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Loading ...In our coverage of the inevitable world-ending battle that will ensue when both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero: World Tour come out, we have covered everything from the drums, to the guitars, to the song and artist lineups, to the game features themselves.
(Pictured: Guitar Hero: World Tour wireless drum set with cymbals)
One of the big question marks up until this point has been the differences in the drum sets between the two games. We already know that both will be wireless and that Guitar Hero: World Tour will have cymbals on their set, but we didn’t know that much about Rock Band 2’s until now.
Over on the ScoreHero forums, ConnerSB has posted scans from the latest issue of GameInformer which included an 8-page in-depth coverage of Rock Band 2, it’s instruments and the gameplay. Since we don’t physically have a copy of GameInformer to confirm this with, check this out yourself by picking up a copy or take the post with a grain of salt until it’s confirmed… we don’t want to spread rumors as gospel but do want to keep you in the loop.
First off you’ll notice highlights of everything we’ve reported here before about the drums, better build quality (foot pedal), velocity-sensitive pads like Guitar Hero: World Tour, but notice the “expansion slots for sold-separately cymbals”. This is the interesting part, it looks like out-of-the-box Rock Band 2 won’t have cymbals like Guitar Hero: World Tour, but you can probably pay an extra $30 or $40 to add them… joy.
Also in the article is the most insane looking set of video game drums I’ve ever seen:
I don’t even want to know how much this limited-edition set will cost, but for the folks that like video-game drumming so much, that they would rather buy a play set that is the same price as a real set well… here you go. You’ll probably want to pick this up as well with your pre-order… and if you have that much disposible income, you and I should probably be friends, my birthday is coming up and I like nice things.
Update #1: Some more pictures of the premium Ion drum set and confirmed that they will be a $300 item, so… get 2!
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July 15th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
cool, cool, but come-on Harmonix they’re just adding the cymbals so they can say they have them too. Don’t get me wrong i want to have babies with RB but the cymbals are just there for show. They have the same function as the yellow blue and green pads so its just if you want to feel cool(in other words, loser). I was sure they were gona make the drums have 6 pads that were actually 6 not 4 with 2 doing the SAME EXACT THING! …cheap bastards
July 21st, 2008 at 8:20 am
Exactly. They just wanna say “Haha. Our drum set has more cymbals than Guitar Hero’s drum set.” You gotta have like 4 hands to play that! I’m just buying the regular drum set and be done with it (my first one broke when my sister sat on the green pad! AAAAAAA) Rock Band will never be cooler than Guitar Hero. Harmonix was also not the first company to think about making a game with drums. It was originally Red Octane’s idea. Before they made Guitar Hero 1, they were considering making a Drum Hero game, but never got around to it. So they made Guitar Hero instead. Harmonix stole the idea from them. Look it up if you don’t believe me. Sadly I am going to buy Rock Band 2, just because of a couple songs……….
July 22nd, 2008 at 1:00 am
Now, I don’t wanna get ahead of myself or anything… I’m not this superbright meganerd [although I do attempt to be!], but wouldn’t one be able to just buy a regular electronic drumset with a midi port hookup [assuming this WILL be an option for RB2] for just about as much money? I mean… okay, cool. They’re real drums. But I wouldn’t especially want to have that particular drum set if I ACTUALLY played the drums… sort of an integrity thing. It’s a badass play-pretend drum set, but I am not paying three hundred dollars to play pretend. Hell, I’m not gonna pay three hundred dollars for just about anything that frivolous. Shit.
So, just saying, isn’t Rock Band just kinda keeping their same piece-of-shit-breaks-if-you-look-at-it-wrong drum set and offering add ons to FIX THE PROBLEMS THEIR PRODUCT HAS for moooooore money? And they offer an actual quality play drumset that offers little true drummer’s integrity [it could be just me, sure. But if I were a drummer, which I am not, I would want to have A REAL drum set, not one I got for Rock Band. I'm picturing someone being laughed out of a jam session.] for a ludicrously high price that nobody who doesn’t shit money can afford?… good shot. Except not.
