Did the demo live up to your expectations?

[Theenditaint]

Alright, so I went to Best Buy today and played TB:RB demo! It was awesome! I played all the songs on the demo at hard difficulty, getting a 90%-100% on all of them. I played I Feel Fine, Day Tripper, and Can't Buy Me Love on guitar, and the other two on bass. So I was thinking has the demo lived up to your expectations?

[T-Hybrid]

It's just as fun as the main Rock Band game, and the background animations are incredible (Here Comes the Sun and Yellow Submarine looked amazing)

Great attention to detail.

[jonoo24]

How can i find out if the demo is set up at a best buy where i live?

[tingly]

Look up their phone number on bestbuy.com and give them a jingle. On the whole, it lived up for me.

[Kiesterman]

This website has it as well.
HERE. (http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp?id=pcmcat190700050000&type=category&h=403)
Which Best Buys have the demo that is.

[Theenditaint]

Also, if you search "Rock Band demo at bestbuy", there should be a link somewhere that will give you a big list of all BestBuys in your state which will have the demo (thats how I found out ym BestBuy had it)

[Theenditaint]

Lol, yup thats the exact site I was talking about, thank you for posting it Kiesterman

[Cheezeeatr]

The demo was great, aside from one of the guitars having a broken strum bar.

[dabrry0523]

Do not call them, It seems like its better just to go and checked it out supposedly people have called the Orland park store many times and they said they doesn't have when they have had it since last week

[moose39]

The hardware I was using wasn't all that great (a few dropped notes here and there leading to 99% sometimes).

The game itself was ****ING AMAZING. I played all of the songs on Expert guitar and Day Tripper on lefty Expert drums. I ALMOST FC'd Here Comes the Sun and Yellow Submarine on guitar on my sightread, but none of these count since I'm not playing it at home :p

Switching to Lefty mode is a breeze now. No more pausing, changing it, and restarting the song--you pick it when you pick your difficulty, which is REALLY nice and I hope it's implemented in future Rock Band games.

The game wasn't easy or hard, although I probably had trouble due to the bad calibration settings :p

Oh, and for those wondering, Day Tripper is the Sunday Morning of TB:RB. So much fun and I can't wait to play it on my own kit at home.

[Theenditaint]

Really? The instruments were a total fail were I went. The mic wasnt working, they were using olg guitars, 1 wasnt working, the other 1 u could onyl strum up, and no drums. Maybe they are just trying to get rid of their old stuff all over the place?

[moose39]

The drums were a real POS. It was a 360 RB1 kit with silencers and a RB2 bass pedal. Half the green pad--silencer and the pad below it--were missing. There was only one RB2 strat there, and the usual mic.

I use a RB2 kit with silencers and a GH2 guitar hooked up to a converter, not to mention my 52' Bravia and four speaker-one subwoofer (two of them Bose, the other two Sony, the subwoofer, also Sony) stereo setup. I think I'll have a much much MUCH better time playing at home :p

[Rod_Stixx]

Heh - I'm the one "sort of" answer so far.

Not so much because of the game itself, but because of demo limitations that made it difficult to really enjoy the game to the max of what it should be. My guitar skills are pretty rusty these days (I've been playing drums 95% of the time for the last 9 months), but the calibration was off considerably on the instruments they had available. One of the guitar straps was broken, so you kind of had to hold it and play it at the same time.

Unbelievably, they had no mics available! The rep/coordinator for the demo couldn't believe it either. I would have thought a manager might just write off a USB mic to use for the game (I would have done just that as a mgr for a retailer in the past), but it was a shame there wasn't a mic to use.

The game itself looked awesome, and despite my thoughts that I wouldn't be distracted by the dreamscapes, it really was hard to try to avoid looking at them while playing. Normally, I might have been able to a little, but the calibration really threw me off.

[iAmtheWalrus]

Just played it today, lowest was a 97% on I Feel Fine. (No breakneck on the demo) But it surpassed my expectations, it was phenomenal. I loved it, so much. I'm probably gonna go at least 2 more times this week.

