#rockband3
The next version of Rock Band is going "Pro," adding a new keyboard controller, a 102-button, six-string guitar controller and a new cymbal add-on for the game's drum controller. How much will Pros have to pay to play? More »
Hands-on impressions here
Rock Band 3 Wireless Keyboard Controller
Designed for use exclusively with Rock Band 3, the Wireless Keyboard Controller has been crafted to resemble classic professional keyboards and is playable on a secure flat surface or while strapped over the player’s shoulder. Empowering gamers to take their enjoyment of rhythm music gaming to the [...]
#mtvgames
The next Rock Band may actually live up to its promise and teach you how to play music—or at the very least, learn how to play selected songs from the Rock Band 3 soundtrack. More »
Rock Band 3 is set to introduce a new instrument -- the keyboard -- to the performance simulation genre, and a new, more complex level of simulation in Pro Mode. At a pre-E3 event, we asked the project lead, Daniel Sussman of Harmonix, to provide us with comfort in these times of frightening music-game flux. Well, mostly we asked him to tell us things about the game. Read on to learn about the new Pro instruments and the new keyboard peripheral, and how those will interact with the Rock Band we know and love.
Joystiq: First off, what was the major focus for you guys when you were looking to make Rock Band 3? It seems really ambitious, and it seems like it's less about adding more songs -- that's sort of what Rock Band Network does -- and it seems more like expanding the platform out as far as you can take it.
Daniel Sussman, Rock Band 3 project lead: Kind of two main drives: one was to do a ground-up rebuild of the Rock Band platform, and rethink some of the ways that people get in and out of game sessions, and experience the music and the gameplay, and then the other big sort of movement was to innovate with gameplay and try to come up with some new experiences that build on the classic fundamentals of music games and also actual musicianship.
Want to see the keyboard peripheral designed for Rock Band 3? How about the new versions of the guitar and drums you'll be strumming and smashing, respectively? Dip into our gallery for glamor shots of the instruments, including both variations of the Pro guitar -- the ridiculously button-ful Fender Mustang controller, and the Squier Strat that is both a Rock Band controller and a for-real guitar.
Yes, there is a keytar peripheral (though in the game, it's just called "keys"). Yes, there is a Rock Band Pro mode, complete with its own 150-button guitar, that's more complicated than anything you've ever seen a plastic instrument do. Yes, a full band now consists of seven different instruments: two guitars, three vocalists (harmonies included, thanks to The Beatles), drums and a keyboard. But all of that stuff already reported by USA Today isn't what makes Rock Band 3 worthy of a plus one to the version number.
It's everything else. Harmonix has reimagined their premiere title. They've fixed problems with the game (including the biggest one you didn't even know you had), smoothed out the rough edges, and added a ton of little extra features and fun. From the menu screen on, Rock Band 3 is very clearly, as the developers said during a pre-E3 event a few weeks ago, "a clean slate design of Rock Band. Nothing was sacred," they told us. "We decided to build the ultimate music game."
Details have been pretty scant on Rock Band 3 so far, despite the best efforts of some. That all changes today as USA Today dishes on the game's 25-key piano peripheral, some of the new features and even a partial song list, which we've got after the jump (Smash Mouth, guys? Ballsy.) along with some on-video ivory tickling.
USA Today also fleshed out the "Pro" mode Ars Technica had the scoop on last month. As expected, the mode will endeavor to teach actual musical technique, either with the new keyboard, a three-cymbal upgrade for the drum kit or a hybrid controller/"full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster" made by Fender. Mad Catz is making a miniature Fender Mustang Pro controller for the mode too, but we're not going to miss the chance to play on instruments that don't make us look like sweaty giants.
#rockband
Rock Band 3 will, as expected, let you do something you've never been able to do in a Rock Band (or Guitar Hero) game before: play the keyboard. More »
- DS version in the works
- make your own characters
- improved character models
- view your band members hopping into their van to head to a show
- practice and perform
- band will be visible while you choose what songs you play
- everything you do earns achievements in the goal-based career mode
- hundreds of goals involving instruments, [...]
2000s
Combat Baby — Metric
Dead End Friends — Them Crooked Vultures
Get Free — The Vines
Lasso — Phoenix
Me Enamora — Juanes
Oh My God — Ida Maria
Portions of Foxes — Rilo Kiley
The Hardest Button to Button — The White Stripes
1990s
Been Caught Stealing — Jane’s Addiction
In the Meantime — Spacehog
Plush — Stone Temple Pilots
Walkin’ on the Sun — Smash [...]
Oh, Mega64, is there any code you can't crack? First it was the mysterious Kojima teaser last year and now, the comedy troupe ponders on that mysterious new keyboard-like icon in the Rock Band 3 logo. They even find some similarities between Rock Band 3 and F3AR -- er, sorry, FEAR 3.