I am liking the metal-reinforced bass pedal, I will give them that. But the whole ‘less squishy strum bar thing’ leads me to believe there will be more of that dreaded ‘CLICK’ that the Guitar Hero guitar makes… which I prefer, but many Rock Band defenders seem to abhor and use against Guitar Hero… and now their franchise is implementing it. Aha!
Oh, and on the subject of them ‘fixing’ their buttons… I never noticed their buttons clicking very much, and I played today. I did give myself some unnecessary finger-cramping and carpal-tunnel related wrist stress, though! And with that statement, to the uncomfortable steel-reinforced wrist brace I go!
I guess that is the price to pay for 100wpm typing speed. Bummer.
July 24th, 2008 at 11:15 am
Not sure why this was left out of your post, but the Ion drums can be used as a stand-alone electronic drum kit, thus making it a good choice for people that play RB but also want to pick up their first “real” electronic kit.
July 25th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
It is mentioned in the post. It’s stated in the image that the limited edition drums can be used as an electronic drum set sans the game. Just mentioning!
July 31st, 2008 at 4:40 pm
Some of you are saying “Why have six pads for four drums?” It’s quite simple. If you actually play drums for real, such as myself, it’s incredible awkward to have your hi-hats to the right of your snare and your crash all the way on the right side of your set.
For instance, you’ll notice the yellow circular pad, which is often hi-hats in the game, has a corresponding cymbal pad where the hi-hats should be. The crash, which is normally green in the game, is now placed above the first tom, where the crash should be. The blue, which is often a ride cymbal in the game, is now where a ride cymbal should be. This is going to make the game much easier for real drummers, but you can still play how you normally do if you prefer the drums to be in a fantasy arrangement.
I think it’s genius and I’m quite scared I’ll be shelling out $300 on launch day.
August 1st, 2008 at 6:15 am
Daniel,
Pretty cool actually to hear a real drummers take on all this. I’m so musically crippled that it had never occurred to me that sticking a real drummer in front of a mock orientation of drums like Rock Band or Guitar Hero World Tour would make it harder for them to play (e.g. “Hey it’s got pads and they have sticks… what’s the big deal?”)
If the Ion mega-set really does service the true drumming crowd that is an interesting move towards “real simulation” that these games are taking.
Did you guys see the news that Logitech is making premium instruments for Guitar Hero: World Tour?
I think this is the beginning of these games creeping into the “simulation” realm more than the super-watered-down-gameplay that has been there previously. I have no doubt they will stay rooted in the watered-down gameplay for use gamers, but I think the appeal for real musicians will start coming in now.
August 9th, 2008 at 8:50 pm
just wondering if any one knows but will ROCK BAND 1 instruments be compatible to use for ROCK BAND 2 or do i HAVE to buy the new drums and guitar. guitar hero never made you buy a new guitar why should i have to for ROCK BAND 2?
August 10th, 2008 at 11:56 am
RB 1 instruments will be compatible with RB 2
August 12th, 2008 at 5:53 am
It’s worth it if I can connect it to my computer and record with it
August 12th, 2008 at 6:43 am
Ian, I doubt you can do that with the default Rock Band drums, but I think may be possible with the Ion set (someone correct me if I’m wrong?) — I think the Ion set is just an electronic drum set and not necessarily a game-drum set…
August 14th, 2008 at 2:41 pm
I’ve been tooling around all these RB/GHWT threads and I only saw one very brief comment about what really matters about these two games.
THE SET LIST…
Both games are trying to outdo each other by releasing some ridiculously cool game peripherals but everyone is forgetting the most important reason these games are so fun…The songs.
RB2 is going to have a premium drum set available for purchase, but it’s not really going to give anyone the feel of really playing a song they love. Most of us are just going to be looking to hit the color they are seeing on the screen. Having the cymbals act as an extension of one of the drum pads isn’t adding cymbals to your game. It’s adding more hardware just for the sake of adding hardware.
GHWT is doing it right by incorporating the cymbals into the game play. You hit a cymbal, you HEAR a cymbal.
