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Rock Band 4 announced for PS4 and Xbox One

M.Steiner

Member
Someone asked this exact thing while I was at the Rockband 4 booth on Tuesday, and the Madcatz guy said old instruments will work on both old and new systems, while the new instruments will only work on the new systems. And PS3 instruments will only work on PS4, and Xbox 360 instruments will only work on Xbox One, no crossing platforms.
Right, that has been a huge help. Thanks for answering.
I'll start looking for a replacement Beatles bundle on PS3 in that case and then just buy a standalone copy of Rock Band 4 on PS4 when it releases. Should work out cheaper this way too I would think.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Wait...what?!!? They're cutting out online play?

Yes. Band multi is local only. Possible to add it in later but confirmed it won't be in at launch.

http://www.rockbandaide.com/21107/e3-interviewish-with-aaron-trites-harmonix-community-manager/

""Whats the deal with online multiplayer?

That, its a numbers thing. Weve done the math. We know exactly what itll cost[a lot], how many people it takes[decent chunk], how long it will be[several months]. On our Amplitude Telethon, we had a few other developers call in and they spoke very frankly about online multiplayer. For Octodad, they said it took their team something like eight months and $200,000 to even get that, and Rock Band is a lot more complicated than that, what with latency and score tracking and DLC library size. And the question was, would we make that cost back from it?

Probably not.

No. But Ive been pushing all the feedback from that news, I know a lot of people want it, I would love to include it. But at the very least, it cannot be fit in by launch.""
 

c-murph

Member
Yes. Band multi is local only. Possible to add it in later but confirmed it won't be in at launch.

http://www.rockbandaide.com/21107/e3-interviewish-with-aaron-trites-harmonix-community-manager/

""Whats the deal with online multiplayer?

That, its a numbers thing. Weve done the math. We know exactly what itll cost[a lot], how many people it takes[decent chunk], how long it will be[several months]. On our Amplitude Telethon, we had a few other developers call in and they spoke very frankly about online multiplayer. For Octodad, they said it took their team something like eight months and $200,000 to even get that, and Rock Band is a lot more complicated than that, what with latency and score tracking and DLC library size. And the question was, would we make that cost back from it?

Probably not.

No. But Ive been pushing all the feedback from that news, I know a lot of people want it, I would love to include it. But at the very least, it cannot be fit in by launch.""

Oh shit. This Rock Band is completely bare bones.
 
If the Ions aren't supported, I'll be pretty pissed. I wouldn't skip the game altogether, but I don't even want to fuck with another stock drum set despite any improvements made.

I'd just buy a guitar bundle and reuse the rest of my peripherals. I'd echo all other sentiments and complaints over all the apparent cut corners, but I still think the game will be worth buying and we're still months from launch with some pieces of the picture left to unveil.
 
Was a huge Rock Band fan, my Autistic daughter loves watching me play the game, but as I played on 360 neither my DLC songs or my guitar will work on PS4, which is the platform that I would be buy this new Rock Band on.

Think I might just give this game a miss.
 

Bandito

Neo Member
The more I hear and see of rock band the less I want it. I've a massive dlc collection on my 360 and really wanted rock band to return. It's been pretty sad tho, zero real improvements and now features taken out of it. No online is a definite no from me. Maybe next year if they add it
 

MajorMane

Member
If the Ions aren't supported, I'll be pretty pissed. I wouldn't skip the game altogether, but I don't even want to fuck with another stock drum set despite any improvements made.

I'd just buy a guitar bundle and reuse the rest of my peripherals. I'd echo all other sentiments and complaints over all the apparent cut corners, but I still think the game will be worth buying and we're still months from launch with some pieces of the picture left to unveil.

I wouldn't say corners were cut. The connotation there is that a feature could have easily been implemented or they took the easy way to rush the game out, but neither of these are the case for Rock Band, in my opinion. Harmonix are busting their butts off for this iteration in the series, putting in a lot more effort with a lot less support than they had for the previous games.

