Rock Band 2

[Tokzic]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

Additional cymbals would be great too.

cymbals are pads

[Afrobean]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

cymbals are pads

I disagree.

Compare:


to:


Or: no, you're pads.

[t-rogdor]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

Also, some dude just posted on RB SH this list:

Chop Suey - Soad

DO WANT

[Squeek]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

It turns out that having RB1 songs as free DLC in RB2 was just speculation.

Don't get your hopes up.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/rumor-rock-band-2-to-feature-all-rb1-tracks-as-free-dlc/

[Afrobean]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

It turns out that having RB1 songs as free DLC in RB2 was just speculation.

Don't get your hopes up.

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/07/08/ru...s-as-free-dlc/

I thought it sounded like a strange business choice... why the hell would a person in the industry say that sort of thing if it wasn't true though?

[ddranthony92]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

It's harder to get a steady income at a younger age. It's still pretty easy to make money mowing grass or doing extra things around the house. Depends on how stiff your parents are and your financial situation.

Yea I'm doing stuff like this, but I'm not buying a new hard drive, I've got other things i need.

[dore]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

I thought it sounded like a strange business choice... why the hell would a person in the industry say that sort of thing if it wasn't true though?

It was just the writer talking out of his ass; I think he meant to say he would like to see that feature but, well, he didn't. The article I posted a few posts back also said the same thing but it was edited today to remove that bit of info. So either HMX is waiting to announce that bit or everyone is just talking out of their collective asses.

[Afrobean]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

Now there's this:

http://kotaku.com/5022939/rock-band-2-features-drum-trainer-wireless-instruments-full-backwards-compatibility

First things first: If you already own Rock Band and you buy Rock Band 2 all of your songs will transfer over automatically and free o' charge.

Maybe they are doing something involving installing the songs to the harddrive off the disc like I suggested. I just don't see how they could come up with an agreement after the fact to include the full setlist for RB1 online, even if the content is only available to people who already own RB1.

Or maybe they're just bastards using tricky wording. Perhaps they mean to say:

If you already own Rock Band and you buy Rock Band 2 all of your DLC songs will transfer over automatically and free o' charge.

To which I reply: is it really "[transferring] over automatically" if the file is simply stored in a format which both games can readily read and play? That'd be like saying "Winamp will automatically transfer MP3s you already have free of charge into a format playable in Winamp". This is probably what they mean, since I don't see any mention of RB1 songs playing in RB2 in the press release, apart from the DLC mention.

Then:

The new drum kit will include a metal reinforced pedal, quieter pads, velocity sensors and... be wireless.

So probably just a better version of what we have already, no new innovation. No additional functionality makes me sad, even in the face of physically improved quality of the production. It's a real shame that GH with the cymbals I desire ****ed it up by only having 3 drum pads. That, and, of course, no game in this generation saw fit to add a second foot pedal into the mix. Bastards. Do they not realize hihats have foot pedals? Do they not realize some sets have two kick pedals? Do they not realize some of the best songs make heavy use of this secondary foot action, and leaving it out does a disservice to the realism which can easily be truncated and avoided by the simple inclusion of 2 pedals?

Oh, and this:

Drum Trainer

That's right, Rock Band 2 will literally teach you how to play drums.

This is great and all, but if it's missing the functionality I've detailed as my dream goal, it won't really be too much help. It'd probably just help you get better at playing the game, but not really put you at a point where you could play the same stuff on an acoustic set. As with any sort of rhythmic based practice, it'd probably help with timing and stuff, but even FFR can help you improve your rhythm and timing, even in the somewhat unrelated field of simulated drumming.

[Telvanni_guard]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

Afro has high standards and always sets himself up to be disappointed.

[Afrobean]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

Afro has high standards and always sets himself up to be disappointed.

I should make my own multimillion dollar competitor to the Rock Band stage!

Gameplay controllers would be midi controller drums, midi controller keyboards, and USB electric Guitars (and of course, would require an actual bass guitar if that is what you'd want instead). Guitar play would require normal playing of a real guitar which would be recognized tonally and such by what sound would be rendered from it, rather than by "simulating" play using buttons. Charts would be written 100% accurately using a midi format which would allow for any drum or keyboard setup to be played, using user created bindings for each specific instrument (drums) or pitch (keyboard) if necessary. Singing would require a professional level microphone, and it would be scored based on pitch, timbre, and personality. The personality of the vocals would be scored in real time online by payed judges, streaming your performance and giving you a subjective score based on how much you suck or don't suck.

....

Honestly, I don't think my desire for greatness is that extreme. A few years ago folks probably would have told you a full set band game such as RB wouldn't even be profitable. People would have expected it to be outside the cost of the average consumer. But GH broke that concept. They proved it could work. RB kicked it up a notch, proved that could work. I don't think it's that unreasonable to ask for a tiny notch kicking now, not when they've so thoroughly proven people will spend hundreds on a full set... I don't think it's so bad of me to ask them to invest a little more work on the drum sets, even if it means a higher cost for the consumer. Particularly since the things I've suggested would be playable on the RB1 kits as well.

How would you guys feel about USB midi drum set functionality? Would you still think I'm being too extreme if all I ask for is that? Doing things awesomely would also allow the game to recognize hardware created for other games (cough GH cough RR) to be used as midi controllers, even when that is not the hardware's intended function. And don't forget, GuitarFreaks and Drummania, who came before, already had midi support for drum kits. I don't think it's too much to ask for that, even if the official drum controller isn't as fully functional as I (and others) would like.

edit:

ps it looks like the cheapest of the quality full kits I've seen are about 700$. Do you really think they couldn't cut functionality (i.e. brain, midi support), and cut corners in quality in other areas and bring the production costs down low enough to make a drum controller like I'm asking for available for consumption at ~100$? Hell, there are tons of things in simple kits that I'm not even asking for-- things like sensitivity for rim shots and ability to sense different types of cymbal hits.

[Telvanni_guard]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

All I was saying is from your previous post it sounds like you set the bar too high and came off as disappointed if not a bit vengeful.

[Afrobean]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

All I was saying is from your previous post it sounds like you set the bar too high and came off as disappointed if not a bit vengeful.

Oh, I'm vengeful alright.

The sarcasm in my post above would be totally serious if I had the money, drive, and ability to make it happen.

Except that **** about online vocal streaming with live human judges. That was just to drive home the point that I wasn't really serious.

EDIT: something I re-stumbled across just now:

http://www.joystiq.com/2008/01/09/rock-band-drum-prototype-adds-sturdiness-cymbals/

Proof of concept on my idea that additional cymbals would not make it harder to read, since that has the same idea I've mentioned built into a way to play it on the current infrastructure. In fact, that's not far off from what I really want. Tack a second foot pedal, and change the positioning on things to match what the typical drum positioning would really be (compare this to this), and I'd be happy as a clam. Well... I don't like the fact that people making "ultimate" mods for drum kits are building them around actual drums, rather than pads. Why the hell would you want to edrum on a real drum?

[Biff_tech]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

The new drum kit will include a metal reinforced pedal, quieter pads, velocity sensors and... be wireless.

Welp i'm officially sold.

[Squeek]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

So couldn't I rent or borrow Rock Band, play for two minutes for the save file, then get all the songs for free in RB2?

[dore]

Re: Rock Band 2 Official

I'm sure that's why it hasn't been officially confirmed yet.