Harmonix’s Karaoke Game SingSpace Releases Today for Gear VR
Rock Band VR’s First DLC will Feature six Aerosmith Tunes
A couple of weeks ago Harmonix released its first virtual reality (VR) title Rock Band VR for Oculus Rift and Touch. Today the studio has announced the first DLC library which will be all Aerosmith songs.
Rock Band VR’s DLC Library will make its debut on April 12th with six tunes from rockers Aerosmith. The songs will be available for purchase through the Oculus Store for $2.99 USD per track. They are:
- Aerosmith – “Angel”
- Aerosmith – “Crazy”
- Aerosmith – “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing”
- Aerosmith – “Janie’s Got A Gun”
- Aerosmith – “Livin’ On The Edge”
- Aerosmith – “Rag Doll”
The base videogame features 60 songs from well-known artists such as Avenged Sevenfold, blink-182, David Bowie, The Foo Fighters, Maroon 5 and Rage Against the Machine to name a few.
While you can download the title from the Oculus Store you’ll still need a compatible Rock Band 4 guitar controller. Currently these are PlayStation 3 Fender Stratocaster; PlayStation 4 Fender Stratocaster; PlayStation 4 Fender Jaguar; Xbox One Fender Stratocaster or the Xbox One Fender Jaguar.
As Harmonix releases further DLC content for Rock Band VR, VRFocus will bring you the latest updates.
Rock Band VR Dev Lays off 17 Staff
The world of videogame development can often be a turbulent one, with studios hiring and firing staff when big projects begin then end. This week Rock Band VR developer Harmonix has announced its had to reduce its staff, laying off 17 employees.
In a statement to GamesIndustry.biz the studio said: “Today we made the difficult decision to say goodbye to 17 talented people as we restructured to align with our current and anticipated development needs. These people all played a role in making Harmonix and its games what they are today and we are more than grateful for their contributions. We are working to ensure that they are taken care of as we make this change.”
While there was no confirmation if these redundancies were related to the studio’s VR project’s, recent months have seen other developers reduce their team size or close completely. In September last year Sony London Studio, which created The London Heist for PlayStation VR, announced ‘a number of compulsory redundancies‘. Then in January, Guerrilla Cambridge which had been in operation for 19 years and most recently released RIGS: Mechanised Combat League for PlayStation VR announced its closure.
Harmonix released Rock Band VR last week for Oculus Rift and Touch. Its currently in the process of developing SingSpace for Samsung Gear VR which VRFocus demoed at the recent Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Harmonix, reporting back with any further updates.
Lay Offs Hit Rock Band VR Developer Harmonix
Last week Oculus released its latest Studios title, Rock Band VR, bringing the dream of being a rock star into many people’s living rooms. Following its release however, developer Harmonix has been hit with lay offs.
The studio is letting go of 17 staff, it’s confirmed to GamesIndustry.biz. The company noted that this was in an effort to “align with our current and anticipated development needs.” We’ve reached out to Harmonix to confirm the news and ask if any of the Rock Band VR developers were affected.
“These people all played a role in making Harmonix and its games what they are today and we are more than grateful for their contributions,” a statement reads. “We are working to ensure that they are taken care of as we make this change.”
Lay offs at game developers are common after the release of a project as a team downsizes before moving onto another project or continuing to work on downloadable content (DLC), which Rock Band VR will be getting. Harmonix still has more VR in the works; virtual karaoke game SingSpace is slated to appear on Gear VR later this year, and the studio also released Harmonix Music VR as a PlayStation VR launch title. Recently the studio also announced a new physical music game, DropMix.
We gave Rock Band VR 7/10 in our review. It was the first VR game to attached a tracked object to a real world object to create a brand new accessory. Games Editor David Jagneaux rocked out, but ultimately missed some elements of the previous games. “The Classic Mode is merely a shell of its former self, but the new VR features establish a more immersive way of playing the game than ever before,” he wrote. “It’s lacking in a few areas, but the core of it all is too fun to ignore.”
Tagged with: Harmonix, Rock Band VR
Get Rock Band VR for Free When Buying Oculus Touch from Microsoft Store
If you’ve been putting off purchasing Oculus Touch for your Oculus Rift head-mounted display (HMD) Microsoft might just have an enticing deal for you. For a limited time, if you order the motion controllers through the Microsoft Store you’ll get Rock Band VR for free.
Continuing Oculus and Microsoft’s long term collaboration, the latter made the promotional announcement today enabling those that buy the controllers online or in store to receive the newly released title completely free. This offer isn’t available forever, it is limited. You’ve got until 5th April or while supplies last to grab yourself a copy.
