Rock Band 3
Encyclopedia
Rock Band 3 is a music video game
, developed by Harmonix Music Systems
. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts
, respectively, with Mad Catz
taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series
. As with the previous titles, Rock Band 3 allows players to simulate the playing of rock music
and many other subgenres using special instrument controllers mimicking lead
and bass guitar
, drums
, and vocals
. Rock Band 3 expands upon previous games by including three-part vocal harmonies—previously used in The Beatles: Rock Band
and Green Day: Rock Band
—and support for a keyboard instrument, a MIDI-compatible 25-key unit.
Rock Band 3 features a new "Pro" mode, which is designed as a learning tool to accurately mimic playing of real instruments. In Pro mode, guitar and bass players have to match specific fingering on fret
s and strings, drummers have to strike cymbal pads in addition to snare and toms, and keyboardists have to use precise fingering across the whole keyboard. MadCatz and Fender
are manufacturing controllers and add-ons to support Pro mode.
The game includes a list of 83 songs, many selected to emphasize the keyboard instrument. Existing game content, including prior downloadable content
and songs from the Rock Band Network
, carry forward into the game, with the full Rock Band library reaching 2,000 songs by the end of October 2010. Rock Band 3 is designed to take advantage of players' existing libraries by providing user-created set lists and challenges and tools to easily search and select songs from the library.
Rock Band 3 was released worldwide during the last week of October 2010 for the Xbox 360
, PlayStation 3
, Wii
, and Nintendo DS
. The game received universal acclaim from critics, with praise for the addition of keyboards that broadens the potential music library for the series and the revamped career structure to keep players invested in the title. The game's Pro mode was particularly highlighted by reviewers, who stated that the mode brings the rhythm game genre closer to teaching players to learn real instruments, though at a large cost of entry.
, bass guitar
, drums, and vocals
—Rock Band 3 adds support for two additional singers who can provide backup vocal harmonies
(previously found in The Beatles: Rock Band
and Green Day: Rock Band
) and it adds an electric keyboard as a new instrument.
Prior to a song, each band member selects from one of four difficulty levels, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert, which influence the number and rate that notes appear on the note track; they also can select the Pro mode for guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. As the band performs, they score points. Each player can build up a multiplier by hitting consecutive notes correctly, which increases how many points each note is worth, but the multiplier is set back to 1× if a note is missed. After successfully completing a song, the performance of each player and the band as a whole is rated on a 5-star scale. The best performance by a player for each song in the player's library is tracked separately based on instrument, Pro mode, and difficulty, and is used to provide and compare leaderboard statistics.
The overall goal of the band is to successfully complete a song and earn as many points as possible by using their controllers to play the notes shown on the screen at the proper time; or, in the case of the vocalists, to sing in relative pitch to the original artist. Players can also gain additional points by using "Overdrive". Once a player has enough energy, which is collected by perfectly playing marked sections of the song, he or she can activate Overdrive to double the number of points the whole band earns while it is deployed. Each instrument deploys overdrive differently, and some instruments have multiple methods of activating it.
Unless the "no-fail" option is on, players who are doing poorly might drop out of the band, silencing their part. A dropped player can be saved up to two times by another player activating Overdrive; if the player is not saved soon enough, the whole band may fail the song and need to restart or exit to the song library. In some game modes, an option is also available to continue the song right from where the band failed at the cost of not being able to record a score for the rest of the song's playthrough.
Although Rock Band 3s gameplay in Basic mode is very similar to that of previous games in the series, it does introduce a new gameplay mechanic designed to make fast sections such as trill
s, tremolo picking
, and drum roll
s easier to play. In such sections, players are rewarded for being exactly on cue, but they are not penalized for small differences.
and Facebook
. Harmonix will also continue to create custom setlists and battles. The official Rock Band website will be updated to reflect these new features, as well as allowing players to track their own bands or friends' bands.
The game features a more in-depth career mode; players are able to design more detailed characters, which appear nearly at all points alongside the narrative, making the game "one story of your band", according to Harmonix senior designer Dan Teasdale. The career mode includes over 700 career goals, similar to Xbox 360 Achievements or PlayStation 3 Trophies, to help continue to urge the players to progress in the game. "Road challenges" combine features of the Tour mode of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 with Mario Party
concepts, according to Teasdale, and is based on feedback from Rock Band players. For example, the band may be challenged to re-invigorate the virtual crowd using copious amounts of Overdrive after they were disappointed by an opening act, or in another challenge, the band will be required to play as accurately as possible for a crowd of critics. Numerous versions of these challenges are available, that vary in the amount of time to complete (from 30 minutes to 3 hours) and difficulty. Some of these challenges feature multiple gigs; after playing through one gig, the band is presented with three choices for songs to play at the next gig, either from pre-made set lists, customized set lists, or random selection from all available songs. With each song completed within a challenge, the players earn spades; one spade for each star based on the overall scoring, and additional spades for meeting the challenge goals. These challenges are tracks on the scoring leaderboards for the game.
The playing modes are wrapped in an "overshell", which allow players to sign in or out of game console profiles, manage players in the band, and jump in or out of the game with any available instrument at any point, including while playing a song. Players also will have the ability to pause the game and make changes in difficulty; when leaving the pause menu, the song rewinds a few seconds to allow all players to synchronize before the scoring restarts. Due to the limitations in the number of local players on some consoles, only four of the five parts (lead and bass guitar, drums, harmonized vocals, and keyboards) can be played in online and local career and competitive modes. The game provides the option of a local "All Instruments" quick play mode where all five parts are used allowing the full seven-member band to play; the vocals are not assigned to a console player but instead are based on the input (if present) from USB-connected microphones, and the vocal results are not scored along with the other playing members.
s that gave the appearance of realistic services but with Rock Band stylized art aesthetic. The team aimed to provide something that was in between the complex creation tool for Mass Effect
and the simple set of tools for Mii
s. Rock Band 3 custom character creator allows for more direct customization of the character's facial looks, using a combination of pre-made face styles (including those already from Rock Band 2), facial components such as noses or chins, and adjustment sliders to change size, position, and other details. Numerous additional hair styles are available in addition to the existing elaborate and showy styles from the previous game. Additional controls can be used to further adjust the tone of the character's body, and players are able to apply tattoos across most anywhere on the character's body. Players can then get clothing and instruments in the various in-game shops, with items becoming unlocked as the player progresses through the game. In addition, premium T-shirts that spot real-life bands are being sold as downloadable content for the players' created characters.
To further help players with the Pro mode, trainers are included with the game. The trainers were developed in conjunction with the Berklee College of Music
to help ease current players into the more realistic playing experience. The training modes use songs created by Harmonix artists designed to help the players become comfortable with the instruments and interface over a series of lessons. According to Harmonix's Dan Sussman, there are about 60 to 80 songs specifically made for the trainer; at present they are only available for that mode, but Harmonix has considered placing the songs onto the Rock Band Network
at a later date. Players are able to slow down songs in this mode as well.
entered a multi-year deal to allow Mad Catz to produce and sell its controllers alongside the Rock Band games.
In addition to the standalone game and controllers, Harmonix and MadCatz released a Rock Band 3 bundle package which includes the keyboard controller and the game. Licensing prevents this bundle from being sold to PlayStation 3 users in the United States, but Harmonix worked with vendors to offer a "soft bundle" of the standalone game and keyboard at the same cost as the bundle, and to honor existing pre-orders for the bundle.
For Pro guitar and bass there are, one of two official controllers will be required that has the ability to track fingering on specific frets either as fret buttons or strings, and will present this for on-screen feedback to the player.
Mad Catz released a new guitar controller, based on the Fender Mustang
, for the game's Pro mode. Instead of five colored buttons, the Mustang has 6 buttons across 17 different frets, for a total of 102 buttons; the player needs to strike the corresponding buttons on the right frets similar to guitar strings. The player uses the "string box" that contains six stainless-steel strings which can detect which strings are being strummed, replacing the "strum bar" from the typical "5 button" controller. In addition to Pro mode use, the Mustang can be used to play the game in Basic mode, and it functions as a full MIDI guitar, with a MIDI output connector providing compatibility with MIDI software sequencers and hardware devices.
