First Impressions: Rock Band 2 Drum Kit

Many Rock Band fans are considering the new Rock Band 2 drum kit, but are on the fence as to making the buy on the product. Some people want to feel it out first, see if it holds up better than the last one and is worth the buy more than just for the lowered decibel ratings.

As a huge fan of Rock Band and the original drum kit, there is a few key elements that make this a must have product if you’ve got USD $90.00 to throw around. Besides the future extendability with the snares, this kit shows off a lot of “lessons learned” by Harmonix.

Have you played the Rock Band drums on a hardwood floor? A subtle update to this kit adds little rubber feet, which we didn’t find on the original kit, allowing the kit to stay stationary after a long hard beating rather than skipping across the floor with each kick. Much more professional and well thought out update.

Have you busted your kick pedal? They’ve re-enforced the pedals with this release with a plate, screwed down to the pedal and much more polished and professional than the wooden ones people (like us) were buying on eBay.

Less “Thwack.” There is no getting around the fact that a drum kit for under $3,000 is going to be a bit audible when it comes to the beat down. The difference between this kit and the original is noticeable. You’ll get a bit more “bassy” thump and less smacking sounds, which should help you focus on hard Who drum solos.

Wireless! The age of wireless is upon us. Why the original had a long dangling wire without a break-away cable is beyond me. This feature alone is priority one for us and probably anyone else with a drum kit in the middle of the room with toddlers or little kids.

New Look. The look is fresh dope; No, seriously, it’s a bit more black and mimics a few of the color designs of a professional drum kit with less options and less cost.

Will the drum set meet all of your desires? It’s a toy, that is not going to change. This kit is, however, a worthwhile upgrade for those that broke their old one, want something a bit quieter for when the spouse is sleeping or, much like us, love fresh new tech gadgets.

All of our initial complaints from the original drum kit were solved without us vocalizing our desire; someone must have been paying attention to play testers and the forums around the world. If you’re considering the upgrade for any of these reasons it’s definitely something to take a closer look into.

0 thoughts on “First Impressions: Rock Band 2 Drum Kit”

  1. Can you tell me the price of this Rock |Band Kit II in Europe???
    I would like to know it as here in Brasil it is around US$ 350,00.

    Thanks

  2. Can you tell me the price of this Rock |Band Kit II in Europe???
    I would like to know it as here in Brasil it is around US$ 350,00.

    Thanks

  3. Thanks for the great review of Rock Band 2 Drum Kit. I ended up buying this a couple of years ago and I still play with it from time to time. I’m looking forward to reading a lot more of your site in the future.

  4. Thanks for the great review of Rock Band 2 Drum Kit. I ended up buying this a couple of years ago and I still play with it from time to time. I’m looking forward to reading a lot more of your site in the future.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Post

2008: The Year of Sequels? Too Much Risk?2008: The Year of Sequels? Too Much Risk?

While compiling a list of games to respond to a user question on the TD Gaming Podcast, I’ve noticed something about this years gaming lineup: their mainly all sequels! Are there any new franchises taking a risk in the market or just more of the same? Some are not really “sequels” but spin-offs of the same franchise.

A few examples of some October time frame titles: Fable 2, Far Cry 2, Gears of War 2, Rock Band 2, C&C: Red Alert 3, Saints Row 2, Rayman Raving Rabbids 3, Tekken 6, Call of Duty 5, Guitar Hero World Tour, Tom Clancy End of War, Sing Star Vol 2 and others.

There are a few original titles: Afrika for the PlayStation 3, Little Big Planet (PS3) and Huxley (360 and PC). Most of the original franchise creations seem to be PlayStation 3 related, probably because the console needs some major hits to spur more sales.

Is the market so competitive and risky that new franchises are becoming a rare breed? Last year we saw Assassin’s Creed and before that Viva Pinata and Gears of War exclusive on the Xbox 360. Consider Viva Pinata a “slight” failure in terms of excitement and Gears of War a success, that’s 50/50 in terms of risk vs. reward.

(more…)

Rock Band 2: Free DLCRock Band 2: Free DLC

If you purchased Rock Band 2 you’ll find you can download 20 free songs if you register at rockband.com. Unfortunately, for now, you can only register to get an e-mail when the offer goes “live.” This is one step more than we could do last week if we purchased Rock Band 2 and went to their website to register.

How do you know if you can register? It’s on the back of the instruction book… what, you didn’t know to look there? Well, it’s okay because you still can’t get your 20 free downloads. In the future, if you register, you’ll get an e-mail (someday) with the codes you’ll need to be able to get 20 free song downloads.

We’re still not finished the song tracks that exist in the game, plus our old DLC and we still haven’t exported (or purchased the “patch) the Rock Band 1 song tracks. So, for a few of us, knowing we’ll get 20 downloadable songs in the future is great news.

For those that didn’t know about this – check the back of the booklet and then go and register your e-mail address!

(Thanks, GameStooge)

Xbox 360 Fall Update Too Big For Diskless UsersXbox 360 Fall Update Too Big For Diskless Users

If you’ve got an Xbox 360 arcade edition or an older console without a hard disk, you’ll want to clear up at least 128MB of your flash card before powering on your console after the fall update hits. Wait, you’re flash disk isn’t 128MB in size? Oh oh.

Latest reports are stating that consumers that own a 360 without a hard disk, albeit a small group, will not be able to simply install the fall update as the rest of us because they don’t have enough disk capacity. What is Microsoft doing about that? Microsoft’s Larry Hryb says saying they will be “offering storage solutions” for such customers.

We’re wondering, are they going to actually ship people free hard disks? Perhaps a coupon for a larger flash card? Interesting indeed!

“The new Xbox experience will require 128MB of free space. A hard drive is recommended for the optimal experience, to take advantage of some new features, and to be able to enjoy the great movies, TV shows and games available on Xbox LIVE. While we expect the majority of consumers to download the New Xbox Experience without a problem, a small percentage of Xbox 360 owners do not have enough memory to accommodate the update. To help ensure all Xbox LIVE members are able to download the New Xbox Experience and enjoy its new features, Microsoft will be offering storage solutions to the Xbox LIVE community. We are not sharing details of this offering yet. Be sure to check xbox.com for more details in the coming weeks.” (1up)

It was really only a matter of time before the Xbox 360 out grew the fact that they allow consumers to roll with a diskless console. No other console limits you by having both a disk and diskless option; we know why they did it, but now it would seem their having some growing pains.

No doubt, the next Xbox 360 console will come complete with hard disk! Hopefully you were wise and got the bigger console complete with disk.