I wonder what HMX is cooking?

[RBrafter]

I just finished reading the GAMEINFORMER cover story about GH4 and it has a very impressive list of new features- many of which Neversoft states are meant as direct improvements over Rock Band.

Things that interest me about GH4 are:
-New drums with cymbals and 3 levels of sensitivity
-New career mode
-Character creation tools

Reading the long list of features makes me wonder how many will be completed in time for the fall release. I have my doubts.

With just rumors about Rock Band 2 so far, here's my wish list:
- New drum kit; please produce or license someone to produce a more durable and feature rich drum kit. I'd happily pay $150-$200 for one.
- Online Band World Tour
- Better character creation and clothes & stuff
- Better/more animations
- Better Multiplayer Quickplay features for matching and sorting

So, I wonder if any of these are going to be featured in an upcoming press release from HMX/MTV? Maybe these and some big DLC announcements?

Oh, and Harmonix, you best beat the street date of GH4 if you want to keep from getting steamrolled this holiday season.

[Icarus80]

sub-par DLC is about all HMX has to offer,and until i see them fixing this and showing they want to compete i will jumping over to GH4 without a second thought,it looks to be a great game,the best so far when it comes to music games.Plus their drums look better and are more durable than HMX's,with the RB drums you sneeze and they break.

[medalofhonor]

sub-par DLC is about all HMX has to offer,and until i see them fixing this and showing they want to compete i will jumping over to GH4 without a second thought,it looks to be a great game,the best so far when it comes to music games.Plus their drums look better and are more durable than HMX's,with the RB drums you sneeze and they break.

Not saying i agree with anything posted here except that i do DISAGREE With the fact about the RB drums and sneezing.

Half the time, you dont even get the chance to sneeze because they are broken out of the box =]

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

sub-par DLC is about all HMX has to offer,and until i see them fixing this and showing they want to compete i will jumping over to GH4 without a second thought,it looks to be a great game,the best so far when it comes to music games.Plus their drums look better and are more durable than HMX's,with the RB drums you sneeze and they break.

I, for one, would like to know where you played the GHIV drums before the game was even released. As it stands right now, I don't think anyone knows how the GHIV drums will compare to RB drums.

If you come from the future, on the other hand...

[FickAwesome]

keep in mind that on the surface GH3 seemed like an awesome game, vastly improving over GH2. But with one or two flaws the game was ruined for me and many many others. They can give you all the specs in the world but till I have GH4 in my hands I can't jump on that bandwagon after being letdown fso badly by GH3. Keep in mind that HMX has 3 excellent titles under their belt in the vein of these games and our only real complaints are that the DLC that we get every week isn't as good as we want it to be (those bastards) and that the drums break a lot. I'll grant that that's an annoyance but there's no reason to simply assume that GH4's drums won't be just as faulty. Just because Red Octane made decent guitars (and who among us still has a working whammy bar on one. btw my Les paul isn't working anymore either) doesn't mean that their drums will be any better.

[darthfisto09]

I dont neccissarly want to jump ship over to GH4, but by the way things have been going with the DLC lately, it seems very likely that I'am going to. GH4 has only named 4 bands so far, and 3 of those bands I have been dying for in a full band music game, and those 3 bands alone are pretty much worth it to me to jump ship *talking about Van Halen, Sublime, Eagles*. I want to stay with Rock Band, because I have invested so much money into this game, but they just havent been putting out any DLC lately that I have been excited about. I've bought some songs to try them out and "broaden my music horizon" but I've been broading for like 3 months now, im sick of it. Based off of the GH3 set list and the bands they have annoucned for GH4, they seems to be going after more of my favorite genre's and bands. Plus, i gotta say, that new drum kit looks pretty awsome to me. My hope is, is that Harmonix is prepping all of there really good DLC right now to compete with all of the GH games coming out soon. If I see bands like : Van Halen, Sublime, Rage AGainst the Machine in rock band, they I wont jump ship, but if not, then I think my rock band days will be numbered

[R4di4ti0n]

If you come from the future, on the other hand...

"DAMN GOO-BACKS!

They're taking our jerrrbs.

Well, back to the *** pile!"

Hah. Anywase. This thread is dumb. Its going to spawn nothing but hate. I motion for a swift lock.

[eachann]

Everybody talks like you're forced to choose one or the other... I played GH1, 2, 3, rocks the 80's, Rock Band, and will be buying GH: Aerosmith. I have loved them all... the worst of the bunch being rocks the 80's , but it still had good songs so that's all that matters. I'm not happy about having to buy new instruments if I want to play GH4... that is the one thing that could keep me from buying it, because I can't afford to keep putting down $200 for video games. However, if I'm able to I will be playing both rock band and guitar hero for the forseeable future. I just find it funny how threads in every gaming forum out there are filled with people saying "i'll never play another GH" or "I'm going back to GH".... like you can't play both games.

