Popular Mechanics reviews RB2, GHWT, and RR all with videos

[S1ckH4nds]

Just found this on the front page of Digg, and haven't seen it posted here yet:
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/reviews/4273871.html

It looks like the Popular Mechanics crew got some time to check out all three of the big rhythm games out of E3, and have posted their thoughts and some videos of each. The Rock Band 2 videos in particular show off a bit of the Drum Trainer mode, and have a short excerpt from a band playing Jimmy Eat World's "The Middle", along with an interview with Greg LoPiccolo.

[RockBandRocker]

I love it.

The RB2 interviewer says: "We're here talking about Rock Band 2, that's what everyone cares about this year". I lol'd :p


He pwned GH:WT without even knowing it. :)

[MSG__]

great find, now if i could only watch the videos at work

[Sayburr]

Interesting:
"During regular game play, the cymbals will be interchangeable with their color counterparts (although hitting the raised one scores extra points), ... "

Get extra points on songs if you buy the add-ons...

[Rockin_it_all_nite_long]

holy crap the bass drum pedal is loud as hell (ion).

drum trainer looks a little dumb though, as it seems you'd be learning more by just playing the songs on the game (since most songs have varying 8th note-high-hat beats anyway...)

[xxpigxx]

Good video . . . and the girl was hot too :D

[Rockin_it_all_nite_long]

Interesting:
"During regular game play, the cymbals will be interchangeable with their color counterparts (although hitting the raised one scores extra points), ... "

Get extra points on songs if you buy the add-ons...

nice, whoever throws the most money at HMX wins score battle

[S1ckH4nds]

Interesting:
"During regular game play, the cymbals will be interchangeable with their color counterparts (although hitting the raised one scores extra points), ... "

Get extra points on songs if you buy the add-ons...
Yeah, I saw that as well. That's going to totally destroy the leaderboards if it's true.

[schmeankman]

I lol'd hard at the rock revolution vid. They just seemed like they wanted to leave.

[Rockin_it_all_nite_long]

woah just saw the rr video... it says that that was expert... if so the drums are HORRIBLY charted... waaaaay off (and it's not really that much of a complicated song in the first place)

[Keebler]

holy crap the bass drum pedal is loud as hell (ion).

drum trainer looks a little dumb though, as it seems you'd be learning more by just playing the songs on the game (since most songs have varying 8th note-high-hat beats anyway...)

I have to imagine that will change once you move past lesson 1 and increase the speed.

But the fill trainer looks kinda disappointing. At least from that first lesson.

[dady5000]

You forgot to mention the epic picture of HMXsean.

[Sayburr]

R&D in the backroom to bridge gap between real guitar and controller... said in video interview.

[dady5000]

I have to imagine that will change once you move past lesson 1 and increase the speed.

But the fill trainer looks kinda disappointing. At least from that first lesson.

Hey there has to be stuff for beginners. (That lady was obviously having her first time)

[Rockin_it_all_nite_long]

Hey there has to be stuff for beginners. (That lady was obviously having her first time)

but i don't know... i guess i don't get it... why are those beats there when they're basically in EVERY song, specifically the earlier ones?

i don't know what percentage of the drum trainer that is, but if it's 5-10% of it then I can't see the drum trainer being very helpful. They'll probably go over some basic 8th/16th note fills (that are again, in every song), and finish up with 16ths on the hi-hat/ride

[Ryder35]

I have never seen anyone look like they were having less fun than the guy playing those things that pass for drums in RR!

[instantdeath999]

I actually feel sorry Konami... that looked incredibly un-fun. And yes, I'm aware "un-fun" is not a word.

[FickAwesome]

First off, if the stuff in the drum trainer's in "every song" well, that's the point. to teach very new beginners the basic beats you'll see in a lot of songs. I know it might help me out just wrapping my head around this. We'll see how in depth it goes when we all get our hands on it.

Also, I never noticed that RR doesn't have vocals.....really? They're seriously competing without the 4th instrument that both their competitors have? What'd they do take the mics and melt them down into more cymbols for the drums?

[Bakkster]

drum trainer looks a little dumb though, as it seems you'd be learning more by just playing the songs on the game (since most songs have varying 8th note-high-hat beats anyway...)


I have to imagine that will change once you move past lesson 1 and increase the speed.

But the fill trainer looks kinda disappointing. At least from that first lesson.


but i don't know... i guess i don't get it... why are those beats there when they're basically in EVERY song, specifically the earlier ones?

i don't know what percentage of the drum trainer that is, but if it's 5-10% of it then I can't see the drum trainer being very helpful. They'll probably go over some basic 8th/16th note fills (that are again, in every song), and finish up with 16ths on the hi-hat/ride

I can understand why a basic 8th note rock beat seems superfluous, but it really is useful to have a metronome to play to and learn to keep a constant beat, as well as pick the exact speed. Of course, most people will be able to skip these first beats and go to more complicated beats. Sure there might be a song with that beat, but in the trainer you can pick multiple tempos and play it as long as you want. I believe I saw that the trainer would have over 70 beats to play, so there's a lot beyond just 8th or 16th note rock beats (techno beats, soul beats, gospel beats, coutry beats, etc).

