Posts Tagged ‘harmonix’

Dan as seen in his HMX environment

I’m finally getting around to catching up on all the E3 madness, and this is one of the things I wanted to pull together most for you guys. After going to both PAX East and E3, I learned that they are two completely different animals. PAX East is put on for fans of the games, who usually know what to expect from their favorite franchises. E3 on the other hand, has its hardcore fans in attendance, but also has to cater to business people that may not be familiar with storied franchises and video game companies, so they have to go much farther to leave an impression on people. Throughout all the madness and press that was going on, I considered myself EXTREMELY lucky to both get hands-on time with the new Rock Band 3 peripherals (details coming!) and to have a chance to sit down with Rock Band 3 Lead Designer Dan Teasdale (@delicousbees) and ask him the questions you asked.

And yes, for future reference, I will be getting an audio recorder so I can transcribe future conversations with Harmonix staff for the site, but to be honest, with all the surrounding noise at E3, I doubt it would have captured much of our conversation. I’ve didn’t ask him questions that have already been confirmed elsewhere (I’ll have post summarizing all the new Rock Band 3 features soon), as well as removed the questions that he can’t comment about (Jukebox mode, Pearl Jam, easy/medium charting changes).

So check out the Q&A I had with Dan, and let me know if there are any other questions you may have about the game. I’ll see what I can do to get them answered in the future!

Will there be support for the Stage Kit in Rock Band 3?

Yes.

Will the ION Drum Rocker be compatible with Pro mode in Rock Band 3, and will Lefty Flip be possible?

Yes and yes.

Any options for real guitar interfacing through the MIDI controller?

As it currently exists, the only available options for Pro Guitar/Bass are using the Mustang and Squier controllers, however we are looking to seeing if this is feasible.

Will there be a strum limit in Rock Band 3?

There will be no strum limit. Rock Band 3 will feature smarter strum detection due to an increased familiarity with and a deeper understanding of consistency issues with both new and existing hardware.

Will the “shaky arrow vocals glitch” be fixed?

Yes.

Will there be a vocals practice trainer?

Yes, it will be similar to the vocal trainer / practice mode in the Beatles game.

Will multiple vocal players be available over Xbox Live or PSN?

No. Latency issues makes this impossible, unfortunately.

Are there harmonies in the DLC we’ve gotten so far?

With the exception of Green Day, currently existing DLC does not have included harmonies due to the rights reserved during the licensing process.

Will the keyboard work with the tracks that have piano in Green Day: Rock Band if you export to Rock Band 3?

Harmonies are included and compatible with Rock Band 3, however the Green Day content technically counts as Rock Band 2 DLC, so there are no keyboards charts.

When will we start seeing Pro Keys compatible DLC?

DLC with Pro Keys charting will come out day and date of Rock Band 3, not before.

Is there a Pro Keys mode that doesn’t scroll?

Easy and Medium do not scroll. Hard and Expert do.

Lefty flip with Pro Keys?

Yes. It works the same as vocal lefty flip.

Will each instrument lane have their own speed based on their difficulty?

By default, all lanes will move at the same speed, as in Rock Band 2, however there will be a modifier that you can enable to have different lanes move at different speeds.

Will there be an Endless Setlist 3?

Yes.

Will there be a “Bladder of Steel” achievement/trophy?

Not specifically, but there will be a “spiritual successor” to it.

Can we ever expect to see Metallica tracks in Rock Band again?

Artists that have their own titles such as Aerosmith, Metallica, and Van Halen are not exclusive to any franchise. Eventually we may see more DLC from these artists in Rock Band.

“Try again with the Beatles: Will we have DLC? After enough times they’re sure to give in!”

“This is not one of those times.”

Will there ever be a resource to let us know what bands are more than likely never going to be on the Rock Band platform so we can stop requesting them?

There is no “blacklist” for songs coming to the library, so request away!

Will harmonies and keyboards be integrated into the RBN?

I can’t comment on future RBN features, but there will be more announcements concerning an RBN 2.0 later.

Will the RBN be finding it’s way on to the PS3/Wii/unsupported countries?

The limitations of independent developer programs on the other consoles and unsupported countries with Xbox 360 are issues that lie with Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft, and very little we can do about.

Will the Wii support SDHC cards in Rock Band 3? Will we be able to export songs on the Wii?

Details soon.

Will Rock Band 2 export require a unique code to do?

Details on Rock Band 2 export have not been announced yet, as the possibility of export is still in process.

Will we be able to import our scores from Rock Band 2 to Rock Band 3?

The scoring system has been rewritten from a programming standpoint, so your scores will not carryover.

Last month, the website for The Beatles: Rock Band won an award at the 14th Annual Webby Awards  as Best Games-Related Site of the year. The site was produced by the web development team at Harmonix in collaboration with Apple Corps, The Beatles’ company.

In addition to the craziness of E3 going on last week, the Webby Awards were held on June 14 in New York City.

“The Webby Awards honors the very best of the Internet,” said David-Michel Davies, executive director of the Webby Awards. “Harmonix’s achievement is a testament to the skill, ingenuity and vision of its creators.”

