The unofficial Rock Band thread.

[Hermiod]

^In fairness, the AC/DC "game" was just a massively cut down version of Rock Band with nothing but AC/DC tracks but nothing distinctively "AC/DC" about it - you couldn't actually play "as" AC/DC.

Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen (and Beatles) are a lot better in that regard.

 

[Rincewiend]

Just an idea how they could expand on a band-branded version:

Main band would be Genesis leading to songs by Peter Gabriel solo and Phil Collins solo as well as Mike + The Mechanics through Mike Rutherford leading to Paul Carrack solo...
So basically all artists/bands are connected to eachother...

 

[firehawk12]

^In fairness, the AC/DC "game" was just a massively cut down version of Rock Band with nothing but AC/DC tracks but nothing distinctively "AC/DC" about it - you couldn't actually play "as" AC/DC.

Aerosmith, Metallica and Van Halen (and Beatles) are a lot better in that regard.

Yeah, but I mean... the way these games are now, it's like we're stuck in the 90s with 5 CD changers and crap like that. There's a reason why people have thousands of songs on a hard drive - so they don't have to go through the mess of changing discs after every other song.

 

[Brikar99]

Maybe there's junk for people who like the Beatles. Ultimately, I only care about the songs. If I wanted an "experience", I'd watch Across the Universe or whatever that movie was called.

And don't get me started on day 1 DLC. Not enough that they make a game where you're locked into the platform... you buy the game for 60 bucks and then find out you have to buy another album online if you want more of their songs. Thanks, but no thanks. No band is worth that trouble, however prolific and important they may be.

Well if you're determined to be a whiny jerk about it, there's nothing we can say to convince you otherwise. Go ahead, play your songs that you only care about, pissing and moaning about having to pay to get more of them, boo hoo, while the rest of us have a good time having fun and maybe expanding our horizons a bit.

 

[firehawk12]

Hey, I've spent hundreds of dollars on Rock Band. I own all the track packs even, so I can rock out to Kenny Rogers alongside Journey.

I just think it's shitty that now there are three different Rock Band games that are essentially incompatible with each other. I'm perfectly happy with having 300 songs in one game. If they expect me to buy two other games and swap discs AFTER setting the import song precedent of Rock Band 2, I think I have the right to be annoyed.

I'm still excited for the future of Rock Band, especially because anyone can sell their songs on the marketplace. While I think the deal for the artists on that front is a little raw (30% of each sale seems stingy, but oh well), now there's no reason to complain about which songs are in the game. We might even enter a phase where people prefer the charting of some indie programmer over the charting of Harmonix employees. It'd be awesome if charting becomes as important to the identity of the song as much as the actual instruments.

Still... they didn't have join the Activision bandwagon and milk the genre to death. Maybe they could have stood their ground with Apple/The Beatles and asked that their game be compatible with the main game. Maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal if they had gave up on the Beatles and let Activision do a cheap throwaway game (they're giving Van Halen for free now) while maintaining some of the promise of the single platform game.

And hell, I don't even know how the Lego spinoff came out. Just release a "kids songs track pack" if that was the intent of this branding. Even the DLC will be a mess now - you'll have songs that only work with Beatles, songs that only work with Lego and songs that only work with the "main" game. How absurd is that? Especially when the basics - the song and the charting - are exactly the same across the three games?

I just hope they announce a Rock Band 3 next year so that they can unify the three games back into a single platform again.

 

[Rincewiend]

Some new Lego Rockband video:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/08/17/lego-rock-band-debut-gameplay-trailer/

 

[Yoda]

Hey, I've spent hundreds of dollars on Rock Band. I own all the track packs even, so I can rock out to Kenny Rogers alongside Journey.

I just think it's shitty that now there are three different Rock Band games that are essentially incompatible with each other. I'm perfectly happy with having 300 songs in one game. If they expect me to buy two other games and swap discs AFTER setting the import song precedent of Rock Band 2, I think I have the right to be annoyed.

I tend to agree. I somewhat understand why the Beatles doesn't export, but do we have confirmation on Lego not exporting? If so, that is ass, especially after the whole 'commitment to the Rock Band platform' stuff they spouted.

I'm still excited for the future of Rock Band, especially because anyone can sell their songs on the marketplace. While I think the deal for the artists on that front is a little raw (30% of each sale seems stingy, but oh well), now there's no reason to complain about which songs are in the game. We might even enter a phase where people prefer the charting of some indie programmer over the charting of Harmonix employees. It'd be awesome if charting becomes as important to the identity of the song as much as the actual instruments.

