Over the past week, we've had a chance to check out ION's premium Rock Band 2 drum set, the Drum Rocker (We've played it once before at E3 2008). We're waiting for a copy of RB2 for our final impressions; in the meantime, here are our initial thoughts of the set with the original Rock Band.
Our order arrived in two boxes weighing in at 33 lbs. and 6 lbs., respectively. The lighter box contained the third cymbal and colored discs to put on all three cymbals for differentiation.
Total time to unbox: 20 minutes (although, to be fair, we were taking a lot of pictures). That said, total time for setup (no camera usage) was close to an hour, with a large amount of time spent trying to screw in the cymbal clamps. Just another 2 or 3 mm on the screw length and we would've had a much easier time here.
Protip: Make sure you screw everything in very tight, or you'll be having to either pause the game to make fixes mid-song or learn to adjust to the added difficult of a drooping tom or cymbal. Even then, adjustments will have to be made to get the toms placed just right.
Konami has detailed how its seven-input drum set will be compatible with Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour's kits, which have four and five inputs, respectively. We've been informed that the game will "reconfigure" itself depending on the set being used with the game. For example, instead of seven lines of music, it will adjust to four when using the Rock Band 2drums and five for GH:WT. The company expects its drums to be compatible with the competition's via a patch issued after launch.
The company has also told us that reports of the game's delay to 2009 only applies to Europe. The game is "still on track for a fall 2008" release in North America. We're sure all the rhythm-game fanboys out there are breathing a sigh of relief ... right? Hello?
With Sony shedding some new light on the sea of plastic instrument compatibility nonsense, we thought it was time to update our compatibility charts for the Guitar Hero and Rock Band series, as well as newcomer Rock Revolution. Introducing the Instrument Compatibility Matrix, version 3.0. We'll keep updating this page as new information percolates out, hoping one day to fill in every square with a green "yes." Until that time, check out our chart skills.
Last week, a handful of Joystiq crew got to make fools of themselves on the mini-stage before Harmonix's Rock Band Bash featuring The Who. Set up for us on stage was the new Ion premium drum set for RB2. Over the span of the night, we drummed through a handful of songs to get a feel for the set.
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".
Thought $180 for the original Rock Band package was expensive? You ain't seen nothing yet. The official Web site for Ion's professional Drum Rocker (as recently revealed in Game Informer) lists a $299.99 price for the deluxe drum controller. Only the Xbox 360 version of the set is currently available for pre-order, though Wii and PS3 editions are "expected to ship later in the year," according to the site. It's important to note that this is not the official drum set that will be packaged with Rock Band 2, but rather an officially licensed deluxe set that works with both Rock Band games.
While $300 may sound steep (soon, you could get a whole 'nother Xbox 360 for that price), Ion sounds like they've gone to great lengths to make sure serious virtual drummers get their money's worth. According to the site, the four high-durability, quiet, velocity-sensitive pads can be mounted and rearranged in any position and even outfitted with "professional drum brains" from Alesis. Add in a metal-reinforced kick pedal (with velcro and spikes to prevent slippage) and two packaged, mountable cymbals (with the option to add a third) and you've got what's unquestionably the Rolls Royce of drum controllers.
The web site also has a short video and some detailed photos of the set, so check it out and figure out for yourself whether it's worth dropping three Benjamins.
The latest issue of Game Informer (via Score Hero) has a feature spread on Rock Band 2 and, while most of the information was released online yesterday, the magazine does have images of the new drum kit, both the upgraded basic and Ion Premium Set. The upgrades to the basic set include metal reinforcements on the foot pedal, velocity sensitive pads and expandable slots for cymbals.
The Ion set is a different beast altogether. As seen in the scan, the set gives you the option of playing the yellow, green and blue pads as cymbals. There is no indication on if you can use the cymbals for songs with long stretches of red notes used for the hi-hat beats (e.g. "Everlong"). The Ion set can purportedly be used as a real, 7-piece electronic set (albeit sans hi-hat pedal, unless we can upgrade), which then begs the question if we could find a way to make this compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour.
We're hoping to get a chance to try out the premium set next week at E3. The latest Game Informer is currently on newsstands.
Update: Made the image text red so no one got their hopes up too high by overlooking it. It should be noted that the above set is produced by ION, although the Rock Band 2 version is admittedly prettier.
A multi-instrument Guitar Hero World Tour means only one thing: more plastic controllers strewn about our living room. So goes the life of the virtual rocker. Check out all of our impressions and reviews from the Joystiq Network this week:
The raw, unbridled power of The Rocking is an equal opportunity force that can be tapped by anyone with a strong enough desire to evoke its boundless energies. Unfortunately, physical restrains can often limit a person's personal rocking aptitude, as most instruments are not created with those with disabilities in mind. Take, for instance, the Rock Band drum kit, which has a pedal that cannot be operated by those inflicted with paraplegia and other ailments affecting the lower body.
