Category: Rock Band VR

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‘Rock Band VR’ Guitar Bundle Available for Pre-order for $70, Launching March 23rd

The Rift-exclusive Rock Band VR is due to launch on March 23rd, with a game + guitar bundle priced at $70. The game takes a wildly different approach to musical gameplay than its predecessors, but also has a classic mode that fans will instantly recognize.

Announced way back in December, 2015, the much anticipated Rock Band VR is now due to ship on March 23rd, according to the official Harmonix blog. A bundle including a Rock Band Fender Stratocaster wireless guitar controller for Xbox One or PS4 and the game can be pre-ordered today for $70 via Amazon. Rock Band VR also requires Oculus Touch, which comes with an adapter to attach to and track the guitar in the game.

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For those who already own their own guitars, Harmonix has confirmed to Road to VR that Rock Band VR will support all Rock Band 4 guitars. For the PS4 version, you’ll need bluetooth to be able to connect while the Xbox One version will connect to the Xbox Wireless Adapter for Windows (the same dongle that comes in the box with the Oculus Rift and connects the included gamepad). The Harmonix blog post also somewhat confusingly says the game is also compatible with “most other Rock Band controllers;” we’ve reached out to the developers for clarification.

Harmonix hasn’t announced Rock Band VR’s standalone price (if you BYOG), but our guess is $20 or $30, given that the Fender Stratocaster guitar peripheral runs about $42 alone.

Although the Rock Band games are known for gameplay that ranges across guitar, drums, bass, and keyboard, Rock Band VR only allows players to fill the guitar role.

Harmonix has revealed the first bits of the Rock Band VR setlist, which will include Aerosmith’s “Walk This Way”, “When You Were Young”by The Killers, and
“Ain’t It Fun” by Paramore. The company promises the following from the game:

• Performance Gameplay: Experiment with different chords, notes and strum speeds to develop your signature sound and make each song your own.
• Classic Mode: Demonstrate your technical prowess on the game’s Classic Mode, featuring the Rock Band note highway and scoring that you all know and love.
• Worldwide Leaderboards: Cement your rock god status by chaining together combos, earning stars and topping the global Rock Band VR leaderboards.
• High-energy Soundtrack: With more than 60 songs from legendary artists and up-and-coming acts, there’s truly something for everyone.
• Rock Band VR DLC: Rock Band VR will support its own catalog of DLC to accompany your rock experience. Stay tuned for more DLC details in March.

The post ‘Rock Band VR’ Guitar Bundle Available for Pre-order for $70, Launching March 23rd appeared first on Road to VR.

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Get Ready to Rock as Rock Band VR Release Date Confirmed

Way back in December 2015, Oculus announced that Harmonix was working on a virtual reality (VR) version of Rock Band. Supporting the Oculus Touch motion controllers, news on Rock Band VR has been quiet for several months but today that’s all changed. Harmonix has now confirmed a release date, launched pre-orders and unveiled a new mixed reality (MR) trailer showcasing gameplay footage.

Rock Band VR will officially launch on 23rd March 2017. Currently only Amazon US is running pre-orders for the title costing $69.99 USD. While exclusive to Oculus Rift customers choose either a PlayStation or Xbox version as the guitar controller is compatible with Rock Band 4. 

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The videogame will feature 60 songs from legendary artists as well as new ones. The studio’s revealed the first three, all of which can be heard in the new trailer. These are: Aerosmith – Walk This Way, The Killers – When You Were Young and Paramore – Ain’t It Fun.

Harmonix has mixed traditional Rock Band with VR in new ways building a classic mode and performance mode. Classic mode is about the pursuit of a note-perfect studio recording, while performance mode aims to create a live concert experience where players experiment with different chords, notes and strum speeds to develop their own unique sound.

For the purists, scoring and leaderboards still remain central to the Rock Band experience. Mastering Rock Band VR’s new gameplay mechanics by chaining chords and notes together into musical phrases and combos will build up points, while use of overdrive and signature rock moves will trigger multipliers to increase scores even higher.

For any further updates on Rock Band VR, keep reading VRFocus.

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Rock Band VR for Oculus Rift Gets March Release Date, Pre-Orders Begin Today

Rock Band VR for Oculus Rift Gets March Release Date, Pre-Orders Begin Today

Today, Harmonix is announcing the official release date for the latest entry in its popular Rock Band series of video games. Rock Band VR, the first immersive entry for the long-running series, will release for the Oculus Rift on March 23, 2017.

In addition to the full release date, Harmonix is also announcing that pre-orders for Rock Band VR will be open as of today. Customers that order early can take advantage of a $69.99 bundle that will net them “a digital code for Rock Band VR and a wireless Rock Band Fender® Stratocaster® guitar controller.”

Rock Band VR will also work with any Rock Band 4 guitar controller or PlayStation 4 bluetooth guitar controller you happen to have lying around.

Even this close to launch day Harmonix is still being very tight lipped about the song catalogue for its newest game. In an email to UploadVR announcing today’s release date, the studio is still mainly focusing on three songs: Aerosmith’s Walk This Way, Paramore’s Aint it Fun, and The Killers When You Were Young. The email explains that there will be “60 songs from legendary artists and upcoming acts on the verge of breaking out” and that interested fans should tune in to the company’s various social media channels for “additional Rock Band VR news, gameplay and soundtrack reveals throughout the month.”

Rock Band VR is a truly enjoyable combination of Harmonix’s tried and true gameplay loop and the Rift’s immersive capabilities. The main focus for this particular iteration of the series is the new “Performance Mode.”

