Fake Plastic Rock

Rock of the Dead

Jeff Atwood — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:18:15 +0000

Sure, you can kill zombies with your keyboard, but did you know you can kill zombies with your Guitar Hero or Rock Band guitar, too? Behold Rock of the Dead!!

There are mindless beasts that take basic three- or four-strum combos to take out, but then there are ones that’ll lob projectiles at you – these knives/bombs only take a couple of fret flicks to get rid of, but unless you take down the guy that’s throwing them out at you, you’ll just be endlessly downing those objects. When the screen fills with a half-dozen beasts at once, you have the ability to discriminate and target specific ones by “typing” out the combo of the one you want – the game’s smart enough to know which beast you’re “aiming” at because it locks in on the enemy as you’re pushing out its fret button code.

Periodically you’ll have to take down larger enemies in rhythm fashion: this is basic Guitar Hero/Rock Band gameplay as the notes must be played to the beat of the background music to take down the threat.

The game has extra geek cred because it features voicework by Neil Patrick Harris and Felicia Day, too. If you don’t know who those people are, I forgive you.

Unfortunately this game is Wii-only, which means I won’t be able to play it — but it sounds awesome, and I totally support destroying zombies with the power of fake plastic rock!

Rock Band Jazz Band

Jeff Atwood — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 22:02:17 +0000

So the Rock Band Network should launch any day now, and per the always excellent RockBandAide, we can look forward to these announced downloadable tracks and artists on launch day:

Steve Vai
Widespread Panic
Gov’t Mule
Reverend Horton Heat
Stroke 9
Bif Naked

Evanescence – Going Under
All That Remains – Days Without
All That Remains – Forever in Your Hands
All That Remains – Undone
Flight of the Concords – Business Time
Flight of the Concords – Demon Woman
Flight of the Concords – Most Beautiful Girl in the Room
Ministry – Let’s Go
Ministry – Life is Good
Ministry – Watch Yourself

I am a huge, HUGE Flight of the Conchords fan and I cannot WAIT to bust out some Business Time on the mic.

As originally promised, RBN also opens the doors to more experimental stuff and new genres of fake plastic music, like this full-on Jazz track by Bill Bruford’s Earthworks. Check it out: saxophone as vocals, piano as guitar!

Don’t think a sax could actually play those vocals? I beg to differ! Witness a trombone player scoring a perfect on the vocals to the execrable “I Get By”.

Sorry Honest Bob fans, but that song is a crime against music. A trombone is the best thing that could have ever possibly happened to “I Get By”.

Fret Nice – With Your Guitar Controller

Jeff Atwood — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 06:59:01 +0000

Ever wonder why you can’t use your trusty fake plastic guitar in other games than Rock Band and Guitar Hero?

Well, wonder no longer! The game Fret Nice (from Pieces Interactive) will soon be available on the respective Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 stores. In it, you use your guitar controller to navigate a 2D sidescrolling world.

I was a little confused how this all works, but it’s explained in a recent GameSpot preview:

How does it work, exactly? It starts out simply enough. You hit the green fret to move left, you hit the yellow fret to move right, and you tilt the guitar to jump. Those three inputs form the core of your movement. Easy, right? Attacking enemies gets a bit more complicated. The rotund bad guys coming after you–think of them as goombahs covered in fur–all have a random number of facial features. One might have a single eye, another might have three eyes with a mouth, and so on. Your job is to leap into the air and zap the enemies by playing the number of notes that match the number of facial features. So, for example, jumping into the air and playing a single blue note will kill that one-eyed enemy, while playing three blue notes and an orange note will kill the three-eyed, one-mouthed beast. You can improvise whatever color notes you play; all that matters is matching up the numbers.

Sounds like an interesting merger of a traditional button-based 2D scroller controls and dynamic “play some songs” interactivity.

Fret Nice is slated to arrive sometime next month (that’d be February), so keep an eye out for it. Unless all you like to do with your fake guitar controller is play fake songs. Total dullsville, man!