Harmonix released Rock Band VR last week exclusively for Oculus Rift and Touch for $49.99 USD/£39.99 GBP. 60 songs feature including bands like Avenged Sevenfold, blink-182, David Bowie, The Foo Fighters, Maroon 5 and Rage Against the Machine.
Alongside the announcement Microsoft also revealed four new virtual reality (VR) videogame demos would feature at its brick and mortar stores. These are: Rock Band VR, Fruit Ninja VR, Lumiere’s Dress Rehearsal and Robo Recall. Demos are free, with no appointment needed, but those under 18 – minimum age is 13 – will need parental consent.
Oculus Touch saw a worldwide launch in December, pricing the controllers at $199/£189. Then at the start of this month Oculus made the surprise announcement that the device would now be half the cost, dropping to $99. Expecting a backlash from those that had recently purchased, Oculus issued a $50 store credit for users to put against any software they may want.
VRFocus will continue its coverage of Rock Band VR and Harmonix, reporting back with further updates.
What You Need to Play Rock Band in VR
Thanks to Harmonix it’s time to rock out once again, this time in virtual reality (VR) with Rock Band VR on Oculus Rift. Pick up your guitar and rock out to a mix of classic hits from down the years and modern day rock masterpieces. There’s a variety of different game modes too. Including the classic gameplay synonymous with the series and a campaign mode to chart your rise to greatness.
But what exactly do you need to virtually become the next big thing of the music scene? And once you’ve got that how do you set it all up?
Well, you’ll be needing the Oculus kit, the game, and a guitar:
- Acquire an Oculus Rift and Oculus Touch.
At the time of writing Rock Band VR is an Oculus exclusive title and for that you will need not just an Oculus Rift but an Oculus Touch as well. The Ouclus Touch will not be held by you through play except for navigation purposes and is actually fastened to the head of the guitar. More on this shortly.You can of course acquire both the Oculus Rift and Touch from a variety of technology stores on the high street and online. - Choose your instrument.
It’s time to pick your musical weapon, and there are five to choose from that Rock Band VR supports. Three for the PlayStation brand and two primarily for XBOX One. Compatible controllers can be found online at the likes of Amazon.
- The PlayStation 3 Fender Stratocaster
Previously associated with Rock Band 3 and available in the classic Cherry and Black colour schemes, as well as Blue. Requires Bluetooth.
- The PlayStation 4 Fender Stratocaster
Previously associated with Rock Band 4 and can be found in the classic Cherry and Black colour schemes, as well as White with a Black interior. Also requires Bluetooth.
- The PlayStation 4 Fender Jaguar
Previously associated with Rock Band 4 Rivals and can be found in a Dark Red with a Black or White interior, as well as in Blue with a Black interior. Like it’s fellow PlayStation guitars it requires Bluetooth
- The XBOX One 4 Fender Stratocaster
Previously associated with Rock Band 4 and can be found in Black with a White interior, as well as White with a Black interior. It will requires you to have Windows 10 Anniversary Edition installed on your PC.
- The XBOX One Fender Jaguar
Previously associated with Rock Band 4 Rivals and can be found in Dark Red with a White interior, Charcoal Grey, as well as in Blue with a Black interior. It will requires you to have Windows 10 Anniversary Edition installed on your PC.
3. Acquire the game.
You can do this from the Oculus Store, where the the game is priced at £39.99 (GBP) at the time of writing. However you can also acquire a RockBand VR bundle on Amazon where you can purchase both the game and a peripheral. You can also choose whether you would prefer an Xbox One or PlayStation VR guitar controller Although your choice of guitar appears to be the black and white Stratocaster only.
If you’d like to see what the box contains you can watch an unboxing of the Stratocaster from VR Community member ‘Ray OfMinneapolis’ here.
4. Connect Your Fender Controller with Oculus Touch
If you own an Oculus Touch you should already have a necessary component for playing RockBand VR, the Rock Band VR Connector. Essentially a clip enabling the Touch to be added to the guitar which is tapped to the back of the guitar head.
Helpfully, Oculus has chosen to produce a video so you can see it in action. You can find that below.
After that and with your game installed you’re all set up. Go out and prove you are the best!
Now on Rift: How Harmonix Turned ‘Rock Band VR’ Into a Brand New Gameplay Experience
The developers at Harmonix didn’t set out to create an open-ended music creativity tool with Rock Band VR, but once they realized how compelling it was to simulate the feeling of being a rock star on stage in VR, then they completely pivoted the production of their game. They discovered that it wasn’t as gripping in VR to force users to focus on any single gameplay mechanic, and so they focused on allowing users to look around to cultivate deep feelings of immersion and stage presence.
