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Rock Band 3's gear priced: keytar and Pro guitar sport MIDI out, adapter lets you use any keyboard / electronic drum set
Has your head cooled from all that rock news this morning? Nope? Well, we'd hate to rile you up again, but Mad Catz -- now the official provider of all Rock Band 3 equipment -- has priced its latest arsenal for the upcoming rhythm revival title. There's also a few new details on each instrument, so without further ado: Wireless Keyboard: That MIDI port many of you spotted is for output, letting you plug the two-octave (C3 to C5) velocity-sensitive keytar directly into MIDI sequencers for non-gaming use. It'll set you back $80, with an optional stand to be sold separately (no price given) alongside the game's launch. Buying the keyboard / game bundle will be $130, or about $10 off individual purchases. Oh, and if you want to feel a bit more techno, this puppy can be used as the guitar / bass input. MIDI PRO-Adapter: Want to use your own keyboard or electronic drum set? Here's the mediator you need, from MIDI to USB to console, and it sports the D-pad and other necessary gamepad buttons as well as velocity sensitivity adjustment controls. Asking price is $40. Pro Cymbals Expansion kit: three cymbals, apparently rejiggered from RB2's offerings for quieter play and a pre-defined 10 degree angle. It's $40 for this hi-hat, crash, and ride pack. Wireless Fender Mustang Pro Guitar Controller: Not the Squier hybrid we saw, this one actually sports a multitude of buttons for each string, spanning 17 frets (102 buttons in all). Actual strings are used for the plucking and strumming, and here's something interesting -- the axe has a MIDI output for software sequencers. This behemoth is $150, or approximately 1.5 Benjamins in your local currency. Pictures of each instrument -- and the yet-to-be-priced Squier -- in the gallery below, as well as a few screen caps of Pro mode so you can get an idea how exactly it'll "correct you" on proper Bohemian Rhapsody finger picking. %Gallery-94999%
Guitar Hero director knocks Rock Band 2 cymbals
We knew that as we came closer to the games' respective release dates, the feud between Harmonix/EA's Rock Band 2 and Neversoft/Activision's Guitar Hero: World Tour would reach critical mass. In the quarrel's latest smack talk salvo, Guitar Hero director Brian Bright discussed rival Harmonix's cymbal attachments for their sequel's drum kit peripheral with Eurogamer, providing some highly quotable zingers -- and buddy, we don't mean snack cakes.Bright condemns Rock Band 2's cymbals for being "dual-mapped", meaning they'll share the functions of one of the pads of the standard kit, making the attachments somewhat unneccessary. He also dismisses them for being a panicked copycat reaction to World Tour's cymbal-equipped kit -- based on the familiar gameplay we've seen from the latest installment in the Guitar Hero franchise, we assume Neversoft would be the unparalleled experts on matters duplicative.
Mad Catz shows off line of Rock Band 2 peripherals at E3
We all know that the talent of a musical performer is less important than the instrument through which they channel their rocking energies -- that's why we were pleased as punch to get a look at Mad Catz's impressive line of Rock Band 2 peripherals during E3. Sure, $200 might sound outrageous for a controller, but after viewing their full-sized (and realistically weighted) wireless Stratocaster and Precision Bass guitars, complete with foot pedals for easier "overdrive" activation, the list of things we would rather drop two Benjamins on quickly evaporated.The heavyweight axes will be available Q1 2009, but Engadget got a sneak peek at some of Catz's less publicized periphs, due out this fall. These include M.I.C. ($30), a microphone with built-in buttons from a standard Xbox 360 controller, Portable Drums ($60), which include four flat pads that can be used on any surface, the "Official Cymbals" ($30 for 3 or $15 each), which will plug into three slots on the kit's center console, and the Kick Drum Screen -- though we're not exactly comfortable calling a circular piece of cardboard you apply to the front of your faux drum kit a "peripheral".