Guitar Hero Knockoffs

Jeff Atwood — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 04:04:28 +0000

Imagine the joy of finding a copy of The Beatles: Rock Band or Guitar Hero 5 under your Christmas tree this year. Now imagine what you’d feel like if, instead, you unwrapped a copy of an ultra-chintzy, bottom dollar Guitar Hero knockoff. Behold.

Guitar Superstar

(picture courtesy of the always-excellent Rock Band Aide)

Featuring, according to the box, 12 “hit” songs:

Santana – “Stormy”
Motorhead – “Fight”
Fall Out Boy – “Dance, Dance”
Alice Cooper – “Billion Dollar Babies”
System Of A Down – “Forest”
The Vines – “Get Free”
Aerosmith – “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing”

There must be multiple versions of this thing, because this one features the song Granite Man. Not Iron Man, mind you, but … Granite Man.

Oh, but wait, there’s more!

Shredmaster Jr.

This one has a similar tracklist, but a totally different gameplay UI.

Smoke on the Water
I Love Rock and Roll
Iron Man
You Give Love a Bad Name
Billion Dollar Babies
Hotel California
Paradise City
Smells Like Teen Spirit
Paranoid
Master of Puppets

I’m not sure which one is worse. I don’t think there can be a winner when both are so bad. This is gameplay that would have been barely acceptable in the 8-bit NES era, and “songs” that are painful, barely recognizable MIDI deconstructions of the originals.

There’s even a drum superstar, though it’s so profoundly bad I couldn’t find any details on it, or videos of it in action.

Any kids who got these crappy knockoffs for Christmas instead of the real thing, you have my condolences. I’m sorry your parents don’t love you!

Guitar Hero: Van Halen Released

Jeff Atwood — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 22:05:31 +0000

With less of a bang than a whimper, tomorrow is the release date for Guitar Hero: Van Halen.

I’ve had this game since the first days it was available as a Guitar Hero 5 pre-order bonus. Although I am kinda-sorta a Van Halen fan, have to admit that it was a bit of a letdown. In all honesty, I had more fun playing Guitar Hero: Aerosmith. There’s something about the Van Halen catalog that just isn’t … deep. It’s just sort of basic rock music. Outside of the Eddie guitar virtuoso wankery (aka Eruption) and the top 5 Van Halen hits you’re probably thinking of, there is no “there” there.

It’s also a shame that this disc doesn’t import at all into Guitar Hero 5, like World Tour, Smash Hits and Band Hero do. Well, partially, anyway.

Guitar Hero: Van Halen is probably worth getting if you’re a massive fan of the band, though it is nowhere near the intimate fan-centric portrait of a band like Guitar Hero: Metallica, much less The Beatles: Rock Band. If you are a genre enthusiast like myself, I can recommend picking it up once it drops to discounted levels. It’s mostly Van Halen, but there are a handful of other interesting songs on there as well — check out the song list and see if anything appeals to you. I expect it to tumble in price quite rapidly.

Even if you have no interest in the game proper, there is a little bonus for all fake plastic rockers — an official Eddie Van Halen “frankenstrat” faceplate!

The frankenstrat is Eddie’s famous guitar, a combination Gibson / Fender with a very distinctive paintjob.

I’m pretty sure the frankenstrat is probably the single most copied faceplate design in the history of fake plastic rock. So having it as an official faceplate design is a good thing. The faceplate is available as a promo bonus from some sites, or also sold directly for $10.

And here’s my own bonus to you — a video from the Legion of Rock Stars covering Van Halen’s Jump.

They’ve done a ton of these covers, which are available here. Bring your earplugs, and a sense of humor …

The Share Your Love Contest

Jeff Atwood — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:56:00 +0000

I am in fact a huge fan of The Beatles: Rock Band. I’ve been enjoying the heck out of the recent Abbey Road DLC, so much so that I’d call the 16-minute B-side medley — playable as one continuous song — the high point of my entire fake plastic rock experience to date. It was seriously that good!

So I jumped at the opportunity to run a (very!) small, sponsored contest courtesy of our pals at GameStop.

Up for grabs are two copies of The Beatles: Rock Band for Playstation 3.