[VAmpForgotten]

did anyone play it on a Wii?
if so how'd it look?
was it twitchy like rb2?

[xxjoesusxx]

It won't be demoed on a Wii, with games like this, they will always demo the superior versions. NOT starting a flame war or anything, just saying, they NEVER demo RB on the Wii.

[juan29zapata]

Just played it today, lowest was a 97% on I Feel Fine. (No breakneck on the demo) But it surpassed my expectations, it was phenomenal. I loved it, so much. I'm probably gonna go at least 2 more times this week.
Don't do it! The novelty will worn off early or late, and when you play the game, you'll say to yourself: "Bah, I've played this song already, I'll wait for the next one". I know that it's almost impossible, but it may happen.

Also how do you know Hey Jude is the last song? Logic? Information?

[flynlion]

What was it like playing the drums without the fills? I gots to know. I'd go find out myself but my local BB don't have the demo.

Maybe the local Gamestop will have it.....

[iAmtheWalrus]

Don't do it! The novelty will worn off early or late, and when you play the game, you'll say to yourself: "Bah, I've played this song already, I'll wait for the next one". I know that it's almost impossible, but it may happen.

Also how do you know Hey Jude is the last song? Logic? Information?

I never can get tired of the Beatles, plus I still have to play them on drums! :D

And I don't KNOW it's the last song, I'm just hoping that it is and I'm telling myself it is. :P

[juan29zapata]

I never can get tired of the Beatles, plus I still have to play them on drums! :D

And I don't KNOW it's the last song, I'm just hoping that it is and I'm telling myself it is. :P
Yes I hope the novelty factor will never worn off.

I tell me that Hey Jude is the last song every morning until I finally get to play it.

[mva5580]

Don't do it! The novelty will worn off early or late, and when you play the game, you'll say to yourself: "Bah, I've played this song already, I'll wait for the next one". I know that it's almost impossible, but it may happen.

Also how do you know Hey Jude is the last song? Logic? Information?

lol I played the Gamestop demo 4 days in a row last week and did not feel that way once. I played all 5 songs every day and loved it every time I touched it. I think I'll be good for a loooong time :)

[ryan12147]

I hope this thing will be on XBL soon seeing as there's virtually no Best Buys in Canada. Only one or two in every major city and they won't even have the demo there.

[Lawl01]

I really want to go play the demo but I just don't have a way to get there. Hopefully it'll be there later this week or shows up on XBL.

[a1ltobeg0dly16]

my bestbuy didnt have the demo.... but my gamestop has it everyday 24/7! so i just went over there and played it :)

[Kiesterman]

You have a 24/7 Gamestop?!?! that's incredible.

[winkus]

Can someone please record videos of the songs, considering how much time you spend playing the demo, and upload them, especially yellow submarine...please

[Just_a_Bill]

Best Buy owes Harmonix a huge apology (and possibly some legal reparations?).

The demo was HORRIBLE, but it was all Best Buy's fault.

Best Buy store on Independence Blvd. in Virginia Beach, VA. No fanfare, nothing on the door about the event, but at least the demo was running (in a barely-playable way).

Two crappy guitars; both had straps but they kept popping off. The one I used (maybe both, I never got a chance to try the alleged "good" one) would only upstrum ... it took me a while to figure that out, and this confused everyone that I saw try to use it. Some people walked away disappointed with a score of 0%.

The two guitars were plugged in "backwards" such that Player 1 was standing in front of Player 3's notes, and vice versa. Due to the way the display area is set up, you couldn't just move the guitars to the correct side of the display. This also confused everyone that I saw try to use it.

Microphone was plugged in but would not register with the game. Not only no harmonies, but no vocals at all.

I asked an employee about the microphone problem and he "helpfully" told me I needed to push the green button on the little black box. When I told him I'd already done that, he complained that he would have to tear down the entire display to fix it. (I told him that whenever he did that, he should also swap the two guitars.)

The drums had the yellow and red pads missing, so they looked like crap and were loud as hell. I found the pads on the floor and re-seated them under the gray plastic rims. Midway through the song they both popped back off and my drumming was so noisy I could barely hear the game's audio.

