Rock Band 3? Yes please.

[Scizophrenic Llama]

So, those who actively play Rock Band might already know that keyboard is the big addition to Rock Band 3. Something I personally have been looking forward to, but now we have a bit more information about what is to be expected as a whole.

http://kotaku.com/5559801/rock-band-3-teaches-you-to-rock-with-real-guitars--keyboards

Rock Band 3 will, as expected, let you do something you've never been able to do in a Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) game before: play the keyboard.

Yes, the fifth wheel of the rock world makes its long-overdue debut in Harmonix's Rock Band 3, a report on USA Today showcasing not only the new controller in action, but a revamped tracklist designed to make the most of it.

The keyboard is a "25-key, fully functioning MIDI" version of the real thing, and is one of two key improvements made to the game, the other being the introduction of a new "Rock Band Pro" mode for expert players, which replaces coloured tabs with real musical symbols in an effort to get players on the track to playing real instruments.

To complement Pro mode, there are two new guitar controllers in development that feature actual strings, one a full-sized replica of a Fender Stratocaster, the other a Fender Mustang Pro. "You can go from plucking single notes to power chords and bar chords, we have crazy stuff like tapping and slides," Harmonix's Sylvain Dubrofsky says. "If you ever had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way ... you are really going to like Rock Band 3."

There are a few key songs that stick out in that list that answer my questions to DLC songs that didn't appear in packs they should have. The recent Ozzy post had many wondering where the older songs were, well Crazy Train has made it. Another example would be Sister Christian from Night Ranger, which I am happy to see on there, and of course Bohemian Rhapsody from Queen. Harmonies AND keyboard? Epic.

A lot of the songs listed in the link are pretty keyboard centric, and I am liking how the setup is looking for how keyboard will work. I'm hoping E3 will have a lot more coverage on this as I am looking forward to this releasing. I'm just wondering if any of the previous songs will have any changes to fit all of this, I doubt it, but it would be pretty awesome.

 

[SonicKoala]

Maybe this is just me, but I'm really turned-off by this idea of trying to make the little plastic guitars more "realistic" - I, more than anybody, hate it when people bring up the old "go play real guitar, noob" adage, but seriously.... I play Rock Band because I enjoy pressing plastic buttons and rocking out to songs that would otherwise take me months to learn. But this notion of introducing stringed plastic guitars just sounds so profoundly..... stupid.

Seriously, if I want to play guitars with strings, I'll go play my real guitar. The keyboard sounds interesting, but I'm not liking what its doing to the setlist. The best Rock Band songs are the ones which are guitar-driven, and I dislike the idea of Harmonix potentially sacrificing a song simply because it doesn't feature keyboards as a prominent musical component.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

I like what they are doing. The stringed guitars and pro mode are completely optional as it would seem. So the original setup is still there. I don't like being told to go play real guitar, when I already do, and piano too; but the option to better yourself at something or completely learn an instrument from a game is pretty damn neat to me.

I'm fairly open to most music, so I don't mind some of the setlist taking a hit for keyboards, simply because I enjoy piano. At this point I'd make the argument to turn to Guitar Hero if you want heavy guitar-driven stuff, as their next game will likely be dead on for that, rather than expecting Rock Band to follow suit.

I still expect Harmonix to come out with a very robust variety of songs for the game, but focusing on keyboard is fairly expected; it is their selling point for the game this time around. If they were sacrificing a song for the keyboard, then they would be scrapping a 1,000+ song catalog they have built up over the past few years. I doubt the DLC will have backwards compatibility with the keyboard or harmonies, that would be awesome, but it is far too costly on their part for me to expect that to occur.

Aside from that, there is still DLC and RBN to get a very good fix on what you like specifically.

 

[Plinglebob]

If they manage to get "Don't Stop Me Now" on the tracklist then I will be one of the 1st to buy it. If not, I'll probably still buy it, but not as quickly.

 

[superbatranger]

I'll probably end up buying it. I do have the first 2, so I don't see any reason in not getting it.

 

[GLo Jones]

I have about 250 songs in Rock Band 2 thanks to a bunch of DLC and imported RB1 songs. RB3 should get me to about 300.

Rock Band currently takes up about 18GB of space on my hard drive for this very reason. I have no choice but to buy the sequel.

 

[Volafortis]

It's innovation like this that makes Rock Band better than Guitar Hero, and it always has been this way.

 

[poet_lawreate]

No, I don't really like this. 'Get them on their way to playing real instruments'? The majority of people I know who play Rock Band/ Guitar Hero aren't aspiring to learn to play the guitar. If they did, they'd learn. If I wanted to play real guitar, I'd pick up my bass. I like the game. It's different from real playing, it's a game. The game is fun. I don't want it to get any more like real playing...

