Holy wow. Ars Technica is reporting that a “mole” has given them exclusive info about the all-but-confirmed keyboard peripheral in Rock Band 3. And according to them, it’s not a keyboard per se — but rather something much closer to a keytar.
The article also claims that all of the instruments for the game will be not just created by Mad Catz (as we already knew), but distributed by them as well, to allow for a wider variety of bundles. From the article:
Mad Catz will be offering many different bundles with different combinations of instruments available, and there will be bundles that are exclusive to certain retailers. If you have guitars, you’ll be able to find a bundle for drums. If you need everything, that will be available as well.
That’s neat and all, and I have to say I’m pleased by this development, since I wasn’t relishing the thought of having another instrument that requires a stand. But the most interesting thing I found in the article seems to be added almost as an afterthought. As was hinted at by Dhani Harrison, it sounds like the game will be ratcheting up the realism for guitar and bass:
[W]e’re told that there will be a “pro” mode included in the game that will require proper technique, and may lead to actual skills on guitars and bass. How this will work isn’t known, but it’s possible Mad Catz may create a product that more closely mimics an actual guitar.
Check out the whole article for more details.
[Read, via @kobunheat| image: Flickr user James Wheare]
Oh God, I hope not.
My biggest fear is that we won’t be seeing anything really new, rather a new way to play Guitar charts with the Keytar. If that’s the way it’s implemented, it will suck the big fat one.
What actually gives my fear a more tangible sense of actual possibility is that the 360 only has slots for 4 instruments… so making the keyboard just a new lame way to play the guitar wouldn’t require solving that problem… and also would make all the talk about “adapting the old songs for keyboard use” meaningless.
Also, the other big problem with the Keytar is that it just screams “less complexity”. Damn, I was actually hoping for something like Keyboardmania, and not some lame gimmick.
Yeah, I’m really afraid this is going to end up lame.