Rock Band crashes at our pad
By Ryan Block 
posted Nov 21st 2007 5:14PM
posted Nov 21st 2007 5:14PM
So yeah, we got our Rock Band kit today, and we're about to go test it out. In the mean time beware: the box is huge and it's filled to the brim. Actually, let's be a little more clear: we hope you have a rumpus room because the drum kit and a single Fender are friggin huge. We wouldn't exactly say the game has its own no-brown-M&Ms rider or anything, but if you're like us and already have a GH3 Les Paul and two GH2 Xplorers you're trying to hide behind the curtains, this one's not going to be very easy to get past your spouse (or their quickly waning patience level).
Man - it seems everyone is coming out with some interesting mod or cool thing for Rock Band. Keep them coming! I personally put this sound dampener/enhancer from http://www.drumpads4rockband.com/
What system did you get it for?
Where's the picture of you in your army fatigue PJs sitting on your couch showing this stuff off?
Umm your going to have to stop doing this listing items and then saying check at the end of each one. REALLY ANNOYING!
check.
double check
Cash? Credit?
Backseat blogger crying over nothing: Check
paper? plastic?
not related to this post, but oh my GOD, ive never had so much MAC on my computer at once before
i had 3 tabs open of engadget, my computer became extremely laggy, and all i hear is HELLO IM A MAC!! HELLO HELLO HELLO IM A MAC! REALY loud. again n again, it was rediculous.
i thought the problem was fixed? was that even the problem? i hope it isnt just my computer
Adblock Plus extension with Firefox...
...use it!
I was going to post this on Engadget too, but I forgot.
@Engadget: Please ban the mac add or something, it starts looping and ends with crashing my browser if I don't notice its running.
Engadget can't black MAC related ads. It's a sin!
of course I mean block
Same thing here, I get maybe 5 copies of the sound playing -- even when I did not click on the ad to play with sound..
Actually, I was thinking about the "I'm a PC" "And I'm a Mac" Ads just.
They have a huge loophole:
Who said that the PC isn't running linux?
That'd shut that smart-alec Mac guy up.
congrat engadget now "The girls come easy and the drugs come cheap"
Huh? That *should* be "Money for nothing and the chicks for free."
We'll all stay skinny cuz we just wont eat.
Rock band, heart was put in the right place; product was put in the garbage.
Question: Did those drumstick holder.. peg things come with Rock Band? Don't think mine came with any >< Where were they at?
Look at the top of the inside drums; those clips are pushed in. Pull them out and you've got your holders.
hey i unboxed my rock band for PS3 last nite and was so pissed when i found out the strum bar could only move down, im a lefty and for me its cool cause i can still strum down (i hold the guitar upside down ) but for my family its a different story, i took it apart and found out that the diode transistor for R12 was burnt, i put it back together and returned to gamestop this morning to exchange, oh and i nevered showed them the purple paper that says " please do not return to retailer" HAHA got a new box set and will find out later if this is a defect in all rock band fenders, hey by the way, does anyone know if i can connect my old GH controllers to rockband, i tried using my les paul from GH3 but it is not recognized. can i use a ps2 controller adapter?
summary review:
A. drums kick ass, if you can play drums in expert mode then you can actually play real drums.
B. mic is pretty heavy, i like it cause it feals professional.
C. guitar strum bar is alittle hard to play and the buttons on the neck are kinda hard to get used to since they feel more tense.
overall kickass game, hands down.
also engadget should make a list of compatible peripherals for rock band.
But the real question is, can you play the drums in Rock Band if you're a real drummer? ;)
As a jazz drummer and percussionist (and someone who loves rhythm games like this and DDR and that one PS2 game where you had that Japanese drum), I always have a hard time playing these sorts of games on the hardest difficulty. Not because of a lack of hand-eye coordination, but because I'll get into a grove and play it and then the drummer in me takes over and I start having to fight the urge to add my own little embellishments.
