Rock Band 2

[Hellboy]

Xbox 360 release date: September 14th (Standalone game & instruments- Bundle sometime in October)
PS3, PS2, Wii release date: Late 2008
Pricing: TBA
http://www.rockband.com

Reviews:
IGN: 9.0
1Up: A-
Gamespy: 5/5
Gamepro: 5/5
OXM: 9/10

The previous thread got huge and a little unwieldy with new information, so here’s a new one with everything you'd want to know about Rock Band 2. Gonna try and keep this one updated for the 3 people on these forums that actually play this game.

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Rock Band, the full band video game experience everyone should’ve come to know and love will be getting a sequel in about 2 months. From game developer Harmonix, creators of Guitar Hero, Amplitude, Frequency, and about a million Karaoke revolution games- where the first Rock Band game was about creating a groundbreaking new rhythm gaming experience, Harmonix says, Rock Band 2 will be all about perfecting that experience.


What’s New:

-Online Band World Tour
-“Battle of the Bands” Mode: “Go head-to-head competing against other bands with Battle of the Bands contests that will be generated by Harmonix on a regular basis”
-Quickplay Setlists
-Solo World Tour will be replaced with Band Challenge Mode, which now includes a solo bass option- it will utilize the current Rock Band store’s interface, and integrate DLC accordingly, making it easier to find and play specific songs. Difficulty tiers have been cut down to either 5 or 6 tiers as well, as opposed to the 9 from the previous game. Mini-campaigns will also be available, which will allow you to play focused specifically on a certain instrument, a favorite artist, a preferred genre, or even a specific album
-Drum Trainer Mode: “A true teaching tool that gives players a step-by-step lesson through the basic beat and fill vocabulary any real world drummer would know”
-No “Band Leader,” any character created can play any instrument
-“Almost all” on-disc Rock Band songs can be exported as DLC for Rock Band 2 by purchasing an application (via XBLM or PSN) for about 400 MSP ($4.99) The songs being left out are Black Sabbath's "Paranoid," Iron Maiden's "Run to the Hills," and Metallica's "Enter Sandman."
-All Rock Band DLC will be compatible with Rock Band 2 right off the bat, and vice-versa with 2’s DLC
-More than 500 game tracks by the year’s end
-It appears as though the ho/po notes have been made smaller so that they're more easily differentiated between regular notes
-There will be some chords in songs that function as ho/po
-No Fail Mode: Basically what it says, you and your bandmates won't fail-out in this mode- killer for when playing drunk.

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New and exciting ways to whore out your band:


-In-game staff and roadies will evidently be purchasable, such as "merch sellers, promoters, and lawyers." No word yet on what their use is (more than likely they’ll enable specific show effects, such as the cool new lighting and psychedelic effects you can see in the new trailer)
-There’ll be a photo creator mode which will allow you to pose your rockers in cool ways and (more than likely) allow you to use the photos as loading screens and other various things, as well as…
-Posters and band member figurines of YOUR BAND, talked about last year, will finally be offered on the Rock Band website for a nominal fee. Figurines will run you about $75.
-Music video venues will be unlockable and allow your band to star in its own music video as you play
-New clothes, accessories, tattoos, instruments, etc. along with all the stuff from the first game; unfortunately you won’t be able to transfer characters through saves, so you’ll just have to make them again

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The Songs:
Harmonix have unearthed 84 songs (all master tracks) spanning across 5 decades of rock & roll. In addition to these, 20 songs which were unable to make it onto the game’s disc will be offered as FREE DLC when the game is released. 2’s list looks to be a bit more spread-out than the first game’s setlist, which was heavy with 1970’s songs. I shamelessly copied this list off of SA because it has links to youtubes to most of the songs, so watch and listen to them at your convenience.

AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
AFI - Girl's Not Grey
Alanis Morissette - You Oughta Know
Alice in Chains - Man in the Box
Allman Brothers - Ramblin' Man
Avenged Sevenfold - Almost Easy
Bad Company - Shooting Star
Beastie Boys - So Whatcha Want
Beck - E-Pro
Bikini Kill - Rebel Girl
Billy Idol - White Wedding Pt. I
Blondie - One Way or Another
Bob Dylan - Tangled Up in Blue
Bon Jovi - Livin' on a Prayer
Cheap Trick - Hello There
Devo - Uncontrollable Urge
Dinosaur Jr - Feel the Pain
Disturbed - Down with the Sickness
The Donnas - New Kid in School
Dream Theater - Panic Attack
Duran Duran - Hungry Like the Wolf
Elvis Costello - Pump it Up
Fleetwood Mac - Go Your Own Way
Foo Fighters - Everlong
The Go-Go's - We Got the Beat
Grateful Dead - Alabama Getaway
The Guess Who - American Woman
Guns N' Roses - Shackler's Revenge
Interpol - PDA
Jane's Addiction - Mountain Song
Jethro Tull - Aqualung
Jimmy Eat World - The Middle
Joan Jett - Bad Reputation
Journey - Anyway You Want It
Judas Priest - Painkiller
Kansas - Carry On Wayward Son
L7 - Pretend We're Dead
Lacuna Coil - Our Truth
Linkin Park - One Step Closer
Lit - My Own Worst Enemy
Lush - De-Luxe
Mastodon - Colony of Birchmen
Megadeth - Peace Sells
Metallica - Battery
Mighty Mighty Bosstones - Where'd You Go
Modest Mouse - Float On
Motörhead - Ace of Spades
The Muffs - Kids in America
Nirvana - Drain You
Norman Greenbaum - Spirit in the Sky
The Offspring - Come Out & Play (Keep 'em Seperated)
Panic at the Disco - Nine in the Afternoon
Paramore - That's What You Get
Pearl Jam - Alive
The Presidents of the United States of America - Lump
Rage Against the Machine - Testify
Ratt - Round & Round
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Give it Away
The Replacements - Alex Chilton
Rise Against - Give it All
Rush - The Trees
Silversun Pickups - Lazy Eye
The Smashing Pumpkins - Today
Social Distortion - I Was Wrong
Sonic Youth - Teenage Riot
Soundgarden - Spoonman
Squeeze - Cool for Cats
Steely Dan - Bodhisattva
Steve Miller Band - Rock'n Me
Survivor - Eye of the Tiger
System of a Down - Chop Suey!
Talking Heads - Psycho Killer
Tenacious D - Master Exploder
Testament - Souls of Black
The Who - Pinball Wizard

Bonus Songs:
Abnormality - Visions
Anarchy Club - Get Clean
Bang Camaro - Night Lies
Breaking Wheel - Shoulder to the Plow
The Libyans - Neighborhood
The Main Drag - A Jagged Georgeous Winter
Speck - Conventional Lover
The Sterns - Supreme Girl
That Handsome Devil - Rob the Prez-O-Dent

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The Instruments:
Taking the extremely evident cue from last year’s release and the large amount of malfunctioning instruments, Harmonix has seemingly taken every problem into account and (hopefully) rectified them.
-Rock Band 2’s instruments will be compatible with 1’s and vice-versa

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The Guitar:
Looks to be a Tobacco Sunburst colored Fender Stratocaster


What they fixed:

-Sturdier, more precise feeling strum bar; increased responsiveness, reduced mushiness, and made the travel distance of the bar shorter in order to make fast strumming easier and more accurate
-Quieter fret buttons; “practically inaudible,” according to Gamespot, as opposed to the original Strat’s clicky buttons
-Overdrive sensor has been retooled for more reliable deployment of Overdrive
-Wireless out of the box
-Textured and reinforced neck: to make it easier to grip and feel more durable
-Head-stock can now be removed with the push of a button
-“Start” button now has plastic ring around it to prevent it from getting accidentally pressed during play
-Battery cover on the back is now thumb-operable instead of requiring a screwdriver
-Internal photo-sensor and microphone which will auto-calibrate the lag time on your TV; very helpful for those who had trouble calibrating their LCDs for the game