It's some very high-brow deductive reasoning, as indicated in the classy image above. Head past the break to check out the video courtesy of IGN -- "solved 4 good," indeed.
Given that Harmonix already teased the inclusion of a new instrument in Rock Band 3 -- the keyboard -- we almost feel like we've been taken for a ride. That is, if today's report from Ars Technica's mole on the game is correct and the keyboard is actually a keytar. "What?!" you cry. Much like Frankie, we must say, "Relax!" because, well, we're totally on board with the concept. Just think about the possibilities!
The Ars report also alleges the addition of a "Pro" mode "that will require proper technique, and may lead to actual skills on guitar and bass." Perhaps that mode will have some tie to the peripherals, which will apparently all be put assembled by Mad Catz (something hinted at by an announcement earlier this year), with EA supposedly only handling the distribution of game discs.
Regardless, though Ars' mole has been on point in the past with rumors, without confirmation from MTV Games, Harmonix, EA, or Mad Catz (yes, we tried -- only MTV Games responded, saying "We do not comment on rumors or speculation."), this report is still, unfortunately, unconfirmed.
Dookieheads (that's what Green Day fans are colloquially referred to, right?) who downloaded the two-track Green Day: Rock Band demo from Xbox Live Marketplace today (gold subscribers only) found a little bonus waiting for them when they exited the demo: The teaser image posted above. Alongside the series' four iconic instrument logos is a whole new symbol, which seems to indicate that keyboards (or perhaps ... keytars?) will be added to Rock Band 3.
You can check out the demo, which includes the songs "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Welcome to Paradise," to see the teaser firsthand, and to start imagining all the wonderful implications a Rock Band keyboard might have.
[Thanks, Neil]
Xbox.com: Add Green Day: Rock Band demo to your Xbox 360 download queue
#rockband
There's a demo for Rock Band: Green Day currently up on Xbox Live. Of actual interest is this image greeting users when they quit the demo, teasing Rock Band 3 with a little ebony and ivory. More »
#musicgames
Music game maestros Harmonix have already promised to "innovate and revolutionize the music genre" with Rock Band 3, but even in the face of that hyperbole, the designers believe "you'll be surprised at just how big this game really is." More »
"Mad Catz" isn't just the best name ever for a fictional group in Rock Band, it's also the new "principal peripherals partner" for the Rock Band franchise, including the upcoming Rock Band 3. The manufacturer now has worldwide rights to produce and distribute Rock Band peripherals. The company previously produced third-party peripherals for Rock Band and Rock Band 2.
"We are excited to be expanding our relationship with Mad Catz to continue to bring their video game peripheral design and manufacturing expertise to the Rock Band platform," Alex Rigopulos, CEO of Harmonix, said in the announcement. "We look forward to partnering with Mad Catz to continue to innovate and lead the music game genre through the Rock Band franchise."
He has reason to be excited -- Viacom, owner of MTV Games and Harmonix, has already expressed its interest in getting away from the business of peripheral production, and now it's found a partner that has experience, and, recently, some clout in the creation of game controllers.
At Harmonix's PAX East 2010 panel, five Rock Band designers answered questions from the audience for "An Awkward Hour" with one major stipulation: No questions about Rock Band 3. However, when an audience member inquired whether Green Day: Rock Band songs would still have harmonies when imported into RB2, Harmonix Project Lead Chris Foster began listing off the games with harmony support. "We've said Rock Band 3 would have harmonies already, right?" Foster asked his fellow panelists, who responded with a booming, "No!"
Foster clammed up without revealing more details about Rock Band 3's harmonies (or even answering the attendee's original question), only mentioning, "It's been nice working at Harmonix." (We think he was joking about that last part.)
[Jimi's last Guitar Hero appearance]
True, he once exclusively rocked the World Tour, but there just ain't no telling with that Jimi Hendrix. Today, following the reveal of the Jimi Hendrix Experience DLC album Axis: Bold as Love for the Rock Band platform, MTV Games and Harmonix announced, "Jimi Hendrix's music is now exclusive to Rock Band with more songs coming to its industry-leading platform in the future." (An MTV Games spokesperson reiterated to Joystiq that "moving forward" Hendrix music-game releases will be exclusive to Rock Band, but declined to offer specifics on the deal with Experience Hendrix LLC.)
Previously, several Hendrix tracks, including a DLC pack, and a digitized version of the, uh, "No. 1 guitarist of all time" were featured in Guitar Hero: World Tour, which, due to licensing restrictions, can't be imported into other Guitar Hero games. Even a Hendrix-themed Guitar Hero game was once allegedly in the works, having apparently slipped into the sea.
#gameannounce
Viacom President and CEO Philippe Dauman officially outed Rock Band 3, due for release this holiday season, when it will "will innovate and revolutionize the music genre" all over again. More »