Fender
made a second Pro guitar controller in the style of a Squier Stratocaster
, featuring six strings instead of fret buttons. The instrument is a true electric guitar that also has full output MIDI support outside of the game. A demonstration of the unit at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo shows the Fender guitar controller being played directly through an electric amplifier alongside other players on the other controllers while playing the game. Unlike the Mustang, the Squier cannot be used in Basic mode. The Squier was not available at Rock Band 3s launch, but was instead released in March 2011. Whereas each Mustang can only be used with the game console it is designed for (except if you have a MPA, then any console's Mustang can be used with any console), the Squier is console-neutral. Instead of buying a console-specific guitar, players need to purchase the MadCatz MIDI Pro-Adapter for their console, which the Squier can be plugged into for in-game use.
A third, unofficial, controller option is available from Inspired Instruments called the You Rock Guitar. The You Rock is a guitar synth, very similar in function to standard keyboard synths. In looks and function it is similar to the Mad Catz Mustang controller with a rubber mesh replacing strings along the fretboard and six short nylon strings for strumming/picking. Unlike the Mustang, the You Rock can be used as a real guitar playing synth sounds from a standard 1/4" jack. The guitar also features a standard MIDI interface. Using firmware update 1.2 the You Rock is capable of sending the correct signals to the Mad Catz Midi Pro-Adapter in the same way as the Fender Squier Stratocaster. The guitar is put into Rock Band mode by simultaneously pressing the "Game" and "Guitar". The LED will display "rb".
During Pro mode play for guitar and bass, single notes are represented by a number, representing the fret on the guitar, over a single string. Chords are represented by solid bars that mimic waveforms. The base position for the player's hand on the fretboard is given by a number on a specific string. The shape of the bar over the other strings provide relative fret positions for the player's hand on the controller. The instrument controllers provide feedback to the player by sensing the player's current fingering, which is then shown as a waveform drawn at the base of the note track, in the same style as the chord representation, allowing the player to match their waveform to the chord's shape. Players can optionally enable a feature that numbers every fret position for a chord. Chord names are shown at the side of the track, approaching the appearance of a guitar tablature. In addition, Pro Guitar and Bass include legato
-style playing through hammer-on
s and pull-off
s, as well as slides
on sustained notes along the strings represented by sustained note gems with slanted tails. Pro Guitar also includes open chord
s, arpeggio
s where the player holds a chord and plucks specific strings for it, and left-hand muting
of notes.
On Easy difficulty Pro mode, the game will only present single notes to the player; Medium difficulty introduces chords, while Hard difficulty is a less-dense version of the full guitar track charted for Expert mode. The game adjusts which frets are used depending on which Pro model guitar is used, because the Mustang has fewer frets than the Squier. Some leeway is given on Pro Guitar such as by missing a chord by one offset string.
pedal. Additionally, existing ION drum kits will work in Pro mode for Rock Band 3.
with a handle to one side; this allows it to be either worn using a guitar strap or placed on a horizontal surface. The keyboard features 25 full-sized velocity-sensitive keys, and is MIDI compatible, allowing it to be used outside the game. For instance, Freezepop, a band which has close ties to members of Harmonix, has used the keyboard controller as a keytar for their stage shows.
Players need to strike notes and chords, marked to specific keys on the display, to score points. In Basic mode, five white keys, from the middle C to G, each correspond to colored notes on screen, and are played in a similar manner to existing guitar and bass parts; these keys can also be used to play guitar and bass parts on the keyboard. Overdrive is activated by pressing a special button on the controller. A touch-pad in the handle of the unit functions as a pitch wheel
, providing for a whammy bar-type effect on sustained notes.
On screen, Pro mode for keyboards shows ten white keys and the corresponding black keys, as the full range cannot be displayed on screen; Two visual cues are given to the player to identify what position on the controller they should play relative to the keys shown on-screen. One cue is through highlighting the entire lane that corresponds to a played note whether correct or not; this is designed to help keep the player's hand positions correlated on the unit. A second cue is uniquely grouped coloring of a channel containing a set of 5 keys matching similar markings on the keyboard unit to identify the correct area of the keyboard that the player should be on. Pro keyboard charting includes notes and chords using a combination of white and black keys. On Easy or Medium Pro keys, the range of keys on screen does not shift, but on Hard and Expert the range of keys shown on the screen shifts as the song necessitates, requiring the player to move their own hands in turn. Arrow indicators are displayed to indicate when the displayed area is about to shift left or right, giving the player time to compensate.
technology developed by iZotope
has been integrated into the game, allowing vocalists to add effects to their vocal performances within the game.
version of Rock Band 3 follows the gameplay format of Rock Band Unplugged
for the PlayStation Portable
and the Nintendo DS version of Lego Rock Band
. There are no special instrument attachments; instead, gameplay is designed around matching notes using the face buttons on the DS. Each of the 26 songs, a subset of the songs available on the Rock Band 3 disc for other consoles, are presented as a set of four tracks, one for each instrument, with the player able to move between them. To perform well, the player must move between tracks using the shoulder buttons and succeed to match a phrase of notes using the face buttons of the controller in order to boost the band's performance meter; in normal game modes, this will cause the track to play automatically by itself for a brief period allowing the player to focus on the other tracks. The player can fail a song if they cannot match notes correctly, or by ignoring a single track for too long. The DS version includes a single-player career mode and both cooperative and competitive play modes. Additional features that were present in Unplugged also are included in Rock Band 3 for the DS, but have been renamed to match changes in the game's console modes. For example, the "Band Survival" mode from Unplugged, requiring the player to keep all the instruments going without any respite after successfully completing a track section, is called "Pro Mode" in Rock Band 3 for the DS.
s, the genre as a whole saw nearly a 50% drop in revenues in 2009; sales of top-tier titles The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5
were significantly off from initial projections. Part of this has been attributed to the late-2000s recession limiting new purchases, but other analysis have speculated that consumers had grown tired of purchasing new iterations of instrument controllers for the same gameplay. While designing Rock Band 3, Harmonix sought to capture the playing experience that "really started this whole phenomenon in the first place", according to project director Daniel Sussman. Harmonix's CEO, Alex Rigopulos, stated that "Our ambition for Rock Band 3 was really to re-energize and reinvigorate the (music game) category and advance it and move it forward." In introducing the game to journalists at a closed media event about a month prior to the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Harmonix called Rock Band 3 a "disruptive title" for the music game industry. Another aspect that Harmonix considered was "a ground-up rebuild of the Rock Band platform" and how players could interact better with the game and music library, according to Sussman.
Harmonix included the keyboard controller to help address these goals. The keyboard functionality was "designed basically to answer that staleness factor" that has been seen in music games, as said by Sussman. The gameplay for Basic keys was designed so that it was party-accessible, simple, and easy for existing Rock Band players to learn. Pro keys, on the other hand, was designed so that it would be fun playing the accurate song. The team also included Pro mode to help invigorate existing players to give them new challenges, aimed at those that "had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way", according to senior designer Sylvain Dubrofsky. Sussman commented that the combination of existing and new gameplay modes provides "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 noted that there still remains a large gap between mastering the Pro modes and playing real instruments: "We see Pro as a different experience from the five-button simulation, but not necessarily a track to expertise." Sussman further commented that inclusion of Pro mode, particularly at higher difficulty levels, was "because it shows the potential ceiling of where this can take you". However, Harmonix was still dedicated to helping to "open doors" for players interested in learning real musical instruments, such as by including appropriate music fundamentals that can be used outside of the game. Harmonix created the Pro Guitar charts for songs through careful audio interpretation of master tracks and through watching live performances of the songs to ensure they were using the correct chords.