This demo experience was PATHETIC and I was highly disappointed. If I was not already familiar with games of this genre (GH:WT owner) and had not already researched TB:RB online, I would have walked away from that demo and never given this game a second thought.

That's not to say I'm not buying it; on the contrary, I already have one preordered. My point is that I doubt this terrible BB experience convinced anyone to buy the game who was not already planning to do so, and I think Harmonix has a legitimate beef with Best Buy, based on the numerous other examples posted on this site of lame BB demos with missing and crappy instruments.

[KilgoreWolfe]

Despite being one of the Best Buys on the list, my BB didn't even have it set up. Buncha lazy scrubs.

[EvilGamerX]

I have a question for anyone who who will listen, will the demo be up from "now" on, cause all of the Best Buys in my area said they didn't get the demo even though they were on the list. So was this a one day only thing or just a big start to it. Also are there any other stores which have the demo up? Sorry for asking it in this thread, but this seemed like the most logical place outside of making a new topic.

[Bosco32]

One quick note on the demo. The disc contains both the TB:RB demo and the demo for RB2. I was talking to the rep, and a kid walked up and changed it from The Beatles to RB2 from the main menu screen. So it's possible that the stores that didn't have it actually did, but it was on the RB2 demo instead.

Kind of weird to have the option to switch off The Beatles, but I guess they've still got to try to sell RB2.

[Draginite]

I went to the Best Buy that was supposed to have a demo AND and the special events, and when I got there not only did they say that they weren't having any special events, but they said they wouldn't have the demo set up until thursday!
Lazy, lying, bastards. :(

[Chew13acca]

The "Special Event" was little more than some guy (or girl) with a pamphlet of information about the game that you already know.

[scorpio89mt2]

did anyone play it on a Wii?
if so how'd it look?
was it twitchy like rb2?

I don't know about anyone else, but it was twitchy on the 360. Especially during here comes the sun, the highway was very twitchy several times during the song. I don't know if it was the xbox hardware that was messed up or if it was the games fault but it definitely made me not want to play anymore, I guess I'll have to wait to see what the final version of the game is like...

[KilgoreWolfe]

One quick note on the demo. The disc contains both the TB:RB demo and the demo for RB2. I was talking to the rep, and a kid walked up and changed it from The Beatles to RB2 from the main menu screen. So it's possible that the stores that didn't have it actually did, but it was on the RB2 demo instead.

Kind of weird to have the option to switch off The Beatles, but I guess they've still got to try to sell RB2.

I kind of wish I had known this. Maybe I'll go back later, it's just down the street.

[Opus Penguin]

I had a lot of fun with it. Fortunately it was not busy so it wasn't like I had to wait much to try it.

[Opus Penguin]

I went to the Best Buy that was supposed to have a demo AND and the special events, and when I got there not only did they say that they weren't having any special events, but they said they wouldn't have the demo set up until thursday!
Lazy, lying, bastards. :(

I had this happen at the first Best Buy I went to. They claimed they were "too busy" to set up the demo. I went to another and it was on there.

[Taxman999253]

Despite being one of the Best Buys on the list, my BB didn't even have it set up. Buncha lazy scrubs.

This

[pauldf]

What were the songs?

[Reaver]

I think I can wait a few more weeks. I don't want to spoil it for myself.

[BruceDickinson]

Demo'd all 5 songs on drums here in LA. It was fantastic, I found myself watching the backgroud a little too much and not paying enough attention to the notes. The graphics are truly amazing. I can't wait until this game comes out. Even with the crappy RB 2 equipment they had there (with one broken drumstick) it was still fun. Dreamscapes rule. This game is going to be so much fun!

[SgtRubberRevolver]

They didn't have any at the closest Best Buys to me. So I called the local Gamestop and they had it. So I played it there. Amazing! I loved it!!! I can't wait to get my own copy in a couple of weeks. The local Blockbuster have it set up too, but they won't get the software to put in the console for a couple of days. So I'll play it there too when they have it fully set up

[master2uall]

My stupid bb didn't have it set up yet(or some dumb ass must have pressed rb2 instead) even after I called last night and they said it would have been up this morning.