I'm just as disappointed that online won't be there at launch or at the possible lack of practice mode, but Harmonix is focused right now on making old DLC and instruments compatible. This isn't some small feat. The team is committed to this game, though, and will continue to work on it for years to come, I think.

Corners weren't cut, but decisions were made. They could have just as easily forgone old instruments and all their DLC and made a game with only 70 or so songs on it with online play and a practice mode. I'd much rather have the Rock Band 4 we're getting now.
 
I rarely played locally. A lot of my RB friends are in another state, as we all separated after college so I really really hope it's coming some time down the line.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
If they're cutting corners so much with this release that they won't even have online at launch, it's no wonder they're not doing a Wii U version. Still, I hope that a Wii U (or NX) release happens eventually. I don't really have the money right now to buy a whole new set of instruments.
 

MajorMane

Member
If they're cutting corners so much with this release that they won't even have online at launch, it's no wonder they're not doing a Wii U version. Still, I hope that a Wii U (or NX) release happens eventually. I don't really have the money right now to buy a whole new set of instruments.

see

I wouldn't say corners were cut. The connotation there is that a feature could have easily been implemented or they took the easy way to rush the game out, but neither of these are the case for Rock Band, in my opinion. Harmonix are busting their butts off for this iteration in the series, putting in a lot more effort with a lot less support than they had for the previous games.

I'm just as disappointed that online won't be there at launch or at the possible lack of practice mode, but Harmonix is focused right now on making old DLC and instruments compatible. This isn't some small feat. The team is committed to this game, though, and will continue to work on it for years to come, I think.

Corners weren't cut, but decisions were made. They could have just as easily forgone old instruments and all their DLC and made a game with only 70 or so songs on it with online play and a practice mode. I'd much rather have the Rock Band 4 we're getting now.

Also... just how you don't have the money right now to buy new instruments, Harmonix doesn't necessarily have the money to produce a Wii U version (especially if they don't think it will sell - they're certainly not the only third party to think so, unfortunately) or to put up with the costs of online servers right now. They're the only ones publishing this game this time around - along with Mad Catz - so it's less of a AAA title than people are expecting out of it. It's more indie than it ever has been, which means they don't have all the resources needed to hit all the marks, unfortunately.

That all being said, still hoping for online play and practice mode down the road, along with those other features that might not make it at launch.
 

jond76

Banned
I'm gonna buy this regardless, but I do hope IONS support gets added.

I'm excited at the prospect of this being a platform for the whole generation. I can't not get in on that.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
see



Also... just how you don't have the money right now to buy new instruments, Harmonix doesn't necessarily have the money to produce a Wii U version (especially if they don't think it will sell - they're certainly not the only third party to think so, unfortunately) or to put up with the costs of online servers right now. They're the only ones publishing this game this time around - along with Mad Catz - so it's less of a AAA title than people are expecting out of it. It's more indie than it ever has been, which means they don't have all the resources needed to hit all the marks, unfortunately.

That all being said, still hoping for online play and practice mode down the road, along with those other features that might not make it at launch.

Perhaps I worded that poorly. I was just trying to say that if they aren't even devoting resources to online play, then I can see why they're not making a Wii U version right now.
 
Don't really understand this corners are being cut talk. They're bringing all of the dlc that you bought on the last gen consoles, and worked to get old instruments to work on the new consoles, which is pretty unprecedented. No online play is a bummer, but let's not forget that this game is going to have a long life span with several updates. Let your voices be heard if you want online or your ion drums to work. Pester them till no end.
 

Rewrite

Not as deep as he thinks
I really do hope they add online at a later update. Online play for me is important because it lets me play with my friends who are scattered everywhere around the US. Hope they don't take a long time to add it. ;(
 

Remark

Banned
To be fair, considering this is effectively a publisher-less Rock Band, I'm not sure why people are surprised that this will be bare bones (at launch, at least).
Online Play should have been a core focus in this Rock Band next to compatibility of instruments. Limiting sales a lot by not including that at launch.
 

