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Rock Band Blitz announced (XBLA/PSN)

Blu_LED said:
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Yeah, please. People will endlessly argue that Harmonix didn't invent the plastic music genre, but it simply comes down to the facts. Sure, companies like Bemani had similar games to Rock Band before Rock Band even came out, but we all know that it was HMX who modernized those games, HMX who allowed them to be played by normal people, HMX who allowed me to play it in my home, HMX who amplified the magical co-op mode, and HMX really turned it into a genre. Games before GH and RB just didn't have that....magic and connection to the music.
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1. Bemani is not a company. Those games were made by Konami.

2. There already was band co-op in GuitarFreaks + Drummania.

3. There were also home versions of those games.

Harmonix did succeed in securing better licenses, making the game easier, and producing a good quality guitar controller at a cheaper price.
 
Blu_LED said:
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Yeah, please. People will endlessly argue that Harmonix didn't invent the plastic music genre, but it simply comes down to the facts. Sure, companies like Bemani had similar games to Rock Band before Rock Band even came out, but we all know that it was HMX who modernized those games, HMX who allowed them to be played by normal people, HMX who allowed me to play it in my home, HMX who amplified the magical co-op mode, and HMX really turned it into a genre. Games before GH and RB just didn't have that....magic and connection to the music.
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Yep. The Apple I is also the "first" personal computer despite the fact that other microcomputers excited before it. Doing something first doesn't always count if you don't also do it right.

Here in America, Guitar Hero is the "first" plastic music game. Even though it really isn't.

Don't get me wrong, I love Konami's Bemani games but they are so exclusionary. They're absurdly difficult, and the music selection has nothing to excite American consumers. Bemani games are strictly for very hardcore music game fans. DDR is the only real exception as it achieved a fair amount of success in the states.
 
Konami had the components, but had no idea how to sell them. And also had a crap interface.

Harmonix reworked it (especially since they had worked with Konami before) and packaged it into a central concept. Instead of releasing a bunch of split market games, they packaged drumming / guitar / singing (Karaoke Revolution) into a cohesive package, then Westernized it with the song selection and interface. Especially the interface, I can't stand to play Konami's music games where the notes come straight down from top to bottom. The Harmonix 3D oncoming "highway" just feels better for this type of play.

Then Rock Revolution came out and displayed how Konami continues to not "get" it, especially with stupid shit like poison notes.
 
BroHuffman said:
I still don't understand this plays
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I guess similar to the PSP/DS games; but with less notes and faster.
You play one track/instrument, a few notes then after successfully playing in that track; you alternate tracks/instruments to do the same.

The song will obviously sound better if you alternate tracks/instruments and play the notes on time; while if you play on a track badly; the other tracks are affected since they'll continue playing..as if you were missing the notes.

So the key is playing all notes well across all instruments and knowing when to change tracks (i.e. don't forget about tit).

This one seems a little more crazy and faster; while the PSP/DS games played at the regular speed. Those 2 games also had the usual red/green/etc. notes....so, we'll see.


****

I'm just glad they did this. I've been asking them for years to make "something like Unplugged" but as a Live Arcade/PSN game and compatible with all DLC....and they did. :)
 
I fucking hate that they ditched the Frequency cylinder for the flat track in Amplitude and this.

BRING BACK THE CYLINDER, IT'S TEN TIMES BETTER
 
FyreWulff said:
Harmonix reworked it (especially since they had worked with Konami before) and packaged it into a central concept. Instead of releasing a bunch of split market games, they packaged drumming / guitar / singing (Karaoke Revolution) into a cohesive package,
Click to expand...

Konami actually did this first. They fused the GuitarFreaks and Drummania series into one game, although they had not yet integrated Karaoke Revolution. You could play band co-op with lead guitar, rhythm guitar, and drums in GuitarFreaks.
 
Mike Works said:
I fucking hate that they ditched the Frequency cylinder for the flat track in Amplitude and this.

BRING BACK THE CYLINDER, IT'S TEN TIMES BETTER
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Never liked the cylinder. The flat plane made more sense for being able to look ahead at the other tracks for combo opportunity. The cylinder looked nicer, but the flat plane just made more sense for game play.