I didn't know about the 2 games being on one machine. So I didn't bother to check.

[moose39]

What were the songs?

Can't Buy Me Love, Day Tripper, Here Comes the Sun, Yellow Submarine, and I Feel Fine.

[dabrry0523]

It was really fun not to many people played it wasn't that busy the drums were just a bit noisy but the guitars and mics all worked fine just one didn't have a strap. went through all songs once with vocals and once with drums scored 100% a few times on vocals

[iagomonk]

I don't know about anyone else, but it was twitchy on the 360. Especially during here comes the sun, the highway was very twitchy several times during the song. I don't know if it was the xbox hardware that was messed up or if it was the games fault but it definitely made me not want to play anymore, I guess I'll have to wait to see what the final version of the game is like...

This was my impression as well - played at the Best Buy in Bellevue WA. The highway lagged multiple times. I hope this is just a glitch with the demo or some kind of hardware defect (I run the game on component video and maybe they're trying to run it at full resolution HDMI or something?)

[deathstick]

The demo was awesome, the store's instruments were broken. Very disappointing.

[supershaymin]

Oh, I really want to play it now.
But I'm in Australia, so no demo for me.

I can console myself with the thought that I get to play it 16 or so hours before Americans do due to time difference, though. :-)

[Minimaul]

I got to my local BB at about 11:30 expecting there to be a huge line and fanfare and craziness! Turns out there were some 13 year old kids playing the game. I watched 'em play a song then hopped in on drums and played Day Tripper. I also played one song on bass with the kids. The lady that was doing the promotion got us a mic and set that up and I got to sing a few songs. The kids left so it was just me and the lady doing a couple songs then she left and had some random BB employee babysit me to make sure I didn't steal anything. so I played each of the songs on drums by myself. Then I left to go window shop for awhile, came back about a half-hour later and it was just the lady playing waiting for people to show up. I played one more song on drums then left after that.

We had all new equipment set up so that was nice. Game is smooth and beautiful. All in all it was a pleasing experience and I can't wait to get my greedy mitts on the full game.

[Flanders]

This was my impression as well - played at the Best Buy in Bellevue WA. The highway lagged multiple times. I hope this is just a glitch with the demo or some kind of hardware defect (I run the game on component video and maybe they're trying to run it at full resolution HDMI or something?)

I too experienced that. It didn't hamper my playing experience, but it was noticeable.

I wonder if a video calibration might correct the problem. Hopeful that this is something that can be easily corrected. HMX delivers time and time again, I'm optimistic that they can get this right as well.

[scorpio89mt2]

I too experienced that. It didn't hamper my playing experience, but it was noticeable.

I wonder if a video calibration might correct the problem. Hopeful that this is something that can be easily corrected. HMX delivers time and time again, I'm optimistic that they can get this right as well.

It definitely wasn't a video calibration problem for me, it was the highway stuttered and ran at a pretty low framerate. I really hope the actual version doesn't do that because it was pretty bad, way worse than I've ever seen in a music game so far

[vcalzone]

One particularly neat thing about the Best Buy near me is that they had the bass with the split strum bar up for play. Of course, the mic didn't have any sort of controller so it could be used and the guitar was just plain broken, but still, that split strum bar was fun.

Calibration sucked, but the game was lovely and the menus were (pardon the big word) mellifluous. Here Comes The Sun was a cooler dreamscape than Yellow Submarine, and I enjoyed playing the concert venues more than I thought I would.

[jrinck]

The demo is what I thought it would be! (Denny Green thinks so, too. ;) )

I wasn't expecting glitz and fanfare... just the ability to play a few songs... just like every Rock Band and Guitar Hero demo from the beginning of time.

Hopefully the songs get harder than "I Feel Fine", though. That was listed as "Tricky" yet was pretty easy to pass on Expert guitar.

[Followell4]

I went to my local Best Buy at lunch and they did not have the demo :(

[mva5580]

The demo is what I thought it would be! (Denny Green thinks so, too. ;) )

I wasn't expecting glitz and fanfare... just the ability to play a few songs... just like every Rock Band and Guitar Hero demo from the beginning of time.

