Rock Band Questions for those in the know

[Yeargdribble]

So my wife inadvertently got interested in Beatles Rock Band. We were given GH2 as a gift some time back but it just didn't do it for us. She has since scoffed at Rock Band and I was pretty much right up there with her. We're also annoyed by all the d-bags who sit down and try to show off in stores like Best Buy, but the other day she was in a strange mood and nobody was around. We tried it out and it's now on her wish list.


Peripherals

So I've started doing my research trying to figure out various cost things. So apparently RB1 and RB2 peripherals are different. The Special Value Edition of BRB is cheaper but has RB1 peripherals. From what I can tell the quality is generally better on the RB2 stuffs and they are wireless which is very significant to us. So pretty much aiming at RB2 bits unless someone says otherwise.


PS3 vs. Wii
Is there a significant difference? We'd be likely to play more RB games in the future if we splurged on all the silly peripherals. Is there perhaps a better chance that more games or perhaps better looking versions will come out on PS3 over Wii? We're leaning toward PS3 already, but is there any possible reason to go with Wii over PS3?

Costs
Obvious the sets with RB2 bits are more expensive, but I'm looking at cost cutting. I noticed RB2 for $150 bucks at target and BRB disc alone is $60. That's $210 for both and then I'd have BRB+RB2 for $40 less than just buying the BRB bundle... correct? I also found the RB2 bundle for even cheaper on Amazon... so even more savings.

Where's the catch? Are the instruments going to be different? How much do I need an extra guitar if we'll likely just be playing with 2 people 95% of the time?

[Kirobaito]

I would get PS3 stuff over Wii. I have Guitar Heroes 4, 5, Smash Hits, and Metallica, and Beatles Rock Band on Wii, and while they suit me just fine, you'll have far superior graphics (like, way superior graphics, even now), faster loads (noticeable even now), and ultimately more room for innovation in the future on PS3. Right now the two versions are similar enough (GHWT, though, has one feature that's more of a kind of improv mode with Miis on the Wii version, but I didn't find it that fun), but if you plan on sticking with GH/RB in the long haul, you'll eventually start to see the PS3's limits pushed with certain things that the Wii simply doesn't have the technology to handle. The Wii versions work fine, now, though. I had previously used PS2, which I can't use online, so I upgraded my GH/RB experience to Wii last year.

Personally, I did not like the RB1 guitar at all, and much prefer the GH periphs, which is what I use. The RB2 guitar seems okay when I've played it, which is admittedly not that much, but definitely a vast improvement from the RB1 guitar, which has a strum bar that I despised with a passion. With the $250 BRB bundle, you'll be getting some really cool looking Beatles-themed periphs, but outside of look, I don't know how much they differ from the RB2 peripherals that you'd be getting with the RB2 bundle. If you don't care about using the cooler looking periphs, then I'd say you're golden buying an RB2 bundle then just the BRB game. Though the BRB game is fairly fun, it is admittedly extremely short. I was easily able to finish it in two days, not even really playing it that much. With the RB2 bundle, you'll have a whole other game to play as well, that will last you significantly longer than BRB will. RB2 periphs are fine with GH games, as well, so you can pick those up, too.

I don't know how it works in BRB or RB2, but I know in all the GH games before GH5 you were unable to do multiplayer coop while playing the same parts - basically, if you had two guitars, one person would be relegated to playing bass, which is major fail. I think that the lead guitar parts are by far the most fun - if you don't have a natural talent for drums, it can be absurdly difficult and also exhausting with the kick pedal, and singing can also kind of get old if you don't have three people and are playing in a "party mode." I don't know exactly how you and your wife plan on using RB, but take this into account with regards to the second guitar. I paid $10 for a GH3 model guitar when I bought GH: Metallica. Otherwise, I don't think I would have bought it, but that's because I primarily play by myself or kick complete ass online against weenies who quit after one song after I mercilessly slaughter them.

Hopefully this post was in some way helpful to you. In any case, welcome to the world of music simulation.

[Yeargdribble]

Thanks for lots of great info. I'm not really worried about the bass stuff even if it's boring. As for the drumming, we're both professional musicians so I'm not too worried about the difficulty. Though we've noticed it doesn't translate directly with most music sim games, our musical training ends up giving us quite a learning edge on getting good quickly. We just didn't find GH2 that interesting partially because we didn't love enough of the music.

[Shlup]

BJ and I are Wii fans, but we bought the RB games for XBox 360. I don't recall the details, but I believe the Wii cuts out a few features? I think one of them was ability to download songs (important!) but don't quote me on that.

