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Rock Band Platform |OT|

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Duck said:
Hey guys, does anyone have any experience with the Live.com 30% eBay cashback promo? I've been eyeing a PS3 lately for LBP, R2, and some other games, and I won't resist a new 80GB w/ a DS3 for $280. Do you get your money back easily or are there technical issues?


I had no problem getting my money back when I did this. It just takes likes 70 days. 60 days for it pass and then like 10-14 for them to pay you.
 
I just figured out that you unlock ultimate costumes for doing the challenges, sad I know*, and I was playing the bass challenges. It is freaking hard to gold star songs for the bass. I have 3 full clears and no gold stars.


*I had done the challenges previously all the way to Impossible, but hadn't unlocked something before. I didn't follow the specific instrument route. I also was focusing only on tour mode.
 
Thanks Saerk.
Archie said:
Would the live.com trick work on a 120 gig HDD for the 360? I'm going to need to upgrade before NXE comes out.
It works on anything except homes and cars. You get 30% cash back on up to 12 items. Maximum cashback amount is $200, so if you order anything that costs over $666.67, you're going to hit the limit. Also, you have to use Buy it Now and Paypal.
 
I got Rock Band 1 SE yesterday and had friends over to break it in. I can finally get my RB action on. Now if only I could get my 360 back from MS repair.. Definitely gonna spend my microsoft point surplus on some DLC as soon as I get it back though :D.. oh yeah and I'm planning on getting Rock Band 2 (disc only) as well.
 
Sp3eD said:
But Foreplay/Longtime is absolutely epic because of it. That should at least cancel most of the shit ones right?

I never find them enjoyable. A BRE to me is basically a time when I have to pause the game, turn off the guitar and plug in the Strat, so I can get the most points. It's retarded and represents the DECAY of video gaming, and possibly society in general.
 
I'm pretty sure you'd get the same score w/o mashing for the BRE. The note's bonus value rapidly decreases when you hit them fast. You can hit them slow and still get a high bonus, so no need to switch guitars.
 
TheGreatDave said:
I never find them enjoyable. A BRE to me is basically a time when I have to pause the game, turn off the guitar and plug in the Strat, so I can get the most points. It's retarded and represents the DECAY of video gaming, and possibly society in general.

The BRE itself is the decay of gaming and society, or the fact that you feel the need to switch the controller just to post a higher score? I am leaning towards the latter.
 
That's pretty ridiculous that you're willing to pause the game just to switch controllers to up a score. Here I thought I was pretty bad :P
 
Saerk said:
I'm pretty sure you'd get the same score w/o mashing for the BRE. The note's bonus value rapidly decreases when you hit them fast. You can hit them slow and still get a high bonus, so no need to switch guitars.

I've done the research and found I get higher scores with the Strat. This is serious business.

I do only do it on my "lets try and get a better career total" runs though, in my defense. I'd never switch guitars for DLC. That would just be silly!
 
TheGreatDave said:
I never find them enjoyable. A BRE to me is basically a time when I have to pause the game, turn off the guitar and plug in the Strat, so I can get the most points. It's retarded and represents the DECAY of video gaming, and possibly society in general.
You're fucking kidding me. I mean, I know you're score/star-obsessed but there comes a point when you're actively working to remove the fun from playing games.
 
AMUSIX said:
You're fucking kidding me. I mean, I know you're score/star-obsessed but there comes a point when you're actively working to remove the fun from playing games.

I don't find BRE fun even when I don't get a saved score. It's not like I'm ruining the magic. I absolutely hate the concept in general.
 
TheGreatDave said:
I'll probably get one, but I don't expect to like it.
Even I was skeptical, but the fret buttons and neck are spectacular and quiet, and the strum bar is completely silent yet it easily allows for downstrumming like the LP and Xplorer. I love it far more than I expected.
 
My problems with the Strat were the bit of plastic to the left of the green fret, the whammy position (too far away for how I use it) and losing my position on the frets. I didn't mind the strum bar. In some instances it's better than the Red Octane one.
 
