Modern Vespa

Anyone playing tonight?

I've already got blisters on my fingers!

I freakin wish, man. What console are you playing?

Wii. All pretty smooth so far.

Holding out until the weekend. It will be too distracting before then.

i'm holding out for black sabbath rock band myself.

No, but there is a FREE Beatles look-a-lie band playing in downtown Springfield tonight that the wifey and I are riding the Vespa's too.

I only have Guitar Hero for PS2, no controllers that will work for Wii Rock Band.

I'm a little irked that no bundled versions of this come with two guitar controllers. The "special value" edition for $140 has a standard Rock Band guitar, drums, mic and USB hub (?). This is basically what a standard Rock Band 2 bundle comes with. The $250 limited edition comes with a Hofner violin bass (wonder if it's keyed in reverse for left-handed playing), Beatles Rock Band branded drums, a mic and mic stand. The other Beatles guitar controllers are over $100. Non-Beatles controllers are around $60-$70. A drum kit is $90.

So, basically, getting the game with 2 guitars, mic and drums it going to run at least $200. If I wanted all-Beatles instruments (which I do but can find little justification for) it'll be almost $500.

I know a lot of money goes into developing these and that there are big chunks going to licensing, but it strikes me as odd that getting the game is going to cost me almost as much as a new console.

Which isn't to say I wouldn't pay it. I just won't be doing so this week.

Hell, it will cost your more than that..
the PS3 is now $299!!!

honestly, I've never played rock band, but on guitar hero you only have one "string" (one line of fret buttons) so couldn't you just flip it Jimi style and play lefty that way?

Yep, but it'd be funnier if the buttons were in reverse order.

There was a achievement point on the Xbox360 version of either guitar hero 2 or 3 that required you to play a certain song ( one that was somewhat difficult ) with the guitar upside down... left handed... and make it all the way through.

They forced this by reversing the direction of the little blips on the screen, so that they come down on the other side. That's pretty disconcerting because if you try to play it right handed, it screws you up ...you have to mentally decode as you go, which is too hard.


So, i just put a mirror on the wall behind me and played the song looking into the mirror, which correctly re-oriented the blips to their proper right-handed side.

And cheating makes baby jesus cry.

nope im still working on the metallica

I'm waiting for "Soft Rock Band" ; )

I really wanted to get Rock Bad: Bread, but heard that Rock Band: America is coming out soon. Decisions! Also, I've yet to get through Rock Band: Air Supply on the most difficult setting.

Yeah. A friend picked it up for Wii last night, set it up at my place, and played for an hour or two.

It was a lot more fun than i thought. Im not a super huge Beatles fan, and didnt really care about the game at all until last night. Happy to say that i had a great time playing songs i had always had a problem getting into.


On problem i did have is that i thought that the red-orange buttons on the guitar seemed a little cheapish, and not as firm as on the Rock Band 2 guitar. Am i crazy? Anyone else notice that? Or did my friend just get a bunk guitar?

Don't dogpile me for this but, Soft Rock Band including Hall & Oates, 10CC, America, Toto, Steely Dan, Michael McDonald, all of the one hit wonders and yacht rockers would probably be a huge hit for the 40 and over crowd.

im not really into the rock band/ guitar hero games.......friends have them but just didnt really impress me. im more of a FPS guy. im addicted to rainbox six vegas and vegas 2

I see what you did there.

I picked it up last night but haven't had time to play yet.

The thing that impressed me about the wii version (according to the package and the guy in the store) is that the game will work with any instruments, regardless of guitar hero or rock band compatibilities. Previous music games on the wii wouldn't mix controllers like that.

There is, in fact, an accomplishment / metric you can shoot for called "authenticity", which requires that you play the bass part in lefty mode. There are actually about a gazillion accomplishments you can shoot for, haven't yet absorbed even a few of them.

One of the accomplishments is "Beatlemania", which I think entails going "Whooooo!" in three-part-harmony for a combined 60 seconds.

This is a pretty consistent report from people exposed to Rock Band for the first time. I pooh-poohed it for a long time, since I have spent many years playing real instruments in real bands. Once I actually played, though, I realized it was a different experience, and was able to enjoy it for what it is. I think the neck on the Hoffner-esque bass is a bit weak. It flexes too much compared to the other RB instruments i've used. I ended up playing it using the smaller buttons closer to the body, just so I wouldn't have to feel it flex so much.

I was wondering if anyone would catch that...

That's not entirely new with the Beatles edition. We've been using Guitar Hero guitars with Rock Band 2 on Wii.

Also of note: the drums that come with the Beatles edition are wireless.

Okay, I'm amazed.

They could even break it down into genres: Yacht Rock, Light Prog, Soft Soul. They could also include horns for Rock Band: Chicago.

I was recently lambasted for confessing my love for Hall & Oates. The funny part is that I was accused of jumping on the H&O bandwagon; they're enjoying a bit of a ironic hipster resurgence. Screw that, I'm a 30-year fan.

I am probably more nostalgic than a fan.

Check out Hall & Oates on BBC Crown Jewels tv show. They rock quite a bit harder live than their studio albums. Props to John Oates for laying it down.

It sounds like there are some new features on this game. I loved Rock Band and Guitar Hero games. I would have bought this game had they released it for the PS2. I am not a hardcore gamer and can't just shell out several hundred bucks for a new console.
I haven't heard if they will eventually release this for PS2. Sony is trying to force me to upgrade just to get my hands on this game

Steely Dan was a very technical group. I would buy that game!

But there is no denying Steely Dan's smoothness.

I wish!

With Oz, as well.