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[Johnkers]

Non-aussies are totally spoiled with gig prices. You think we're getting screwed on Rock Band prices, just wait till you see gig tix

 

[BigAT]

Has anyone had success finding a store that's selling early in North NJ?

 

[Belgand]

Gems > rectangles. There's a reason Harmonix designed them like they did in the first place; the Rock Band system basically looks like "we can't look like Guitar Hero, so here's an alternative" to me. Showing if something is a HO/PO by changing it's size isn't as good as showing it by having an outline or not in GH when the chart is moving at a high speed.

And I still hate the timing window in RB. It doesn't need to be as tight as it is. GH:A is pretty much perfect to me.

I agree with the HO/PO. I'd still go with an empty/full rectangle system or something that's far more obvious. It looks like RB2 is doing a better job with it though.

I initially thought I wouldn't like the rectangles, but they grew on me. The gems now look too big and bulky and then tend to clump up in big piles in a way that the rectangles don't. At the same time the rectangles can blur together in an altogether different way, but I've come to find them looking sleeker and easier to read than the gems.

While I agree that RB seems a bit too tight (HO/POs should not require more accuracy than strumming and it feels like they do) I still think that while GH:A is an improvement it's a bit too loose. As I said maybe it's just because I'm hitting so many of them that I feel like it has to be cheating in my favor after so much hardship, but I think maybe one more step tighter would be best. We're still working towards getting that ideal, happy medium I think.

I think you'd be surprised with how many people aren't connected to the net on their consoles, don't think that would work. Do like the "collectors" idea if they're going to do a disc release, as well as providing the DLC for the non-disc fans.

I would be surprised and I continue to be whenever I see the numbers. I mean, all it requires is plugging a cable into the thing. If you have a console I'd think that you surely have a router and broadband in this day and age. Not to mention how integral online access is for most consoles be it online games, DLC, patches, or what have you.

Though you do have a point I think it would require an extra disc just for the new tracks and I don't entirely see them doing that when the store is there and they are already planning on driving people to the store for the extra 20 songs. Considering how large a factor DLC, online play, Battle of the Bands and such are to RB I can't imagine them really assuming that people with online compatible consoles would keep it offline beyond a very tiny margin. Then again wasn't there info released on a second track pack being released for 360 along with the other consoles?

Rock Band without online feels like living without eyelids though. Yeah, you can technically get by, but... damn. The fact that the PS2 and Wii versions were so heavily gimped made me wonder why they ever even sold. I know I certainly toughed it out and refused to buy it because of how terribly inadequate they were.

I'm not even an AC/DC fan! Like, nothing against them or anything but besides their big hits I don't think I've heard too much of them!

When the government activates the chip in your head you won't have any choice. You'll soon be churning out hard rockin' riffs based on the same three chords combined together into remarkably similar songs.

 

[Ristlager]

Is the patch for making the GH guitars work for RB on the PS3 up now? Or have they found "new problems" for it not to work. Need to know that it is live and ok, before I go out and buy gh3.

 

[cowden_harley]

Patch to work GH3 les paul on RB is not up in the EU yet.

I have now got a game, gh3 les paul and can't play the dame thing.

 

[Ristlager]

For fucks sake, wasn't it going to be released yesterday? Get yir fackin act togetta Harmonics.

 

[Crateman]

Happy birthday Neil Pert! Thanks for your fucking awesome music and amazing drumming skills!

Spoiler

I want Moving Pictures announced for next tuesday!!! PLEASE!!!!

 

[TheGreatDave]

I agree with the HO/PO. I'd still go with an empty/full rectangle system or something that's far more obvious. It looks like RB2 is doing a better job with it though.

I initially thought I wouldn't like the rectangles, but they grew on me. The gems now look too big and bulky and then tend to clump up in big piles in a way that the rectangles don't. At the same time the rectangles can blur together in an altogether different way, but I've come to find them looking sleeker and easier to read than the gems.