Guitar Hero is a great game. Rock Band is a great game. If you sign yourself off to be exclusive with one game or the other your only denying yourself a lot of fun.

[killerewok]

I'm perfectly happy with Rock Band, and it's music/DLC. BY the time GHIV comes out we'll have 200-250 DLC tracks to choose from. There have only been a few weeks where there hasn't been anything I wanted, and that is fine by me. I don't need to spend $6 a week to enjoy this game.

My drums have been fine. I cracked a head (yellow) during a night of drunken debauchery, but that was mostly my fault. Otherwise, the drums are just as durable as I need them to be, especially since I got the new 7A sticks with my replacement. You really don't think those cymbal wedges aren't going to break off at some point?

The songs and features I've read about so far, if they come to be reality, are not enough for me to jump ship to GH. I've invested too much in Rock Band, and I look forward to seeing what they have in store for the future to bring themselves back to the forefront of the full band gaming experience.

I can't wait to play The Cars!

[RBrafter]

I didnt intend this to become a flame-fest against HMX nor a debate as to whether to drop RB in favor of GH4.

I hoped to see speculation from others about a potential press release on RB2 and what might be in it.

[killerewok]

I didnt intend this to become a flame-fest against HMX nor a debate as to whether to drop RB in favor of GH4.

I hoped to see speculation from others about a potential press release on RB2 and what might be in it.

I don't want a Rock Band 2. If they do something like that it is more likely to be a 2.0 update, with added features and new songs. Available on disk or as a download from the next-gen stores.

[sg327]

I think competition between Activision and Harmonix and I saw a thread where Konami's coming out with their version is only gonna make the game better for everybody in the long run. They'll all be trying to see how they can outmarket each other and Rock Band will keep improving.

[chillzatl]

The only thing they have to do is keep cranking out DLC. Only a fool would think that they don't have plenty of big guns to fire when they need to do so.

[chillzatl]

I don't want a Rock Band 2. If they do something like that it is more likely to be a 2.0 update, with added features and new songs. Available on disk or as a download from the next-gen stores.

If I have to purchase anything to enable online BWT, I likely will not. That should be done as a patch and the extra disk should be nothing more than a song add-on for people with ps2's or those who don't take their consoles online.

[HyeJinx1984]

I actually had a chance to play "drum mania" which I think is the first Japaneses drum game that RB based theirs on, and IMPROVED upon. This one is a lot more like the GHIV drums, it has 3 pads, two cymbals and a foot pedal. However, it felt very disjointed, not ergonomic in the least, and because it wasn't a straight four pad set up, the notes on screen were hard to match up with where your hands physically were at the time.

Now, it could have just felt counter intuitive BECAUSE I play Rock Band drums, but that could be a huge disadvantage to GHIV, because I think most people are used to RB style drums, and simply won't be comfortable with the GHIV drums, which are EXTREMELY similar to drum mania.

[R4di4ti0n]

I don't want a Rock Band 2. If they do something like that it is more likely to be a 2.0 update, with added features and new songs. Available on disk or as a download from the next-gen stores.

You are an idiot to think there wont be a RB2. Plain and simple. In fact, late '09 would be a great time for it to drop, like rumored, because then we would have had 2 years ( a long time for games now-a-days) to play RB, and i think it would be due. The songs would be cheaper than DLC, and it will have more options.

[HuckleCat]

They are cooking eggs over-easy with sausage and home-fries.



So GH4 will be adding the stuff RB has. Whatever.

For me, it's not so much the initial package. GH4 will not impress me if they continue to release DLC on a once-a-month basis.

Harmonix has totally stayed true to their word on weekly DLC. Even if I hate it, I know for a fact the following week will see more stuff. If Craptivision manages to follow up by matching this, cool, if not, I'll just continue to play RB more.

[Onslaught_fei]

With the list of bands so far such as The Doors and Dream Theater to be in GH4, im kinda sad that I must buy this game now.

[XPeanut]

Im glad GH4 took this step because like others have already stated, competition between companies will produce better results for its fans. GH4 has had the time to look on things RB players wanted to improve on the game and will/should be implementing them into their game. If I had 6 months or to improve on something thats out, you better believe i would be doing everything I can think of to make it better.

GH3 and its company was working on signing bands for awhile now and the 4 bands that they have confirmed are big names indeed, but only time will tell if everything they intend on doing will make it to the game and work as they want. Im really interested to see how the "jam session" part of it work. After reading the article in game informer the creators are making it seem we can have any song from any album as long as someone puts in the time to create the note chart for it and upload it to the central server for others to put into their own game. Now this sounds AMAZING but I will have to wait and see if this works out like they planned.

But thats still months away and all prototypes (drums and i want to see what they have planned for their guitar) and pre-game hype. Until then I will be rocking out on Rock Band.