That being said, GHWT only has 5 pads and a kick pedal. Should have 7 pads like the premium set for RB2 but also needs to be a functional part of the game. They also could use a little help on the game graphics. RB has them beat in that respect. GH has a bunch of blocky looking cartoon figures doing the “robot” around the stage…LAME…
But to the original point of this post. Neither game has a set list that will make me run out and purchase it. RB is the biggest culprit in this respect. I owned RB and foolishly downloaded the first month’s worth of DLC. Boy was I duped. There were a few songs I liked but kept wondering when the good stuff was coming…Never happened. We kept getting overloaded with “This is a cover version of a song made famous by ” garbage. A Judas Priest album??? Really? I think of the $40 I spent on DLC I only played 2 or 3 of the songs. I’m tired of the RB team who think they are going to ”educate” all of us, media brainwashed mainstreamers who wouldn’t know a GOOD song if we heard one, deciding our set list fates.
There is nothing on the RB2 release that I’d “have to have.”
GHWT is taking it’s sweet @$$ time releasing a real set list and all we have to keep us reading about GHWT is all this fake set lists and wishful set lists…
The GH series set lists are what got me into the music games in the first place. I was blinded by the gleam of the drum sent and rushed out to get RB thinking I’d get the same enjoyment…unfortunately I sold the game and all peripherals 2 months later.
I’m not excited about either game and may not even purchase one of them if they can’t show me they are going to get some really good set lists together. Master tracks don’t mean a thing if it’s a garbage song to begin with.
August 14th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
karma,
You are absolutely right that the set list makes or breaks the game. I think one of the reasons that it doesn’t come up that much during the big RB/GH debates is that both have *decent* set lists… neither of them having glarringly terrible set lists.
I think if you look at the DLC for both existing releases, you’ll probably have a good idea of what’s to come down the road for the franchises. I did read that these follow-up releases will have more master tracks as the record labels have begun to see the marketing benefits of getting their songs into these games and aren’t blocking the integration of master tracks as much as they were in previous years.
My guess, if I had to make one, is that both of these titles will launch with excellent master tracks. There’s too much competition now for either of them to get lazy.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:23 am
really, if you think about it, its all opinionated.. you guys think RB blows, i think GH4 drums look horrible compared to RB2 drums because the cymbal expansions are for people who can actually play drums and not for amateurs really, while GH4 drums… snore. The set list, also opinionated, i, for one and happy to see tenacious d, a good disturbed song, chop suey! and many more great songs, but other people may not like them. get over it they’re just games
August 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
gh:wt is the hands down the best.the symboles on rockband 2 are another way to play and cost 300$$$ so there is still 4 pads and the cymboles are more decorashon. plus ozzy ozbourne and zakk wyled are characters and CRAZY TRAIN and MR. CROWLEY ARE SONGS and zakk wyleds black label susity and ozzys old band black sabboth and sistem of a down and people that played with ozzy in ozzfest conserts and make your own music + character creaton and guitar creator and album creator!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and 5 vs. 4 pads on the drums!!!!! ghwt 5 pads and rb2 4!!!!!guitar hero world tour is the next gen music game to have!!!!!and the music creator songs can be bot for free on gh tunes and you can post your gh tunes you make to!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!get gh:wt on oct. 25 to 31 i dont know but its in bettwen then and sorry for bad spelling i’m not good at spelling sorry!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
August 31st, 2008 at 3:28 pm
im getting rock band 2 since i aready have a bunch of dlc for it.
September 3rd, 2008 at 7:57 pm
Well all this useless fanboy bickering is ridiculous. It all comes down to a preference. Everyone has their, ohh GH has this, ohh RB has this. Who cares, its a game. Buy the one you like better and be happy with it. Nobody is superior because of a game, because, it is just a game. As for me, I will be buying both, since I have a large DLC content for RB and GHWT can be played with my RB gear.
Oh ya, RB drum set with cymbals is not just the $300 ion set. People can take their RB2 sets, which have been greatly improved, and add optional cymbals if they like for and extra $30. The cymbals are just to give the drummer another, more comfortable option of how to hit the notes.
September 4th, 2008 at 8:28 pm
why are they shipping basically the same drumset? and why must they sell the cymbals seperate? i was really looking forward to rockband, because i thought they shipped a fancier drum set with cymbals.