“We are excited and honored to have TheBeatlesRockBand.com win the Webby Award for Best Games-Related Website,” said Jeff Chausse, Harmonix’s web director. “We wanted to capture the artistry and magic of the game on the web, and this award is further confirmation that Harmonix has created a truly unique celebration of The Beatles’ music, which has really captured the public’s imagination.”

Founded in 1996, The Webby Awards are known worldwide for its famous five-word speech limit. Past Webby Award winners – and their speeches – include Al Gore (“Please don’t recount this vote”), Beastie Boys (“Can anyone fix my computer?”), and Stephen Colbert (“Me. Me. Me. Me. Me.”).

Check out the five-word acceptance speech from Jeff below.

If you didn’t have a chance to watch the Microsoft Media Briefing this morning/afternoon, Harmonix showed off their other project they’ve been working on for Microsoft Xbox 360 Kinect (formerly Project Natal) titled “Dance Central.” The songs confirmed on stage while Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos was speaking are as follows:

• Lady Gaga – Poker Face
• Beastie Boys – Body Movin’
• Bel Biv Devoe – Poison
• Lipps Inc – Funky Town
• M.I.A. – Galang ’05
• No Doubt – Hella Good

Now admittedly, I am a Harmonix fanboy, and this site will remain Rock Band centric. But every now and again, I may throw in some Dance Central updates.

Best Dance Scene EVER From a Movie...

OK, I guess I should be reporting on this since I seem to have many people sending me this tip (hit me up here if you have any news that I need to report on).

I saw this early yesterday morning, but hesitated for a few reasons. First of all, it’s not Rock Band related. While I’m also a Harmonix fanboy, I’m first and foremost concentrated on Rock Band. That doesn’t mean that I won’t occasionally branch out and touch on other related things, but Rock Band news keeps me busy enough! The second thing is that I don’t think this should come as a surprise to anyone that’s been checking out the site this year. Back in February and April, we’ve learned that Harmonix has been licensing songs that don’t necessarily fit the Rock Band format. It seemed inevitable that Harmonix was working on another game outside of Rock Band. And since the wording on the GameInformer post was pretty vague, I’m wondering if they’re just combining the clues and Project Natal in there for a juicy rumor post for their front page.

So there you go. Harmonix MAY be working on a Project Natal based dance game.

[via GameInformer]

If you’ve been playing Rock Band for awhile and are even modestly involved in the community over at the RockBand.com forums, I’m sure you’re aware of @HarmonixSean. And if you are aware of him, you’re also probably aware that he is an unbelievably kick-ass fella. Sean was literally the first person I ever met at Harmonix, and hands down one of the coolest.

A friend and I went to check out the Beatles: Rock Band demo in Chicago a month prior to release, and we grabbed drinks with the Harmonix crew later that night (see pic below). My apologies to @HMXThrasher and Drew, because I’m pretty sure I was man-crushing on Sean and ignored them the entire night! I was completely enthralled by Sean’s stories, but the most amazing part about him is after everything that he’s seen and experienced, he is still so unexpectedly down to earth and normal, in a grown-up music nerd kinda way! While I have no problem embracing it, most of my close friends wouldn’t really fit into the “nerd” category, so it was a mostly new experience for me to chat with someone who understood my obscure “Big Trouble in Little China,” “Fallout 3,” and “Planet of the Apes” references.

HMXers Thrasher, Drew, Sean, and myself

Anyway, enough about that… Check out my chat with Sean at PAX East below!

Thanks, Sean!

Harmonix was nominated this year in the category of Games-Related Website for The Beatles: Rock Band website. For those not familiar, the Webby Awards is the leading international award honoring excellence on the Internet. Established in 1996 during the Web’s infancy, the Webbys are presented by The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences, which includes an Executive 750-member body of leading Web experts, business figures, luminaries, visionaries and creative celebrities, and Associate Members who are former Webby Award Winners and Nominees and other Internet professionals.

The Academy is an intellectually diverse organization that includes members such as musicians Beck and David Bowie, Internet inventor Vint Cerf, political columnist Arianna Huffington, Real Networks CEO Rob Glaser, “The Simpsons” creator Matt Groening, R/GA Founder and Chairman Robert Greenberg, Virgin Atlantic Chairman and Founder Richard Branson, and The Weinstein Company Co-Founder Harvey Weinstein. Members also include writers and editors from publications such as The New York Times, Wired, Details, Fast Company, Elle, and The Los Angeles Times.

The Webby Awards presents two honors in every category — The Webby Award and The People’s Voice Award — in each of its four entry types: Websites, Interactive Advertising, Online Film & Video and Mobile Web. Members of The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences select the nominees for both awards in each category, as well as the winners of the Webby Awards. While the Harmonix web team didn’t capture the People’s Voice Award, they did capture the much more prized Webby Award, which is voted on my the luminaries mentioned above.

Congratulations to everyone on the Harmonix web team!

[Webby Award]