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Rock Band is the highly anticipated game in which players play along with rock music with the included microphone, guitar, and drum accessories. The game borrows many of the elements from the popular Guitar Hero franchise. Rock Band is developed by Harmonix, published by MTV Games, and will be distributed by Electronic Arts. Harmonix has released the titles of 35 songs included with the games. Additionally, other songs can be purchased and downloaded.

Pros & Cons

Pros:
18 people have already voted. Do you agree?

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Play as a full rock band with friends (vocals, guitar, bass, drums)
+11agreedisagree

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Compatible with Guitar Hero controllers
+9agreedisagree

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Amazing drums peripheral
+6agreedisagree

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If you can play drums in Rock Band then you can play drums in real life (and vis versa)
+5agreedisagree

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Improved guitar peripheral over Guitar Hero
+4agreedisagree

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Amazing song selection (better than Guitar Hero)
+4agreedisagree

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Fantastic band shots in the background that reminiscent of the real band
+3agreedisagree

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Many downloadable songs available at a reasonable price
+3agreedisagree

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Phoneme detection for vocals
+1agreedisagree

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Creating your own rock star is awesome
+1agreedisagree

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Good practice mode allows for on-the-fly tempo changes and loops automatically
+1agreedisagree

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Inexpensive considering the included mic, guitar, and drums
-3agreedisagree

Cons:
Do you agree?

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In world tour mode have to replay the same songs multiple times
+6agreedisagree

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No "free-form" drumming mode to practice drums without a song
+6agreedisagree

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Expensive
+5agreedisagree

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Playing notes isn't as satisfying as Guitar Hero
+4agreedisagree

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Bass foot pedal doesn't fasten securely and is too loose
+4agreedisagree

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No online career mode
+3agreedisagree

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Bass pedal will break because of poor construction and design
+3agreedisagree

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Vocals are difficult to hear over song
+2agreedisagree

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Vocals are TOO difficult
+2agreedisagree

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Not enough variety in the type of song
+2agreedisagree

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Single player isn't as good as Guitar Hero
+1agreedisagree

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Bass is stupid and boring and no option to have two guitarists
+1agreedisagree

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Rock Band's guitar is outperformed by Guitar Hero III's guitar
0agreedisagree

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More information

Guitar

The game includes a Rock Band branded Fender Stratocaster guitar (wired for Xbox 360, wireless for PS3/PS2 versions) that offers some improvements over the guitar included with Guitar Hero. There are 5 fret buttons located further up the neck of the guitar dedicated for solo sections using hammer-ons and pull-offs (no strumming required). Also, there is an effects switch on both the wired and wireless version.

Harmonix has confirmed that the Guitar Hero and third-party guitar controllers are compatible with Rock Band.

Drums

The included drum accessory has 4 foam pads used as a snare, hi-hat, tom-toms, and crash/ride cymbal that you hit in a very similar fashion as the real drums. There is also a foot pedal for simulating the bass/kick drum. It is similar to the drums in the DrumMania arcade game. The drums feature detachable legs so you can set it up on a table top.

The drums match playing the drums so closely, that Harmonix claims that if you can play the drum parts on the Hard difficulty in the game, you can play the drums in real life.

Microphone

Rock Band includes a microphone similar to the one found in Harmonix's Karaoke Revolution. Rock Band adds a phoneme detector to sense for vowels and consonants, instead of merely matching pitch and timing like in Karaoke Revolution. The microphone doubles as a cowbell and tambourine when there are no vocals.

It will be released Friday, November 23rd, 2007 for both the Xbox 360 and PS3. It will be released for the PS2 on December 10th. The game will include a microphone, guitar, and drums and will retail for $169, less than the anticipated $199.

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14 comments about Rock Band

1.  avatar dialupinternetuser  Sep 29, 2007 1:11pm

Will the drumming be any good? They could easily ruin the experience...
2.  avatar Erik  Sep 30, 2007 2:23pm

I think it will be amazing (I play drums, too) based on this video.
3.  avatar silence omo7  Oct 01, 2007 6:34pm

I would love to buy this game if I could afford it. I really want to play the drums. I hope it comes to Wii, otherwise Ill probably get the PS2 version.
4.  avatar Erik  Oct 01, 2007 6:55pm

As a drummer, I think that this game will be one of the best/most fun ways to learn or improve on the drums. I can't wait. I'm glad you can use your existing Guitar Hero controller, too.
5.  avatar Omar  Nov 19, 2007 2:58pm

I had the chance to play the demo at a best buy the other day, and I have to say I came away a little unimpressed. I played a few songs on the drums, and sang another song. The drums were a little unsatisfying, but I acknowledge that the demo doesn't let you use the foot pedal, which I imagine are a big part of playing. Plus I played a pretty easy song, so it probably gets way more intense with the more difficult ones. Still - it wasn't instantly amazing like I thought it was going to be, and how I read it, so now I remain cautiously optimistic.

