Harmonix Announces Rock Band 3

[Suave Peanut]

What many of us suspected has now been confirmed: a full update to the Rock Band platform will be coming at us soon. Earlier this afternoon, the following juicy information was posted on the Rock Band fan page on Facebook:
Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!What we do know so far is limited to this little blurb, but a full press release should be forthcoming. Some may find it notable that EA is once again distributing, which puts to bed earlier rumors that Activision might have been courting Harmonix to return to Guitar Hero.

What features do you expect to be announced for Rock Band 3? What would you like to see?

Source - official Rock Band page on Facebook
(http://www.facebook.com/RockBand?v=feed&story_fbid=370265553216)

[TheFlyingOrc]

Keyboard. :)

It's not happening, but I still want it.

[Suave Peanut]

Keyboard. :)

It's not happening, but I still want it.
I want it to happen just because I'd like to see somebody eat his own head.

Now for my predictions:


harmonies, and with it the possibility for Beatles exportation
the return of "super easy" mode from LEGO Rock Band

[Inverarity]

Harmonies would be fantastic. Apart from that, the only thing I'd really like is official full-size instruments.

[Saladin]

Is this the one Dhani Harrison said will teach us how to play guitar?

[Suave Peanut]

Is this the one Dhani Harrison said will teach us how to play guitar?
I'm sure he'd like to think so, but honestly Dhani's involvement in Rock Band has been greatly overstated.

[Ondo]

I really want to see Harmonies, and with it a demonstration that they have a method for updating old songs with new features when appropriate. Also more Simon & Garfunkel and Bohemian Rhapsody.

I'd like to see support for a single player playing an instrument and doing vocals, ideally with some method of rearranging the on-screen feedback to make it easier. I'd be happy to see that debut in Green Day Rock Band.

I'd like to see a completely redesigned campaign mode. I'm not sure what it should look like, but I think they could do better than World Tour.

There are lots of minor issues I'd like to see fixed - make it so my band can have a male or female vocalist as appropriate for each song, better RBN demo support (let me buy and continue from where I was), a scoring system that lets you reasonably compare scores between songs and difficulties, and more I'm not remembering.

Support for doing everything the band-specific games do in downloadable content would obviously be nice.

I'm curious to see if it'll have Natal support - Microsoft is supposed to give the full list of Natal titles at GDC, so we'll know soon.

[Kenzington4short]

There are a couple things I hope they snipe from the Guitar Hero franchise:


Countdown for when someone unpauses the game
Changing difficulty on the fly


Also, allowing a group to play a song even if there's no part for one of them, ie YYZ. It's a bit annoying having to back out to the character select screen, back out on of the controllers, go back in, etc.

Being able to choose a character in single player quick play would be nice too.

Small stuff, other than harmonies and such.

[Suave Peanut]

Another thing I would love to see is a little more streamlining in the interface. Sometimes there's a little too much back-and-forth in the menus when we're playing that I'd like to have eliminated.

Something like drop-in/drop-out would help the situation.

Countdown for when someone unpauses the game
That feature was in Beatles: Rock Band and all but guaranteed to be in RB3.

[DoctorFinger]

Is this the one Dhani Harrison said will teach us how to play guitar?
No, but we'll have a bit on that one in tonight's 'In Other News' post.

[Kenzington4short]

Another thing I would love to see is a little more streamlining in the interface. Sometimes there's a little too much back-and-forth in the menus when we're playing that I'd like to have eliminated.

Something like drop-in/drop-out would help the situation.


That feature was in Beatles: Rock Band and all but guaranteed to be in RB3.

Ah! I wasn't aware of that. I still have my copy shrink wrapped from that Amazon deal. My friends and I also apparently never paused and unpaused the game when I played it over at a friend's house. :confused:

[MachEnergy]

I would be interested in a video game teaching me how to play a real guitar.

I agree with the game needing better menu flow. As for features, I don't have a clue. I want them to make a new feature to show me that I needed it all along.

#1 Request: Old instrument buy-back program. Send away your RB1/RB2 equipment for credit towards RB3 equipment.