A pre-E3 event occurred on May 20, 2010, to provide exclusive coverage of the game to selected gaming journalists, who would remain under news embargo
until June 11, 2010, just prior to E3. The first evidence that Rock Band 3 would include keyboards came from a teaser image for the game in the Green Day: Rock Band demo, released in late May 2010; the image showed 5 icons, 4 representing the existing instruments in the game and the fifth showing a keyboard layout. Ars Technica
claimed via a mole
, that the unit would be a "keytar", and that the game would include Pro mode. Ars Technica later claimed that Harmonix requested to have the article removed due to the embargo, and insisted that the unit should not be referred to as a "keytar". Ars Technica further commented that while other gaming sites had to wait until June 11 when the embargo was lifted, USA Today
was able to reveal their stories the day before, scooping the other sites who had originally remained quiet on Ars Technica's story for fear of breaking the embargo.
The 2010 E3 Game Critics Awards
awarded Rock Band 3 for the "Best Social/Casual Game", and included both the new keyboard and the Pro guitar peripherals as "Best Hardware" nominees. The game was also awarded the title of "Best Music Game" as well as being nominated for "Most Innovative" by GameTrailers
.
Several offers were made available to players who pre-ordered the game, depending on vendor. In North America, those that pre-ordered through Gamestop
received early access to three downloadable tracks for the game; "Burning Down the House
" by Talking Heads
, "My Own Summer
" by Deftones
, and "Blue Monday
" by New Order
. Players preordering the game through Amazon.com
or Best Buy
received immediate access to a unique in-game guitar for their avatars.
Audition mode ahead of the release of Rock Band Network 2.0 (supporting the unique Rock Band 3 feature set), and, due to high demand from the game's fans, adding in unofficial support of the light-and-fog stage kit device previously developed for Rock Band 2 on the Xbox 360.
After the dissolution of MTV Games, MadCatz will be taking over the publication and distribution rights for the game, with a re-release of the game in several instrument bundles for late 2011, including one featuring their Pro Mustang guitar controller.
, at which the list was accidentally revealed during a video interview which had it scrolling in the background. The Nintendo DS version of the game features a 26-song subset of the consoles' setlist.
Harmonix releases new downloadable songs for Rock Band 3 each week, starting launch week with a set of twelve songs from The Doors
. Downloadable songs since the game's release include, when appropriate, keyboard and vocal harmony support within the base cost of the song (normally about US$2 per song). Due to the cost and effort to create Pro guitar and bass tracks, Harmonix releases these additional authored parts as a separate download for certain songs with an additional US$1 cost. Downloadable songs released by Harmonix after Rock Band 3s release are not compatible with previous games in the series due to changes in the song format.
The majority of songs from other Rock Band games, including both on-disc songs and songs offered as downloadable content, are playable in Rock Band 3, which led to more than 2000 songs already being available when the game was released. Rock Band Network
can also be played in Rock Band 3 and, unlike in Rock Band 2, they can be played in all game modes. A new version of Rock Band Network, called Rock Band Network 2.0, allows songs to be authored with harmonies, Basic and Pro keys, and Pro drums, but does not support Pro guitar and bass charting due to the complexity of authoring those parts and the number of users able to test them.
called the title "a culmination of Harmonix’s efforts to bring music to the masses". Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
commented that for Rock Band 3, "This is the new state of the art for rhythm games, and it's hard to find fault with what's being offered." Joystiq
's Griffen McElroy asserted that Rock Band 3 "is the greatest rhythm game ever made, and quite possibly the only rhythm game you need to own". Reviews praised the incorporation of realistic instruments and the education of how to play them into the video game setting, seeing the title as a means of preparing players to pick up real instruments. Chad Sapieha of The Globe and Mail
said that with the release of Rock Band 3 "we are just a hair’s breadth away from moving beyond make believe" while the New York Timess Seth Schiesel stated that "Harmonix has brilliantly torn down the wall between music games and real music".
Reviews praised the introduction of keyboard and the new controller. Miller described the keyboard peripheral as "small and light" with a number of options for how one can play it, with Johnny Minkley of Eurogamer
adding that the keytar approach makes the keyboard peripheral "gaming's next must-have shame-maker". Many reviews noted that while there are some enjoyable and difficult non-Pro versions of the keyboard charts, playing in this mode was not much different from the established "five button" guitar method, and that the real enjoyment from the peripheral was through Pro mode. IGN
's Hilary Goldstein noted that the keyboard addition allows Harmonix to expand the types of songs that one would previously have never expected to appear in a Rock Band game, such as Warren Zevon
's "Werewolves of London
" or any Elton John
song. Sam Machkovech for The Atlantic expressed similar sentiments, adding that with the ability to include more keyboard or synthesizer-heavy songs into the game, "the songs are just plain better".
The new Pro mode was critically acclaimed as the primary feature that distinguished Rock Band 3 from other music games in the field. Minkley stated that the inclusions of Pro features "at once dramatically expand the potential of the game and fundamentally change the approach required to play and enjoy it". Reviewers appreciated the training modes, including their integration into the overall game's career progression and the breadth of material that is covered. Nina Shen Rastogi of Slate
commented that Rock Band 3s training modes helps to overcome the discouraging early period of trying to learn guitar as "the gaming elements will mask the rote, homeworklike nature of the guitar training process". Kuchera noted that the modes were aimed at those who have some understanding of music theory
already; "If this is your first introduction to music theory, though, you may need a little more explanation", he concluded. This lament was similarly stated by Machkovech, who felt the lessons had "text that was written by a musical savant" that would be too confusing to those without musical backgrounds and too simple for those trained in music arts. Chris Kohler of Wired
described the experience he and a friend had where after playing though Devo
's "Whip It
" on Pro guitar and keyboard, they were able retain enough muscle memory
to play their respective parts on real instruments, albeit not perfectly; Kohler summarized his experience that "Just playing Rock Band 3 taught us a little bit of actual music".
A primary consideration for the game was the cost of entry to enjoy the new features of the game particularly in Pro mode; both the cost of the new keyboard and Pro guitars (ranging from $80 to 280) and the time investment to learn these aspects was considered high and may only cater to niche players. The Metro noted that if one does not purchase any of the additional hardware controllers, "it's not much different to Rock Band 2". Goldstein commented that the amount of investment into the game will affect one's perception of the game's value: "either something completely new and challenging or just more tracks to rock out to". Goldstein further noted that with the cost and time spent on the Pro guitar models, "why not spend a little more and buy the real thing". Several reviewers commented that the buttoned Mustang Pro guitar is not as sturdy as other instruments and does not have the same tactile feel as a real guitar. Specifically, the reviewers noted that the width of the button impressions do not vary in width as real guitar strings would, and there is no tactile feedback as one would have with a fretboard. These reviewers suggested that players, if dedicated to the Pro guitar mode, to wait for the stringed Fender Squier which had more favorable reviews.
The game's soundtrack was considered to be "the most unusual and varied in the franchise" by Miller, and "an eclectic collection that's a little more pop than metal" by Goldstein. Kuchera considered the set list to be one of the best in any music game, "spanning decades and genres and bringing a wide variety of songs to suit any taste".
showed that, for the two days that the game was available, only about 7,400 units were sold across all platforms, placing Rock Band 3 as the 26th-best-selling title during the week ending October 30, 2010. The title was the 15th best selling game in North America for October based on sales data from the NPD Group
. In an interview with Edge
in February 2011, Alex Rigopulos stated that Rock Band 3 "hasn’t yet sold to the level we hoped it would out of the gate", but believes that there is still significant potential in the title, in considering the then-recent discontinuation of the Guitar Hero series and the pending release of the Fender Squier PRO guitar unit. Though exact numbers have not been revealed by Harmonix, Rigopulos has stated that Rock Band 3 has trailed Harmonix's other game, Dance Central
, also released in 2010, which has sold 1.2 million units in North America by February 2011.
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
, developed by Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems is an American video game development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States...