Haha, expert drums are a JOKE! I might as well be handicapped because my motor skills are so bad yet RB "expert" drums can be played by Hellen Keller. It really is sad. I had high hopes for this game.
first off, Nubaeus chill dude, you know damn well you cant even get past the tutorials ( we are talking about Rock Band, not donkey kong bongo drums, its not two bongos, its four drum pads and a realistic kick pedal), and for Josh L, you can freestyle at times in the songs when permited, these drums can take a whooping, the plastic ring that goes around the "skin" can be broken if hit hard enough, but were talking uncoordinated black metal drum hitting. your a drummer and im sure when you practiced drumming like me you had to practice on a quarter so im sure you wont miss the 6 inch "skin" pad. also the drums come with real drum sticks, i believe drill team standards.
you know what? i used to own a ion drum set and it reminds me of it.
also if your like me and yell at your "band" (6 yr old brother palying guitar; 3 yr old sister on drums) for hitting a wrong note, you can kick them out of your room and go for a solo career, kinda like ozzy osbourne, wait that didnt turn out so well did it?
Hell yeah. I still practice on a quarter! :D
So they really added breaks and lead-ups and such into the game? That's really cool. I haven't been following it much and I kinda expected it to just be like DDR, Guitar Hero, et al. where you just got graded for how well you followed the on-screen queues.
@benocha:
i agree with you bro. I'm a drummer myself and I was just playing at Best Buy today on expert. Of course, it didn't have the bass drum, but still i thought it was pretty easy. Because of this, when i finally get people to go in with me on buying this game, I will probably just play the guitar (or, dare i say, sing). I'll save my drumming skills for actual live music.
I want to break my wireless PS3 guitar over the moron who decided to use a laptop screw to close the battery compartment instead of a normal latch mechanism.
AND THEN fail to even include a freaking mini screwdriver so I can put in the dam batteries. The screw looks like it wouldn't stand up to many battery replacements either before being stripped and unscrewable. I'm pretty pissed.
At least the drums are fun.
Wow, did they want it to be that close to the real thing? I have active pickups on my guitar, and so I would need to unscrew the back in order to replace the 9 Volt.
"Crappiest USB hub known to man"
Oh yes. First time I plugged it in, one of the ports was so deformed, I couldn't plug the guitar into it (not a problem really because I have a wireless controller for the Mic...but...)
The next day I tried to play and the thing wasn't working at all. I've got a couple of USB 2.0 hubs lying around I can use (from when my computer had only 2 ports) but this seems an odd place to skimp.
Rest of the stuff is great.
Drums seem good quality (I can't play them at all but my friend enjoys!)
The guitar has a great weighty feel to it. The GH controllers seem like toys in comparison. That said, the new strum bar takes some getting used to. I could beat 90% of GH2 without alt-strumming at all on the GH2 controller. Not an option with the RB guitar. The strum bar doesn't spring back fast enough. That said, it is much easier to also strum with it because it won't bounce causing an undesired strum. This means you don't actually have to _hold_ the bar, you can actually just strum it. Other people have reported problems with the whammy bar. Aside from it being a little long, I had no problems with it. It is a little harder to slide along the buttons, but my small hands really appreciate the fact that they extend to the edge of the neck.
The mic seems of impressive construction. It is a Logitech USB mic hastily rebadged as a RB mic (even the connector has the standard USB logo on it and no quick-release). Took me a few minutes to realize that the game won't detect it without a regular 360 controller connected (wired or wireless).
My GH2 controller definitely works with the game.
Despite the cumbersomeness of having to purchase all of the clothing pieces and having them split up into categories, the level of character customization is really awesome.
im just waiting for a doom hack. nothing would be cooler than playing doom with drums. well first of all, can they play doom?