Here’s how it works:

Leave a comment describing your favorite Beatles song in the game. Just a short paragraph is fine.
Be sure to leave a valid email address in the comment so I can contact you.
I will select my two favorite comments (you have to convince me — at least a little!) and your copy of The Beatles: Rock Band for the Playstation 3 will be shipped directly to you.

That’s it!

And, if you don’t win in the comments, there’s always the Share Your Love contest which runs until the 16th:

Create lyrics for your own love song using at least ten titles from songs by The Beatles. You could win a VIP trip to Las Vegas, complete with airfare, stay at The Mirage, tickets to The Beatles LOVE by Cirque du Soleil along with the chance to perform your winning submission before the show.

Also, if you already own The Beatles: Rock Band, get out there and buy that Abbey Road DLC! Harmonix is taking a “wait and see” approach to future Beatles DLC — meaning, the more Abbey Road sells, the more likely it will be that we’ll get more Beatles tracks.

Do not disappoint me! You guys know what to do, here! :)

Band Hero Track List

Jeff Atwood — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 21:18:49 +0000

In all the excitement over Lego Rock Band, I almost forgot about Band Hero, which is also launching soon.

The full 65 song list was recently unveiled along with the fantastic news that all but four of the songs will be exportable to Guitar Hero 5! (Oddly, you can also go in the reverse direction, importing 69 Guitar Hero 5 songs into Band Hero.) It’s hardly the access to the nearly 1,000 song Rock Band 2 DLC library that Lego Rock Band offers, but it’s a start.

Now that’s the kind of importing we wanted! Oh, and on the incredibly rare chance any Activision excutives happen to be reading this blog, I’m still waiting for fuller Smash Hits and World Tour importing in Guitar Hero 5.

3 Doors Down – When I’m Gone
The Airborne Toxic Event – Gasoline
The All-American Rejects – Dirty Little Secret
Alphabeat – Fascination
Aly & AJ – Like Whoa
Angels & Airwaves – The Adventure
Ben Harper and the Innocent Criminals – Steal My Kisses
Big Country – In A Big Country
The Bravery – Believe
Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
Cheap Trick – I Want You To Want Me (Live)
Cold War Kids – Hang Me Up To Dry
Corinne Bailey Rae – Put Your Records On
Counting Crows – Angels Of The Silences
Culture Club – Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?
Dashboard Confessional – Hands Down
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Devo – Whip It
Don McLean – American Pie
Duffy – Warwick Avenue
Duran Duran – Rio
Evanescence – Bring Me To Life
Everclear – Santa Monica
Fall Out Boy – Sugar, We’re Going Down
Filter – Take A Picture
Finger Eleven – Paralyzer
The Go-Go’s – Our Lips Are Sealed
Hilary Duff – So Yesterday
Hinder – Lips of An Angel
Jackson 5 – ABC
Janet Jackson – Black Cat
Jesse McCartney – Beautiful Soul
Joan Jett – Bad Reputation

Joss Stone – You Had Me
Katrina And The Waves – Walking On Sunshine
The Kooks – Naive
KT Tunstall – Black Horse & The Cherry Tree
The Last Goodnight – Pictures Of You
Lily Allen – Take What You Take
Maroon 5 – She Will Be Loved
Marvin Gaye – I Heard It Through The Grapevine
The Mighty Mighty Bosstones – Impression That I Get
N.E.R.D. – Rockstar
Nelly Furtado – Turn Off The Light
No Doubt – Don’t Speak
No Doubt – Just A Girl
OK Go – A Million Ways
Papa Roach – Lifeline
Parachute – Back Again
Pat Benetar – Love is A Battlefield
Poison – Every Rose Has It Thorns
Robbie Williams & Kylie Minogue – Kids
The Rolling Stones – Honky Tonk Woman
Roy Orbison – Oh, Pretty Woman
Santigold – L.E.S. Aristes
Snow Patrol – Take Back The City
Spice Girls – Wannabe
Styx – Mr. Roboto
Taylor Swift – Picture To Burn
Taylor Swift – Love Story
Taylor Swift – You Belong With Me
Tonic – If You Could Only See
The Turtles – Happy Together
Village People – YMCA
Yellowcard – Ocean Avenue

Click through to see YouTube videos of any song, if you’re not familiar with it.

