Rock Band. More Awesome.

[Afrobean]

So that's 4 rock-band-centric music games with a drum set, only one of which has done it right, and that one has 9000% Naoki songs and is only readily available in Japan.

ps irony in that the one that did it right is from the same company making this one. Why couldn't they just bring Guitar Freaks and DrumMania to America, throw out the B4U and get a ton of American licensed music.

[ddr_f4n]

Originally Posted by Afrobean

ps irony in that the one that did it right is from the same company making this one. Why couldn't they just bring Guitar Freaks and DrumMania to America, throw out the B4U and get a ton of American licensed music.

That's what I was thinking. This game has no vocals as they stated, so it gives it more of a reason to import GF/DM with American licenses and some Naoki/j-rock songs as well. If they did that, then I'd definitely buy it.

[dore]

RR has what's looking to be a kickass setlist. And sk8er boi

[Tokzic]

I splooged at their drums.

THAT IS A PROPER DRUM CONTROLLER.

Seriously - the only pad that would need to serve a double function is the ride. It can be a tom during fills (because who seriously hits the ride during fills).

Looks sturdy as hell, too.

Too bad half of their crap is Rock Band DLC. If it's affordable, I'll buy it, but so far, I don't think so.

EDIT: Afro, you're forgetting a key point - this is for consoles. There's no way in hell they're putting the Drummania controller's intricacy into a console controller. I think that's the best we're going to see outside of an arcade.

[rel89]

lmao Dream Theatre on RR?! holy ****!

[rel89]

and also.. death metal or black metal hero anyone?!

[PsYcHoZeRoSk8eR]

I'm done with this game for a while. Just did the endless setlist on expert with my roommate. 288/290 stars. (F**king Run to the Hills was the only non-5 star). Took us 4 hours 30 minutes and some change. Minimal time was spent on the phone and in the bathroom.

[dore]

I'm astounded that there will be no keyboard with Rock Revolution... to me it seems like the obvious business decision for Konami (who will be seen as the third wheel in this battle) would be to include a unique peripheral, especially considering that they already have a following with Beatmania.

[Tibs]

Not to mention Keyboard Revolution, which can be linked up to DrumMania and Guitar Freaks. :V

[Afrombean]

Originally Posted by Tokzic

Afro, you're forgetting a key point - this is for consoles. There's no way in hell they're putting the Drummania controller's intricacy into a console controller. I think that's the best we're going to see outside of an arcade.

You think so? Because DrumMania console games definitely had a peripheral designed by Konami, in addition to being compatible with midi drum kits.

You're saying a more recent game isn't feasible to do the same thing? Rock Band was supposed to have been an innovation too... yet Konami had combined drums with guitar a long time before.

And honestly, what I REALLY want to see is a jam mode; the ability to have a sandbox type mode where you can just play your "instrument" as a real instrument. When you consolidate totally different things into the same "buttons", this type of thing will NEVER be possible. My only hope now is that Rock Band 2 will come before much longer, and in seeing these other band games pop up with more "buttons" to their drum kits, that Harmonix will outdo the lot of them and do things right. I mean, what I'm asking for is not atypical, I'm not asking for a dedicated cowbell pad or tambourine pad. Everything I'm asking for is typical of even a beginner kit.

At the very least, I'd want them to program differentiation between different things of the same pad, and allow us to use a midi kit or something. I would drop like 500 bucks on JUST that easy, JUST for the game.

ps I totally would love to see a FULL keyboard peripheral AS WELL THAT WOULD BE SO AWESOME but I guess it would just be a midi controller, eh? Dude, screw these gaming peripherals. Just make a game that uses midi instruments as the controller, and make the game innovative enough to recognize it in the way it should.

[dore]

Originally Posted by Afrombean

Dude, screw these gaming peripherals. Just make a game that uses midi instruments as the controller, and make the game innovative enough to recognize it in the way it should.

They already have those games, just they're more like Stepmania than RB (as in free games, community driven). But there's no mass appeal to something that complex so why would a game developer in their right mind try to be so "innovative?"

I think eventually it will come to that point, but through gradual e-peen wars between developers ("our drumset's the biggest har har har). Right now, the market just isn't ready for something like that.

[dAnceguy117]

lol I passed The Perfect Drug on expert drums and medium singing

could've sung on hard or expert probably but I had to bs through the verses, I had only heard the song a couple of times

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by dore

They already have those games, just they're more like Stepmania than RB (as in free games, community driven). But there's no mass appeal to something that complex so why would a game developer in their right mind try to be so "innovative?"

I've never heard of a game such as this which has the kind of community backing that Stepmania does, that has members who are easily recognized as worthwhile "step" chart writers, and at the same time, picking EXACTLY the kind of music I want to play.