While I agree that RB seems a bit too tight (HO/POs should not require more accuracy than strumming and it feels like they do) I still think that while GH:A is an improvement it's a bit too loose. As I said maybe it's just because I'm hitting so many of them that I feel like it has to be cheating in my favor after so much hardship, but I think maybe one more step tighter would be best. We're still working towards getting that ideal, happy medium I think.

I don't dislike the rectangles really, but I just find the larger size of the GH gems makes it easier to keep track of what's going on at high speed. I agree that they sometimes get cluttered, which is why I pretty much have to play with Hyperspeed on now. Spread out a little I have no problem with them at all.

I think you're just being self deprecating. Maybe Rock Band is wrong, and you're actually an amazing plastic guitarist, being held down by the man and his desire to require guitar hammer ons to be as accurate as a drum hit. Think about THAT.

 

[Belgand]

This is all well and good, but you have to remember that playing gigs is the best source of income for a band. Even some crazy huge ones.

No, I totally realize that. It's just that with service fees (and I'm sick of having to pay them when I buy at the fucking box office) and everything else it comes up to $40 pretty easily for even smaller shows. Hell, I can't even afford $20 for a show most of the time.

Smarter bands, it seems, tend to play more shows for lower prices and get people to come back more often. A local band trying to make it should be around $5 maxing out at $10. Regional acts are more like $10-15. For larger bands playing mid-level venues I shouldn't be paying over $20. While prices go up slowly capacity definitely scales much faster.

There have been far too many bands recently that I'd like to see live, but instead I realized that for the price I'd be better off just buying an album and being able to listen to it forever rather than paying two to three times as much to see them live with terrible sound (generally).

I think the worst I've paid in recent memory was something like $70 or so for NIN back in '00 on the Fragility tour. Hmm... I saw AC/DC that same year touring in support of Stiff Upper Lip and that was pretty bad as well... I mean, it was a great show and you always get dicked on those huge arena show, but still I think NIN was the worst I can immediately recall.

Outside Lands festival happened here a few weeks back with Radiohead playing along with Beck and, well... a few other good bands and a lot of mediocre and unknown ones (not the best festival line-up I've seen to be honest it felt like they were leaning way too heavily on headliners). I think prices were like $100-150 for each day... before mandatory service fees. That was the one that charged fees even if you bought them at the box office with cash.

The biggest issue with this is that high concert prices keep youth -- historically the largest audience segment and the poorest -- from seeing concerts. This can't possibly be good for the entire live music industry and the music industry as a whole. If you can't tour and build a good fanbase then you're left with far fewer options to get known and almost all of them are controlled by corporate media outlets. Thankfully the Internet is helping a lot with this, but it still requires more knowledge than "this place books great shows... I will go out and see whomever is playing tonight and they will probably be great". I don't think I'll go to a show without hearing a good half-dozen tracks first. That said I have been seeing more shows over the past few years. Getting free tickets to Ted Leo was, well, perfect. I really wanted to go, but couldn't afford the $25-30 or so. Best show I saw all year. Battles, eh... despite the great hype they didn't do it for me. Neither did the in-store I saw Vampire Weekend at (but didn't I already say this recently?). Tokyo Police Club was alright, but I think the reviews for their album can be easily cross-applied to their live show. They have a few good songs ("Your English Is Good" was a great single and EP track), but they don't hold up overall.

Oh and on a related subject if you go to shows often I highly suggest the earplugs from Etymotic Research. They're like $15 from their website and they work wonderfully. They don't muffle the sound they just reduce the volume while keeping the tone solid. Now I don't leave shows with my ears ringing into the next morning. It's never too early to be worried about your hearing. I mean, look at Pete Townshend. Thankfully since I have long hair it covers up the plugs too so I don't look quite as dumb either. My girlfriend won't go to shows because she thinks they're universally too loud. Oddly the loudest show I ever saw was Godspeed! You Black Emperor. It was just excessive.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I was going to get tickets to see Radiohead until I saw they were like, £50 or some shit. That's just ridiculous.

