Joystiq interview with Harmonix

[ZkDotNet]

http://www.joystiq.com/2007/08/30/rock-band-the-next-great-franchise-an-interview-with-harmonix/

[TheRocker]

Oh darn you beat me to it :) , yeah pretty good interview

[Eman311]

anything new?

[TheRocker]

Well they talk about the songs ( licensing process ) , Venues , Online , Future , Past.

[ZkDotNet]

Nothing excitingly new. Venues are not real world venues. No band seems out of reach to them. He mentions online and retail expansion releases. They have eyes on Asia.

[Quastor]

I think the only real tidbit of information is that venues will not actually be real-world venues, but rather all completely fictional places.

[Nitz13]

Fairly Good interview, no new info all in all a good read
from what he says sounds like were in for a lot of DLC

[whofan]

Bring on the Gong accessory!!!

Good interview!

[LoneSteele]

anything new?

He mentions the potential for new songs on expansion discs.


We do view Rock Band as a platform, onto which we intend to deliver a steady flow of high quality expansion content, both online and through retail as well.

[IErrantVentureI]

Sweet interview. I learned some stuff. Hope we get a gong!

[Syko360]

He mentions online and retail expansion releases. They have eyes on Asia.

Asia:rolleyes: is a heavily overrated band IMO, I mean they can go after much better bands......Oh wait, Oh Ok...ASIA ;) , ya that could be a good plan

[ThePaska]

Cool interview, one question in particular really stuck out to me:

"Is there any artist or band that is out of reach at this point? How do you think Rock Band's upcoming popularity will affect this?

There's been such an overwhelming surge of enthusiasm coming from the labels and artists and it just doesn't seem like any artist or band is "out of reach" at this point."

So does this mean that basically they get any band they want. Hopefully we'll be seeing huge name bands that haven't been in any game like this before! Led Zeppelin for one :D

[AVC808]

pretty much summed up that there will be a rock band 2 (not a surprise)

"We do view Rock Band as a platform, onto which we intend to deliver a steady flow of high quality expansion content, both online and through retail as well. And I do think that this will go a long way towards maintaining the freshness of the play experience for quite a while. But I also don't believe we can rely on content expansion alone in the long term. For players to remain engaged, we need to continue to innovate on the feature axis as well; we need to give them new ways to play, new ways to engage with the music and with other players. As for whether these sorts of major feature upgrades come annually or at some longer interval, we haven't decided."

[Apples]

This is at least the third interview I've seen with Alex within the past couple of months. He always presents a very likeable image and offers intelligent answers to whatever questions he is posed.

[Tendoza]

Hopefully we'll be seeing huge name bands that haven't been in any game like this before! Led Zeppelin for one :D
Holy God yes!!!

It has been my dream to play Zeppelin ever since this game was announced.

When he says that every band has been in reach, he better well mean it!

If not one of: The Beatles, Zep, or ACDC doesn't make it in, I will be genuienly mad.

[MrFish]

Ahh, sweet Gong. That could be the gateway drug towards adding a triangle peripheral, as well...:p

[Quastor]

Asia:rolleyes: is a heavily overrated band IMO, I mean they can go after much better bands......

Steve Howe would disagree with you!

[Magnet]

I will now be extremely upset if the next Rock Band does not have a gong peripheral. :p

[JarethLegend]

I like this.

"Creatively, we're definitely going for a much more realistic feel in Rock Band than we have in previous games. This manifests itself everywhere: in the peripherals design..."

[MartyMcFly]

I like this.

"Creatively, we're definitely going for a much more realistic feel in Rock Band than we have in previous games. This manifests itself everywhere: in the peripherals design..."

Don't start!

Besides, when asked about future content and expanding, not only did he say downloadable content, but also retail, which could even mean addons to the peripherals.

Let it go for now, you'll get what you want in the future I'm sure.

[HollywoodBound]

I'm psyched up for the Gong perifial personally.

[Rock_Starman]

Holy God yes!!!

It has been my dream to play Zeppelin ever since this game was announced.

When he says that every band has been in reach, he better well mean it!

If not one of: The Beatles, Zep, or ACDC doesn't make it in, I will be genuienly mad.

