Rock Band 3

[DFUSIONITE]

i play piano/keyboard myself. i have an electronic full size yamaha grand piano in my house, along with 5 guitars and god knows how many effects pedals. I don't think i have room for any more instruments, plastic rock band ones or otherwise. I am tempted though 

[GamerMan316]

Rock Band 3 trailer, details in
Have you been "clamouring for keyboards"?

Harmonix' Rock Band 3 has been blown wide open by USA Today - keyboards included.

The new game, scheduled for this Christmas in the States on PS3, 360 and Wii, expands the virtual band to seven instruments; drums, lead and bass guitar, lead vocals, two harmony vocals and yes - a keyboard.

Also due for the game's release are two 'advanced' guitar controllers that take advantage of the game's Pro mode, one of which is described as "a full-sized, fully functional Fender guitar" (sold separately).



Harmonix has also nicked the drop-in, drop-out functionality of recent Guitar Heros, and "improved animations" and "refined gameplay features" are also promised.

"With the introduction of keyboards, we get to bring a ton of amazing new music onto the platform, which will help feed the appetite for music for years to come," Alex Rigopulos, Harmonix CEO told USA Today.

Among the 83 new songs to be included in Rock Band 3, Rigopulos says, "it's hard to pick a favorite, but for The Doors to be making an appearance on Rock Band finally with their classic Break On Through, I love that one. And Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is endlessly fun.

"Our ambition for Rock Band 3 was really to re-energize and reinvigorate the (music game) category and advance it and move it forward," he said.

Trailer

[RedMaster11]

I wonder how much this keyboard will cost?

Can we please have The Way It Is by Bruce Hornsby.

[Failed]

I'll probably pick up the Keyboard and Game bundle aslong as it isn't too expensive.

[markav]

Setlist has been confirmed at 83 songs
Partial setlist announced so far
2000s
Combat Baby — Metric
Dead End Friends — Them Crooked Vultures
Get Free — The Vines
Lasso — Phoenix
Me Enamora — Juanes
Oh My God — Ida Maria
Portions of Foxes — Rilo Kiley
The Hardest Button to Button — The White Stripes

1990s
Been Caught Stealing — Jane's Addiction
In the Meantime — Spacehog
Plush — Stone Temple Pilots
Walkin' on the Sun — Smash Mouth

1980s
Crazy Train — Ozzy Osbourne
Here I Go Again — Whitesnake
I Love Rock and Roll — Joan Jett
Just Like Heaven — The Cure
Rainbow in the Dark — Dio
The Power of Love — Huey Lewis and the News
Sister Christian — Night Ranger

1960s-1970s
Bohemian Rhapsody — Queen
Break On Through — The Doors
Crosstown Traffic — Jimi Hendrix

Key feature in more detail:
Better story. Design your own characters and session musicians from improved character models and watch their story unfold throughout the game. Your band members are seen getting into the van to go to a show, and practicing as well as performing. They even appear as you choose songs to play. "It is a really cool way to make sure you are always in the narrative no matter which mode you are in," Teasdale says. "The entire game is essentially one story of your band."

•More fluid gameplay. Players can jump in or out of songs without interrupting a song already in progress. They can also change instruments or difficulty settings during a song without pausing. "It's a really cool way to get rid of that friction that players have when they are in a party situation," Teasdale says.

•Revamped song-filtering system. With the Rock Band library expected to grow to about 2,000 songs by year's end, it has grown too big for simply scrolling. With the new system, "you can say, 'only show me songs in Rock Band 3? or 'only songs under three minutes' or 'Eighties metal songs from my (downloadable) collection,' " Teasdale says. "It's a really cool way to take your full library down to a manageable list of songs."

Not to be forgotten, the keyboards' addition — along with carrying over the three-part harmonies from The Beatles: Rock Band and new Green Day: Rock Band games — means that "you can play as a seven -player band," Teasdale says, "which is an amazing experience."

•Rock Band Pro. This new music learning mode lets players develop real-world music-playing fundamentals for keyboards, guitars and drums. More realistic music notations replace the standard color-coded notes during gameplay. For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum.

Two new guitar controllers in the works have actual strings where you strum; one is a full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster from Fender. "It can tell where your fingers are based on technology in the neck and the bridge of the guitar. No buttons," Drake says. "While you're playing it, it feels exactly like playing a real guitar," because that's what you're doing.

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. "You can go from plucking single notes to power chords and bar chords, we have crazy stuff like tapping and slides," Dubrofsky says. "If you ever had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way ... you are really going to like Rock Band 3."

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. "It really immerses you more. You feel more like a drummer," Dubrofsky says. "It's not only for expert levels. You can come in on easy and actually play Pro drums. We have all the different levels established. It's actually really fun. You are playing up on the high hat or down on the snare, and it feels more like a kit than ever before."

On keyboards, Sussman says, "we're actually utilizing the full two-octave range that the keyboard controller has. Everything that you are playing, whether you are playing on easy or expert, is accurate musical information. The track looks like a real keyboard track, and you are playing notes on the keyboard that if you were to step away from the game and were to play on a real piano, they would be the right notes."

