[Multiplatform] Rock Band: Soon to be available for thirty billion Euros

Even with Guitar Hero III coming down the tracks, logical progression on the Guitar Hero saga lead us to Rock Band. Video from GameSpot found its way to YouTube. Witness:

YouTube Video
Get the Flash Player to play this youtube video file.

With MTV on board now, the track list is already looking extremely sexy:

"(Don't Fear) The Reaper" - Blue Öyster Cult
"In Bloom" - Nirvana
"Main Offender" - The Hives
"Mississippi Queen" - Mountain
"Paranoid" - Black Sabbath
"Rockaway Beach" - The Ramones
"Say It Ain't So" - Weezer
"Suffragette City" - David Bowie
"Won't Get Fooled Again" - The Who
(and maybe "Welcome to the Jungle" - Guns 'N Roses)

Thankfully, it seems as though you won't need 3 other people to play this game, but I'm curious to see what they decide to do. Here's hoping for online, but I'm not holding my breath.

(I wonder if they'll have a cowbell add-on for (Don't Fear) The Reaper...chuckle, snort.)

Apparently I'll need a next-gen console for this, as they've only confirmed 360 and PS3 releases.

I'm curious as to how much a complete setup is going to cost. I doubt I'll get enough friends convinced of coming together regularly with their guitars, drumsets and microphones, anyways. I see how the whole "band" thing is one of the most interesting features of this game, but it could also turn out to be a massive downside.

I was really excited about this game and the gameplay video looks fun, but if I can conveniently get Guitar Hero 3 for the PS2 and use it with my existing controllers, I don't see the point in investing probably more than thrice the money to get a similar experience with Rock Band.

It'll probably cost ~$200 total between 4 people for the set. Assuming everything costs the same as usual musical video game equipment.

I'd love to play something like this, but I certainly wouldn't want to pay that much for this. I think something like this might be better off as an arcade game before a home version is released.

This sort of reminds me of Steel Battalion, although I would gladly pay $200 for that - Nerd Central.

Kensubei said basically what I was going to say minus a couple of things.

1) I wouldn't mind watching people play this, but you wouldn't catch me dead singing

2) I do believe that Harmonix said that you don't have the whole setup to play. So I'll take my Guitar and play on my own calling it Guitar Hero 2.75 (Because 80's edition is like 2.5 get it, hahaha... I'll shut up now)

3) I saw the stuff for the Singer and two guitarists but which of the three tracks is what the drummer plays?

Originally Posted by Slayer X

3) I saw the stuff for the Singer and two guitarists but which of the three tracks is what the drummer plays?

The middle track. Youll notice there are only 4 icons, with the bass drum being represented by an orange line going across the entire track.

Originally Posted by The Dopefish

(I wonder if they'll have a cowbell add-on for (Don't Fear) The Reaper...chuckle, snort.)

I read in the latest Game Informer that they'll utilize the mic for additional percussion such as tambourine or even the cowbell.


This game has me super psyched. This is EXACTLY what I wanted out of Guitar Hero after playing it and Harmonix shall not dissapoint. This has been years in the making and this is their pride and joy so I do believe they'll pull through.

Oh yeah and your existing Guitar Hero controller will work with the game, as demostrated by the video.

Jesus man, what the hell, Harmonix has gone on a SPREE!

ALL 7 or more of gameplay video one for this game has been taken down off of YouTube. The GameSpot video too. Does ANYONE have a link to this video that works anymore? I have friends that I still need to show this to so please post a link if you've got one.

Thanks

If this game manages to meet at least half of its' potential, it might be the one that gets me to buy a 360. Guitar Hero 2 intrigues me, but the real value will be in downloadable songs (which hasn't taken off yet) and the same goes for this one. If they're bringing out, say, 10 songs or so every 2 months and they're ones I want, yeah I'll be glad to get in on the action. I think Rock Band might a little too ambitious, but I'm pulling for it.

I think what they should do is have a line-up of 200 songs or so for download and allow the user to download, say, 30 of them when they buy the game, as opposed to having a "set" line-up. Sort of like a musical MUGEN (start with nothing, then just add the tracks you want).

A question occurred to me today when I thought about preordering Rock Band:

You're supposed to be able to play with your friends online with this game, right? I mean, that's a huge part of paying for $200 worth of merchandise. But won't each one of your friends need a copy of the game disc in order to play it on their system, effectively making everybody pay $200?

Does anyone know how this is going to be handled, on any of the various systems?

Depends on how much equipment they want to buy, I'd guess. I imagine the mic, drums and guitar will also be sold seperately. Maybe you could colaborate and have one person buy the game and a guitar, another the game and the drums, etc.