[killer_roach]

sub-par DLC is about all HMX has to offer,and until i see them fixing this and showing they want to compete i will jumping over to GH4 without a second thought,it looks to be a great game,the best so far when it comes to music games.Plus their drums look better and are more durable than HMX's,with the RB drums you sneeze and they break.

I dunno... had my EL drums for almost five months now, still as good as new. That's from most of that time playing on Expert, too. Can't say the same for the durability of my GH3 guitars for PS2, which kinda took a nosedive almost right out of the box.

I'll have to play the GH4 drumset before I pass judgment, although I know the cymbal design is likely to get damaged by people who don't know any better (which is a problem for taking it to parties), as well as still not knowing the playing characteristics of the set itself...

[OfChristandMen]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!

[HuckleCat]

I dunno... had my EL drums for almost five months now, still as good as new.


Ditto. I have not had any problems with mine. In fact, now that they're "worn in" they actually work better than they did when I first bought them.

[HuckleCat]

We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica.

Wow. You're either being wildy sarcastic, or you're not even old enough to buy a dirty magazine yet.

[Killbasa]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!


hahaha!!!
You make me laugh!

Metal being named after Metallica was a particularly nice touch! :D

[notext]

Wildly sarcastic. And brilliantly so.

[Killbasa]

HMX has proven time and again that they are innovators.

While activision was busy developing a watered down version of 'more-of-the-same', HMX was taking rhythm gaming to the next level.

Now, that Activision has been shown what people want, they try to cash in on it. GH4 will be nothing more than that. A product showing up a year late to the dance with no clue that it's already over and everyone's moved on to the after party.

I don't know what HMX has planned for the future of RB or it's sequels but I have no doubt that they will once again be leading the way in the genre while Activision flounders around in their own cluelessness, giving people what they wanted last year.

[OfChristandMen]

you can rest assured its already in progress. 200+ staff and programmers haven't been sitting idle since Rock Band shipped.

I have to agree with this. People really need to stop treating Harmonix like Santa Claus and more like a respectable and generous company trying to do its best in delivering the most polished and well-rounded rhythm possible. Harmonix can't give you all the bands you've wanted or all the bands they want either. But hell or annoying forum users, they're trying.

And I really believe the fact that they have tons of content scheduled. Pixies, The Cars, Who's Next, Judas Priest, Nirvana (maybe). Hell four whole albums are better than any single rhythm game released so far. I remember hearing both from Alex and others that they had 200 songs planned for 2008. That was before GH4, Rock Revolution and all of this irrational anger from the forums. I've been wildly surprised from Harmonix's team, and can't wait for more. Alex himself has even bragged about the amount of content they have in the pipeline.

Honestly, I think the fact that Alex doesn't give a crap about Activision's GH4 article is fantastic. It gives me great hope that he devotes less attention to these boards.

[ASPSAX]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!

I actually lol'ed, was fooled for a second but nobody could say all of that and be serious.

[Electric_Zen]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!

Nicely done. You had me until The Devil Went Down To Georgia.

[Wanny1]

Do you smell what Harmonix is cooking ?!? O_o

[gardz]

OfChristandMen, you totally had me for a sec.....

[bullyboy35]

Do you smell what Harmonix is cooking ?!? O_o

I smell a plate of "nothing".....These people are in the gaming industry, do you not think Hrmnx has known for a long time that GH4 would come with drums and vocals......To top it all off, they actually listen to what the people want...MAINSTREAM music, not these house bands that Hrmnx puts out...

GH is a well known franchise and I see lots of people jumping ship....Sorry....Only room for one drum set in my house and I will be going where the good music comes from....Isn't that what this is supposed to be about? The music that we want and not what Hrmnx wants?

[Der_Lex]

I can honestly say that my taste in music is a lot closer to 'what HMX' wants than to what this mysterious 'we' group wants. There hasn't been much mainstream music from the 90's and beyond that interests me. There's plenty of room in my house, though, so I'll probably get GH4 as well if they keep adding bands like Dream Theater to their lineup.

Oh, and of ChristandMen, that was sheer brilliance. The part about Metal and Metallica was what gave it away for me...pure comedy gold.

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

I'm truly baffled at how people can even think of 'jumping ship' this early. We know next to nothing about the game. The drums have yet to come out and people are hailing them as the second coming of Christ. There's only four (or five) bands confirmed and people are acting like it's their personal mp3 player.

It has promises, but GH3 had promises as well...

[ForgottenHero]

"DAMN GOO-BACKS!

They're taking our jerrrbs.

Well, back to the *** pile!"

Hah. Anywase. This thread is dumb. Its going to spawn nothing but hate. I motion for a swift lock.

I frickin cried, I loved that episode!

