The second band-centric game from Harmonix, Green Day Rock Band continues the tradition of strong co-op set by its forbears. It's still a great time to sing, strum, and hit plastic drum pads with a friend or five. The problem is, Green Day Rock Band doesn't do anything particularly new.
USA Today has posted a story covering Rock Band 3, Harmonix's upcoming music game release. As hinted in the Green Day Rock Band demo, keyboards are included, to the satisfaction of Liberace fans everywhere. This will bring the upper limit for co-op to seven at a time: bass, guitar, lead vocals, two backup singers, a drummer, and a keyboardist. Tickling the ivories has been a fan request ever since the original Rock Band, and as the next logical step for the genre, it's great to finally see it.
The Guinness Book of World Records launched a Gamer's Edition a few years back, since then they've slowly grown the book into a definitive collection of records and interesting stats for fans of video games. The latest edition includes the "Top Videogame Series of All time" and is topped by the relatively young Halo franchise, a co-op favorite around these parts.
Call of Duty comes in at #2, a series that has had its fair share of co-op as well, with 13 of the 50 franchise we consider to be mostly co-op. In fact, 6 of the top 10 franchises as voted on by the users of the Guinness Website are cooperative.
Abbot and Costello, Peanut Butter and Jelly, Pork and Beans: apart from each other, they are acceptable, but combined, they turn into something far better. So what would happen if you took an actual, functioning electric guitar, and combined it with the fake plastic doodads used to control music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero? You'd get something like the Power Gig guitar, shown above.
As we near the June 8 release of Green Day Rock Band, the complete song list has been revealed. As expected, the heaviest emphasis is on the band's most popular albums: Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown. (A personal favorite, Brain Stew is one of the included tracks, as well.) One surprising revelation is that there will be only three venues, which is much less than other music game titles. Exporting the disc's 47 songs into other Rock Band games will cost $10, but it's free if you buy the enhanced version, known as Green Day Rock Band Plus. This version will also include the previously released Green Day DLC.
Today, I'll share with you a harrowing tale of death-defying, madness-inducing consumerism at it's very worst: attempting to buy the AC/DC Rock Band Track Pack. On the day after Thanksgiving, Black Friday, 2008. At a Wal-mart Supercenter. At 4:30 in the morning!
This news isn't exactly surprising, but it's still good nonetheless. Harmonix has announced, via Facebook, that Rock Band 3 is being developed, and will hit store shelves late this year. We've got next to no details, but here's the actual announcement.
Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!
Let's look into our co-op crystal ball and speculate as to what Rock Band 3 will have: vocal harmonies, importing RB2 songs at now or low cost, a good songs/price ratio, and more GH5-like interface improvements. What would you like to see in Rock Band 3? Keyboards, perhaps? New and improved instruments? Groupies?
Source: Facebook.com
Today, we conclude our look at the shape of band-centric games to come. In part one, we identified the qualities that the current band-centric games all share. Now, we'll take these traits and see how some of the biggest acts of all time stack up. Which bands will have their own video game?
Do you find yourself wanting to repurchase games that you already own? Do you notice an imbalance in your bank account or credit card statements in increments of $2-$5? Are you addicted to Steam, PSN or Xbox LIVE Arcade games. If you've answered "yes," you likely have a case of S.A.D.*
Today, we begin a two part series about the future of band-centric video games. In this first part, we will examine the band games that have already been released (or announced), in order to determine what characteristics they share.
Found 101 Articles
ADVERTISEMENT
Next Event: TBD
Game:
Next Event: 9/04/2010
Game: Halo 3 and ODST
Our monthly Xbox Live, Halo Waypoint and GFW Co-Op Nights get you online to meet other co-op gamers. These are Official Xbox Live & GFW events!
ADVERTISEMENT
COLONY OF GAMERS NEWS
