Rock Band 2

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I could not find a thread for this, so I figured I would start another one to keep the original Rock Band one from getting cluttered.

Rock Band 2 Preview on IGN

Highlights from the article include that Rock Band 1 DLC will be supported and that the instruments will be "improved".

With Guitar Hero: World Tour set to launch around the same time as Rock Band 2 this year, I think we will have quite the epic throw down between Harmonix and Activision in the "Battle of The Band Simulators".

You missed off that they're going for a more world-wide release... in september. Which is a bit hard to swallow.

What I get from this is: new baseline code for the same game, with the new disc getting you a bunch of new songs for less than they'd cost in DLC.

I'm totally fine with that. I assume I'll get new instruments if the old ones wear out (drums really).

I love the drums in RB, but I think I'm satisfied with the song list and the DLC. Hopefully I'm not too unprofitable to be relevant.

The fact they're supporting all their old DLC is a huge one too. Guitar hero doesn't, does it?

What they really need to do is improve band management. The game needs to better handle people swapping out instruments and easily changing their on-screen avatars to match. As it is now, the available band member avatars are organized by logged in account and then specifically matched to a particular instrument.

Quintin_Stone wrote:

What they really need to do is improve band management. The game needs to better handle people swapping out instruments and easily changing their on-screen avatars to match. As it is now, the available band member avatars are organized by logged in account and then specifically matched to a particular instrument.

The preview addresses that. Reverse DLC support is huge.

They've always said "RockBand is platform", which I took to mean DLC would work in all future versions. This will be an easy purchase.

buzzvang wrote:

The preview addresses that. Reverse DLC support is huge.

Excellent. I know from a conversation with one of their developers that they realized near the end of the dev cycle of the first Rock Band that this was an problem, but it was too ingrained at that point to do anything about it.

My hope is they'll let me pay a nominal fee (say $15 or so) to make all my Rock Band 1 disc songs DLC. I dislike the idea of swapping out discs if I want to play the older songs and I dislike the idea of re-buying them as DLC even less. A small fee for all of them, though, I could stomach.

Does anyone know of any mods that allow for regular electronic drums to be used as input devices to Rock Band? Or if this kind of functionality is planned for the future? I already have a set of Roland TD-3s that would be perfect, and it's hard to justify the expense of Rock Band drums when I already have those.

Hell yeah!

MyBrainHz wrote:

Does anyone know of any mods that allow for regular electronic drums to be used as input devices to Rock Band?

Everything I've seen has been more about using the RB drums as a MIDI controller, but I did find this. Also depending on your handiness and dedication you should be able to use a MIDI relay controller hooked to a bashed 360 controller.

Being able to use RB1 DLC is great but I am in love with those GH: WT drums so I'm probably going to get them. I only play drums on and the RB set isn't good at all. The next set released along with RB2 might be better but they haven't earned my trust like Red Octane.

Reverse DLC = devs are not stupid nor evil; yay.

I also assume that RB2 supports RB1 instruments? I am not paying $170 or whatnot every year; good thing this isn't an EA game.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

Reverse DLC = devs are not stupid nor evil; yay.

I also assume that RB2 supports RB1 instruments? I am not paying $170 or whatnot every year; good thing this isn't an EA game.

Um... is that sarcasm? This is an EA game, but it is strangely fair. They did say somewhere that the game will be backwards compatible, and I think they hinted that it will work with all sorts of peripherals, which I'm hoping will include Activision's/Red Octane's new stuff. I'm very excited about this release, I'm such a DLC whore for Rock Band that I go nuts if it didn't transfer - due to their proclamation that Rock Band is the platform.

Yay!

Atras wrote:

Um... is that sarcasm? This is an EA game, but it is strangely fair.

It's published by EA but the content itself is made by MTV Games and Harmonix. It's as much an EA game as the Xbox 360 version of Orange Box is an EA game, which is to say it isn't.

Besides, Activision has been the new EA for quite some time ago. Reverse DLC support is great, but future DLC support will probably also be great vs. another $60 to purchase Guitar Hero: World Tour - Nickelback edition six months later.

bnpederson wrote:

My hope is they'll let me pay a nominal fee (say $15 or so) to make all my Rock Band 1 disc songs DLC. I dislike the idea of swapping out discs if I want to play the older songs and I dislike the idea of re-buying them as DLC even less. A small fee for all of them, though, I could stomach.

Knowing how crazy and restrictive the RIAA is, Harmonix probably couldn't let you import them into Rock Band 2 for free even if they wanted to.

Duoae wrote:

You missed off that they're going for a more world-wide release... in september. Which is a bit hard to swallow.

From what I can tell, though, they're only releasing on one platform initially, so the added complexity of a more global (hopefully including my particular part of the globe) release is offset considerably by only having to manufacture one set of instruments, and not having to make as many instruments in total, both because having just one platform will limit sales, and also because a large number of customers won't be buying new instruments.

Sure, it sucks for PS3 owners, but as a 360 owner, you're looking at one happy camper.

bnpederson wrote:
Atras wrote:

Um... is that sarcasm? This is an EA game, but it is strangely fair.

It's published by EA but the content itself is made by MTV Games and Harmonix. It's as much an EA game as the Xbox 360 version of Orange Box is an EA game, which is to say it isn't.

I award this man a No Prize.

Fedaykin98 wrote:

I award this man a No Prize.

IMAGE(http://www.newsfromme.com/images2/noprize.jpg)

Face front, True Believer!

If this thread arouses me, does that mean it's unsafe for work?

wordsmythe wrote:

If this thread arouses me, does that mean it's unsafe for work?

Might depend on how tight your pants are.

Sounds like they're making a real attempt to address a lot of the common feedback from RB1. I'm personally kind of excited to see what they've done (if much of anything) they've done to the drum kit.

I'm already sold on the game itself, but what I'm really waiting on are more details about the new drumkit. I know it's going to hurt financially, but even if it's just quieter drum-heads, I'll most likely break down and get it

Hell, I might even be able to get my neighbor's to open their wallets and pitch in. The thought of never again hearing the clack-clack-clackity noise, might be enough of an incentive for them.

So Rock Band finally comes out for the Wii and Rock Band 2 is out three months later?

Don't worry, RB2 for Wii will be 9 months after that

LiquidMantis wrote:

Don't worry, RB2 for Wii will be 9 months after that ;)

It hurts because its true.

pneuman wrote:
Duoae wrote:

You missed off that they're going for a more world-wide release... in september. Which is a bit hard to swallow.

From what I can tell, though, they're only releasing on one platform initially, so the added complexity of a more global (hopefully including my particular part of the globe) release is offset considerably by only having to manufacture one set of instruments, and not having to make as many instruments in total, both because having just one platform will limit sales, and also because a large number of customers won't be buying new instruments.

Sure, it sucks for PS3 owners, but as a 360 owner, you're looking at one happy camper.

Oh dear... looks like they were lying.. oops, i mean generalising abouts their release dates.

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php...

So now it's only one platform in one market? Or is that one platform a guess?
Basically the game is now completely off my radar like Rock Band 1 was...

Duoae wrote:

http://www.eurogamer.net/article.php...

So now it's only one platform in one market? Or is that one platform a guess?
Basically the game is now completely off my radar like Rock Band 1 was...

You'd think with the super strong Euro they'd try to milk Europe more than the US...

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