Well, looks like Harmonix just couldn’t wait until E3 to start dropping info about Rock Band 3. A story in The USA Today lifts the curtain on the game, and the news is epic.
First, the keyboard controller: We knew it was coming, yes — or at least we had a pretty good idea. What we did not know is that it’s a twenty-five-button keyboard (that’s two octaves) with what appear to be pretty much full-size keys, or close enough. Oh, and a MIDI out so it can be plugged into a computer. You know, for kicks. It also appears to have a touch strip on its stubby handle (which allows it to be played like, yes, a keytar) that I’m guessing will be used in a manner akin to a pitch wheel on a real keyboard.
The keyboard is marked with colored bars along the top of the keys that correspond to the traditional colored buttons in music games, essentially grouping keys together as a single “button” for the easier modes.
Take a look at this video from The USA Today to see how the new peripheral works in-game; the keyboard demo starts around the 1:44 mark.
And here’s a shot of the keyboard being used in game so you can see the interface changes:
Now you may be intrigued by mention of the “Pro mode,” and the video and story both sort of gloss over the idea for anything other than keyboards. But the story does make a particularly intriguing mention of this now-confirmed heavy-duty-expert mode, almost in passing, right at the end:
In addition to the new keyboard controller, also due for the game’s release are two advanced guitar controllers that take advantage of the Pro mode, one a full-sized, fully functional Fender guitar (all sold separately, no prices yet). [emphasis mine]
Yes, that is correct: Rock Band 3 will, at last, allow you to play real guitar along with the game. (How this is going to impact products like Power Gig and You Rock remains to be seen — but if you ask me, the outlook isn’t great.)
It also looks like Rock Band 3 has borrowed a lot of the excellent ideas from Guitar Hero 5: namely, the drop-in, drop-out, and adjust-difficulty-on-the-fly features of Party Play. I have absolutely no problem with this. Ever since playing GH5, I’ve missed these features in any game that doesn’t support them.
But those aren’t the only gameplay changes. Senior designer Sylvain Dubrofsky mentions that they’ve revamped some of the core gameplay, too. He uses guitar as an example, and mentions that RB3 will add trills (picture a long series of hammer-on, pull-offs) and ways of “scoring extra parts” — I’m picturing a sort of drum-fill mode for each instrument, any time an instrument has down-time. But that could be way off.
As if that weren’t enough, USA Today also revealed 22 of the game’s expected 83 on-disc songs…but I’m going to put those in a separate post so I can get this one posted. Meanwhile, what do you think of this new direction?
[Read | images: USA Today | thanks to Joe Cam for the HOT TIP]
I’m delighted that the keyboard peripheral is not just a guitar controller in a different package and has so many buttons. The idea of grouping keys into colored clumps for easier difficulties is damn clever.
There is a link in that USA today story to a more detailed article about what’s new. http://www.usatoday.com/tech/gaming/2010-06-10-rockband10_VA_N.htm
It include details about pro mode for drums. “For drums, three new cymbals are added to the standard four drum pads, and you are forced to play the correct cymbal at the right time.” Which is something I’ve been wanting ever since Rock Band 2 added cymbals.
There is also going to be another guitar in between a real fender and the standard 5 button fake. “The other is a Fender Mustang Pro controller from accessory maker Mad Catz with a field of buttons in each fret. As your fingers compress the smaller non-colored buttons on that guitar’s neck, your finger positions are represented in the game’s display.”
I was worried that the large song base would make them conservative about making changes to game play, but they have clearly proven that not to be the case. I am very excited about Rock Band 3 now. Power gig looks doomed for sure. Guitar Hero 6 is looking pretty weak as well unless they having something better planned that a customizable guitar body.
I’m surprised by how attractive the keyboard implementation looks. The peripheral itself is nice, too — for some reason I was expecting something bigger and clunkier, so to see something small enough to fit comfortably in one’s lap is great. Who knows? Maybe I’ll eat my words from earlier and end up getting one down the line.
I still have no faith in using an actual stringed guitar as a controller, though. Are people really clamoring for video games to become legitimate music trainers? I just don’t understand how
a) it would be fun
b) it would be a reasonable alternative to teaching yourself
But it looks like I was wrong about the keyboard being a bad idea, so who knows? I won’t be into it, but maybe some people will really dig it.
Wow, this stuff sounds really, really cool. Can’t wait to play the piano part on Bohemian Rhapsody! With the addition of harmonies and keyboard, I sorta thought that song would show up.
I hope the new cymbal tracking works with the RB2 drums and cymbals I already have. I REALLY don’t want to buy new drums. Again.
If Power Gig didn’t look poorly conceived already, with cruddy visuals and a ridiculous “drum kit” that out-lames Rock Revolution, this news just shot it in the head. Can’t wait to see how that fully-functional Strat works. Though it makes my recent purchase of the Mad Catz wooden Strat a little moot
At least I got it on Amazon’s crazy sale.