rad2689 Posted August 9, 2007 Report Share Posted August 9, 2007 DEVELOPER-Harmonix PUBLISHER-EA GENRE-Rhythm/Music RELEASE DATE-Q4 2007 AVAILABLE ON- PS3,XBOX 360 and Wii Guitar Hero who? The new rhythm game from Harmonix rocked our proverbial socks off when we finally got our hands on that faux Strat for the first time. Guitar Hero was just a jam session compared to Harmonix's next effort, Rock Band. We got to try an early version of the ambitious new rhythm game at an Electronic Arts press event in advance of E3. (EA is merely distributing the game to retail; Harmonix and new parent company MTV are handling the actual development and publishing duties.) As rhythm game fans are no doubt aware, Rock Band will flesh the core Guitar Hero concept out into a full band experience, featuring lead guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. In other words, Harmonix is basically blowing the doors off the original formula it helped create a couple of years ago. EA had prototype guitar and drum controllers, a microphone, eight demo songs, and a case of Pabst Blue Ribbon on hand at their event, and for some strange reason, we felt compelled to spend all our free time at the event glued to the Rock Band Demo kiosk. Let's just say it wasn't the free beer that kept us there.Of course, you've been clamoring for Rock Band's set list as much as we have, so here's what Harmonix had to show at the demo: The Who's "Won't Get Fooled Again," David Bowie's "Suffragette City," The Hives' "Main Offender," Weezer's "Say it Ain't So," Nirvana's "In Bloom," Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," and Mountain's "Mississippi Queen." Even better? All but the last two of those songs will appear as original recordings by the artists themselves in Rock Band. Harmonix is leveraging MTV's enormous record-industry clout to ensure that as many original recordings as possible will appear in the game; purportedly, the only songs which will be covered in a studio are the older ones for which no master tapes have even survived. The ps3 version will retail for 179$ . The 360 version will retail for 199$. Preview GAMEPRO- Rock on with new info on downloadable content, venues, tracks and more! If you not a musician then you've never been on the self-esteem-bashing emotional rollercoaster ride of being in a rock band. Rarely does the sea of defeat part, revealing a glistening high of momentary rock stardom. But when it happens, boy is it ever sweet. That's the first feeling I got from playing Rock Band; like I was about three weeks into practicing with a garage cover band, where the music just starting to come together into something other than spastic noise...something real. There's No 'I' in 'Rock Band' The brilliance of Rock Band, in concept, triumphs Guitar Hero's solo manifesto. Yeah, it's awesome to shred along to a face-melting riff, but any musician will tell you playing live with other musicians is a whole other story. The feeling you get when you come together as a band and find that tight groove...it's just unexplainable. In a Los Angeles studio, we jammed...and we jammed hard. With drumsticks in hand, you're Neil Peart. With an axe strapped on, you feel like Jimi, or even Flea when you're thumping on bass. And, well, what's Bon Jovi without some dude named Jon? While you're each hard at work on nailing each note, kick beat, or tambourine count, you're hearing the music come together as a whole. If your drummer sucks, it'll all sound weak, the drums falling out of the rhythm section altogether. Fret not, though, as a perfect run on another instrument can bring your foundation back. It's a team effort, and there's no 'I' in 'Rock Band'. Beyond Hero The similarities to Guitar Hero are there: speeding fretboards, tilt sensors, and even the five-fret guitar/bass design that GH fans will think comfortable (note that GH guitars will work with Rock Band). After all, Harmonix did develop the first game. But Rock Band takes it to an entirely different level. Even the game's Fender Stratocaster gets a huge feature boost with five new fret buttons for soloing and a five position effects switch (BOSS effects are confirmed) that looks just like the pickup shifter on a real Strat. But the real deal is online. That's right. If you can't get enough hack players to form a living-room band, you're in luck. You can customize your character and take your skills right online. No more posting Craigslist ads for a washed-up bassist with terrible time. Jump online and find one right away. All your band members could conceivably live in different cities across the country. Eat your heart of, Postal Service. A Music Delivery Service But it doesn't stop there. With MTV Games and Universal Music Group involved, Rock Band is getting the star treatment. Guitar Hero is an offline game was online accents. Rock Band is a complete content delivery platform, with downloads each week following the release of the game. The first will be The Who's "Who's Next", with more to come. How did they do it? MTV and Universal put together a music advisory board, headed up by the E Street Band's Little Steven, to spearhead selection of future tracks and albums, including downloadable music. Summer Tour Rock Band doesn't just take idea of touring to the next level. It explodes it. You'll tour an astonishing 41 venues in the game's World Tour Mode to real-life arenas famous for hosting a history of rock. The peripheral pricing structure is still unconfirmed, but the big online retailers are beginning to list Rock Band for preorder. Very soon, clear some space. Your living room is your stage, and your fans span the globe. For once, rock stardom is in plain sight. We can't freakin' wait. 15 Tracks Confirmed for Rock Band Try these tunes on for size--four decades worth of rock glory! Here are the songs MTV has confirmed to be in Rock Band: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Classics from the 70s Covers: Black Sabbath "Paranoid" Mountain, "Mississippi