RB Blitz "Challenges"

[metalkorn]

So without seeing much of it in action, pretty much just in live streams I am curious about the following.

- How many challenges exist in the game?
- Will these challenges grow with your collection like the challenge mode in RB2?

Just wondering how much life there will be in this title outside of the standard challenge a friend to a duel thing.

[HMXPope]

THIS is an excellent question. Let me do my best to answer.

So, to use Rock Band Blitz parlance, the challenges I believe you are talking about here are called SCORE WARS. This is a player-vs-player challenge that is suggested to you by our recommendation engine. So, for example, let's say log in to the game, and I see in my Recommendations Feed that it has suggested I challenge HMXMister_Game (Nord) to beat me at "I'm Still Standing". I decide this sounds like a good thing to do, so I accept, and that will send a challenge message over to Nord in his game's Messages screen. We each have X number of days to get the highest possible score on this song. The message in your inbox will remain and track the number off attempts Nord and I make on the song, and show who is currently winning.

Now, the Recommendations Feed will also suggest a number of other things to you that you might be construing as challenges as well. For example, it will scan your library and say something to the effect of "Hey you should play this song because Pope currently has a higher score than you on it." So then you could pop into that and compete with my score on your friends leaderboards, without actually being in a Score War.

The Recommendations Feed could also say "Hey you haven't played this song yet!" which I find to be IMMENSELY helpful when you either have a really big library, or you buy DLC often. It's easy to forget you have certain songs, so the game will helpfully remind you of that.

The Feed will also keep you up to date on new DLC releases that might appeal to your tastes, and if you so decide that, yes, you would be interested in buying that new track, one button press will take you directly to that song's page in the Music Store.

The important, and VERY COOL, thing to note about the Recommendations Feed is that it is totally dynamic and will refresh itself every time you log in to our Rock Central server, which happens any time you back out to the main splash screen of the game, and of course every time you boot the game up. So you're always being met with a new slew of about a dozen or so recommendations that can help guide what you play in that session, if you so desire.

There is actually a pretty big piece of functionality in this very area that we are not yet ready to talk about, but stay tuned for more on that next month!

[metalkorn]

Thanks for the detailed response Pope.

I will assume that the secret stuff is somehow related to the initial screenshot that hinted at some sort of Rockband World Facebook integration.

Perhaps I should hit you with a couple of other related questions then.

If I don't have a friend in my friends list that has Blitz, will i be given score wars against random Blitz players or will I need to have someone that plays the game on my list to get these?

Is the purpose of the recommendations just to say you haven't played this song or someone has beaten your score as well as alerting you to new DLC? I'm just wondering what the feed would look like if you have played every song in your collection and have a better score then all of your friends.

In a somewhat related question, if you go to the store based on a recommendation can you purchase pro upgrades within the RB Blitz store even though you can't use them in the game or will you still need to boot up RB3 to make that purchase?

I can't wait to get my hands on the game, it seems you guys have loads of fun with it.

[HMXPope]

If I don't have a friend in my friends list that has Blitz, will i be given score wars against random Blitz players or will I need to have someone that plays the game on my list to get these?

If you don't have XBL or PSN friends with Rock Band Blitz, the game will suggest Score Wars with other random players.

Is the purpose of the recommendations just to say you haven't played this song or someone has beaten your score as well as alerting you to new DLC? I'm just wondering what the feed would look like if you have played every song in your collection and have a better score then all of your friends.

Just think of Recommendations as a sort of quick launch for getting into the game. It removes the part where you obsess over which song (of your library of hundreds!) to play. You can still do that, of course, in the main song list. In the scenario you suggest, I guess you've effectively "beaten" the game, not that it has an end game, at which point you can continue to try to top the global leaderboards.

In a somewhat related question, if you go to the store based on a recommendation can you purchase pro upgrades within the RB Blitz store even though you can't use them in the game or will you still need to boot up RB3 to make that purchase?

Great question. If you're looking to get PRO Upgrades to songs, you'll need to do that through the RB3 Music Store, as they have no use in Blitz.