[MooTrain]

The whole point of each subsequent game in a genre is to 'one-up' the competition. GH4 looks poised to one-up Rock Band, at least from a technical standpoint. There is still the question on whether they'll one-up on the final release, or completely blow it by not including a mode that helps the user more gradually transition from only using four buttons to using all five buttons.

Yeah, I'm still bitter about that.

What does this mean for Harmonix? Not a whole lot. You can look at the games that are being released and compare them for their features, but there's only one feature that's going to matter at the end of the day - the song list. And everyone's got different preferences towards what kind of music they like. Some people like the modern, present day stuff. Some people like Country. We have thousands upon thousands of different musical tastes just across this forum, and while Rock Band pleases most of them, there's a bunch who just aren't into what Rock Band offers and are bound to move away for a more appealing list of tracks.

On the other hand, I love classic music. I love the Grateful Dead, Boston, Judas Priest, and I'm content to play their packs over and over and over again.

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

They're either cooking more Smashing Pumpkins, The Police and the Ramones or cooking some artists that are new and have good songs.

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!

Wow you're really dumb.

The first time the term "heavy metal" was ever used was in the Steppenwolf song "Born to Be Wild." A journalist used that term to describe an album in a Rolling Stone issue from the very early seventies. Metallica wasn't formed until the eighties.

And the Devil Went Down to Georgia isn't a "great new song." It's a cover of a bluegrass song from 1979.

"Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix."

Selfish ass.

[PlanetHill]

Wow you're really dumb.

The first time the term "heavy metal" was ever used was in the Steppenwolf song "Born to Be Wild." A journalist used that term to describe an album in a Rolling Stone issue from the very early seventies. Metallica wasn't formed until the eighties.

And the Devil Went Down to Georgia isn't a "great new song." It's a cover of a bluegrass song from 1979.

"Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix."

Selfish ass.

I believe it was sarcasm....ie: A joke.

[Ravaana]

This thing about people yelling about classic rock, and music that person X can't stand? Eh? Like Guitar Hero didn't have any? I'm sorry, guess that my understaning of that 'genre' is a bit out of date. Always thought that Classic Rock was originally radio station programming format which evolved from the album oriented rock, ranging from the 1960s through the -1980s. Roughly translating to 20 years old, or so. GNR is actually being played on classic rock stations. 'Golden Oldies' being about 40.

Funny thing is that people will be screaming about DLC on GHIV as well. It takes months of production time, assuming that the legal right to said song were already dealt with and etched into stone, to get new content.

Would you rather have DLC every other month or so? Or DLC every week? The problem is that most people expect IMMEDIATE RESULTS. This is not possible in a world filled with copyright infringement laws, corporate labels, lawyers, etc, etc.

If you post a request it takes time for them to secure, separate, produce, chart, animate, render, compress, test, fix, retest, fix, and test again. So you cannot have the song you requested today, tomorrow. Many of the requests that the community as a whole has asked for, are probably in the works.

The equipment had to be made affordable for the masses as well. And they are made out of plastic.... Plastic, ladies and gentlemen. It breaks. But to make the equipment out of wood, or steel, would have slapped an extra $200 to the already hefty price tag. So you can pretty much bet on Activision's equipment having many of the same issues. (I.E. Whammy bars strum switches, and pads/pedals breaking.) Many will be improved upon, but they will still be there.

Anyways.. Flame away, or whatever. I'm sure I made a mistake somewhere, and someone will find it.

[TheGodFather73]

Wow you're really dumb.

The first time the term "heavy metal" was ever used was in the Steppenwolf song "Born to Be Wild." A journalist used that term to describe an album in a Rolling Stone issue from the very early seventies. Metallica wasn't formed until the eighties.

And the Devil Went Down to Georgia isn't a "great new song." It's a cover of a bluegrass song from 1979.

"Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix."

Selfish ass.


Insulting someone over the internet is pretty silly. It's even sillier when you aren't able to recognize the sarcasm in the post. And to top it all off, there are at least 10 posts before yours that noted the sarcasm and comedy in his post.

Who's dumb?

[TuesdaysGone]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

Kool thing? Come on, GH3 gave us Kool Thing, 3's and 7's, Paranoid and that great new song The Devil Went Down to Georgia. It's obvious that Activision had those songs way before you, and you couldn't find enough crappy bands to fill up Rock Band with, so you had to copy off of the Guitar Hero franchise.

Screw this broadening of horizons crap, my taste in music should be the only taste in music that matters to Harmonix. I'm serious Harmonix, I'm sending you a list of all my favorite bands, and if next week one of those bands isn't released as DLC, I'm selling all my Rock Band stuff, and sitting on my ass until GH4 comes. I mean, it's obvious you have unlimited materials and can make every single one of my demands come true, 8 million songs sold?! That's at least 10 million dollars, so you better get with the game and release all the songs I want, now!

