Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV games, and distributed by EA. It was released in the United States on November 20, 2007 for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. It was also released December 22, 2007 in the United States on PlayStation 2 and Canada for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. Then it was released in Canada January 2, 2008 for the PlayStation 2 before being released in the United States for the Wii on June 22, 2008. It was also released in Europe on Xbox 360 on May 23, 2008 before being released for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and Wii on September 12, 2008.
Instruments[]
Guitar[]
The Rock Band guitar resembles a Fender Stratocaster. The guitar has 10 fret buttons, a whammy bar, and an effects switch. It has 5 fret buttons at the top and 5 fret buttons at the bottom. The guitar can also do hammer-ons & pull-offs without even strumming.
The effects switch feature for Xbox 360 & PlayStation 3 has the effects of:
- None
- Wah-wah
- Flange
- Chorus
- Echo
Though the PlayStation 2 effects are:
- None
- Doubler
- Slap back echo
- Medium echo
- Long echo
This guitar is compatible of being wired or wireless. Rock Band also features a "Lefty Flip" for people that are left-handed. The PlayStation 3 version was originally not compatible with Guitar Hero controllers, but it later received an update on September 11, 2008, allowing Guitar Hero controllers to be used. However, Guitar Hero controllers do not work with the Wii version.
Drums[]
The Rock Band drum set has 4 rubber drum pads and a kick pedal. Each pad has a colored ring around it to show you the notes on the screen.
- "Snare Drum" (red),
- "Hi-Hat" (yellow),
- "Tom-Tom" (blue),
- "Crash Cymbal" (green).
- The kick pedal is for the use of a "Bass Drum" (orange).
There is also a lefty flip mode for the drums. The drum kit has buttons in the middle to navigate through the menu. There are some instances in which changing some pad sounds come into play. In songs like "Orange Crush" by R.E.M. and "Run to the Hills" by Iron Maiden, the red pad becomes a hi-hat while the yellow pad becomes a snare drum. Changes in these pads make it easier for the consumer to play in most situations.
Microphone[]
The microphone is very similar to the microphone on Karaoke Revolution developed by Harmonix. The microphone can be used with the headset and is USB. The singer is usually the one who changes the pitch & how closely they match it to the lyrics.
The microphone also can be used as a tambourine or cowbell by tapping it when prompted.
Rock Band 1 on the PlayStation 2/Wii[]
Unlike the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions of Rock Band 1, the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions have features that were stripped-down including Band World Tour mode. In the Band World Tour mode for the PlayStation 2 and Wii versions of the game, players cannot create their own characters, nor can they travel to cities around the world, choosing a venue, or a setlist to play. The online features are also not available in these versions of the game, as it only supports 2-4 local players to play as a band. The band performance videos in the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions consist of highly compressed pre-rendered videos featuring bands of animated characters playing specific songs based on the songs' genres.
Setlist of Songs[]
Main Article: Rock Band Setlist
Trivia[]
- A silenced version of the solo from the song 29 Fingers can be heard in the game's character menus for Solo Tour, Band World Tour, and Band Quickplay, though this is only in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.
- A silenced and short segment from the song Can't Let Go can be heard in the song selection and difficulty selection menus in Quickplay mode.
- In the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions however, this segment can only be heard on the difficulty selection menu after the player selects a song.
- Kurt Davis from The Konks, Izzy Maxwell from Death of the Cool, and Helen "The Hellion" McWilliams from Vigiant voiced the two drum tutorials, three guitar tutorials, and vocals tutorial respectively. Their dialogue would be reused for the tutorials in Rock Band 2 and all of the track packs.
- In addition, the vocals tutorial uses sections from the songs Say It Ain't So and Epic.
- Keith Smith and Adam von Buhler from Anarchy Club appear as animated characters in the Wii and PlayStation 2 versions of the game for the pre-rendered video for their song Blood Doll, featuring Keith on lead vocals and Adam on bass.
- None of the pre-made characters in this game have names, although ten of them would later have names and be playable characters in Rock Band 2.
- Even though this game doesn't have a list of named characters that the player(s) can choose from in Band Quickplay, a randomly selected pre-made character will appear when a player enters a band session on the character screen in Band Quickplay. The player(s) can also select any of the characters they've created in the Character Creator.
- This game's menu styles, loading screens, and note tracks would later be reused for all of the Rock Band track packs.
- On the PlayStation 2 version of the original game and track packs you can play on a standard controller as guitar or bass by keeping left on the directional pad held down. The controls use up and down to strum, R2 for green, and the main face buttons for the other frets.
- This trick also works in the Harmonix developed Guitar Hero games.