While I’m much more partial to the Lego Rock band setlist, I can’t deny that Band Hero has a whopping 20 more tracks, and there are some definite gems in there. It also uses the Guitar Hero 5 engine, which is a massive improvement over the Guitar Hero 4 (World Tour) engine, even the tweaked versions of it that appeared in Smash Hits and Metallica. Playing Guitar Hero 5 does not make me want to cut myself with my plastic instruments in quite the way that Guitar Hero World Tour did, so that’s … a plus.

Band Hero is scheduled for release November 3rd, which just so happens to be the date Amazon is telling me I’ll get Lego Rock Band as well. Coincidence? :)

Lego Rock Band Track List

Jeff Atwood — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 00:24:10 +0000

The full track list for Lego Rock Band was recently revealed — and it’s a doozy!

The game contains 45 songs, all of which can be exported to Rock Band 2 for flat fee of $9.99. I’m pretty sure this is tied to the code inside the manual so there’s only one export per copy of the game.

All American Rejects – Swing
The Automatic – Monster
Blink-182 – Aliens Exist
Blur – Song 2
Bon Jovi – You Give Love a Bad Name
Boys like Girls – Thunder
Bryan Adams – Summer of 69
Carl Douglas – Kung Fu Fighting
The Coral – Dreaming of You
Counting Crows – Accidentally in Love
David Bowie – Let’s Dance
Elton John – Crocodile Rock
Europe – The Final Countdown
Everlife – Real Wild Child
Foo Fighters – Breakout
Good Charlotte – Girls & Boys
The Hives – Tick Tick Boom!
Iggy Pop – The Passenger
Incubus – Dig
Jackson 5 – I Want You Back
Jimi Hendrix – Fire
Kaiser Chiefs – Ruby

Katrina & The Waves – Walking on Sunshine
The Kooks – Naïve
KoRn – Word Up!
KT Tunstall – Suddenly I See
Lostprophets – Rooftops
P!NK – So What
The Police – Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic
The Primitives – Crash
Queen – We Are The Champions
Queen – We Will Rock You
Rascal Flatts – Life is a Highway
Ray Parker Jr. – Ghostbusters
Razorlight – Stumble and Fall
Spin Doctors – Two Princes
Spinal Tap – Short & Sweet
Steve Harly – Make Me Smile
Sum 41 – In Too Deep
Supergrass – Grace
Tom Petty – Free Fallin
T-Rex – Ride a White Swan
Vampire Weekend – A-Punk
We the Kings – Check Yes Juliet
The Zutons – Valerie

Click through to see YouTube videos of any song, if you’re not familiar with it.

In addition to the fantastic, first-class song export experience (I hope the Guitar Hero series is taking notes), there are some features that are new to the any Rock Band game to date:

Any Rock Band DLC that “passes through a content filter” will be available for play in Lego Rock Band, so it’s effectively another front-end for your song library. Awesome!
Failing a song does not end play; it only causes the player to lose any “Lego studs” earned during that song. Furthermore, all the lost studs can be regained by playing recovery phrases in the same song.
There is a “super easy” mode where only strumming is required, no button presses. This was first introduced in Guitar Hero: World Tour.
There is an option to automate the drum kick pedal to make drumming more accessible.
Each song can be played in “full” and “short radio edit” versions. I’ve only seen this in karaoke games to date.

Most of these enhancements are to make the game more accessible to kids — but I think they’d be a good addition to all future Rock Band games, too. Even the achievements list for Lego Rock Band are kinder and gentler as well.

We saw a preview of this newfound focus on accessibility in The Beatles: Rock Band, where selecting easy automatically turns on no-fail mode. As far as I’m concerned, more accessibility is never a bad thing; us hardcore folks who like to play on hard and expert can continue to do our thing, and those who are new to the genre can have a more gentle introduction than having a giant SONG FAILED blasted in their face.

Lego Rock Band will be available for Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 sometime between November 3rd and November 10th. Personally, I can’t wait!

The Track Packs of Rock Band

Jeff Atwood — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 00:21:58 +0000

Rock Band is lauded (and justifiably so) for its massive catalog of downloadable tracks — up to almost 1,000 songs at the time I write this.