Well, I actually thought you were serious for a few minutes. That was hilarious though. Metallica inventing Metal.... brilliant.

[Julio_Strikes_Back]

Insulting someone over the internet is pretty silly. It's even sillier when you aren't able to recognize the sarcasm in the post. And to top it all off, there are at least 10 posts before yours that noted the sarcasm and comedy in his post.

Who's dumb?

The large amount of idiots on this board have numbed my sense of sarcasm. Sorry.

[Solid_Snake]

I guess HMX better start cooking up our main course. As far as I'm concern we have only been fed appetizers. Or as least I hope...

[Kreepman]

imo, GHIV is going to own RB by a lot.

Thats because GH has always been my first love <3

[Bosco32]

GHIV is going to own RB by a lot.

Well, sure. I mean, we have pics of a prototype drum set, a few bands, and a list of features. That's all we need to declare that GH4 will own RB, right? Because Neversoft would never, ever under-deliver on execution and gameplay.

*crickets*

Oh, and OfChristandMen, that was outstanding.

[davidshek]

Do you smell what Harmonix is cooking ?!? O_o

http://www.criticsrant.com/Images/criticsrant_com/News%20Rants/The_Rock.jpg

/approves of this message

[Ok_Computer]

They aren't going to put out RB2 this year most likely. To avoid competition they might eput it out at end may early june 2009 if they are even making anything expansive.

[OfChristandMen]

Insulting someone over the internet is pretty silly. It's even sillier when you aren't able to recognize the sarcasm in the post. And to top it all off, there are at least 10 posts before yours that noted the sarcasm and comedy in his post.

Who's dumb?

It's fine, seriously, it's very inconsiderate of you, TheGodFather73 to expect someone to read the entire thread before posting.

But I apologize to Julio_Strikes_Back, because, I hate to burst your bubble man, but tons of people on this board seriously believe that Rock Band DLC that isn't their favorite band, sucks and isn't worthy of 1.99.

Honestly though, unless we know how well made Guitar Hero IV's peripherals are, the entire setlist of GHIV, and Activision's plan for DLC, and Rock Band's DLC agenda from now until GH4 is released, the argument is just a bloated version of do you prefer Band X or Y. And since us accumilating all of that knowledge is improbable and impossible, these "NO MAI PLASTIK INSTOMENT GAME IS BETTAR!" arguments will continue. And fortunately, they are much less convulted and biased than the Ultimate Setlist Forum.

[Jixzer]

Granted, this is "speculation" at this point, but I think Activision may be going a bit too far with the 3 pad/2 cymbal/kick pedal/3 levels of sensitivity drumset. I would wager quite a bit that most RB drummers don't get past medium or hard. I could be wrong but the drum career is pretty damn hard for those of us who don't normally play them. I've never hit a drum in my life and I'm halfway through Expert (Vasoline is owning me at the moment), but I would consider myself the exception and not the rule.

The point I'm arduously trying to make is this; is adding "more" difficulty to drums a wise choice? Sure the ~5% of players that play drums in real life may love it, but for us noob-percussionists, it could be a turn-off. I think these drums will cross the line of being challenging and fun to another GHIII overly difficult, overcharting fiasco.

Just my take.

[WhiffleBallTony]

Guitar Hero IV is going to be an extremely good game. I can't deny that. Who cares if the idea isn't original? They are improving and adding many new features. I'm hoping that there will be instrumentals as well as other songs, something Rock Band can't offer. I also know that there is a song creation tool which will be fun, a lot of DLC, and an open E string for bass. All of the features I've seen impress me a lot, and the same goes for the soundtrack announced so far.

Harmonix better up the ante. I love Rock Band to death, but Activision and Neversoft are making drastic improvements over their competitor. Let's hope that something is done.

[Happyknife]

I doubt they are cooking anything. I mean, come on, Harmonix doesn't even know good music. First they promise us Who's Next and Nirvana, and then give us this crap of The Cars and Judas Priest. Lame old bands that have no relevence today. Honestly, I thought we were getting that Pixar film's soundtrack when I first heard about The Cars album. And Judas Priest? We all know that Metallica invented Metal. It's actually how Metal got it's name, from METALlica. I mean only songs released in the last few years should be the allowed to be sold as DLC.

dude, you should get on your knees and pray to the rock gods for that blasphemy. metallica created metal?!?! wtf are you smoking? If anyone created metal it was Black Sabbath followed closely behind by Judas Priest...decades before the boys in Metallica had their driver's licenses.

your talking about relevance? metallica has been irrelevant for over a decade. those dudes jumped the shark big time after the Black Album (which was a dubious metal album to be honest). Their recent efforts? horrible and completely unlistenable. they are a dinosaur rock band now and barely have any metal left in their DNA.

is the Priest album what we all wanted? no, it wasn't. but it was something and a damn good metal album. they are obviously saving their big guns to compete with GH:Aerosmith and GH4. i'm not happy about it, but its reality. such is life. move on and realize that metal has been around since the 60s.

maybe before you start claiming that Metallica created metal you should maybe get out more and listen to something besides the tripe junk that is out on the radio nowadays.