Queen" Masters: Blue Oyster Cult, "Don't Fear the Reaper" David Bowie, "Suffragette City" The Ramones, "Rockaway Beach" The Who, "Won't Get Fooled Again" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thrashers from the 80s Covers: Rush "Tom Sawyer" Masters: Bon Jovi, "Wanted Dead or Alive" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Headbangers from the 90s Masters: Nirvana, "In Bloom" Stone Temple Pilots, "Vasoline" Weezer, "Say It Ain't So" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Modern rockers Masters: Foo Fighters "Learn To Fly" The Hives, "Main Offender" The Strokes, "Reptilia" Queens of the Stone Age, "Go With the Flow" Road Trip Put the roadies to work! In Band World Tour mode, you'll be rocking socks off in these famous rock cities across the globe...in these real venues! Boston Area, with three confirmed venues: Charles Pub, in Somerville, The Establishment in Cambridge, and Hancock Theatre in Boston New York Chicago L.A. Seattle San Francisco London Paris Amsterdam Berlin Stockholm Rome Tokyo Sydney Reykjavik Rio de Janeiro Moscow REVIEW IGN-GAMESPOT- EGM- CVG- Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amay Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 Man, I am so hyped about this game, played GH 2 for like an hour yesterday for the first time and saw some e3 videos of this game man, it's looks freaking awesome innovative stuff.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizoidFreud Posted August 15, 2007 Report Share Posted August 15, 2007 WHAT THE f**k? where did u get it from???????????????????????????? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anmolsc Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Release Date:11/20/2007 ESRB Rating: Rating Pending Genre: Music Publisher: MTV Games Developer: Harmonix Music System Also On: PS3 | Wii MTV's purchase of Harmonix starts to bear fruits. Rock Band is the world's first full rock band rhythm game to let four players -- guitar, bass, drums, and lead vocal -- have at it, online or off. Will feature a ton of licensed music from major labels such as EMI, Sony BMG, and Universal. It's the drums. For all the hype over the new Fender Stratocaster guitar controllers, promised downloadable content, full-band integration, and the many other fresh and fantastical elements of Rock Band, it's the feel and execution of the collapsible drum set that has so many excited about Harmonix's upcoming rhythm game. While not the only game to toy with the idea of a significant percussive experience, it is certainly the first that will be widely available in the States. Why have we had to make do with the likes of Donkey Konga and Taiko Drum Master to sate our skin-slapping needs? "The challenges inherent in a full-on drumming game are substantial and varied," responds Rob Kay, lead designer on Rock Band. "Very few companies have the combined hardware and software expertise to even attempt it." Kay credits Harmonix's purchase by MTV Games last fall as the impetus for developing Rock Band, which he describes as "the game we've been dying to make all along." Though Rock Band will be the first game to bring drum-set-based gaming to North American consoles, Kay acknowledges that Konami's DrumMania series, released in Japanese arcades in 1999, helped launch the accessory-based rhythm gaming genre. "DrumMania, and its sister Guitar Freaks, were definitely the pioneers of instrument simulation in games," says Kay. "We created Karaoke Revolution for Konami too, which was another conceptual leap in music-based games, generally. On a day-to-day level though, our inspiration isn't other music games, but rather real musical instruments and the joy we get from playing them." While the vocal and guitar/bass aspects of Rock Band draw heavily upon Karaoke Revolution and Guitar Hero (also a previous Harmonix project), respectively, drums represent an entirely new front for the developer, which has been releasing rhythm games for consoles since 2001. Though Kay claims that no drum-based game was ever in the works for Activision (which registered the trademark "Drum Villain" late last year), he admits that the idea of such a self-contained project was examined. "We definitely considered a stand-alone drumming game," he says, "but we were infatuated with the full Rock Band concept and didn't want to dilute it by launching a separate drum game first." Without a previous drum set accessory in their arsenal, the developers at Harmonix began crafting the Rock Band set by looking at real drum kits and deciding what they liked (or didn't like) about them. "We started with a basic idea and went from there," says Kay. "We decided that we wanted four pads and also really liked the idea of a kick pedal. Our development challenge then became how to get the awesome play experience of an expensive drum kit into a videogame controller that would cost a fraction of the price." Queried on how such a tricky balance between quality and economy is achieved, Kay exclaims, "With incredibly talented industrial designers and engineers crafting our hardware!" Over months of prototyping and development," Kay explains, "with lots of iteration and play testing, we gradually focused in on the final design, which delivers the power, intensity and durability that we demanded. It's ridiculous how high we set our heights really, and a real testament to our hardware team that they pulled it off so comprehensively." Though unwilling to discuss the prospect of expandability (he says, "it's too early to announce anything just yet"), Kay stands by the set when the issue of durability is brought up. "We designed our drums to be able to absorb quite a beating," he explains. "The pads are a durable synthetic rubber material, housed in a plastic shell. From the top down, our drums are meant to be pounded on with wooden drumsticks." With the hardware finalized, on came the challenge of designing an in-game interface that would best represent the experience of drumming (kick pedal