Rock Band Rules

[TurnedTheCorner]

That news does, indeed, absolutely rule.

EDIT: Here's a link for office dwellers like myself who can't visit gaming sites due to filters:

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i...IDHYwD91KC5180

MTV Games and Harmonix plan to announce additional "Rock Band 2" details — including the game's playlist — at the E3 Media and Business Summit in July. MTV executive Toffler hinted that "Rock Band 2" will be expanding upon idea of what it means to play online as well eventually broadening the musical genres of available downloadable content.

"I believe we're going to see global online competitions where bands performing throughout the world will compete against each other," said Toffler. "I'm personally excited to open up the genres of music to country, hip-hop and R&B. We've just scratched the surface, really."

F'n a!

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by TurnedTheCorner

"I'm personally excited to open up the genres of music to country, hip-hop and R&B. We've just scratched the surface, really."

I'm excited about the wireless banjo, harmonica, XXX Jug and washboard controllers for Country Band. It's gonna be a ho-down!

[Saint Troy]

Mother of God!! Great news that the downloads are compatible going forward, and the Who stuff should be awesome.

[TurnedTheCorner]

I will INSIST on it being an XXX Jug©. Don't accept cheap knockoffs!

[psicodude]

This is a couple of days old now, but just for those that didn't see...It appears that some of the songs included with Rock Band 2 were leaked.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_bl...atures;title;2

[troutman]

Tried this at the Stampede. What is better - Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What is the best platform? Is Wii the best overall for young kids (in terms of other games)?

[Tyler]

I'd get rock band simply for the sheer fun of playing the drums and singing (and being able to play with a bunch of friends simultaneously)

[burnin_vernon]

Originally Posted by troutman

Tried this at the Stampede. What is better - Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What is the best platform? Is Wii the best overall for young kids (in terms of other games)?

To me guitar hero is still ok, but is not nearly as entertaining as RB. It appeals to so many demographics. I know many people who have it and play with their kids, alone, and hold drunken parties with it.

I think the ps3 and 360versions are similar, but I heard the Wii and ps2 ones aren't quite there yet. The biggest plus for 360/ps3 is the downloadable content.

[burnin_vernon]

Originally Posted by psicodude

This is a couple of days old now, but just for those that didn't see...It appears that some of the songs included with Rock Band 2 were leaked.

http://www.gamespot.com/news/show_bl...atures;title;2

To elaborate on that, here are two setlists that could be nothing more than complete rumours.

Nonetheless, ACDC!

http://kotaku.com/397936/rumor-dueli...d-2-tracklists

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by troutman

Tried this at the Stampede. What is better - Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What is the best platform? Is Wii the best overall for young kids (in terms of other games)?

Rock Band is the better game, no contest. Even if you only play the guitar portion and ignore the drums and vocals, Rock Band is still superior to Guitar Hero 3.

As for platform, I would NOT suggest the Wii. The Wii version of Rock Band doesn't have all the features of the Xbox360/PS3 editions (such as the fantastic World Tour Mode and the ability to create your own characters) and even more importantly, the Wii version doesn't have the option to download additional songs. There are 58 songs included on the disc, and over 200 more available for download, provided you have the 360 or PS3 version.

If you don't already own any of the systems, I'd personally recommend getting the 360, if for no other reason than Rock Band for 360 is compatible with Guitar Hero controllers while on the PS3 and Wii that is not the case. Since the Rock Band bundle only includes one guitar, if you want to play with a full band of 4 players, you could also buy a Guitar Hero 3 bundle for both the game and a second guitar controller.

[troutman]

^^^^
Thanks for the info

More on Rock Band 2:

http://e3.gamespot.com/story.html?si...om_clk=topslot

Here are the officially released songs:
"Ace of Spades" -- Motörhead
"Everlong" -- Foo Fighters
"Pinball Wizard" -- The Who
"Panic Attack" -- Dream Theater
"Any Way You Want It" -- Journey
"Chop Suey" -- System of a Down
"Kids in America" -- The Muffs
"Give It Away" -- Red Hot Chili Peppers
"Hello There" -- Cheap Trick
"Pump It Up" -- Elvis Costello

This is just 10 of the 80+ tunes that will make up the entire song list

[fredr123]

Originally Posted by troutman

Tried this at the Stampede. What is better - Rock Band or Guitar Hero? What is the best platform? Is Wii the best overall for young kids (in terms of other games)?

We have a Wii. I am no longer at a stage in my life where I can spend beaucoup bucks on the awesomest systems out there. Because the Wii has games that my wife enjoys (Mario stuff mostly; she's not a big fan of blowin' stuff up), I compromised and went with Nintendo.

We have GH3 and GH: Aerosmith. I have yet to try Rock Band. Graphically speaking, they are on par with the Playstation2. All Wii games at this point lack any downloadable content. You miss out on a bunch of stuff that the Playstation and Xbox versions have available because of that alone.

The Wii (well, Nintendo in general) has a reuptation for making kiddie games and ignoring the blood and guts and shoot 'em up genres. It's a bit overblown but there is some truth to that. It's also hard to question the greatness of refined "kiddie" games like Super Mario Galaxy and the Zelda games. Note, however, that until this fall there are no hockey games available on the Wii.

[Boblobla]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

Rock Band is the better game, no contest. Even if you only play the guitar portion and ignore the drums and vocals, Rock Band is still superior to Guitar Hero 3.

I disagree. If we are just comparing guitars I find the screen for GH far superior to RB.

I have played both quite extensively and as far as just the guitar I find GH much more fun.

Also, why is the person who has no sense of rhythm and can't play instruments also always tone deaf??