[Deadend]

Maybe Rock Band 3 will allow players to have some creativity instead of being basically a Simon Says game. Which is probably what it will be, guitar solos that allow for players to do their own things.. but have to keep the proper timing and judging based on the quality of the music created.

At least that is what I'd guess for being a big innovation that doesn't involve new plastic guitars and sticking with Harmonix's goal of getting people into music.

[crazyD]

Maybe Rock Band 3 will allow players to have some creativity instead of being basically a Simon Says game. Which is probably what it will be, guitar solos that allow for players to do their own things.. but have to keep the proper timing and judging based on the quality of the music created.

I can't imagine how something so subjective could be objectively scored by the game.

My guess is that this is going to be like Rock Band but with some relatively minor changes that make the game much nicer to play. Pretty much like Rock Band 2.

[Suave Peanut]

I can imagine something like the freestyle sections in Amplitude.

[DoctorFinger]

I can imagine something like the freestyle sections in Amplitude.Don't they already have those? Solos played at the ends of songs?

[Suave Peanut]

Don't they already have those? Solos played at the ends of songs?
That's a start, but I'm thinking of something more interactive like if there were a section where corresponding notes are actually sounded with each note you play rather than strumming wildly at the end for maximum points.

Something like the drum fills, but for guitar.

[The Continental]

That's a start, but I'm thinking of something more interactive like if there were a section where corresponding notes are actually sounded with each note you play rather than strumming wildly at the end for maximum points.

Something like the drum fills, but for guitar.But the drum fills are just pounding wildly within the alloted time frame.

I understand what you're asking for, but much like crazyD, I don't see how you can accruately score a freestyle section without taking away the freestyle elements.

[Suave Peanut]

But the drum fills are just pounding wildly within the alloted time frame.

I understand what you're asking for, but much like crazyD, I don't see how you can accruately score a freestyle section without taking away the freestyle elements.
It's just a little something fun to do. The drum fills aren't scored, are they?

[crazyD]

It's just a little something fun to do. The drum fills aren't scored, are they?

Yeah, but the drums are closely analogous with playing an actual drum set. You hit the snare, the system makes a snare sound. On the guitar, you have 5 buttons. That's not a lot to make a cool sounding solo with.

[Destro]

Really, i've been pleased with this series so far. as long as i can keep all the songs i've already bought i'll be happy no matter what (with backward compatible instruments, of course!)

[GiantAshSnake]

They need an option to set a minimum difficulty for World Tour. When looking for a band, you can flag your difficulty setting. A band leader (host) could adjust the setting before they begin to look for players. If the host selects "hard", for example, only players who have selected hard or expert are able to join, and they are only able to play hard or expert difficulty.

[Mike Kelehan]

Really, i've been pleased with this series so far. as long as i can keep all the songs i've already bought i'll be happy no matter what (with backward compatible instruments, of course!)

I'm sure you will. Not only that, but I'll bet RB2 will be patched a little before RB3's launch to let us export those songs.

[inmostlight]

Another thing I would love to see is a little more streamlining in the interface. Sometimes there's a little too much back-and-forth in the menus when we're playing that I'd like to have eliminated.

Oh god yes. I'd also like to be able to change the options at any time. Far too often we get together for a group setting, spend five minutes with everyone signing in and choosing their characters and putting together an epic setlist....only to discover that oh shit, we forgot to adjust the calibration for the new location. Then we have to completely quit out and lose everything. Why can't we just do it right there?

But ultimately, all I want are the following:

Campaign mode better integrates all the downloaded songs, not just in random setlists or make-a-setlists.
More character customization features. Partly just more and better clothing options, but heck, as an ex girlfriend said, "Why can't I make a big fat dude like Frank Black?"
I imagine they'll add in vocal harmonies, but hope it has other options for multiple singers like backing vocals. I guess that'd require more than one scrolling set of lyrics, and obviously would only be on certain songs.
All my existing songs to still work. :)

[inmostlight]

OH!
The ability to play World Tour online WITHOUT EVERYBODY ON THE MACHINE REQUIRING A LIVE GOLD ACCOUNT. I want to play with a friend and his wife online, but fucking can't because they only have one gold account. I can play Halo or other shooters with guest accounts!

