June 14, 2010

This Time in Games: Pre-E3 Rock Band Orga...nizing

Do you know what a bombshell looks like, aside from the obligatory Jessica Rabbit picture?

It looks like this:

What you're seeing here is the plastic prototype keyboard-slash-keytar-hybrid that'll work with yes, Rock Band 3.

And I couldn't be any more excited.

Aside from that, there are the obvious gameplay enhancements of vocal harmonies, pause counters, drop-in drop-out, and more. Top that up with even better graphics, animations and lighting effects and you've got yourself a day-one purchase.

Notably, there is also a DS version coming out. Puzzles me that a PSP version is not present this time around. Hopefully, the DS version will bring some Amplitude style gameplay, which I really, really loved when I got my hands on it.

Unexpectedly so, Harmonix has also included support for real true-blue instruments that can be connected to your computer as a MIDI instrument. No really, you can get your real electric guitar/keyboard/drums and connect it to Rock Band. It's all made possible by the little adapter below:

How, one will wonder, will a real instrument translate to the game? To answer your question, there's a new Pro mode for all the hardcore fans out there.

It'll be a note-for-note representation of the real song, so basically, there will be a lot of actual keys on the screen that you can really play from in real life. Not only does this make Rock Band 3 a fun game, it can also be a bonafide learning tool.

Harmonix is also offering its own six-stringed guitars ($150) and drum cymbals ($39) for those who don't own a real guitar but are interested in PRO mode. They will all be compatible with your computer as MIDI devices if you want to start composing your own songs.

A lot of things are a given on the 360 and PS3 side of the coin, but the Wii side, well, there are still a lot of unclear details. I won't get into them though.

There will also be smaller touches, like Facebook/Twitter connectivity, song filters and setlist creation tools, that make the game a lot more usable and quick to set up.

But I'm not all about Rock Band 3, there's been some buzz about a Mortal Kombat Rebirth movie pitch that's been distributed around the interwebs, and quite frankly, the results are positively shocking!

It's rumored to have been a pitch for Warner Bros., and I can't believe how much potential this kind of has. Still, I can't say much more since video game adaptations have a history of being really bad. Maybe this video will live a great life as a viral short, but as a full-blown movie, it might just suck ass.

More serious are the former guys of the dissolved studio Midway (now dubbed NetherRealm Studios) who are working on a real Mortal Kombat game that looks really fun for once.

It marks a return to its 2D roots, but with polygonal characters (you know, like Street Fighter IV). What's different though, is the fact that the game will also feature tag battles much like Marvel vs. Capcom 2 famously did. In addition, the good ol' fatalities return, along with "environmental fatalities", and perhaps even "brutalities". All in all, it's likely to feature much gore and brutal action.

Ed Boon, one of the original creators of MK, is once again working on it with a team in Chicago.


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