For more pictures and info about the guitar, go here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6195188/p-2.html

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The Drums:
All right, here we go


What they fixed:

-The kick pedal is now metal reinforced; no more worries of it snapping
-Kick pedal and the plastic base parts now feature bigger, better non-slip pads, so your kit will never be sliding away from you if you don’t play on a rug or carpet
-Metal cylinders holding the base parts together have been replaced with black plastic U-shaped connectors which perfectly conforms to the kick pedal’s placement ridges- in short, if you need to pick up the set, the kick pedal will stay connected to the bar it’s on, instead of immediately sliding onto the floor as with the previous set- a small but useful feature
-Drum heads are now made of a blend of silicone and plastics, making them much quieter than the original set, as well as increasing their stick rebound; they evidently produce a much deeper sound when struck, replicating a true drum’s sound rather than the sharp “thok” of the original set
-Velocity sensitive pads: vastly improved hit detection in terms of sensitivity and accuracy, and will produce different levels of sound in-game depending on how hard you hit them
-Pads are now silver rimmed with black pads, and a deep black target in the center to give you something to aim for
-Height adjusters now have specific height levels so you’re never playing with a slightly lopsided set
-Features “cymbal inputs” on the back of the controller: three colored cymbal add-ons will be offered from Mad Catz, which can be plugged into the back and used for a more accurate game experience- Rock Band 2 will be able to differentiate between the cymbals and the pads and will make the appropriate noise in-game. The cymbals will be offered in packs of one for $15 and all 3 for $30, no word yet on when they’ll go on sale

For more pictures (including a mock-up of the set with the cymbals) and info about the drums, go here: http://www.gamespot.com/features/6195188/index.html

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The Mic:
Nothing really worth noting here, it’s basically the same one; you can buy a “Premium Mic,” it’s about $30 now, it looks a hell of a lot cooler than the original mic, and it SUPPOSEDLY improves your singing. I have one, but I can’t really vouch if it improved my singing or not, I mean, it’s hard to improve on perfection.



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Cool Extra Instrument Stuff Coming Soon and Sold Separately:
-Fender Precision Bass Controller (MadCatz)
-Fender Telecaster Guitar Controller (MadCatz)
-Full Sized Squire Stratocaster Guitar Controller (MadCatz)
-Premium Microphone (has controller buttons on it) (MadCatz)
-Drum Set Cymbal Expansion Pack (MadCatz)
-Stage Kit: Fog Machine, Strobe Light, Color LEDs (PDP)

ION High End Drum Set:
$300, comes with 2 cymbals and an optional third will be available, can function as a real electronic kit, is a shitload more fun to play with, definitely more accurate drum experience- now available for purchase. I bought it- Final Verdict: Awesome.



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DLC:
Handy dandy wiki with all of the DLC that’s been released thus far, as well as rumored and confirmed but unreleased DLC:
Check it

This week’s DLC (12/30):
Lenny Kravitz Pack (560 MSP or $6.99 for whole pack)

Lenny Kravitz - Are You Gonna Go My Way
Lenny Kravitz - Freedom Train
Lenny Kravitz - Let Love Rule
Lenny Kravitz - Mr. Cab Driver

Harmonix Singles (80 MSP or $0.99 cents each)
Megasus - Megasus (Only a clip)
Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives - Entangled


(Covers marked in bold)

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Misc.:
Everlong Trailer
Bodhisattva Footage
Gamespy Song Footage (Warning: Difficulties lower than Expert)
Achievement List
Song Tiers For Every Instrument (Including Full Band)
Rush tries to play Rock Band
Ion Drum Rocker Site


J2 Bands:
We can start one or you can tell me to add yours once the game is out and everyone gets situated. It might be difficult to start one, though, since PCgamer is always getting high, Wulf is terrible at everything and you can't rely on him to do anything correctly, Sizzler has the PS3 version (I think), and no one else plays enough or has the game. Get the fuck with it, people.