I also prefer the GH peripherals. The drums, at least. We have RB1 drums and they aren't so great. The GH drums are a lot more solid. In either case, be sure you play with your shoes off; the base pedals they come with are a bit flimsy and will be broken by more zealous drummers.

And I don't know what kind of musician you are, but drum skills translate to the game drums pretty well. BJ and his two drummer friends jumped right into hard/expert levels while most of us can barely play easy! Drums are hard!

I personally feel it's worth it for the wireless guitar/bass and a more solid drum set. And absolutely be sure you have a guitar AND a bass unless you are friendless. The Beatles Rock Band set looks pretty sweet.

I also highly recommend Guitar Hero 5. GH1-3 was good before RB came out, GH4 was meh, but GH5 is really good. Good sound track and you can double up on instruments (ex: two people can play guitar instead of one guitar and one bass).

If I were just starting out as a fake-rockstar, I would invest in GH5 and those peripherals, Beatles RB (and one of their special edition guitars, but that's just me fangirling) and LEGO RB (which isn't out yet so I don't know if it's good but they're gonna have LEGO QUEEN!!!). Maybe RB2 if you have the extra money to blow.

[Yeargdribble]

I wasn't aware that GH5 had drums. I'll check into that. As for our musicianship, we're not specifically percussionist, but we are trained in percussion and that includes trap set. We both played drums at the store and honestly found drumming, especially on harder modes, actually easier for us than playing guitar parts.

Also, how well does the mic deal with matching pitch with octave displacements? My wife is hoping she doesn't have to sing in the basement to match with male voices. I'm a baritone so it's just going to suck for me period because basically all famous musicians tend to be tenors.

[Shlup]

GH4 and GH5 are both full-band games.

I honestly don't know enough about music to answer your mic question very well. There are a few songs where I seem unable to get a low enough tone, but it's not very often. I don't know any guys who can't get high enough, though you may find yourself singing like a jackass for a better score one in a while, heh. The octave displacement issue does come up from time to time, but it really hasn't hindered me from enjoying and of the games.

[Yeargdribble]

Yeah, I figure I'll be straining and using falsetto a lot which doesn't bother me too much. My wife is an alto, so most of the crazy tenor stuff should be reasonable for he. I guess if the part called exclusively for a very low voice (unlikely I'm guessing) then that would be one she just wouldn't sing and could leave to me.

Looking around I can't seem to find any GH5 bundles with drums or even GH5 specific drums. ?

[Shlup]

You're right, it seems that you can get it bundled with a guitar but not drums. The Guitar Hero World Tour stand alone drums are like $85. They also work with Rock Band, though I don't think the Rock Band drums will work for Guitar Hero games (GH games have 3 drums and 2 cymbals, while RB just has 4 drums). If you'd rather go cost effective than compatible, the RB2 drums look durable and are only $50. I wouldn't recommend the RB1 drums.

As for guitars, it's really just a matter of preference for which kinds of buttons you like: flat or sticky-outy. Cordless it always better as you should be standing up and rocking out for maximum fabulousness.

[Iceglow]

GH4 and GH5 are both full-band games.

I honestly don't know enough about music to answer your mic question very well. There are a few songs where I seem unable to get a low enough tone, but it's not very often. I don't know any guys who can't get high enough, though you may find yourself singing like a jackass for a better score one in a while, heh. The octave displacement issue does come up from time to time, but it really hasn't hindered me from enjoying and of the games.

Guitar Hero 4 (World Tour), Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero Metallica are all full band games, you only list 2 of them.

Singing in Guitar Hero works pretty much exactly the same as Singstar so in that regard it's quite good. It's also got several difficulty settings allowing for a greater level of "close but not quite" accurracy for people to have fun with.

I prefer Guitar Hero especially from World Tour onwards, I only own 3 and 4 of the GH series but I have played others thanks to my music sim addicted friend who brings them and his guitar over to mine to jam out at weekends.

I disagree with Shlups comment about 4 being meh, I enjoy it the only thing that I will say is that when you look at past GH games, none compare for hardness to 3 which really, really was hard. GH periphials are more hard wearing than an equivalent RB instrument however both are cross compatable on the 360/ps3 on wii you can't use them for the other games. IMHO this fact alone makes the wii an unacceptable format for a game genre it should have excelled in which shows to me at least the failings of the wii as a serious console right there. Get it on ps3 and look in to GH4 onwards if you want the full band experience.

