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

[AtomSmasher]

I would join, but I only have online muliplayer with rock band, not guitar hero   

[ChadTower]

Do you even own RockBand?

I didn't say Rock Band.

I have Guitar Hero III coming in the mail and figured some of us may want to group up.

[Dartful Dodger]

Do you even own RockBand?

I didn't say Rock Band.

I have Guitar Hero III coming in the mail and figured some of us may want to group up.

Sorry, I'm at work so when the webpage opened up I quickly closed it.  It looked like the Rockband website, and that website maximizes when open and has audio.  I work in an open office so it's hard to pretend to be working when a full screen website with probe light-ish animation is on my screen.

[ChadTower]

Tell them you have discovered new methods - you are now so efficient that you have background music and flashing lights - like John Travolta.

[Dartful Dodger]

Tell them you have discovered new methods - you are now so efficient that you have background music and flashing lights - like John Travolta.

I don't want to bring any unnecessary attention to myself.  I'm just keeping a low profile until I can get out of here. 

As long as I look busy they don't ask me to do anything. 

[Cakemeister]

After further review, I like the 360 GH3 guitar better than the RB guitar. The RB guitar has the sharp edge on the back of the neck and the frets are just too far apart for my average-sized hands. I still am not crazy about the 360's guitar's sloppy strum bar and clicky buttons, but I am five-starring songs with that guitar that I could only four-star with the RB guitar.

[Dartful Dodger]

...the frets are just too far apart for my average-sized hands.

...but I am five-starring songs with that guitar that I could only four-star with the RB guitar.

^{your wife is lying to you.}

You can use the kiddie average-sized buttons that are low on the neck.

I need to replace my RB guitar.  I think the strummer switch is registering double hits when I play the faster songs.  I can't get through any hard songs on expert.  (when in doubt, blame the instrument)

[AtomSmasher]

Shredz64 for the Commadore 64   

http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/10/shredz64-is-very-real-and-very-shredding/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52gcC3Sn-Gw[/youtube]

[ChadTower]

That is so awesome it bent my wookie.

[ChadTower]

Possible Beatles Guitar Hero coming.

Am I the only one who would rather see these band specific games be downloadable content instead?

[ahofle]

Am I the only one who would rather see these band specific games be downloadable content instead?

Nope.  I was wondering who in the hell would buy an Aerosmith only guitar hero?  Beatles maybe, but still.  Mix it up a little.

[ChadTower]

I would love to have it but not at the cost of a full game price.  Of course, I will be playing on the Wii (GHIII arrives today according to UPS), so no soup for me.

[shardian]

I would get the Beatles GH for sure. I wouldn't pay more than $20 for it though.

[Dartful Dodger]

Possible Beatles Guitar Hero coming.

Am I the only one who would rather see these band specific games be downloadable content instead?

I'm not sure how guitar hero plays, but a band themed game sound like a good idea.  As long as you can add the same downloadedable content to it.

[genesim]

From what I understand it still won't be entirely Aerosmith.   There will be other stuff mixed in...still, they do have alot of great songs!

[jfunk]

Guitar Hero DS!!!

Finally, a console I own will have Guitar Hero!! 

The attachment looks pretty cool.  I'm shocked it looks to be as much fun as it does....

[chopps]

Guitar Hero DS!!!

Finally, a console I own will have Guitar Hero!! 

The attachment looks pretty cool.  I'm shocked it looks to be as much fun as it does....

I think that will get really old, really fast.  the guitar controller and "rocking out" is what makes the game.   

[ChadTower]

So Guitar Hero III arrives last night.  I bust it open, play it for a couple hours after the kids went to bed.  It's fun but I'm not feeling whatever makes it a world class hype game.  I made it through the first 10 or so songs in career mode without going under 90% once, 5 starring a couple of them on the first try.  I imagine it gets a lot harder quickly, though.  Wouldn't be much good if you could 95% a song you've never heard before on the first try on everything.

Then my wife tries it and can't get out of the sustained notes tutorial, gets pissed at me about it, and I end up with the frosty treatment all night.   

[shardian]

Then my wife tries it and can't get out of the sustained notes tutorial, gets pissed at me about it, and I end up with the frosty treatment all night.   

Were you playing easy or medium?

HA HA!

I've never even played easy, because it is too easy.
I can ace almost every medium song on the first go. Of course, I have already played air guitar for years to most of them so I have an unfair advantage.
The real challenge is going from medium to hard. It is a completely different ballgame.

