Rock Band 3 Packs 102-button Pro-Guitar

Page 2 - Seeking answers? Join the Tom's Guide community: where nearly two million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.
Status
Not open for further replies.

flugelhorn

Distinguished
Oct 22, 2009
16
0
18,560
Rock Band is not a deterent. Learning to play the drums on expert teaches you many valuable skills, such as rythm and limb independence. With Pro mode, you will be playing the real thing on Drums and Keyboard. With the 102 button pro guitar, it will be very close to the real thing as well.

This game has been a jumping off point for many people to transition into real instruments. Many would have never played an instrument at all if Rock Band had not inspired them to do so.

Aside from all of that, it is a way to listen to good music and actively participate. I udnerstand that some of you are WAAAY too cool for this sort of thing, but leave we mere mortals to our fun.
 

cdillon

Distinguished
Mar 6, 2009
27
0
18,580
I think to silence the morons who cry "OMG LEARN TO PLAY A REAL GUITAR", they're actually going to have a REAL guitar available, built by Fender in the Stratocaster style, and the only difference between it and any other Fender Stratocaster is it will have invisible finger sensors underneath the fingerboard and internal circuitry to detect when you've strummed the strings so it can send that info to the game. You can even forget the game and just plug it into a guitar amp and wail away. In Pro Mode you'll have to read musical notation, so my guess is it will be some form of tablature for guitar. So yes, you could learn to play a REAL guitar in RB3.
 

NathanTR

Distinguished
May 18, 2010
6
0
18,510
When I was a kid I would love playing The Wall Street Kid on my NES, but my dad would never let me. "Stop playing a stupid video game, when you can learn the stock market in real life!" he would bellow from the top of the stairs wearing only his underpants.

He was right, now I make millions destroying people's 401k accounts and have a healthy coke habit.
 

lightbulbsocket

Distinguished
Feb 23, 2010
37
0
18,580
Personally, if it weren't for Guitar Hero 2 & 3 I wouldn't be learning to play the guitar. Once I started getting to the point where I could beat songs on expert it really started to hit home for me that if I was able to hit these crazy sequences of buttons that fast then I'd probably be able to learn how to pull of the real thing eventually.

I'll say this though. There absolutely is a world of difference between plastic guitars and the real thing. Trying to go back and play Guitar Hero now is, in some ways, harder than learning to play an actual guitar. Not that anyone should get the false impression that learning to play the guitar is easy. Those buttons definitely aren't spaced the same as frets 1-5 are though, that's for sure. I miss a lot of "notes" in GH now simply because I reached too far.

I definitely don't like the way that their new 102 button controller looks. I'll reserve judgment until I've wrapped my hands around it though. I also don't like the way they've approached the actual guitar from the way it looks. I don't understand why they'd need to put sensors underneath the fretboard. It seems to me the could have accomplished the same thing with a specialized pickup that has circuitry attached to tell the game which tone is being played on each string. It's ENTIRELY POSSIBLE I'm missing something but it seems to me like they're doing it that way just to prevent third parties from making similar specialized pickups that do the same as I've described. Again, I'll reserve judgment for now though.
 

Warsaw

Distinguished
Jul 8, 2008
38
0
18,580
Well, I can only speak for myself. When Guitar Hero first came out I got the game and a few years down the road I actually bought a real guitar and amp. I would consider myself an example to one of those people who got interested and tried the real thing.

Yeah.
 

zak_mckraken

Distinguished
Jan 16, 2004
868
0
18,930
Next step : Philharmonic Orchestra Hero.

The band now consists of 2 flutes, 2 oboes, 1 english horn, 1 piccolo, 4 french horns, 3 trombones, 1 piano, 16 violins, 1 harp, 10 cellos, 1 tambourine, 1 tuba, 1 tam-tam, 1 triangle...

 

helldog3105

Distinguished
Apr 2, 2009
41
0
18,580
When rockband came out I bought it cause I was excited for being able to play the whole band experience. I already knew how to play the guitar, being forced to do so in grade school through high school by my parents. What caught my attention was the drums. I had never played the drums before and they were really fun for me. I started taking drum lessons from the drum instructor the next street over from my house. I haven't ever looked back. I now very much enjoy playing the drums for real. I somehow doubt that Pro drum mode will be very close to the real drumming experience. We'll see.
 

gm0n3y

Distinguished
Mar 13, 2006
1,548
0
19,730
[citation][nom]sicundercover[/nom]How about just learning hoe to play guitar?[/citation]
I said the same thing when my GF tried to get me to play Guitar Hero. So then I did go buy a guitar and learn how to play. Much better payoff for the time invested.
 

zak_mckraken

Distinguished
Jan 16, 2004
868
0
18,930
[citation][nom]sicundercover[/nom]How about just learning hoe to play guitar?[/citation]
Why play Grand Theft Auto? Why don't you just go out, steal a police car, grab a shotgun and shoot a prostitute in the face?

It's a game. People want to play and have fun, they don't want to struggle for hundreds of hour to be able to play one song right. And no one have the right to force that on them.
 

gm0n3y

Distinguished
Mar 13, 2006
1,548
0
19,730
[citation][nom]zak_mckraken[/nom]Why play Grand Theft Auto? Why don't you just go out, steal a police car, grab a shotgun and shoot a prostitute in the face?[/citation]
Analogy fail.
 

zak_mckraken

Distinguished
Jan 16, 2004
868
0
18,930
[citation][nom]gm0n3y[/nom]Analogy fail.[/citation]
Nope. Exact same thing. Video Games != Real Life. Quit comparing GH/RB to "the real thing". Playing Grand Turismo is not the same as learning to drive. You like that one better?
 

gm0n3y

Distinguished
Mar 13, 2006
1,548
0
19,730
[citation][nom]zak_mckraken[/nom]Nope. Exact same thing. Video Games != Real Life. Quit comparing GH/RB to "the real thing". Playing Grand Turismo is not the same as learning to drive. You like that one better?[/citation]
Except you're spending time and effort learning how to play a fake guitar when you could learn how to play a real one. They are very similar.

Pressing buttons on a controller is a little different than driving a car and shooting people. Not to mention that playing a guitar in real life is slightly more acceptable than GTA style massacres.

A better analogy would be Wii tennis vs real tennis. Even then, you can't play tennis in your house whereas a playing a guitar is played in the same position as playing guitar hero.
 

gm0n3y

Distinguished
Mar 13, 2006
1,548
0
19,730
As for Gran Turismo, if you have access to dozens of high end sports cars, I fully recommend driving them IRL instead of in a video game.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.