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Rock Band 3 is a game in the Rock Band series. It is a sequel to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 and was released on October 26th, 2010.

In March 2015, Mad Catz and Harmonix announced Rock Band 4, a sequel to Rock Band 3, and was released for Xbox One and PS4 on October 6th, 2015.[1]

Features[]

  • Better story. Design your own characters and session musicians from improved character models and watch their story unfold throughout the game. Your band members are seen getting into the van to go to a show and practicing as well as performing. They even appear as you choose songs to play. "It is a really cool way to make sure you are always in the narrative no matter which mode you are in," Teasdale says. "The entire game is essentially one story of your band."

Everything you do earns achievements in the goal-based career mode. "Previously our career modes weren't really about getting better as a Rock Band player, it was about investing time," Teasdale says. "We developed this entirely new career mode based around unlocking achievement-like goals to show your progression through the game, and also give you incentives to get better.

"We have hundreds and hundreds of these goals across instruments and gameplay modes and across (downloadable content). It is a really great way to finish Rock Band in your way, based on your skill, and not on some predetermined path of songs."

  • More fluid gameplay. Players can jump in or out of songs without interrupting a song already in progress. They can also change instruments or difficulty settings during a song without pausing. "It's a really cool way to get rid of that friction that players have when they are in a party situation," Teasdale says.

Another party-friendly mode, "road challenges," is described by Teasdale as "taking Rock Band 1 and 2's band world tour (mode) and merging it with Mario Party. We tried to find a way to get the core experience people had playing the band world tour and the things they really enjoyed, like getting the van or getting random set lists, and putting that into a setting that you can finish in an evening instead of a week. So now we have all these tours which are actually you are going on a tour of the East Coast or touring across the world, and you are finishing that in three hours or whatever time you think you have to play."

  • Revamped song-filtering system. With the Rock Band library expected to grow to about 2,000 songs by year's end, it has grown too big for simply scrolling. With the new system, "you can say, 'only show me songs in Rock Band 3' or 'only songs under three minutes' or 'Eighties metal songs from my (downloadable) collection,' " Teasdale says. "It's a really cool way to take your full library down to a manageable list of songs."

Not to be forgotten, the keyboards' addition — along with carrying over the three-part harmonies from The Beatles: Rock Band and new Green Day: Rock Band games — means that "you can play as a seven -player band," Teasdale says, "which is an amazing experience."

  • Rock Band Pro. This new music learning mode lets players develop real-world music-playing fundamentals for keyboards, guitars and drums. More realistic music notations replace the standard color-coded notes during gameplay. For guitar, numbers flow down the screen along six guitar strings, telling you where to place your hands on the neck and when to strum.

Two new guitar controllers in the works have actual strings where you strum; one is a full-sized, fully functional six-string Squier Stratocaster from Fender. "It can tell where your fingers are based on technology in the neck and the bridge of the guitar. No buttons," Drake says. "While you're playing it, it feels exactly like playing a real guitar," because that's what you're doing.

The other is a Fender Mustang Pro controller from accessory maker Mad Catz with a field of buttons in each fret. As your fingers compress the smaller non-colored buttons on that guitar's neck, your finger positions are represented in the game's display. "You can go from plucking single notes to power chords and bar chords, we have crazy stuff like tapping and slides," Dubrofsky says. "If you ever had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way ... you are really going to like Rock Band 3."

  • For drums, three new cymbals are added to the standard four drum pads, and you are forced to play the correct cymbal at the right time. "It really immerses you more. You feel more like a drummer," Dubrofsky says. "It's not only for expert levels. You can come in on easy and actually play Pro drums. We have all the different levels established. It's actually really fun. You are playing up on the high hat or down on the snare, and it feels more like a kit than ever before."
Rock Band 3 keyboard

The new keyboard controller for Rock Band 3 is a fully-functional MIDI keyboard with 25 keys, and can be used either horizontally or worn as a keytar, with an effects touchpad in the "arm" of the unit. In normal play, players simply strike any key within the marked colored sections when indicated on-screen, while Pro mode requires precise fingering of each key. Range: C3 - C5

  • On keyboards, Sussman says, "we're actually utilizing the full two-octave range that the keyboard controller has. Everything that you are playing, whether you are playing on easy or expert, is accurate musical information. The track looks like a real keyboard track, and you are playing notes on the keyboard that if you were to step away from the game and were to play on a real piano, they would be the right notes."
Range: C3 - C5

Pro players can use the mode for private practice or incorporate it while others play the game's standard arcade modes. "You can be an expert keys-player playing with an all easy band, no problem," Drake says.

Compatibility[]

Rock Band 3 will be able to use Rock Band 2 compatible DLC, with RB2 DLC having Pro Drum support. The reverse is not true, as format changes mean that DLC released on or after the launch of Rock Band 3 will not be playable on Rock Band 2 or Lego Rock Band.