. The game was initially published and distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
, respectively, with Mad Catz
Mad Catz
Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...
taking over both roles a year later. It is the third main game in the Rock Band series
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
. As with the previous titles, Rock Band 3 allows players to simulate the playing of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
and many other subgenres using special instrument controllers mimicking lead
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
, and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
. Rock Band 3 expands upon previous games by including three-part vocal harmonies—previously used in The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
and Green Day: Rock Band
Green Day: Rock Band
Green Day: Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the fifth major console release in the Rock Band music video game series and, like other games in the series, it allows players to simulate the playing of...
—and support for a keyboard instrument, a MIDI-compatible 25-key unit.
Rock Band 3 features a new "Pro" mode, which is designed as a learning tool to accurately mimic playing of real instruments. In Pro mode, guitar and bass players have to match specific fingering on fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
s and strings, drummers have to strike cymbal pads in addition to snare and toms, and keyboardists have to use precise fingering across the whole keyboard. MadCatz and Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
are manufacturing controllers and add-ons to support Pro mode.
The game includes a list of 83 songs, many selected to emphasize the keyboard instrument. Existing game content, including prior downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
and songs from the Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
, carry forward into the game, with the full Rock Band library reaching 2,000 songs by the end of October 2010. Rock Band 3 is designed to take advantage of players' existing libraries by providing user-created set lists and challenges and tools to easily search and select songs from the library.
Rock Band 3 was released worldwide during the last week of October 2010 for the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
, and Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
. The game received universal acclaim from critics, with praise for the addition of keyboards that broadens the potential music library for the series and the revamped career structure to keep players invested in the title. The game's Pro mode was particularly highlighted by reviewers, who stated that the mode brings the rhythm game genre closer to teaching players to learn real instruments, though at a large cost of entry.
Gameplay
Rock Band 3 allows for one to seven players, either locally or through online game services, to use various instrument controllers to simulate the playing of music. In addition to the four instruments from previous Rock Band games—lead guitarLead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
, bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
, drums, and vocals
Singing
Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
—Rock Band 3 adds support for two additional singers who can provide backup vocal harmonies
Harmony
In music, harmony is the use of simultaneous pitches , or chords. The study of harmony involves chords and their construction and chord progressions and the principles of connection that govern them. Harmony is often said to refer to the "vertical" aspect of music, as distinguished from melodic...
(previously found in The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
and Green Day: Rock Band
Green Day: Rock Band
Green Day: Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the fifth major console release in the Rock Band music video game series and, like other games in the series, it allows players to simulate the playing of...
) and it adds an electric keyboard as a new instrument.
Prior to a song, each band member selects from one of four difficulty levels, Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert, which influence the number and rate that notes appear on the note track; they also can select the Pro mode for guitar, bass, keyboards, and drums. As the band performs, they score points. Each player can build up a multiplier by hitting consecutive notes correctly, which increases how many points each note is worth, but the multiplier is set back to 1× if a note is missed. After successfully completing a song, the performance of each player and the band as a whole is rated on a 5-star scale. The best performance by a player for each song in the player's library is tracked separately based on instrument, Pro mode, and difficulty, and is used to provide and compare leaderboard statistics.
The overall goal of the band is to successfully complete a song and earn as many points as possible by using their controllers to play the notes shown on the screen at the proper time; or, in the case of the vocalists, to sing in relative pitch to the original artist. Players can also gain additional points by using "Overdrive". Once a player has enough energy, which is collected by perfectly playing marked sections of the song, he or she can activate Overdrive to double the number of points the whole band earns while it is deployed. Each instrument deploys overdrive differently, and some instruments have multiple methods of activating it.
Unless the "no-fail" option is on, players who are doing poorly might drop out of the band, silencing their part. A dropped player can be saved up to two times by another player activating Overdrive; if the player is not saved soon enough, the whole band may fail the song and need to restart or exit to the song library. In some game modes, an option is also available to continue the song right from where the band failed at the cost of not being able to record a score for the rest of the song's playthrough.
Although Rock Band 3s gameplay in Basic mode is very similar to that of previous games in the series, it does introduce a new gameplay mechanic designed to make fast sections such as trill
Trill (music)
The trill is a musical ornament consisting of a rapid alternation between two adjacent notes, usually a semitone or tone apart, which can be identified with the context of the trill....
s, tremolo picking
Tremolo picking
Tremolo picking, also known as alternate picking or double picking, describes the musical technique of picking on a guitar or other string instrument in which a single note is played repeatedly in quick succession. It can be achieved either with the fingers or with a pick...
, and drum roll
Drum roll
A drum roll is a technique the percussionist employs to produce a sustained sound on a percussion instrument. Rolls are used by composers to sustain the sound and create other effects, the most common of which is using a roll to build anticipation.- Snare drum roll :The most common snare drum roll...
s easier to play. In such sections, players are rewarded for being exactly on cue, but they are not penalized for small differences.
Song library and game modes
Players have better tools to sort through songs to help manage a song library that is expected to be larger than 2000 songs by the end of 2010. Sorting options include filters based on Pro mode support, keyboard or vocal harmony support, difficulty, genre, decade, numbers of times played, leaderboard positions, and when the player acquired the song; any numbers of these filters can be applied to fine-tune the sort, such as selecting all "moderate-difficulty metal songs from the '80s that support keys and harmony vocals". Players are able to rate songs from 1 to 5 "lighters" and use this as a sorting metric. The rating system also allows Harmonix to suggest new songs to players in the Rock Band store. Players are also able to create, save, name, and design art for custom set lists which they can share through the game's online services or through the Rock Band website. The "Battle of the Bands" mode featured in Rock Band 2, in which Harmonix created daily and weekly themed challenges based on the library of songs, will extend into Rock Band 3, but allowing players to create the challenges themselves from the within the game or the website, including the type of challenges, what instrument(s) it is aimed for, and how long to allow the battle to run, then advertise them through social media services like TwitterTwitter
Twitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
and Facebook
Facebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
. Harmonix will also continue to create custom setlists and battles. The official Rock Band website will be updated to reflect these new features, as well as allowing players to track their own bands or friends' bands.
The game features a more in-depth career mode; players are able to design more detailed characters, which appear nearly at all points alongside the narrative, making the game "one story of your band", according to Harmonix senior designer Dan Teasdale. The career mode includes over 700 career goals, similar to Xbox 360 Achievements or PlayStation 3 Trophies, to help continue to urge the players to progress in the game. "Road challenges" combine features of the Tour mode of Rock Band and Rock Band 2 with Mario Party
Mario Party
is a party video game for the Nintendo 64 game console, developed by Hudson Soft and published by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on December 14, 1998, in North America on February 8, 1999, and in Europe on March 9, 1999...
concepts, according to Teasdale, and is based on feedback from Rock Band players. For example, the band may be challenged to re-invigorate the virtual crowd using copious amounts of Overdrive after they were disappointed by an opening act, or in another challenge, the band will be required to play as accurately as possible for a crowd of critics. Numerous versions of these challenges are available, that vary in the amount of time to complete (from 30 minutes to 3 hours) and difficulty. Some of these challenges feature multiple gigs; after playing through one gig, the band is presented with three choices for songs to play at the next gig, either from pre-made set lists, customized set lists, or random selection from all available songs. With each song completed within a challenge, the players earn spades; one spade for each star based on the overall scoring, and additional spades for meeting the challenge goals. These challenges are tracks on the scoring leaderboards for the game.
The playing modes are wrapped in an "overshell", which allow players to sign in or out of game console profiles, manage players in the band, and jump in or out of the game with any available instrument at any point, including while playing a song. Players also will have the ability to pause the game and make changes in difficulty; when leaving the pause menu, the song rewinds a few seconds to allow all players to synchronize before the scoring restarts. Due to the limitations in the number of local players on some consoles, only four of the five parts (lead and bass guitar, drums, harmonized vocals, and keyboards) can be played in online and local career and competitive modes. The game provides the option of a local "All Instruments" quick play mode where all five parts are used allowing the full seven-member band to play; the vocals are not assigned to a console player but instead are based on the input (if present) from USB-connected microphones, and the vocal results are not scored along with the other playing members.