Am I the only one that saw that GI video interview?

[JarethLegend]

Don't start!

Besides, when asked about future content and expanding, not only did he say downloadable content, but also retail, which could even mean addons to the peripherals.

Let it go for now, you'll get what you want in the future I'm sure.

Hehe, don't worry, just thought it was funny. The potential for things in the future is very exciting though.

[Magnet]

Am I the only one that saw that GI video interview?

What's the point of even posting that unless you're going to elaborate?

[JarethLegend]

What's the point of even posting that unless you're going to elaborate?

I'm assuming that maybe if someone saw it then the point would be obvious?

[Magnet]

And yet everyone who didn't see it is still completely left in the dark. Which helps none of them out.

[JarethLegend]

And yet everyone who didn't see it is still completely left in the dark. Which helps none of them out.

Very true.

[MartyMcFly]

I'm confoozed, I thought he saw this interview in a video instead of reading it.

There's a whole other interview he's speaking of? Then yes, he definitely needs to elaborate on it.

[Rock_Starman]

Well it's gone now,wich actually makes it much more intresting. Did you guys know Alex was in a Led Zeppelin cover band before working at Harmonix? ;)

[Tendoza]

Well it's gone now,wich actually makes it much more intresting. Did you guys know Alex was in a Led Zeppelin cover band before working at Harmonix? ;)
Really? That's pretty damn cool.

I cant really see him pulling off Bonham though (sorry Alex)

[JimNasium]

If you do release this in Japan, please please please PLEASE don't change the main setlist. I don't want to play a J-Rock game :(

[TheTogfather]

So, if we go back to that GamePro (I think it was them) article from a couple months ago, they 'announced' the following information (at least I'm pretty sure this all came from that one article):

> full album releases every single week after game release

> Nirvana's Nevermind as the second full album to be released

> Real-world Venues

Each of those has been either officially denied or at least officially commented on as 'not yet official'. What the hell happened in that article? Was the author drunk? Did he take no notes at all? Has he been fired yet? I'm really curious to find out what the hell went wrong here...

[nicko68]

Very nice interview. Classy (definitely classier than Activision has been). I really hope RB comes out soon for the Wii (most likely my platform of choice after reading about how cool GHIII will be on it), or even the PS2. I want to support HMX. I just don't want an XBox360 or a PS3 to have to do it. :)

[Quastor]

I really hope RB comes out soon for the Wii (most likely my platform of choice after reading about how cool GHIII will be on it), or even the PS2. I want to support HMX. I just don't want an XBox360 or a PS3 to have to do it. :)

Well, also take into consideration that Activision has not confirmed that the Wii version of GHIII will have online multiplayer or DLC. So while you might be picking up a shaking and squeaking guitar, you'll potentially be getting a generally gimped version of the game.

While the Wii does have on-line capability (if Nintendo ever gets their act together, and not to mention friend codes and the fact that cross-console play will not be possible), the memory space on the Wii will severely hinder the awesomeness of DLC.

What am I trying to get at? You're only going to get the complete RB experience with a 360 of PS3. ;)

[AVC808]

So, if we go back to that GamePro (I think it was them) article from a couple months ago, they 'announced' the following information (at least I'm pretty sure this all came from that one article):

> full album releases every single week after game release

> Nirvana's Nevermind as the second full album to be released

> Real-world Venues

Each of those has been either officially denied or at least officially commented on as 'not yet official'. What the hell happened in that article? Was the author drunk? Did he take no notes at all? Has he been fired yet? I'm really curious to find out what the hell went wrong here...

for nevermind he could have misinterpreted what he heard by hearing only what he wanted to hear. for instance they could have been discussing albums they were LOOKING to bring to the game, and nevermind popped up. maybe his favorite band is nirvana and immediately the guy thinks "damn, nevermind is coming for DLC!" but that would be pretty irresponsible for a notable magazine. more likely the case, he jumped the gun and reported information that was supposed to be embargoed.

this is the assumption because nevermind as DLC has not been denied. instead we got the ambiguous answer that only the who has been a confirmed DLC album.

for DLC albums every week, that was denied. instead it was clarified that new DLC would be released every week, but it wouldn't necessarily be an album. It could just be a couple songs.