Soundtrack[]

Main Article: Rock Band 3 Setlist

While the game's soundtrack is mostly just the game's setlist, the only exception to this rule are the songs that can be heard in the menus faintly.

Quotes[]

"Ever since Rock Band expanded the musical video-game stage in 2007 to add drums and vocals to the Guitar Hero experience, players have been clamoring for keyboards. Consider that request filled. Rock Band 3 (due for the holidays for PS3, Xbox 360 and Wii) expands the virtual band to seven (drums, lead and bass guitar, keyboards, lead vocals and two harmony vocals). "With the introduction of keyboards, we get to bring a ton of amazing new music onto the platform, which will help feed the appetite for music for years to come," says Alex Rigopulos, CEO of game studio Harmonix.

Among the 83 new songs to be included, Rigopulos says, "It's hard to pick a favorite, but for The Doors to be making an appearance on Rock Band finally with their classic Break On Through, I love that one. And Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is endlessly fun." The success of Rock Band and follow-up Rock Band 2 propelled sales of music games to more than $1.6 billion in 2008 — with the help of competing Guitar Hero titles. Despite a wide variety of new games in 2009 including The Beatles: Rock Band and DJ Hero, annual sales fell by nearly 50%.

That slide inspired the Rock Band 3 development team to try to recapture the fun "that really started this whole phenomenon in the first place," says project director Daniel Sussman.

During the game, green, red, blue, yellow or orange keys flow on a "stream" representing the notes to be played on five corresponding keyboard keys. In a new authentic Pro mode meant to help players segue to actual instruments, all 25 keys are used; the streams shifts left and right to cover the correct keys. The keyboard also works as a MIDI keyboard that can be connected to a computer. "This is a real instrument and a real device," says senior designer Sylvain Dubrofsky.

In addition to the new keyboard controller, also due for the game's release are two advanced guitar controllers that take advantage of the Pro mode, one a full-sized, fully functional Fender guitar (all sold separately, no prices yet).

Other Rock Band 3 advances: improved animations, refined gameplay features — players can drop in and out of games, or change instruments and difficulty settings without stopping songs — and a easier-to-use song menu.

"Our ambition for Rock Band 3 was really to re-energize and reinvigorate the (music game) category and advance it and move it forward," Rigopulos says."

"Development of Rock Band 3 began immediately after the September 2008 release of Rock Band 2, says project director Daniel Sussman at Cambridge, Mass.-based Harmonix.

As work continued, the music category's slide in sales made the design team deepen their focus. "We saw a kind of staleness in terms of game-play innovation," Sussman says. "Really, the main focus of Rock Band 3 development was finding new ways to experience the music and actually doubling down, if you will, on our investment in compelling game play.

"We are adding a new instrument (a 25-key, fully functioning MIDI keyboard) and we're adding a whole new mode, which is designed basically to answer that staleness factor."

The result, he says, is "an experience that is both accessible to players who are just getting into this thing, and builds something for the hard-core player who is maybe a little bored with where music games are."

Sussman and several key members of the Rock Band team (Harmonix senior designers Sylvain Dubrofsky and Dan Teasdale, and public relations gurus John Drake of Harmonix and Jeff Castaneda of MTV Games; you can see them all playing the game in the accompanying video) recently demonstrated Rock Band 3 for USA TODAY's Game Hunters and offered a test drive of the new keyboard controller, as well as the game's new authentic Pro mode aimed at helping players develop skills usable on real instruments.

"Everybody who wants to keep playing on the instruments they already have, we have enhanced new features and new gameplay for you," Dubrofsky says. "It's up to you to decide where you take this."

More on the advances for Rock Band 3 (due in November for PS3, Xbox 360, Wii and Nintendo DS):"

Characters[]

Much like Rock Band 2, Rock Band 3 has its own lineup of playable characters known as "Session Musicians". There is a total of nineteen playable characters, which consist of fifteen new characters and four returning characters from Rock Band 2 and Lego Rock Band, plus space for up to ten created characters at a time. Unlike Rock Band 2, these nineteen playable characters are the only pre-made rocker characters in the game. On top of that, these characters can be used for the game's "Road Challenge" mode and can be assigned as "Stand Ins".

Session Musicians[]

Image Name New Character
RB3Crt
C. Isaac Worthington Yes
Cassidy
Cassidy Jones Yes
Cyn tuva
Cyn Tuva Yes
Deshane
Deshane Perard Yes
Dora
Dora Sullivan No
Elroy
Elroy Bogart, Jr. Yes
Henry
Henry Wilford Yes
Jamie
Jamie-Sue Drastic Yes
Jetta
Jetta Hernandez Yes
Khadija
Khadijah Raye Yes
Max
Max Cocheta Yes
Melissa
Melissa Lynn Sage Yes
Miss
Miss Dee Campbell Yes
Moosejaw
Moosejaw Boudreau No
Mothership
Mothership Q No
Party
Party-Foul Floyd Yes
Sasha
Sasha Lomogaux Yes
Duke
The Duke of Gravity No
Zehvora
Zehvora Yes

E3 2010 Demo[]

At E3 2010 the game had a playable demo for Xbox 360. This build has some differences to the final game.

