Why it's good TB:RB is standalone

[jeccaneko]

I've seen some people complain about the fact The Beatles: Rock Band is not exportable, you can't play current RB DLC on it, and it'll only worth with Beatles DLC. Well, here's a few reasons it's good that it is standalone!

tl;dr people can just read the stuff in bold to get my point.

1) If Rock Band 2 (and its DLC) was exportable to The Beatles: Rock Band, that would fracture the community. You would have some people playing on RB2, some playing on TB:RB, and that would kill the whole platform concept that I am convinced HMX still wants to keep.

2) If The Beatles: Rock Band (and its DLC) was exportable to Rock Band 2, it would not support harmonies. The RB2 engine simply is not programmed to do this. Thus it would kill part of the fun of playing these songs.

3) The Beatles: Rock Band will most likely help the RB platform grow. The Beatles will inspire people to pick up TB:RB. That might get people so into it they want to get into the main game. If the main game's DLC was supported in TB:RB, it would not encourage converts and you'd still have that community fracturing like I mentioned in #1.

4) The Beatles: Rock Band is a whole new game, just with Rock Band gameplay. It is meant to give you the whole Beatles experience. It is NOT meant to be traditional sort of Rock Band. That's why you don't have your own characters. That's why you go to famous Beatles-related locations, the dreamscapes, etc.

TB:RB is not meant to be part of the platform. I think part of it might be for licensing reasons (only way HMX could get the songs), part of it for technical limitations, and part of it for that experience HMX wanted to give people.

I understand that some people are disappointed that it is not exportable. If things like The Beatles themselves, the harmonies, the whole experience HMX put into the game... if those don't interest you, then perhaps this game isn't for you.

This game is not meant to be an expansion pack. It is not meant to be Rock Band as we know it.

I'm done now.

[justin19954]

TL;DR jkjk. I like your points and I agree with them.

[madcow36]

Well said my friend. I agree

[afterstasis]

i'm still definitely getting the game (and very much anticipating the new features almost as much as the songs themselves), but i'm not going to deny being bummed that the songs aren't exportable.

i'd even be fine with losing the harmonies when playing the songs on RB2... i'd probably mostly play the songs on TB:RB for that feature when with a full group, but i'd LOVE to have the option.

[RMThompson]

Great answers to a seemingly overzealous fanboy attack.

It just simply doesn't make sense.

[cherokeesam]

1) If Rock Band 2 (and its DLC) was exportable to The Beatles: Rock Band, that would fracture the community. You would have some people playing on RB2, some playing on TB:RB, and that would kill the whole platform concept that I am convinced HMX still wants to keep.

Whereas if TBRB was exportable to RB, the community would remain INTACT, and people would be jamming to The Beatles in their setlists as well as all the rest of the bands.

2) If The Beatles: Rock Band (and its DLC) was exportable to Rock Band 2, it would not support harmonies. The RB2 engine simply is not programmed to do this. Thus it would kill part of the fun of playing these songs.

You can still play The Beatles just as well in traditional Bass-Guitar-Drums-Vox mode without having to sing harmonies. But the rest of the band could still feel free to sing along.

3) The Beatles: Rock Band will most likely help the RB platform grow. The Beatles will inspire people to pick up TB:RB. That might get people so into it they want to get into the main game. If the main game's DLC was supported in TB:RB, it would not encourage converts and you'd still have that community fracturing like I mentioned in #1.

And if/when TBRB "converts" come to RB2 and find out that they'll have to leave their precious Beatles setlists behind on a separate disc, they're not likely to be pleased. At all.

4) The Beatles: Rock Band is a whole new game, just with Rock Band gameplay. It is meant to give you the whole Beatles experience. It is NOT meant to be traditional sort of Rock Band. That's why you don't have your own characters. That's why you go to famous Beatles-related locations, the dreamscapes, etc.

Yup, just like in GHAerosmith and GHMetallica.
Which I recall these same HMX fanboys lambasting for *precisely* the same limitations that TBRB is now saddled with.

TB:RB is not meant to be part of the platform. I think part of it might be for licensing reasons (only way HMX could get the songs), part of it for technical limitations, and part of it for that experience HMX wanted to give people.

Or, it could be simply that The Beatles are arrogant, selfish bastards who don't want to mix with the "hoi polloi" of Rock Band (bands like The Who, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, CCR, The Zombies....I mean, can you *imagine*? *tsk* )

I understand that some people are disappointed that it is not exportable. If things like The Beatles themselves, the harmonies, the whole experience HMX put into the game... if those don't interest you, then perhaps this game isn't for you.

They do interest me. Long enough to rent it for the few hours it'll take to complete the career mode. Then it's back to Blockbuster, and I'm back to playing RB and supporting the whole music platform idea that seems to have fallen on the backburner at HMX.

