Do You Have Any Unpopular Gaming Opinions?

[Krejlooc]

Huh, that is pretty sweet. I have done some recording through the effects in the Rocksmith game, and it was pretty nice. Its definitely a great tool for people new to guitar.

I still say that is not a real strat. Mayyybe a MIM Standard, but even those retail higher than that game costs new. Its likely a Strat Squire or Strat Starcaster, which is still a playable guitar... but its not a Strat.

Again, it was just an off-the-cuff comment, I wasn't trying to knock ya or anything. I would consider my guitar a "real" guitar either, and I paid more for it than you did for that game.

Since then, I've aquired a real, sunburst strat myself, a more top end model. You're correct that the rockband one is a low end variant, but it absolutely is a real guitar. It's not like they're going to sell $1000 learning instruments.

Rockband 3 is actually quite deep as a guitar tutor. It has about 100 lessons before you ever start actually playing a song, that teach you everything from the basics of fingering and arpeggio to more advanced stuff like music theory by the end. And then, of course, you can back up all your practice with actual music you play later on.

What sold me on Rockband 3 was when they announced it, along with the strat, they put out this video of a guy who had the guitar hooked up to both an amp and the playstation at the same time. He muted the playstation and TV, and turned up the amp, and played what the game told him to play, so you could hear how accurate the real guitar portion was. Absolutely spot on. They even let some musicians play - rockband 3 uses a funky, custom tabular system that takes a long time to get used to reading, but it also lists the chords scrolling on the left. So while real musicians couldn't follow the odd tabs, they could simply play whatever chords the game was telling them, and would wind up getting perfect scores anyways.

Pretty neat and accurate. I have rocksmith as well, btw. It's cool, but not something to learn by. Rockband 3 actually teaches you how to play. It has an equally as deep drum mode (where you can attach a full drum set instead of the 4-drum kit it comes with) and a keyboard mode (where, again, you can attach a full midi keyboard in addition to the small one that comes with the game).

And all that tutorial stuff is secondary to the actual REAL rhythm game underneath, which is the biggest and most expansive of any Rockband to date. And each song has charts for both the "Pro" versions of instruments, and the plastic, 5-button ones, with 4 difficulties each.

OH, and if you can sing (which I can't) it even has support for up to 4 microphones so multiple band members can play along, and will rate stuff like melisma and how well everyone is at harmonizing.

Even if someone doesn't dig music games, they have to be impressed by the amount of stuff RB3 offers. An excellent game and excellent value. I was so incredibly bummed out when they finally ended DLC support for the series not that long ago.

[dunpeal2064]

Wow, it does look like the packed Rockband 3 to the brim. I didn't use Rocksmith to learn anything, as I do most of my "learning" by watching other musicians or just playing (with a bit of youtube for the theory), but its a good thing that they oriented it more towards that.

I love Guitar Hero and Rockband though, so I may have to check this one out, if not just for the awesome rhythm game.

Since then, I've aquired a real, sunburst strat myself, a more top end model. You're correct that the rockband one is a low end variant, but it absolutely is a real guitar. It's not like they're going to sell $1000 learning instruments.

Well, I can see why someone would consider something like a First Act guitar from Wal Mart a real guitar, but to me the instrument just has no feel. I could make a better sounding instrument with a 2x4, some string, and a cheap pickup. So, yeah, by all technical standards, it is a real instrument, but I don't consider it one. Which is why I put a at the end of my comment. I'm not trying to say you are fooled and happen to actually be playing Paper Jamz.

Now, that Sunburst Strat sounds pretty sweet. Is it one of those new lace-pickup ones? Those things sound crisp as all hell.

[Krejlooc]

No, it's not one of the newer ones, it was used and from a friend who noticed my interest in guitar spiked after I got rockband 3 (I had previously only been interested in drums) who sold me it at a decent price to get me my first quality instrument. I had a dinky Ibanez when I was in highschool that I dicked around with but the sunburst strat was the first guitar worth really talking about.

I'll try and get some pics up after work if I can remember.

I still will praise Rockband 3 up and down the block, though. how many games can claim that they'll teach you a real honest-to-god skill if you keep at it? Hell, the first two games got me interested in drumming. I wish I would have kept video or a diary of my progress with all 3 games. When I got the first Rockband, I was virtually tone deaf and couldn't keep a beat to save my life. My friend, the one who sold me the strat, couldn't believe my progress about 6 months in after getting Rockband 3.

I'll temper expectations about all this by saying, however, that I practiced every single day with Rockband 3 for a good year. It was weeks before I played my first song in the game. From complete novice to nailing experts with the game in about a year. Someone gets as much out of Rockband 3 as they put in.

[dunpeal2064]

No, it's not one of the newer ones, it was used and from a friend who noticed my interest in guitar spiked after I got rockband 3 (I had previously only been interested in drums) who sold me it at a decent price to get me my first quality instrument. I had a dinky Ibanez when I was in highschool that I dicked around with but the sunburst strat was the first guitar worth really talking about.

I'll try and get some pics up after work if I can remember.

You really can't go wrong either way. Old Strats sound great, new strats sound great. As long as it has a good feel to it. I actually have been playing drums since the 5th grade, and have recently had a much larger interest in guitar.