Singing in Rock Band sucks for certain songs. Anything with a high male lead and a 'rock n roll' sound (e.g. gravelly, rough tone like Fortunate Son or even just the high parts in Paranoid) seem to completely not get picked up by the mic. I'm used to being 'that asshole' at the karaoke bar that nobody wants to follow, but certain songs (and certain parts in particular) in Rock Band completely don't seem to pick up my voice. Works 100% fine if I sing an octave down, though, which isn't true to the original... Not sure if it's a mic problem or software.
Fortunate Son, I get 100% with my eyes closed singing an octave down. Singing it in the proper range (pretty high) the screen indicates no sound is getting in at all. In Paranoid if I sing in the proper range the little arrow either doesn't indicate any sound coming in, or it wildly flaps all over the place. If I sing an octave down it works properly.
I'm guessing since there hasn't been an update lately that they're too busy having fun with RockBand--my family and friends will be playing it all day tomorrow!!
What do you mean, 'sneak pass the spouse.' Girl love this game, mine was all about being the singer (which us tone def boys were all to happy to relinquish)
I can't wait to play this game! I's killing me that I have to wait till Christmas (out of town till then). Hopefully some of this PS3 guitar nonsense will go away by then. My plan was to Buy Rock Band And GHIII and a PS3 and we would be all set. But now it turns out the GH guitar won't work with RB. Very frustrating. I don't really want an X-box (not taking sides I just want the ps3 for blue ray) but I might have to go that way if this isn't solved by Xmas.
You can definitely strum up and down on the guitar.
What pisses me off is the lack of extra guitars for PS3. If you want to have a lead and bass guitar, the only possible way to do this is to buy a whole nother special edition set just for the guitar. I've actually heard of people doing this.
Even with the guitar issue, I still prefer the PS3 version. Mainly due to the wireless guitar and free online play.
JUST USE ONE FOR THE 360 MAN.. SAME PLUG!!! right?? /sarcasm
Loved the VH brown M&M reference ;)
For anyone who plays GH on expert:
Got mine 3 hours ago after waiting 5 months (since my downpayment) - Verdict: I've never been let down by anything as badly as I was by this release. If you're a GH fanatic (as I am) and in comparison I *suspect* you'll find the rockband graphics weak, game engine brutal and lastly the controller [as good looking as some most find it] uber-sticky/clunky...
I'm a die hard GH enthusiast and I would have bet everything R.B. would rock arse..
I think the Rock Band graphics are way better than Guitar Hero (any of them).
The Rock Band character motions are all based on motion capture and have you even looked at the crowd? No comparison. Guitar Hero's crowd are all basically the same two people replicated 25 times doing the same exact motions (in sync even). Rock Band's crowds look a thousand times better.
Also, haven't you noticed the lip syncing? Take a look at the singer character's face while he/she is singing. The lip sync is spot on. Compare that to Guitar Hero.
As for the guitar, if you get the 360 version, you can use your old guitar. Some people prefer the Rock Band guitar but at least you have a choice, unless you get the PS3 version like I did - then you're kinda ticked off about the guitar.
And just how crappy is the USB hub? Right?
Fender guitar that lasts 20 minutes before breaking: Check
"Oh yes. First time I plugged it in, one of the ports was so deformed, I couldn't plug the guitar into it (not a problem really because I have a wireless controller for the Mic...but...)"
same here. i just used the next port over, and i use the wireless LP, so it's not that big of a deal, but still.
"Took me a few minutes to realize that the game won't detect it without a regular 360 controller connected (wired or wireless)."
again, same here. it's kind of annoying to have to grab the controller to make changes or accept the selected difficulty when you're doing band quickplay. it would've been nice if they had stuck a button or a D-pad on the mic, although that would've required more than a simple rebranding.
Congratulations on your insightful and predictive reporting! Kudos to your editorial team for the double meaning in the headline: Rock Band CRASHES! hehe this one is so classic. I had an idea of stinky bandmates crashing at the apartment and eating all the peanut butter, but you guys were ten steps ahead with this one, from what it seems the crashes are also of the more mundane computational variety!
Looks like I know what to get my brother for Christmas ...