and all) without stumping players in the process. As such, Harmonix opted to stick with the 3D scrolling-note interface used first in Frequency and Amplitude, though particularly refined via the Guitar Hero series. "It's a system that is really functional and lets anyone sight-read music in real-time," explains Kay. However, the physical differences between the four drums and the kick pedal represented an unexpected challenge for the team. "At first, we had the kick drum notes in their own lane too, but as soon as we played that, it was very clear that something was busted," says Kay. "With the introduction of the kick drum note, reading any of the notes became really hard. The trivial task your brain constantly performs, mapping the physical position of the pads and pedal to the notes on screen, suddenly became really tricky." In place of the fifth lane came a bright orange bar that, like the kick pedal itself (in relation to the drum pads), is appropriately placed beneath the notes. "We solved this problem with a line that stretches all the way across the play surface because we needed a shape that your brain can't read in a left to right order with the other notes," adds Kay. "This makes it much easier to read the patterns, and is how the orange lines were born. It was a real breakthrough for us." Satisfied with Kay's explanations about the origins of the Rock Band drum experience and its physical/digital development, we unleash the one nagging question that remained in the back of our collective minds. When asked if the Rock Band microphone could be mounted onto the drum set for some single-player, multi-part action, Kay laughs and replies, "No, but we do support headset mics, which are ideal for singing while you drum. Phil Collins would be proud." http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?pager.of...amp;cId=3162016 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBender Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 DRUMS! I want it with the drums! No point without it. Talking about Rock Band, how many people here have GH2? I so badly want to import it, but it's a pretty big box from what I saw. Does anyone know who's selling GH2 in India and for how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizoidFreud Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 Thread already exists http://www.IndianVideoGamer.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=177 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anmolsc Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 when i click through all the game threads in one..the ps3 section opens up so i didnt know there was one for 360 was well.. EDIT: the thread only exists in the ps3 section not for the 360 section..so t would be dumb to post 360 news about the game in the ps3 section Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daedalus Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 and fer how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBender Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 How I wish I had GH2! Played the first game on the PS2 a long time ago and fell in love with it. If the game isn't available soon, I am having my friend pick up the PS2 controller from the UK for 20 pounds and then play with it on my PS2. Annoying that one of the most innovative games ever made doesn't make it to India. But then again, what else is new? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amay Posted August 17, 2007 Report Share Posted August 17, 2007 my neighbour bought it in London this summer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizoidFreud Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 if i was u then i just wouldnt leave ur neighbours house Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amay Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 I don't Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IMBender Posted August 18, 2007 Report Share Posted August 18, 2007 Had a chance to get it from London last month, but chose not to, simply because how all games are exorbitantly priced over there, especially when I would finally be paying for them in INR and not GBP. Hope to get it soon some day, if they grow a heart (unlikely) and drop a couple of bucks off. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted August 22, 2007 Report Share Posted August 22, 2007 Germany--Previously confirmed for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, Harmonix announced today the title will be coming to the venerable PlayStation 2 platform. The PS2 version of the game will feature "many" of the modes of the 360 and PS3 games, and will also incorporate some all-new gameplay elements. European versions of Rock Band will also be getting localised content for the different countries in the region, both downloadable and on-disc. http://www.gamespot.com/news/6177102.html?...estnews;title;0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hahaman Posted August 31, 2007 Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 yesterday i saw the ps2 version of guitar hero 2 at south ex planet m so u guys in delhi go buy it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hahaman Posted August 31, 2007 Report Share Posted August 31, 2007 check this out too Yahoo games Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KnackChap Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nash Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 I am so gonna be getting that game as well as GH III Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MarketTantrik Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 I am so gonna be getting that game as well as GH III Hail the Rock God !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SchizoidFreud Posted September 1, 2007 Report Share Posted September 1, 2007 i HOPE i get to play rock band, will start saving for it from now on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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