We shall see what happens, but I foresee some good stuff coming down the pipeline very soon.

[DavesterBrrr]

I'm sure HMX has some cool stuff up their sleeves as well, but with GHIV in the production stages, it wouldn't exactly be in HMX's interest to start listing everything new and cool they have planned so that GHIV can just steal it. Either way, HMX has 6 months before GH4 comes out and if by then you're not happy with RB, you have that option to switch games, or buy both. Patience. I have to admit, the set list posted for GHIV (well the artists listed) looks quite impressive but I'm sure HMX will be making some big announcement of their own in the upcoming weeks and months.

[skullpit]

dude, you should get on your knees and pray to the rock gods for that blasphemy. metallica created metal?!?! wtf are you smoking? If anyone created metal it was Black Sabbath followed closely behind by Judas Priest...decades before the boys in Metallica had their driver's licenses.

your talking about relevance? metallica has been irrelevant for over a decade. those dudes jumped the shark big time after the Black Album (which was a dubious metal album to be honest). Their recent efforts? horrible and completely unlistenable. they are a dinosaur rock band now and barely have any metal left in their DNA.

is the Priest album what we all wanted? no, it wasn't. but it was something and a damn good metal album. they are obviously saving their big guns to compete with GH:Aerosmith and GH4. i'm not happy about it, but its reality. such is life. move on and realize that metal has been around since the 60s.

maybe before you start claiming that Metallica created metal you should maybe get out more and listen to something besides the tripe junk that is out on the radio nowadays.

We shall see what happens, but I foresee some good stuff coming down the pipeline very soon.



OMG the RB community is really dumb.

SARCASM!!!!!

[OfChristandMen]

dude, you should get on your knees and pray to the rock gods for that blasphemy. metallica created metal?!?! wtf are you smoking? If anyone created metal it was Black Sabbath followed closely behind by Judas Priest...decades before the boys in Metallica had their driver's licenses.

your talking about relevance? metallica has been irrelevant for over a decade. those dudes jumped the shark big time after the Black Album (which was a dubious metal album to be honest). Their recent efforts? horrible and completely unlistenable. they are a dinosaur rock band now and barely have any metal left in their DNA.

is the Priest album what we all wanted? no, it wasn't. but it was something and a damn good metal album. they are obviously saving their big guns to compete with GH:Aerosmith and GH4. i'm not happy about it, but its reality. such is life. move on and realize that metal has been around since the 60s.

maybe before you start claiming that Metallica created metal you should maybe get out more and listen to something besides the tripe junk that is out on the radio nowadays.

We shall see what happens, but I foresee some good stuff coming down the pipeline very soon.

No man, think about it. Metal... Metallic...Metallica! It makes perfect sense! Metallica ISN'T irrelevant! Have you ever heard St. Anger? It came out this year and is a great album! All of their critics think so. And what is this "Black Sabbath"? Is it some sort of take on a Jewish tradition? Are they new? They sound screamo. Whatever, hopefully Harmonix doesn't listen to you and keeps them out of Rock Band.

Plus, have you read Apples' post? Obviously the release of GH:A and GH4 will do NOTHING to halt the steam of crappy music coming out of the Music Store. I mean, look at this week's DLC. Oasis? I hate eastern desert music, the only good thing in here is Her Kommit Alex, a GH3 Track no less!

(Just read the thread next time)

[jrolson]

You forgot the create a song feature. I hope Rockband 2 will have something like this.

http://i30.tinypic.com/24kz235.jpg

[Kreepman]

http://i231.photobucket.com/albums/ee88/ImBillPardy/GH4.jpg

Drums look better than Rock Band's drums.

[Xero314-2]

If anyone created metal it was Black Sabbath followed closely behind by Judas Priest...decades before the boys in Metallica had their driver's licenses.

Actually the first recognized metal song is "You really Got me" by the Kinks. But that doesn't excuse you from completely missing the point of the original post.

[sillystou]

I don't know what HMX is cooking, but I sure smell what the mods are cooking! IB4L :p

[Jorm]

I'm of the mind that there's no problem with owning and enjoying both, to insist that everyone must choose between the two games is a false dilemma.

That said, HMX is where my sympathies lie. And while GHIV looks great based on the details we have, who knows if Neversoft/Activision can pull it off?

A better line of thinking is this- why is Activision revealing so much, so far out? The first rule of competitive negotiation is let the other guy talk first. To deal from a position of power, you need to control the information flow, lest your competition outflank you.