[mister slim]

Support for multiple guitarists would be nice, for bands that have two leads or lead and rhythm. Better PS3 support for RBN, though I don't know if that's possible. The big one for me is better cymbal support. I'd really like it if the game could use smaller gems (like the hammer-on notes) for cymbals and also the ability to turn switching the hi-hat to red if the player has a hi-hat cymbal. Also, duets.

[Mike Kelehan]

OH!
The ability to play World Tour online WITHOUT EVERYBODY ON THE MACHINE REQUIRING A LIVE GOLD ACCOUNT. I want to play with a friend and his wife online, but fucking can't because they only have one gold account. I can play Halo or other shooters with guest accounts!

Just don't have the other players log in at all, not even as guests, and they'll be able to play, if my memory is right.

[Paradox Symphony]

Oh wowzers, the same game a third time. Thanks harmonix!

[Deadend]

Yeah, but the drums are closely analogous with playing an actual drum set. You hit the snare, the system makes a snare sound. On the guitar, you have 5 buttons. That's not a lot to make a cool sounding solo with.

But you can still hit the buttons you want, and yes, the game can subjectively score a song. Rhythm, repetition, patterns. Not to the level of fully making a song your own, but doing YOUR OWN THING and making the game react to you is really the biggest innovation the music genre could do. Even if it's as simple as having solo sections have several different solos to choose from via the first note you hit in the section, letting you pick from 5 different guitar solos, midsong.

As I think most people are getting tired of simply doing what the game tells them to do and would like play the game, instead of the game playing them.

[Talanvor]

Just don't have the other players log in at all, not even as guests, and they'll be able to play, if my memory is right.

I'm positive I've played with people online who have gamertags suchlike SomeOnlinePlayer and SomeOnlinePlayer(1), so yeah I'm sure you can do this already.

As for what I'd like to see, really it's just minor tweaks and such. Obviously harmonies would be great and are probably the biggest thing. Usually when my friends get together a few of them won't play RB2 at all, but they got into doing the harmonies for The Beatles. I guess because they weren't a focus for attention?

Maybe when you're looking for people online to play there could be a way to display DLC songs before joining and a better way to navigate said songs when making a setlist?

[inmostlight]

I'm positive I've played with people online who have gamertags suchlike SomeOnlinePlayer and SomeOnlinePlayer(1), so yeah I'm sure you can do this already.

Hmm. I've never gotten it to work, but it was always people with guests on the other end so they were the ones screwing it up. :)

It's a pipe dream that probably won't happen, but one feature I'd really like would be some sort of temporary song streaming when online that'd let player A do a DLC song that only player B owns.

[Ondo]

I'm curious to see if it'll have Natal support - Microsoft is supposed to give the full list of Natal titles at GDC, so we'll know soon.
Er, I was wrong - list is at E3, so it'll be a while.

[MosBen]

Though I've purchased a ton of songs for RB2, I hope that some day they make a brand new game starting from scratch, even if it means I don't get to migrate my songs over.

That new six-string game is pretty interesting, but I trust Harmonix to deliver a fun experience with a minimum of frustration way more than some company that I've never heard of. That's important when you're going to sink a bunch of money into a game with peripherals.

And the reality is that there are limits to what Harmonix will be able to do with how they've set up RB2. I want the game to get more complex, not stay the same. And really, even if they make a game that's not compatible with your songs, it's not like you suddenly won't be able to play them.

[Destro]

Though I've purchased a ton of songs for RB2, I hope that some day they make a brand new game starting from scratch, even if it means I don't get to migrate my songs over.

That new six-string game is pretty interesting, but I trust Harmonix to deliver a fun experience with a minimum of frustration way more than some company that I've never heard of. That's important when you're going to sink a bunch of money into a game with peripherals.

And the reality is that there are limits to what Harmonix will be able to do with how they've set up RB2. I want the game to get more complex, not stay the same. And really, even if they make a game that's not compatible with your songs, it's not like you suddenly won't be able to play them.


No, that is true, however i'm not going to buy a game with 40 ish songs when i already purchased about 200 more.

[axion]

To be fair I'm pretty sure RB2 came with over 100 songs (80 or so on disc, 20 to download) at least on the Wii version.