TheGreatDave said:
My problems with the Strat were the bit of plastic to the left of the green fret, the whammy position (too far away for how I use it) and losing my position on the frets.
Alright.
I didn't mind the strum bar. In some instances it's better than the Red Octane one.
WHAT

If you liked the Strat's old strum bar you're going to pass out when you use the new one.
 
I don't like it as much as the GH style click, but I think it got a little too much hate, including from myself. It's shit for long sections where you downstum quickly, but the way it's silent and seemingly designed for altstrums makes it really good for songs like Creep.
 
Saerk said:
I'm going to agree with dave in that the BRE endings aren't that fun except on maybe drums.

The problem with them on drums is they expose my lack of actual talent. I just end up hitting pads wildly and feeling like a retard. When they're short ones that last 5 seconds or so they're OK, but in Cherub Rock, for example, I just feel stupid.
 
TheGreatDave said:
The problem with them on drums is they expose my lack of actual talent. I just end up hitting pads wildly and feeling like a retard. When they're short ones that last 5 seconds or so they're OK, but in Cherub Rock, for example, I just feel stupid.
No, you're doing it wrong. You're supposed to hit the bass pedal once every three seconds. That's how you get the crowd excited.
 
I am now a "proud" owner of RB2 and some new instruments.

Does any else not "believe" the auto-calibration?
I'm getting 80-90% on songs I should 99%
I believe the audio is about right, but not the video.
I keep getting ~17ms with auto, but manually I get 40-50ms everytime.
 
Do we know for sure what guitar exactly comes in the RB2 kit for the PS3? I'm going to hold off till monday to buy since thats when the ACDC pack comes out, but it would be nice to know if the guitar was the brand new rb2 or that dirty bastard cross breed posted earlier.
 
The Jer said:
I am now a "proud" owner of RB2 and some new instruments.

Does any else not "believe" the auto-calibration?
I'm getting 80-90% on songs I should 99%
I believe the audio is about right, but not the video.
I keep getting ~17ms with auto, but manually I get 40-50ms everytime.

Auto calibration can't make up for brain lag.
 
rhfb said:
Do we know for sure what guitar exactly comes in the RB2 kit for the PS3? I'm going to hold off till monday to buy since thats when the ACDC pack comes out, but it would be nice to know if the guitar was the brand new rb2 or that dirty bastard cross breed posted earlier.
This one.

it's the frankenstrat with the new features built in.
 
It actually looks better than the old strat in person, imo.
looks terrible in pictures, though.
also, they put the guitar that's in the box on the box.

and...
the sunburst body looks amazing in person.
easily 10x better looking than any other plastic guitar in person.
shame that one's not in the box.
 
oct7.jpg


I was at a party tonight, friend happens to live across from a Blockbuster (Seattle -- Ballard neighborhood), so I walked over before festivities started to see if they'd sell it to me a little early. The clerk said she couldn't sell it until midnight, so I went back over at midnight and picked up a copy. Just got done playing for 2 hours with friends in World Tour Mode. I sang to PDA and Today, and played guitar on the rest of what we played.
 
The Jer said:
I'm gonna go and try to get RB2 from wlamart

Not sure I'm gonna carry it to my apartment on cruches, yet...

Wal-Mart is not really a thing here. I'd have to drive at least over to Oakland ($5 bridge toll plus a complete pain in the ass) or well... rather far down into Silicon Valley proper to find one. It really sucks that Target isn't 24 hours because that's fairly close by in the nearby suburbs. Basically San Francisco hates the idea of things being 24 hours for some reason. Almost everything closes pretty early as well. You would not expect this to be so, but it is.

I was at a Gamestop by chance earlier today just before closing and they weren't selling with a few hours to go nor would they be open for a midnight launch. Ah well, I can easily wait. I might even wait til next weekend anyway. I'm tempted to wait in solidarity for the European launch, but I'm not certain if I'm willing to go quite that far.
 
ugh.

I've never had so much trouble with the calibration settings. never had this much of a difficult time at a friend's house or at a store display or anything.

I checked my RB1 settings, I'm making quite the change.

