Guitar Hero? --- Heck NO!!! --- Rock Band FTW!

[Dervacumen]

The Wii was my first choice because it’s a great group gamming system that's easy to play and it’s a one size fits all console.  Now that I’ve seen the light I’m going to get a PS3.

Based on your preferences to play Rock Band, FPS, and group gaming, I'd say if you had to buy one or another right now the PS3 is the best choice.  I do think, however, that in about a year you'd wish you purchased the Wii.  I think developers have taken note of the control scheme and it will truly be a Revolution for gaming.  And Nintendo is very good at staying at the top of the crest.

[AtomSmasher]

Anyone else happen to watch Conan Obrien last night? He had a segment where he passed the time during the break carrying around a portable amp and annoying the hell out of staffers by playing right next to them the same riff over and over.
He then walked in on a group playing rock band and joined in playing for real. I thought that scene was hilarious. To tell the truth, I found the show to actually be funnier without the writers. I supposed that won't last though.

I just happened to come across the video, the guitar part starts about 1/2 way into it.
http://www.videosift.com/video/Conan-OBrien-Back-With-a-Beard-and-a-Guitar

[Daniel270]

I kinda like the idea that when the shows are more "spontaneous", they're actually better than when they're scripted....  very much like the videos were in America's Funniest Home video (sans voice-over dubbing)...

[shardian]

I just happened to come across the video, the guitar part starts about 1/2 way into it.
http://www.videosift.com/video/Conan-OBrien-Back-With-a-Beard-and-a-Guitar

Cool. I looked everywhere for the video when I first posted, but it wasn't online yet.

[Howard_Casto]

Ah.  I'm still trying to figure out why pro wrestling writers aren't in the union.  Just the WWE writers alone produce 2 live hours and 3 pretaped hours of content every week.

I *think* the wga only applies to network television.  Attack of the show also does a daily live broadcast and they aren't on strike either.  Then again, in terms of the wwe, I don't think they have had formal writers in years.  They have guys who write stuff like "HHH complains about something for 20 minutes" but actual lines aren't written down.  So it's doubtful they have union writers.  Heck, dusty rhodes is one of the head writers now and I'm not even sure if he can read, much less write a full script. 

[AtomSmasher]

Looks like Jay Leno is getting in trouble with the WGA
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jay-leno-could-face-disciplinary/story.aspx?guid={9FD693C4-62EB-4787-A6A3-F122392AE614}&dist=hplatest

[ChadTower]

I *think* the wga only applies to network television. 

If it helps, Smackdown has been on network television for many years.

[Howard_Casto]

I know the cw/upn/wb/whatever claims it's a network as to if it actually is or not, I dunno. 

Serously though I had forgotten about that, so I guess our answer is that either their writers are non-union, or they don't exist.

[shardian]

WWE is an in-house company. No unions at all.

Besides, who else would hire a WWE writer anyways?

[ChadTower]

Oh they're definitely nonUnion, probably because Vince would fire them instantly if they tried to be union.  That and the writers change at his and his daughter's whim.

It is an interesting question, though, as when they publish job listings for writers they usually have requirements of having written for television in the past.  I wonder if they're requiring that those people leave the union.

[Dartful Dodger]

Tips for RockBand:

To silence the drums I've used this do it yourself:

Time for Rock Band Arts & Crafts

This helped A LOT!

One change to the fix though...
the author says:

Four sheets of 9" x 12" self-adhesive foam rubber, any color

This isn't true.  I used black the first time and it made the yellow felt look dirty.  I redid it in white and that looks great.

I've also made the white foam fit snuggly inside the rim of the drums and made the felt bigger, so it over covered the inside lip of the drums.
Like the author says make paper templates and test fit it.

has anyone tried to play with practice drumsticks ( the ones with rubber tips)?

I want to know what size/brand and how well they work.

[shardian]

I finally played Rock Band at Best Buy the other day and I have to say, I like the guitar ALOT better than the wireless ones I have for PS2. The buttons and strum bar are spring loaded or something and just feel better, you know? The length of the guitar was much more comfortable also.