 

[Maverick Siragusa]

am i the only person who thinks this will be too complicated?

 

[OmegaXzors]

Well, I don't like the Rock Band/Guitar Hero series for a few reasons - which are completely my opinion:

1. The instruments take up space. Seriously, my house doesn't need a game closet or some stupid shit like that. I have no where to put the junk when I'm not using it.

2. It's just that, I hardly ever use them. Past experiences tell me that there is really only a handful of my friends who really enjoy these games.

3. They're expensive and always have songs I hate. Always. I don't want to play Fall Out Boy, I don't give a shit about Nirvana, GIVE ME MY PROTEST THE HERO.

4. It's expensive. There's a lot more I could do with $200.

5. I play on a "real" guitar and keyboard. Fuck this fake shit.


I think the fact that they're trying really hard to now recreate a world for people to pluck strings instead of hitting buttons is going to be a mess. I can tell you this much: in my circle of friends, I will fucking dominate them now if they really are strings.

 

[Kif]

This worries me.

I've been playing piano for over 10 years and my teacher nearly 50 years and both of us are still learning because in his words you never stop learning piano.

The reason this game worries me is because it could stint real potential talent by installing bad habits in people with its 2 octave keytar. Lets face it, there hasn't been a Chopin since, well, Chopin and I fear that if people learn to play via a game like this with limited hardware if they were to sit at a piano they would be astounded by the resistance of the keys and how quickly they get worn out from lack of technique and strength and would only be able to muster up a slow clunky version of something easy like Coldplay.

The guitar gives me similar concerns, also... if I were to bring a Squier into my guitars, despite them being inanimate objects I can very well imagine they'd be disgusted with me. What happens if these people want to use it as a guitar? Will the XBox work as an amp too? it certainly doesn't have any amp hardware. And does it teach people how to maintain the guitar, when to change the strings, what kind of strings suit what kind of skill and playing, what picks to use, how to finger pick, palm mute, slide, hammer on pull off etc etc.

There's things which I can't see a finger twitch button pressing gamer picking up without years of practice. But what I do see is a lot of people who will get this and then assume that they can play the piano and guitar.

However, despite my worries I know the game wont be able to simulate the actual songs on the keytar as it's limited to two octaves and even on expert I very much doubt the game will accurately simulate the songs on the guitar for the very reason that these things take a lot more practice and getting it wrong first than a typical gamer will invest into something like that.

 

[Kei Kaemon]

So wow... anyone else catch this image? I mean, seriously?

The pro mode seems rather... intense.

Sad to say but I'm getting the best there is when it comes out, I'm crazy like that.

 

[Scizophrenic Llama]

So wow... anyone else catch this image? I mean, seriously?

The pro mode seems rather... intense.

Sad to say but I'm getting the best there is when it comes out, I'm crazy like that.

Holy shit that is awesome. I'm going to need some cash to drop the $140 or so it'll cost for the guitar, but I think it'll better me at the instrument anyway.

 

[Thunderhorse31]

I'm just glad that we will no longer have to play keyboard parts on the guitar. I freaking love songs like Highway Star and Constant Motion, but throwing in difficult keyboard runs on top of already difficult guitar parts can be a pain in the ass sometimes.

That said, the keyboard addition clears the way for Dream Theater full album DLC, yes? Please?

 

[Tuddle]

I WILL GET THIS GAME!

I love the songs they already confirmed for it. Can't wait to see full list.

My Rock Band 1 & 2 & The Beatles & LEGO & Green day & DLC already takes up about 35-50 GB on my PS3.

 

[onewheeled]

GIF snip.

Okay, this is exactly what I was afraid of when I heard about Pro mode. As cool as the idea is, it's basically a guitar tab that you have to follow real-time. Being a sorta-decent guitar player, learning from tabs through repetition and practice is hard enough, this is just going to be insane.

 

[Macgyvercas]

The only way I would agree with the idea of having a Rock Band 3 is if they include all the songs on the album The Other Side of Life by the Moody Blues (seriously, why have the Moody Blues not been in one of these yet?!) and Stairway to Heaven by Led Zepplin.

 

[Enigmers]

I only ever sing or play drums in Rock Band, with some occasional switching of anyone else wants to do those instead. I play string bass in my school band and guitar on my own, and I find my real guitar more fun to play than Rock Band's (I'm not going to say "hurr lern 2 reel gittar" because what you do on your own time is certainly none of my concern).