Hopefully the songs get harder than "I Feel Fine", though. That was listed as "Tricky" yet was pretty easy to pass on Expert guitar.

lol if you wanna crown The Beatles, then crown 'em!!

[SexyCake]

It definitely wasn't a video calibration problem for me, it was the highway stuttered and ran at a pretty low framerate. I really hope the actual version doesn't do that because it was pretty bad, way worse than I've ever seen in a music game so farI doubt it's in the full version, infact 100%

Gameinformer reviewed it, and they din't say anything about it or had any of those problems with the game. It is either the demo, callibration, or intstruments.

[BT67]

This was my impression as well - played at the Best Buy in Bellevue WA. The highway lagged multiple times. I hope this is just a glitch with the demo or some kind of hardware defect (I run the game on component video and maybe they're trying to run it at full resolution HDMI or something?)


It definitely wasn't a video calibration problem for me, it was the highway stuttered and ran at a pretty low framerate. I really hope the actual version doesn't do that because it was pretty bad, way worse than I've ever seen in a music game so far

^^^ This ^^^

Was very upset with the BB in Parma, OH, walk-in the demo is empty I grab the guitar, the strum bar is broken, grab the other guitar again the strum bar is broken, sit at the drums yellow pad is not working. I get up and watch "Here Comes the Sun" dreamscape and I start noticing that the highway stuttered a few times during the song, then a BB employee comes over and asks me if I need any help, with my reply being How about some working instruments? Your doing this upcoming game injustice by having non-playable instruments and I left.

I hope that stutter is not in the main game, could just be the demo.

[travmeatwad]

Oh my god, yes it did.

The demo was incredible. I was shaking the whole time. Haha. The animations look even better when you're seeing them yourself on the TV in front of you.

My Best Buy had a decent set up. They had two RB2 guitars, a M.I.C., and a RB2 drumset. The seat for the drums was broken though, so it was at the lowest height possible. But, I loved playing the drums for all of the songs I did. I Feel Fine is not a fun drum song at all, though. I got 5* on every song on guitar, even FC'd Yellow Submarine (which wasn't hard to do.) I got 5* on every song on Bass (I didn't play them all) except for one. And I got at least 4* on every song I played on drums (didn't play YS) except for I Feel Fine.

All in all, I had an amazing time with the game. Only two more weeks.

[TheRollingBones]

Well, I'm in Canada... is there any place in BC that has the demo? Like EB Games or Wal-Mart? Whatever- I just wanna play The Beatles: Rock Band!!!

[Andyy]

No demo for me here, can't wait though, encouraging everyone in my RB2 band to buy it by making them listen to some songs from the game. Only my drummer is convinced

[Shrapnelwolf]

Yes. Yes it did. The guitars only upstrummed, and the mic wasn't plugged in, but other than that, my Best Buy set it up fantastically. Played every song multiple times. It looks AMAZING on an HDTV.

[UnpluggedCrazy]

Finally got to the demo, it was fantastic. Vocals were surprisingly tough for me; damn high Beatle voices. I've never really played bass before, but I LOVED playing the bass lines in these songs.

All-in-all, it was a wonderful experience. Less than two weeks now...!

[Young Bloodlust]

It certainly did. I already knew the game was going to look good but, playing it is a whole other experience. The Beatles look very "life-like". Now, normally in games, "life-like" means "dead-eyed zombie" but not this time.

It played all the songs on expert guitar and "Here Comes The Sun" was easily my favorite. Just the whole feel to it was amazing. It had my smiling like an idiot the whole time. It's just too bad the guitar I played on was a RB1 guitar that had been there forever. The strap-holder-things had fallen off, the whammy bar was broken and the guitar had a hard time with triple chords sometimes. Meaning, I would put my fingers on three of the buttons and it work take a second or two for the guitar to recognize I was holding down more than two of them.