Bsigg12

Member
It would be interesting to see if they have numbers on how widely online band stuff was played and looked at that along with the cost and man hours required to build the feature and decided to temporarily shelve the feature until they have the base product done.

Not having the backing of EA this time around definitely shows in terms of the scope of the project but if they can deliver a solid experience with old DLC carrying over from my 360 and my old instruments working at launch, I would be very happy.
 

Ninhead

Member
Has it not been posted here about how expensive adding online to a title is? When you've got EA footing part of the dev costs, it's not a big deal. They're partnered with a third-party accessory manufacturer. Stop acting like this is some irresponsible oversight or slight.
 

Bsigg12

Member
Has it not been posted here about how expensive adding online to a title is? When you've got EA footing part of the dev costs, it's not a big deal. They're partnered with a third-party accessory manufacturer. Stop acting like this is some irresponsible oversight or slight.

Yes

Yes. Band multi is local only. Possible to add it in later but confirmed it won't be in at launch.

http://www.rockbandaide.com/21107/e3-interviewish-with-aaron-trites-harmonix-community-manager/

""Whats the deal with online multiplayer?

That, its a numbers thing. Weve done the math. We know exactly what itll cost[a lot], how many people it takes[decent chunk], how long it will be[several months]. On our Amplitude Telethon, we had a few other developers call in and they spoke very frankly about online multiplayer. For Octodad, they said it took their team something like eight months and $200,000 to even get that, and Rock Band is a lot more complicated than that, what with latency and score tracking and DLC library size. And the question was, would we make that cost back from it?

Probably not.

No. But Ive been pushing all the feedback from that news, I know a lot of people want it, I would love to include it. But at the very least, it cannot be fit in by launch.""
 

Yaari

Member
I can respect that it costs them a lot of money but I think it will be difficult to sell a game that's so lacking in content compared to previous games in the franchise. Especially when you call it Rock Band 4 and it essentially has the least amount of content thus far.

Then again it did well in it's pre-order.
 

Ninhead

Member
I can respect that it costs them a lot of money but I think it will be difficult to sell a game that's so lacking in content compared to previous games in the franchise. Especially when you call it Rock Band 4 and it essentially has the least amount of content thus far.

Then again it did well in it's pre-order.

That's not necessarily true. If it truly is a platform, then they're more than likely figuring it's just the die-hard fans that'll be in in the beginning. They have legacy songs. They have (some sort) of instruments. As time goes on, and the feature set improves, they'll grow their fan base. This isn't a COD game. It's not a sprint.
 
That's not necessarily true. If it truly is a platform, then they're more than likely figuring it's just the die-hard fans that'll be in in the beginning. They have legacy songs. They have (some sort) of instruments. As time goes on, and the feature set improves, they'll grow their fan base. This isn't a COD game. It's not a sprint.

Who's to say that this game will have legs, though?
 

Lady Gaia

Member
I have to wonder whether Harmonix isn't in for a nasty surprise. The features they've cut may well represent their most vocal converts, and their most recent converts. If they drop the kinds of early adopters who created great word of mouth about their titles in the past, will that come back to haunt them?

The only instruments I currently play on Rock Band 3 are MIDI pro drums and pro keys. I play bass and guitar on Rocksmith. So far it looks like they're batting 0.000 when it comes to earning my purchase. I just hope there's enough of an audience for what they do offer to get around to supporting at least a MIDI adapter for drums if not also keys with eventual updates. Only in my wildest dreams do they finally get around to a proper guitar interface to support their existing pro guitar / bass transcriptions.
 
They definitely have to earn our purchase at this point.

Way too much isn't currently in there and way too much won't be in at launch.

It seems odd to spend development time on the freestyle guitar sections and microphone banter when leaderboards aren't even ready yet.

But at the same time, they are obviously hurting for a profitable game after Chroma died, Fantasia bombed and both Record Run and VidRhythm failed to do anything special.