Now available on the Oculus Rift and Touch, Rock Band VR brings players into their rockstar fantasy by using the Rock Band VR adapter to attach a Touch controller to make the guitar part of the VR world, and then puts players in the spotlight. But, unlike prior Rock Band games, the playing mechanics are focused on freedom of creation rather than a prescribed track of notes:
Rather than rewarding precision of playing the perfect studio session, they wanted to recreate what it felt like to give a live musical performance that allowed users a lot of agency in expressing their own musical creativity and giving an entertaining embodied performance. I had a chance to catch up with Jonathan Pardo, QA Audio Lead for Rock Band VR, to talk about their design process of how they were able to incrementally teach players how to play their game as well as some of the fundamental components of music theory for what chord combinations tend to work well within their set of 60 different songs.
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One of the most impressive things about Rock Band VR is that they’ve actually recorded live guitar sounds of every chord type and rhythm with the proper guitar sounds for all 60 of their songs. This means that you can push a few buttons while strumming and have it sound like you’re playing the proper chords within the context of playing within a band. There are seven different chords with the following finger combinations: Single notes (1), Muted Power Chord (1,2), Bar Chord (1,2,3), Power Chord (1,3), Muted Arpeggio (1,2,4), Arpeggio (1,3,4), & Octave (1,4).
Harmonix realized that the most immersive experience would be to not have any artificial gameplay visualization, but this mode would be virtually impossible for anyone to organically figure out how to play the game if they weren’t a game developer or professional musician. So the created a Performance Mode with more instructions and guidelines. The Virtuoso Mode can be unlocked after a tutorial, and provides more explicit chord following to help train your muscle memory and understand some of what chord combinations work well together. Then the goal is to eventually be able to play the Monster Mode, which is the most immersive since there isn’t any gameplay visualizations happening but you have to know all of the music theory and listen to the band and follow along, much like a real musician would have to do in a live performance.
Fans of the original Rock Band gameplay will be happy to hear that they’ve also included a Classic Mode that can be played in VR:
Harmonix has a lot of musicians who have played a lot of live shows, and so they’ve created 15 different environments in order to simulate what it feels like to play on stage in front of a wide range of audience sizes and contexts. They change how it sounds in each environment and have different pedals to modulate the sound that are activated by looking at the pedal and using your whammy bar.
Even if you don’t want to learn and play all of the different chord combinations, Pardo says that there are other things that you can do in order to earn points by doing an embodied performance that cultivates your sense of stage presence that include things like turning the guitar upright, getting on your knees, doing a head bang, or jumping up and down.
Adding more social features is a top priority for Harmonix, but there are various network latency challenges that will make it difficult to synchronize live performances. Pardo says that they often will hold back on features if they know that it’ll make a worse networked gameplay experience, and that there are some features like live streaming of the audio that previous console versions of Rock Band disable due to sync problems due to latency. They’re actively exploring network workaround solutions as well as how to track other instruments, but these challenges explain why Rock Band VR is only launching with single-player guitar support.
While Harmonix didn’t originally set out to create a live performance simulator emulating what it feels like to be a rock star, the unique affordances of VR slowly led them down this path. Pardo says they kind of accidentally created a music creativity tool, and that it was more about designing a game to be fully embodied and present in the moment on stage rather than the type of precision that you’d want if you were in the recording studio. The game play is not easy, but neither is being able to play music. Musicians should have an advantage in learning to play Rock Band VR, and it will be exciting to how games like Rock Band VR will help train and inspire gamers into learning how to play actual instruments.
You can learn more about the release of Rock Band VR and the compatible guitar controllers in this Oculus blog post.
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Rock Band VR Out Now
Harmonix finally releases the rhythm game franchise’s first venture into virtual reality (VR), which features an all-new gameplay style.
Rock Band VR will be available exclusively for Oculus Rift. It is available now on the Oculus Store for $49.99 (USD). There is also a limited-edition Rock Band VR bundle on Amazon, which consists of a digital code for Rock Band VR and a wireless controller patterned after the iconic Fender Stratocaster guitar and costs $69.99 (USD)
The developer previously released a video going into details on how the new gameplay and scoring system in ‘Performance Mode’ will work, which involves chaining together power chords into combos in time to the music, following the glowing indicators on the neck of the guitar to maximise the score. There is also Rock Band VR’s ‘Classic mode’ which veers closer to the game play from previous titles in the series, as it involves getting note-perfect runs through songs.
Harmonix have compared the difference between the two modes as being akin to the difference between a frenetic live performance versus a polished studio recording.