Though there's nothing official, my guess is the whole bundle will run about $200 and include vouchers for some downloaded material (like, say, 20 songs or something). Considering, unlike Steel Battalion, the stuff will actually have a use, it seems pretty fair to me.

It could be worse: They could force you to buy the official Rock Band amplifier too!



I'm more interested in how they'll be handling playing the downloaded music online. What if you want to play a song no one else has downloaded to their 360/PS3?

This isn't supposed to be an official thread for the game, however if you want to discuss topics on the game, feel free to do so within this thread.

What I wanted to ask, and this may be a stupid question. But is the Special Edition of the game simply the game with the instruments? When I pre-ordered my copy at EB they asked if I wanted the SE version and I said yes. I always thought that the regular edition of the game would have been the bundle and the SE would be the bunsle with some sort of extras.

If someone could clear this up for me that would be great.

From what I understand, the special edition comes with everything. Drums, microphone, guitar, panpipes, all that. Regular edition is just the game, then you go and buy whatever instrument most interests you on top of it.

Ok, that's what I was thinking it was. Like I said, for some reason I thought it was something else entirely and then I clued in.

I bet there's going to be a few P'ed off people on release day over not knowing that the regular version is not the bundle... we'll have to wait and see though.

Yeah, I can't imagine how much of a headache this game will be for game store staff when it's initially released! Also threads merged. =')

Is anyone else psyched about the whole DLC deal? Aside from having a lot of stuff, the main setlist kinda sucks (though they added some cool songs at the last minute..."Run to the Hills", "Ballroom Blitz" (though not the awesome Krokus version...damn!) and "Flirtin with Disaster), but for about $8 extra, I get the guitar, drums and vocals for "Justice for All", "Ride the Lightning" (and Blackened is thrown in with the Metallica bundle, which ain't bad at all) and "Joker and the Thief". That's...damn, I want this game NOW!

I'm not an advocate for paying for additional content, but in this case, if there's a particular song I want to dissect, it's worth it.

List of songs in Rock Band - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Edit: Anyone else find it kind of strange Metallica's one of the groups leading the charge for downloadable content?

Not really because Metallica is anti-piracy. Not anti-video games. (unless I'm missing something).

But yeah, I hear that the DLC for RB is good, and at a decent price unlike Guitar Hero. If someone could post the DLC and prices that would be awesome ^^

UPDATE
Just answered my own question. ^^;

Week of November 20, 2007:

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Metallica Pack
"Ride the Lightning" - Metallica
"Blackened" - Metallica
"And Justice for All" - Metallica

The Police Pack
"Can't Stand Losing You" - The Police
"Synchronicity II" - The Police
"Roxanne" - The Police

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
"3's and 7's" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" - Queens of the Stone Age

Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each(160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360)

"Fortunate Son" as made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival *
"Juke Box Hero" as made famous by Foreigner *
"Bang a Gong (Get It On)" as made famous by T-Rex *
"My Sharona" as made famous by The Knack *
"Cherry Bomb" as made famous by The Runaways *
"Joker & The Thief"- Wolfmother

Week of November 27, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

David Bowie Pack
"Moonage Daydream" - David Bowie
"Heroes" as made famous by David Bowie *
"Queen Bitch" as made famous by David Bowie *

Week of December 4, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Black Sabbath Pack
"N.I.B." as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"Sweet Leaf" as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"War Pigs" as made famous by Black Sabbath *

Week of December 11, 2007

3-Pack for $5.49 or Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each
(160 Microsoft Points per track and 440 per pack for Xbox 360)

Punk Pack:
"Rockaway Beach" - Ramones
"I Fought the Law" - The Clash
"Ever Fallen In Love" as made famous by Buzzcocks *
Week of December 18, 2007

Individual Tracks for $1.99 Each(160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360)

"My Iron Lung" - Radiohead
"Buddy Holly" - Weezer
"Brass in Pocket" as made famous by Pretenders *

*cover version

I'm looking forward to this game obviously since I'm a huge guitar hero fan.

From what I've heard, only "2" versions of the game are coming out Tuesday. The Special Edition with all the instruments, and the regular version with just the game. But the thing is you won't be able to buy instruments separate until later. (possibly until February like what it seems like for GH3 Wireless Les Paul). It shouldn't be too much of a headache. I feel bad that those geeky game store clerks now have to lift a 30lb box every time they sell a bundle =p

I'm a little concerned about what I've been reading, that it isn't as hard as guitar hero 3. I assume it's mainly due to the song choices and not that they're intentionally making it easier for guitar fanatics.

But at the same time, I might enjoy it more because it's more casual. The one thing that threw me for a loop about GH3 was its insane difficulty. My hands hurt more than any song GH2 threw at me and I wasn't even finished with the last tier. It might be nice to just kick back with some friends and rock out