Sound: 35ms -> 2 ms
Video: -50ms -> 17ms

Whatever, I'm sure it's right. I'll just get used to and then I'll be playing at the proper time.
 
I still find it interesting that so many people have noticed calibration issues with delay in RB, but have apparently never noticed it when watching anything else. Yes, I can see how RB might make it a bit more obvious, but the delay was always there and if you just fix it in the game it will still be there. You should ideally fix this on your pre/pro or your receiver if it has the appropriate settings.
 
well, i'm pretty much used to the new calibration settings. didn't take nearly as long as i thought it would.

and add me to list of people who play guitar sitting down. :(
it sucks not being able to "rock out" and having to just sit there while you play.
 
Johnkers said:
You're playing over VGA on a PC monitor too? I'm pretty sure 0ms/0ms is right for me.

Yeah, VGA through a monitor. And then my audio goes through the line-in on my PC and out the PC speakers. I guess there's no need to change anything.
 
TheGreatDave said:
Yeah, VGA through a monitor. And then my audio goes through the line-in on my PC and out the PC speakers. I guess there's no need to change anything.

Rad. I can't wait for 16:10 support. No more stretching! Thanks Microsoft!
 
TheGreatDave said:
Yeah, VGA through a monitor. And then my audio goes through the line-in on my PC and out the PC speakers. I guess there's no need to change anything.
I do almost the same thing, except DVI instead of VGA.
Virtually no sound lag and just a slight lag for the video.
 
ok, albums fucking rock.

I really didn't think I'd ever appreciate them, but there was just something so very cool about playing through albums in order.

Tonight friends and I played Boston followed by Moving Pictures and finished up with Dr. Feelgood. Two dozen tracks of pure freaking fun. Opening with Boston was perfect, high-energy songs, all musically awesome, and a great warm-up for what was to come. Rush became all about perfection, focus, and kicking our asses to keep up with the changes. By the time we got to playing Motley Crue, we just started ignoring score, and just had a blast. Sloppy playing, way over-the-top drum fills, everyone in the room singing along with the choruses (Same ol' Situation was amazing because of tha), and, of course, sychronized headbanging.

Fucking Awesome.

Now I've got to figure out how to get enough rest to be able to host a SC4 tournament tomorrow, and learn to kick more ass at Blazblue.
 
Not sure if it was posted or whatever, but looking on UltimateGuitar earlier I noticed they had a review up of RB2;

http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/reviews/games/music_simulator/rock_band_2/index.html

Game Experience: When the original Rock Band hit the shelves back in 2007, it was hard to deny that it had raised the bar in terms of music video games. While Guitar Hero was still ultimately for all of the wanna-be guitarists out there (or more aptly, people who just love riffs), the multi-player aspect of Rock Band has made the latter an instant party game. You might not be able to navigate the five multi-colored buttons on the guitar controller, but damn it, there was a good chance you had rhythm or could carry a tune. That made the release of Rock Band 2 a highly anticipated event, even if there weren’t any keyboards introduced in the latest version.

If you enjoyed the first edition of Rock Band, then the latest version certainly makes for a nice extension. There have been tweaks made here and there to the original controllers, with the most notable improvements made to the drum kit. In the initial series, it was often difficult to hear the song over the loud bangs against the mini-drum kit and that issue has been addressed. The drums pads are significantly softer (and quieter), and the bass pedal has a firmer construction. It also appears that the drum kits will eventually have places where cymbals (limited edition Premium Drum Kits with such features should be available in the future) can be inserted into the drum kits. All of the updates have made many Rock Band 2 players Who fancy themselves drum pros happy campers.

It will take a bit of time to unlock all of the songs as usual, but Rock Band 2 does allow you to quickly transfer over all of the songs appearing in the original Rock Band. It adds up to a pretty monstrous list of songs, which can easily be navigated through various search options (ie decade, genre, etc). There aren’t quite as many as the traditional “classic” tracks you might expect to hear on, say, Guitar Hero. I personally was expecting more riff-driven songs across the board, but a wise friend did advise me that certain songs are geared more for the singers or drummers in the game. In fact, when you are going through the song list, each track will show just how hard or easy (on a scale of 1 to 5) that the song is for the vocals, guitar, bass, and drums. It should also be mentioned that Rock Band 2 includes, cue dramatic music, the new Guns N’ Roses track “Shackler’s Revenge.”