[Suave Peanut]

No matter what enhancements future songs will include, your old DLC will always be forwards-compatible in Rock Band.

That's just how Harmonix rolls.

[crazyD]

But you can still hit the buttons you want, and yes, the game can subjectively score a song. Rhythm, repetition, patterns. Not to the level of fully making a song your own, but doing YOUR OWN THING and making the game react to you is really the biggest innovation the music genre could do. Even if it's as simple as having solo sections have several different solos to choose from via the first note you hit in the section, letting you pick from 5 different guitar solos, midsong.

As I think most people are getting tired of simply doing what the game tells them to do and would like play the game, instead of the game playing them.

Wouldn't it really suck, though, to play a really bitching solo, but have it not count for anything because it doesn't match the specific rhythm the game is looking for? And you just really cannot have control over how the solo will sound if you only have 5 notes to choose from. Picking between different solos is kind of interesting, but not really creative in the slightest. Especially since you won't really know what it sounds like before you play it, and you will just be picking randomly. I would love there to be more creativity involved in the solos, and the drum fills are one of the best features in the game. I just can't think of a good way to do it with guitars.

[nixpayn]

Want to learn real guitar with one of these games? Its coming soon!

Power Gig (http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/09/seven45-studios-talks-power-gig-details-we-go-hands-on-with-its/)

So far its sounding impressive.

[agentgray]

Old equipment will be worthless and will require new plastic dongles and such because of "all the new amazing features."

...and we'll buy it up in droves.

[Ink Asylum]

Some things I'd like to see:


Duets, especially male/female ones, and have a second singer character come onstage to perform them.
A Karaoke mode. Basically vocals only with more of the screen used for lyrics and no visual or audio punishment for bad pitch.
Being able to choose your character in quick play, as others have said.
Better playlist options. For example, allow me to pick all the songs I know I like to sing, save it as "Ink Vocals," then load it up and either pick specific songs from it, or tell it to randomly select five songs.
Allow me to set a different difficulty for each song I pick for a playlist, but only if I press, say, the Orange button when selecting a song.
A "Sort by date released" option in the Rock Band store. I have a big Rock Band night a couple times a year but the New Releases only lists the last few weeks, so I scroll through all the songs looking for ones I missed, a problem that will only get worse with the Rock Band Network.


Old equipment will be worthless and will require new plastic dongles and such because of "all the new amazing features."

...and we'll buy it up in droves.

I could see Guitar Hero doing that, but not Rock Band.

I know that Harmonix will continue to support all their DLC in future Rock Band games, at least on the current consoles. My worry is what happens when the next Xbox and PS3 release. Will there be some way to transfer songs or redownload them? If there isn't the last Rock Band game I buy will be the last one released for the 360, and I'll just hook that system up again when I want to play. I've invested easily hundreds of dollars in the game and DLC. No way am I going back to square one on a new console.

[BigJonno]

I'd like the ability to blacklist songs. I like having variety, even if it means playing songs that aren't necessarily my favourites. The people I play with hate getting certain songs, so we usually end up cherry-picking which means the same couple of dozen songs every time we play. Just being able to ensure that a few songs will never come up on random set lists would be great. (Especially those stupid fucking French and German songs in the European RB1. Nice idea, but it's a nightmare for any vocalist who isn't trilingual.)

[crazyD]

I would like to see the ability to access any character for any account currently signed in under any instrument. My roommate and I switch around a lot, and we prefer to play as our own characters. Also, being able to switch characters without backing out to that point of the menu would be nice.

[BigJonno]

That's a good one, we often switch when we play and it'd be nice to do it without backing right out.

[Suave Peanut]

I also look forward to being able to select lefty/righty at the difficulty selection screen.

I'm lefty and people get annoyed with having to pause/unpause to switch back-and-forth.

[Ink Asylum]

Being able to add/drop players/instruments in between songs without losing the playlist would be great as well. I'd love to set up a 20 song playlist for a party and be able to freely rotate how many people are in the band between each song. Sometimes no one wants to play drums for a few songs, or there's one song someone wants to sing and the rest no one does, etc.