Surely the honchos at Activision know this, I'm sure they aren't dummies. So why?

Here's my take, and it's just one man's opinion, take it as you will. HMX is eating Activision's lunch right now. They've taken Neversoft's offering out back and beat it senseless with a rubber hose. Activision know's this, and they are desperately trying to forestall HMX's ascendancy. They had to inject both doubt about HMX's primacy in rhythm games, and hope for the 'true believers'- and they've done it via these announcements.

Now it's HMX's turn, let's sit back and see what their response will be. But in this, Apples is probably correct. HMX's move will not be a reaction to Activision. An organized company that has confidence in it's product and execution is by definition proactive, not reactive. HMX is going to do what they are going to do. Let Activision react to HMX's moves, not the other way around.

[Icarus80]

It's very true that HMX will never be able to please everyone. Musical tastes are all over the place But I think the problem which will cost them sales to GH4 is the niche markets they're targeting with some of this "stuff is" just SO small it doesn't appeal to the vast majority of their customers.If they want to cook up something and beat Activision at their own game then they need to cook up a way to appeal to the majority of the customers.

Seems to me if they released more content from some of the "super bands" out there, then it would follow that more of their customers would like it (if band A has sold 100 million albums, it's a safe bet that more people will like them than the indy band that has sold 10K).

By HMX Releasing only the music they like is very lame and just not great business if you ask me.Thats not going to win you any awards or put you ahead of the competition.

Contracts aside, it seems to me that bands like GNR, AC/DC, Van Halen and the like would prompt a huge rush of downloads and a lot less *****ing about the DLC and no need for HMX to "cook" anything up. Sprinkle in the "niche" bands, but give a heavy dose of the "popular" bands. Seems like simple math to me and a sure fire way to respond to GH4.

[TheRocker]

Some great DLC, I dont care what you whinners say, the DLC is awesome!

[eachann]

They have had some great DLC and some lousy DLC so far... that's to be expected, you can't put out great titles every time when you're releasing 3 songs or more a week. Recently though, I have to admit there have been several weeks in a row where I had never even heard the songs before. Muse was at least a band I'd heard of but I hadn't listened to them before GH3 so I didn't know the song they put in DLC.

As for a RB2... I seem to be in the minority when I say I hope there IS a rock and 2 coming at some point. I like getting a new game full of a brand new sound track to beat.. rather than buying 2 or 3 songs. Further, A new game is $60 for 60-70 songs, as opposed to $120-$140 for the same number of songs. Also, there is something about "beating the game" that I love... I will sit and work at that main set list for hours and hours until I've beaten everything, and then hours and hours more until I've 5 starred everything. With the DLC though, I just play it for fun for a while and then it loses its appeal because there is no game progress associated with it. I'm not bashing DLC, I love having it available.. it's great building my library of songs up with songs of my choosing, that I know and love.... but playing them is fun in a different way than playing songs from a new game list is fun. Playing DLC is more fun because it's a song I know and love and it's fun experiencing this illusion of actually playing the song. But there is no thrill of game progress with it..... so while I don't want to see DLC slow or stop, I do hope that there is a Rock Band 2 on the horizon.

Also, we already know that online BWT isn't going to be patched into RB. If it isn't going to be patched into RB, I definitely would expect it to be a part of RB2. And hopefully they will allow all the DLC in RB 1 to transfer over to RB 2... just so that we don't have to keep switching disks to get back to the songs we've already bought.

[T-Hybrid]

I give it a full week after release before those two cymbal pads start breaking.

Also, considering that GHIV will require a new guitar. Pfft...forget that.


They have had some great DLC and some lousy DLC so far... that's to be expected, you can't put out great titles every time when you're releasing 3 songs or more a week.

It's more: "You can't put out music that 100&#37; of customers are going to like. Ever."

I've only purchased 23 songs to date (22 if you don't count Still Alive as a purchase). I have more I want, but now that the leaked list isn't predicting songs anymore I'm spacing out my purchases to a handful every few months so I don't splurge on a bunch and then a ton more surprise me (such as the Scene Pack)

Yes. I bought and enjoy the Scene Pack.

[LinkStrifeLeonhart]

It's very true that HMX will never be able to please everyone. Musical tastes are all over the place But I think the problem which will cost them sales to GH4 is the niche markets they're targeting with some of this "stuff is" just SO small it doesn't appeal to the vast majority of their customers.If they want to cook up something and beat Activision at their own game then they need to cook up a way to appeal to the majority of the customers.

Seems to me if they released more content from some of the "super bands" out there, then it would follow that more of their customers would like it (if band A has sold 100 million albums, it's a safe bet that more people will like them than the indy band that has sold 10K).

By HMX Releasing only the music they like is very lame and just not great business if you ask me.Thats not going to win you any awards or put you ahead of the competition.