[Cakemeister]

Woot! The wife got me Rock Band for my birthday! (360 version)

My thoughts:

I like the Strat's strum bar. There's a ridge on it that helps prevent slips. I much prefer it to the white guitar that came with GH3 for the 360. I don't really care one way or the other about the flush fret buttons.

IMO the song selection is very weak compared to GH3.

The fun factor is definitely there. It's something the whole family can enjoy.

[somunny]

Tips for RockBand:

To silence the drums I've used this do it yourself:

Time for Rock Band Arts & Crafts

This helped A LOT!

One change to the fix though...
the author says:

Four sheets of 9" x 12" self-adhesive foam rubber, any color

This isn't true.  I used black the first time and it made the yellow felt look dirty.  I redid it in white and that looks great.

I've also made the white foam fit snuggly inside the rim of the drums and made the felt bigger, so it over covered the inside lip of the drums.
Like the author says make paper templates and test fit it.

has anyone tried to play with practice drumsticks ( the ones with rubber tips)?

I want to know what size/brand and how well they work.

I used this tutorial and modified my drum set last weekend.  Adequately reduced the noise, which I found distracting when playing.  Anyway, I used red, blue, yellow and green felt to match the corresponding button colors and found everything I needed at the local Michael's.

[Dartful Dodger]

I used this tutorial and modified my drum set last weekend.  Adequately reduced the noise, which I found distracting when playing.  Anyway, I used red, blue, yellow and green felt to match the corresponding button colors and found everything I needed at the local Michael's.

It made the drums quiter, but I want them silent.  It’s distracting when you can’t hear the song’s drums.  I'm going to pick up some practice drum sticks from guitar center this weekend.  Two weeks ago I had to buy replacement sticks because the ones that came with the game started to widdle down to sharp points(this was before I added the foam and felt).  I was going to ask the guy at Guitar Center what he would suggest, but when I got there and saw all the real drummers playing the drums I felt foolish about asking about drum sticks for a video game, so I just bought a pair that looked good. Practice drum sticks have rubber tips, I'm not sure if they are going to soften the blows to the point where they stop registering though, I'll let you know after I get  them.

Don't download the Metallica pack.  It takes a while to unlock Metallica’s Sandman, but for good reason, those songs are hard to play on easy and if you download them they are automatically unlocked and the program will always pick them when it randomly picks songs.

Juke Box Hero, My Sharona and the Last Train to Clarksville are worth downloading.

[ChadTower]

[AtomSmasher]

Looks like Rock Band has officially been confirmed for the Wii, although it won't be released for another year and there no word if it will have downloadable content.
http://www.gamespot.com/news/6185448.html?part=rss&tag=gs_news&subj=6185448

[ahofle]

A year?! 
I imagine its release day will be about as climactic as the PC Halo 2 release.

[shmokes]

I find it difficult to believe, or at least to understand, why in god's name it would take a year.  A dedicated team could put it together from scratch in a year.  They already have the vast majority of resources in place.  The PS2 version is already out.  That's 95% of the artwork, the songs, etc. etc.  And, surely they've already been working on it before now.  I can't imagine the brisk sales of the Wii could have gone unnoticed by EA over the last year.

Let me be the first to say, though, thank you god in heaven for this.  Rock Band and GTA IV are the two games that I was planning to be ultra depressed about not being able to play over the next year or two.  Restraints on my free time and finances make getting a PS3 before then virtually impossible.  But if Rock Band is out for the Wii by August or December I can hope for it as a birthday or Christmas present.  We shall see.

BTW,it will have downloadable content.  If Guitar Hero III hadn't already been released for the Wii, maybe up to a year earlier than Rock Band, EA might be able to get away with leaving that feature out.  But if Guitar Hero can do DLC on the Wii, there's no reason Rock Band can't.  Color me excited.

[spookymuffin]

Isn't Gutar Hero for the Wii only one player? I heard that somewhere, or that you couldn't buy an extra guitar or something.