But for those people who don’t have online access to downloadable content for their PS3, Xbox 360, or Wii consoles, Harmonix also offers a series of retail “Track Packs”, which include 20 new songs on each disc. These track packs can be played (surprisingly) as standalone games for the specific on-disc tracks, and for the PS3 and Xbox 360, can be imported into Rock Band 2 via a code printed on the back of the manual.

The first pack, Track Pack Volume 1, was only offered for the Wii and Playstation 2. This was in the Rock Band 1 era, before the Wii had access to DLC, so it was a form of catch-up for the platforms that didn’t have any other way to obtain downloadable tracks.

Next up was the first band-specific track pack, AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack. This was also the first track pack to allow importing into Rock Band 2 (on PS3 and Xbox 360) via a special code printed in the back of the manual, a precedent that would thankfully be followed for every subsequent Harmonix release, with the obvious exception of The Beatles: Rock Band.

Track Pack: AC/DC Achievements

“Back in Black” (Live)
“Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap” (Live)
“Fire Your Guns” (Live)
“For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)” (Live)
“Heatseeker” (Live)
“Hell Ain’t a Bad Place to Be” (Live)
“Hells Bells” (Live)
“High Voltage” (Live)
“Highway to Hell” (Live)
“Jailbreak” (Live)
“Let There Be Rock” (Live)
“Moneytalks” (Live)
“Shoot to Thrill” (Live)
“T.N.T.” (Live)
“The Jack” (Live)
“Thunderstruck” (Live)
“Whole Lotta Rosie” (Live)
“You Shook Me All Night Long” (Live)

This was quickly followed by Track Pack: Volume 2, but this time it was available on all platforms.

Track Pack: Volume 2 Achievements

The next release, Rock Band Track Pack: Classic Rock was the first to have a distinct musical theme rather than being a semi-random collection of tracks thrown together from the DLC selections as we saw in Volume 1 and Volume 2. (although I do wonder how the Dead Kennedys could be considered classic rock, per se..)

Track Pack: Classic Rock Achievements

And now for something completely different: Rock Band Country Track Pack. Well, not completely different, as there had been a set of country tracks released to the music store a month or two before this. But for a game titled Rock Band, some took umbrage at the inclusion of country.

Track Pack: Country Achievements

Supposedly it’s been one of the more popular Track Pack releases to date, but I kind of suspect that has to do with the new concept of “exclusive tracks” — 15 of the tracks (those marked with an asterisk, below) are unique and exclusive to this Track Pack for a certain period of time! So if you want those songs, you must buy the Track Pack. Or wait a few months until they’re trickled out to the downloadable content stores on each respective platform.

Did I buy this whole pack just to get Kenny Rogers’ “The Gambler”? Why, yes. Yes I did. And it was totally worth it, too!

Finally, we have the Rock Band Metal Track Pack, which continues both the themed (first seen with classic rock pack) and on-disc exclusives (first seen with country pack) trends.

Track Pack: Metal Achievements

It also has on-disc exclusives (although “only” 6 tracks this time). This approach must work — it definitely changed my attitude towards the packs. They went from “who cares, I’ll just buy the DLC” to “must have it on release day!”. What can I tell you, I have an insatiable appetite for new songs!

The track packs are definitely the only game in town for getting new songs in Rock Band if you have no access to downloadable content on your platform.

Even if you do, they can be a reasonably good deal if you pick them up cheap; the per-song price might be lower than what you’d pay in the store at roughly $1.99 per track. Just depends how many of the tracks appeal to you!

No information has been released on any future Track Pack releases. But if history is any indication, we can probably expect more themed packs, and more limited time on-disc exclusive tracks.

Mad Catz Wireless Fender Stratocaster Review

Jeff Atwood — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 02:17:38 +0000

Remember that Mad Catz full-size Stratocaster guitar controller? I couldn’t resist its siren call. I am now the ~~embarrassed~~proud owner of my very own sunburst fake Stratocaster.