So I fear if we DON'T buy the game, even in this unfinished state, that we might not see the finished one.
 

TAJ

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
I'm definitely not buying this. (Active in GH and GH2 GAF. First person in RB GAF to get the game.)
 
Are we forgetting the Rock Band survey they had prior to announcing RB4? They have some pretty decent data from that (as well as I'd imagine the statistics from previous RBs) about where online should fit in the priority list. It's not like they cut it for launch blindly. They took their data, looked at the cost, and decided to hold off for now. It sucks it won't be there at launch for those who had it at a high priority for wants, but I'd imagine those people are more in the minority than they realize.
 

BigDug13

Member
It's too bad they just can't release RB3 definitive edition at this point. It seems like the loss of a publisher has them starting from square one again with a barebones game. And since the gameplay isn't really changing, I'm not seeing anything that's going to pull me away from continuing to play RB3 on my 360.
 

Arttemis

Member
I have to wonder whether Harmonix isn't in for a nasty surprise. The features they've cut may well represent their most vocal converts, and their most recent converts. If they drop the kinds of early adopters who created great word of mouth about their titles in the past, will that come back to haunt them?

The only instruments I currently play on Rock Band 3 are MIDI pro drums and pro keys. I play bass and guitar on Rocksmith. So far it looks like they're batting 0.000 when it comes to earning my purchase. I just hope there's enough of an audience for what they do offer to get around to supporting at least a MIDI adapter for drums if not also keys with eventual updates. Only in my wildest dreams do they finally get around to a proper guitar interface to support their existing pro guitar / bass transcriptions.
I'm in essentially the same state of mind. What I want out of RB is completely absent in this sequel, and is present in the previous game.
 

Pokemaniac

Member
I'm in essentially the same state of mind. What I want out of RB is completely absent in this sequel, and is present in the previous game.

You're in a better position than me. I actually want to buy this game, but I can't because they're not making a Wii U version.
 

zulux21

Member
It's too bad they just can't release RB3 definitive edition at this point. It seems like the loss of a publisher has them starting from square one again with a barebones game. And since the gameplay isn't really changing, I'm not seeing anything that's going to pull me away from continuing to play RB3 on my 360.

the main thing I wanted was merely the dlc to load faster which i hope we get with this lol.

that and i want to play some imagine dragons :p
 
I am just happy for the potential of new DLC. The constant stream of new stuff in Rock Band kept me going for years, and I am glad that it will start back up in some way. Sure, it may not be weekly (will it?), but something is better than nothing.

And yes, I will be buying an XBONE just for this game. Everything else on the system is just bonus right now since I don't game anywhere near as much as I used to.
 

Gleethor

Member
It's too bad they just can't release RB3 definitive edition at this point. It seems like the loss of a publisher has them starting from square one again with a barebones game. And since the gameplay isn't really changing, I'm not seeing anything that's going to pull me away from continuing to play RB3 on my 360.

Yes please. Its just going to be so depressing going from possibly the most full featured music game ever to a game with a smaller setlist (on disc of course), no online, fewer instruments and (possibly) no practice mode. Some of the new features sound neat, but none of them even come to close to the stuff that they've been cutting. I'm aware that it was probably this or no new Rock Band at all, but I can't hide my disappointment.
 

MajorMane

Member
I am just happy for the potential of new DLC. The constant stream of new stuff in Rock Band kept me going for years, and I am glad that it will start back up in some way. Sure, it may not be weekly (will it?), but something is better than nothing.

And yes, I will be buying an XBONE just for this game. Everything else on the system is just bonus right now since I don't game anywhere near as much as I used to.

From this IGN article, here's what they've said in regards to DLC:

How about DLC? Can we still expect weekly song drops?

“We haven’t made a specific plan with respect to release cadence of DLC yet,” Rigopulos admits. “I think that the weekly model did work very well for us last time around. It’s certainly our plan to have a steady, ongoing series of DLC releases indefinitely after the release of the core title. Whether the weekly rhythm is the correct rhythm or not, I don’t know that’s set yet.”
 

