Let it be said that the once-dominant music genre of gaming is fast becoming the most exploited, redundant of them all. Last year's pre-holiday rush included (at least) new versions of nearly every major franchise, dozens of new instruments, collections, and finally, total market saturation. The result was flagging sales and increasingly disinterested fans. Harmonix, makers of the second most-popular music game franchise, Rock Band, thinks they have the cure to this increasingly apathy. The answer, as it turns out, is music itself.
USA Today has the first in-depth report about what fans can expect from the latest edition, and keep reading to learn more about how fully-functional keyboards figure into the next potential musical smash!
Rather than continue to limit playing to simple hitting the corresponding colored buttons in the right order and sequence, a good portion of Rock Band 3 will focus more on actually playing a real instrument. At the center of all this 'newness' is the 25-key keyboard controller. Harmonix claims this new addition to the instrument family can even be connected to a computer and used as an actual MIDI keyboard - an amazing thought for anyone who's ever wanted to start composing on their own but couldn't afford higher-end equipment.
While it seems that using the keyboard might be limited to just five keys, the level of integration seems so thorough that Rockstar is hoping this will help transition players to using the real thing. The game's new "Pro" mode will open up all 25 keys, and during play the music 'stream' will shift from left to right to cover the correct keys that need to be pressed. Whether this feature will be the virtual-teacher we've been waiting for remains to be seen, but having to track 25 keys is a major bump from every game in the genre thus far.
As you'd expect from a new game in the series, look for plenty of new and enhanced features, including 83 new songs from the likes of Queen (Bohemian Rhapsody) and The Doors (Break On Through), as well as compatability with past versions of the franchise. The game also expands the virtual group to a whopping seven participants, which now include lead and bass guitar, drums, lead vocals, harmony vocals, and keyboards.
Expect Rock Band 3 to hit the Wii, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3 just in time for the holidays. We'll have a full hands-on report during next week's extensive E3 coverage, so keep your eyes peeled!
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