Rock Band in 2013 and beyond

[Spidermaniac]

It's for the best that the Guitar Hero game was canceled. I'll give credit for not wanting to make another Rock Band knockoff, but the six-string sounds like an awkward middle ground between the accessible 5-button gameplay and the authentic real guitar gameplay, and lack of compatibility with existing controllers and songs wouldn't have gone over well at all.

Yeah. Even though I'm a plastic-instrument junkie who owns almost all the GH titles in addition to everything Rock Band, stepping away from the co-op element of gameplay would have made it a non-starter for me.

As much as I'd love an RB4 or GH7, I'm glad this road never happened.

[Meat-Popsicle]

Reading the Penny Arcade article really made me nostalgic for those heady first few years of rhythm games, the early seeds of what would eventually become Rock Band. This franchise really does represent the ulitmate achievement of all of those false-starts and interesting failures and incomplete concepts. People at PAX waiting in line for hours for a chance to play one song, then getting right back in line? I can totally understand that kind of reaction to Rock Band. It's a wonderful game just the way it is - and that was before pro guitar / bass were added. Even the pro keys are too intimidating for the average performer in a party atmosphere - the harmonies are really the only "essential" expansion to the original Rock Band, as a party game for casual players. In its purest form, the whole point of the game is to be just that - a GAME, one that everyone can jump right into and simulate the excitement of playing a real instrument in a real band. You want to play a real guitar instead? Great! Go do that! And, if you really are an expert at the pro instruments, well, RB3 lets you jump in with a group of others (including casual users) and you can all have fun together. Or you can play that Other Game that's built primarily around the solo experience of playing a real stringed instrument. That's also an amazing concept (+ execution), but it's really not the same game concept as the one that Rock Band nails so perfectly. Adding another button, and 5 more strum bars [the abandond GH7 game]? Ugh. That's not an improvement to the concept. It's a misguided attempt to blend what should be two separate gaming ideas.

So why isn't everyone still playing the already-perfect Rock Band game? I guess "allowing you to play the same game with an ever-expanding list of new DLC" isn't still fun, not to everyone, based on how much the market shrunk, rather suddenly, years ago. It's really too bad that the current RB community size [stable, by now, not "collapsing" as many people still characterize it] is apparently not large enough to continue to support a plastic instrument vendor. That was a integral part of the game, right from launch, and its absence ensures that the world's most fun group rhythm game will eventually fade away completely ... for casual users.

For the permanently addicted, it need not ever die.

[tnevaker]

it's interesting how the article discusses all the reasons for the "failures" of Frequency and Amplitude, when HMX basically went right back to that well to produce Blitz.

[Mr-TyK]

Reading the Penny Arcade article really made me nostalgic for those heady first few years of rhythm games, the early seeds of what would eventually become Rock Band. This franchise really does represent the ulitmate achievement of all of those false-starts and interesting failures and incomplete concepts. People at PAX waiting in line for hours for a chance to play one song, then getting right back in line? I can totally understand that kind of reaction to Rock Band. It's a wonderful game just the way it is - and that was before pro guitar / bass were added. Even the pro keys are too intimidating for the average performer in a party atmosphere - the harmonies are really the only "essential" expansion to the original Rock Band, as a party game for casual players. In its purest form, the whole point of the game is to be just that - a GAME, one that everyone can jump right into and simulate the excitement of playing a real instrument in a real band. You want to play a real guitar instead? Great! Go do that! And, if you really are an expert at the pro instruments, well, RB3 lets you jump in with a group of others (including casual users) and you can all have fun together. Or you can play that Other Game that's built primarily around the solo experience of playing a real stringed instrument. That's also an amazing concept (+ execution), but it's really not the same game concept as the one that Rock Band nails so perfectly. Adding another button, and 5 more strum bars [the abandond GH7 game]? Ugh. That's not an improvement to the concept. It's a misguided attempt to blend what should be two separate gaming ideas.