I would have played the songs on drums as well but, that obviously (http://picture.vzw.com/mi/429129526_1490597448_405669387_1251421462268.jpeg? limitsize=345,345&outquality=56&ext=.jpg&border=2,0,0,0) wasn't going to work (http://picture.vzw.com/mi/429129845_1490598614_0.jpeg?limitsize=345,345&outquality=56&ext=.jpg&border=2,0,0,0). Wow. Why are those still even there?

[HarrisonFan]

still have not played it

[Casto21]

Needs an exceeded expectations option. Played it at bestbuy today and it was amazing. The look of the game is amazing and i had a blast playing 4 of the songs on drums.

[Moony_Lupin]

So, I'm giving in to temptation and will be heading to Best Buy this afternoon to play the demo. I'm going to try and only play one song. I'm thinking of trying I Feel Fine. Anyone have suggestions of which one I should play and why?

[peteykirch]

I had a chance to play the demo yesterday at a Northlake Best Buy in Charlotte. Got there nice and early so I had an opportunity to play all 5 songs on guitar and drums. Got to say this game blew me away in everyway possible. The 9th cannot come soon enough. I was shocked when I got there, that all the instruments worked perfectly, and the TV was actually calibrated pretty well, not many dropped notes at all. Does anyone know if this game will have Hyperspeed? I was able to FC two of the songs, but I'm just wondering if it will be an unlockable option in this game.

[xplosive]

Yeah if you only play one song then play Here Comes the Sun. It just makes you feel real happy when you play it right.

As for my demo impression I thought the game was harder than I expected it to be. I have more repect for Paul as a bass player now as there was a lot more going on in Can't Buy Me Love than I originally thought. They raised the star cut-off points as well which shoulf make it more challenging.

[PCTraitor]

Finally played it. It looks great. I think the characters are a perfect balance of really looking like them, but not too real. Sometimes when you try to make something in a game look real it ends up looking more fake.

The game itself was difficult to gauge because the calibration was way off. I would hear the note then wait about a half a second before hitting the note. So it was difficult and frustrating to play.

[SgtRubberRevolver]

A drum stick was missing so I had to use my left hand on the drums, on Day Tripper and Here Comes The Sun. I hit my thumb with the other stick on Day Tripper on accident. LOL. And the red and yellow pads always came off. The strum bar on the guitar didn't work and there was no strap. I'm going to Gamestop to play it from now on

[Oddbrother]

I won't have a straight opinion on this until I try out the harmony vocals feature.

I tried asking the staff one day to see if they could set that up. I even brought my own microphone just in case.

Sadly, they don't allow customer's equipment to be used for the demo, which I guess also means that I can't use my equipment to decide on HDTVs.

Either way, the chance is not abound. Bastards!

[hshizzle]

My best buy had two guitars, one with a broken strumbar, and one with broken blue button. I only played some songs on easy, hard to judge. No one there at the time, including myself, had the courage to do any singing. It did look spectacular though.

[RoofTopRookie]

Love It!

Ive played it Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday this week

[Oddbrother]

I even asked Best Buy Consumer Relations two weeks ago to tell all stores to showcase harmony vocals to the demo! Guess what?
I am very sorry for the delay in my response to your email. I am so excited about the release of The Beatles: Rock Band. I completely agree with you; the harmony vocal option is a great feature to this game. The variety of Beatles songs on this game everyone would be able to use this feature. Regrettably, since this game will be available next week on September 9th we would not be able to change the demos in our stores to showcase this feature. I wanted to thank you for expressing your suggestions on how to make the shopping experience better in our stores.ARGH!!!

[DoctorTran37]

Well I work at Gamestop and we just got the demo in. So... I went in today and tried it out with my Assistant Manager (currently Acting Manager since our Manager is at some conference.). It was pretty damn nifty. I kept wanting to just watch the dreamscapes.

[vcalzone]

Finally found BB that had all instruments that I could play. Drums were easier than in Rock Band, which is nice for me. Vocals were definitely more challenging, which is also nice. It will take time to learn all the harmonies, and that seems really nice. Anyone who has a band and writes music needs to study the hell out of these harmonies to learn how it's done.