Going into studio

Hey again folks, I’m back with another idea for future music simulation games (*cough* RB3 *cough).

You know what is generally a really boring part of every music simulation games? PRACTICE MODE. Right? I have talked to a bunch of friends and most of them don’t ever, EVER go into practice mode to learn how to nail that hard solo or get used to that tricky riff. I rarely go there myself, the last time I’ve used it was to learn the solo for “I Wanna Be Your Man”, I think. It’s useful, but just not a lot of fun.

So I was thinking… about how to make the Practice Mode idea blend in a more fun way with the game? Well, and here’s my solution: RECORDING ALBUMS.

Alright so here’s the deal, everybody knows that when an artist goes into studio, he may repeat sections of the song over and over again, until he gets it right, right? Well, that sounds a LOT like the Practice Mode. Why not give the players optional “missions” to go into the studio and record songs, and let them repeat the sections over and over until they get, I don’t know, maybe a 95% minimum accuracy or Gold Stars or whatever?

Each section could be played individually, and the progress would be saved every time, until the overall score reached a certain threshold, at which point the song would be considered good enough to go into the album. Playing each section individually wouldn’t give players the option to use star power in that part, though. This would be cool because bands who went into the studio and recorded everything in one take would benefit more than those who had to redo the sections over and over, giving players the stimulus to get better at the song for real. And it also makes sense, because a more natural, organic performance generally sounds better than a technical, “let me try to nail this” one. In this case, the “natural” feeling would be coming from the star power. Clever, eh?

Give the players the option to maybe choose the name of the album, its cover, and let them choose how many tracks it will have (from 6 to 10, for example). Or let them release singles as well. Or give them the option to release it in the Internet individually, after all, it’s almost 2010 already.

This could also be blended with other ideas I’ve discussed here in the past. The player could decide to make a videoclip of one of the songs contained in the album. And once the album was released, there could also be reviews of it by magazine critics. Depending on the band’s performance, some special venues could become available, such as getting invited to TV shows or playing at a big music awards event.

As usual, I feel that adding storytelling elements is an awesome reward on its own, and enough to make players try to get better and overcome challenges. It’s certainly more fun than receiving a piece a lame guitar that you could eventually manage to buy anyway, that’s for sure. And it adds depth and fun to the game as well, of course. Who could have thought that practice mode could eventually be so exciting, huh?

Green Day Rock Band: my thoughts

Hey fellas. It’s almost Christmas and frankly, I’ve been incredibly lazy with the updates. Sorry for that, but I have an explanation. I simmultaneously downloaded 13 new songs for Rock Band 2 and started playing Dragon Age: Origins, so that and I also work and also random life problems, shopping for presents, so I’ve been away for a bit.

But I couldn’t ignore the news on the new Rock Band game that’s coming out. Green Day Rock Band has been announced at the Spike Video Game Awards by Harmonix and, to be completely honest with you, I’m excited.

During my teens I was a Green Day fan. It was, how can I say it… my punk phase? I don’t know, but anyway, there was a time when I listened to a lot of punk rock, to bands like Green Day, Offpsring and Rancid, and I had a bunch of Green Day albums. So the prospect of playing songs from Kerplunk, Dookie and Insomniac is pretty darn sweet. I also like Nimrod a lot.

So now everybody’s comparing this release to The Beatles Rock Band, and saying “how can you compare The Beatles to Green Day”? Well, fellas, first of all, what did you expect? That only classic legendary acts such as Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin and The Beach Boys would get the “Rock Band treatment”? I, for one, think this is a great move from Harmonix, and let me tell you why: because ALL THE SONGS ARE EXPORTABLE. That’s right, and that alone makes this offering even more attractive than the Beatles Rock Band.

Now, don’t curse me yet. I have explained why I think this way in detail in this post here. For me, the very idea of thinking “ok, I’m in the Beatles mood today so I guess I’ll just play a TON of Beatles song in a row” is a completely alien concept. I hate having to switch CDs in order to play a couple of Beatles songs, and I hate not being able to play a Beatles song in the middle of a crazy setlist. So what’s gonna happen when I buy the Green Day Rock Band? Simple: I am going to export all the freaking songs and probably won’t even bother with the game itself. For me, it will work like the AC/DC track pack, which was awesome.

Also, as I’ve explained before, I don’t wanna play as Billie Joe, or Mike or Tre Cool. This very idea is just so completely unappealing to me. I wanna play as the cool rock star that I created in Rock Band 2, so thank you export feature!

So while we all wait for news on Rock Band 3, the announcement of a new game with a modern, popular band as protagonist doesn’t seem bad at all. But that’s only because it will serve as a major buff to the already awesome Rock Band 2, giving us players a ton of new songs to play while we wait for the worthy successor of Harmonix’s main franchise.