Custom character support
Rock Band 3 includes support for using pre-made and custom avatars to represent band members on stage during performances, as in previous Rock Band games. These avatars can include a variety of clothing styles, hair styles, accessories, makeup, and instruments to allow users to customize their performance. While custom characters have been a part of the Rock Band series from the start, Harmonix wants players to feel more connected with their characters and band within Rock Band 3. Harmonix' Chris Foster stated that they realized the game is wish-fulfillment for most players in taking one's band through the rise of success, and structured a weak, non-presuming narrative to help guide this without forcing any particular aspect of the band's story. One aspect to connecting the player to their band was to constantly show the characters throughout all parts of the game screens, such as on the main menus, during song selection and loading screens, and during practice mode. Another approach was to allow more detailed customization tools to encourage the player to create themselves or other characters as they wanted in the game. They wanted to advance the looks of the avatar characters, making them like living dolls with near-realistic features but highly idealized visual elements, such as smooth skin and hair. This was achieved through the use of improved shaderShader
In the field of computer graphics, a shader is a computer program that is used primarily to calculate rendering effects on graphics hardware with a high degree of flexibility...
s that gave the appearance of realistic services but with Rock Band stylized art aesthetic. The team aimed to provide something that was in between the complex creation tool for Mass Effect
Mass Effect
Mass Effect is an action role-playing game developed by BioWare for the Xbox 360 and Microsoft Windows by Demiurge Studios. The Xbox 360 version was released worldwide in November 2007 published by Microsoft Game Studios...
and the simple set of tools for Mii
Mii
A is a digital avatar used in Nintendo's Wii and Nintendo 3DS gaming consoles. They allow users to capture a likeness of themselves and others. After creating one using the Wii's Mii Channel or the Nintendo 3DS's Mii Maker, they can be used as playable characters in various titles for the...
s. Rock Band 3 custom character creator allows for more direct customization of the character's facial looks, using a combination of pre-made face styles (including those already from Rock Band 2), facial components such as noses or chins, and adjustment sliders to change size, position, and other details. Numerous additional hair styles are available in addition to the existing elaborate and showy styles from the previous game. Additional controls can be used to further adjust the tone of the character's body, and players are able to apply tattoos across most anywhere on the character's body. Players can then get clothing and instruments in the various in-game shops, with items becoming unlocked as the player progresses through the game. In addition, premium T-shirts that spot real-life bands are being sold as downloadable content for the players' created characters.
Pro mode
Rock Band 3 is the first game in the Rock Band series to include "Pro" mode, in addition to the "Basic" mode which has been in every game in the series. Pro mode is designed to provide a more realistic playing experience which requires the player to learn the actual instrument and play the songs note-for-note. Pro mode players may select difficulty levels; one can play Pro mode on the "Easy" difficulty level, which reduces the number of notes to hit, but still would require proper fingering or hitting the correct cymbal. The progression of difficulties in Pro mode is aimed to help the player become familiar with the new playing style. On Easy Pro guitar, for example, the player may only be required to finger single notes, while Medium introduces chords. Pro mode is available across all game modes, and can be selected at the same time as difficulty. Pro players can play alongside Basic players in any game mode.To further help players with the Pro mode, trainers are included with the game. The trainers were developed in conjunction with the Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
to help ease current players into the more realistic playing experience. The training modes use songs created by Harmonix artists designed to help the players become comfortable with the instruments and interface over a series of lessons. According to Harmonix's Dan Sussman, there are about 60 to 80 songs specifically made for the trainer; at present they are only available for that mode, but Harmonix has considered placing the songs onto the Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
at a later date. Players are able to slow down songs in this mode as well.
Instrument controllers
All existing Rock Band and other compatible controllers will continue to work for Basic mode. Guitar controllers can also be used to play Basic keyboard parts after unlocking the ability to do so in-game, while the keyboard controller can also be used to play Basic guitar and bass parts without requiring the feature to be unlocked. A special MIDI adapter, also made by MadCatz and sold separately, will allow players with existing MIDI-compatible keyboards or drums to use them within the game; the unit will not work for existing MIDI guitars due to the additional data that Harmonix registers over the MIDI data. In April 2010, Harmonix and game controller manufacturer Mad CatzMad Catz
Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. is a peripherals manufacturer for various video game consoles headquartered in San Diego, California. It produces a wide range of accessories including control pads, memory cards, connection cables, headphones and other human interface devices.- History :The company was...
entered a multi-year deal to allow Mad Catz to produce and sell its controllers alongside the Rock Band games.
In addition to the standalone game and controllers, Harmonix and MadCatz released a Rock Band 3 bundle package which includes the keyboard controller and the game. Licensing prevents this bundle from being sold to PlayStation 3 users in the United States, but Harmonix worked with vendors to offer a "soft bundle" of the standalone game and keyboard at the same cost as the bundle, and to honor existing pre-orders for the bundle.
Guitar and bass
Existing "5 button" guitar controllers from previous Rock Band and other compatible games (such as Guitar Hero) can still be used for non-Pro parts in Rock Band 3.For Pro guitar and bass there are, one of two official controllers will be required that has the ability to track fingering on specific frets either as fret buttons or strings, and will present this for on-screen feedback to the player.
Mad Catz released a new guitar controller, based on the Fender Mustang
Fender Mustang
The Fender Mustang is an electric guitar by the Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models then consisting of the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990.In the 1960s, it was used in Surf...
, for the game's Pro mode. Instead of five colored buttons, the Mustang has 6 buttons across 17 different frets, for a total of 102 buttons; the player needs to strike the corresponding buttons on the right frets similar to guitar strings. The player uses the "string box" that contains six stainless-steel strings which can detect which strings are being strummed, replacing the "strum bar" from the typical "5 button" controller. In addition to Pro mode use, the Mustang can be used to play the game in Basic mode, and it functions as a full MIDI guitar, with a MIDI output connector providing compatibility with MIDI software sequencers and hardware devices.
Fender
Fender
Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, commonly referred to as simply Fender, of Scottsdale, Arizona is a manufacturer of stringed instruments and amplifiers, such as solid-body electric guitars, including the Stratocaster and the Telecaster...
made a second Pro guitar controller in the style of a Squier Stratocaster
Squier Stratocaster
The Squier Stratocaster is an electric guitar based on the Stratocaster, manufactured and sold by Squier, a marque of Fender.-Origins:After Fender's decision to switch Squier's production from strings to guitars in 1982, the Stratocaster was one of the first models to be put under the Squier...
, featuring six strings instead of fret buttons. The instrument is a true electric guitar that also has full output MIDI support outside of the game. A demonstration of the unit at the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo shows the Fender guitar controller being played directly through an electric amplifier alongside other players on the other controllers while playing the game. Unlike the Mustang, the Squier cannot be used in Basic mode. The Squier was not available at Rock Band 3s launch, but was instead released in March 2011. Whereas each Mustang can only be used with the game console it is designed for (except if you have a MPA, then any console's Mustang can be used with any console), the Squier is console-neutral. Instead of buying a console-specific guitar, players need to purchase the MadCatz MIDI Pro-Adapter for their console, which the Squier can be plugged into for in-game use.
A third, unofficial, controller option is available from Inspired Instruments called the You Rock Guitar. The You Rock is a guitar synth, very similar in function to standard keyboard synths. In looks and function it is similar to the Mad Catz Mustang controller with a rubber mesh replacing strings along the fretboard and six short nylon strings for strumming/picking. Unlike the Mustang, the You Rock can be used as a real guitar playing synth sounds from a standard 1/4" jack. The guitar also features a standard MIDI interface. Using firmware update 1.2 the You Rock is capable of sending the correct signals to the Mad Catz Midi Pro-Adapter in the same way as the Fender Squier Stratocaster. The guitar is put into Rock Band mode by simultaneously pressing the "Game" and "Guitar". The LED will display "rb".