Rock Band VR is the first title in the series to feature a storyline campaign, which features the player taking on the role of the newest guitarist for the band Autoblaster, following their rise from playing in dingy backstreet clubs into stardom and sold-out stadiums.
There are 60 songs in the core Rock Band VR soundtrack, featuring songs from well-known artists such as Avenged Sevenfold, blink-182, David Bowie, The Foo Fighters, Maroon 5 and Rage Against the Machine, among many others. Harmonix are already planning the DLC packs that will be released in future, with plans already in motion for a Aerosmith DLC pack to be released starting from April.
VRFocus will continue to bring you further news on Rock Band VR and other VR rhythm games.
Rock Band VR Review: Rocking Out Like Never Before
I was apprehensive about the premise behind Rock Band VR. As someone that has played every entry in the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises — as well as lots of DLC — it felt strange to me when I learned Harmonix would shake up the fundamental formula that makes Rock Band tick. Ever since the genre rose to popularity we’ve been looking at streams of fret buttons cascading down note highways on screens telling us which buttons to press as we strum along to the music. Green, red, yellow, blue, and orange they fell, like a rainbow waterfall of sore fingers and hoarse voices.
Rock Band VR retains that traditional gameplay with its aptly titled albeit massively truncated “Classic Mode”, but much to my surprise, the real star of the show was the brand new way to play that’s been designed from the ground up with VR in mind.
At its core, the new VR mode (it’s unnamed in the game, it simply exists as the only way to play unless you specifically pick a song under “Classic Mode”) looks like a glorified freestyle session at first. If you watch someone play this way they probably won’t look at the Song Map a whole lot and may appear to just be goofing off. But in reality, it’s much more complex than that.
At the root of what makes this new mode operate is chord progression. Anyone that’s familiar with how playing an actual guitar works will probably recognize that term, but real guitar experience isn’t necessary. You can get an idea for what I mean in the GIF below:
There are seven different chords you can play, each with a different sound, and you have to play them to the beat of the song as it’s shown on the Song Map above the audience. With each section break you’re meant to switch chords and mix them together into various combos. Sometimes it will offer suggested chords for bonus points, but you’re never required to play anything in particular. Theoretically you could play the same one or two chords over and over through the whole song and you wouldn’t really “fail” in the traditional sense, but it’d be incredibly boring and dumb.
The system is made even more intricate when you’re asked to not only rack up chord combos (such as “The Alternator” which is just oscillating between two chords at each section break) but also sliding up and down the neck of the guitar at each section, which the game refers to as chord follows.
The result is that feeling out the song and knowing the rhythm ends up being more important than just staring at the Song Map. The majority of a track won’t show you which chords to play so you’ll have to find your own rhythm and mix up combos and chord follows that feel good to you. Harmonix likes to compare Classic Mode to recording a studio album since it’s full of specific notes and precision that are the same every time, whereas this new VR mode is much like playing a live show with creative freedom and variation.
Beyond the clever twisting of the traditional Rock Band formula, playing in VR inherently has its own advantages as well. You really feel like part of the band as fellow members look at you and talk to you directly before, during, and after shows. You start each set by looking at the drummer and giving him a nod. You can bang on cymbals with the neck of your guitar and even speak into the microphone or teleport around the stage. It’s the most immersive and transportive Rock Band experience ever, hands down.
Gameplay mechanics are built around this new first-person perspective as well. Once you activate overdrive by lifting your guitar upright, you can sustain it longer and get bonus points for doing things like jumping up and down, banging your head, swinging the guitar rhythmically side to side, and other similar rock star moves.
Playing songs like Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ on a Prayer”, the Foo Fighters’ “Everlong”, and Blink 182’s “Bored to Death” reminded me of what it felt like to dream about becoming a rock star in my bedroom a decade ago. It hearkened back to what it was like to jam away on an air guitar, eyes closed, biting my lip, while no one was watching, except this time I could look down and see a guitar in my hands tracked to my actual plastic guitar’s movements.
That feeling that you’re actually holding a guitar, playing in front of people, rocking out to your favorite songs, can’t be overstated.
But unfortunately the fame and adrenaline is short lived. The core “Story Mode” is only a collection of set lists at different venues with very light storytelling moments throughout. I started to appreciate and look forward to the minor moments of exposition with my band mates, but it never evolved beyond that. You’re always playing the guitarist (with no multiplayer or alternate position options) and you’re always part of the same band: Autoblaster. I was yearning for more customization options (like different guitar skins, more band mates, or home pad tweaks).