The newest guitar released is a gorgeous little controller, modeled after a Fender Stratocaster. I was excited to get started playing on it, but it seems the beauty may need to time to be broken in. It’s likely that each controller has different sensitivity levels, but all I know is that I had to press quite hard on the 5 buttons in order for the notes to register. To make a long story short, I went back to using my controller from the original version. It’s a shame because the latest controller is visually a stunner.

In some ways Rock Band 2 followed in the footsteps of Guitar Hero 3, with the addition of a battle element as one specific example. Whereas in GH you might battle the devil, Rock Band 2 allows you to battle various bands registered users of Xbox. You might have a set of 3 songs titled “History of Metal, ” and the better you get, the tougher your competition will be. There is some pretty stiff (and 99-100 percent accurate) competition out there, by the way. You’ll also have a straightforward “challenge” option where you are basically playing to improve your own skills and unlock other challenges. If you find it more fulfilling to beat your fellow Rock Band 2 players across the country, definitely choose the Battle of the Bands. // 8

Extras: The graphics have been definitely been improved, although you might not notice right off the bat. Take the time to look at the animated band playing as your buddy has his or her turn, and you’ll notice that your characters have some pretty specific choreography to go along with the song selected. Some artsier, music video-like elements have been added into the animation as well, and the graphic area tends to be one of the strongest aspects of Rock Band 2. // 10

Impression: Rock Band 2 still has plenty going for it, even though the initial novelty may have worn off on some people. There have been quite a few improvements made to the drum set and overall navigation of the game itself, and that means a lot less frustration during the songs. While the new guitar controller is amazing to look at, it might need some time before the buttons are able to be fully worked in. Again, this might just be an issue for specific guitars, so there very well could be controllers out there that are problem-free. In the end, the game manages to cover a lot of bases musically (you get everything from emo to metal to grunge), and if anything, that will allow it to connect with a wider variety of music lovers. // 8
 
The Jer said:
well, i'm pretty much used to the new calibration settings. didn't take nearly as long as i thought it would.

and add me to list of people who play guitar sitting down. :(
it sucks not being able to "rock out" and having to just sit there while you play.

The auto-calibration seems like it may be a bit off to me, I'm not sure what to do about it.

I used to play guitar standing up, but then I got lazy. Now I only do so when I'm also singing.
Also, with the RB2 guitar I like to use my old RB1 pedal for overdrive and the cord isn't long enough if I stand up.
 
The Jer said:
I am now a "proud" owner of RB2 and some new instruments.

Does any else not "believe" the auto-calibration?
I'm getting 80-90% on songs I should 99%
I believe the audio is about right, but not the video.
I keep getting ~17ms with auto, but manually I get 40-50ms everytime.

A number of us were complaining about the calibration tools when the game came out for 360. I loaded up RB1 to peek at my lag settings, and entered those manually into RB2 and all was good.
 
Guitars in the special editions do not have sunburst. They are just black wireless strats. The neck has the new finish but the buttons are WAY too clicky like the RB1 strat. I have suspicions that they are recycling RB1 strats in some way for these pack ins. Anyway, my strum bar was broke out of the box, can't upstrum. Way to go HMX.
 
Hey guys just picked up my PS3 RB2 disk. As I assumed GameStop didn't have the guitars in so the disk is just kind of sitting here until I get some plastic instruments.

Anyways, does anyone know the bonus tracks? I can't seem to find them via a simple google search and the site is giving me a database connection error trying to go there.
 
Tenks said:
Hey guys just picked up my PS3 RB2 disk. As I assumed GameStop didn't have the guitars in so the disk is just kind of sitting here until I get some plastic instruments.

Anyways, does anyone know the bonus tracks? I can't seem to find them via a simple google search and the site is giving me a database connection error trying to go there.

Bonus tracks are still unannounced.
 
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