I can't wait to get my hands on the game, it seems you guys have loads of fun with it.

We are genuinely having tons of fun with the game. There are a lot of little hooks that have got me totally addicted.

[HMXMister_Game]

We are genuinely having tons of fun with the game. There are a lot of little hooks that have got me totally addicted.

And also he's starting to beat me at Score Wars.

Bastard.

[Lord_Mhoram]

If you don't have XBL or PSN friends with Rock Band Blitz, the game will suggest Score Wars with other random players.

Now if I want to see the recommendations from songs I haven't played, but have absolutely no interest in trying to best someone else's score, can that aspect of it be turned off? Not to be a negative nelly, but I don't video game for that sort of thing (I don't think I have ever looked at a leaderboard in my life, and the fact that RB3 displays that as part of the end song is something I find annoying - I've literally unplugged my 360 when I play so that won't show up )


I am really stoked about this game though - it looks to be really fun.

[www1221]

and the fact that RB3 displays that as part of the end song is something I find annoying - I've literally unplugged my 360 when I play so that won't show up

Really? Really? That might be a worse complaint than the complaint that H$H had about the font.

[HMXPope]

Now if I want to see the recommendations from songs I haven't played, but have absolutely no interest in trying to best someone else's score, can that aspect of it be turned off?

The suggested Score War will usually only be one of the dozen or so recommendations shown.

I do see where you're coming from with your question, actually. I've personally never been a gamer that plays competitive multiplayer games, apart from Rock Band and Left4Dead. There's a lot to dislike out there in that world, not the least of which is a 12 year old kid calling you epithets and teabagging you after he's shot you in the head in some FPS. Not my cup of tea!

BUT, here's the thing. All of that said, the competitive elements of Rock Band Blitz have truly hooked me. Firstly, it's asynchronous, so you're not online with some stranger in real time, interacting with you/heckling you. You're, effectively, playing against that person's score and rewarded with much-needed coins if you win.

The competitive features are totally optional, though. If you just want to get the game and play the songs and have fun interacting with some cool music, that is ABSOLUTELY fair. It will still deliver the goods.

[Lord_Mhoram]

Really? Really? That might be a worse complaint than the complaint that H$H had about the font.

that is a very odd annoyance with the game. Would you prefer you don't get a score at all while they are at it? It's a game, games are about competition and scoring.
.

Wasn't a complaint - just voicing a minor annoyance.
As for what games are - do you compare your "score" in Heavy Rain, or Final Fantasy? I don't play games to compete with anyone else. I play them for the enjoyment the playing of them bring me. As for "cutting myself off" I don't have a Gold membership, and only 2 Xbox live friends (as I don't game online no realy point to them). I like having a score so I can compare how well I did 6 months ago on a song to what I do now - it's a way to see my improvement.

The suggested Score War will usually only be one of the dozen or so recommendations shown.

I do see where you're coming from with your question, actually.

The competitive features are totally optional, though. If you just want to get the game and play the songs and have fun interacting with some cool music, that is ABSOLUTELY fair. It will still deliver the goods.

Thank you. I appreciate the info.

[lightsup55]

In a somewhat related question, if you go to the store based on a recommendation can you purchase pro upgrades within the RB Blitz store even though you can't use them in the game or will you still need to boot up RB3 to make that purchase?

Great question. If you're looking to get PRO Upgrades to songs, you'll need to do that through the RB3 Music Store, as they have no use in Blitz.

Alternatively, you could just use the Rock Band Music Store app (link to download on Xbox 360) without needing to boot up Rock Band 3.

This reduces load times (Rock Band 3's song cache update) if you only intend to browse the music store to download the song and pro guitar/bass upgrade, but not play Rock Band 3 for a while.

However, you will still need Rock Band 3 to play the pro guitar/bass upgrades of each song.

I can't wait to get my hands on the game, it seems you guys have loads of fun with it.

Same here.

I don't even care as much for Call of Duty: Black Ops II or anything else that is coming out this year, just get me Rock Band Blitz and I'll be happy.