The latest news on the Rock Band 2 front covers the instruments and a few confirmed song tracks. There have been rumors flying around the Internet about the “leaked song tracks” for the next release with absolutely no confirmation. Now, however, we have solid proof on some tracks and some equipment changes.
First, all instruments are backwards compatible. That’s key to the success of Rock Band because fans of the original ponied up a lot of bones to grab themselves the original Rock Band kit. However, there is an incentive to upgrade your equipment in some regards.
If you like the original Rock Band guitar you’re going to love the new one if only for the color updates, wood grain and actual look and feel of a real guitar not a “toy.” As you’d expect (or hope) the new guitar will be wireless, finally, and will have a sturdy strum bar with even quieter buttons. Wireless alone is a great selling point but quiet buttons is important for folks like me who play the guitar like it was a jackhammer and can easily interrupt the drummers concentration during a difficult set.
The drum kit has been improved as well, with a re-enforced foot pedal to avoid the ease of breaking the plastic “toy” version of Rock Band original. As a person who’s busted up their drum petal and forked out cash on eBay for a wood solution, this is more great news. The drum kit will also be wireless which is great for those of you, like myself, who have kids that run through your line of site or dance while you’re playing. Nobody likes their Xbox 360 being flung off the shelve due to tripped cords.
The drum kit will have quieter pads and a velocity sensor; again, your old kit is still usable without these enhancements but the desire to upgrade if you’re a dedicated fan will be high.
The song tracks currently confirmed:
- “Panic Attack” — Dream Theater
- “Chop Suey” — System of a Down
- “Everlong” — Foo Fighters
- “Kids in America” — The Muffs
- “Give it Away” — Red Hot Chili Peppers
- “Ace of Spades” — Motörhead
- “Hello There” — Cheap Trick
- “Pump it Up” — Elvis Costello
- “Anyway You Want It” — Journey
- “Pinball Wizard” — The Who
This is a great indication to where Rock Band 2 is going, mixing up a great selection of artists with classic hits like Anyway You Want It and Pinball Wizard to newer late generation X music like Give it Away and Chop Suey. Talented artists like Dream Theater are sure to keep Rock Band 2 a challenge to all gamers.
Other great improvements being a World Tour mode now accessible online and the removal of the “Band Leader” concept which always locked you into an instrument once you created a band.
NOTE: Xbox 360 will have a timed exclusive on Rock Band 2, arriving later in the year for the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3.
Checkout the full feature set so far explained at Kotaku.
@Wii U will cost Nintendo $180 and retail for $300
Well, while the profit margin seems big, hardware is not the only cost associated with the device. Me thinks that they can lower the price all the way to 220 USD, if they need to get the attention of the market.
@Online petition calls for end to Tera ‘censorship’ in EU
Wow! From “Mature” to 12+! Wow!
Dan, loved the “vote with the wallet” point.
Jonah, you are right, Germany does have stricter rules regarding violence in video games.
@Videogame-only Kickstarter alternative debuting at E3 2012
What about indiegogo? Don’t get me wrong, websites that concentrate donations will work ok, but there are already enough of them.
As for buying ownership over a part of the game via a website, with no legal advisors … erm … I see an epic fail ahead.
No developer with the slightest sense of business will accept this.
Ukraine was part of the USSR, and broke off in early ’90 (when most former USSR counties broke off as well).
@NPD: 40% of freemium players pay for in-game upgrades
I think this will vary from game to game. I’d say that 40% pay for upgrades in the best (both quality and market segmentation) games, and the percentage drops for the other games.
@Wii U – Not much to say about this, but the more I see about Wii U the more I realize they’re going for the same strategy of catering for casual gamers. Which is all good ( I am a very casual gamer when it comes to consoles ), but as a dust covered Wii owner I’m just not sure Ill go for it again.
@Tera online petition – I am a MMO gamer, I love sandbox action based MMOs like Tera is supposed to be, but I didn’t like what I saw of Tera so far, the game just looks like a Korean Care Bear fest…
That said, I think the problem here is the wrong rating in EU, in a nutshell it is a game based on combat, war and killing… Games with the same concept but less cartoonish graphics have 18+ ratings here so I really don’t understand this 12+.
@Video game only Kickstarter – I don’t really see much point in here, a few years back gamers and developers were struggling to get more attention to their entertainment platform, and now instead of showing everyone how much games are valued we want to do fund raising in a niche community-based project? I do understand there are differences between this and Kickstarter, but there I think Kickstarter allows all this anyway.
Don’t know if it’s a good or bad thing, but most of the time I can’t tell who is talking, except Paul. Thanks for wishing me luck. Also, everyone does their GCSEs at 15. A quick google search would have given you:
“The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education”
My country is normally behind the times, so I remember dial-up internet too. Anyway, I’m not going to comment on the news because I need to go study Physics and Geography for tomorrow.
To reinforce the point made by Paul on the last episode (VGRT – best podcast), VGRT was not the first podcast that I came across. I tried a whole bunch of them but non suited me. One was 2 hours long and they just went on about which chick will be topless next in True Blood and how they had fun playing COD. Another was aimed at the South American religious community. I stopped at VGRT because you deliver whats important to me: the news. Plus, reader feedback makes the podcast that much more involving.
@Wii U and profits
Won’t be buying it on day one. Not after the 3DS fiasco. Even now there are only 10 or so games that are worth buying here in Europe. I regret not buying a Japanese 3DS. At least that would give me an import option. I will wait untill the Wii U drops in price. Examine the game library. See if it’s worth buying (if it lives long enough).
@ Tera’s censorship
I generally dislike censorship. I don’t mind my games with sex, blood and other naughty themes. Good to hear that the issue got resolved. I might even play it if I live through my exams.
@Freemium games
I played quite a few freemium games in my time. Hell, I was there when the whole thing started to get popular. But I can see why people leave freemium gaming. Most games I played give a lot of advantage to the paying customer. Special skills. Fancy weapons. If you don’t pay, you will feel left out. However, by paying for a free game you are foced to commit to extracting your moneys worth out of it. And games like RPG can get very boring and tedious in the long run.
PS: Thank you for the Magicka code.
PPS: Paul is Ukranian? I’m Russian. But I live in UK. I suppose I am sort off like Paul but on the eastern hemisphere.
its been a while since I didn’t listen or commented on the podcast because of my minecraft server management but its good to see the podcast still up and running, keep it up guys ,i have no time to comment about the news though coz I’m in boracay