During Pro mode play for guitar and bass, single notes are represented by a number, representing the fret on the guitar, over a single string. Chords are represented by solid bars that mimic waveforms. The base position for the player's hand on the fretboard is given by a number on a specific string. The shape of the bar over the other strings provide relative fret positions for the player's hand on the controller. The instrument controllers provide feedback to the player by sensing the player's current fingering, which is then shown as a waveform drawn at the base of the note track, in the same style as the chord representation, allowing the player to match their waveform to the chord's shape. Players can optionally enable a feature that numbers every fret position for a chord. Chord names are shown at the side of the track, approaching the appearance of a guitar tablature. In addition, Pro Guitar and Bass include legato
Legato
In musical notation the Italian word legato indicates that musical notes are played or sung smoothly and connected. That is, in transitioning from note to note, there should be no intervening silence...
-style playing through hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
s and pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
s, as well as slides
Slide guitar
Slide guitar or bottleneck guitar is a particular method or technique for playing the guitar. The term slide refers to the motion of the slide against the strings, while bottleneck refers to the original material of choice for such slides: the necks of glass bottles...
on sustained notes along the strings represented by sustained note gems with slanted tails. Pro Guitar also includes open chord
Open chord
In music, especially guitar, an open chord is a chord that is not fingered and fretted, the opposite of a barre chord, the strings of which ring, or sound, freely and fully....
s, arpeggio
Arpeggio
An arpeggio is a musical technique where notes in a chord are played or sung in sequence, one after the other, rather than ringing out simultaneously...
s where the player holds a chord and plucks specific strings for it, and left-hand muting
Left-hand muting
Left-hand muting is a performance technique for stringed instruments, where the vibration of a string is damped by the left hand. -First variant:...
of notes.
On Easy difficulty Pro mode, the game will only present single notes to the player; Medium difficulty introduces chords, while Hard difficulty is a less-dense version of the full guitar track charted for Expert mode. The game adjusts which frets are used depending on which Pro model guitar is used, because the Mustang has fewer frets than the Squier. Some leeway is given on Pro Guitar such as by missing a chord by one offset string.
Drums
Existing drum kits from Rock Band, Guitar Hero, and other games, including the ION electronic drum kits, can be used for Basic mode play in Rock Band 3. For Pro drums, a three cymbal-pad set is added to the core drum kit; notes on screen are marked as a rounded note instead of rectangular to indicate a cymbal hit instead of a drum hit. MadCatz and other manufacturers already produced a cymbal add-ons for Rock Band 2 drum kits, but introduced a new version with the release of Rock Band 3. The player can optionally use 1 or 2 additional cymbal pads, configuring the Pro Drums mode to only recognize those. Players can also add a second foot pedal and configure the game to act as a second bass drum pedal or as a hi-hatHi-hat
A hi-hat, or hihat, is a type of cymbal and stand used as a typical part of a drum kit by percussionists in R&B, hip-hop, disco, jazz, rock and roll, house, reggae and other forms of contemporary popular music.- Operation :...
pedal. Additionally, existing ION drum kits will work in Pro mode for Rock Band 3.
Keyboard
Rock Band 3 introduces keyboard parts for songs. MadCatz has produced the new keyboard controller for the official release. The controller resembles a keytarKeytar
A keytar is a relatively lightweight keyboard that is supported by a strap around the neck and shoulders, similar to the way a guitar is supported by a strap. Keytars allow players a greater range of movement compared to conventional keyboards, which are placed on stands...
with a handle to one side; this allows it to be either worn using a guitar strap or placed on a horizontal surface. The keyboard features 25 full-sized velocity-sensitive keys, and is MIDI compatible, allowing it to be used outside the game. For instance, Freezepop, a band which has close ties to members of Harmonix, has used the keyboard controller as a keytar for their stage shows.
Players need to strike notes and chords, marked to specific keys on the display, to score points. In Basic mode, five white keys, from the middle C to G, each correspond to colored notes on screen, and are played in a similar manner to existing guitar and bass parts; these keys can also be used to play guitar and bass parts on the keyboard. Overdrive is activated by pressing a special button on the controller. A touch-pad in the handle of the unit functions as a pitch wheel
Pitch wheel
In electronic music, a pitch wheel is a control on a synthesizer to pitch bend — to vary the pitch in a continuously variable manner.The first synthesizer with a pitch wheel was the Minimoog, in 1970....
, providing for a whammy bar-type effect on sustained notes.
On screen, Pro mode for keyboards shows ten white keys and the corresponding black keys, as the full range cannot be displayed on screen; Two visual cues are given to the player to identify what position on the controller they should play relative to the keys shown on-screen. One cue is through highlighting the entire lane that corresponds to a played note whether correct or not; this is designed to help keep the player's hand positions correlated on the unit. A second cue is uniquely grouped coloring of a channel containing a set of 5 keys matching similar markings on the keyboard unit to identify the correct area of the keyboard that the player should be on. Pro keyboard charting includes notes and chords using a combination of white and black keys. On Easy or Medium Pro keys, the range of keys on screen does not shift, but on Hard and Expert the range of keys shown on the screen shifts as the song necessitates, requiring the player to move their own hands in turn. Arrow indicators are displayed to indicate when the displayed area is about to shift left or right, giving the player time to compensate.
Vocals
Any USB-compatible microphone can be used for the vocal parts. A USB hub can be used for up to three microphone players. Rock Band 3 does not require the vocalists to be signed in on the console's systems; this allows Rock Band 3 to surpass the usual limit of four local players that exists on the Wii and Xbox 360. Vocal harmonies cannot be performed by separate players over networked connections due to latency issues. Pitch correctionPitch correction
Pitch correction is the process of correcting the intonation of an audio signal without affecting other aspects of its sound. Pitch correction first detects the pitch of an audio signal , then calculates the desired change and modifies the audio signal accordingly...
technology developed by iZotope
Izotope
iZotope, Inc. is an audio technology company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. iZotope develops professional audio software for audio recording, mixing, broadcast, sound design, and mastering which can be used in Digital Audio Workstation programs including Pro Tools, Apple Logic...
has been integrated into the game, allowing vocalists to add effects to their vocal performances within the game.
Nintendo DS version
The Nintendo DSNintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
version of Rock Band 3 follows the gameplay format of Rock Band Unplugged
Rock Band Unplugged
Rock Band Unplugged is an expansion of the Rock Band series of music video games released for the PlayStation Portable. The game is developed by Backbone Entertainment in conjunction with Harmonix Music Systems and is distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts...
for the PlayStation Portable
PlayStation Portable
The is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Corporation Development of the console was announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on , 2004, at a Sony press conference before E3 2004...
and the Nintendo DS version of Lego Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Lego Rock Band is a music video game and part of the Rock Band series developed by Harmonix Music Systems, but also incorporates elements from other Lego video games as developed by Traveller's Tales. The game is published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment and MTV Games...
. There are no special instrument attachments; instead, gameplay is designed around matching notes using the face buttons on the DS. Each of the 26 songs, a subset of the songs available on the Rock Band 3 disc for other consoles, are presented as a set of four tracks, one for each instrument, with the player able to move between them. To perform well, the player must move between tracks using the shoulder buttons and succeed to match a phrase of notes using the face buttons of the controller in order to boost the band's performance meter; in normal game modes, this will cause the track to play automatically by itself for a brief period allowing the player to focus on the other tracks. The player can fail a song if they cannot match notes correctly, or by ignoring a single track for too long. The DS version includes a single-player career mode and both cooperative and competitive play modes. Additional features that were present in Unplugged also are included in Rock Band 3 for the DS, but have been renamed to match changes in the game's console modes. For example, the "Band Survival" mode from Unplugged, requiring the player to keep all the instruments going without any respite after successfully completing a track section, is called "Pro Mode" in Rock Band 3 for the DS.
