Yup. So here it is, as premiered on the latest episode of GameTrailers TV, the first footage of Harmonix's and MTV Games' Rock Band 2.
Set to the soothing sounds of the Foo Fighter's "Everlong," this footage confirms one thing -- not much has changed. Sure, "Everlong" wasn't in the first game, and is a pretty great choice for a game of this type (Neversoft agrees -- the song is also included in Guitar Hero: World Tour). Looks like there are some new venues, too, including a stage with a plane and some sort of castle. Some fancy new effects have been added as well, which should make the game way more interesting to play after eating a handful of mushrooms.
But this is really nothing more than a tease, showing none of the game's real improvements or features. It's easy to see why someone could be disappointed -- this trailer really looks like more of the same.
As an unashamed Rock Band fanboy, this doesn't bother me. Some new songs, animations, and venues is really all they'd need to get my $59.99. But we know there's a more to the game than that, and we'll get hands-on details at this week's E3. But in the meantime, after seeing this, what games has you more amped up to rock out with your word that rhymes with "smock" out: Rock Band 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour?
I'm actually pretty excited for both and when the time comes they will both get my money. I prefer Rock Band only because I like the more realistic looking characters as opposed to the warner brothers looking Guitar Hero. Bot games will sell like friggin hotcakes though.
While the fact that I'm going to have to buy a bunch of instruments for GH sucks, I have to say I'm expecting way better music to be featured in GH than in Rock Band.
But, I will of course still buy Rock Band 2, considering all I need is a copy of the game, no more instruments!
I'm a bit more excited for Rock Band 2, simply because I don't have the kind of cash anymore to dish out on new bundles. Even if Guitar Hero: World Tour will work with the old X-Plorer, I never want to touch that white ukulele again, for fear of breaking my elbow.
I'm hoping that the cost of Rock Band 2 will be almost equivalent to the cost of the same number of DLC songs in the original Rock Band. If it's not anywhere close, then I may just consider something else.
This has me more excited since I don't own any of these music games yet. The idea of being able to come in at Rock Band 2 and get content from Rock Band 1 free means I really haven't missed out on anything other than time to practice. They definitely got the sequel idea right.
Maybe this will only be a fan-boy comment, but yeah, I am pretty excited for the game.
Wasn´t expecting many changes to the game play, just some more music.
I know it could be manged by DLC, but if the other company is releasing a new game they had to launch rock band 2.
Now where did I put my: "I LOVE ROCK BAND" t-shirt?
To throw my two cents in: I'm excited for both games for different reasons. World Tour because it's something "new," and they're really, really stuffing the game with features (and I've seen a lot of the soundtrack and am really impressed). But I'm getting really amped for Rock Band 2 because my existing library of DLC will be instantly compatible, and I have a ton of that stuff. I also know for a fact that the DLC will continue to flow like weekly water, since they've proven they can do it. I'm not sold on the idea that Activision will come hard with the DLC; they've shown more than a few times they're focused on the retail route (i.e. entirely new products).
I'd love to see a harder difficulty mode akin to Guitar Hero 3 level. I know some people think its over the top, but when you've played at that skill level some of the rock band songs just get boring. playing with your buds curb that a bit... but have some at least 1 dragon force level song please!
Looks like all the awesome of RB1, plus more. How can you go wrong?
I still cant believe people are getting so excited about GH4 when GH3 was a complete failure. That game showed little promise and Im not really expecting a home run from the guys who have only made one mediocre rhythm game in the past.
Even with all the DLC we have for RB at my friend's house there still are only a handful of songs that I really enjoy playing, and I'm so god damn tired of Metallica it's not even funny. At least with GH:WT I won't have to rely on the musically disinclined developers to give me what I want, I'll be able to lay down my own sick tracks, THAT is why I want GH. That and I've always liked GH's guitars better and the improvements they've made to the solo frets have me excited too. Don't really care about the drums, but the improvements to those are cool too.
More excited about Rock Band 2 definitely, but mostly because I've already invested over $200 in the Rock Band franchise. And Harmonix > Neversoft when it comes to music games.
I wouldn't mind if one of my friends got GH:WT though. Aerox?
Once Harmonix left, the Guitar Hero series went down hill. They went on to create something bigger and better with Rock Band. With the crazy expandable drum sets (or ion's prebuilt one) the drums will be filled with much more awesome than guitar hero's. Hopefully they both do well, though, to keep the competition alive. Competition is great for consumers. :)
Awesome. Definitely going for RB2 over GH:WT at this point - I preferred the soundtrack in RB over GH3 and don't want to buy a new set of instruments. Harmonix have shown that they're the ones leading the way in terms on innovation and moving the genre forward, so I'm sticking with them.
See above. The second I hit those 'boss battles,' I wondered what was going on. When I noticed I was playing notes that didn't exist, I despised what was going on.
I went with Harmonix from Guitar Hero 2 over to Rock Band and didn't bother getting Guitar Hero 3, so I'm definitely still leaning towards Rock Band 2...
Yeah have fun playing your "sick tracks". If you are really so excited to create your own music, get real fucking instruments. I hope this doesn't sound like a "PLAY A REAL GUITAR" argument, but when its gotten to the point where people like Syn actually think they can make a really full fledged song in GHIV. First of all the song creator doesnt allow you to add vocals. Secondly, 5 bucks says what everybody is going to design in the song creator is a bunch of guitar wank all over the place with a pre designed drum beat.
Dont get me wrong, I want this feature to be awesome, but you cant say you are going to be making your "sick tracks" just yet when we dont even know how the thing will work.
