Intelligent questions you would like HMX to answer.

[TreoRock_]

I believe there are tons of questions we all would like HMX to answer, but they just seem to be all over the boards. So, I was thinking it would be nice if we had a single thread where we can all formulate our questions and wait for HMX to answer them. Does it make sense? I believe so. I'm going to start with a few questions:

1. Activision says: "Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band." What kind of agreement was that? Why did Harmonix decline it?

2. We have only one last set of DLC for next week. What should we expect to get as DLC after next week?

3. Can we Rock Band gamers some how vote on the DLC that we want? And get it by popular demand?

I will come back with more questions and I hope HMX can answer them.

Regards,

Al

[Hozuko]

I believe there are tons of questions we all would like HMX to answer, but they just seem to be all over the boards. So, I was thinking it would be nice if we had a single thread where we can all formulate our questions and wait for HMX to answer them. Does it make sense? I believe so. I'm going to start with a few questions:

1. Activision says: "Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band." What kind of agreement was that? Why did activision decline it?

2. We have only one last set of DLC for next week. What should we expect to get as DLC after next week?

3. Can we Rock Band gamers some how vote on the DLC that we want? And get it by popular demand?

I will come back with more questions and I hope HMX can answer them.

Regards,

Al

I do want HMX to answer those last two questions. As far as your first question, involving the whole guitar compatibility question...dude, I don't think we'll ever get a straight answer. Both sides seem pretty hateful of one another and, despite how much I love HMX, I don't think hearing only their side is going to clear anything up. Having said that, I'm dying for some more fun drum songs. I mean, I can only play "Wont get fooled again" so many times.

[BearFan51]

For question #2, think about what goes into these songs. They can get the sheet music, but that's usually for guitar/piano/vocals. Drum charts are rarely part of the publishing. That means drum parts have to be re-created, likely bass lines too.

(purely my assumption here)
They have to be provided with multi track recordings of the original songs (notice how when you screw up, your instrument goes silent? you can't do that from a stereo mix), then re-mixed for the game.

Cut 'em some slack on the DLC, I'm sure they'll find a way to get more to us, faster.

For question #3, they have to acquire rights to the songs, which also takes time, and money. Just because most of us want Tool and Led Zep, doesn't mean the artists will give their blessing. We can only hope they do.

[Kingfish]

1. Activision says: "Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band." What kind of agreement was that? Why did activision decline it?

I don't work for HMX but i did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...and i would bet any answer you get would be something like this;

The negotiations are ongoing and private.

I don't see how/why EITHER side would be forthcoming as to what is on the table. That would hamstring their negotiation power. The second part of your question is simple. Activison's offer sucked. Mostly because every opening offer does. HMX now seems to be following the right steps. They don't blink, keep quiet and makes a counter proposal...and then it continues from there.

Don't hold your breath for EVER getting any answers where lawyers are involved.

As for the rest of your questions...I would really like to hear the answer to them.

Let me say...I too would like to hear the answer to the first question too...but it'll never happen(and if it does...i better have my Beyer aspirin close by).

[capitalfn9]

I would like an official comment from HMX on the different generations of guitars, whether people who have earlier generations should send their guitars in and get the newest kind, etc. I think this would be nice.

[TheRocker]

1.Are you guys/gals planning on adding World Band Tour online ?

2.Whens The Whos Next DLC be released ?

[Electric_Zen]

1. Activision says: "Harmonix and its parent company MTV Games/Viacom recently declined Activision's offer to reach an agreement that would allow the use of Guitar Hero guitar controllers with Rock Band." What kind of agreement was that? Why did Harmonix decline it?

Look at the statement again. Activision didn't place an offer, they offered to start negotiations. It went something like this.

Red Octane: Ooh, cool looking patch there. What does it do?

Harmonix: It gives our PS3 users more choices when they play Rock Band. They can use the Stratocaster guitars to play, or they can purchase third-party guitars like yours if they prefer.

Red Octane: Oh, that's interesting. Give me some money.

Harmonix: Wait, what?

Red Octane: What makes you think you can reverse engineer our hardware, and support it in your product?

Harmonix: Well, you reverse-engineered Konami's dance pads, created compatible products and sold them, and you never paid Konami a dime.

Red Octane: Stop being a smart-ass. We'll make you a generous offer. You can enter into negotiations with our attorneys. After a couple of months, we'll figure out a nice big sum of money that you can pay us in order to distribute software that will allows us to sell more hardware.

Harmonix: Dude, f*ck off.

Red Octane: Wah! SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONY!


2. We have only one last set of DLC for next week. What should we expect to get as DLC after next week?

I don't think Harmonix has actually forgotten that their announced DLC schedule ends next week. I'm pretty sure they've already planned the next batch of content, and they've decided when they're going to announce it. We'll just have to wait for that.

(Spoiler Alert: Expect Nevermind, Who's Next, more Metallica, and a bunch of Grateful Dead in the future)


3. Can we Rock Band gamers some how vote on the DLC that we want? And get it by popular demand?

They've said that song suggestions will be part of the new RockBand.com website. Of course, they can't guarantee that the most popular votes will be offered as DLC. We can all vote for Led Zeppelin, but they can't force Led Zeppelin to license their music.

I'll say this, though. When they are selling songs a la carte, they have a huge financial incentive to sell songs that the community has expressed significant interest in.

[DesiredFX]

Is the inability to copy the Rock Band save game file on the Sony circumvented when you use the PS3's backup utility?

[bricot]

It would be nice to have a way to run up the drum track a little more when someone is playing them. There are a number of songs that you cant hear what the drums are doing over the noise of the sticks hitting the drum surface. Seems especially true if the song starts out with a stream of notes other than he snare.

A good practice mode for the drums so you can play around creating fills. I've tried starting songs in practice mode and you only get a few seconds of actual drum sounds before it just starts making the stick hitting the rim noise.