We've been wondering how a
keyboard would look in the Rock Band universe: a row of colored buttons would make it hardly different than the guitar peripheral, while a real keyboard would... be just as hard to play as a real keyboard. Well, it looks like someone smarter than us has tackled the problem, implementing a Hannah Montana-style "Best of Both Worlds" solution. The keyboard spans two octaves of for-serious white and blacks, but there's a row of colored labels above those keys. How narrowly you're required to hit the "real" key corresponding to the note in the song is based on what difficulty level you choose -- on the easier levels you just have to smash into the correctly colored neighborhood. Oh, and for those hoping to play this keytar-style? the keyboard is designed to work on a lap or strapped over a shoulder. Check out the video below the fold to see it in action.
posted June 10th 2010 9:16AM
@tikicult Rock and Roll McDooonalds!! Alaaan-is Moooriset
This is nothing compared to Beatmania IIDX, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ih-WpTZcFIQ
@thr true, true. But this is a band game....not DJ hero.
Guitar Hero - Windows
Rock Band - Mac
Frets on Fire - Linux :)
@Wello That doesn't make sense because Mac isn't fun for gaming.
@Wello how dar eyou compare rockband to mac, bastard
GH is more mac,
RB is just, RB
Yeah. GH always releases a new version yearly with features they tout as revolutionary despite competitors already having them before. Sometimes years before. Then they overcharge for it and proclaim it to be wonderful. For some ungodly reason people buy more of them despite the BS being fed to us.
Pretty much describes Apple to a t.
@iucidium
I was kinda referring to the visual aspects of the game :/
Guitar Hero/Windows - Not so polished, but the average person has it.
Rock Band/Mac - Has a nice UI, but is a "niche" product (might not be true right now).
Frets on Fire/Linux - Open source, wants to be like the other two (linux user myself).
As much as this is an interesting new idea, I think I'll have to choose the guitar hero guitars over this.. :/
I can't wait to play as Tommy Rogers now!
I have been waiting for a keyboard to come out, I never really thought they would put one out, it looks kinda stupid, just like dj hero. Come on they could have found a better instrument!!!!
@techgeek2012
Like what, a trumpet?
@techgeek2012
Obviously this needs more cowbell...
Old news: http://www.synthesiagame.com/
"Rock Band 3 keyboard revealed, looks like a keyboard!"
i guess you can file this post under the tags "no shit"
next up, Rock Band: Mozart.
this is worth it just to have Ben Folds songs incorporated into the Rock Band group.
A Keyboard that looks like a Keyboard? Well i'll be......
Jesus whats next the picolo? Buy a fuckin real instrument. People that are good at rock band drums get this mantallity that they an play the real drums.
@niZmo
Dude its a game, shut up. Its not suppose to be real , its for fun geez some people...
i have this "mantallity" where i want to drink a lot of beer, build a bar in my house and watch spiketv on a stupidly over sized tv.
@niZmo, .......its got SOME truth to it, played RB for over a year before sitting down to play with a real kit, after about an hour of screwin around, I was good enough to jam witth some buddies, who were blown away that it was my first time on a real drum kit. Simulation is simulation, air force, nasa and police the world over have used simulation based training exercises for a long . Maybe you should find somthing your good, besides being a downer to your friends cause they like to rock out.
*@Irondog *long TIME* *good AT*
@niZmo dude. not everyone has the time to learn a real instrument or the $$
Thats the joy of rockband: pick up and play, but still a little to learn/master in what little time frame you have. And its a fun social experience online or at home.
They have the formula bang on. Unlike activision, which milks the living S**t outta everything they touch.
Nice! Your Move Activision.... Oh wait you jsut redesigned your guitar. [face-palm_me]
@Pookiewood lol! yeah activision tried the whole 'band' thing but they FAILED.
now theyre going back to what they originally bought off HMX
'Guitar Hero'
My favorite role is the drums, but the drums always fall apart, the pedals break, the pads fall off and become squishy and unresponsive. Then you go to the store and see replacement pedals... it's like they KNOW that shits going to break, they built it to break so you'd keep buying more of their crappy shit that will still break the same.
@Luffy that sounds like the first 2 GH:WT drum sets i have, im on my 6th 'guitar'
RB's seem more durable
May be future is learning from gadgets !!!
God help them if there's no Billy Joel on this thing. Scenes From an Italian Restaurant now plz kthx.
@db2
I'd love to see Pink Floyd on there too...
if you dont have to buy all the equipment again does that mean you can buy the keyboard spearately so you dont have to buy another set of drums another guitar and another mic?
@spdivr1122
I'd assume so. They've done this with all the other peripherals (save the TB:RB stuff).
Finally, an instrument I can play on Rock Band.
Oh wow, a keyboard game has.... an actual keyboard! OMFG!!
And the keyboard plays like a real keyboard! So like, I can play a keyboard, and I'm playing a keyboard! Isn't that awesome?
Rockband/Guitar Hero/etc is so sad, people who can't play music trying to play music. Why don't you all go try out for American Idol, I'm sure it would be so easy because you beat the Wii version, right? Morons :-/
The downside I can see is floppy keys. As a pianist, my main gripe with electronic keyboards is that they aren't properly weighted - that's the main thing that differentiates a keyboard to a digital piano in my opinion.
So, yes this is going to be cool, but playing difficult tracks on expert could be hindered because of cheap manufacturing (something that just isn't an issue when you've only got 5 buttons).
But, I'll reserve judgement until it's come out :)
@Whiternoise
Heh expecting it to have weighted keys is asking a lot. Plus you're not pretending to play a piano necessarily, you're pretending to play "generic keyboard".
@Raffi256 Yeah I realise that obviously =P
But playing quickly is a lot easier when you've got a bit more response. That said, it could work well as a cheap MIDI keyboard, those things are horrifically overpriced.
All these music games are stupid. Pick up a real instrument. It's a lot more fun.
@bluesky681
You're stupid. A musical instrument requires a serious commitment, you need to practice every single day for years to get any good at it. This is a game you can play casually with friends and have fun.
@bluesky681
Genuinely hate people with this attitude. I don't have the space for a full drum kit in my house, yet I have room for a RB kit. Rinse and repeat >_>
Hoping you can use a MIDI keyboard with this but doubting it.
@Raffi256 They said it doubles as a midi keyboard, like the drums double as electronic drums, so I'd wager yeah. A standard midi keyboard will work.
Awesome, now to wait for RB2 to be released in australia :(
Really looking forward to the Keys mode. RB3 seems to be shaping up as more than a worthy successor to RB2.
"We play a lot of games and we saw kind of a staleness in terms of gameplay innovation"
"So we decided to just throw another instrument in there with a new scoring system and resell it for 300 bucks"
@Jergos You forgot the pro mode that bridges the gap between gamer and musician
or is supposed to
all i know is I'm dropping 300$ on this day one.
KONAMI did it TEN years ago...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keyboardmania
...and DrumMania XG has a FULL electronic drum set.
BEMANI is undoubtly the greatest music game series in the world...
BENNY AND THE JETS PLEASE