 

[edbrat]

Patch to work GH3 les paul on RB is not up in the EU yet.

I have now got a game, gh3 les paul and can't play the dame thing.

I feel your pain man, you must be in agony right now!

Once the patch is up in EU if somebody could just yell about it on here then I will finally tuck in to this fine phenomenon. Come on Harmonix / MTV Games / EA, I want to give you my hard earned monies! Then I want to give you more monies for DLC, esp that whole pixies album <homer simpson drool gif>!

 

[Belgand]

I was going to get tickets to see Radiohead until I saw they were like, £50 or some shit. That's just ridiculous.

Agreed. I need to listen to it more (my computer died on my just after In Rainbows was released and I haven't been able to bring it back yet), but In Rainbows didn't do enough for me to think that their best days aren't behind them. Plus, they don't strike me as an ideal live band. NIN is, well, Trent Reznor in the studio, but he knows how to put on a hell of a live show and brings a ton of energy to it. Radiohead... hmm... I just suspect I'd get some shy blokes from Oxfordshire hiding behind racks of equipment up on stage. Not to mention the obvious fact that their sound has increasingly moved into more of a studio sound than a live one.

I don't even want to get into the debacle of Smashing Pumpkins last year. I think they ended up playing nine shows and it was almost impossible to get tickets yet people had tickets to three or four nights and were scalping the other half of them (you could get two at a time max and you had to pick them up at will-call and immediately enter so people would buy two and then you'd have to go together) because they wanted to see as many nights as possible (which for something this in-demand makes you a massive fucking prick). I mean, it was intended to reduce scalping and it ended up probably just making it worse. Still, the face value was only $20 or so IIRC. $40 or so after you got done with Ticketmaster. I still think there shouldn't have been any advance tickets. Let the serious fans camp out well in advance and stay in line to get in. At least it'll mean that the die-hards who care the most get to go (or people who can afford to pay people to wait in line for them... maybe a wrist-band system so you can't swap out of the line?). I think tickets were going for $400-500 or so online.

 

[TheGreatDave]

I liked In Rainbows. As far as Radiohead albums go I liked it a hell of a lot more than Hail To The Thief and Amnesiac. Doesn't meet the dizzy heights of Kid A, but I doubt they ever will again.

 

[Belgand]

I liked In Rainbows. As far as Radiohead albums go I liked it a hell of a lot more than Hail To The Thief and Amnesiac. Doesn't meet the dizzy heights of Kid A, but I doubt they ever will again.

Heights of Kid A eh? So you're one of those people. Kid A is the only album I don't own (though not as a slight of quality, just never got around to it). Though sometimes I sincerely wish I didn't own Pablo Honey. The differences between that and The Bends is like the difference between night and being savagely and repeatedly raped by an enraged mandrill genetically modified to have a rather large cactus for a cock.

"Creep" was excellent, of course, but only to the extent that it reveals how weak the rest of the album is.

I swap back and forth between thinking that The Bends or OK Computer was their best. It's practically impossible to choose.

 

[TheGreatDave]

Heights of Kid A eh? So you're one of those people. Kid A is the only album I don't own. Though sometimes I sincerely wish I didn't own Pablo Honey. The differences between that and The Bends is like the difference between night and being raped by an enraged mandrill genetically modified to have a rather large cactus for a cock.

"Creep" was excellent, of course, but only to the extent that it reveals how weak the rest of the album is.

I love Kid A. It took about...3 years to grow on me though. And I really don't care for The Bends half as much as I do for Kid A and OK Computer.

I don't even count Pablo Honey.

 

[McBradders]

Radiohead only ever released "the Bends", what the fuck are you two talking about?

 

[Belgand]

Radiohead only ever released "the Bends", what the fuck are you two talking about?

