I don't think anyone's really sure about the future of the music game genre. When sales started to slip last year, things started looking incredibly over-saturated. This year, some publishers feel like they're retreating to familiar territory and hoping it all works itself out. But that's not the vibe you get from Harmonix Music Systems after you get a look at its next major release, Rock Band 3. There's a sort of "all or nothing" vibe to the game, and I was left with the distinct impression that the next Rock Band will either reinvigorate the genre or completely obliterate it. But at least Harmonix will rip it all apart on its own terms with an ambitious new set of optional hardware that lets players who crave a more realistic experience go absolutely overboard in incredibly exciting new ways.
By default, you'll use five keys on the keyboard, starting at middle C, to play the game. It's not unlike playing bass or guitar except there's nothing to strum. Adding keyboard parts to the songs opens up a wide new variety of music to the game, and some of the song selections for RB3 definitely have piano and synth parts in mind. For songs that don't have any keys to play, you can opt to play guitar or bass parts on the keyboard controller. Similarly, if you don't have the scratch to pick up a keyboard, you can play keyboard parts on guitar or bass. Of course, there are more than five keys on that keyboard. It covers a full two octaves. And if you turn on "pro mode," you'll have to play a lot more than just five keys.
Vocals get optional three-part harmonies, like Beatles and Green Day had, and by default, the drums in Rock Band 3 are unchanged. But remember those cymbal attachments that were sold alongside previous Rock Band kits? In the drummer's take on pro mode, some gems go between their regular style and tiny cymbals. This tells you when you'll hit the pads down below and when you'll go up top to hit one of your three cymbals. Interestingly, the expanded drum parts are backwards compatible, so much of the existing Rock Band DLC and on-disc tracks from the previous games will automatically feature the proper pro drum data. The cymbals on the Ion Drum Rocker will also work for pro drums.
Bass parts seem to be getting short shrift at the moment, as the version I saw didn't have pro bass in it. The over-the-top nature of pro guitar went a long way, though. Pro guitar will require an entirely different controller, one that's more like a real guitar. Mad Catz is making a MIDI guitar that has six strings at the bottom and a series of buttons that go all the way up the neck of the guitar, six per fret. Like the keytar, the guitar also has a MIDI out port on it. The guitar will sell for $149.99 and should be available at launch. MTV has also announced a deal with Fender to produce a real, amp-ready guitar that also doubles as a pro mode guitar controller. The "Squier By Fender Stratocaster" is a full-sized guitar. Pricing and availability of the Fender "controller" isn't available at this time.
All of the pro mode stuff is a lot to take in, and it feels like the sort of thing that'll be best for actual musicians and the aspirational types that want to get their learn on. So it's a good thing that all of the old ways to play Rock Band are still intact. In fact, the entire software side of things has been redesigned with a focus on getting a group together and enjoying some songs a lot easier. This is done via something Harmonix is calling the "overshell," and it's basically a set of pop-out, per-player menus that you let you adjust your personal difficulty, pick your instrument, and turn on lefty flip while other players are still picking songs and moving about the rest of the game. It's designed to solve the drunken "wait, no, you hit the green button, now no one touch anything while I pick the song" moments that have turned many a Rock Band night into alcohol-fueled violence. Hmm. Maybe that's just me that gets violent.
Though the whole idea for Rock Band since its original release has been that it's more of a platform unto itself than a series of individual games, the additions in Rock Band 3 appear to be totally worthy of an all-new piece of software. It'll also be compatible with all of your existing exported or downloaded Rock Band tracks, though older tracks won't suddenly receive vocal harmonies, keyboards, or pro guitar parts. Also, it's worth noting that due to changes in the file formats Harmonix is using for downloadable content, song packs released after RB3's release won't work in Rock Band 2, effectively putting an end to continued support for the first two games in the series. That seems like a very small bump in the road when taken alongside the large-sized leap that Rock Band 3 appears to be taking. It's due out on the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii this holiday season. A DS version is also in development, but... well... I bet that one won't support pro guitar. No details on the handheld version have been made available at this time.
[UPDATE 6/12/10]: Updated this story to note that pro bass will be in the final product, but wasn't in the version we were shown.