Contracts aside, it seems to me that bands like GNR, AC/DC, Van Halen and the like would prompt a huge rush of downloads and a lot less *****ing about the DLC and no need for HMX to "cook" anything up. Sprinkle in the "niche" bands, but give a heavy dose of the "popular" bands. Seems like simple math to me and a sure fire way to respond to GH4.

Last I checked, it looked like Harmonix is doing just that: interspersing 'niche' bands with 'popular' bands. I'm sorry the 'popular' bands aren't the 'popular' bands you want. No, wait... I'm not.

Also, people WILL complain if they put GNR, AC/DC, Van Halen in. They will complain that it wasn't the song they wanted or if a cover is made, that the cover sucks ass or that there should have been more or so on and so forth. People will always complain. The least they could do is complain for 'valid' reasons.

Have fun with that GHIV that you know very little about. I'll be here playing a game that I know inside and out and that I know works.

[Xero314-2]

They have had some great DLC and some lousy DLC so far...

Actually it's more like they have put out some great DLC to me, some great DLC to you and some great DLC for someone else.

Of the DLC that has been released some on my least favorite, and ones I did not DL, were some of the best selling songs.

[mr_prez87]

HMX better pick up their act and quickly. We haven't got the game here in Australia yet and quite frankly if GH4 comes out only a month after that in Australia I am waiting for GH4. HMX will have had a whole year and failed to provide us with the game. Therefore they will be royally punished.

I like Rock Band. Its a great game but I am over the whole silent treatment and Activision will have the capability to provide a worldwide launch before Christmas...something that EA failed to achieve with Rock Band.

[killer_roach]

HMX better pick up their act and quickly. We haven't got the game here in Australia yet and quite frankly if GH4 comes out only a month after that in Australia I am waiting for GH4. HMX will have had a whole year and failed to provide us with the game. Therefore they will be royally punished.

I like Rock Band. Its a great game but I am over the whole silent treatment and Activision will have the capability to provide a worldwide launch before Christmas...something that EA failed to achieve with Rock Band.

I understand your sentiment, but, quite frankly, the Australian gaming market is small enough that a publisher can almost completely write it off without consequence (very similar to writing off, say, the Netherlands in terms of population and GDP, although my example has not as harsh of shipping costs). Needless to say, even if GH4 is a huge hit in Australia, the sales figures aren't likely to tilt the balance of power much, if at all.

[gamrrpol]

A few thoughts:

1) To those that say you can play either game and don't have to choose between the two games. Yes, that is true right now (I have every GH game and RB and almost 100 DLC). In the future, however, that will not be true. With GH expanding to a band approach those who want to play both will not only have to shell out major $$$ to cover the costs of peripherals they'll also need a warehouse to store all the various equipment. We are headed for one of the great corporate face-offs, similar to VHS versus Betamax, Nintendo versus Sony and Microsoft versus Apple. Frankly, I don't like this, but it is the nature of the marketplace beast.

2) To those saying GHIV is already better than RB. You're just being silly. The PROMISE of GHIV might be better but you're not gonna know until you try it. Let's find out if all those new capabilities (which do sound exciting) pan out as well as envisioned.

3) Both franchises have strengths and weaknesses. HMX / RB has proven to be the better innovator and more in tune with user's wishes. HMX created GH, then made a quantum leap forward with RB. Their slavish dedication to weekly DLC has been a huge positive to the RB franchise, keeping the game fresh for all players. However, their peripherals are a major weakness. Both the guitar and drum-kit are simply inadequate and need a swift, major improvement. If I were HMX that is the area I would most focus on improving as the RB gameplay is already infectious. Activision kinda stumbled with GHIII but it was their first effort in the rhythm game category; I expect them to improve with GHIV and their plans are indeed ambitious. They also have the Red Octane guys in-house and it was they would developed the original GH controller, without which none of us would be on this board. Also, Activision has developed some pretty good games over the years, so they have some skill. However, Activions has proven to be clueless about users. Adding repulsive in-game ads and the horrific boss-battles to GHIII showed they reallyl didn't understand the game. Activision is also notorious for aggressively leveraging a franchise to the point of burying it (see Tony Hawk). Also, Activision has completely missed the appeal of DLC (and admite as much).

4. I've already invested heavily in RB. Orig game kit ($180), destroyer pedal ($75), Omega pedal ($75), wireless mic ($30), mic stand ($30), USB extension cords ($60), DLC ($180), drum pads ($25), yoga mat to keep kit in place ($30)...I'm sure I'm forgetting other costs. I can't envision investing similarly in GHIV unless it just blows RB away. I imagine most people will fall in the same boat, even if they haven't spent as much money. It's just not feasible to support two band-oriented game franchises.

We're talking billions of dollar at stake as the rhythm game category is no doubt going to continue to grow. This will be an epic battle.