As to the wife, she does pretty good on medium.

[ChadTower]

Were you playing easy or medium?

Easy.  I figured if it's the first time you've ever played it for more than 30 seconds, easy is where you start.  Plus I have to unlock the rest first, don't I?  I wish I could hear what I'm playing better.  I can hear the song, and see the notes, but there doesn't seem to be an obvious result from hitting a note properly.  If you miss it most of the music goes away until you hit the next one, but it doesn't really feel like I'm producing music.  It feels like I'm preventing music from stopping.

[shardian]

You can play on any difficulty you want at any time. I would have died of boredom on easy. Medium is the perfect difficulty to balance your fun level and skill level - easy enough to prevent frustration and be fun, hard enough to keep you engaged.

[ChadTower]

I'm taking a look at Frets on Fire, too, now that I have a guitar.  Might give that a shot this weekend.

[HaRuMaN]

hard enough to keep you engaged.

Usually, wives like it when its hard enough to keep them engaged 

[ChadTower]

...but only until the engagement is over, one way or another.  After that they don't have any use for it.

[Dartful Dodger]

It's fun but I'm not feeling whatever makes it a world class hype game.  I made it through the first 10 or so songs in career mode without going under 90% once, 5 starring a couple of them on the first try.

I am the same way with RockBand's solo mode.  If I do play in solo mode I'm playing for practice so that I can play the songs on expert with either of the instruments when I'm playing in band mode.  Although I'm content with singing on easy.

Playing with a group is worth the hype.   You don't even have to be playing to enjoy it.

Unlike watching your friends play other games where you’re secretly hoping they make a mistake so their turn ends, in Rockband you actually enjoy watching as much as playing.

On medium it starts to feel like playing.

A tip I read that helped me is when you're playing on easy, play with just one finger(pointer), so you learn to move up and down the neck.

[ChadTower]

Cool, thanks for the tip.

My God, looking at these songlists for Frets on Fire, why the eff are we paying so much to play on consoles?

[versapak]

Cool, thanks for the tip.

My God, looking at these songlists for Frets on Fire, why the eff are we paying so much to play on consoles?

Frets on Fire is not quite the same thing.

You aren't really "playing the music" in Frets On Fire. It is more like Dance Dance revolution, in that your controller input doesn't at all effect what you actually hear played.

In Guitar Hero/Rock Band, if you don't press the buttons/strum, you don't hear any music from that instrument.


If all your fun from the game is just hitting the buttons at the right time, then it is  probably just as good, but if part of the fun is having it feel like you are actually playing the music, then it is a huge bit of detachment from the game.

[Dartful Dodger]

I didn't think the PS3 guitar would work in a PC.  I had no reason to try it, but that Frets on Fire got me curious.  I did a quick search on Google and it looks like it does work.


RockBand’s songs are mostly newer ones.  I must be too old, because some of those songs are too loud.

Let me know what you think of Frets on Fire.

[ChadTower]

In Guitar Hero/Rock Band, if you don't press the buttons/strum, you don't hear any music from that instrument.

Sure doesn't feel that way on easy.  You barely hear anything from what you're playing.  I'll have to see if that improves when I go to medium.

[pointdablame]

You still hear a good amount of the song on Easy because most of the notes in the song just aren't being played by you.

I actually do much worse on Easy than on any other difficulty because I HEAR all the notes of the song, but the game winds up asking me to play every 3rd or 4th note at times and I just screw up.  It's a bit different on higher difficulties as far as how much it seems like you're actually playing the song.

[AtomSmasher]

when I first started playing GH, I only played maybe 5 songs on easy before switching to medium difficulty.  Easy mode mainly seems to be there so little kids and people with no coordination can still play the game.

[ChadTower]

Heh. I thought you had to play through Easy in order to get to Medium.  I may do it anyway because my damn left hand keeps getting tired and my scores start decreasing.

[versapak]

Heh. I thought you had to play through Easy in order to get to Medium.  I may do it anyway because my damn left hand keeps getting tired and my scores start decreasing.

Nope.

You play any difficulty you choose right off the bat.

Imagine how not loved the game would be if all of us, that have been playing these games from the start, were stuck playing through the too easy (thus boring) low difficulties before we got to play at our appropriate skill level.

[ChadTower]

How much of a pain in the ass would it really be?  It would only take an hour.

[versapak]

How much of a pain in the ass would it really be?  It would only take an hour.