In order to remain competitive with Harmonix's pre-existing multi-instrument rockstar simulator, Activision's upcoming entry in their insanely lucrative franchise, Guitar Hero: World Tour, needs to match the price of the game it so closely resembles, Rock Band. According to a recent listing on Gamestop, it'll do just that -- the game alone will cost $59.99 on PS3 and 360 ($49.99 on Wii and PS2), a "guitar kit" bundle will run you $99.99, and the full band kit (which we assume will contain a guitar, a mic, and a drum kit) will run you $189.99 on 360, Wii and PS3, and $179.99 on PS2.
If these prices are accurate, you'll be paying $20 more for Activision's bundle than Harmonix's -- perhaps their five-piece drum kit costs more to produce than Rock Band's four-head. We don't mind shelling out the extra Jackson to get our hands on Activision's new skins -- the thousands of dollars we'll spend expanding our living room to contain two fake drum kits and four fake guitars, however, may have a noticeable impact on our finances.
The above Guitar Hero World Tour (the official GHIV title) video shows off the new drum set through testimonial from a few rockers – namely, Red Hot Chili Pepper's Chad Smith, Blink 182's Travis Barker and The Police's Stewart Copeland, all of whom are featured prominently (especially Copeland) on Rock Band and a pretty good sign they'll be on World Tour, too.
One interesting detail gleaned from the video is that the drum kit is sensitive to velocity, meaning it can register how hard or soft you hit the pads. We're not shown any gameplay footage so we're not 100% sure how that'll translate to the virtual drumming. All we know is that we can't tell our friends this detail. It's taken us months to teach them not to bang on the set loud enough to wake neighbors six miles away.
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Harmonix must be beside itself with this last week finding not one but two companies hopping on the developer's coat tails and revealing a pair of drum kits that bear more than a passing resemblance to those used in Rock Band. However, while Guitar Hero IV's kit still carries some basis in reality, the kit revealed by Konami for the company's newly announced Rock Revolution looks to be designed for players with extra appendages or other rhythm enthusiasts who are not quite human.
With six face pads of three different sizes, as well as a kick pedal, Konami's kit is certainly the most complex of the three. However, according to MTV Multiplayer blogger Patrick Klepek, the drums carry what sounds like a much more forgiving difficulty curve than those in Rock Band, which while great are almost unapproachable by rhythm game newcomers even on the easiest setting. By contrast, and according to his admittedly brief time with Konami's offering, the game doesn't penalize players for improvising during a song, and also features five difficulty settings with the lower two removing the foot pedal entirely. Still, the question remains as to if there is room enough for another peripheral-heavy rhythm game, not so much in the genre but in our own living rooms.
Some of you may have already received the June 2008 issue of Game Informer in the mail, but, for those who haven't, we thought you might enjoy seeing the first image of the new Guitar Hero IVdrum kit one subscriber scanned. As you can see, the main difference from the Rock Band kit is that the yellow and orange drums have been turned into two wedge-shaped pieces elevated above the others.
Cool as it looks, we still don't have the most important piece of information about the kit: If it will be compatible with Rock Band, or if RB's kit will work with Guitar Hero IV. We like fake instruments as much as the next nerd, but two fake drum kits may just be more than our dens, living rooms and dignity can withstand.
[Update: Just so there's no question, you have to click the picture to see the full image. There is totally a foot pedal. Update 7/2/08: Gamestop, owner of Game Informer, has demanded that we remove the small thumbnail showing a piece of the drumkit. Considering the official press shot came out over a month ago (seen above) we've gone ahead and removed the thumbnail. Of course, if you still wanted to read the whole magazine, it's still out there.]
Activision is planning to innovate the Guitar Hero franchise. In a conference call yesterday, Publishing CEO Mike Griffith said, "For the holiday, we will provide a significant leap forward in innovation for Guitar Hero worldwide, on all platforms." That includes PlayStation 3, PS2, Xbox 360, Wii and DS. Griffith also said that more information will be provided "in the coming weeks."
We wonder if this has anything to do with those recent rumors about Guitar Hero IV going multi-instrumental. Guess we'll find out soon.
Want to quiet down the extremely loud clackety-clack of the Rock Band drum kit? You could simply use a few circles of foam rubber, or, if you're like hacker David Yoon, you can create your own extremely cute miniaturized drum kit for quiet, pencil-stick, desktop drumming.
The hack, which includes a foot pedal made from two sandwiched CDs, has the added bonus of being playable in an extremely enclosed space and/or by an extremely agile mouse. So if you have either of those things (and a bit of technical know-how), give it a go. If you have neither, well ... just enjoy the picture.
_thumbnail.jpg "i am 8-bit: 2008")
