With the upcoming Steam Box, would a PC Rock Band make more sense?

[ForSpareParts]

There've been rumors recently that Microsoft might be shutting down Xbox Live Indies (fueled by their confirmed discontinuation of the XNA Framework, which powers all XBLIG titles). If the Indies store (and Creators Club) go away, it seems like RBN would have to die as well -- unless Microsoft were to create some kind of new platform for it, or bend their own publishing rules.

Meanwhile, Valve's announced their intentions to create a Linux-backed Steam "console" for TVs. They have a reputation for being very easy to work with, and for being supportive of user-created content. The Steam platform is also friendly to free-to-play games -- and since so many people already own instruments (which are either USB, or PC-compatible through a standard Xbox wireless controller dongle), a free-to-play Rock Band where you buy songs a la carte might bring in customers.

I know we've all got lots of DLC we don't want to lose, but this seems like it might be a great way to give Rock Band a shot in the arm: having RB3/Blitz be launch titles for a "new console" (so to speak) would probably be good exposure for the brand, and it'd certainly help solidify the Steam/Linux platform as a good way to play serious games in your living room. Really, what's more of a TV game than Rock Band?

[Bront20]

They'd have to start over from scratch, develop a game on a new (and difficult due to hardware variances) platform, restart from scratch on DLC, and find someone to make PC Compatible hardware or otherwise find a way to use existing hardware.

Not to mention that gaming consoles tend to be in living rooms where there's room for more people, and PCs not so much...

[grumblevolcano]

They'd have to start over from scratch, develop a game on a new (and difficult due to hardware variances) platform, restart from scratch on DLC, and find someone to make PC Compatible hardware or otherwise find a way to use existing hardware.

Not to mention that gaming consoles tend to be in living rooms where there's room for more people, and PCs not so much...

People wouldn't buy DLC either. They would create customs like on GH3 PC instead.

[ForSpareParts]

Don't know about start from scratch -- clearly, whatever Harmonix has is at least somewhat platform-neutral, since they were able to develop simultaneously for 360/PS3. I'm sure there'd be some legwork to get a good PC version working, but it's hard to know how much exactly, without knowing what their codebase looks like. Hardware variance is a good point, though not insurmountable.

As far as peripherals go, the 360 hardware is already PC-compatible -- you can use any wired 360 controller, including an RB instrument, by just plugging into a USB port, and all wireless 360 controllers/instruments can be supported by one standard USB dongle that you can get from Amazon for about $15 (or buy bundled with a wireless controller).

The living room thing was why I figured it didn't make sense originally. The Steam Box, as I mentioned, is why I see that changing. If you're not familiar with the concept: Valve plans to sell Linux PCs preloaded with Steam as consoles intended for the living room. Anything you buy on this box will be part of your Steam library, which means you can play it on your PC, and the reverse is also true for any game that has (or adds) a Linux version.

In preparation for the Steam Box launch, Valve added a TV/controller-optimized mode to Steam called Big Picture, which is every bit as classy and user-friendly as the 360/PS3 user interfaces. Since the console is running Linux, Valve will need other developers to produce Linux games for people to play on it, and that's where I see good synergy -- Harmonix gets to a high-profile title on a big new platform, and Valve gets a console-like game to help convince people that a PC in the living room could take the place of a console.

[Bront20]

Linux may be the biggest platform killer here. Windows (the 360 shares a lot in common with Windows) and Linux gaming stuff doesn't play well togeather. It would still need a full development team to support, and even if they let you use PS3 or 360 controllers, they're STILL not in production.

[ForSpareParts]

Linux may be the biggest platform killer here. Windows (the 360 shares a lot in common with Windows) and Linux gaming stuff doesn't play well togeather. It would still need a full development team to support, and even if they let you use PS3 or 360 controllers, they're STILL not in production.

Sorry, what do you mean by not in production?

[Bront20]

As in, no one is making new instruments. Folks generally aren't buying them, and they're on the shelves because the stores don't want them (too big and don't move) and so they aren't making any new ones.

[Varient]

Linux may be the biggest platform killer here. Windows (the 360 shares a lot in common with Windows) and Linux gaming stuff doesn't play well togeather. It would still need a full development team to support, and even if they let you use PS3 or 360 controllers, they're STILL not in production.

Actually some Windows game can run in Linux-based systems. I'm running Linux and still game! The trick is that the file structures are different and Linux handles errors differently than windows does. A second layer to fix the differences (usually via a program like WINE) is all it takes to run most Windows programs that don't work in Linux already.

Some languages are also cross-platform. Python or Java might be good candidates for something that could run on all systems. Chances are they'll want to re-develop the core program on RB4 so the languages may change as well.

Frankly, the biggest worry here is piracy. Piracy is a funny thing... some legitamate buyers may choose to go pirate if a company uses nasty DRM. Some buyers pirate only to see if they like something then go buy the real version if the answer is "Yes". Some use piracy to make things the company can't make dueto legal restraints (ex: Led Zeppelin on Rockband!). There's a lot of reasons people pirate. The bottom line is whether the company chooses to accept that a small minority of players can and will pirate things or to just avoid piracy altogether.

Considering the large displeased number of people complaining about Microsoft's proposed extremely heavy-handed anti-piracy measures for the next Xbox and how many are vowing not to buy if it comes to pass, this debate is going to take Harmonix a lot of soul-searching.

On instruments: Honestly, I think the issue is that few companies are making plastic instrument games. A new Rockband (or some competition again) would give things a shot in the arm. That's my ten cents, anyway.

[raynebc]

People wouldn't buy DLC either. They would create customs like on GH3 PC instead.

The ease of using customs for RB on Xbox doesn't stop people from buying the DLC, so that is a rather poor argument.

[DavidTLynchEsq]

Steam is huge on the PC, but can it sell a console? Would it expand the audience enough to justify porting two games, licensing over 4,000 songs (including RBN artists and authoring groups that don't exist anymore), and adding a fourth store to submit new content to? Is it worth it for a game Harmonix are moving away from?