[ahofle]

It supports coop and head to head play, but currently no one sells a separate stand alone guitar controller.  So for now you'll need to know someone else with the game and use their guitar.  With the Wii's success going on well over a year now, I simply can't believe that these gaming companies are so fricking retarded at this point.  Are they deliberately trying not to make money? 

[versapak]

It supports coop and head to head play, but currently no one sells a separate stand alone guitar controller.  So for now you'll need to know someone else with the game and use their guitar.  With the Wii's success going on well over a year now, I simply can't believe that these gaming companies are so fricking retarded at this point.  Are they deliberately trying not to make money? 

Well...


It isn't like it is some Wii specific problem. You can't buy an extra Guitar Hero III Les Paul controller for any system yet.


The other systems simply have the advantage of prior Guitar Hero releases.

[Dartful Dodger]

The Wii is for families with small children. 
The majority of songs currently in Rockband aren’t suitable for preteens.  It’s probably going to take EA a year to replace all those songs with songs from Hanna Montana and High School Musical.

[AtomSmasher]

The Wii is for families with small children. 
The majority of songs currently in Rockband aren’t suitable for preteens.  It’s probably going to take EA a year to replace all those songs with songs from Hanna Montana and High School Musical.

[chopps]

finally played this tonight... awesome game.. so much fun..   

[Cakemeister]

Well, I've finished the solo tours on expert difficulty on vocals and guitar, and medium difficulty on drums. Currently I'm working on hard difficulty on drums.

What a fun game! Although it's quite a bit easier than Guitar 2 and 3. The hardest guitar song is Green Grass and High Tides, which is slightly easier than Free Bird in difficulty. There were a couple of vocal songs which were tough only because I don't know them.

I played a couple of songs on expert vocals and expert guitar at the same time. I could only do that on songs I know. (Run to the Hills, Tom Sawyer, the Who song) That's fun, too.

[shmokes]

I wish I could do that.  I really love singing, but I'm pretty awful.  I have Karaoke Revolution on my Xbox, and if I set the judging to easy, I can do well (even scored a perfect score on Twist and Shout), but if I put it to anything realistic . . . . oh the humanity!  My voice is not so good, unfortunately.  What can you do about bad genes? 

Sad thing is, if I'm bad, my wife is awful, so my poor little girl has no hope at all.

[Cakemeister]

Hehe, I don't sing. I either hum or squeal.

The kids laugh at the "eeeee--oooooo-aaaaaaaaa" coming from the family room, but it is effective.

[Dartful Dodger]

Hehe, I don't sing. I either hum or squeal.

The kids laugh at the "eeeee--oooooo-aaaaaaaaa" coming from the family room, but it is effective.

lol!

I can't control my pitch at all.  I'm the worst, I get booed off on Country Karaoke PS2 within seconds of the song, and it’s one of my favorite songs.  (Toby Keith’s; As good as I Once Was).
I've done pretty well with Rockband's vocals on easy by "eeeee--oooooo-aaaaaaaaa"-ing too.  I live alone but the thought of my neighbor’s walking by and hearing me “singing” has stopped me from going too far on it.

Playing most guitar songs on hard is impossible for me. I’ve started to lose my patience with the game.  I was thinking you'd have to spend hours memorizing the patterns before you could be any good and that doesn’t sound fun.

 Is that what you've done?  Memorize finger patterns or can you actually hit the buttons as you see them?

I think my guitar is screwed up too, my up strokes don’t consistently hit so I’ve gotten use to playing with just using down which makes my fingers numb during those long streaks of repetitive notes.

[ChadTower]

I was thinking you'd have to spend hours memorizing the patterns before you could be any good and that doesn’t sound fun.

That's how you actually play music, yes?

[shardian]

I was thinking you'd have to spend hours memorizing the patterns before you could be any good and that doesn’t sound fun.

That's how you actually play music, yes?

 

I can sight play all the medium songs on GH3, but the difficulty level ramps up thru the roof from medium to hard. I'm usually out within seconds on hard the first time I see it. That is why they put in the practice mode where you can slow the song down.