[johnperkins21]

The big one for me is better cymbal support. I'd really like it if the game could use smaller gems (like the hammer-on notes) for cymbals and also the ability to turn switching the hi-hat to red if the player has a hi-hat cymbal.

Same here. I've got the ION Drum Rocker with three cymbals, and while I try to hit the cymbals where I think they are, it would be nice to have a visual cue.

[Ondo]

A "Sort by date released" option in the Rock Band store.
That's the one sorting option added in the standalone Rock Band Music Store, so it will almost certainly be in RB3.

[divinechaos]

I want the new songs I downloaded to say NEW on them, like in RB1. Also, more Queen.

[Mike Kelehan]

I want the new songs I downloaded to say NEW on them, like in RB1. Also, more Queen.

Doesn't the fact that they have no high score next to them serve the same purpose?

[Mike Kelehan]

I'd like the ability to blacklist songs. I like having variety, even if it means playing songs that aren't necessarily my favourites. The people I play with hate getting certain songs, so we usually end up cherry-picking which means the same couple of dozen songs every time we play. Just being able to ensure that a few songs will never come up on random set lists would be great. (Especially those stupid fucking French and German songs in the European RB1. Nice idea, but it's a nightmare for any vocalist who isn't trilingual.)

Ooh, good one.

[MachEnergy]

Doesn't the fact that they have no high score next to them serve the same purpose?

Not for me. I have numerous songs that I have played, yet they have no high score for some reason. It's incredibly frustrating, as Muse's Hysteria is one of my favorite expert bass lines, and I want to compare my score against my friends.......except it never saves my score.

[johnperkins21]

Not for me. I have numerous songs that I have played, yet they have no high score for some reason. It's incredibly frustrating, as Muse's Hysteria is one of my favorite expert bass lines, and I want to compare my score against my friends.......except it never saves my score.

If you turn on no fail mode, it won't save your score. Could this be your issue?

Oh, and along these lines, I also agree a good way to see how your score improves from one playthrough to the next would be nice. Just something that says, "new high score: old score - new score" kind of thing.

[MachEnergy]

If you turn on no fail mode, it won't save your score. Could this be your issue?

How DARE you, sir! :D

I've never even seen this no-fail mode option you speak of. Heard of. But never seen.

[johnperkins21]

How DARE you, sir! :D

I've never even seen this no-fail mode option you speak of. Heard of. But never seen.

I use it all the time. I'll go into quick play and pick songs that are just out of my league on Expert and play through them. It's more fun than practice mode, but accomplishes pretty much the same thing.

The jump in difficulty from Hard to Expert is huge on some songs. I'd rather play Expert, but if I just keep failing out, that isn't any fun.

[Ondo]

Not to the level of fully making a song your own, but doing YOUR OWN THING and making the game react to you is really the biggest innovation the music genre could do.
That'd be a return to their roots for Harmonix - roots that failed horribly. To quote Alex Rigopulos from this article (http://money.cnn.com/2009/09/03/smallbusiness/harmonix_rock_band_startup_story/?postversion=2009090304):
Karaoke isn't about personal expression. It's about people reproducing the songs they know as accurately as they can. The whole notion of adding improvisation elements just wasn't connecting.
I think the same applies to Rock Band. Though honestly their early stuff sounds fascinating, and I'd be very interested to see them return to that kind of thing.

[Kielaran]

I hope it has a fancy plastic keytar. :D

[TheFlyingOrc]

Oh wowzers, the same game a third time. Thanks harmonix!

You have stupid opinions.

[MosBen]

I hope you guys realize that eventually your DLC will not update. Plenty of people have invested hundreds of dollars on map packs that only worked for one game, and when the sequel came out they bought the new game, played it, and bought the DLC.

I know it's somewhat different when you've dropped hundreds of dollars into two games (RB1 & 2), but this is simply inevitable.

I think it probably won't be on this console cycle, so maybe take comfort in the fact that MS and Sony seem keen to stretch this cycle out as far as they can. But this generation will end. Harmonix will come up with a new game eventually that doesn't work with what they've done before.

And people spent thousands of dollars on records, cassettes, and CDs, but that didn't stop people from switching over to digital music eventually. People hate buying media multiple times, but eventually we all do it.