Menus[]

  • The main menu only has Play now selectable, with the quickplay menu only having choose songs, and play a setlist.
    • The controller menu only has Return, Options, and Drop Out with the rest being grayed out.
  • Only one message is shown on the message feed which reads "Welcome to E3 2010! Thanks for checking out Rock Band 3".
  • Some songs on vocals will have a yellow circle with a number 1-3 representing harmonies and is the only instrument on this version to not have a pro version on that column.
    • If a song doesn't have an instrument listed, it will show a grey line, while the final says, "No Part".
  • The album art was originally in a thicker, silver border.
  • the E3 demo did not have a review section, instead having headers for the basic and pro difficulties for that instrument.
  • Final version removes the two red arrows on the song selection menu.
  • The menu controls are moved from under the song number and sorted by text to right above the controllers connected section.
    • The buttons to play songs were moved from under the album art, to right above the connected controller's section.
  • The E3 demo had a decorative pattern above the player's name on a connected controller.
  • The player's instrument icon does not have a controller order indicator around it despite being on Xbox 360 which has one in the final.
  • The E3 demo shows 1166 songs, with the final game only having 83, and the game's box mentioning over 1600 downloadable songs.
    • Oddly, every category of difficulty shows 3 songs per category.
    • Many songs were put under different categories of difficulty than compared to the final.
  • The color of each player's instrument, and difficulty panel was different, while the demo shows them all as gray.
  • Song difficulty text was a darker gray.
    • The lefty/righty mode indicator was a little larger in the demo, and was also shifted to the left.
    • Final version adds the instrument icon also to the left of the difficulty ranking, with the demo not having this.

In-Game[]

  • The "Join, Press Start" originally just said "Join" with it being shown on the E3 2010 build as above the rock meter, with other builds showing the join prompt to the left like the final but being within a shape while the final game just has it floating.
  • Spacing between the song name, and artist is larger in the demo.
    • Text for the artist is in Italics in the final build.
  • Game's demo could only be played in all instruments' mode, meaning that even if only one player was connected, then the vocals would still be present.

Trivia[]

  • The game uses the Criware engine for the audio in the DS version of the game.
  • This is the only Rock Band game to support various pro instruments such as the keyboard, and pro guitar.
  • The game's intro cutscene is the first time in the series a cutscene was done in live action.
    • Same goes for the game's cover art.
  • There's a rare change while in practice mode on an instrument that the fret table doesn't appear while the song still plays. This can occur after you've practiced the set portion of the song, and when the fret board goes off screen before re-appearing it simply doesn't appear.
  • This game has a feature where if your band, or band members have unsuitable words in them the band will temporarily not appear online until you change the bad words.
  • Unlike the Wii version of Rock Band 2, the Wii version of Rock Band 3 has the options to give created characters custom tattoos, make-up, and face paint, as well as custom art for clothes, instruments, and band logos.
    • In addition, characters with custom tattoos, make-up, and/or face paint in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions still have these features in the Wii version.
  • Early beta footage and game trailers feature the pre-made Progressive rock band featured in the PlayStation 2 version of Rock Band 2.
  • This game marks the last appearance of characters Mothership Q and Dora Sullivan, as well as the only appearance of the 15 new playable Session Musicians introduced in this game.
  • This was the last Rock Band game to be released on Nintendo DS.
    • This also marks the last time a Rock Band game was released on mobile platforms. This does not include the Rock Band companion app made for use with Rock Band 4.
  • After the release of this game, no more DLC songs would be released for Rock Band and Rock Band 2. New DLC songs would only be released for this game until Rock Band 4.
    • The last DLC song to be released was "American Pie" in 2013, but then in 2015 Harmonix released some new DLC songs in order to promote Rock Band 4's release.
  • If you play any song with an instrument not present in the song (Such as playing Guitar on John Lennon's "Imagine", or vocals on Rush's "YYZ") you will still be able to join, but nothing will appear on your track due to that track simply being missing.
    • This applies on both selecting a single song, and playing in a playlist.
  • In-game, the band is a four-piece at all times; in songs that have keyboard parts, if the player is using any other instrument, the keyboardist will not appear. If the player is on keyboard, there will be no bassist instead. The exception for both cases is "Imagine", which has no guitar parts, so the band's formation will always be vocals-bass-keyboards-drums.

Gallery[]

Instruments[]

Menu Music[]

External Links[]

  1. https://www.destructoid.com/pre-e3-hands-on-with-the-disruptive-rock-band-3/
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2gSpxkI58E - 2010 E3 Stage Demo, has The Power of Love, & Bohemian Rhapsody
  3. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wy7RG0ZJ9BY - 2010 E3 Trailer, has Power of Love, Crossroad Traffic, dead end friends, just like heaven.
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