I keep telling my wife we need to deck out in 80's hair band outfits, memorize a hair band song, then make a video like we used to do when we were kids.

[ChadTower]

[Dartful Dodger]

I was thinking you'd have to spend hours memorizing the patterns before you could be any good and that doesn’t sound fun.

That's how you actually play music, yes?

No.  You memorize the music and play the cords that make that make it.

The buttons aren’t making the same music, so you can’t anticipate the next button.

Playing music is like talking.  To speak you don't have to memroize the letetr odrer in evrey wrod you say.

[ChadTower]

No.  You memorize the music and play the cords that make that make it.

It's not all chords.

[Cakemeister]

Playing most guitar songs on hard is impossible for me. I’ve started to lose my patience with the game.  I was thinking you'd have to spend hours memorizing the patterns before you could be any good and that doesn’t sound fun.

 Is that what you've done?  Memorize finger patterns or can you actually hit the buttons as you see them?

I think my guitar is screwed up too, my up strokes don’t consistently hit so I’ve gotten use to playing with just using down which makes my fingers numb during those long streaks of repetitive notes.

I just hit the buttons as I see them. I don't memorize anything. I tried playing in performance mode (note chart off) and it was really tough! It took a few hours just to pass "Strutter" on hard difficulty in performance mode.

I find that I can't look at both the vocal and the guitar parts at the same time, so the only songs I can play both parts on are songs that are either familiar or easy.

I only use up-strumming where it is obviously necessary

[Dartful Dodger]

I just hit the buttons as I see them. I don't memorize anything.

...

I only use up-strumming where it is obviously necessary

You're only saying that so I’ll waste more hours of my life trying to solve it on hard.  ...and now I will.

Can you play any song on expert?   ...consistently?

When I've played online and the other guy is playing on expert I half believe it's an EA trick and he's really just an AI getting a barrage of random colors because at the end of the song this AI always gets a 98%.

[AtomSmasher]

I just hit the buttons as I see them. I don't memorize anything.

...

I only use up-strumming where it is obviously necessary

You're only saying that so I’ll waste more hours of my life trying to solve it on hard.  ...and now I will.

Can you play any song on expert?   ...consistently?

When I've played online and the other guy is playing on expert I half believe it's an EA trick and he's really just an AI getting a barrage of random colors because at the end of the song this AI always gets a 98%.

Well I don't know about Rock Band since I don't have it yet, but I can 5 star most of the songs on Expert in all of the Guitar Heroes and I don't memorize any of them either and I only strum down unless it is a really fast section.  When I played through Guitar Hero 3, I actually 5 stared almost half of the expert songs on my first try.  To be fair though, there are still 3 songs on expert that I can't even come close to beating.

[Cakemeister]

Personally I prefer playing hard to playing expert, but my daughter gave me some comment like, "If you were cool you'd play expert like my friends do.", so now I have to play expert.

There are a couple of songs on each game, (other than Rock Band) that give me trouble, and a few I can't pass. (Jordan, Six, Play With Me, Raining Blood, One, Take This Life, a couple others on GH3) I usually get 5 stars on the first few tiers and 3 stars on the last few tiers.

There's one song that (Through the Fire and Flames) I fail in about 3 seconds every time.

[AtomSmasher]

There's one song that (Through the Fire and Flames) I fail in about 3 seconds every time.

Haha ya, thats about how long I make it into that song too.

[pointdablame]

Rock Band as a whole is much easier than Guitar Hero 3.  I sight read all Rock Band and Guitar Hero songs and its rare to find a song that I can't beat (though possibly poorly) on the first time.  Most of the songs mentioned are rough for me too heh.  TtFaF is so hard... I can' get to about 45% though, not that that is anything to brag about.

You definitely do not need to memorize patterns to complete songs on Hard or Expert.  It may just be more difficult for you, or you might not have played hundreds of hours of all the Guitar Hero games like nerds like me