News > A TON of Rock Band Details
June 15, 2007
A $#!%load of them.
Apparently, the latest Game Informer has a flood of information about the upcoming musical extravaganza from Harmonix. Details are as follows (you might want to go to the bathroom and grab a snack before you begin):
The game will come on one disk with four separate campaigns. Guitar, Drum, Bass and Vocals can each can be played, solo, from start to finish. In addition, a full band game is designed to allow for one huge co-op playthrough.
Four player online play on both 360 and PS3. Any combination of online and offline players will work. Each player can pick his or her own difficulty setting.
Flexible community system will allow you to find bandmates anywhere in the world.
There will be a way for you to share your band's triumphs with the world, but the details are still under wraps.
Musical fret-boards are now transparent so you can see more of the background visuals. Guitar is on the left side of the screen, Bass on the right and drums down the middle. Vocals scroll from right to left along the top of the screen.
Guitar and Bass now have 10 frets - five for the regular sections of the game and five for the newly designated solo sections.
The whammy bar is back, as is the tilt to activate rock band's version of star power.
There is a five-way switch on the guitar that allows for five different self-applied effects.
Singing is now more in-depth. There is a phoneme detector that will pick up individual vowels and consonants. Build up enough highly judged phrases and you'll be able to sing free-form. If you do well enough in free-form, then you'll trigger the vocalist's version of star power.
The microphone doubles as a tambourine on many songs to combat long guitar solos where the singer doesn't have much to do.
Drums are played by hitting four colored pads with a pair of drumsticks, and there is a kick pedal attached to the drumming unit. Drummers will also have the ability to do fills, etc. in their own free-form section. Performing well triggers the drummer's version of star power.
If one person fails, the whole band does not fail. That particular section is simply grayed out, leaving that player to sit out the rest of the song. If a band-mate initiates star power, the person who failed is brought back into the fold.
If all band-mates can reach the end of a song, the group is greeted with one huge free-form jam session.
There will be a character creation system, and players can create multiple avatars that play different instruments.
There will be four themed clothing stores, plus licensed guitars, pedals, and other rock paraphernalia.
A full set of mo-cap stage movements have been added for each instrument. Players can decide whether their vocalists move like Axel Rose or stand their ground like Clapton.
40 performance venues planned
All peripherals will be unique to each platform. This isn't the developer's decision. Apparently MS peripherals require special circuit boards.
Custom band logos.
Four songs are announced in the article:
Weezer - Say It Ain't So - Original Master Track
Black Sabbath - Paranoid - Original Master Track
The Who - Won't Get Fooled Again - Original Master Track
Nirvana - In Bloom - Original Master Track
INSTRUMENT DESCRIPTIONS
Guitar/Bass
Guitars are an exact 3/4 replica of a Fender Strat.
Xplorer guitars will work for 360 owners, but you may not be able to pass on all the new stuff this model has.
Five familiar buttons near the top of the neck, five buttons near the body of the guitar. You will use these new buttons during specially designed solo sections using ONLY hammer-ons and pull-offs - no to worrying about the strum bar. Signature Fender 5-way switch has been added. By shopping at the in-game store players will be able to purchase several virtual effects pedals such as Flange, Wah, Chorus and Echo. These can be applied during your song by setting the 5-way switch to the desired effect.
Microphone
There will eventually be a Rock Band branded Mic
Other USB mics will be supported, but Harmonix will probably NOT allow the use of the 360 headset due to its low fidelity. Mics will be usable as tambourines during certain songs.
DrumsConsist of four pads, a kick pedal, and legs for the enire unit to stand on. Think of it as a TV dinner tray stand.
Leftmost pad (red) is a snare drum. Everything else doubles as toms and cymbals depending on the song.
A set of real wooden drum sticks will ship with the unit.
A piece of the stand can be taken off so that the unit can sit lower, or on a coffee table.
There is a kick pedal
If you play drums in this game on hard or expert, then you're really playing the drums. Apparently you could sit down at a real set and play the same songs.
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Anyone else tired?
*Eddie R Inzauto - Senior Editor, GameWad.com
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