How would you change Rock Band?
By Darren Murph 
posted November 30th 2007 5:17PM
posted November 30th 2007 5:17PM
Now that you've had some time to work out those vocal cords, brush up on your drum rolls and mosh in your own living room, inquiring minds are dying to know how you would have done things differently. We've already given you a shot to vouch for your rhythm game of choice, but haters and posse members alike can feel free to step up to the proverbial microphone and voice your wishes. Would you have thrown in a Telecaster rather than a Strat? How about embedding an accelerometer in the microphone in order to accumulate kudos for mindless twirling? Totally bummed by the omission of a wildly flamboyant mic stand a la Steven Tyler? Whatever your beef, don't hold back on this one -- your All Access pass to remixing Rock Band has (un)officially been granted.
I know I'm probably the only person who cares, and that it is in fact called "rock" band, but I love playing Jazz drumest, so some great big band or be-bop jazzs tunes would be great.
Gotta put that shit on WIi.
Has anyone turned the guitar into a Midi controller?
I would make the drums heavier so they don't keep sliding away. I have hard enough time with drum without them running away one me.
Rename it Death Metal Band and give it songs that aren't ass.
FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD MAKE SURE THE GAME WORKS!!! BEFORE SELLING IT. THAT WOULD HELP. EA CAN'T COME UP WITH ANY ORIGINAL IDEAS ANYMORE. THEY JUST HAVE TO COPY SUCCESSFUL GAMES AND STILL COME UP SECOND. TRY SOMETHING ORIGINAL FOR ONCE! THEY ARE LUCKY THEY AREN'T GETTING SUED BY ACTIVISION. THEY REALLY SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED OF THEMSELF. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER EA GAME AGAIN!!! DISAGREE IF YOU LIKE, I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR ARGUMENTS.
FIRST OF ALL, I WOULD MAKE SURE THE GAME WORKS!!! BEFORE SELLING IT. THAT WOULD HELP. EA CAN'T COME UP WITH ANY ORIGINAL IDEAS ANYMORE. THEY JUST HAVE TO COPY SUCCESSFUL GAMES AND STILL COME UP SECOND. TRY SOMETHING ORIGINAL FOR ONCE! THEY ARE LUCKY THEY AREN'T GETTING SUED BY ACTIVISION. THEY REALLY SHOULD FEEL ASHAMED OF THEMSELF. I WILL NEVER BUY ANOTHER EA GAME AGAIN!!! DISAGREE IF YOU LIKE, I WOULD LIKE TO HEAR YOUR ARGUMENTS.
How is this not an original idea?
Harmonix made Guitar Hero 1 & 2...which, are not the first games to do this rhythm/guitar/music thing...is the first to package it into something that anyone could pick up and play and feel like they were having an "authentic" experience.
Then Harmonix teamed up with EA to make Rock Band. They further revolutionized the genre by combining their "Karaoke Revolution" games with their Guitar Hero games and adding Drums. They have created something that is unlike any other game out there.
Please, tell me what ideas they stole because if you think Activision created Guitar Hero, you're wrong. They just bought the rights to the franchise FROM Harmonix. Harmonix saved the code and brought it with them to EA.
put John mayer on it... listen to Wait till tomorrow, or who did you think I was... amazing music...
Haha, no.
um... what do you recommend? Leave your misconceptions and world of warcraft at the door... listen to the guitar, bass and drum parts, they're challenging parts, and Wait until tomorrow is a Hendrix song. So... yeah, put real, challenging music... not that bullshit that came out of Kurt Cobain's guitar amp.
Now in the case of Guitar Hero... Kaiser Chiefs? The Killers? AFI? WTF? I guess we all have to get paid, one way or the other. HA!
Those should've been in the new game... Guitar Queer-o... Thanks South Park
Who ever said I liked World of Warcraft?
Fuck no!
I haven't messed with the drums much (I need to do the foam\felt mod first so I don't bug the neighbors as much) but I find the Strat a bit difficult to use on fast songs. In sections that have lots of repeated strums, there's a good chance it'll mess up at least once, not because the strum bar isn't working correctly (as far as I know) but because there's no tactile feedback on it to tell you when it's registering strums. I actually like the overall feel of the Strat a bit better than the X-plorer, but my accuracy on those sections is far better with the X-plorer, so that's what I use for the time being.
Other than that, I'm enjoying it so far. I'd love to see more classic rock in it (some Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, more Rush and perhaps a couple of Santana or Stevie Ray Vaughn pieces would be nice. Hotel California would be fun too.)
I only played a little bit of the game but i would love to see them put some drum and bass in Rock Band (yeah i know it defeats the purpose of the singing but they can add another accessory like the beatmania controller or some type of controller for a keyboard or turntable instrument). I would love to see a pendulum track in Rock Band, maybe the remix of voodoo people by the prodigy???
Drums:
Rubber feet on the bottoms of the drum set so it wouldn't slide away.
Tension-adjustable pedal
Angle-adjustable drums
Guitar:
(Preference) positive tactile feedback on the strum. Doesn't have to be hugely clicky like GH, but at least have some kind of stop.
Maybe a wah-wah pedal too to make the most of the effects selector.
Mic:
Integrated controls, at least up down, back and forward.
Gameplay:
Drums and Mic should be able to go into overdrive on command. Being tethered to the score is no good.
Content:
It's going to be absolutely critical for Harmonix to keep releasing new downloadable songs online. They need the hits too, 3 song metallica pack and what the hell? Where is Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, or Master of Puppets?
