Guitar Hero Guy Comments on Rock Band Network

[modeps]

Over on MTV Multiplayer (http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2009/09/03/exclusive-guitar-hero-5-dev-comments-on-rock-band-network-harmonix-responds/), they've got a HOT EXCLUSIVE SCOOP from Brian Bright, Project Director on Guitar Hero 5. In response to Rock Band Network, they basically just say, "Dude, this isn't even part of Rock Band like our tools are... you can't even make anything with it!"

"As far as we can tell the 'RBN' is not included in a 'RB' product and is not a creative tool set. It appears to be a pathway for independent artists to potentially get their music uploaded to the online store, where it can be sold for a fee. It seems to require expensive software and complicated tools to track music that has already been created through traditional means. Also it appears that the 'RBN' requires the multitrack masters, that is it requires at least 7 or 8 tracks of audio for instrument separation. This raises the barrier to entry considerably."

His points, valid as they may be, really don't matter. This is totally going to blow GH Tunes away once it gets rolling thanks to indie and non-RB labels being able to put their REAL music into the game.

[JazGalaxy]

O_o

Did people really not realize the Rock Band thing was a professional level strategy? I thought they were pretty clear about it.

What makes this leaps and bounds better than anything Guitar Hero is offering is that people have all played the common interest rock music at this point. The growth the genre is going to take place in area of people's individual music tastes which oftentimes aren't large enough for EA or Activision to take notice of. I mean, I personally don't see a "Rock Band: The Toasters" Ska version coming any time soon. This will allow nice music genres like ska, emo, trance, industrial, hardcore, rap-rock or whatever you fancy to produce tracks for their listener base.

There's now a MUCH greater chance of seeing the bands I listen to in Rock Band than in Guitar Hero.

[Roc Ingersol]

GH Tunes doesn't allow you to add a vocal track.
That makes it a non-issue. A toy. A mere suggestion of a feature.

[OmegaVader]

I would rather take real music from RB than the fake music made in the GH games.

That said, though, I hope they keep RBN quite discrete from official harmonix releases. I don't want DLC becoming flooded with inferior quality tracks -- RBN has potential but still has its many pitfalls.

[Zander]

Apples and oranges. We are comparing similar things in any way.

[OmegaVader]

Apples and oranges. We are comparing similar things in any way.

that's silly, of course they're similar. They both are trying to accomplish the same thing; the question is who makes the better compromise between accesibility and quality. GH is more accessible but inferior quality; RBN is less accesible but theoretically better quality.

[JazGalaxy]

I would rather take real music from RB than the fake music made in the GH games.

That said, though, I hope they keep RBN quite discrete from official harmonix releases. I don't want DLC becoming flooded with inferior quality tracks -- RBN has potential but still has its many pitfalls.

I would think that the cost of buying the development software would be an equalizer for quality. Music labels will probably be the ones to use it and they will care about quality.

[Nazriel]

I would think that the cost of buying the development software would be an equalizer for quality. Music labels will probably be the ones to use it and they will care about quality.

Then there's the stated fact that it will take an estimated 20-40 HOURS to chart and produce one's first song.

This is not a toy for someone to play around with for a couple hours and then forget about. This is for people who are serious about getting their music into Rock Band, not Timmy who decided he's going to make a guitar riff that has 10 times the notes of Dragonforce.

Plus, an additional quality check is in the Peer Review that songs must go through before they can be uploaded to the RBN.

Quality of the music and tastes aside, the stuff that shows up on RBN is not likely to be half-assed. :)

[T-Dawg]

From what I've read, it doesn't take any high dollar software to produce the music tracks, but you will need to pony up the $99 XBL developer fee to get your work online. Additionally, you won't be able to price songs at $0, but your royalties are 30%.

This isn't something intended for consumers to use and play with like what was included in GH:WT, but rather enable real bands & music production houses to get their songs out and available for people to play in RB faster than Harmonix could do themselves.