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.
This November console gamers will be able to purchase a new Track Pack for Rock Band and Rock Band 2. While Activision’s Guitar Hero: Aerosmith sells over 1-million copies, MTV and Harmonix look to prove they too can push big numbers on exclusive artist packs.
Hey guys, why does Paul have to leave? I know you’ve been saying you would leave if you didn’t get enough comments, so I’m sorry I didn’t post last episode! I’ll miss you being on the show, glad we still get some more episodes with you, you have a fun energy and insight into gaming that makes the show great.
It’s also terrible about that story about the young woman committing suicide, another sign of ignored infrastructure of our roads, bridges and mental health of the people. This isn’t politcast though (joke for Dan Q).
I want to know if Jonah has been playing the Pillar’s of Eternity, I’ve been playing quite a lot and enjoying it. I think it really recaptured the feel of the Infinity Engine games, great writing and even improved upon it. For example the Text Adventure choices were a nice addition to the game. They also fixed old abuses like with the Rogue being able to stack a bunch of traps and cheese kill a boss, you can only place one trap per area so no insta kill. Not to mention the pickpocketing merchants and selling the items back to them.
@Game Time commitment: I agree with you about the time issue, getting older I have less time and this is why I stopped playing World of Warcraft and avoid all MMO’s. I only play games that I can quit out of at a moment’s notice if needed to. I’m still into RPG games; PoE isn’t as open world as Skyrim was. Paul is right about story, a game can have a great story but if the gameplay is boring grinding of fighting to get your XP up enough to advance to the next area you just don’t want to bother.
@Lego Dimension characters: I love the idea of Doctor who we need some games these characters, I think DW should have a puzzle game series it’d fit the character and show idea more than what they have done so far. A Lego DW will have to do for now I suppose. For me I’d want the older Doctors like the 7th or 8th doctors, I loved the Victorian Tardis those two had.
@Nintendo Theme Park: Excuse me while my inner child goes berserk with sheer joy. I would die of just pure happiness being able to walk through a Hyrule castle or Mario land. Paul is right the Nintendo IP’s deserve a large scale area of rides, exhibits, games, and more. I mean I’m actually thinking there needs to be some sort of bounce house where you can step or jump on goombas, have a Yoshii Ride and so on. I also loved the Harry Potter world stuff and hope the Nintendo theme park will be as good as that. Could you imagine a foam sword fighting as Link? I can!