I still will praise Rockband 3 up and down the block, though. how many games can claim that they'll teach you a real honest-to-god skill if you keep at it? Hell, the first two games got me interested in drumming. I wish I would have kept video or a diary of my progress with all 3 games. When I got the first Rockband, I was virtually tone deaf and couldn't keep a beat to save my life. My friend, the one who sold me the strat, couldn't believe my progress about 6 months in after getting Rockband 3.

I'll temper expectations about all this by saying, however, that I practiced every single day with Rockband 3 for a good year. It was weeks before I played my first song in the game. From complete novice to nailing experts with the game in about a year. Someone gets as much out of Rockband 3 as they put in.

Yeah, you definitely have to want it. I've only been seriously persuing guitar for about 4 or 5 months, and I have only learned from listening to others, watching youtube, and trying to listen to myself and really decide what it is I want to learn... and I have progressed more than I would have ever thought possible. Its al about how much you want it.

how many games can claim that they'll teach you a real honest-to-god skill if you keep at it?

Thanks to shmups, I can dodge rain.

[Krejlooc]

No, it's not one of the newer ones, it was used and from a friend who noticed my interest in guitar spiked after I got rockband 3 (I had previously only been interested in drums) who sold me it at a decent price to get me my first quality instrument. I had a dinky Ibanez when I was in highschool that I dicked around with but the sunburst strat was the first guitar worth really talking about.

I'll try and get some pics up after work if I can remember.

You really can't go wrong either way. Old Strats sound great, new strats sound great. As long as it has a good feel to it. I actually have been playing drums since the 5th grade, and have recently had a much larger interest in guitar.

I still will praise Rockband 3 up and down the block, though. how many games can claim that they'll teach you a real honest-to-god skill if you keep at it? Hell, the first two games got me interested in drumming. I wish I would have kept video or a diary of my progress with all 3 games. When I got the first Rockband, I was virtually tone deaf and couldn't keep a beat to save my life. My friend, the one who sold me the strat, couldn't believe my progress about 6 months in after getting Rockband 3.

I'll temper expectations about all this by saying, however, that I practiced every single day with Rockband 3 for a good year. It was weeks before I played my first song in the game. From complete novice to nailing experts with the game in about a year. Someone gets as much out of Rockband 3 as they put in.

Yeah, you definitely have to want it. I've only been seriously persuing guitar for about 4 or 5 months, and I have only learned from listening to others, watching youtube, and trying to listen to myself and really decide what it is I want to learn... and I have progressed more than I would have ever thought possible. Its al about how much you want it.

how many games can claim that they'll teach you a real honest-to-god skill if you keep at it?

Thanks to shmups, I can dodge rain.

It was all sort of like a feedback loop for me. I was already a huge fan of Rockband in general. I was in the tailend of college when the first one came out and my fraternity brothers and I would hang out in my room playing it all day long. Prior to that, if we were hanging out, we were listening to music anyways while we'd drink and chill. Rockband was the perfect hang out game, because everyone in the room who wasn't playing it still got to enjoy music (and it helped that we all dug all the soundtrack) and it was low key enough that, if you were playing, you could still enjoy conversation.

So when I got RB3, putting in hours a day was no problem for me. RB was already a part of my post-work relaxation routine, so incorporating a learning experience into it all was natural and easy. The first few weeks of tutorial was frustrating and so slow and annoying, but very necessary because, contrary to every attempt to learn guitar prior, I actually learned it right. The interactive nature of Rockband will let you know how to position your fingers correctly, and can even give you feedback on what you're doing wrong, in real time, as you do it. So like, early on, I'd brush against the wrong frets or strings on accident and it would suggest alternative ways for me to hold and position my fingers to fix the mistake. And it could give me on-screen warnings whenever I'd start to slip back into my old habits. It also painstakingly went through and taught me proper finger transitions (i.e. Don't move this finger when you transition from this chord to that chord) and, even though the actual game doesn't pick up on it, taught me stuff like palm muting.

Enough praise for the game from me, though, I'm starting to sound like a broken record. I think people who bash RB3 really don't know how much it has to offer. In contrast amongst the Guitar Hero games (which felt like expansion packs by the end), the 3 main RB games showed significant evolution and improvement between releases, with RB3 being the biggest one.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Nothing against those Rock Band/Guitar Hero games, but I have much more fun playing actual musical instruments.

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to snag one of those Miracle Pianos should I ever stumble upon one.

[Krejlooc]

Nothing against those Rock Band/Guitar Hero games, but I have much more fun playing actual musical instruments.

That said, I wouldn't hesitate to snag one of those Miracle Pianos should I ever stumble upon one.

You can play with actual musical instruments in Rockband.

[Violent By Design]

A video game that actually teaches you things, you people disgust me.

[AppleQueso]

A video game that actually teaches you things, you people disgust me.

You make Mavis Bacon very sad.

[Ack]

A video game that actually teaches you things, you people disgust me.

Me too! Games for education, bah. I'm gonna go back to playing hardcore video games, like Mario's Early Years: Fun With Numbers.