Bandfuse Catch-all (An upcoming "real guitar" music game/trainer)

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I thought it would be better to break this out of the Rocksmith thread so that discussion doesn't pollute that thread. News is just now coming out that there's going to be a new player in the market, with ties to Slash and Fender lending legitimacy.

http://www.joystiq.com/2012/02/22/ba...
http://www.destructoid.com/preview-b...

Good call, LM. Looking forward to seeing how this one pans out. If they can get into a Guitar Hero vs. Rockband-style rivalry with Rocksmith, I think that'll work out well for all of us.

Another one? I'm not sure the market can handle another two franchises in the same small genre once more....

May I remind you that "Power Gig: Rise of the Six String" also had Eric Clapton's backing, so I'm not impressed yet...

http://www.plasticaxe.com/2010/03/12...

The tab concept is nice but my main concern with this format is that when the notes come flying fast that it will be tough to read which fret to hit at any given moment. The "highway" design of rocksmith at least gives a visual cue of the distance between frets that helps a bit. If they hold to the promise of allowing players to speed up, slow down, etc at will that issue will be minimized.

As far as getting 'yet another niche game' goes, I don't know if it's a big issue. I suspect most people who are into this type of thing as a learning tool would not mind having multiple titles to work with (assuming they are a quality product). It's not like Modern Warfare versus Call of Duty vs Battlefield, or even Guitar Hero vs Rock Band, where excellence at the game is the final reward, and time spent with one game is time lost on another. In other words, if you think of it not as playing 'Rocksmith' or 'Band Fuse', but just 'playing guitar', there's not a lot of problem.

The main concern I would have is the dilution of song licensing, but considering the glacial pace that Ubisoft has been securing new DLC I think some competition might help.

Rocksmith is quite possibly the best $79.99 I have ever spent on my guitar hobby. I've played more guitar in the last 4 months than at any other time since I took up the instrument. More options for this sort of game/trainer can only be a good thing in my eyes.

Exactly. I hope this is the dawn of a new era of guitar learning tools.

For those that just skimmed the articles, bear in mind that they're saying the UI is mostly placeholder currently. It sounds like they've been focusing on the tech and are just now moving on to the actual interface and gameplay.

New video and info from Gamespot:
http://www.gamespot.com/bandfuse-roc...

I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

5fdp! ftw!

You can see the Fender partnership in that video. I saw both a black and a blue Blacktop Strats.

Any E3 updates? Also is this coming out on PC?

[Edit] And a Destructoid article.

Eww, they're teaching dropped d?

Considering it's a rock guitar game that's going to be a requirement.

New trailer:

Well, piss. No PC means no buy for me. Like the interface though, looks like it could be nice.

I too like the interface. So far though I've been quite underwhelmed by the list of licensed songs.

PS: OF COURSE the trailer shows the girl as the singer, and then as a complete beginner on the guitar. :p

imbiginjapan wrote:

I too like the interface. So far though I've been quite underwhelmed by the list of licensed songs.

PS: OF COURSE the trailer shows the girl as the singer, and then as a complete beginner on the guitar. :p

They have other videos of girls shredding too!

I'll probably try it, but it's going to be hard to win me over Rocksmith, plus who knows if they'll need their own cable or what.

Hopefully it's a fun game like Rocksmith, because if it's like just a bunch of video tutorials with scrolling tablature, ehhhhh, there's already Guitar Pro out there...

Mex wrote:

I'll probably try it, but it's going to be hard to win me over Rocksmith, plus who knows if they'll need their own cable or what.

Hopefully it's a fun game like Rocksmith, because if it's like just a bunch of video tutorials with scrolling tablature, ehhhhh, there's already Guitar Pro out there...

It has more of the music i like and listen to repeatedly. I do like most of the Rocksmith line up but only a few tracks show up on my current playlists.

News! Man, it's looking good.

No PC == No Sale for me.

Seems like I've seen a lot of those songs too.