Development
Despite previous success of rhythm gameRhythm game
Rhythm game or rhythm action is a genre of music-themed action video game that challenges a player's sense of rhythm. Games in the genre typically focus on dance or the simulated performance of musical instruments, and require players to press buttons in a sequence dictated on the screen...
s, the genre as a whole saw nearly a 50% drop in revenues in 2009; sales of top-tier titles The Beatles: Rock Band and Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5
Guitar Hero 5 is a music video game and the fifth main entry in the Guitar Hero series. The game was developed by Neversoft and published by RedOctane and Activision, and released internationally in September 2009 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 2, 3 and Wii consoles...
were significantly off from initial projections. Part of this has been attributed to the late-2000s recession limiting new purchases, but other analysis have speculated that consumers had grown tired of purchasing new iterations of instrument controllers for the same gameplay. While designing Rock Band 3, Harmonix sought to capture the playing experience that "really started this whole phenomenon in the first place", according to project director Daniel Sussman. Harmonix's CEO, Alex Rigopulos, stated that "Our ambition for Rock Band 3 was really to re-energize and reinvigorate the (music game) category and advance it and move it forward." In introducing the game to journalists at a closed media event about a month prior to the 2010 Electronic Entertainment Expo, Harmonix called Rock Band 3 a "disruptive title" for the music game industry. Another aspect that Harmonix considered was "a ground-up rebuild of the Rock Band platform" and how players could interact better with the game and music library, according to Sussman.
Harmonix included the keyboard controller to help address these goals. The keyboard functionality was "designed basically to answer that staleness factor" that has been seen in music games, as said by Sussman. The gameplay for Basic keys was designed so that it was party-accessible, simple, and easy for existing Rock Band players to learn. Pro keys, on the other hand, was designed so that it would be fun playing the accurate song. The team also included Pro mode to help invigorate existing players to give them new challenges, aimed at those that "had any aspirations of connecting with the music in a deeper way", according to senior designer Sylvain Dubrofsky. Sussman commented that the combination of existing and new gameplay modes provides "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 noted that there still remains a large gap between mastering the Pro modes and playing real instruments: "We see Pro as a different experience from the five-button simulation, but not necessarily a track to expertise." Sussman further commented that inclusion of Pro mode, particularly at higher difficulty levels, was "because it shows the potential ceiling of where this can take you". However, Harmonix was still dedicated to helping to "open doors" for players interested in learning real musical instruments, such as by including appropriate music fundamentals that can be used outside of the game. Harmonix created the Pro Guitar charts for songs through careful audio interpretation of master tracks and through watching live performances of the songs to ensure they were using the correct chords.
Promotion
Rock Band 3 was distributed by Electronic Arts after the two companies reached a continued agreement for distribution of the series, which was initially set to expire in March 2010, with the final EA-distributed title to have been Green Day: Rock Band.A pre-E3 event occurred on May 20, 2010, to provide exclusive coverage of the game to selected gaming journalists, who would remain under news embargo
News Embargo
In journalism and public relations, a news embargo or press embargo is a request by a source that the information or news provided by that source not be published until a certain date or certain conditions have been met...
until June 11, 2010, just prior to E3. The first evidence that Rock Band 3 would include keyboards came from a teaser image for the game in the Green Day: Rock Band demo, released in late May 2010; the image showed 5 icons, 4 representing the existing instruments in the game and the fifth showing a keyboard layout. Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
claimed via a mole
Mole (espionage)
A mole is a spy who works for an enemy nation, but whose loyalty ostensibly lies with his own nation's government. In some usage, a mole differs from a defector in that a mole is a spy before gaining access to classified information, while a defector becomes a spy only after gaining access...
, that the unit would be a "keytar", and that the game would include Pro mode. Ars Technica later claimed that Harmonix requested to have the article removed due to the embargo, and insisted that the unit should not be referred to as a "keytar". Ars Technica further commented that while other gaming sites had to wait until June 11 when the embargo was lifted, USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
was able to reveal their stories the day before, scooping the other sites who had originally remained quiet on Ars Technica's story for fear of breaking the embargo.
The 2010 E3 Game Critics Awards
Game Critics Awards
The Game Critics Awards are a set of annual awards held after the E3 video game conference since 1998. The awards are given to products displayed at E3 with the title Best of E3 of their category. The nominees and winners of the awards are chosen by individual judges representing 35 major North...
awarded Rock Band 3 for the "Best Social/Casual Game", and included both the new keyboard and the Pro guitar peripherals as "Best Hardware" nominees. The game was also awarded the title of "Best Music Game" as well as being nominated for "Most Innovative" by GameTrailers
GameTrailers
GameTrailers is a media website that specializes in video game related content. It provides free access to original programming , game trailers and recorded game play. Along with standard definition , many of the video clips are offered in a higher resolution .Users can upload videos, create...
.
Several offers were made available to players who pre-ordered the game, depending on vendor. In North America, those that pre-ordered through Gamestop
GameStop
GameStop Corporation is an American video game and entertainment software retailer. The company, whose headquarters is in Grapevine, Texas, United States, operates 6,500 retail stores throughout the United States, Canada, Australia, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, New...
received early access to three downloadable tracks for the game; "Burning Down the House
Burning Down the House
"Burning Down the House" is a song by New Wave band Talking Heads, released as the first single from their fifth studio album Speaking in Tongues.-Background:...
" by Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, "My Own Summer
My Own Summer (Shove It)
"My Own Summer " is a single by Sacramento, California-based alternative metal band Deftones; their first to be taken from the album Around the Fur. It was released in 1997 by Maverick Records. This opening track is a definitive fan favourite and a staple of every Deftones concert. It was Deftones'...
" by Deftones
Deftones
Deftones are an American alternative metal band from Sacramento, California, founded in 1988. The band consists of Chino Moreno , Stephen Carpenter , Chi Cheng , Frank Delgado , and Abe Cunningham . Currently Sergio Vega is standing in on bass while Cheng recovers from a car accident...
, and "Blue Monday
Blue Monday (New Order song)
"Blue Monday" is a single released in 1983 by British band New Order, and later remixed in 1988 and 1995. The song has been widely remixed and covered since its original release, and became a popular anthem in the dance club scene.-Background:...
" by New Order
New Order
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by Bernard Sumner , Peter Hook and Stephen Morris...
. Players preordering the game through Amazon.com
Amazon.com
Amazon.com, Inc. is a multinational electronic commerce company headquartered in Seattle, Washington, United States. It is the world's largest online retailer. Amazon has separate websites for the following countries: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, and...
or Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
received immediate access to a unique in-game guitar for their avatars.
Post-release support
Harmonix continues to support Rock Band 3 not only through additional downloadable content, but updating the core software for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 owners to address critical issues and incorporate new features. This has included adding support for the Rock Band NetworkRock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
Audition mode ahead of the release of Rock Band Network 2.0 (supporting the unique Rock Band 3 feature set), and, due to high demand from the game's fans, adding in unofficial support of the light-and-fog stage kit device previously developed for Rock Band 2 on the Xbox 360.
After the dissolution of MTV Games, MadCatz will be taking over the publication and distribution rights for the game, with a re-release of the game in several instrument bundles for late 2011, including one featuring their Pro Mustang guitar controller.
Soundtrack
The full soundtrack for Rock Band 3 features 83 songs, including a mix of tracks that made use of the new keyboard peripheral. The full setlist was formally announced a few days after the 2010 GamescomGamescom
gamescom is a trade fair for video games held annually at the Koelnmesse in Cologne, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is organised by the Bundesverband Interaktive Unterhaltungssoftware...
, at which the list was accidentally revealed during a video interview which had it scrolling in the background. The Nintendo DS version of the game features a 26-song subset of the consoles' setlist.
Harmonix releases new downloadable songs for Rock Band 3 each week, starting launch week with a set of twelve songs from The Doors
The Doors
The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, drummer John Densmore, and guitarist Robby Krieger...
. Downloadable songs since the game's release include, when appropriate, keyboard and vocal harmony support within the base cost of the song (normally about US$2 per song). Due to the cost and effort to create Pro guitar and bass tracks, Harmonix releases these additional authored parts as a separate download for certain songs with an additional US$1 cost. Downloadable songs released by Harmonix after Rock Band 3s release are not compatible with previous games in the series due to changes in the song format.
