The Rock Band Thread vol.2: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

[mcjihge2]

http://www.harmonixmusic.com/games/rock-band/request/

Ive just voted for Dire Straits

[BID0]

What We Know About Rock Band 4 (Part 2)

The folks over at IGN this month will be featuring a whole lot of new Rock Band 4 information, and today we’ve learned the following info:

So tell me about the gameplay features!
It’s still a little early for that, but IGN described it as “Rock Band RPG.” Alli Thresher, Rock Band 4 designer, comments that they want everything in the game to feel like the player is living the story: “We want you to step up to the mic and interact with them, tell jokes, have them respond to your jokes, you know? Everything’s about all the stuff that all of us might have experienced, and want to share it with the people playing the game.”

What resolution will Rock Band 4 run at?
60 frames per second on 1080p.



What new features can we expect for DRUMS?
The drummer will have the ability to start each song in a band. Start tapping the green pad or cymbal peripheral and it will trigger to start your performance. And yes, the old cymbal peripherals will be compatible, and if you didn’t get in on that the first time around, there will be new ones for you to purchase.

Also changed are drum fills. Random drum fills will be thrown at you by the game. “If you have enough Overdrive power to complete playing the fills, the system will just serve up a random sequence of fills from a pool,” explained Greg LoPiccolo, Rock Band 4’s creative lead. “Every fill that you play is completely in time and sounds great. They are all authored, but you have the real experience drummers have of having to be random every time through the song.” It doesn’t sound like the fills are specifically authored for each of the songs in the Rock Band catalog, but rather pull from a pool of fills by genre: metal fills, pop fills, country fills, etc. This is backwards compatible, and applicable to all existing songs in the library.

What about for the vocalists?
OK, this is awesome. All existing songs in the Rock Band library are getting harmony upgrades! What’s most interesting is that this was not a result of Harmonix’s efforts, but rather Espher and the RB Harmonies Project (@RBHarmProj)! Head here for more info about the group. (Thanks to @pksage for the correction… and the coordination of the project!)

Also new is the ability for singers (and the hardcore will love this) to perform freeform melodies! So long as you can sing freeform melodies in tune, the game will give you credit for the performance. The game can track this by filling up your score multiplier meter both clockwise (traditional scoring) and counterclockwise (improvisation scoring).

Any artists confirmed yet?
Nothing confirmed, but read the article. They literally couldn’t put any more Bruce Springsteen references in it. (Although, it sounds like that may just be wishful thinking from the IGN author.)

Fine, what about everyone’s favorite peripheral… the STAGE KIT?!
I wouldn’t expect it to be includ… wait, what? It’s going to be?! HOLY gooseberry fool. STAGE KIT SUPPORT WILL BE INCLUDED.

http://www.rockbandaide.com/


It all sounds too good to be true literally every single point is

[BID0]

Rock Band 4 May Be The Last Music Game You'll Ever Need

Across next week IGN will be covering:

• Look at the campaign mode (RPG like)
• A look at a cancelled Rock Band game which began development after RB3
• Song reveals during the week ("A huge act you'd never expect to see in Rock Band)
• Friday 15th May: Livestream with Harmonix the world gameplay reveal

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/05/04/r ... -ign-first

Some other points in the IGN video:

• Authored drum fills instead of freeform ones in previous games
• Drummer counts in on songs

[Ario]

Colour me interested, I might end up getting the full set of instruments for this.

[BID0]

A few other articles from this week

May 5: Rock Band 4 New Hardware First Impressions
May 6: Rock Band 4 Rewards Singers for Awesome Improv
May 7: Rock Band 4 Developer Warns of Hardware Shortages

[BID0]

CANCELED ROCK BAND 3 SEQUEL REVEALED

Sessions was all about making music.
[Editor’s Note: Be sure to join IGN and Harmonix for the world gameplay premiere of Rock Band 4 in our live stream on Friday, May 15 at 12pm PT/3pm ET/7pm GMT. That's 5am AEST on Saturday.]

Rock Band: Sessions entered development shortly after the conclusion of Rock Band 3. Harmonix canceled its excellent concept -- a Rock Band game where you make music instead of matching other artists’ notes -- shortly after the team completed a playable prototype. But the game still exists inside Harmonix, and the team was brave enough to let IGN make some music in a game that will never release.

“It didn’t work for a number of different reasons,” Product Manager Daniel Sussman told IGN. “But Rock Band Sessions was really interesting to work on, and really exposed a lot of strains to us, and made us think about how musical expressivity in the format of a Rock Band game. And it actually informed Rock Band 4 in a lot of ways.”

