October 26, 2010
There are a lot of things that feel the same now as they did five years ago when Rock Band 3 released. Especially when it comes to Rock Band 4 for 'current gen' consoles. There's lots of self-created hype, with a lot of things just missing... Or this time, to some extent in some ways shown as wrong already. This time, we do have last time to compare it to. It might not be all that wonderful a feeling to anyone involved. Although in the world at large, and for new players in this sub-world, most people likely don't have any idea about any of this in the slightest. Perhaps it doesn't matter then except to a few.
I myself would like to see Harmonix succeed here, but they seem to be their own worst enemy sometimes. Plus no one person or any group of wishes is going to sell a large number of copies of anything, especially in the face of all the game and life competition. RB4 isn't even out yet, and they've already started talking about what great things they'll add with their first update in December. If the game was really ready to release we ponder, one might think these sorts of things with any high demand would already be present. They've also created a "street team" of 500 players (who host parties to play, and otherwise do a lot of things no casual player does, and certainly no non-gamer does) by bribing them with a free "band in a box" set to promote the game... promote it to people who already play it? Maybe that's a good demographic to target, to get sales and preorders going. Or maybe it just makes them look desperate a month before release.
We've already talked about their initial failure to provide a game-only preorder out of the gate, which reasons seem obvious already. Your old instruments won't work if they're not wireless. If certain information is correct, many users don't have wireless instruments at all, and those that do have some, they don't work because wireless instruments aren't as hardy or just don't have the longevity wired ones do. If you do have wireless instruments, you likely got them for RB3 one imagines, maybe those work.
On the other hand, there's a 'last-gen' console sitting here, and some total of 20 or so ish games that go with it. They all work with all the instruments. So if you want to fire up some tracks and watch the game highways, all those songs can be played right now. Nothing to buy, nothing to worry about for compatibility. Just older, sure. Not as much broadcast yourself on the old consoles as the new (at least not without specific extra external hardware) or a number of other things. But it all works, and it works now.
Last time, five years ago, we gave Harmonix the benefit of the doubt at what appeared to be a rather hit-or-miss marketing style, a lack of solid information, failures to answer most things about "later" and a half-hearted or lack of promotion of the most enticing and exciting features. All coupled with a shortage of peripherals. Not that we should blame anyone for not wanting to produce a large number of peripherals that might not sell. Yet when you produce them anyway even after the buzz fails to materialize, and you've cut the price of the game to $20, and MIDI guitars (Fender Strat guitar and controller or yourock or the mustang semi-guitar) are often essentially nowhere to be seen, and many people are only interested because they can hook up their edrums / vdrums / acoustic drums with MIDI triggers. I wonder how much Fender and Mad Catz and the parent companies ate on these peripherals anyway (mini wireless keyboard, standard plastic instruments).
Whatever actually happened last time? Last time, many of us chalked this all up to being sold by Viacom / MTV games, and the general stagnation of the game genre, and forces beyond game creator control. The market. The peripheral makers. The game publisher. The churn, and supposed publisher demands to release a game that pretty clearly wasn't itself fully ready (much less the peripherals), and a lack of demand such as show by Guitar Hero Warriors of Rock sales. That must be the reason for the situation, we said, cut them slack we justified.
And yet here five years later, there's a lot of the same, when it seems all choices are in the hands of Harmonix. Which very much makes it seem like they are their own problem. Although many of the constraints on what can be done are in the consoles, true, but inconsistencies between the Xbox 360 and One and PS 3 and 4 have been known (internally and externally in various ways) for quite a while. If you know the wired instruments (including the MIDI Pro Adapter) won't work, and you don't think they can or you don't plan to try or you'll look into it in a few months or years? Whose fault is that then.
So let's see what we have. Your old instruments have to be wireless (and if you have a One you need an adapter, which they've discounted even though you can't get one yet). None of your wired items will work, except the mic (but they've got a way better one now of course). There is no support for any of the "Pro Instruments" (guitars and keyboards). There's no support for any advanced drum kits without the MPA or if the set is compatible with the One or PS4 and how many of them that are compatible are there? Nobody much is saying. Maybe there's none to talk about.
There's other news all on Harmonix. The availability of whatever other hardware may or may not be available, that's next year. Support for whatever might be supported, that might get worked on later. Next year sometime maybe. They have little solid information, except we do have what happened last time.
It's almost sad, it's at least a little infuriating, it's seemingly business as usual. If most everyone that knows anything about it is doing what we are, it's a failure. When will anyone know? Maybe everyone knows already, but in a month, and in the three or so months after, the proof will out. By next year we'll know.
Wait 'till next year, it'll all be okay. Whichever way that is.
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