This new mode focuses more on real-time creativity and building a real sense of stage presence for players rather than the multiplayer arcade insanity of a typical Rock Band title.

According to Harmonix:

If Rock Band VR’s classic mode is about the pursuit of a note-perfect studio recording, Rock Band VR’s performance mode, illustrated in the above gameplay video, represents the creative freedom of a live concert where no two performances sound exactly the same. In this mode, players experiment with different chords, notes and strum speeds to develop their signature sound and make each performance their own. It’s a completely new kind of music gameplay, it’s perfectly suited to VR, and it’s unlike anything else Harmonix has ever created.

The classic, finger bending gameplay will also be available in Rock Band VR with Harmonix making it clear that, “Traditional Rock Band gameplay will have its own dedicated leaderboard at launch in Classic Mode.”

Oculus Touch will be required for Rock Band VR along with the special clip accessory that ships in the box with the controllers.

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How Harmonix Is Doing A Lot More With A Lot Less In ‘Rock Band VR’

How Harmonix Is Doing A Lot More With A Lot Less In ‘Rock Band VR’

Rock Band has never really made me feel like a rock star on the account of my being rather poor at it. Sure, I could rack up some five star ratings on Normal mode after a few weeks’ practice, but anything on Hard difficulty or above, where the note structures best resemble the songs you’re playing, and I’d start to fumble about with wrong notes and missed chords. I was like a modern Hendrix…but if Hendrix had stuck to playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

What Harmonix is doing with Rock Band VR, then, has me intrigued. I first saw the game at GDC last year where I displayed my instrumental inadequacy for all the world to see. While you’ll still be able to access the more traditional modes franchise veterans are used to, the experience has also been honed to really try and capture the sheer ecstasy of playing live music.

A new game mode built specifically for VR won’t require you to battle with the traditional note structure seen in the past games and countless spin-offs. Instead, Rock Band VR is far more liberal with how it lets you play songs in this new mode. You make up the chords to tracks by simply holding down any combination of multiple notes that fit the loose suggestions. The only real challenge comes from changing those chords at the right time. Alongside the visual ques, the Touch controller mounted to the end of your guitar will vibrate as a countdown for when to switch.

All you really have to do is hold a few buttons and strum along. It sounds overly simple, and it is; this edition of Harmonix’s franchise is far more concerned with letting you fully embody the role of a faultless rock god. It wants to give you the freedom to look out at the crowd as you play, move around the stage using the guitar’s whammy bar to teleport. As scary as its sounds, this is a game that is trying to make you forget who you are as you pull that Oculus Rift over your head, undoubtedly making a complete idiot of yourself in the real world, but having the time of your life in the virtual one.

We first saw this new game mode at PAX West and it’s gotten even better in the few months since. I found myself tempted to get carried away even when in a room with a bunch of developers. I managed to contain myself, simply nodding along to a beat, but little touches like being able to hit a drum symbol with your guitar stock certainly make it tempting to let loose. There’s a great air of thrashing excitement as you watch your backing singer throw herself into her microphone, or look back at your drummer to start a song.

The challenge will still be there for those that crave it, but this new direction is much more appealing to me and I suspect the many Rift owners that simply like to get lost in what they’re playing. It’s just a shame Harmonix hasn’t brought this experience to Rock Band’s entire line of instruments yet since Rock Band VR is a guitar-only experience; imagine meeting up with your friends online and really playing in a band together. But perhaps that’s best saved for another time while the studio finds its feet with this guitar-only test run.

Rock Band VR is following a hugely interesting trend of VR games watering down their core mechanics in favor of the experience. Harmonix doesn’t want you to be struggling to get to grips with tracks and getting frustrated, it wants to capture the essence of being a star that can do no wrong.

The trade-off, I think, is absolutely worth it; I can see myself spending many a VR session in my room, curtains closed, flat mates out, and me belting out the words to Gold on the Ceiling, dancing like a fool as I pretend that I’m god’s gift to mankind. Indulgent? Sure. Exhilarating? Absolutely.

Rock Band VR is due for release on Oculus Rift with Touch in early 2017.

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Check Out Rock Band VR’s First MR Trailer, Now Arriving ‘Early 2017’

Check Out Rock Band VR’s First MR Trailer, Now Arriving ‘Early 2017’

Did you find that strange lump of plastic with a hole through it nestled in with your Oculus Touch controllers when you got them last week? Keep hold of it; you might need it early next year.

As you probably discovered upon closer inspection, that little add-on is designed for Harmonix’s Rock Band VR. It houses a single Touch controller, which you fit to the stock of your Rock Band guitar to render it in-game. Recently, Harmonix confirmed that Rock Band VR is coming in early 2017. It also released a very brief look at the game, which shows the set up process you’ll go through with each performance through mixed reality.

Instead of featuring the full band experience, Rock Band VR brings the focus back to the guitar alone. In a new blog, Harmonix detailed how it was expanding playing with the instrument. You’ll still get points for hitting notes on time, but the game will also reward you for using different chords and build a combo with them, allowing you to customize how you play.

The game also features a new Performance Mode in which you’re pitted as the lead guitarist in an up and coming band. Harmonix said to think of the original games as like recording an album, requiring precision and perfection. Rock Band VR, meanwhile should be thought of more like the live performances it tries to encapsulate. The developer said that “you are still scored, but have the freedom to make the experience your own.”

Rock Band VR is expected to feature around 50 – 75 songs when it launches, and there’s the possibility for more downloadable content– something not prominently featured in VR games right now — and perhaps even an expansion to other instruments in future installations. We went hands-on with the game all the way back at GDC and then again at PAX, and it made us feel like a rock god.

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