I'm actually looking forward to it, because I feel like Harmonix won't abandon the current Rock Band platform until they've got something truly revolutionary and exciting.

[Ink Asylum]

And when that happens I'll be content with my Rock Band catalog which will probably number over 300 songs by that point. Maybe I'll buy the new Rock Band title to try it out but no way am I going to start building up a secondary song catalog again.

I've been pretty fortunate in that I didn't start buying any particular media myself until it was in a form that could later be digitized. I never had more than a handful of cassettes and have ripped all the CDs I ever bought. I only had a dozen or so VHS tapes from my youth before DVDs became the norm, and I can now rip those into digital files. Occasionally I'll buy a digital version of an old game through Steam or another service, but it's always at a price much, much lower than what I originally paid (~$2-5), and that's usually just to avoid the hassle of trying to install and play old CDs.

I think there's definitely a generation gap between people who are used to buying new versions of their music and movies and those who haven't. I was born in 1980 but I didn't buy media much until my 20s. Someone born later than 1990 would be wholly unfamiliar with that cycle.

[Mike Kelehan]

I hope you guys realize that eventually your DLC will not update. Plenty of people have invested hundreds of dollars on map packs that only worked for one game, and when the sequel came out they bought the new game, played it, and bought the DLC.

I know it's somewhat different when you've dropped hundreds of dollars into two games (RB1 & 2), but this is simply inevitable.

I think it probably won't be on this console cycle, so maybe take comfort in the fact that MS and Sony seem keen to stretch this cycle out as far as they can. But this generation will end. Harmonix will come up with a new game eventually that doesn't work with what they've done before.

And people spent thousands of dollars on records, cassettes, and CDs, but that didn't stop people from switching over to digital music eventually. People hate buying media multiple times, but eventually we all do it.

I'm actually looking forward to it, because I feel like Harmonix won't abandon the current Rock Band platform until they've got something truly revolutionary and exciting.

If I keep my same Xbox Live account, or PSN account, why wouldn't this content cross over to the next generation? If you bought Halo 2 maps on the Xbox, you were able to redownload them for free with the same account on a 360. As long as their games support five-button guitars and four-pad drums, I think our DLC will remain supported.

On the other hand, if it doesn't, well, my RB2 disc isn't going anywhere.

[Destro]

If I keep my same Xbox Live account, or PSN account, why wouldn't this content cross over to the next generation? If you bought Halo 2 maps on the Xbox, you were able to redownload them for free with the same account on a 360. As long as their games support five-button guitars and four-pad drums, I think our DLC will remain supported.

On the other hand, if it doesn't, well, my RB2 disc isn't going anywhere.

Exactly. Although if it's on the same machine, i'm pretty sure there should be compatibility. Isn't that one of the great things of hard drives in game consoles now?

[inmostlight]

I fully support the blacklist option others have mentioned, but would also like to expand it to mark favorites. Maybe even custom lists ("awesome guitar solos" or "stuff I will sing when drunk") or rating songs to help in sorting?

[Ondo]

So apparently Harmonix confirmed harmonies in Rock Band 3 during a panel at PAX East.

Saw the news on the PlasticAxe twitter, which also mentions that RockBandAide shot video of the panel, so hopefully that'll be up soon.

[Sl1pstream]

So apparently Harmonix confirmed harmonies in Rock Band 3 during a panel at PAX East.

Saw the news on the PlasticAxe twitter, which also mentions that RockBandAide shot video of the panel, so hopefully that'll be up soon.

They did. It's the only thing they announced during the panel and they weren't really supposed to announce it.

[crazyD]

Isn't that just pretty damn obvious, though? Might as well announce that the new game will feature plastic guitar peripherals.

[MachEnergy]

Did anyone pick it up yet? I didn't see an official thread for the game yet, but I wanted to talk about the half hour I played of it last night. VERY COOL!

[crazyD]

I picked it up, didn't have too much time to play, though. Haven't gotten the hang of keyboard, yet.