It's a theoretical discussion of non-canon Radiohead albums from the so-called "Expanded Universe". Y'know, albums that might exist and various fan works derived from where The Bends left off.

Sort of like the Metallica fan albums created after Cliff died when they couldn't deal with the band deciding to call it quits and tried to keep it going.

 

[McBradders]

It's a theoretical discussion of non-canon Radiohead albums from the so-called "Expanded Universe". Y'know, albums that might exist and various fan works derived from where The Bends left off.

I shall wiki this at once!

 

[Onemic]

how is it that people already have RB2? Did it already release or something?

 

[Belgand]

how is it that people already have RB2? Did it already release or something?

Circle jerks and daisy chains my good man. The lube that makes society run is, well, lube. Preferably a silicone-based one which stays slick longer without getting tacky and keeps working in the shower or underwater. Jo is pretty good, albeit expensive, but ideally you should just sample what's at the store and decide for yourself. Your local clean, well-lit, modern, friendly, sex-positive erotic goods retailer does have sampler bottles of all the lubes in stock available along with a box of tissues, right?

Spoiler

Totally not kidding here either. Renowned SF sex shop Good Vibrations has sample bottles out for everything they sell. Two dozen types of lube easily. They also have all the other toys out in floor display models. They runs ads on the subway here. This is truly a great place to live if you don't mind it always being in the low 60s and often foggy and windy.

 

[TheGreatDave]

Radiohead only ever released "the Bends", what the fuck are you two talking about?

OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows > The Bends. FACT!

 

[Ridley327]

Nope. I listened to that closely and every other bass hit is removed, still. Here's what charted double bass looks like.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7FzA7i6vMDA
Bass is the third column from the left, with the foot icon at the bottom. Double bass starts fifteen seconds in. The spacing looks sorta similar to Rock Band, but he has hyperspeed set pretty high.

I guess you missed the joke, but oh well. The point is that there are definitely songs on there, even with some of the bass hits removed, that go by a lot faster than most people are going to be capable of doing with just one foot.

 

[Belgand]

OK Computer, Kid A and In Rainbows > The Bends. FACT!

Oh dear. I've largely agreed with you up until now except for your odd hatred of Nevermind, but this may be going a bit too far. I mean, I guess everyone is allowed to have their eccentricities, but... still.

Belgand checks up on Dave's primary school report cards and, indeed, finds it clearly marked: "Has difficulty selecting superior Radiohead albums ".

Spoiler

Belgand is told that in pre-school his mother was informed that he failed to skip properly as if this were a grave matter requiring special lessons and meriting performance evaluations for him to succeed as a student in the future. Thankfully these methods were largely successful.

 

[Edag Plata]

Any info yet on how feature complete (or not) the Wii version of RB2 will be?

 

[Affeinvasion]

 

[Belgand]

Any info yet on how feature complete (or not) the Wii version of RB2 will be?

I'm sorry this thread is now apparently for discussing my collegiate sexual anecdotes, complaining about ticket prices, and discussing the merit of Radiohead albums. If you want to talk about Rock Band you should take it to the proper threads.




It will be fully featured. This is actually the very first google hit for "wii rock band 2".

 

[TheGreatDave]

I've never "got" The Bends. It just sounds like the album they had to make before they could make OK Computer to me. I like it, but musically I don't like the sound of the it as much as the others. A little too "Brit Rock". It isn't a sound I crave.

 

[birdman]

Belgand, are you mad?

 

[Belgand]

I've never "got" The Bends. It just sounds like the album they had to make before they could make OK Computer to me. I like it, but musically I don't like the sound of the it as much as the others. A little too "Brit Rock". It isn't a sound I crave.

I have strong issues with "Brit Rock" and "Brit Pop" and well, a lot of the crap you lot got fed in the 90s, but it's main feature is that it actually does rock. It's not just a lot of electronic noodling about. I want a rock album, not a damn electronic album. If I want that I'll get some Kraftwerk because they know how to give me what I want. Cold, efficient Germans doing what Germans do best.

