Rock Band 3 revealed, 'real' guitars promised

[jfrost]

I remember that in previous generations people started to complain when there were too many accessories and even then accessories would only have a very small adoption. In this generation it seems everything requires some form of addon.

[Erik_Twice]

It looks like they've taken some good steps to make the keyboard easier to play. Color coding the lanes so you only need to assimilate it in small chunks was a good idea.

Oh, yes, I belive they took good steps and that they are trying. I just think that no matter how you cut it, you still have too many keys and people will take a very long time to get used to the controller.

Also doing the lane change. I don't see it as confusing, as there are guide arrows that let you know "lane is changing, be prepared".

Once you get to faster songs it will be a problem. However I don't think it will affect RB as it's a pretty easy game.

The other thing about the guitar is it's optional. The game will still support the old controller, so it makes a good bridge for people who want to learn.

Agreed.

The thing is, if they stuck with the old guitar and everything, for the rest of the genre's life, it won't last to long. Believe it or not, a lot of people get bored when it's the same thing over and over.

I disagree. Given how long the current music games have been around and my personal experience this is false. In the end, plataformers still work the same way they did 20 years ago, you jump and, perhaps, shoot. That doesn't make modern plataformers boring.

There is diversity in songs and notecharts, much more than it may seem at first glance. That is enough to keep the game alive. As long as they have enough songs and enough challenge players will not get bored for a long time.

[crux]

I really hope the keyboard controller has solid keys. The Keyboardmania keyboard is great, so I have standards!

Though Keyboardmania had doubles (and the mediocre PC version had a full MIDI keyboard, unfortunately accompanied with crappy MIDI songs), the idea of a 24-key keyboard in Rock Band is quite tantalizing. Though if they're planning to teach people how to play instruments, it'd damn well better not stick to sight reading the whole time.

Also, this "real instrument" versus "fake instrument" crap had better end. Does anyone honestly believe there are less musicians in the world because of rhythm games? If not, cut it out. I can enjoy both real instruments and the fake ones just fine, thanks.

And I do agree that a lot of people will have trouble with the keyboard. Given my experience, the panning was quite disorienting, and yes, lots of keys are lots of keys, no matter how you slice it. If the game plans on emulating the real thing, unless we're simply talking about power chords (which really does constitute a lot of piano in real rock bands), I can tell you from Keyboardmania that it gets damn difficult once it starts to resemble the real thing. IIDX is a joke compared to Keyboardmania.

[Erik_Twice]

IIDX is a joke compared to Keyboardmania.

Disagree:

And that's not even doubles!

But yes, I agree those two games are stupidly difficult. And don't get me started on Blue River EX...

[Niode]

If I can use my USB-MIDI Keystation Pro on it then I'm sold. Not bothered about the new guitars. If I wanted to play a guitar, I'll just pick one of my guitars and play for real.

I just hope they don't force you to use that controller, especially not since I have a 'controller' just as capable with weighted keys to boot.

[wakeup]

As a keyboardist, I tried keyboardmania before and was really bad in it. And this looks like keyboardmania in terms of the notation you're reading. It's frustrating because a non-keyboardist could very well own my ass in keyboardmania because the notation system is so different. It's like slight reading all over again . They should put the chord changes of the song at the top somewhere so I know what notes to expect and not have to slightread... The 2 octaves limit thing on the keyboard peripheral is weird too because you go high and suddenly you'll be playing the same key as the octave below...

I'll probably stick to playing vocals harmony even though I suck at it...more fun...

[Niode]

I must be one of those rare breeds that just cannot sight-read sheet music and play the piano, yet am able to play piano from ear pretty well. I can however sight-read music and play guitar, oddly enough.

[RyaNtheSlayA]

I must be one of those rare breeds that just cannot sight-read sheet music and play the piano, yet am able to play piano from ear pretty well. I can however sight-read music and play guitar, oddly enough.

I'm sorta the opposite.

With a keyboard and violen. I can sight read, but with guitar, I have to practice the song in chunks then put them together. I can't just keep going.

[burningmice]

This all sounds really great, I just hope it will be possible to use any electric guitar and not a special one. I prefer to play on my guitar which is higher quality than squier and has a great feel.