Beyond that, there is a “Quick Play” that allows you to play any song in the standard VR mode, create a custom set list, or play tracks in Classic Mode. Naturally, Classic Mode was appealing to me at first and it’s still satisfying to try tracks that have never been in a Rock Band game before (like the Oasis classic “Champagne Supernova”) but it comes at a huge cost.
You see, when you’re playing a song in Classic Mode, everything is stripped away around you. There’s no band behind the note highway, no crowd to watch as they cheer you on, and no venue to play at. You’re just standing in a dark black void with an enormous stream of colored buttons flying at your face. It feels like a huge and lonely missed opportunity. How can it be considered Rock Band if I’m standing by myself?
The learning curve for the new VR mode is quite high as well, as I had to play each of the two tutorial sessions twice to pick up on everything. My wife even got frustrated and returned to Classic Mode after about 5 minutes. With such a strong and varied set list of 60 tracks, it’s a shame that Classic Mode is only a trimmed down and truncated version of its former glory. Clearly the game is designed with a new audience in mind entirely — which isn’t necessarily bad since the new gameplay is fun once you understand it — but it could have been even better and more varied.
The lack of additional instrument support is baffling as well. The guitar I used was actually a PS4 bluetooth guitar since there isn’t a PC-based variant to choose from. I’d loved to have had support for a bassist by my side, even if outside of guitar, or a drummer, or at the very least someone to pick up a microphone and sing along with my sick riffs. But alas, there is no band in this Rock Band as it’s a purely solo guitar affair.
Final Score: 7/10 – Good
Rock Band VR is the biggest evolution the franchise has ever seen. The inclusion of the keyboard in Rock Band 3 was interesting and bringing a full compliment of plastic instruments to living rooms around the world with the original was revolutionary for a generation, but now this latest entry truly makes you feel like the star of your very own group. The Classic Mode is merely a shell of its former self, but the new VR features establish a more immersive way of playing the game than ever before. It’s lacking in a few areas, but the core of it all is too fun to ignore.
Rock Band VR releases March 23rd, 2017 exclusively for Oculus Rift with Touch. The game requires a modern Rock Band controller and it can be purchased either as a bundle or as an individual piece of software if you already have a compatible guitar controller. You can find out more information about the game’s features and compatibility on the official website. Read our Game Review Guidelines for more information on how we arrived at this score.
Tagged with: Harmonix, Rock Band VR
Preview: SingSpace – No need to sing in the shower, just warble your heart out in VR
Karaoke is one of those past times that people either love or loath. It’s one of those great unifiers no matter who you are, young or old, where people gather round a karaoke machine at home, or head out to the local karaoke bar for a sing song. At Oculus Connect 3, Harmonix unveiled its take on the past time with SingSpace, a virtual reality (VR) offering for Samsung’s Gear VR that not only allows players to sing popular tunes, they can also sing with friends whilst adding some inherently social videogame mechanics.
Firstly you have to ask yourself, do you like singing – regardless if you can carry a tune – and do you like singing in public. If that’s a yes to both then read on, as SingSpace is all about letting your vocal chords do the work.
When starting the videogame you’ll be taking into a colourful cartoon world where you can pick an avatar and then dress them in a range garish garments to suit your tastes. Then its onto the mode you wish to sing in. For the demo Harmonix ran at the Game Developers Conference (GDC) 2017 there were two choices available, either sing on your own or head into multiplayer. The latter was the obvious choice, as previously mentioned karaoke’s all about the social element, singing with friends – or in this case the developer – and the general banter that ensues depending on how well you sang.
For the demo only five songs were available, but this being Harmonix there’s going to be plenty available when SingSpace launches this year. For this particular multiplayer demo you take it interns, singing whatever song you like – it doesn’t need to be the same. To build social interaction into the title the studio gives the person not singing a range of emoji style images to choose from, they can then select these however they like as they listen to the other person sing. These range from stars, and pizza’s, to bags of money and loads more. At the end of the song all of the selected icons are then tallied up as a form of score, allowing the singer to see how well the other person thought they’d done. Or you could simply congratulate them – or heckle if you so wished – using the mic.
It’s a reasonably fun solution for keeping a group of friends entertained whilst awaiting their turn to sing. Whether its novelty value will keep players interested enough for any length of time is another matter.
Unlike Harmonix’s more renowned VR title Rock Band VR, SingSpace doesn’t have the pedigree to rely on to attract users. It’ll be down to the selection of songs that will really gain it some attention so hopefully the studio has some killer tracks planned for release.
On the face of it SingSpace is a quirky videogame that has its own charm and appeal. It’s certainly basic, both in the design and the mechanics, there’s not a great deal you need for a karaoke title. It just begs the question, do you want to sing your heart out in VR?