NEWS - Friday, June 15, 2007
Rock Band Details Emerge
The information arose from the most recent edition of Game Informer magazine. EA was unavailable for comment at time of writing. Theres four separate campaigns, one for each of the instruments: guitar, bass, drum and vocal. You can play through each alone, or in one big holding-hands co-operative mode. Youll also be able to go online with your full band, and apparently each member can choose a different difficulty setting. Finding band members will apparently be a cinch, too, thanks to a bunch of new community features. Youll even be able to pump your recordings out across the world, but exact details are being kept under wraps. The layout will put the guitar on the left of the screen, bass on right and drums down the middle - with the fret-boards now transparent so you can see whats going on in the background. Vocals will scroll across the top of the screen. The lead and bass axes will now have 10 buttons; five for regular play in the usual position, with the rest closer to the guitar for special sections - presumably when you slide on your knees and rock to the heavens. Youll also have an array of five different sound effects to apply to your instrument of destruction: Flange, Wah, Chorus and Echo - plus whammy bar will return alongside tilt activation of your "star power". Warblers will enjoy a more in-depth singing system than before - apparently itll pick up individual vowels and consonants. Build up enough of these and youll be able to sing without stabilisers. If you do well enough in this free-form mode youll trigger the vocal version of "star power". And for quiet times when your lead guitarist hits the solo notes, your mic will double as a tambourine so you can tap along. Drummers will use actual sticks to pound four coloured pads in front of them, as well as stamp on a kick-pedal tied into the peripheral. Like all others youll get the chance to add your own frills, and if you suitably impress youll get the chance to go free-form and trigger your "star power". If that all sounds a little hair-raising and youre frightened you wont be able to keep up with your musically talented friends, then dont panic. If you fudge your area, the whole lot doesnt crumble and fall. You simply go into a grey section and sit out until someone triggers a "star power" - then you can rejoin the fun. And if all of you reach the end together, youll get a chance to go free-form together. Hot rocks, man. You can get personal with a character-creation system and create multiple "yous" focusing on different instruments, or head into one of four themed clothing stores to thread-up. Youll even be able to shell-out for new licenced guitars, pedals, and other rock bits - as expected when Fender, BOSS and Roland all signed up to take part. Your character will select a movement style, too, all motion-captured from famous stars like Axel Rose and Eric Clapton - and venues will number more than 40. While no price has been mentioned for the various peripherals, you will be able to use your Xplorer 360 guitar with the game - although it wont have the new buttons (and look like a fancy Fender) for the special sections. Youll need a unique set of peripherals for each platform, though, so you wont be able to use your 360 drum kit with a PS3 version. As if you ever expected to. USB microphones will be supported, but headsets will probably be out of the question due to the low recording quality. So far just four songs have been revealed, all original master tracks: * Weezer - Say It Aint So * Black Sabbath - Paranoid * The Who - Wont Get Fooled Again * Nirvana - In Bloom And thats all the weather. Well keep you posted when more springs from our rock-closet.Source: http://www.eurogamer.net