I really hope this is a true sequel to Amplitude. If it is good as those games were, then I may have found my new favorite XBLA/PSN game.

Oh, and DDR and Beatmania had plenty of "magic." Beating Max 300 on expert still ranks as one of the best music game experiences I have had (and I have played pretty much every music game). Beatmania was tons of fun once you got over the learning curve of the controller. I do admit though that the Harmonix games are so much more accessible than Benami games ever were. Also, Konami is just not a great publisher at all, and it is no surprise that they have fumbled everything Benami. Like Sound Vortex though.
 
InaudibleWhispa said:
Well, I sure hope this isn't their "fundamental creative reinterpretation of Rock Band" with gameplay that is an "exciting, fresh, innovative, radical departure".

But it looks fun enough for what it is. I enjoy Rock Band, I enjoyed Amplitude, I'm sure I'll get my moneys worth out of this.
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Harmonix is a company that is full of musicians who play in their own bands. I doubt this is the "evolution" of the greatness they have already created with real guitar charts and most of a real drumset and keyboard.
 
Blu_LED said:
Hahahahahahahahahahaha.

Yeah, please. People will endlessly argue that Harmonix didn't invent the plastic music genre, but it simply comes down to the facts. Sure, companies like Bemani had similar games to Rock Band before Rock Band even came out, but we all know that it was HMX who modernized those games, HMX who allowed them to be played by normal people, HMX who allowed me to play it in my home, HMX who amplified the magical co-op mode, and HMX really turned it into a genre. Games before GH and RB just didn't have that....magic and connection to the music.
Click to expand...

Might wanna play Beatmania. It's one of the most immersive games I've ever played, especially if you love electronic music.

It's really Bemani at its finest. You haven't lived until you've played IIDX on a cabinet with the full speaker setup and feedback flooring. Very hard to do, sadly, but playing it on the consoles with surround is DAMN close. Mm, keysounding.


That said, I'd be ecstatic if they got Symbion Project back for this, but I doubt it.

Last I asked, what he did in Freq/Amp was just 'game music' to him.
 
cj_iwakura said:
Might wanna play Beatmania. It's one of the most immersive games I've ever played, especially if you love electronic music.

It's really Bemani at its finest. You haven't lived until you've played IIDX on a cabinet with the full speaker setup and feedback flooring. Very hard to do, sadly, but playing it on the consoles with surround is DAMN close. Mm, keysounding.


That said, I'd be ecstatic if they got Symbion Project back for this, but I doubt it.

Last I asked, what he did in Freq/Amp was just 'game music' to him.
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Cross game DLC instantly made each successive Rock Band more valuable than the last. Buying Rock Band 3 instantly provided pro drum modes for the thousands of songs that some people had in their library. That instantly made the purchase a no brainer for me.

No other series has replicated that to the level of Harmonix.

Now they're releasing an Amplitude style game and once again allowing that cross content to continue, making it a day 1 purchase for any Amplitude fan that has Rock Band DLC sitting on their console.

The entire Rock Band 1 catalog still only costs $5 to turn into DLC to use on the other games. All you need is someone's disc for an hour or so.

Also, the other way around, the songs are instantly playable on Rock Band 3, so for 25 songs, how much are they charging? Buying 25 songs individually would cost you $50...in 3 packs, you might be talking $40ish instead total. If this game releases at something like $20, it's an insanely huge value. A new game to use thousands of currently available songs that many people already own, and adding 25 songs to the existing game series that those people already have.

Love it!
 
The main charm for me in Frequency and Amplitude was all the electronic music, but I'll probably still get this (mainly to play the songs in RB.)
 
Frequency and Amplitude were only good with the PS2 controller, due to the 4 shoulder buttons, and no triggers. You could fucking pull off some insane shit in those games, and it flowed so well on that pad. I played Rockband Unplugged, and it was ok, but without the PS2 pad, these games aren't as good.
 
Totally unimpressed by the visuals and the music selection (rock in general). Will wait for a proper Amplitude sequel, thanks. Very disappointed this is all Harmonix could come up with.
 
Really two notes? And the gameplay is like in the trailer for the whole game?

Also, Rock Band without multiplayer, are you fucking kidding me. Let's just see what those 25 songs are and then I'm out.
 