Spoiler

Trying very, very hard to get people to forget about world war II and believe that they have changed and it won't ever happen again, promise.

Spoiler

I also once read that Germans are the fucking masters at packing boxes for shipment. http://www.everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=570536

 

[Struct09]

Any info yet on how feature complete (or not) the Wii version of RB2 will be?

http://blog.wired.com/games/2008/08/harmonix-rock-b.html

I think that's the best info we have yet.

 

[Belgand]

Belgand, are you mad?

Quite.

But not at all angry if that's what you're wondering about.

If this is about the request for Wii information I provided it. Almost immediately after it was posted really. I saw the same exact article that Struct linked to. It's the top search for the terms I specified.

 

[birdman]

Quite.

But not at all angry if that's what you're wondering about.

No, I was wondering in the mental capacity sense. You seem to have gone off the deep end recently.

 

[Edag Plata]

It will be fully featured. This is actually the very first google hit for "wii rock band 2".

Well, not the first, but it was just one source saying it so I wasn't 100% sure and wanted to know if there was any new info.

Unless the reason there's only one tiny piece of info on it is because nobody really cares about RB2 for Wii...

 

[Belgand]

Well, not the first, but it was just one source saying it so I wasn't 100% sure and wanted to know if there was any new info.

Unless the reason there's only one tiny piece of info on it is because nobody really cares about RB2 for Wii...

I strongly suspect that that is the case. Especially considering how disappointingly crippled RB1 was I think expectations were incredibly low and it was basically dismissed.

From what we've been hearing though, yeah, it looks like it'll be close to full. I'm also told that GH:WT will be the same way.

No, I was wondering in the mental capacity sense. You seem to have gone off the deep end recently.

Recently?

 

[DuckRacer]

Question for RB2 owners: do RB1's exported songs show album art in the song selection screen? How about DLC?

 

[vexvegaz]

not sure about the RB1 songs but the majority of the DLC shows album art and im pretty sure RB1 song will also. i havnt done the export songs yet(no points :[ ).

 

[Belgand]

Question for RB2 owners: do RB1's exported songs show album art in the song selection screen? How about DLC?

Based on footage from E3, yes to both.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37178.html

 

[Hop]

Question for RB2 owners: do RB1's exported songs show album art in the song selection screen? How about DLC?

I'm only curious about cover songs. They don't have the album art in the store, and I don't recall any screens that answer it one way or the other.

 

[Ridley327]

Hooray! I found a link with some nice shots of the P-Bass (along with similarly glowing impressions).

http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=320826408&blogID=432362085

 

[DuckRacer]

Based on footage from E3, yes to both.

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/37178.html

Oh sweet, thanks!

 

[PhoncipleBone]

"Creep" was excellent, of course, but only to the extent that it reveals how weak the rest of the album is.

I swap back and forth between thinking that The Bends or OK Computer was their best. It's practically impossible to choose.

I also think that "Thinking About You" is the other great song off of Pablo Honey. But my god, The Bends is an amazing album. I go back and forth usually with The Bends or OK Computer for the best album by them (still disappointed they only played one song off the bends at the show I went to last month). Kid A is amazing, and it was the end to the hat trick they pulled off with Bends, OK, and Kid A. The albums that followed were very good, but not to the same standard. Then In Rainbows came along, and it is now slowly creeping up as their best in my book. It is the right fusion of their old sound and the newer Kid A sound. Reckoner is just amazing (it was one that slowly grew on me).

 

[vexvegaz]

I'm only curious about cover songs. They don't have the album art in the store, and I don't recall any screens that answer it one way or the other.

if you can give a artist name and song title of a cover song on rb2, ill go and check .

 

[Jasconius]

I'm only curious about cover songs. They don't have the album art in the store, and I don't recall any screens that answer it one way or the other.

