Be prepared to flip out!!!

[tomersg]

I must tell you. i played the ROCK BAND game last friday,for the first time in my life. it took me some time to catch the point. the connection to the music is pretty strange, for us as musicians anyway, but it was so much F U N! and the drums are more fun! i started to get it and score some points (at the easy level of course.. )
i have to have this game! and i love Hofner almost like i love rick..

[pacealot]

I've never tried playing Rock Band myself, but my band's drummer and lead guitarist each tried "playing" the song that we contributed to the regular version of the game, separately, and both of them washed out of their own parts in less than 30 seconds!

In both cases there was a younger kid there playing the game with them trying (and ultimately failing!) to bail them out and keep them in the game by doing some fancy whammy thing or drum fill or something that gets you extra points. Not sure what that says about the relationship between the game and actually playing the real instruments....

[sloop_john_b]

The whammy bar is part of the game play; wouldn't be fair to keep it off one instrument and have it on others.

My guess as to why there's a whammy bar is that it's more of a programmer's cheat rather than fairness, etc. It's a lot easier to write the program if everything works the same. Lots more code and debugging if different instruments work differently...

For sure.

[beatlefan]

.....both my kids have Rockband and I know for certain they are getting me the Beatles version....I mean, me being on the mailing list for it .... and forwarding emails constantly.....I mean, they are bright kids, you know?..... ;^)

Oh, and back on topic......I still think they "v68" bass is the flip out factor......should be relatively easy to do with everything pretty much already there.......but then again, there is the ever-looming "pallet" to consider....... ;^)

[jakeox]

I've never tried playing Rock Band myself, but my band's drummer and lead guitarist each tried "playing" the song that we contributed to the regular version of the game, separately, and both of them washed out of their own parts in less than 30 seconds!

In both cases there was a younger kid there playing the game with them trying (and ultimately failing!) to bail them out and keep them in the game by doing some fancy whammy thing or drum fill or something that gets you extra points. Not sure what that says about the relationship between the game and actually playing the real instruments....

The guys I gig with sometimes who have a couple songs in the games host Rock Band sessions at Best Buy or whatever every few months and are used to getting beat on their own songs by twelve-year-olds. And one of them works for the company that makes the games!

It's just a different skill set. When musicians complain about Rock Band not being like playing real instruments (I'm not saying you're doing this here), I just point out that nobody plays Madden NFL and expects it to translate to actual football skills.

[pacealot]

nobody plays Madden NFL and expects it to translate to actual football skills.

That's probably the aptest analogy I've heard yet.

The trouble would come if people really DO start thinking that rocking out on Rock Band or Guitar Hero or whathaveyou is "the same as" or "as good as" actually playing the instruments. In our culture, though, somehow that wouldn't surprise me!

In my case, I don't think I could even play my part in our song close enough on the real bass to keep in the game! I've changed my part so much from playing it live, I can't even remember where I started with it. Oh, yeah, wait, I DO remember - it started with me ripping off Dave Meros from Spock's Beard! (Dave, if you happen to read this, thanks for the lick - it was "Crack The Big Sky" I think - and I'll get a royalty check in the mail to you tout de suite. )

And, sadly, it's not my Rick, but my Hamer 12-string. (But our bonus downloadable songs are my V63!)

MAJOR thread drift! I really can't help myself. I admit I have a problem....

[cjj]

nobody plays Madden NFL and expects it to translate to actual football skills.

That's probably the aptest analogy I've heard yet.

The trouble would come if people really DO start thinking that rocking out on Rock Band or Guitar Hero or what have you is "the same as" or "as good as" actually playing the instruments.

Some of the stuff I've heard recently makes me think they already do...

[Bighouse]

hang on here a minute- isn't Rockband and really playing an instrument really the same thing?!? I mean really- you just take something that looks cool and move around with it and slide your hands around on it and sound comes out of a speaker somewhere that has rhythm, melody and meaning. That's the exact same thing that happens on a stage with a band, right? Just a bunch of people moving around on a stage with things they slide their hands around on (or beat with a stick) and sound comes out of a bunch of speakers with rhythm, melody and meaning.

[berth]

Not sure what that says about the relationship between the game and actually playing the real instruments....

I did a couple of songs with guitar hero and the only instrument that resembles its original somehow are the drums. The guitar is more like a big joystick than like a guitar.

[JakeK]

I always took the idea that kids who play Rock Band don't have any musical abilities or don't want to gain them. Either way, if you're not a musician, it's a fun game, but if you are, then it's not.

[cassius987]

Surely RIC is making some money from the Beatles release. I hope so... I hate these games but if RIC is making money, they will (hopefully) put it toward investments in capital for the production process.

[kiramdear]

Surely RIC is making some money from the Beatles release. I hope so... I hate these games but if RIC is making money, they will (hopefully) put it toward investments in capital for the production process.

I think that's a safe bet to say that RIC will be fairly compensated for the use of their designs in the Beatles' RB game. And I don't see how that could distract them from exciting new work. Like you say, Joshua, it might even help them move things along faster.

[Tarrbot]

I'm wondering if I can get one of those 3D figurines with the Hofner bass (or even a Ric) with Rockband...

... if you didn't know, RB2 has the option of exporting your personal styled character (bandmate) and making a 3D figurine out of it.

I made these about 3 months ago but haven't played in that time so I don't have any "new" ones I was going to get done.

Still haven't even had these ordered yet.

Yeah, laugh. I have a female bass player as my character. She's hardcore!!!

[cassius987]

Scandalous! Now we must send you to straight camp or some other fascist organization.

[jakeox]

I always took the idea that kids who play Rock Band don't have any musical abilities or don't want to gain them. Either way, if you're not a musician, it's a fun game, but if you are, then it's not.

I disagree. I am a musician, and a huge fan of these games. I'm only passable on the "hard" difficulty level (well, except drums, then I'm a solid "medium"), but depending on what I'm in the mood for it can be a lot more or a lot less fun than playing one of my basses for a while.