I was hoping it would be more like Rock Band: Unplugged which is one of my favorite rhythm games ever. It seems a lot more dumbed down than that was unfortunately.
 
I have plenty of warm feelings towards Frequency and Amplitude, and this looks like the perfect game for zoning out. Supporting RB songs is completely awesome.

And man, I miss Beatmania. I imported about five of those back in the day and could play some of the 8* songs. Unfortunately LCD TVs and input lag killed it for me.
 
This looks awful.

Seriously.

It's a really good bullet point that it works with existing DLC. It's why I'll end up getting it + the song 'export'.
 
So it's basically Rock Band Unplugged HD? Not being on a handeld kind of defeats the purpose, but good on them for making it compatible with previous DLC.
 
Jay-B said:
So it's basically Rock Band Unplugged HD? Not being on a handeld kind of defeats the purpose, but good on them for making it compatible with previous DLC.
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I loved that on PSP. When I 5 starred the Lamb of God song on Expert....*like a boss*

Will buy on PS3. Great Summer game. Too bad there's no Vita version, would be great on the go. I guess the PSP game will have to suffice for now.
 
StevePharma said:
Too bad there's no Vita version, would be great on the go. I guess the PSP game will have to suffice for now.
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I know right? A Vita version seemed like a no-brainer. But from what I understand Unplugged didn't do too good on PSP, so maybe that left a bad taste in their mouth, which would be understandable.
 
Jay-B said:
I know right? A Vita version seemed like a no-brainer. But from what I understand Unplugged didn't do too good on PSP, so maybe that left a bad taste in their mouth, which would be understandable.
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They could go the Motorstorm RC route. Make two versions and maybe charge a small fee to make them playable on both systems. That way you still make money. Also, the Vita isn't hacked yet. When Unplugged came out it was on top of the scene download lists for a looong time.
 
If the price and/or track list is good, I'll bite.


Does this mean we'll have to pay for an RB3 export to play those songs in it, though? And will they try and slug us a separate Blitz Export fee, too? I hope not.
 
I'll probably bite just to play with the $100 or so worth of DLC I bought during Rock Band 1 and 2. I fizzed out on the genre before RB3 game came out, and don't even have any instruments anymore.

I did have some interest in buying RB3, but it seemed like you either had to buy it with a keyboard instrument or just the game. Guess they assumed you already had instruments, as the giant bundle craze was already dying.
 
bkfount said:
I'll probably bite just to play with the $100 or so worth of DLC I bought during Rock Band 1 and 2. I fizzed out on the genre before RB3 game came out, and don't even have any instruments anymore.

I did have some interest in buying RB3, but it seemed like you either had to buy it with a keyboard instrument or just the game. Guess they assumed you already had instruments, as the giant bundle craze was already dying.
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The retailers won't allow the big boxes anymore. And yeah, it's partly assumed that there's enough floating out there.
 
I've watched the video for it, but I honestly don't see how the games work. Why do you switch between the different "roads"? What point is there in it? Do you just switch to the type that has more nodes in it at that point? What makes the player decide to switch? Could I get tons of points by just sitting on one stream for the whole time?

It really confuses me.
 
Rlan said:
I've watched the video for it, but I honestly don't see how the games work. Why do you switch between the different "roads"? What point is there in it? Do you just switch to the type that has more nodes in it at that point? What makes the player decide to switch? Could I get tons of points by just sitting on one stream for the whole time?

It really confuses me.
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If it's anything like Unplugged, you switch using the bumpers/triggers after succesfully completing a predefined portion of a track.
 
I was more hoping for a RockBand front-end where I can access all my DLC and tracks from the previous games and just play it without a disc. Lack of instruments makes this a poor substitute for that Rockband feeling with friends.

After playing RB for years, playing with a pad seems like a regression, not the evolution of the genre.
 
Raide said:
I was more hoping for a RockBand front-end where I can access all my DLC and tracks from the previous games and just play it without a disc. Lack of instruments makes this a poor substitute for that Rockband feeling with friends.

After playing RB for years, playing with a pad seems like a regression, not the evolution of the genre.
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RB3 is on Games on Demand if you want the RB front end with no disk.
 
Im surprise the massive dlc library games don't have a free downloadable shell like pinball FX to grab all the DLC.
 
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