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.
The Xbox 360 saw a
To clarify a part of Jonah’s post, my last episode as a regular co-host of the show is to be the next one.
So, we’ll do follow-ups for some of the older news items. Cool!
@Jay Wilson steps down from Diablo III stewardship
Eh, I guess that’s what happens when you focus a bit too much on making money instead of making a game. Jonah, I’m 100% with you.
I wouldn’t put the blame on the lead game designer though: if you’re not the top dog in the hierarchy, your freedom is limited.
Hmm, Brevik ? Maybe.
@The Secret World sees ‘400% increase in activity’
Buy2Play is a bit weird, since you still have server maintenance to pay for. Dunno. I can see it for an MMO that would use a p2p network system to alleviate server loads, but for a classic client-server architecture? Dunno. To me it sounds like putting a limit to the lifespan of the game.
Time, prove me wrong.
@Mojang: Minecraft XBLA outsold Minecraft PC in 2012
And here’s the XBLA gold rush 🙂
Like the iPhone gold rush before. And the other XBLA gold rush before the iPhone rush.
Joking aside, I can see people interpreting this as a sign to where to publish. Truth is, a good game sells. Regardless of the platform.
@Sony settles lawsuit with Kevin Butler actor Jerry Lambert
This is screwed up. It’s his freaking face. It’s not like Sony owns it. But what the heck, what do I know.
@Pachter: Nintendo is “a few years late” in everything they do
I think the guy has a point. In terms of performance, he’s right. In terms of peripherals, they were left behind by Kinect. As for a games library, again, he’s right.
Paul, I guess you’d like to make a zombie out of him? 🙂
@QOTW
STALKER, but! The former GSC team is working on Survarium, and the STALKER brand did get a new roof, but with a different studio.
So sure, I do want something STALKER like, it’s just I’m not sure it’ll be STALKER2 (not announced) or the Survarium game.
Dan, good news about your employment! You will be missed.
@Diablo 3 beheaded (I wish)
Meh
@Secret World
Double Meh
@Sony and Kevin Buttler
Tripple Meh. Boredom COMBO.
@Minecraft XBLA
The answer is simple. PC version is far to easy to pirate. It’s less than a megabyte and you can store it on a floppy disk. Furthermore, as funny as it sounds Minecraft multiplayer is very processor heavy. The XBLA version is a lot more stable (and even then someone gets dropped once in a while). It may be pricy and lack the mods but there is nothing like it on the Xbox.
@Nintendo is a step behind
If you may recall, I was talking about this for the past year. Nintendo’s problem is that it is fueled by tradition. The Wise Old Men who run the company call all the shots. They make what they THINK the consumer wants. And you can’t define the world by Satoru Iwata’s personal tastes. The reason why Xbox is doing so well is that Microsoft is running a business. Tablets are successful? Que SmartGlass. 3D sucks? Drop it. Kinect is popular? Make Kinect 2.
On another note, I can’t wait till you discuss the newly revealed Wii U titles. I am brewing up a shitstorm in my cauldron as we speak.
@QOTW
Man. Way to many. It’s sad to a see a franchise die just because people spend all their money on COD and FIFA. The obvious answer is Shenmue 3. The story was finished for the last 15 years. They just don’t have the funds to put it into a digital form. How sad…
A proper sequel to the Duke Nukem franchise is another. The game made a profit. They should make a new game. This time for real.
Hello long time listener, love the show especially Paul.
@QOTW : I’m going to cheat and pick two if it’s fine with ya gents, always wanted sequels to these.
1). The Brave fencer Musashi: This was my favorite kirby game growing up.
2). Misadventures of Tron Bon:Its like having your own army made of small huggable Lego people.