So why isn't everyone still playing the already-perfect Rock Band game? I guess "allowing you to play the same game with an ever-expanding list of new DLC" isn't still fun, not to everyone, based on how much the market shrunk, rather suddenly, years ago. It's really too bad that the current RB community size [stable, by now, not "collapsing" as many people still characterize it] is apparently not large enough to continue to support a plastic instrument vendor. That was a integral part of the game, right from launch, and its absence ensures that the world's most fun group rhythm game will eventually fade away completely ... for casual users.

For the permanently addicted, it need not ever die.

I tend to agree with you Meat-Popsicle! The article did bring up a valid point. Rock Band did touch on an emotional dimension like no other video game ever had and perfected it in its execution. All the iterations I have touched of the Rock Band series have done this to varying degrees but in my opinion RB2 and TBRB did it with most aplomb with RB3 close behind. I had played in a group just after college and these games allowed me to recall and enjoy the best of the emotions involved with being in a working group while avoiding most of the negative ones that inevitably crop up when a handful of artists work in close proximity with each other for an extended period. There could be a taste of the negative when playing with others and trying to reach goals and high scores but never like what happens during a creative difference melt down. It is a game for fun so if it got overwhelming, it could be turned off. No "band breakup" feelings even need happen.
The article touched on professional musicians upset in "sharing that feeling". I don't know, if that was the case but really, they never needed to be that way. I was the type who took creative license with a chart, throwing a note in here or there and adding what felt right for the emotion of the song being performed rather than attempt to duplicate another artist's work exactly. The sort of "make it our own" approach to performance. That was a special feeling that original artists get that the game did not duplicate. They have their private thrill. Let the rest of the world taste some of the joy and maybe they will appreciate your work even more. It seems Harmonix got that just right. Many people who experienced Rock Band did gain a deeper appreciation and opened avenues of music they may have never known.
The fantasy is as complete as it should have been, right down to creating an alter ego for your game character that could be as wild or different from yourself as you wished.
Where I disagree with you, only slightly and in principle is the keys added a dimension to RB3 and allow for simple play in easy mode. Keys, along with harmonies would have made RB2 the ultimate fantasy in my opinion.
TBRB really hit the nail on the head, right down to controller replication with a good degree of accuracy of the classic instruments The Beatles used. For a single band game, it has that right mix of emotion. Only the truly deluded would think they are George Harrison while playing the Gretsch replica controller but the average fan could enjoy the fantasy and suspend disbelief for game play.
The website during the days of RB2 enjoying a major player base worked well with the emotional tie to the game. Its been discussed on another thread and the reasons are quite plain why it couldn't continue but allowing your band to make posters, and other merchandise completed the near perfect fantasy for RB2 allowing those who will never perform IRL to experience the thrill.
I do agree the fan base is probably pretty stable now. As long as the controllers hold out, we will be enjoying Rock Band. I think those that dropped off for the most part are simply a symptom of a world where the next big thing is the most important in life. Perhaps I am biased but it seems that the core video gaming community in general tends to be more in to that mind set.
For those that understand and enjoy that special aspect of Rock Band, its charm still holds us.

[Meat-Popsicle]

Where I disagree with you, only slightly and in principle is the keys added a dimension to RB3 and allow for simple play in easy mode. Keys, along with harmonies would have made RB2 the ultimate fantasy in my opinion.

For certain songs, keys are great fun, but the fatal flaw? You can't play guitar + bass + keys all at the same time. Not if you want a score [which is part of the fun for me - "how did we rank"? - even if the answer is usually, "not so great, too many n00bs playing!"]. So even when someone in the group [me] is willing to try out a song on keys (or, better yet, pro keys, on a song that's really simple OR that I have practiced recently), it kicks someone off of either guitar or bass. And that's too bad, because everyone loves playing those two, and the keys are a less "active" instrument, and it's harder to get that rock-and-roll fantasy motion going while playing. Although, now that I think of it, I could fix that problem instantly by putting a strap on the keyboard to convert it to a keytar.

