chronovore (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
chronovore) wrote2008-05-23 03:57 pm
chronovore) wrote2008-05-23 03:57 pm
Rock Band music
I'm stunned at how playing Rock Band has increased my appreciation for music. Watching my friend and I stumble through the simplified versions of guitar and drums for various songs has made me pay more attention to what's happening in those songs, and almost without fail increases my respect for those artists.
Not only that, but I've been enjoying songs I didn't even know previously, including some new bands. I've been listening to a playlist of the songs from the game (.ASX) and am finding myself tapping and bumping to them, physically responding to them more than I'd do to most of my iPod tracks.
It also continues to surprise me that there are so many me-too's coming, where Guitar Hero is stepping up to include the instrument controllers, and Konami is coming out with a whole new game with a more complex ("realistic") drum kit... and they just don't understand that Rock Band has performed an end-run around the standard retail model by making people shell out big-time once for the game, and then in a trickle to keep the game fresh, relevant, and to provide new challenges. The long-suggested pattern for "Roster Update 2007, 2008, 2009..." games like Madden and Smackdown VS RAW has been realized at last, and with weekly updates instead of yearly ones.
People who've bought Rock Band made an investment not just in sizeable dollars for the game itself, and not just DLC, but in the amount of space in their living rooms. Is anyone going to be anxious to buy a WHOLE 'NOTHER SET of drums, guitars, and microphone to hook up and play? It seems much more likely that people will happily stick with a control scheme they know, continue to improve in that game on a per-song basis, and be happy.
Not only that, but I've been enjoying songs I didn't even know previously, including some new bands. I've been listening to a playlist of the songs from the game (.ASX) and am finding myself tapping and bumping to them, physically responding to them more than I'd do to most of my iPod tracks.
It also continues to surprise me that there are so many me-too's coming, where Guitar Hero is stepping up to include the instrument controllers, and Konami is coming out with a whole new game with a more complex ("realistic") drum kit... and they just don't understand that Rock Band has performed an end-run around the standard retail model by making people shell out big-time once for the game, and then in a trickle to keep the game fresh, relevant, and to provide new challenges. The long-suggested pattern for "Roster Update 2007, 2008, 2009..." games like Madden and Smackdown VS RAW has been realized at last, and with weekly updates instead of yearly ones.
People who've bought Rock Band made an investment not just in sizeable dollars for the game itself, and not just DLC, but in the amount of space in their living rooms. Is anyone going to be anxious to buy a WHOLE 'NOTHER SET of drums, guitars, and microphone to hook up and play? It seems much more likely that people will happily stick with a control scheme they know, continue to improve in that game on a per-song basis, and be happy.