Gentle Executioner (Hellboy)

[tubbins]

I'd drop ~170 clams just to download and play Doolittle

But my dad would probably have a hissy fit and tell me to pick up a real instrument like he did with GH2. If I brought home a plastic guitar, drums, AND mic he'd probably disown me.

anyway... that beefed up drum set looks sexy.

[joe]

nice post, i'm looking forward to info about GH4. we have 2 guitars (for wii GH3) and probably won't buy a game that isn't compatible with them (meaning we are locked into GH until they start making cross-compatible instruments).

i also read today that logitech is getting into the game with their own premium instruments

[Hellboy]

Well GH 3's instruments have always worked with Rock Band and will probably continue to work with any of the following Rock Band games (at least the 360 version does), and Activision have finally decided not to be dumb fuckers for this specific case and are allowing Rock Band instruments to be compatible with GH: World Tour. GH: Aerosmith was also compatible with Rock Band's Strat. Rock Band 2's instruments should work with World Tour, and vice-versa, unless there's something weird with the Wii or PS3 instruments that doesn't allow them to be cross-compatible.

[Sizzler]

Harmonix has hinted that GH4's drums won't be compatible with Rock Band 2 when they said that only drums with "The basic 4 pad layout" would work. We don't know yet though.

GH4 is also being ported to the PC, which seems weird to me. Is there seriously that big of a market for 4 player party games on the PC?

[Hellboy]

GH4 is also being ported to the PC, which seems weird to me. Is there seriously that big of a market for 4 player party games on the PC?

Chumps'll buy it.

Actually, I bought a 24'' monitor and got rid of my gigantic 27'' CRT TV and pretty much use my monitor for everything now, so I play Rock Band on it as well- looks a hell of a lot better than it did on my TV and it would probably work fine in a party setting if I didn't just play Rock Band at my friend's place on their gigantic big screen TV. Really depends on how well the user's set-up with the monitor is, though.

[BIGGIE]

i have had this game since Feb. and i love it. im soo excited for the bass career about dam time. song list is ok. wish they would just put Muse on it other than DLC months later. which you know they will do. Modest mouse float on. HELL YEA one of my favorite modest mouse songs. if they sell the instruments seperate i will probably only get the drums. not a fan of the RB guitars. i like the GH guitar WAY better.

[joe]

hellboy you're incredibly well informed about this so my inclination is to take your word for it. however, every other gaming site i've read says the instruments will NOT be cross-compatible on the wii. so until i get hard data otherwise i'm going to be cautious and assume i have to stick with GH3/GH4 to use the same guitars

[Hellboy]

hellboy you're incredibly well informed about this so my inclination is to take your word for it. however, every other gaming site i've read says the instruments will NOT be cross-compatible on the wii. so until i get hard data otherwise i'm going to be cautious and assume i have to stick with GH3/GH4 to use the same guitars

Probably for the best. I don't think I'd even bother with this game if all I had was the Wii, the DLC is one of the most important factors to me.

Speaking of which, new DLC stuff is up- some SOAD singles and some more new Crue stuff that nobody wants.

[BIGGIE]

modest mouse has 2 drummers. i owner how the note chart will look like

[Hellboy]

It'll probably be the main beat prevalent in the song, with small snippets of the second beat, if there is in fact one in the song.

They do it all the time with the rhythm and lead guitar parts, if one is more interesting to play at a particular moment than the other- you even play organ parts in a Boston song on DLC.

[BIGGIE]

they didnt with They Say - scars on broadway. u just played rhythm at times when the lead guitar was more interesting.

[Hellboy]

Well buying that song is a mistake any way you look at it.

[AMMO]

Thanks for putting together a great first post, Hellboy.

The new Strat looks sweet and so do the new drums.

[WOZZA]

Another rock band I wont be buying. I refuse to pay £180 for the current one chances are they will find a way of making this one more expensive.