Rock Band: Sessions, like Rock Band proper, involves a band of friends playing plastic instruments to hit colored notes. In Sessions, you’re creating the audio track for each instrument -- with pre-authored bass/drums/vocals/guitar of varying speeds and styles filling in the gaps if you so choose. In that case, “You are rolling into a studio where three or four parts are written,” Sussman explained, “and it’s up to you to fill out the bass line, or fill out the guitar line, or whatever that may be. So that turned into this interesting prototype we developed around Rock Band sessions.”

IGN’s Ryan McCaffrey and Zach Ryan played drums and bass, respectively, while I took on the guitarist role in Sessions. Our first attempt to make music was an unmitigated and embarrassing disaster. We sounded like a teenage garage band jamming to different songs, with no coordination or regard for our sound. My frantic and out-of-time chords had no synergy with Zach’s bassline, or Ryan’s rhythm [Editor’s Note: This implies I have rhythm. Which I don’t]. If Sessions had a game over screen, this is how we would have found it.

“With four people trying to build their own thing, but also have their thing be connected to what someone else is trying to build at the same time, it quickly devolved into chaos and anarchy,” Sussman said. “That’s not so fun.” Harmonix eventually “constrained it to a single-player experience, mostly because it was a way to organize an experience.”

We started over, waiting for a drum beat first, then matched the guitar to the bass rhythm, and actually made something I sort of loved. When we played the song “in full,” Rock Band Sessions organized our brief, crummy tune into something that was fun to play in a Rock Band game. I felt satisfied having made a little song, with an intro verse and a chorus, that harmonized well with my coworkers. Sessions isn’t quite the same as playing music with friends in the garage or on the couch, but there’s a special feeling to making something that sounds not-awful -- and, if you’re good enough, like a real song.

Sessions is a fascinating experiment, and something we enjoyed tinkering with, but isn’t the sort of game Harmonix wanted to sell for $60.

Sussman explained, “What we found was that the content for Rock Band sessions had to be created for Rock Band Sessions, that this wasn’t a gameplay mechanic that could apply to the vast catalog of licensed material that we already had that you would need to support in a future Rock band.”

Harmonix sees Sessions as a solvable problem, though -- just not one that necessarily needs to exist inside Rock Band 4. “I think a lot of the ideas baked into Rock Band Sessions could be presented in the context of a viable product,” Sussman said. “What I think a lot about is the degree to which Rock Band is very focused and particular.” Rock Band 3’s Pro mode, for example, fractured the player base but ultimately ended up a worthwhile endeavor for the team. Sussman continued, “What I think is really important for me is that we continue to develop experiences that are consistent to the fantasy fulfillment of Rock Band; this performative simulation of rock music, that you are onstage, playing a song, and that it is fun and awesome.”

Sussman concluded, “I think it’s really important to remember that the core of Rock Band is built on a fantasy, and there are a lot of other fantasies out there that exist in the world of consumer music video games. But they don’t all need to be the same game.”

It’s admirable that Harmonix not only had the guts to make something as different as Sessions, but to cancel it and admit that a good idea isn’t always something that can be executed well. Rock Band 4 retains the soul of Rock Band Sessions, which acted as an almost necessary bridge to getting where we’re at now. Sessions was entirely about expression, with minimal involvement in the actual Rock Band game we’ve come to love. Rock Band 4’s strongest new features draw heavily from this philosophy -- match beats, as always, but with your own stamp this time around.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/05/11/c ... -ign-first

Game play videos at the link...



And the first 5 songs from the RB4 tracklist will be announced, along with the game in action, during the livestream on Friday.

[TigaSefi]

Hype rising. I am so ready to buy a complete bundle.

Bruce Springsteen would be amazing. I have a feeling they will obviously go for the rockier songs but Racing in the streets would be terrific.

[BID0]

Rock Band 4 Gigs Will Test Your Band's Friendship

Vote for songs, bicker like bandmates, hopefully you don't fail out.
Many would agree that Rock Band 2 was the peak of Rock Band’s campaign design. Rock Band 4 aims to outperform the 2008 game’s limited story elements and band interaction with a simple, strong new feature: Gigs.

“A gig is a new structure that we’ve put into Rock Band 4 to sort of capture the feeling of a live performance,” Lead Designer Chris Foster told IGN. It’s also an incredible way to have an extra layer of fun, or cause tension with, the people you’re playing with.

Here’s hoping Rock Band 4 doesn’t cause any band breakups.

