From Comic-Con: Drake Demoing Rock Band Blitz TODAY at 6:45 EST with GameSpot!

[Dangimarocker]

No setlist revealed next week?

Catch the ‪#RockBandBlitz‬ demo at SDCC we tweeted earlier? If not, we confirmed we'll announce release date and price next week! Please RT!

[www1221]

It was a GameSpot live stream and their connection got messed up, we have no control over their technical problems.

John should have told people to turn off their cell phones bevause its interfering with the signal.

[Meat-Popsicle]

You have to be online to play the game? And, even if you are online, it might run on the same server that we know to be very unrealiable? Is this going to be like a Zynga game, where you have to buy powerups with real money unless you are super-patient and willing to grind it out by slooowwwly earning coins in free mode?

I'M WORRIED ABOUT THIS.

No, seriously, I'm going to pretend I didn't read any of that and assume it'll all work out just fine starting on August 21st (or so).

[HMXPope]

No setlist revealed next week?

Yep, next week we'll be revealing some more of the setlist as well.

[samjjones]

You have to be online to play the game? And, even if you are online, it might run on the same server that we know to be very unrealiable? Is this going to be like a Zynga game, where you have to buy powerups with real money unless you are super-patient and willing to grind it out by slooowwwly earning coins in free mode?

I'M WORRIED ABOUT THIS.

No, seriously, I'm going to pretend I didn't read any of that and assume it'll all work out just fine starting on August 21st (or so).

Seeing how they've mentioned that a big part of this game is how it ties into social media...the online component doesn't surprise me in the least.

[HMXPope]

I'M WORRIED ABOUT THIS.

I've asked Nord to pop in here when he gets a chance to fill you in on why you should not be worried, but the main conclusion you seem to be jumping to is that it's the same server as RB3's, which admittedly has had issues. It is most definitely NOT the same server or infrastructure as RB3.

[HMXPope]

Also once the Blitz servers are going to get shut off in a few years, you won't be able to play the game properly anymore? Nice.

So, this is an interesting leap to make. If anything I think Harmonix has shown a level of commitment and support to our players over the past few years that not many other companies could match. I mean, c'maaan, we still have our RB1 Wii servers online!

[HMXPope]

Also, apologies for not using multi-quote on all those responses! GRADE A JERK OVER HERE!

[www1221]

Trying to run up your post count. Shame on you Pope. But it means I get to see that awesome avatar twice so all is forgiven.

[HMXMister_Game]

I'm not pleased with making the online mode into a quasi gameplay necessity. Me & all of my friends run into connection problems with the Rock Central servers in RB3 every few weeks, which is all sorts of annoying.

It is pretty safe to assume that the RBB & RB3 Rock Centrals are the same servers, right?

Nope. Not only brand new and different server machines, but a whole new server software infrastructure, written from the ground up just for Blitz by our crack Network programmers. It lets us ditch the older codebase that we used to support Rock Band. We're also going to use it for the next Dance Central.

That's a weird choice, making some features of the game unaccessible when offline. Can you explain in more detail what will and what won't be available when playing offline?

You can play any songs on your console when you are offline, but won't be able to earn coins, cred, or use powerups.

The reasons for this are many, but the biggest one is simplicity. For Rock Band games some of the most complicated network stuff we had to do was queueing up results (i.e. leaderboard scores) and then delivering them when you were connected. There are all sorts of weird edge cases that have to be handled.

Since Blitz is an arcade game we could assume a network connection, but also we could simplify the entire flow. The server is in charge of cred, coins, and transactions. Add to that our big focus on multiplayer competition and it made the most sense to require a connection.

Is this going to be like a Zynga game, where you have to buy powerups with real money unless you are super-patient and willing to grind it out by slooowwwly earning coins in free mode?

No. No real money required.

There are many great opportunities to earn extra coins. We'll be talking more about them soon.