ElNino

Member
I rarely played locally. A lot of my RB friends are in another state, as we all separated after college so I really really hope it's coming some time down the line.
Conversely, I never played RB online. All of my play was solo or local band.

It sucks for those who used it before though.
 
Seriously guys, keep bugging Harmonix on Twitter and on the RB boards about online play and midi support. RB4 is going to evolve over time, and you can pressure them into including the features you want.
 

zulux21

Member
Yes please. Its just going to be so depressing going from possibly the most full featured music game ever to a game with a smaller setlist (on disc of course), no online, fewer instruments and (possibly) no practice mode. Some of the new features sound neat, but none of them even come to close to the stuff that they've been cutting. I'm aware that it was probably this or no new Rock Band at all, but I can't hide my disappointment.

I feel like i must apologize to some degree as myself and all of my friends are likely at fault for your disappointment.

online? you mean the thing that tells you how your score ranks?
practice mode? you mean playing a song until you know it in quickplay? (note this is faked ignorance on my part but half of my friends really didn't know that there was online play in rock band and didn't know at all that there was a practice mode)

the only cut that has saddened me was the loss of keys, and that was easily made up for for me with full harmonies since I use rock band as a karaoke machine most of the time anymore.

I am hoping that rock band 4 is successful enough that they can continue to add in new features again. Remember they keep calling this a platform not merely a new game (though with that logic the 4 in the title is beyond stupid as it should simply be Rock Band: Reborn or something like that) so new features will ideally be added semifrequently (hopefully no more than 3 months between new features being added)

There is no way rock band will get back to where it was before, but especially with this focus on features it's clear they are aiming to make this work with a lot less money coming in.
 

FyreWulff

Member
I can't really say they're cutting corners when they're re-certing and upgrading every single official song for free, even the ones they can never sell again due to licenses expiring or the band not allowing digital store sales (AC/DC)

That costs a lot of money.

It's just they had to move their priorities around considering they don't have EA and Viacom subsidizing the everloving crap out of the game.
 

zulux21

Member
Hold on guys.

http://youtu.be/elNtDarb3DE

Go to 8:47 in the video. Maybe online play is in the game......

I imagine at some point there will be online play.
Heck I expect them to announce before launch their plans for online play.
doesn't mean it will be in the game any time soon.

I can't really say they're cutting corners when they're re-certing and upgrading every single official song for free, even the ones they can never sell again due to licenses expiring or the band not allowing digital store sales (AC/DC)

That costs a lot of money.

I'm still hoping Ac/DC changes their tune as I would love to play non live versions of a lot of their songs... I mean I rage quit any time Thunderstruck comes up :/ Thunderstruck is supposed to have awesome guitar to start with, not drums that boringly go on forever before the guitar comes in @___________@
 
I was wondering why they don't just delay RB4 so they can add some of these planned features. Online is a pretty big one and there's obviously a demand for it, and with the rumors of practice mode being cut, this could be pretty barebones at launch. They seem to have a nice roadmap of updates planned so the extra development time gained from delaying would help. Plus, the release date doesn't seem set in stone.

They definitely have to earn our purchase at this point.

Way too much isn't currently in there and way too much won't be in at launch.

It seems odd to spend development time on the freestyle guitar sections and microphone banter when leaderboards aren't even ready yet.

But at the same time, they are obviously hurting for a profitable game after Chroma died, Fantasia bombed and both Record Run and VidRhythm failed to do anything special.

So I fear if we DON'T buy the game, even in this unfinished state, that we might not see the finished one.

Yup, this is pretty much what I realized: they probably can't afford to delay it. It feels like they're struggling after all of the recent misfortune and this is their lifeline.

I hope that's not the case but it makes sense.
 

Storm360

Member
I can live without no MIDI support or no online support at launch... but both is a hard sell.

I just got a Xbox Live gold account, i'll probably just play RB3 instead at this point.
 
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