[MachEnergy]

I've played the game a few times now, and I'm inches away from getting the tour bus in the Road Challenges. Since I've only been playing it by myself, this mode has been the only way I've approached the game so far. It's a really fun and fresh take on doing a world tour. The setlist-dependent challenges REALLY keep things interesting. Since I've gotten to the point where I rarely fail Expert songs but can't always five-star them, I find myself focusing more on the challenges and having a LOT of fun doing just that. What would be a less interesting song to play on guitar now becomes a fun game of chasing challenges. It's a shame that it maxes out at 5 Spades per song, but I get that it's more balanced that way. Still, I've put down all 5 Spades in a single moment (challenge was: "achieve full overdrive, then perform a streak"), so for the rest of the song, there wasn't much reason to go after that specific challenge any longer. Not that I didn't keep doing it just for fun, though. ;)

Also, I know for sure that I heard the crowd singing along to one of the songs I played last night. I wish I could remember which track it was, but looking over the on-disc RB3 songs, I don't think it was from this game. Hearing it did make me wish that the crowd sang along more often, as it's truly a great feature.

Still loving the shit out of Rock Band 3. I cannot wait to get more people involved, if for anything, just to try the overshell menu system more appropriately.

[inmostlight]

I'm liking it a lot too, especially the road challenges as you mentioned. I'm starting to run inti a few flaws, though:

First, I tried to do quick play and make a setlist last night. After I had four songs I wanted ready, I honest to god couldn't figure out what to do next or how to play them. I didn't see anywhere on the screen where to get out of that phase other than just canceling entirely, and it's not explained in the manual, either. Maybe I'm retarded, but I seriously spent about ten minutes trying to figure it out and then gave up. What the heck am I missing?

The other flaw is that you can only have one band. This is a horrible step backwards in my opinion. Last game I had two awesome themed bands complete with elaborate logos, characters, etc. I also had another band for me and my girlfriend, and another for another group of friends who would play together frequently. I liked how each band had it's own set of characters, progress tracking, and so on....all of that is now gone. LAME.

[MachEnergy]

I haven't tried making a playlist yet, but typically, you just press Start once you've selected enough songs. Did that not work for you?

I also haven't yet tried to make another band, but from what I've seen in the menus, I could see how what you are saying is accurate. Still, we may just be missing something. Either way, what I do like about this particular change is that it's profile based, so as long as I'm using my profile, I'm earning rewards and completing goals, no matter what mode I play. I love that alone almost enough that I could deal with not having dedicated bands for each scenario. Like you, in RB2, I had multiple bands: one for just me, one for one group of friends, one for another group, and one for me and my wife. The problem I had with that setup is that NONE of us completed the world tour. 90% of the time, we just played Quickplay. So, in my situation, I don't mind the change that much (if in fact you cannot have mult. bands), but I fully understand your frustration.

I do have a gripe about the overshell. If I'm logged in on my guitar and want to do character customization with a controller, I can turn on the controller and choose "Switch to Mach Energy", which is AWESOME! However, there is no way I have seen to switch back to the guitar afterwards. I end up having to sign out on the controller, turn the controller off, and THEN my character will become available to choose on the guitar again. It's awkward, and many times I'm not sure what I need to do in order to get it back the way I want. I've rebooted the game just because of that, and that's just wasted downtime. :\

[inmostlight]

I haven't tried making a playlist yet, but typically, you just press Start once you've selected enough songs. Did that not work for you?

Start opens the overshell, back changes sorting, A adds a song, B deletes a song, X rates a song, and Y shows more info about a song. Nowhere did I see a way to just save or play the setlist.

[MachEnergy]

Start opens the overshell, back changes sorting, A adds a song, B deletes a song, X rates a song, and Y shows more info about a song. Nowhere did I see a way to just save or play the setlist.

Oh duh. Start isn't the button I once knew it to be. It's all dedicated and shit now. Interesting....

[inmostlight]

Maybe it's something like holding start down instead of tapping? I'll try that next time...

[inmostlight]

Figured it out, you need to hold down A / green when done building the playlist...

[MachEnergy]

http://admin.fender.com/rockband3/exclusive/

Squier price and date! $279, March 1st 2011. Preorders start Jan 1st. I have to say that price really amazed me. I was willing to spend up to $399 based on what most Squier models + midi controller would run. Now that I'm essentially going to save money on the guitar, I'll just put that towards buying an amp. Four months....feels like forever.