The majority of songs from other Rock Band games, including both on-disc songs and songs offered as downloadable content, are playable in Rock Band 3, which led to more than 2000 songs already being available when the game was released. Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network is a downloadable content service designed by Harmonix Music Systems with the help of Microsoft to allow musical artists and record labels to make their music available as playable tracks for the Rock Band series of rhythm video games, starting with Rock Band 2...
can also be played in Rock Band 3 and, unlike in Rock Band 2, they can be played in all game modes. A new version of Rock Band Network, called Rock Band Network 2.0, allows songs to be authored with harmonies, Basic and Pro keys, and Pro drums, but does not support Pro guitar and bass charting due to the complexity of authoring those parts and the number of users able to test them.
Reception
Rock Band 3 has received universal praise from gaming journalists who considered the game to be a major jump from Rock Band 2 and a pinnacle of the rhythm game genre. Matt Miller of Game InformerGame Informer
Game Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles. It was formed in August 1991, when FuncoLand started publishing a six-page magazine, free in all its retail locations...
called the title "a culmination of Harmonix’s efforts to bring music to the masses". Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
commented that for Rock Band 3, "This is the new state of the art for rhythm games, and it's hard to find fault with what's being offered." Joystiq
Joystiq
Joystiq is a video gaming blog founded in June 2004 that has since become one of the most successful sites within the Weblogs, Inc. family of weblogs. It is the centerpiece of WIN's own network of video gaming blogs, which also includes a blog dealing specifically with the popular MMORPG World of...
's Griffen McElroy asserted that Rock Band 3 "is the greatest rhythm game ever made, and quite possibly the only rhythm game you need to own". Reviews praised the incorporation of realistic instruments and the education of how to play them into the video game setting, seeing the title as a means of preparing players to pick up real instruments. Chad Sapieha of The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
said that with the release of Rock Band 3 "we are just a hair’s breadth away from moving beyond make believe" while the New York Timess Seth Schiesel stated that "Harmonix has brilliantly torn down the wall between music games and real music".
Reviews praised the introduction of keyboard and the new controller. Miller described the keyboard peripheral as "small and light" with a number of options for how one can play it, with Johnny Minkley of Eurogamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
adding that the keytar approach makes the keyboard peripheral "gaming's next must-have shame-maker". Many reviews noted that while there are some enjoyable and difficult non-Pro versions of the keyboard charts, playing in this mode was not much different from the established "five button" guitar method, and that the real enjoyment from the peripheral was through Pro mode. IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's Hilary Goldstein noted that the keyboard addition allows Harmonix to expand the types of songs that one would previously have never expected to appear in a Rock Band game, such as Warren Zevon
Warren Zevon
Warren William Zevon was an American rock singer-songwriter and musician noted for including his sometimes sardonic opinions of life in his musical lyrics, composing songs that were sometimes humorous and often had political or historical themes.Zevon's work has often been praised by well-known...
's "Werewolves of London
Werewolves of London
"Werewolves of London" is a rock song composed by LeRoy Marinell, Waddy Wachtel, and Warren Zevon and performed by Zevon. Included on Zevon's 1978 album Excitable Boy, it featured accompaniment by bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood of Fleetwood Mac.The single was released by Asylum as...
" or any Elton John
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John, CBE, Hon DMus is an English rock singer-songwriter, composer, pianist and occasional actor...
song. Sam Machkovech for The Atlantic expressed similar sentiments, adding that with the ability to include more keyboard or synthesizer-heavy songs into the game, "the songs are just plain better".
The new Pro mode was critically acclaimed as the primary feature that distinguished Rock Band 3 from other music games in the field. Minkley stated that the inclusions of Pro features "at once dramatically expand the potential of the game and fundamentally change the approach required to play and enjoy it". Reviewers appreciated the training modes, including their integration into the overall game's career progression and the breadth of material that is covered. Nina Shen Rastogi of Slate
Slate (magazine)
Slate is a US-based English language online current affairs and culture magazine created in 1996 by former New Republic editor Michael Kinsley, initially under the ownership of Microsoft as part of MSN. On 21 December 2004 it was purchased by the Washington Post Company...
commented that Rock Band 3s training modes helps to overcome the discouraging early period of trying to learn guitar as "the gaming elements will mask the rote, homeworklike nature of the guitar training process". Kuchera noted that the modes were aimed at those who have some understanding of music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
already; "If this is your first introduction to music theory, though, you may need a little more explanation", he concluded. This lament was similarly stated by Machkovech, who felt the lessons had "text that was written by a musical savant" that would be too confusing to those without musical backgrounds and too simple for those trained in music arts. Chris Kohler of Wired
Wired (magazine)
Wired is a full-color monthly American magazine and on-line periodical, published since January 1993, that reports on how new and developing technology affects culture, the economy, and politics...
described the experience he and a friend had where after playing though Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
's "Whip It
Whip It
"Whip It" is the title of a 1980 single by the American New Wave band Devo. It appears on the album Freedom of Choice. There were two 7" single releases of "Whip It", one backed with a remix of the track "Snowball" and one backed with "Turn Around"...
" on Pro guitar and keyboard, they were able retain enough muscle memory
Muscle memory
Muscle memory has been used synonymously with motor learning, which is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to...
to play their respective parts on real instruments, albeit not perfectly; Kohler summarized his experience that "Just playing Rock Band 3 taught us a little bit of actual music".
A primary consideration for the game was the cost of entry to enjoy the new features of the game particularly in Pro mode; both the cost of the new keyboard and Pro guitars (ranging from $80 to 280) and the time investment to learn these aspects was considered high and may only cater to niche players. The Metro noted that if one does not purchase any of the additional hardware controllers, "it's not much different to Rock Band 2". Goldstein commented that the amount of investment into the game will affect one's perception of the game's value: "either something completely new and challenging or just more tracks to rock out to". Goldstein further noted that with the cost and time spent on the Pro guitar models, "why not spend a little more and buy the real thing". Several reviewers commented that the buttoned Mustang Pro guitar is not as sturdy as other instruments and does not have the same tactile feel as a real guitar. Specifically, the reviewers noted that the width of the button impressions do not vary in width as real guitar strings would, and there is no tactile feedback as one would have with a fretboard. These reviewers suggested that players, if dedicated to the Pro guitar mode, to wait for the stringed Fender Squier which had more favorable reviews.
The game's soundtrack was considered to be "the most unusual and varied in the franchise" by Miller, and "an eclectic collection that's a little more pop than metal" by Goldstein. Kuchera considered the set list to be one of the best in any music game, "spanning decades and genres and bringing a wide variety of songs to suit any taste".
Sales
Initial sales figures from the United KingdomUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
showed that, for the two days that the game was available, only about 7,400 units were sold across all platforms, placing Rock Band 3 as the 26th-best-selling title during the week ending October 30, 2010. The title was the 15th best selling game in North America for October based on sales data from the NPD Group
NPD Group
The NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company. The NPD Group consistently ranks among the top 25 market research companies in the independent Honomichl Top 50 report, which the media and the research industry acknowledge as a credible source of information on the market...
. In an interview with Edge
Edge (magazine)
Edge is a multi-format computer and video game magazine published by Future Publishing in the United Kingdom. It is known for its industry contacts, editorial stance, distinctive anonymous third-person writing style, yearly awards and longevity....
in February 2011, Alex Rigopulos stated that Rock Band 3 "hasn’t yet sold to the level we hoped it would out of the gate", but believes that there is still significant potential in the title, in considering the then-recent discontinuation of the Guitar Hero series and the pending release of the Fender Squier PRO guitar unit. Though exact numbers have not been revealed by Harmonix, Rigopulos has stated that Rock Band 3 has trailed Harmonix's other game, Dance Central
Dance Central
Dance Central is a music video game for the Xbox 360 that utilizes the Kinect motion peripheral. The game was developed by Harmonix, creators of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, and is a launch title for Kinect...
, also released in 2010, which has sold 1.2 million units in North America by February 2011.