that will pick up individual vowels and consonants you say. Build up enough highly judged phrases and you'll be able to sing free-form. If you do well enough in free-form, then you'll trigger the vocalist's version of star power.

- Microphone doubles as a tambourine on many songs to combat super long guitar solos where the singer doesn't have much to do.

- Drums are apparently insane. You use actual sticks and hit one of four colored pads in front of you, in addition to a kick pedal attached to the drumming unit. Drummers will also have the ability to do fills etc. in their own little free-form section, do well and you'll trigger the drummers version of star power.

- If one person fails, the whole band does not fail, their section simply turns gray and they have to sit out the rest of the song unless one your band mates initiates star power, which will bring you back into the fold.

- If all bandmates can reach the end of a song, you'll be greeted with one huge free-form jam session.

- There will be a character creation system, and you can create multiple avatars that play different instruments.

- Four themed clothing stores in addition to licensed guitars and pedals and other rock paraphernalia.

- A full set of mo-cap stage movements have been added for each instrument. You can decide whether your vocalist moves like Axel Rose, or stands his ground like Clapton.

- 40 performance venues planned

- All peripherals will be unique to each platform. This isn't the developer's decision. Apparently MS peripherals require special circuit boards.

- You'll be able to craft your own band logo

- The HUD in the screens isn't final but is a good indication of what you can expect

- 4 songs announced in the article, not sure if this is new or old but whatever.
Weezer - Say It Ain't So - Original Master Track
Black Sabbath - Paranoid - Original Master Track
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again - Original Master Track
Nirvana - In Bloom - Original Master Track

INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTIONS

Sorry I can't post photos so my descriptions will have to suffice

Guitars/Bass

Guitars are an exact 3/4 replica of a Fender Strat.

Xplorer guitars will work for 360 owners, but you may not be able to pass on all the new stuff this model has.

Five familiar buttons near the top of the neck, five buttons near the body of the guitar. You will use these new buttons during specially designed solo sections using ONLY hammer ons and pull offs, no having to worry about your strum bar. Signature Fender 5-way switch has been added. By shopping at the in game store you'll be able to purchase several virtual effects pedals such as Flange, Wah, Chorus and Echo. These can be applied during your song by setting the 5 way switch to the desired effect.

Microphone

There will eventually be a Rock Band branded Mic

Other USB mics will be supported, but Harmonix will probably NOT allow the use of the 360 headset due to its low fidelity. Mics will be usable as tambourines during certain songs.

That's all for mics!

DRUMS

The picture of the drum peripheral in the mag is not final.

It consists of four pads, a kick pedal and legs for the enire unit to stand on. Think of it as a TV dinner tray stand only cooler [Smile]

Leftmost pad (red) is your snare drum, everything else doubles as toms and cymbals depending on the song.

A set of real wooden drum sticks will ship with the unit.

A piece of the stand can be taken off so that the unit can sit lower, or on a coffee table.

There is a kick pedal

If you play drums in this game on hard or expert, then you're really playing the drums. Apparently you could sit down at a real set and play the same songs.



Oh my fucking god this will rock so hard

[Octavious]

EPIC

[thegilseller]

Sounds pretty damn good.

[Octavious]

By 10 Frets, you think theyll bust out some longer guitar solos? GHII had some nice ones, but I'm talking old school glam rock guitar :D

[JoOeetheplatypuS]

By 10 Frets, you think theyll bust out some longer guitar solos? GHII had some nice ones, but I'm talking old school glam rock guitar :D

That's what it sounds like man

that's what it fucking sounds like

awesome

[Octavious]

fuck yea >:D I'm so pumped now, just when playing GHII was getting a bit old. I can only hear Cherry Pie like 10x before I feel the need to stab babies >.>

[Shuemue]

I seem to be the only one entirely unexcited by this kind of game, they just don't strike me as fun. Probably my innate lack of musical talent?

[Natallon]

o dang.. this sounds amazing!!

[Axil]

or learn an instrument and join a real band?!
it does actually sound fun but for some reason jamming on a video game bass seems so much less fun than doing it on a real one

[Viq]

I seem to be the only one entirely unexcited by this kind of game, they just don't strike me as fun. Probably my innate lack of musical talent?

Maybe the novelty wore off almost a decade ago for you like it did for some of us.

[Po]

I seem to be the only one entirely unexcited by this kind of game, they just don't strike me as fun. Probably my innate lack of musical talent?

You know that is what I thought before I tried GHII, especially because a lot of the songs I do not like all that much, but then when you try it it's just a blast man. You owe it to yourself to at least give it a try.

[Octavious]

I was the same way. I was like "Oh, a guitar video game how much fun could that be. Pssh" but it's a genuine good time, and even more fun if you regularly have the ability to play with/against some friends. During the Quarters my friends & I just pop open a case of Miller/Coors and go at a few songs in Multiplayer some nights out of the week. Fridays spent out @ bars, but weeknights >.> all GHII+Beer >.>

[Misterjingles]

So who wants to start a band? :D

[Deejay]

or learn an instrument and join a real band?!
it does actually sound fun but for some reason jamming on a video game bass seems so much less fun than doing it on a real one

yeah these are my thoughts. It'd be cool to play the drums on expert exactly how you would in real life, but at that point (if you're really that good), why not just play the drums with a real band?

[Axil]

at least it wont take batteries i think, speaking of which can anyone spare some 9 volts
wtf does that link not work for anyone else, did you guys ban my old bg ftp?!

[Haelian]

or learn an instrument and join a real band?!
it does actually sound fun but for some reason jamming on a video game bass seems so much less fun than doing it on a real one

yeah these are my thoughts. It'd be cool to play the drums on expert exactly how you would in real life, but at that point (if you're really that good), why not just play the drums with a real band?

It's sooo much easier to play Guitar Hero than play a real guitar. Nothing carries over really (I mean from GH to guitar, I dunno about the other way around). You can pick up the game within a few songs really, but it takes a long time to jump the gap to Hard and even longer to get goin on Expert.

I agree about the drums, but it's possible that the game might open up the possibility for a person to start playing drums who never had before.

Anywho, I just got 5 stars on Madhouse on Hard. Working on Carry Me Home and Psychobilly Freakout.

[ertyu]

Sounds fucking awesome, just wish all the stuff wouldnt be 300 dollars ._.

Anyways the 10 frets sound awesome, I hope its like 10x harder than guitar hero, 5 starred expert on both games within 3 days lol :/

[Helpoemer]

damn...i can't even get the hang of those hammer ons and pull offs, now they add frets especially for them?