Yeah, I could bust through easy in no time (If no time = 40 songs times about 3.5 minutes), 5 starring every song and perfecting most of them on the first try, but it would be silly for that to be a requirement.

Once you play on hard/expert regularly (probably even medium), playing on easy is boring and not at all fun. It would be silly if that were a requirement.

[pointdablame]

How much of a pain in the ass would it really be?  It would only take an hour.

A huge pain in the ass actually.  First, there are ~40 songs in career mode of GH3 so an hour is WAY underestimated.  Plus, if I had to sit though Easy and Medium to simply get to the difficulties I want to play, I'd frankly be much less interested in playing the songs over again just due to the annoyance.

I'm very thankful that I don't have to pour 4+ hours into GH3 being utterly bored just to play what I want.  It would really really suck.

[Dartful Dodger]

Once you've mastered easy with one finger you should skip medium, because it'll teach you bad habits, get you use locking your hand in one position.  This will make it more difficult to adjust to using all 5 fret buttons.  I of course learned this after I mastered it on medium, which is why I thought hard was impossible and I figured there was some ‘trick/cheat’ to playing it on expert.

After I re-mastered easy with one finger expert became playable.  I haven’t mastered hard yet, but I am bored with medium and easy.



Yesterday Rockband released a patch that makes the crazier songs playable and stops the game for constantly putting in Metallica songs whenever you play a random song set.  This should revive the game for me, since my friends and I thought we maxed out with our combined abilities.

[ChadTower]

I need to learn not to hold the neck like I'm squeezing water out of it.  I think that is why my hand gets so tired.

[Dartful Dodger]

From the RockBand's forum.

Wii Will Rock You!
MTV Games, Harmonix and EA Announce Rock Band™ for Wii on June 22, 2008

The number one selling game in February 2008 is coming to Wii!

Cambridge, MA – March 24, 2007-- Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a division of MTV Networks, which is a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts, Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced plans to release the award-winning music video game Rock Band on the Wii™ home video game system from Nintendo in the U.S. and Canada on June 22, 2008 for the suggested retail price of $169.99.

Rock Band for Wii will be released as a Special Edition bundle including the software, drums, microphone and a wireless guitar. Stand alone instruments will also be available on June 22nd for people who want to build their band one instrument at a time or want to play the drum versus drum game mode. The game will feature 63 songs including five bonus songs for Wii gamers to enjoy.

“The Wii’s success among casual and core gamers of all ages makes it an ideal match for the cross-generational appeal of the music featured in Rock Band,” says Bob Picunko, Vice President of Electronic Games and Interactive Products, MTV

“The social interaction and addictive nature of the Rock Band experience is a perfect fit for the Wii and will undoubtedly be fun for the entire family,” says Steve Singer, licensing VP from Nintendo.

Rock Band is an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before. The game challenges players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune – all while learning to master lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals. Featuring the most master recordings of any music game ever by the world’s biggest rock artists, Rock Band includes tracks that span every genre of rock ranging from alternative and classic rock to heavy metal and punk. Rock Band has garnered over 40 awards this year including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007 and three awards at The 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack.

Rock Band is rated “T” for Teen (lyrics, mild suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

Rock Band is currently available on the Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft®, the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system, and on the PLAYSTATION®2 computer entertainment system.

EA is the exclusive distribution and marketing partner for Rock Band.

For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.


#####

About MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world's leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

About MTV Games
MTV Games is dedicated to creating, marketing and publishing high-quality, innovative interactive products that are relevant to the MTV audience and complement the core values of the MTV Networks brands.

About Harmonix Music Systems, Inc
Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., based in Cambridge, MA, and established in 1995, is the leading developer of groundbreaking music-oriented videogames. Harmonix was founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, who formed the company to invent new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music and have pioneered music and rhythm gaming in the US. For more information please visit: www.harmonixmusic.com

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS™, EA™, EA SPORTS BIG™ and POGO™. In fiscal 2007, EA posted revenue of $3.09 billion and had 24 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG, and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.


© 2007 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Harmonix, Rock Band and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., a MTV Networks company. Rock Band developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. MTV: Music Television, MTV Games and all related titles and logos are trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc All other marks are the property of their respective owners.

EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS BIG and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. "PlayStation" and "PLAYSTATION" are registered trademarks of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies.

Wii and the Wii logo are trademarks of Nintendo. © 2006 Nintendo.

[shmokes]

God, I really want this.  I don't see it happening anytime soon, but I can always hope.  My birthday is in August.