[GamerMan316]

[GamerMan316]

[Failed]

amg! they are making harder, i can't do it with 5 buttons let alone 367 buttons, strings and 3 new drum pads >_<

[nCogNeato]

umm ...

That's an actual guitar.  Are we going to be able to connect real guitars to our Xbox 360s now?  If so, can we use our own guitars instead?  I have no desire to own a pisspoor Squier.

[GamerMan316]

Your voice won't suck in Rock Band 3
iZotope pitch correction tech on board to help you out

Audio signal processing company iZotope has signed a deal to provide pitch correction technology to Harmonix for Rock Band 3.

That means your usually brain-scraping off-tone bellowing will be converted into something at least mildly audible by the game before it's pumped through the speakers, making everyone's experience that little bit better.

"Using iZotope's real-time pitch detection and pitch shifting middleware, Rock Band 3 provides players with the option to enable vocal effects commonly used in the music industry, assisting players to sing on key more easily with pitch correction and bringing the tools that pros use into the living room," says the PR.

Mark Ethier, CEO of iZotope said: "With the production values of video games rivaling that of commercial albums and blockbuster films, consumers expect the same caliber of video and audio quality during dynamic, real-time game play.

"Rock Band is an ideal platform for us to showcase iZotope's technology so we can provide gamers with studio-grade audio effects that professional mixers, sound designers and others in the entertainment industry have relied on for years."

The new game, scheduled for this Christmas in the States on PS3, 360 and Wii, expands the virtual band to seven instruments; drums, lead and bass guitar, lead vocals, two harmony vocals and yes - a keyboard.



Harmonix will no doubt be getting Auto-Tune in a future update then gamers will be able to sound like 90% of the tone deaf oxygen thieves currently clogging up the charts.   

[Failed]

Harmonix will no doubt be getting Auto-Tune in a future update then gamers will be able to sound like 90% of the tone deaf oxygen thieves currently clogging up the charts.   

What do you mean i'm sh*t Mr.Cowell ?? I sound really good on Rock Band 3! Rock Band 3 made me think i was the next ...... AMERICAN IDOL. I want Ryan Seacrest's babies 

[GamerMan316]

Rock Band 3 DLC Revealed...Already!

GameStop's Canadian website has revealed the first Rock Band 3 DLC, which they're offering as a pre-order incentive.

Get your order in, and you'll be entitled to download these three tracks when the game ships later this year:

    * Talking Heads - "Burning Down The House
    * Deftones - "My Own Summer"
    * New Order  - "Blue Monday"

You might notice that two of those three tracks are aimed more at the jaunty pop end of the scale and revolve around Rock Band 3's new keyboard. "Blue Monday" and "Burning Down The House" are perfectly suited to the keys, whereas Deftones is good old heavy rock. Not a bad trio of bonus tunes.

Rock Band 3 is slated for a holiday 2010 release.

[nCogNeato]

    * Talking Heads - "Burning Down The House
    * Deftones - "My Own Summer"
    * New Order  - "Blue Monday"

Holy crap.  I love all of those songs.



... must ... resist ... preorder ...   

[GamerMan316]

Rock Band designer quits Harmonix

Senior designer Dan Teasdale has announced his departure from Harmonix and the end of his involvement with the Rock Band series.

"I came to the realisation recently that my career has been driven by a secret achievement grind, hidden relatively successfully by the fun of making games," Teasdale wrote on his blog.

"I craved the hit of being hands on. It's 100 per cent of your job as a staff designer, but as I became a senior and then a lead on AAA titles with 200+ people on them, the ability to chart the vision and the direction of a title starts to encroach how much time you can spend tweaking the details personally."

So Teasdale decided to leave Harmonix and head instead to Twisted Pixel, where he's about to start work on "a ridiculously cool project".

He wrote, "It's the holy grail of game design positions - I'll get to contribute and help drive the direction of a well funded and supported new title with a close knit superteam, while at the same time being hands on and able to directly impact all aspects of the game."

Teasdale most recent project was Rock Band 3, which he described as being "design complete and on the final path to 0 bugs". The game will be released this autumn.

[DFUSIONITE]

Rock Band designer quits Harmonix

Senior designer Dan Teasdale has announced his departure from Harmonix and the end of his involvement with the Rock Band series.

"I came to the realisation recently that my career has been driven by a secret achievement grind, hidden relatively successfully by the fun of making games," Teasdale wrote on his blog.

"I craved the hit of being hands on. It's 100 per cent of your job as a staff designer, but as I became a senior and then a lead on AAA titles with 200+ people on them, the ability to chart the vision and the direction of a title starts to encroach how much time you can spend tweaking the details personally."

So Teasdale decided to leave Harmonix and head instead to Twisted Pixel, where he's about to start work on "a ridiculously cool project".

He wrote, "It's the holy grail of game design positions - I'll get to contribute and help drive the direction of a well funded and supported new title with a close knit superteam, while at the same time being hands on and able to directly impact all aspects of the game."

Teasdale most recent project was Rock Band 3, which he described as being "design complete and on the final path to 0 bugs". The game will be released this autumn.

Twisted pixel are an excellent team, Can' wait to hear what this 'ridiculously cool project' is