[Slothy]

Does anyone know if Rock Band 2 had a better lag calibration the Rock Band for HDTV's. I bring this up because the first game had several methods for doing it and they all sucked horribly. In fact, they were so bad that I had to eventually break down and calibrate it manually to even get close and it was nowhere near what the lag calibration tools were saying. Even then, it was still off enough that it made the drums unplayable on hard and expert and I've spent the last ten years of my life behind a real kit.

I heard about either Rockband 2 or Guitar Hero: World Tour having a way to automatically calibrate themselves that worked pretty well but I can't remember which it was. Honestly, if it weren't for the fact that I don't know if they improved lag calibration after the first game I'd be saying to stay the hell away from the games altogether if you have an HDTV.

[Shlup]

Guitar Hero 4 (World Tour), Guitar Hero 5, Guitar Hero Greatest Hits, Guitar Hero Metallica are all full band games, you only list 2 of them.

:|

Metallica is stupid anyway.

[Aerith's Knight]

Xbox 360 has rockband too, you know? :P

[Shlup]

Xbox 360 has been mentioned several times in this thread, though it can be assumed that Yearg does not have that console.

*throws a shoe at AK*

[Yeargdribble]

Yeah, Xbox360 (and XBox before it) has failed to tantalize me with enough exclusives. There are some, but when it's only one or two games I can't see buying a console for one or two games. Meh. For the sake of this thread I just substitute PS3 when I see someone say 360 lol

[Khimbar2775]

ive played all of my RB and GH games on 360, what i have to say isnt quite as pertinent i suppose

my personal preference is that RB kicks major ass due to the awesome DLC for it, and world tour jsut completely killed the GH franchise for me, however i *do* enjoy GH: Metallica.

and i saw it point out before and never answered: RB 4 pad kits *do* transfer to GH 3 pads and 2 cymbals. I know this because i "own" (live with people who own it) Both RB1 and RB2 and GH: Metallica. my buddy also purchased the Ion electric drum kit (which i highly recommend) and its jsut pure aweomse for drumming. its the 4 pad set and it also comes with two cymbals that you can install seperately which function in-game as well. from what ive heard elsewhere, you can unplug the Ion kit and plug it in to an amp and freestyle it as well. and with it being the 4 pad set up, we plugged in GH: Metallica (which uses the 3 pads and 2 cymbals) and the game automatically reformatted the songs for the 4 pads.

hope that helps

[VexNet]

if you want to purchase really cheap versions of these games, I would advise your best bet is (if you're going for the cheapest option) try searching around on ebay, but keep an eye out on instead of paying postage, instead you go to collect the item. I've found a many brilliant sales by using that option, and majority of it is all in pristene condition already.

for example; GH2, RB2, Guitar and Drums for about $40 all in perfect condition.

[Laddy]

I would love to see Yearg singing "Sgt. Pepper."

PS3, mos def.

[Yeargdribble]

Alright, so I have some follow-up questions. Many people mentioned the Xbox 360 version which wasn't really an option for me before, but has become so. I'm also just double checking this Rock Band 2 peripherals thing. It seems that Rock Band 2: Special Edition comes with the improved wireless peripherals. I was a little hesitant at first though since the Beatles Rock Band Special Value edition is the one with the ghetto controls. However, it seems that there is no other edition than the Special Edition of RB2 (SE just being the one with the peripherals).

1. Is there a reason to prefer the 360 version over the PS3 version at all... or is it just personal preference?

2. Are the following the versions of RB with the improved peripherals? Is this the thing to buy?
Amazon.com: Xbox 360 Rock Band 2 Special Edition: Video Games (http://www.amazon.com/Xbox-360-Rock-Band-2-Special/dp/B001BX4U5G/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1257648788&sr=8-2)
Amazon.com: Playstation 3 Rock Band 2 Special Edition: Video Games (http://www.amazon.com/Playstation-3-Rock-Band-2-Special/dp/B001BXACDA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&s=videogames&qid=1257648788&sr=8-4)

[Vyk]

I heard there's a way to get all the old songs, probably from installing the old games to the hard drive. So you could buy, say, Rock Band 2, and rent Beatles and RB1 and install them and have the songs available in your list on RB2. I left the RB craze, so I'm not really in the know anymore. But I heard something along those lines. For 360 anyway. But I would imagine it'd be the same for PS3. And I dunno what is cut from the Wii, but things usually are. And with PS3 you don't have to pay extra for wireless like you do 360. So I suppose PS3 is the obvious choice. And if its possible to do like I said, you can have the best of all worlds and just have to worry about getting the peripherals you want on the cheap