This game is not meant to be an expansion pack. It is not meant to be Rock Band as we know it.

Yup....just like Aerosmith and Metallica are "not meant to be expansion packs." And yet....they ARE expansion packs. Just like TB:RB.

I'm done now.

Me too.

[Soja]

An honorable intent, Jecca, but those who want to ***** about it will ***** about it regardless of merit or reason.

[jeccaneko]

Whereas if TBRB was exportable to RB, the community would remain INTACT, and people would be jamming to The Beatles in their setlists as well as all the rest of the bands.

That is true. But I wonder if this is partly a licensing issue other than a technical one (harmonies). I did mention that at one point.

You can still play The Beatles just as well in traditional Bass-Guitar-Drums-Vox mode without having to sing harmonies. But the rest of the band could still feel free to sing along.

Yes, but it doesn't do anything for the game. When I play bass I already do backup vocals unofficially. The harmonies is an advertised feature of TB:RB.

And if/when TBRB "converts" come to RB2 and find out that they'll have to leave their precious Beatles setlists behind on a separate disc, they're not likely to be pleased. At all.

Not necessarily. You forget us Rock Band players are spoiled. Before RB1's export, no music game ever exported before.

Yup, just like in GHAerosmith and GHMetallica.
Which I recall these same HMX fanboys lambasting for *precisely* the same limitations that TBRB is now saddled with.

Those are expansion packs. They work EXACTLY the same as the games they are using the engines of (GH:A being GH3's engine and GH:M being GHWT's engine). There are no limitations other than perhaps licensing and the fact that Activision/Neversoft is trying to make you buy the disc. That is their business philsophy, to sell discs. You can see this in the way they choose to put out a ton of GH games and not really being serious about releasing DLC.

Or, it could be simply that The Beatles are arrogant, selfish bastards who don't want to mix with the "hoi polloi" of Rock Band (bands like The Who, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, CCR, The Zombies....I mean, can you *imagine*? *tsk* )

I know. I meant this in the licensing bit.

They do interest me. Long enough to rent it for the few hours it'll take to complete the career mode. Then it's back to Blockbuster, and I'm back to playing RB and supporting the whole music platform idea that seems to have fallen on the backburner at HMX.

It's not supposed to be part of the platform. It's a different game, just given the RB name for marketing reasons.

Yup....just like Aerosmith and Metallica are "not meant to be expansion packs." And yet....they ARE expansion packs. Just like TB:RB.

I discussed this above.

I'm not trying to attack anybody who is disappointed, like you obviously are cherokeesam. I am just pointing these things out. I understand you're upset. I was at first too.

I don't consider myself an HMX fangirl by any means. I do not buy any video game just based on the fact a certain developer makes it (well, I do this for one developer only nowadays - that's Bioware though). In fact, I was still on the fence about this game and extremely iffy about it until I saw how the game played thanks to E3 videos. I don't even really know many Beatles songs but it looks fun to me.

I'm still a little disappointed I can't play these songs when I play the other ones, but as a music game fan I will say, again, that we are spoiled by the fact RB1 exported and that HMX has supported the platform. All other music games make their bucks by selling more discs. You are forced to disc swap. I've got hundreds of DDR songs over PS1 and PS2, but guess what? They're spread over about 10 discs! This is common for music games.

[cherokeesam]

We may be "spoiled," but that's nobody's fault but HMX's. They're the ones who championed the unified platform; they're the ones who (rightfully) bragged about being the ones who let you bring your setlist from the original over to the sequel.

You can't blame us for believing HMX's promises, can you? If that makes us gullible for actually believing HMX when they said they'd never make a standalone band game, or deviate from the core platform, then what does that make those of you who blindly believe everything HMX is now promising you in TBRB, or Lego, or anything else?

[Super Bass]

I think I'll throw in my perspective before the angry kids tear you to shreds (unfortunately ).

I've seen some people complain about the fact The Beatles: Rock Band is not exportable, you can't play current RB DLC on it, and it'll only worth with Beatles DLC. Well, here's a few reasons it's good that it is standalone!

tl;dr people can just read the stuff in bold to get my point.

1) If Rock Band 2 (and its DLC) was exportable to The Beatles: Rock Band, that would fracture the community. You would have some people playing on RB2, some playing on TB:RB, and that would kill the whole platform concept that I am convinced HMX still wants to keep.

Technically, this game WILL fracture part of the community (I expect MOST of the people that end up buying this game will be new to Rock Band). If people aren't playing RB2, they'll be playing TB:RB (so, either way, unless you ALSO have a copy of TB:RB, you won't be able to play with those individuals for a while--a least a month before the initial novelty wears off for them).