Yeah, the cover songs still have the familiar red background with the Rock Band logo on it - no cover art.

 

[vexvegaz]

for those living near the tri-state area and cant wait untill sunday. the VG store in chinatown will have more copies around 1-1:30pm today.

 

[DeathbyVolcano]

I have this song unlocked, what do you want to know?

Preferably vocals, since it's the hardest vocals song in the game. If not, drums or guitar is fine.

 

[BenjaminBirdie]

I also think that "Thinking About You" is the other great song off of Pablo Honey. But my god, The Bends is an amazing album. I go back and forth usually with The Bends or OK Computer for the best album by them (still disappointed they only played one song off the bends at the show I went to last month). Kid A is amazing, and it was the end to the hat trick they pulled off with Bends, OK, and Kid A. The albums that followed were very good, but not to the same standard. Then In Rainbows came along, and it is now slowly creeping up as their best in my book. It is the right fusion of their old sound and the newer Kid A sound. Reckoner is just amazing (it was one that slowly grew on me).

"You" is a great song of PH. So is "Anyone..." and "Lurgee"...

That album gets way too much slack.

 

[Bebpo]

So just to double check, the song export key isn't available for purchase on the PS3 yet, right?

 

[Dirtbag]

Yeah, I did a brief search online and nobody seems to have any knowledge of jukebox, but a few people are asking about it. Apparently it used to be on the RB2 website, but they quietly removed it from the listed features.

Now for an incredibly tiny degree of nit-picking.

It kinda bothers me that in San Francisco you have a venue listed as being on Market St., but being located in North Beach. This is simply not even remotely possible. Market, while the ostensible main street through town, doesn't run anywhere near North Beach. The proper equivalent street would be Columbus.

Otherwise they've done pretty well. There is indeed a pretty major venue up in North Beach (Bimbo's 365, which is on Columbus) that's been around in one form or another since the 30s.

Bay City Theater is clearly intended to be an analogue of the Fillmore. If you're not familiar with the Fillmore then I shall strike you with a blunt instrument. It's up there with CBGB's as one of the most famous venues in rock history. Nowadays it's owned by LiveNation and they still stick you with a service charge if you pay in cash at the box office though they do still give out apples and posters for sold-out shows.

Lastly is the first venue in the city. True, Valencia street in the Mission is a notable spot for live music. It is, however, a place for hipsters and hipster dive bars. It's rapidly gentrifying as fast as they can manage to do so and not only has nothing hippie even remotely associated with it. It's fixies, tight jeans, and ironic mustaches. While it's definitely a good choice for a venue (though in all fairness the small, awesome clubs that feature bands that go on to be notable would be either Bottom of the Hill or Thee Parkside over in Potrero Hill... and Top of thee Hillside would totally work for an amalgam parody venue), but if they wanted something more hippie coffeeshopish they should have done what they did with a lot of other cities and just listed it as a place in Berkeley. Not only would it work, but it would be even more obvious to people who don't live here.

The Alice's Restaurant reference was nice though.

If they ever want to expand it out and give us a large stadium (and since they already used the Oakland Arena in GH2) the Cow Palace would be a pretty good choice as would Candlestick Park. Speaking of Candlestick, no rooftop venue? C'mon, it's such an obvious thing to do. A shame we scared off the only Harmonix rep we managed to coerce in here by posting in a blog entry.

So, who else had their local venues and neighborhoods terribly misrepresented by Rock Band?

I don't know how New Orleans is left off the map. Its a well known musical city, especially for smaller shows.

 

[DarienA]

So just to double check, the song export key isn't available for purchase on the PS3 yet, right?

I'm pretty sure it is, I think they bundled it with the fix that allows GH guitars to play with Rock Band.

 

[robochimp]

I'm pretty sure it is, I think they bundled it with the fix that allows GH guitars to play with Rock Band.

the export license is not up