Excited about Rock Band? You will be after reading this interview
by Jem Alexander 
{ Jun 8th 2007 at 10:45PM }
In an interview with IGN, Alex Rigopulos (CEO of Harmonix) revealed some details about the development process of Rock Band. Despite remaining tight lipped regarding actual specifics of controller set-ups, pricing, songs or gamplay he still managed to say enough of the right things to get us sufficiently excited for the game. Again. Sounds impossible, right? Read on.
When asked whether Rock Band would feature strong single player gameplay for each instrument Rigopulos responded, saying "I can't speak to what Activision has planned for future versions of Guitar Hero, but what I can say is that Rock Band's guitar game alone will be more substantial than any of the prior Guitar Hero releases." He then goes on to remind us that there will be a singing section, a drum section and a co-operative band section on top of the guitar portion of the game. If each of these four game modes are as big as he is indicating then Rock Band is going to be truly immense. I can already hear RedOctane quaking in their boots.
As for those potentially bank-breaking controllers, Rigopulos says that making a game like Rock Band requires good quality peripherals to enhance the gameplay experience. As a development team full of musicians, Harmonix is determined to make the controllers for Rock Band feel more authentic than any instrument peripheral we've seen before. As a drummer himself, Rigopulos has seen to it that the new drum controller is "a real piece of hardware."
Read the rest of the interview for more info. Also, don't forget to suggest which songs you'd like to see in the game on the official website. Our excitement for Rock Band is peaked (until Harmonix throws some gameplay info our way, at least), how about you?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
kingofwale @ Jun 8th 2007 10:53PM
how excited am I after this?? not at all, I simply will NOT spending the price of a Wii on a game. and frankly, I won't get a game unless I can play through the entire game.
so, it's a no sale for me, Sorry, try better next time.
Bored @ Jun 8th 2007 11:38PM
Too expensive for a game.
And the thing is, if you have enough friends who would like to play music with you, you'd better off starting a REAL rock band. It would be infinitely more satisfying.
Mike Henriquez @ Jun 8th 2007 11:57PM
Do I smell another Steel Battalion?
Stef Geiger @ Jun 8th 2007 11:46PM
Yeah, seriously, as someone who's been playing guitar for years, I've never had the slightest interest in these games. Buy a guitar, learn how to actually play it. It's way more fun, and chicks dig it.
Chris @ Jun 9th 2007 12:56AM
yeah forget playing games like need for speed or madden im just gonna buy an evo rice it out and go street race for 10,000 a race, then ill get my friends together take some steroids and start our own professional football team
ready break
retards
ridestowe @ Jun 9th 2007 2:27AM
a REAL band! gosh why didnt i think of that!?!
Popfrogs @ Jun 9th 2007 9:27AM
Since I have no imagination I'm going to side with the people telling me to start a real band instead of playing this game.
/sarcasm
kingofwale @ Jun 9th 2007 8:57AM
I don't buy the whole "why don't you just start a real band" argument. In that same sense, why don't you just go play real baseball, tennis, bowling and boxing? instead of half-assed sims?
see?
Let's focus on what will fail this game, the OVERLY priced peripherals. if they can't keep everything down to 130, the game will get KILLED.
K.T.P.S.3. @ Jun 9th 2007 9:46AM
kingofwale when your in your adulthood already you can't just join the premiership, or the nfl, or the pga, or the nba etc.... you can though get a few buddies together in the basement and form a "real rock band!" I play piano for real, and I've played guitar hero. With the time you have to invest you really should get a real instrument and learn. DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL INSTEAD OF REVAMPING A BUNCH OF OLD SONGS' CD SALES!!!!!!!!
pete @ Jun 11th 2007 1:57PM
not this stupid debate again. people listen, these are games, yea i could go pick up an expensive ass real guitar, pay loads of cash for some lesson and spend months practicing to become somewhat decent or pop in a game and rock out for and hour then go back about my day. 'nough said. and belive it or not chicks dig my mediocre skills on gh2, its fun and funner, funner?, even more fun with the drinks and the smoke.
i'm looknig forward to gh3, not gh 80 version or rock band.
pete @ Jun 11th 2007 1:58PM
can i get amen! oh yeah!!!!!!!!!1111one one
John @ Jun 11th 2007 9:07PM
I'm excited about this. I agree about the $130 price cap.
But the thing that really hit me was the idea of multiple instances of rock instantiation or whatever, like a singer, guitarist, drummer, etc.
The idea is great, very next-gen, never been done before. GH is fun, but kinda lonely.
For the single player, I'm hoping you can go through and record/perform the individual parts, playing each instrument, as if you were in the studio.
For multiplayer, I'm expecting 4 peripherals, if your friends are over, each of you plays one. This just seems like Karaoke on steroids, especially if they're including singing.
Sure, it would be just as fun if I had a bass, a lead, some drums, a mixer, a multi-track, a mic at my house for everyone to jump on something, and I used to have that and used to try to get people do it, but the intimidation factor was pretty high, as was the expense.
This game might cost a lot for a GAME, but it's sure a lot cheaper than even a homemade basic studio.
And I know, because I'm a composer and musician (voice and keys) and I've had a number of home studios (all sold, hard times... SOB), but I'm still very excited about the potentiality of this idea.
If they don't get it right this time, it could take 10 years for it to come around again. We shall see.