As for the fill trainer, that was called "just the backbeat", aka just the snare when you'd normally hit it. There will obviously be more than that.

As someone who recently made the just from RB to real drums, this would have been (and still will be) very useful to me. I only really know how to do one type of fill (descending toms) and very few "standard" rhythms. I have to stumble around until I find a rhythm that matches a Surf Rock song. I'm looking forward to the trainer filling in those gaps for me, so I can feel like a drummer, rather than someone just playing the drums.

[Electric_Zen]

Every report I've seen indicates that GH:WT was not playable at the show. That's not real encouraging. RB1 was playable by journalists last year. They even let journalists take a build back to their hotel for partying in the evening.

[RockBandRocker]

People at E3 seem to have liked Rock Band 2. :)

[dady5000]

Every report I've seen indicates that GH:WT was not playable at the show.

That's because Activision wasn't even at E3.

They had their own personal event to show GH:WT. That's it.

[killer_roach]

That's because Activision wasn't even at E3.

They had their own personal event to show GH:WT. That's it.

Bullseye. That aside, the lack of access people have to the game is rather disconcerting considering it's only three months from release.

[Electric_Zen]

That's because Activision wasn't even at E3.

That's a little argumentative. As you well know, Activision was holding press availabilities and demos alongside the E3 conference. Activision allowed journalists to do hands-on demos of a lot of their games, including Call of Duty, but not GH:WT.

[xxpigxx]

Well considering they just now git the rights to Hendrix . . .

[Brainstew]

Extra points for the addons is ******ed, they really need to reconsider this...

[CONAN9845]

I thought I read that the cymbals would only be different during fills and BREs?

[Zarhawk]

Has anyone liked RR?

[dady5000]

Has anyone liked RR?

The people who are blindly advertising it apparently do...

[killer_roach]

The people who are blindly advertising it apparently do...

If you're paid enough to like something you learn to like it (or at least the money you get for pretending to).

[Jaacar]

Wow @ RR.

There isn't much to say about it other than they've gone backwards from their original Drummania even. They should quit while they are ahead and stick to the dancing and singing games. Looks like alot of money wasted on development for a game that will sell less than Parapa-rappa (or whatever it was called).

GH:WT looks alright (from the videos I've seen of actual gameplay). Looks alot like early renderings of Rock Band. Guess we'll see how the 'charting' goes as they get closer to launch date.

RB2, well where to start. I like that they showed off the Ion drum kit, however those pads sound just as loud as the first stock RB kit. And that bass pedal, well I own one of those (it's the hi-hat pedal from a DD-502 electronic kit) and yes it has a loud sort of click noise (plastic switch inside clicks, the metal of the arm that presses against the switch sometimes rubs against the metal of the outside casing). It's great that it has symbols that you can buy and attach but I'm just not liking that extra points thing if you have them (I'm sorry, it screams of "money grab"). Same goes with the velocity sensing issue - the harder you hit, the louder it sounds in game. Does that sound like license to beat the crap out of the drums to anyone else?

Anyways enough about drums, the gameplay looks the same, the songlist sounds amazing (and from what I've seen looks well charted) and the drum trainer looks like a great addition for those who want to practice something outside of a song instead of hearing that same section of a song fifty times trying to perfect it, then ending up hating the song because they've heard it too many times (yes Reaper, I'm talking to you). RB2 is a definite purchase in September (game only, I have enough guitars and the goodwood drums), GH:WT I'll likely buy the game but not until after Christmas. As for RR - yeah not gonna happen, ever. I'd rather play DDR (note: I'm white and can't dance at all) than endure that torture. Perhaps if it was my very first rhythm ga...err nevermind, not even then.

[drumgod]

Wait in the interview for rock band 2 it says for the drums you are going to be able to buy up to 3 cymbols to attach to the red yellow and green. 1. is that only for the rock band 2 drum kit and 2. is that the ion drum kit they are talking about

[blackplastic22]

I feal so sorry for Konami.

[Goatman...]

RB2 seems a lot like RB1. RB1 was a great game, so I don't know that they needed to really change much. I am not so worried about the peripherals because there seem to be a number of options to find just what you want. I might settle on a ByteArts modded RB2 Fender and stay with the sock modded RB1 drums till they break.

The cymbols adding extra points could be a disaster. I don't mind a little bonus to encourage playing more like a real drummer. I just worry they will offer a big incentive to play only the cymbols. That would be unrealistic, cheap and unfair.

As for RR it increasing seems like a rushed product conceived just to back up their lawsuit. I doesn't seem built to fight for a share of the marketplace. Just sad.

[darknessmoon]

but i don't know... i guess i don't get it... why are those beats there when they're basically in EVERY song, specifically the earlier ones?

i don't know what percentage of the drum trainer that is, but if it's 5-10% of it then I can't see the drum trainer being very helpful. They'll probably go over some basic 8th/16th note fills (that are again, in every song), and finish up with 16ths on the hi-hat/ride

Considering the fact that she claimed she had no musical talent whatsoever, and she's never sat behind a kit before, I think that drum trainer was very, very useful. That simple, little beat she was playing is 1 of the beats that I try to teach people when they first wanna know about drumming (That's how I started). It's always good for someone who has never touched a drum set to learn how to keep a beat without the fear of failiong out. :p