Rock Band

There is only one phrase used to describe the upcoming Rock Band:
OH EM GEE, DOOD!
Wiki can explain it for you (Wiki Explanation), I can too.
Basically, Guitar Hero was just the prelude; Rock Band is the starter for the music video game genre.

Guitar & Bass: The guitar and bass functions of the four-part Rock Band can be used with the X-Plorer 360 Guitar Hero II controllers that you spent so much money on. However, the new controllers have an extra set of frets for solos with easier hammer-ons and pull-offs. Sadly, there is no career mode for you bassists; too repetitive.

Drums: The drums have four colored pads and a kick pedal to simulate the parts of a drum set in a rock band. Real wooden drumsticks are supplied, and Egozy, lead creator of the game, claims that after playing songs on expert, you could sit someone down at a real drumset and have them play!

Vocals: This is, in my opinion, the best part. Displayed from right to left are the words and pitches for the song, and you are supplied with a normal microphone that detects pitches and the individual vowels and consonants you sing to accurately award points. In simpler terms, the better you sing, the more points you get! AWERSHUM!

Some questions I have:
1. What are hammer-ons and pull-offs...? >_<
2. What's the price tag? I personally predict 150$ and up, considering all of the controllers...but, I think it'll be 60$ for the disc, and 30$ for the guitar/bass/drum set. I've no idea how much the mike will be, but probably a little less.
3. Can you REALLY play the drums afterwards? XD

Yeah, does anyone have any more info on this? It's for the PS3 and XBox 360, and perhaps for the Wii a little bit later on. I'm just making hype for it...>>

EDIT: Oh, and here's the website for it.
www.rockband.com
You've covered most of the basics there. I know some more, but not much more. There's a reason why there's now Guitar Hero 3 and Rock Band being developed, it's because the original team behind Guitar Hero split. Harmonics and Red Octane, the game developer and producer respectively, have gone off and been picked up by big names. I'm still not sure what caused th split, but Red Octane, which is still producing the Guitar Hero series and is coming out with Guitar Hero 3 shortly, is under Activision's wing, working with the Neversoft team to produce the next string of GH games. Of note though, apparently GH3 was made by the Harmonics team before the split. Meanwhile, Harmonics is making the new and super cool Rock Band with the help of the company that picked them up, MTV.

As for the being able to become a drummer thing, I believe it. Looking at the device used to play the game, a set of four drums set up on a stand with a foot pedal being used seperately, I can really see someone being able to play the drums after playing on expert mode for a while.

About the price tag, there's been no real price given. The game's not set to come out for a while, a year I think they said, so the chances of them having a definitive price on this sucker is slim. Still, looking at the tools involved, people are speculating that it's gonna cost about $200. Yikes.

And your last question, they're guitar playing terms. Unforunately, I'm a guitar playing noob, but I've got enough experience in Guitar Hero to tell you what they mean game-wise. It'll allow you to play through game segments without constantly attacking the strummer, just letting you focus on hitting the frets. In GH, you could do this on certain segments, but if you screwed up you had to try and strum something before you could get back to the awesome. It'll probably be handled the same way here.

Looks like Harmonics has things pretty well under control. With the backing of MTV and a buttload of funding, they're got access to more and bigger songs than ever before. Really, it seems like the hardest thing they've got to do is rename 'Star Power', the super mode which is still being used by Guitar Hero.
Thanks, Tom.
Wait, where you just hit the strummer once and take your hand off and it plays?
O.o
I've known that for AGES...
Yeah, I think it'll be between 100$ and 200$...
Looks cool.
VOCALS!

O Ectastic rides again!

Mikey, Adam, Jam-Jam, And Domagalski unite!
I haven't bought Guitar Hero, but played it at a friend's. It rocks (Oh, the pun). So I'll definately be shelling out on those.
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I tried, anyways. XD
EDIT: Shit! It won't work! I tried to make a rock-on hand sign, but it broke...>_>
MORE EDIT: I've heard that it'll be 300$...O_O
Erm...>_>
*looks in wallet*
*sighs*
*looks in coin bank*
*thinks*
*smiles*
Honestly, Rock Band is neat but SO price. I'd get guitar hero 3. Simple, cheaper, (you get a kramer PS2 controller, 360 lespaul controller!), easier to play by yourself, and a 80s soundtrack.. with DIO!

oh yes!
>_>
Shush.
You get better music with Rock Band...
Yeah but Theo, the whole point of Rock Band is that it's a great multiplayer game! I can't wait for it to come out so me and my buddies can goof around with this sucker. I imagine it'll be a killer party game. Not to mention the fact that there is the individual career modes, it'll be as simple to play alone as Guitar Hero, but with more options.

What's more, while Guitar Hero 3 should be good, what about GH4? As I said earlier, the teams split. GH3 was still made by Harmonics, but after that it's going to be only Red Octane, the Producers, and Neversoft. A whole new team designing Guitar Hero. Will they stick to the successful formula they've developed, or will they try something risky and screw up the series? I suppose I'm just worried about where Guitar Hero is going to go without the original developers. Still, I suppose they could very well try something risky and end up producing a superior GH...

Nonetheless, while Rock Band is going to have an insane price tag, it's also going to have the most impressive multiplayer options available for something like this. Nowhere else are you going to be able to pick up two guitars, a set of drums, a mike, find 4 buddies, and then just rock out. That is the lure of Rock Band.

As for better music? Eh, there aren't a whole lot of songs announced for Rock Band at the moment, but they definitely have a huge library to chose from. GH has the same thing, but it's going to be harder for them since Harmonics is now effectively a part of the music industry whereas Guitar Hero is just outside looking in.

GH3 looks pretty sweet, music-wise at anyrate. And you know how GH2 had Trogdor? Big news fellas. Guitar Hero 3 will have Tenacious D.

I'll say it again, because it is worth repeating. Guitar Hero 3 will have Tenacious D. So yeah, fun times.

I guess what people are really asking is, what is the ultimate song going to be? GH1 had Bark at the Moon, GH2 had Freebird, what will GH3 have? It's been speculated that Stairway to Heaven will be the one, but is it an 80's song, to fit in with the 80's theme? I just asked a guitar buff, who said it came from the 70's, so unless he's wrong I'd say that just effectively eliminated that as a choice. So what will the boss song be? Bum-bum-bum!
"Dudes with mullets"? O_o
I'm not a big 80's person, seeing as I was born in '94.
Eek.
I mean, it has The Who! How much more awesome can you get?
wait, what songs dose rockband have?
I know it has a Weezer album...The Who...I dunno, google it...>_>