To clear some stuff up about Blitz Mode. Youll enter Blitz Mode when you streak (i.e. not missing any notes on your current track; you can move between tracks and stay in Blitz Mode as long as youre not missing any notes while you do so). While in Blitz Mode, every tenth note you hit will earn you bonus points; the longer you stay in Blitz Mode, the more points youll earn for that bonus note. So the best players (the ones who will earn the highest scores) will be able to stay in Blitz Mode the most the time while playing a song. Its possible, if youre quick enough and know a songs structure, that you can do this; Id suggest finding gaps in instrument progressions and switching then, or if youre really fancy, using the Synchrony Power-up instead of an Instrument Bonus. (When you switch on a Synchrony measure marker, youll destroy the note on the track youre on and the track you switch to.) And keep this in mind: to really max out your score, you'll have to stay in Blitz Mode while also chasing Energy to use Overdrive Power-ups and chase Power Notes. So there's a lot going on here, and I think it should become obvious after a few plays why we went with two notes versus the "traditional" three.
As for Power-ups being essential to high scores and the game, we were pretty up front about that from the start. Power-ups are essential to the core gameplay experience, which is focused around fast, arcade-style action while maintaining the musicality of the song while playing.
To the point of having to unlock Power-ups via cred, Im a bit surprised to see people complaining about this; it's not something I had expected to hear. Having unlocks in a game, whether it be abilities, weapons, or what have you, is a pretty common progression system thats used across many, many titles. As to why we do it here (specifically), there are three Power-up categories and multiple Power-ups in each. Each of these Power-ups has a very specific function and different gameplay effect. By having you unlock them one-by-one, the hope is that youll begin to become familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of each, and learn how and when to combine them for maximum effect. Sure, its not unfair to say you have to grind to unlock Power-ups, but in this instance, grinding means playing the game, learning the mechanics, and (hopefully) having fun in the process. Considering that most players will have content on their hard drives beyond the core 25 Rock Band Blitz songs, theres actually plenty to do and see while learning. And once you unlock all of the Power-ups, you should be well equipped to head back to songs youve already visited and start kicking ass on the leaderboards (or at least beating your friends in Score Wars).
In any case, it seems some people are bummed about certain things about the game without having played it yet, and I guess thats to be expected because Internet. There will be a demo on PSN and XBLA (with some Power-ups unlocked from the start no grinding!), so check it out and see what the game is all about.
Also, regarding Achievements attached to DLC: the core game achievements (the 400 max an XBLA title can have) are obtainable from simply owning Rock Band Blitz and no additional content. We can offer an additional 100 Gamescore because we have DLC, for a total of 500 points "out of the box."