It used to be that if you wanted to pretend to be a rock star, you'd have to plop down in front of your TV with a copy of Rock Band or Guitar Hero and your plastic guitar. Today, that process is becoming a little more involved. You still need the plastic guitar, but your time as a rock star can be a little more realistic with the arrival of Rock Band VR on Oculus Rift.
This week the Virtual Reality version of Rock Band has been released on pre-order for the masses. This game is coming with its own Fender Stratocaster wireless controller for Xbox One or PS4 in a single package. The game as we played it earlier this year was an interesting translation of the classic Rock Band experience into a fully encapsulating environment the likes of which have not been possible up until now.
I've spent a lot of time rocking out on a plastic guitar. I have no problem jamming with my friends, or even doing it in front of a few strangers at a party. But I've never considered the thought of getting up on a stage in front of thousands of screaming fans. Mostly because no matter how good you are on a plastic guitar, you'll never have thousands of fans packing a stadium for you. Well, at least not without a little bit of help.
After the disappointment of Harmonix's efforts to crowdfund a PC version of Rock Band 4, you'd think that we wouldn't hear much about the game for a little while. That turned out to be far from the truth at PAX this past weekend. The developer laid out a roadmap of future plans for the game, and there's quite a bit to see.
Starting in May, we'll see the ability to plug in a second kick pedal on the standard drum kits. That means you'll finally be able to nail some of those brutal kicks (but you'll still never be Neil Peart). They're also planning on releasing a couple of Battleborn characters for the game. You'll be able to add Miko and Thorn as members of your band, if you need a little variety in your lineup.
June will bring Practice Mode back to the franchise. This mode lets you pick out specific sections of a song, slow them down, and really practice them. This was a favorite feature of mine in earlier Rock Band games, as I enjoyed figuring out those solos and such at my own pace, before unleashing them on my friends while we were jamming.
Sometime in the Fall, Harmonix will be releasing their first expansion pack for the game. They're not planning on talking about it much until E3, but they're planning on releasing a bunch of new features in the expansion, including better ways to filter your enormous libraries.
Fall will also bring the one feature that has held me back from purchasing Rock Band 4. I was pretty dedicated to drumming in the early Rock Band games, and picked up the ION Rocker drum kit, which is a semi-professional drum kit that was designed specifically for Rock Band. Unfortunately, since it was designed for the Xbox 360, and Microsoft doesn't allow the use of 360 peripherals on the Xbox One, ION kit owners have not been able to use their favorite drum kit.
Harmonix is teaming up with PDP to release a special adapter that will let drummers like myself use their kit on the Xbox One.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxuKliQpSIY
The final announcement was that the team is hard at work on online multiplayer capabilities for the game. While I prefer to rock out with my friends in person, it's not always easy to get everyone together. Sometime toward the end of the year, we should expect the ability to play with our friends, regardless of where they are.
Source: Harmonix
[timeline]
Rock Band is a game that holds a special place in my heart. Sure, Guitar Hero introduced me to the genre, but I've spent so many nights rocking out with my friends on our sweet plastic instruments. The game has nearly 1,700 downloadable songs that have been released, but starting next month, some of them will disappear forever.
Bad news, folks. Harmonix has scrapped plans to bring Rock Band 4 to PC (for now, at least) due to the funding campaign's failure to meet its goal. The developer had sought funding on Fig, where it had a goal of $1.5 million with plans to contribute the other needed $500,000 itself if the campaign was fully funded. As of yesterday’s deadline, Harmonix has raised about half its goal at $792,000, and it says it won't be proceeding as a result.
It's a really big discount that doesn't readily appear that way due to its massive size: those who want all the DLC songs for Rock Band 4 on PC can get them (if the crowdfunding campaign is successful) for a cool $2,500 USD. That reward tier was recently added to the game’s crowdfunding campaign, where maker Harmonix aims to raise enough funds to bring the title to PC.
My love affair with Rock Band has been well-documented here at SlashGear, since I first heard about the game back in 2007. I drove about 6 hours just to play the game for the first time, when Harmonix took the game on tour. Well, nearly a decade has passed since those days, and the team behind the game are working on something they've been wanting to do since the very first Rock Band came out.
Last week we brought you the news that after months of waiting, PS4 owners could finally import their Rock Band 1 tracks into the latest installment of the game. Unfortunately, the same was not true for Xbox One owners. The developers confirmed that they were still hard at work solving the issue on Microsoft's gaming platform, but no solid time frame was given.
I've been a big fan of Harmonix's take on the rhythm gaming genre, ever since the first Rock Band was announced. Perhaps one of my favorite features was the idea that the music you purchased would be compatible with future titles. It's taking some time for the company to make good on that for their latest release, but we're finally seeing some progress.
Back when the first and second Rock Band games came out, I played them nonstop. I worked hard on the drums to climb the leaderboards, and for a while, held a rank that I was pretty proud of. If Harmonix had made today's announcement back then, I'd have been pretty bummed out.
You might think that Rock Band hasn't changed a lot since it originally debuted back in 2007. However, since its inception, Harmonix has put a lot of effort into making the game more realistic, with things like “pro” modes for the guitar and drums. Well this week, they're bringing a new update to the game that adds a completely new level of difficulty.