The first thing you need to know about the Mad Catz Rock Band Wireless Fender Stratocaster Replica is that IT IS ENORMOUS. It is made from an authentic Stratocaster body, so it is truly a 100% full size guitar. Those other guitars you thought were “authentically sized”? Not even close! See for yourself:

That’s the Mad Catz Wireless Fender Stratocaster Replica next to the previously reviewed Logitech Wireless Guitar and the classic GH3 Les Paul guitar controller. (I didn’t show the GH5 / GH4 guitar, but it’d be a bit larger than the Les Paul.)

The Mad Catz Strat isn’t just full size, but full weight, too. It tips the scales at over 7 pounds with strap.

OK, yes, it’s huge and expensive, but it is also a thing of great beauty.

It even comes with a Fender strap (the same one that’s included with the much cheaper Wireless Bass, but who’s counting.)

Everything here is authentic — all metal bits and real knobs throughout. There’s even a connection port for the overdrive pedal (the guitar includes the necessary 1/4″ step-down adapter.)

All the standard Rock Band 2 guitar features are present and accounted for, including the effect switch. The strum is of the clicky variety, with the premium Mad Catz “2.5 million cycle” switches.

Flipping it over to the back, we can see the battery compartment (takes 3 AAs, included) and a back cutout. I was initially a little perturbed by the frankenstein-like patchwork on the back of the guitar, but even a real Strat has a similar (albeit smaller) back cutout, as you can see in this picture.

The headstock, like the body, is from a real Strat guitar, so of course it includes real metal tuning pegs.

The only part of the guitar that’s plastic is the fretboard; the back of the neck is wood, but the front face is plastic. This is a Rock Band guitar, so the buttons (both solo and normal) are of the standard flat Rock Band variety.

If you’re concerned about the strategic use of plastic in the fretboard, don’t be. It looks fantastic, and the faux wood effect with metal detailing is first rate. In fact, one of the things I didn’t like about the Logitech Wireless guitar was the odd (and visually jarring) melding of real wood and plastic in its fretboard. The Mad Catz Strat neatly sidesteps this problem by making the fretboard one seamless length of cleverly detailed plastic. The fret buttons themselves feel identical to those of any official Rock Band 2 guitar, with the same action, stop edges and tiny embossed finger position dots.

OK, so we’ve established that this is a guitar so handsome that it utterly blurs the line between fake plastic guitar and real guitar. But how does it play?

The first thing you need to decide is whether you prefer your fret buttons flat (Rock Band style) or embossed/raised (Guitar Hero style). If you love or hate a particular button style, this guitar, despite its awesomeness, will not change your mind. Yes, the “premium” strum mechanism is a bit stiffer and perhaps a bit clickier than a stock RB2 guitar, but it’s a Rock Band guitar through and through. It plays pretty much identically to any other Rock Band style guitar, except it’s substantially larger and heavier. So how much you like it will depend on how you feel about flat fret buttons.

Beyond that, this guitar is large. Did I mention that it’s large? Yes it is VERY LARGE! And HEAVY! I thought I was a fake plastic guitar tough guy, having played with my own custom weighted guitars, and the 6 pound Logitech Wireless guitar with no problems at all. But after playing my first 10 song set with the Mad Catz Strat, my shoulder was killing me. And that’s with a nice aftermarket guitar strap!

If you want a truly full size guitar, be prepared to pay the price in training in your body and shoulders to handle it. Given the size of the neck, you may also need to stretch to reach the fret buttons a bit more than you’re used to. It’s not a deal-breaker (for me at least), but it does take some time to get used to it. And that goes double if you’re a smaller guitarist!

The only real difficulty I had when playing with the Mad Catz strat is with the whammy bar. I guess this is an artifact of the real guitar component locations, but it’s ridiculously easy to hit the back and start knob with the whammy, and it takes some conscious planning to use the whammy without hitting any knobs. The whammy also hangs down much more freely than I’m used to with my other guitars, so it has to be wrangled a bit in use. Don’t get me wrong, overall the whammy works great, but you will have to adapt your whammy style to this particular guitar.

Is this guitar worth $299? If you absolutely love Rock Band style (flat face button) guitars, and you want an awesome looking and great playing full size axe, then absolutely. Well, assuming you’ve got $299 burning a hole in your pocket!