Rock Band, on the other hand has quality charts (that is, not bull**** to make it harder like Guitar Hero), and my favorite songlist of ANY music game I've ever played. The only way it could be better would be if they had full albums of my favorite bands, and if they follow down the path they're on, they very easily could end up doing just that (and actually, at least one album on my list is definitely on the way).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that community driven games about rock-centered music will never be as good as the Stepmania community at delivering what the target player (i.e., me) would want. If I were to guess, I'd say that a freeware game like Rock Band would have no driving force (like Arch was in the early days with the Keyboard Megapack, which was a major catalyst), and 99% of the songs available would be ****ty duplicated songs. Imagine a Stepmania where 99% of the charts available are the same 5 songs, and all of them are ****. That would be how this community driven thing would work for Rock Band.

Actually, ****. I just realized that 99% of the charts available for Stepmania are ****ty duplicates. But the difference here is that: the Stempaniers are a tight knit group, and despite the lack of an absolute central source, there still is a center to it. There are chart creators who are recognized and known to make worthwhile charts, even if 99.999% of people making charts are chimps with down syndrome. That very idea is why Rock Band wouldn't work the same way Stepmania does: Rock music is a LOT harder to get right. Just look at Stepmania. Plenty of folks who play Stepmania listen to and enjoy rock music, but because the style doesn't lend itself to easy stepping, it's typically avoided by people who actually know what they're doing.

I think eventually it will come to that point, but through gradual e-peen wars between developers ("our drumset's the biggest har har har). Right now, the market just isn't ready for something like that.

Well, if you think of it that way, then why would Rock Band have taken the initial step backwards? Why didn't they just copy what DrumMania was doing and throw in a second foot pedal?

ps seriously, how feasible is it of me to desire a full 88-key keyboard controller for Rock Band 2? I can't even begin to imagine how it would scroll, aside from possibly showing a for-reals staff with "sheet" scrolling from right to left like the lyrics do.

[dore]

What I was referring to was a keyboard game that charts music directly from sheet music (I forget the name of this, it was originally Keyboard Hero but then it changed to Synthesia or something). There's a similar game with scrolling guitar tabs, and we've already got Drummania.

EDIT: http://www.flashflashrevolution.com/...ad.php?t=85391

There also is a dedicated guitar thing similar to this, according to my friend.

also

Originally Posted by afro

Well, if you think of it that way, then why would Rock Band have taken the initial step backwards? Why didn't they just copy what DrumMania was doing and throw in a second foot pedal?

Because casual rhythm game players would find that too complex and too difficult. The whole reason GH/RB is successful is because of their accessibility to the average Joe. 99.9% of Americans probably have never even heard of Drummania. HMX would never be able to sell a game that complex in the American market.

[jellygod]

man i hate my drumset, so i went over to my friends house to play today , and i cant even get past like the first 20 secs of move along expert at my house because combined with big screen tv lag+ broken red pad= crap, and at my friends house i got 4 and a quarter stars on it , man i need a new drumset... i think im gonna call and get a replacement one and move my xbox to a different tv so i can keep getting good scores

[Netjet!]

Yeah, that's horrible, broken red pad and lag. I can't fix my sync on my screen tv, so we have it hooked up to like, a 25 inch tv, which is like 35 years old. I can get like 64% on run to the hills expert on it lol

[ddr_f4n]

Well, this friday my school is having some Rock Band competition. What song shall we do? Hmm...let's see...

We're doing Run to the Hills, full expert band. My two friends can gold 5* most of the songs on guitar, and I'll do drums (I can pass it easily now). All we need is someone who can do expert vocals on it, which is actually pretty easy.

[MalReynolds]

Originally Posted by jellygod

man i hate my drumset, so i went over to my friends house to play today , and i cant even get past like the first 20 secs of move along expert at my house because combined with big screen tv lag+ broken red pad= crap, and at my friends house i got 4 and a quarter stars on it , man i need a new drumset... i think im gonna call and get a replacement one and move my xbox to a different tv so i can keep getting good scores

You can adjust the audio/visual to compensate for lag on HDTVs manually in the options.

[dore]

w00t

GS Tom Sawyer drums

freakin a

[Afrobean]

Originally Posted by MalReynolds

You can adjust the audio/visual to compensate for lag on HDTVs manually in the options.

You know, they say that, but I was never able to have perfect sync for all 3 instruments at once on my HDTV. If I synced the drums properly, the guitar would be off. If the guitar was right, the lyrics would scroll at the wrong time, and the drums would be offbeat.

But it all worked flawlessly when I hooked it up to my old piece of crap in my room.

I hate this sort of irony. The better TV sucks **** for this kind of thing.