They're doing 3 songs a week right now, I would say that's the bare minimum. They will need to ramp up the DLC to keep the replayability high on this game. Its only been a month and all my friends and I have played GH3 to death. We love RB more, but $170 is expensive for 60 songs. I think people tend to digest the cost easier when they know they can go online and pick up 10 or 20 more of their favorite songs too.
I don't know if Rock Band has this, but I've been suggesting it since the original Guitar Hero. I would add a mode that gets easier the worse you do and harder the better you do without knocking you out of the song. Talk about "difficulty curve!" Practice mode is a poor substitute. This would actually draw you into the higher difficulties.
Ahh, the suck factor. Jak 2 had it, but I kind of don't think it would be right for Rock Band...
Ship more copies to each store!
i would change it by lowering the price point or give some kind of discount for it then i'll be able to play the drums w/o having to wait til next year to pick up the individual game and accessory...but i guess the price is not too bad...
I would like it if they'd remove the foot pedal from the Easy level; it'd be a much better family game if younger kids and less-savvy players could do the drums on easy, and would even make it more fun for people w/disabilities. I think there should be better free play options, and I like the idea of being able to just jam/make up your own stuff; recording it would be cool, especially if you could make your own 'challenges'. I think the songs aren't particularly good singing songs, so the vocal part isn't much fun... I'd rather have keyboards and if someone wants to sing along for fun, they always can... and I know they sell a case for the drums seperately for $50, but a cheaper case to pack everything into included really is needed.
You can't really jam unless you're on only drums and mic. The buttons on the guitars don't correspond with any specific notes the way the drumpads do.
Hey I would like some sorta of real drums, like they could emmit a sound like real drums, wold be cool,
like some kind of speakers built in,that would be asowemo
- Full customization of character faces, a la Oblivion or Top Spin. (I got my Top Spin character to look EXACTLY like me.)
- Allow said characters to be used on any instrument
- 2 things about the neck of the guitar:
1) Round the corners a little. I find that I rest my thumb on it and it's a bit irritating aftre a while because the corners are more pointed than my GH II guitar.
2) While my thumb is there, it has a tendency to accidentally press the red button. Never happens on the GH II guitar.
Easy... MAKE IT FOR THE WII!
Have a song "replay" feature so I can hear/watch my band replay the song we last played.
Vitas - Opera #2 on the song list
not so much a change but how about bringing it to the wii?
Separate bass controller, a thing that allows any mp3 song to be analyzed by the game and used.
one word.
Keytar.
+ one hundred million x 10^9.
A PC/Mac version!
Add the entire Purple Rain album, complete with Prince and Apolina's awkard makeout scences
The neck of the guitar feels incredibly flimsy... like I could just twist my wrist a little bit and shatter the whole thing.
On the plus side, I like how the strum bar gets fatter at the top. My fingers slip off of the Guitar Hero Les Paul and X-Plorer strum bars all the time.
I'd make it available in Australia.
Make not only the guitar, but the mic and drums wireless. My tv is mounted on top of a fireplace and the drum set will only go so far. So my neck hurts after like 3 songs. Also, In my home theater, the dvd, satellite and when I move it there, my ps3, are in a different room. Rockin out in a soundproof room with crazy surround sound would be so awesome.
I would give the Solo Mode more of a story! As it stands, it's really boring, and I don't want to play when my roommate or fiance aren't around...
I would make a ROCKBAND PRO version. I would include the 2nd pedal for the drum set and more importantly add a keyboard that can be set as a tabletop or neck strap unit.
I would add trogdor.
the style of play for the guitar seems unrefined. i've played this game on three different kinds of televisions and normally play GH2 and 3 on expert and it seems the guitar just doesn't play as well and it doesn't seem to be a timing issue on my end. i miss notes in the game that i'm sure i'm hitting and soloing doesn't function the same way as in GH. it would be nice if they tweaked the guitar play. it makes me yearn for GH while i'm playing RB. I would also DEFINITELY add a Jam mode.
How about a free-form jam mode, where when you hit the strum, the appropriate note or chord plays. The software would keep track of pitch, but you could improvise the rhythm.
It needs a banjo and some bluegrass music.
I suppose I could settle for a way to do hammer-ons and pull-offs.
How about supplying a guitar that doesn't break after 6 hours of game play? On top of that, how about making it possible for people to use a different controller that functions properly with the game. I.E. an ax from GHIII? It seems to me that when you spend $170 on a game, the hardware should function better than a piece of plastic that seems to be held together with hot glue. Just my oppinion (and everyone elses). In the mean time, the game itself is amazing. Maybe next time they should wait until everything works properly before its release. on a side note, screw activision.
How about making the gigs more original. im sick of playing the same song 100 times after i beat it. id rather have less gigs and never repeat a song except for when you do a choice set. the multisong sets are terrible. love the game aside from that and the new guit, i just use my gh3 guit since the new one sux, awesome features, terrible response, i woulda just added the same 5 buttons up high and the extra effects and such on the explorer or something with a new body but same feel. nobody complained about the gh3 guits. i mean they become bothersome after overuse but what did you expect, the rb guit sux right out of the box.
Have a drum practice mode, when you have "drumming exercises" like rhythmic kicking, and double and triple taps. Also combined techniques like kick, tap, kick. It's discouraging because it seems like the learning curve from medium to hard is wayy too wide a gap in most songs, and when my mind is thinking about the song, it's hard to discern the actual rhythms... With a drumming exercise mode, I can work on fundamentals without the worry of failing or passing a song.