June 17, 2010

Rock Band 3 Now Available to Pre-Order

I apologize for the lack of updates, I’ve been busy, yadda yadda … anyway, the big news is, Rock Band 3 was announced and it’s ohmygodamazingincredible!

I know, you’ve heard it all before. But just watch this video. And have some new underpants handy. Because you’re gonna need ‘em.

You can see the “other” pro guitar, the one with a zillion buttons, in action in this full band E3 stage demo. (They play Bohemian Rhapsody in the latter half, so don’t tune out in the middle.)

Yep, that’s seven people in one band. In fact, there’s so much awesome in Rock Band 3 I have a hard time figuring out where to begin:

  • An all-new keyboard instrument, with 5-key basic and 26-key “Pro Mode”
  • Guitar / Bass “Pro Mode” where you play the actual guitar hand positions in the real song
  • Drums “Pro Mode” where you play pads and cymbals
  • Three part vocal harmonies (ala Beatles Rock Band)
  • Massively improved song sorting / selection / filtering to support enormous song libraries
  • Drop in or out of play on any instrument at any time

It also works with all your existing Rock Band and Guitar Hero hardware, of course; the pro mode stuff and new keyboard instrument is all strictly optional.

I’m as giddy as a Japanese schoolgirl at a Hello Kitty convention. Rock Band 3 isn’t just another cookie cutter sequel — it redefines the entire genre of fake plastic rock. Literally!

Only 26 of the ~80 on-disc songs have been announced, but even as a partial list, it’s epic:

Dio – Rainbow in the Dark
Huey Lewis and the News – The Power of Love
Ida Maria – Oh My God
Jane’s Addiction – Been Caught Stealing
Jimi Hendrix – Crosstown Traffic
Joan Jett – I Love Rock and Roll
Juanes – Me Enamora
Metric – Combat Baby
Night Ranger – Sister Christian
Ozzy Osbourne – Crazy Train
Phoenix – Lasso 		Queen – Bohemian Rhapsody
Rilo Kiley – Portions of Foxes
Smash Mouth – Walkin’ on the Sun
Spacehog – In the Meantime
Stone Temple Pilots – Plush
The Cure – Just Like Heaven
The Doors – Break On Through
The Vines – Get Free
The White Stripes – The Hardest Button to Button
Them Crooked Vultures – Dead End Friends
Whitesnake – Here I Go Again

You can (and I just did!) already preorder Rock Band 3 with the new instruments:

The “Mustang” Pro Guitar (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)

Wireless Keyboard and Rock Band 3 bundle (Xbox 360, PS3, Wii)

(I haven’t been able to figure out availability of the doubles-as-a-real-guitar Squier Stratocaster guitar yet, but I will surely update the blog when I do.)

Ladies and Gentlemen: the fakereal plastic rock revolution begins October 31st, 2010.

There’s also a great video from RockBandAide of the full E3 demo, which contains high res video of (most of) the user interface changes in the game

http://rockbandaide.com/5807/full-video-of-mtv-games-rock-band-3-e3-demo/

Jeff Atwood
June 17, 2010 at 7:04 pm

I’m disappointed that \pro\ drums still don’t involve the left foot.

I’ve taken drum lessons, but I was a Rock Band drummer first, and left-foot independence was the trickiest part of transitioning from fake plastic drums to the real thing. It was also very rewarding when it finally \clicked\.

Now in RB2, I raise my left foot for open hi-hat notes, even though there’s no pedal under it. I guess I get to keep pretending in RB3.

JS
June 18, 2010 at 1:14 pm

JS —

“If you’re using an actual e-drum kit you can probably tell your drum brain to send the blue signal on open-hat already. All the MIDI adapter is going to do is turn the MIDI signals that you program your kit to use into game controller inputs. If your kit can’t output a different MIDI signal for open and closed hat already, there’s no way the MIDI adapter can fix that.”

So, get the midi adapter!

http://store.gameshark.com/viewItem.asp?idProduct=4832&idCategory=323

(they have PS3 and Wii MIDI adapters as well)

Jeff Atwood
June 20, 2010 at 7:41 pm

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