UI looks nice though.

LiquidMantis wrote:

News! Man, it's looking good.

Agreed, it looks fantastic. I love that they took the time to make what seems to be a functional, snappy UI, unlike the steaming turd of a UI that Rocksmith unfortunately has. I really wanted to love Rocksmith, but the UI just blew it for me. I'm stoked that this is coming out relatively soon, and I'll be first in line to buy it. I'd definitely like a PC version, but can live with the 360 if the UI is as snappy as it seems. In a perfect world, they'll do a drum version too.

I guess the press machine is starting to gain momentum, but they're just putting stuff up on their Facebook page (I really hate this practice of software companies using Facebook to disseminate information. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE WEB SITES WITH A NEWS PAGE!)

Metacafe video (semi-douchy interviewer)

Shacknews preview

LiquidMantis wrote:

I guess the press machine is starting to gain momentum, but they're just putting stuff up on their Facebook page (I really hate this practice of software companies using Facebook to disseminate information. THIS IS WHY YOU HAVE WEB SITES WITH A NEWS PAGE!)

Metacafe video (semi-douchy interviewer)

Shacknews preview

semi douchy? damn... full blown!

Still pretty damn cool they're having the video for the song as well.

I was trying to be polite.

Yeah, the videos will make it a little more entertaining for spectators. Although I'm really looking forward to Bandfuse as it'll give my wife more motivation through "gamification" to sing. With Rocksmith it's just a karaoke mode.

I want this but I am still pretty skeptical about the licensing power these guys have to expand the song lists in the future. I'm not terribly enthusiastic about the set list as it stands as the heavier stuff (Pantera, Five Finger Death Punch) might as well not be on there at all given my musical tastes.

I still get the impression this a "venture capital" move that may or may not pay off via sale of IP rather than something that has long-term funding. Unless they can pull in EA or something like that, I feel they'll need big sales out of the gate to stay alive.

Here's what I'm seeing as the current song list. There is supposed to be some substantial Day 1 DLC if I recall correctly.

“Alive” (Pearl Jam)
“Godzilla” (Blue Oyster Cult)
“Cult of Personality” (Living Colour)
“No Rain” (Blind Melon)
“Reptilia” (The Strokes)
“Yellow” (Coldplay)
“Sweet Home Alabama” (Lynyrd Skynyrd)
“Back From Cali” (Slash)
“Breaking the Law” (Judas Priest)
“Harder to Breathe” (Maroon 5)
“The Bleeding” (Five Finger Death Punch)
“You Oughta Know” (Alanis Morissette)
“Jessica” (The Allman Brothers Band)
“Sugar, We’re Goin Down” (Fall Out Boy)
“Hemorrhage” (Fuel)
“Barracuda” (Heart)
“Drive” (Incubus)
“I’m Broken” (Pantera)
“Jessie’s Girl” (Rick Springfield)
“Limelight” (Rush)
“Should I Stay or Should I Go” (The Clash)
“Stellar Revival” (The Crazy Ones)
“Roundabout” (Yes)
“Carry On Wayward Son” (Kansas)
“Rebel Yell” (Billy Idol)
“What I Got” (Sublime)
“Infected” (Bad Religion)
“Rock This Town” (The Stray Cats)
“All The Small Things” (blink-182)
“Been Caught Stealing” (Jane’s Addiction)
“Rock Bandit” (Bootsy Collins)
TBA (Dream Theater)
TBA (Modern English)
TBA (Social Distortion)
TBA (All-American Rejects)
TBA (Tom Petty)

I'm actually glad there is some overlap compared to Rocksmith, as I'm curious to compare the effectiveness of the two presentation styles. But overall I'm not exactly jumping up and down with excitement.

Those are all great songs, but there's too much overlap with Rocksmith for me to consider a switch... At this point if they want to compete they probably have to get some real heavy hitters, like Guns n Roses or Led Zeppelin...

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