The vocals were fun, very similar to karaoke revolution. The big problem here was that I couldn't hear myself singing through the TV. The song's vocals don't get muted so you hear just the main singer. This might be a good thing in some cases, but I actually like hearing myself sing :)

Still, playing with just one other friend it was obvious that in multiplayer this game is going to be something special. Having a group of friends that play this regularly where you can take on the extensive career mode will be amazing. But the VERY high barrier to entry, both from a monetary and social perspective will probably limit sales. Still, I have a feeling that RB2 won't be coming out anytime soon, and instead they'll just release songs over the Internet like they said they would.

Unfortuantely I didn't get a chance to try out the RB guitar since it was broken.
6.  avatar dialupinternetuser  Nov 22, 2007 1:36pm

From the picture of the drums, it doesn't seem very similar to real life. And for Rock Band's price, you might as well go out and buy a cheap guitar and actually learn how to play.
7.  avatar winkdot  Nov 23, 2007 1:28am

Got this yesterday. It is a blast when play with three folks. We played for six hours without knowing it. That says something. We switched around just to try the different items. I spent the most time on the drums. They can get hard at times. The price is a bit high but It could be the best party game ever.
8.  avatar Omar  Dec 28, 2007 12:33pm

Finally got to play this in a more realistic setting at a friend's place with a full "band". And man was it an awesome time. Wow. It really is the ultimate party game. Being able to switch instruments keeps the fun fresh and interesting, where always playing the guitar in GH can get stale after a while.

My favorite activity was actually the singing. Being able to really rock out is just too much fun. Drums are next in line for me, with Guitar being third and Bass being a very distant dead last. It actually makes me angry how crappy the bass is. It's the same with Guitar Hero. Bass just isn't fun, even on Expert modes it's just not engaging at all. I still have no idea WHY they don't let you have both players play the Guitar parts. It makes no sense whatsoever.

In general though, the Guitar really isn't as difficult/engrossing as in Guitar Hero, so for someone like me that is on an Expert level at GH, nothing in Rock Band is really challenging. Whereas with the singing and drums I can barely do well on easy/medium!

And creating your own band member makes playing that much better.
9.  avatar locozozi  Jan 02, 2008 12:54pm

Regarding the "...Rock Band includes a microphone similar to the one found in Harmonix's Karaoke Revolution...", is it a specialized version, or either the "SingStar" or the "Karaoke revolution" (thery're not cross compatible) fits "Rock Band"?
OR
Will the "Rock Band" microphone fit either "SingStar" or "Karaoke revolution"?

on the PS2...

Did anybody try this?
10x
10.  avatar Erik  Jan 28, 2008 10:07am

I finally got Rock Band this weekend. I played it for 8 hours straight yesterday.

You can tell they've taken their cues from the Guitar Heroes series (which isn't a bad thing). The drumming is everything I hoped it would be, and I seriously recommend this game to people who want to learn to play drums. It's an excellent teaching aid.

The game is pretty much as I expected it, with a few notable positive points I didn't realize:
- amazing songs (way better selection that GH, especially if you're not a guitar enthusiast)
- fantastic music-video-like band shots in the background that are true to the artist. I especially like the 70s psychedelics for Black Sabbath Paranoid.
- the practice mode is better than GH because it allows you to speed up/slow down on the fly, and the section automatically repeats until you stop it. You will need the practice mode as the songs get progressively tougher, at least on the drums

11.  avatar silence omo7  Mar 02, 2008 7:34pm

I just bought Rock Band. It is amazing. The drums are by far the best instrument. They actually are pretty good practice for playing drums for real, even if it dosen't look or act much like a real set. It really comes into its own as a party game. Setting up four people in a room and rocking out is very satisfying.

And everything Erik said.
12.  avatar Erik  Mar 05, 2008 5:07pm

My drum pedal broke in two places. I'm getting it replaced by EA, but it to me, they didn't reinforce the pedal with thick enough plastic or put enough reinforcement ribs. My next pedal will be modded to make sure this doesn't happen again.

http://www.productwiki.com/home/image/broken-rock-band-drum-pedal.html
13.  avatar Erik  Mar 18, 2008 10:59pm

So I got my new replacement pedal from FedEx. In spite of obviously thicker plastic ribs and reinforcements, it start to crack in the same place again. There is a design flaw with the pedal. I have a workaround involving a 6" piece of baseboard and electrical tape. I have to wear crocs to play. Oh well..

After-market metal Rock Band pedals anyone?
14.  avatar dialupinternetuser  Jun 15, 2008 11:38am

I play drums and tenors in marching band (which have the same setup as the four drums in Rock band). I played Rock Band at Best Buy on the drums. First I did "Wave of Mutilation" on easy and it was really freakin' easy. So I did it on expert and hit 83% the first time. So it's relatively realistic.
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    Key Features:

    Developer Harmonix
    Genre Music
    Manufacturer Electronic Arts, MTV Games
    Platform PS2, Xbox 360, PS3
    Price $169.00
    Release Date Nov. 23, 2007

    Sponsors

    Product page stats

    6130 views and 183 edits (see all)
    Created: 09/28/2007 - 18:17
    Modified: 07/15/2008 - 12:44