30% is actually a pretty good deal from what I understand as far as how the distribution of music goes. The smart no-name shit band will jump on ASAP and at the lower $1 price point, first one on the service is bound to get a lot of curiosity buys. Once the market is flooded with tracks I get the feeling that not a lot of money will be made for artists on RBN.

Still... they didn't have join the Activision bandwagon and milk the genre to death. Maybe they could have stood their ground with Apple/The Beatles and asked that their game be compatible with the main game. Maybe it wouldn't have been a big deal if they had gave up on the Beatles and let Activision do a cheap throwaway game (they're giving Van Halen for free now) while maintaining some of the promise of the single platform game.

And hell, I don't even know how the Lego spinoff came out. Just release a "kids songs track pack" if that was the intent of this branding. Even the DLC will be a mess now - you'll have songs that only work with Beatles, songs that only work with Lego and songs that only work with the "main" game. How absurd is that? Especially when the basics - the song and the charting - are exactly the same across the three games?

I just hope they announce a Rock Band 3 next year so that they can unify the three games back into a single platform again.

The thing is, dumping games into the market works. DLC just doesn't sell that much. Will the market shrivel up and die? Probably, I don't know if the casual gamer is into playing fake plastic instruments in the long term like I am.

 

[firehawk12]

My only concern about 30% is that XBI has a thing where you have to make 250 dollars to get a pay out.
30 cents per song means that have to sell about 840 songs to see a check from MS. But, I suppose people will try anything at a dollar. I know I will. And Rob Thomas or whomever can sell his songs at 3 bucks and stop complaining about the fact no one wants his music in the game.


As for flooding the market. Everything's a fad and jamming the market with more and more plastic instrument games is going to make the fad come to an end much faster. Hell, no one really cares about the Wii anymore, do they?

 

[Aragorn]

Downloads for the week of Aug. 23:

Billy Idol – “Mony Mony”
Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
Fleetwood Mac – “Don’t Stop”
Fleetwood Mac – “World Turning”
Jet – “She’s a Genius”
Tom Petty – “I Won’t Back Down”
Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down a Dream”

 

[Yoda]

Downloads for the week of Aug. 23:

Billy Idol – “Mony Mony”
Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
Fleetwood Mac – “Don’t Stop”
Fleetwood Mac – “World Turning”
Jet – “She’s a Genius”
Tom Petty – “I Won’t Back Down”
Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down a Dream”

Might buy everything that's not Jet (supremely useless band). I might see if GH5 is any good first since that'll take care of one of the Tom Petty songs I think, and Rebel Yell could export, but odds are I'll just want the songs in Rock Band.

 

[Brikar99]

I'm neutral on Jet (don't like, but don't hate) ... but I'll definitely get the rest of those.

 

[Aragorn]

Downloads for the week of Aug. 30:

Avenged Sevenfold – “Bat Country”
The Jam – “A Town Called Malice”
The Jam – “Going Underground”
Oasis – “Supersonic” (Live)
Rage Against the Machine – “Guerilla Radio”

TALKING HEADS PACK
Talking Heads – “And She Was”
Talking Heads – “Crosseyed & Painless”
Talking Heads – “Girlfriend is Better”
Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime”
Talking Heads – “Take Me to the River”

 

[Yoda]

^There's a decent chance I'll buy all of that.

 

[Brikar99]

Rock. On.

 

[Smiley]

I couldn't resist the discounted RB2 Special Edition, so I now own both the game and the Country Track Pack disc. Please forgive a newbie question, but is there a way to export those songs into RB2 proper? If so, how?

 

[Aragorn]

The track pack should come with a code. When you have the track pack disc in your console, there will be an option to download it to your HD.

 

[firehawk12]

Yeah, it'll be on the back of the manual.

 

[Smiley]

Thanks for the tips, but I checked another source, and that says only the PS3 and X360 versions are transferable. Wii owners are out of luck.

 

[TheBrew]

I picked up World Tour + Guitar for $30 at Costco. Not a bad game, but I would not have a paid full price for it. There are about 20-30 songs that I like playing, so it was worth it. "Sweet Home Alabama" is a lot fun.

 

[firehawk12]

^I feel like I need to play WT just to get my money out of it.

Thanks for the tips, but I checked another source, and that says only the PS3 and X360 versions are transferable. Wii owners are out of luck.

Ah yeah. On the 360/PS3, you basically download all the songs again via their online service, so it sort of makes sense that it wouldn't work on the Wii.