Foster explained that the act of performing live music isn’t represented completely accurately in previous Rock Band games. You don’t hop on stage, play a song, and leave. “It’s sort of the ebb and flow of the arc of a performance over successive songs. So, like, the crowd coming with you, or potentially you needing to win them over…it’s a sense of momentum and pacing. So what we wanted to do with this is capture the sense of a gig and use it for narrative means, for new gameplay and emotional experiences within the Rock Band framework.”

Essentially, Gigs operate similar to older games’ Setlists, or Rock Band 3’s Challenges. “It’s a series of songs subdivided into a series of sets with set breaks,” said Foster. A Gig we played involved four songs in two sets of two. A set break between each duo had stuff we’ve never seen in Rock Band before.

“If you’re the vocalist, you’re able to perform a sort of stage patter…it’s sort of like adding some LARPing to your Rock Band experience,” Foster said. “You’re sort of role-playing a different event that is sort of happening offstage, or got you to the show in the first place inside the campaign, we’re using them to deliver the narrative experience.”

So what does that mean, gameplay-wise?



“They need to be really fun to play,” Foster said. “Particularly as the crowd is reacting. So, you’ll do your crowd work as a vocalist, the band will play a couple of songs, and then you’ll take another break. And in those breaks, you’ll be able to do a lot of voting. In some cases, there’ll be a set list that is predefined, like in previous Rock Bands. But in other cases, you’ll – as a band – be able to vote on a setlist.”

Choices appear between sets, drawn from your music library and the gig’s theme/genre. Bandmates have a limited time to choose the song they all wish to play -- which could lead to interesting, awkward interactions with you band. Your guitarist may decide on a spectacular, fun song the vocalist doesn’t know, or can’t sing to properly. An exhausted drummer can vote for something laid-back, while the rest of his bandmates troll her with a gnarly drum solo track.

“It becomes a really interesting collaborative and competitive experience, as you’ll have people say what they want and what they absolutely don’t want,” Foster said. “It’s fun, because when you’re beat-matching, it’s tunnel vision; you’re focused on your instrument, you’re barely aware of other people if they’re falling out or if you can save them. But the moments between songs, we’re able to come up with these other game experiences, and they can be really fun.”

Fighting or messing with your band isn’t necessarily to your advantage of course. You can carry over your multipliers and Overdrive power between songs during gigs, adding a small but interesting extra layer of strategy that can affect your band’s score.

Gigs can be played for kicks in a party setting, for sure, but they’re also core to Rock Band 4’s campaign -- which involves an interesting branching narrative similar to an RPG. We’ll have more on that for you later this month.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2015/05/12/r ... -ign-first

[NickSCFC]

Knowing EA, I think the final name will simply be 'Rock Band'.

[BID0]

EA haven't had anything to do with Rock Band since Mad Catz took over the 2011 RB3 re-release

[more heat than light]

Knowing EA, I think the final name will simply be 'Rock Band'.

[Tragic Magic]

I know I'm going to need this game. The only question will be whether I buy an Xbone which will end up purely being a Rock Band machine or buy the PS4 version with new instruments and slowly rebuy all the best DLC.

A bone is probably less expensive than buying the DLC again though.

[Victor Mildew]

Knowing EA, I think the final name will simply be 'Rock Band'.

Mad Catz are publishing and distributing the release of rock band 4.

[Buffalo]

I smell a Bant of Brothers reunion tour.

Some fantastic new additions to the series so far, the Gigs idea and the encore voting in particular. It's the little things like that, I think.

[BID0]

These Are The Bands Harmonix Want In The Game

Video only: http://uk.ign.com/videos/2015/05/13/the ... -ign-first

[TigaSefi]

New drums?

twitter.com/steve_janiak/status/598851180538789889

[Victor Mildew]

Considering that's the CEO of Harmonix then it's safe to assume

[BID0]

New drums?

twitter.com/steve_janiak/status/598851180538789889

Yup a couple of posts up about the revised instruments, coming in red white or black... t:the-rock-band-thread-part-2---rock-band-4-fall-2015?p=3741334#p3741334

[BID0]

Rock Band 4 Creators' Favourite Rock Band Songs Ever

Songs mentioned:

• "Won't Get Fooled Again" by The Who
• "Roll With the Changes" by REO Speedwagon
• "Thrasher" by Evile
• "The Pretender" by Foo Fighters
• "Don't Stop Believin'" by Journey
• "Electric Version" by The New Pornographers
• "Ghost of Perdition" by Opeth
• "Bohemian Rhapsody" by Queen

http://www.ign.com/videos/2015/05/14/ro ... songs-ever

That's a hard choice, mine might be one of the Rock Band Network songs

[more heat than light]

As a vocalist, my favourite song is probably More Than A Feeling by Boston. So much fun to sing.