"pronouced Murr-TeeKey", lol, love it

[Mr-TyK]

I've run the keys in all instrument mode with the bass, guitar, drums and a vocalist. The vocals loose a controller and don't get scored but everyone can play. I don't know if it works the same on Xbox or PS3 only because I am extremely uninformed about game consoles. Sometimes the person playing the keys here will get in to it a bit with the keystand, sort of in the Susan Dey fashion. quite entertaining when its my 9 year old niece.

Glad you like the handle. Its my alter ego character and band name, sort of like J. Geils or Bon Jovi.
All just part of the fun/fantasy or Rock Band.

[Bront20]

I've run the keys in all instrument mode with the bass, guitar, drums and a vocalist. The vocals loose a controller and don't get scored but everyone can play. I don't know if it works the same on Xbox or PS3 only because I am extremely uninformed about game consoles.

AIM mode works for everyone. The biggest flaw is that you need it to play GKB, even if you don't have drums. We do AIM mode at my parties here and there, but when we do, the Vocalists want to play instruments because they like being scored.

[RuseBalaxin]

I can really appreciate the impact Harmonix has made on the music
and game industry as a whole and without a doubt, it will be a sad day
when Rock Band dies or becomes clearly unprofitable.

Regarding the instruments issue I can understand the anxiety there,
a new title would necessitate the need to produce new guitars. Yet, at the
same time, how do you convincingly sell people on another music game
when your fan base is half the numbers it once was? Quite the pickle there.

And can we please get off the whole "Next Gen" thing, Please? I see this everywhere I go online now. X-box 720, PS4... enough already. Just stop. Stop. There is nothing wrong with this generation of consoles, the video games being produced today are down right jaw-dropping but because Nintendo put forth the Wii U (which is what the first Wii should've been) everyone is up in arms again over a supposed console war, it's pathetic. If the next/last/official Rock Band game gets released on brand new hardware, then I am seriously done.

Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to play some Super Nintendo,
a system that doesn't require an internet connection, never needs updates
and is guaranteed to work 10+ years from the time I finish typing this sentence.

[ThatAuthoringGroup]

Whether you think it's so or not, the next gen IS coming. It is inevitable.

The evidence points to E3 debut next June with November of 2013-first quarter 2014 as launch windows.

So it's not people screaming oh when is the next gen going to get here, it's people saying the next gen is coming soon.

The only reason it's relevent is it isn't known if the DLC will cross over with the new consoles, if there will be a new Rock Band on said consoles, or what.

Sure the DLC and games we bought for our current consoles will still work, but most people abandon their old consoles for the new ones. And with so many people having so much money wrapped up in Rock Band a lot of people want to know if it'll be safe to get rid of their old consoles so they can play all their games, instruments, and DLC on the new consoles, OR if we'll need to keep around the old consoles as dedicated Rock Band machines.

The talk has always been about this, but the underlying theme has been well next gen is a ways off, so worry about it later.

Well it's no longer a ways off, so people are getting more curious about what's going to happen with their DLC and Rock Band instruments. Most people trade in their old consoles towards the purchase of the new ones, and if Rock Band isn't going to work like it does on the current consoles (all DLC isn't there or the instruments don't work), people would like to know so they can plan on what to do if they need to keep their consoles for Rock Band.

[Meat-Popsicle]

And can we please get off the whole "Next Gen" thing, Please? I see this everywhere I go online now. X-box 720, PS4... enough already. Just stop. Stop. There is nothing wrong with this generation of consoles

There's nothing "wrong" with this generation of consoles, but once they make new ones, there will be even fewer users of the current ones. Not zero (the PS2 is STILL getting new games, aren't they? or were until very recently?), but fewer, and we (probably) can't afford to lose even more regular users without losing the whole franchise. IF the DLC transfers over to the new consoles, and IF there's some game (any game!) that will allow you to use it, then Rock Band might just live on.

I've read that the new Playstation won't use a cell processor, and thus won't have backwards compatability. If that turns out to be true, there's no way I'm buying a new console (well, not a Sony one) - I've got many years of (what I'm told are) very fun games left to explore, not even counting the never-gets-old (as long as rockbandscores.com works!) Rock Band franchise. But now you can see why it still matters to me whether or not there will be RB on the new consoles, even if I never buy it.