[JimmytheT]

[quote=fredr123;1376998]We have a Wii. I am no longer at a stage in my life where I can spend beaucoup bucks on the awesomest systems out there. Because the Wii has games that my wife enjoys (Mario stuff mostly; she's not a big fan of blowin' stuff up), I compromised and went with Nintendo.

We have GH3 and GH: Aerosmith. I have yet to try Rock Band. Graphically speaking, they are on par with the Playstation2. All Wii games at this point lack any downloadable content. You miss out on a bunch of stuff that the Playstation and Xbox versions have available because of that alone.

The Wii (well, Nintendo in general) has a reuptation for making kiddie games and ignoring the blood and guts and shoot 'em up genres. It's a bit overblown but there is some truth to that. It's also hard to question the greatness of refined "kiddie" games like Super Mario Galaxy and the Zelda games. Note, however, that until this fall there are no hockey games available on the Wii.[/quote]

Not for long. NHL 2K9 is coming for Wii in August and is apparently being built from the ground-up for the Wii.

[MarchHare]

Originally Posted by Boblobla

I disagree. If we are just comparing guitars I find the screen for GH far superior to RB.

I have played both quite extensively and as far as just the guitar I find GH much more fun.

To each his own, but I think your opinion is in the minority. Amongst everyone I know who has played both, Rock Band is considered a superior game to GH3, even if one ignores vocals/drums and only plays the guitar parts. Neversoft dropped the ball in GH3 by making the game unnecessarily difficult (and not just on the Expert setting). To put things in perspective, I've played real guitar for 16 years and can beat every song in Rock Band on Expert, but I can't finish GH3 on Hard. The notecharts in RB feel more natural and flow quite well whereas in GH3 they're all over the place and seemingly random.

I guess if you're part of the ultra-hardcore scorehero.com crowd who likes playing Through the Fire and Flames on Expert difficulty, GH3 would be more your cup of tea, but for 99% of players, Rock Band will deliver a more enjoyable experience.

[FireFly]

Originally Posted by JimmytheT

Not for long. NHL 2K9 is coming for Wii in August and is apparently being built from the ground-up for the Wii.

That's why he said "Until this fall"...

[I_H8_Crawford]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

To each his own, but I think your opinion is in the minority. Amongst everyone I know who has played both, Rock Band is considered a superior game to GH3, even if one ignores vocals/drums and only plays the guitar parts. Neversoft dropped the ball in GH3 by making the game unnecessarily difficult (and not just on the Expert setting). To put things in perspective, I've played real guitar for 16 years and can beat every song in Rock Band on Expert, but I can't finish GH3 on Hard. The notecharts in RB feel more natural and flow quite well whereas in GH3 they're all over the place and seemingly random.

I guess if you're part of the ultra-hardcore scorehero.com crowd who likes playing Through the Fire and Flames on Expert difficulty, GH3 would be more your cup of tea, but for 99% of players, Rock Band will deliver a more enjoyable experience.

I agree... GH3 was so hard, it stopped being fun and became a real PITA.
I beat hard, and am 3/4s of the way through expert, and have given up.

Rockband provides a challenge, but also rewards you in that you can actually BEAT the songs, and not rely on flukes to try to hammer your way through TtFaF or Raining Blood.

Although, having the Top Gun theme for a free download was pretty cool of GH3.

[guzzy]

Originally Posted by MarchHare

To each his own, but I think your opinion is in the minority. Amongst everyone I know who has played both, Rock Band is considered a superior game to GH3, even if one ignores vocals/drums and only plays the guitar parts. Neversoft dropped the ball in GH3 by making the game unnecessarily difficult (and not just on the Expert setting). To put things in perspective, I've played real guitar for 16 years and can beat every song in Rock Band on Expert, but I can't finish GH3 on Hard. The notecharts in RB feel more natural and flow quite well whereas in GH3 they're all over the place and seemingly random.

I guess if you're part of the ultra-hardcore scorehero.com crowd who likes playing Through the Fire and Flames on Expert difficulty, GH3 would be more your cup of tea, but for 99% of players, Rock Band will deliver a more enjoyable experience.

I have to disagree. I am guitar player and have played both GH3 and RB and prefer the guitar section on GH. It is far more realistic. Any hack can pick up RB and end with 90% on medium. I find GH much more accurate and real.

[JayP]

Originally Posted by guzzy

I have to disagree. I am guitar player and have played both GH3 and RB and prefer the guitar section on GH. It is far more realistic. Any hack can pick up RB and end with 90% on medium. I find GH much more accurate and real.

You're definitely in the minority. The vast majority of people (from everything I've read on the internet) would agree that the Rock Band charts are far closer to the actual song than that of Guitar Hero 3. Guitar Hero 3 may be more difficult, but most of the time it's because they throw in random notes instead of following the song.

[troutman]

Rock Band vs. Real Band
Sleater-Kinney's guitarist tests out the new video game Rock Band.
By Carrie Brownstein

http://www.slate.com/id/2177432/

When I looked carefully, I realized I was having a party where people were sitting around playing video games. And, really, if you are going to play the game with a group of friends for more than a night, shouldn't you just form a real band? There is something sad about the thought of four teenagers getting Rock Band for Christmas and spending all of their after-school time pretending to know how to play.

In the realm of fakery, I would choose Rock Band over American Idol or over any of the other flimsy truths masquerading as music. With Rock Band, you can play along to Black Sabbath or Nirvana and possibly find new ways of appreciating their artistry by being allowed to perform parallel to it. Rock Band puts you inside the guts of a song.