And anyone who thought the RB2 stuff would be playable on this game:



Which brings me to:

2) If The Beatles: Rock Band (and its DLC) was exportable to Rock Band 2, it would not support harmonies. The RB2 engine simply is not programmed to do this. Thus it would kill part of the fun of playing these songs.

The harmonies not being supported is a given (export or no export). IF there was an export, that would at least be the ONE thing to keep people playing the Beatles disc--you can only do three-person harmonies on THAT game. As far as playing the songs in RB2, I don't see why that's not possible (like RB1 songs played in RB2). Minus the possible technological problems of the interface (which none of us knows about--good or bad), it comes down to one simple question:

What happens when you only have ONE microphone?

The same thing that happens when you only have ONE microphone in RB2.

3) The Beatles: Rock Band will most likely help the RB platform grow. The Beatles will inspire people to pick up TB:RB. That might get people so into it they want to get into the main game. If the main game's DLC was supported in TB:RB, it would not encourage converts and you'd still have that community fracturing like I mentioned in #1.

The problem is that once the new players to the platform have seen how great a game from HMX plays out, they'll realize that they can't play those Beatles tracks in RB2 or maybe even RB3 (things aren't DEFINITE, but all signs point to "when Hell freezes over"). They'll be all happy about the game and realize that it's JUST like Guitar Hero (some people HONESTLY don't know that there IS a difference between RB and GH). If the game had exportability, newcomers could experience The Beatles and then transfer the songs to RB2 to catch up to the same 84 songs and other DLC that many of us have been playing for a while.

Show Grandma, Aunt Sue, or whoever, that the Harmonix brand is ONE great library of music that can be built up as time goes on.

"Aunt Sue, if you liked the Beatles game, you can also play most of the RB1 songs along with them in RB2."

Aunt Sue sees that she has bought a game from a company that is fleshing out great music to create a phenomenal gaming experience.

However, without the export, Aunt Sue is stuck switching discs to play The Beatles (and without the export, she doesn't know that RB is a platform at ALL).

4) The Beatles: Rock Band is a whole new game, just with Rock Band gameplay. It is meant to give you the whole Beatles experience. It is NOT meant to be traditional sort of Rock Band. That's why you don't have your own characters. That's why you go to famous Beatles-related locations, the dreamscapes, etc.

I'm sure most people wanted to play AS The Beatles, but I ALSO think that they wanted to make sure that their $60 was well spent. I think the music ALONE is worth 60 bucks, but the experience...well I'm guessing the average Joe can beat the game in about six hours (and that's probably STRETCHING the game out). So is six hours worth $60? THAT question is quite subjective. If you're like me and you don't have anyone else that is even REMOTELY interested in singing (much less harmonizing), an export at LEAST numbs the sting to my wallet.

TB:RB is not meant to be part of the platform. I think part of it might be for licensing reasons (only way HMX could get the songs), part of it for technical limitations, and part of it for that experience HMX wanted to give people

My ONLY issue with this is that something wasn’t said before E3. Everyone is twisting the comment from last year, when we all learned that the Beatles game was “not a Rock Band game.” But since it sounds so vague, some people took that to mean “not RB3” instead of “not transferable to RB2.” I only wish that THAT had been clarified. People are now saying that Harmonix “said from the beginning that it would be a standalone,” but “not a Rock Band game” has more than one meaning. Harmonix DID NOT say that the game would be a standalone, but they ALSO didn’t say that it would export. One simple statement way back when (around…oh…October) would’ve softened the blow some felt last week and the crying wouldn’t be so bad (someone will ALWAYS be crying on the forums, but at least there would be less of it).

I understand that some people are disappointed that it is not exportable. If things like The Beatles themselves, the harmonies, the whole experience HMX put into the game... if those don't interest you, then perhaps this game isn't for you.

This game is not meant to be an expansion pack. It is not meant to be Rock Band as we know it.

I think more people are thinking of the game as a 60-dollar rental, plain and simple. That’s why there’s such uproar. Add the fact that there is now separate DLC between two HMX titles and Harmonix has now fueled the fire for the people who stood by the “platform” mentality that they upheld. I think it sucks that all the songs can’t just be played in one game. I understand where everyone is coming from, and I think the no export issue is an important one.

Will I buy the game? Sure…eventually. But right now it comes down to this:

Do I want to spend $60 on at least 30 new DLC tracks that will be playable in all future RB titles (I hope)?

OR

Do I want to spend $60 on a game that I KNOW I will enjoy but will give me buyer’s remorse by the end of the first week?


Without the export, I'm SERIOUSLY undecided (since I mostly play Rock Band 2 solo, the harmonies don't do anything for me—and I don’t even want to THINK about the online multiplayer on this thing compared to RB2) ?

I'm done now.

So am I. Great points!