Neversoft has not delivered in either GH3 or GH:A. Harmonix has an amazing track record and do a great job of including a wide array of musical genres in their games. They're just strait up better developers. Rock Band 2 all the way.
i'm just worried that these games are going to become the new madden, each year coming out with new updates for basically the same gameplay. I agree that rockband has shown more dedication to releasing new tracks each week (which i hope the new GH would focus on more instead of new software), but i look forward to seeing reviews for both games in the fall. need more info before i decide
@sushi111: You're right on one point, and only one. I don't know how the song creator is going to work or how well, and I don't intend to spend money on it until I do. I don't care about the missing vocal tracks, I would rather play something fun thats only instrumental. And I do own two guitars, I'm just not pro at playing them, if you know some secret that makes a real guitar as easy to pick up and play as GH or RB then by all means share it with me and I probably wont touch either of the games ever again, but until then I am still a gamer and a fan of music and this combines the two.
You however failed to address my issue with the song selection of RB. I liked GH3 and I liked the majority of the music on it, a far greater ratio than with RB and we have over 160 songs. The Judas Priest is cool, Metallica is getting worn out, The Outlaws is still kind of fun, I enjoy Highway Star and Don't Fear the Reaper. But I'm sick of all this mainstream and classic rock crap.
I want some of the newer metal, and even if I cannot duplicate the drum tracks for them I can still make the guitar tracks for Nevermore, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Dark Empire, Persuader, Evergrey, or even The Black Mages should I choose to do so. If I can manage it, I would like to create some of my own but this all remains to be seen. You're assuming that I would like to create something beyond entertainment which just isn't true.
Although I suppose I could mod my PS2 and create a custom Guitar Hero disc and go the piracy route. You wouldn't be supporting that now would you? Plus the new guitars look fun. And I'm one that has been lucky enough to not have blown 200$ on Rock Band, I have some friends that have though.
The song creator will probably be exactly like every customizable feature found in a game: If you want to put the effort into it, you can make some amazing stuff, but most people are just gonna screw around with it for fun. I play vocals more than I play guitar, so GHIV's custom song creator's not looking too hot to me. So long as Rock Band 2 isn't half-assed on the Wii, I'll probably just pick that up instead.
I am so importing Rock Band 2 as soon as possible and maybe I might even fork out the dough for the ion drum kit for Christmas :-D
I don't see the point in this trailer at all though. It's not like no one didn't know RB2 was coming and it doesn't show anything new and everyone already knew Everlong was in the game, so what's the point?
I hope that 70's color trick thing (whatever the hell it's called) is just for the ad. Having flashing red getting caught in the corner of peoples' eyes while they're focusing on the note track sounds like an invitation to bad publicity.
Drum lines look pretty good. Not too complex, but lots of action. Would really like to see this played with the expanded drum kit (and with the expanded gameplay options, honestly).
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Contest:
12:36 PM on 07.13.2008
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YEAAHH!!
But, I will of course still buy Rock Band 2, considering all I need is a copy of the game, no more instruments!
I'm hoping that the cost of Rock Band 2 will be almost equivalent to the cost of the same number of DLC songs in the original Rock Band. If it's not anywhere close, then I may just consider something else.
Wasn´t expecting many changes to the game play, just some more music.
I know it could be manged by DLC, but if the other company is releasing a new game they had to launch rock band 2.
Now where did I put my: "I LOVE ROCK BAND" t-shirt?
Rock Band 2 looks to add everything the original lacked, and is an automatic buy.
I still cant believe people are getting so excited about GH4 when GH3 was a complete failure. That game showed little promise and Im not really expecting a home run from the guys who have only made one mediocre rhythm game in the past.
http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=71402
oh wait my bad lol
I wouldn't mind if one of my friends got GH:WT though. Aerox?
Yeah have fun playing your "sick tracks". If you are really so excited to create your own music, get real fucking instruments. I hope this doesn't sound like a "PLAY A REAL GUITAR" argument, but when its gotten to the point where people like Syn actually think they can make a really full fledged song in GHIV. First of all the song creator doesnt allow you to add vocals. Secondly, 5 bucks says what everybody is going to design in the song creator is a bunch of guitar wank all over the place with a pre designed drum beat.
Dont get me wrong, I want this feature to be awesome, but you cant say you are going to be making your "sick tracks" just yet when we dont even know how the thing will work.
Backwards compatibility FTW. Least now I won't have 3 separate drums and guitars lying around. Just two.
You however failed to address my issue with the song selection of RB. I liked GH3 and I liked the majority of the music on it, a far greater ratio than with RB and we have over 160 songs. The Judas Priest is cool, Metallica is getting worn out, The Outlaws is still kind of fun, I enjoy Highway Star and Don't Fear the Reaper. But I'm sick of all this mainstream and classic rock crap.
I want some of the newer metal, and even if I cannot duplicate the drum tracks for them I can still make the guitar tracks for Nevermore, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, Dark Empire, Persuader, Evergrey, or even The Black Mages should I choose to do so. If I can manage it, I would like to create some of my own but this all remains to be seen. You're assuming that I would like to create something beyond entertainment which just isn't true.
Although I suppose I could mod my PS2 and create a custom Guitar Hero disc and go the piracy route. You wouldn't be supporting that now would you? Plus the new guitars look fun. And I'm one that has been lucky enough to not have blown 200$ on Rock Band, I have some friends that have though.
For shame...
A $300 pair of drums and some new animations is not yet making me believe.
I don't see the point in this trailer at all though. It's not like no one didn't know RB2 was coming and it doesn't show anything new and everyone already knew Everlong was in the game, so what's the point?