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Development

A sequel to Rock Band has been reported as in development for release in late 2008 in a Wired blog by Chris Kohler. According to Kohler, Harmonix is working on improving the instrument controllers but the current controllers will be forward compatible with Rock Band 2. Kohler's piece also stated that the game will likely include similar features announced for Guitar Hero World Tour, set also for release in late 2008.[4]

According to lead design Dan Teasdale from Harmonix, the game will include many features that players have been asking for, including "first time ever" features.[5] Band World Tour mode will allow the use of downloadable content in addition to on-disk tracks, and there are several new solo play modes that "not only provide new ways for you to experience your music library, but also new ways for you to transition from Expert to real instruments".[5] Teasdale suggests that a game mode will be available that is "targeted explicitly towards players that want to sing and play guitar".[5]

Rock Band 2 was officially announced by EA Games on June 30, 2008, and will be presented at the 2008 E3 conference.[5] Rock Band 2 will premiere exclusively on the Xbox 360 in September 2008 as a result of a marketing agreement with Microsoft.[6]

Promotion

A special Rock Band 2 premiere event at the 2008 E3 conference was held on July 16, 2008, featuring a performance by surprise special guest The Who, in conjunction with the release of the "The Best of The Who" pack as downloadable content.[7] A "Rock Band Live" concert tour will tour North America in October and November 2008, and will feature bands such as Panic at the Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Plain White T's and The Cab, as well as local acts selected by radio promotions, contests, and on-site at each show. All acts featured during the tour will be made available later as downloadable content for the game.[8]

Gameplay
Each instrument is represented by a different interface: lead guitar (left), drums (middle), bass guitar (right), vocals (top). The Band Meter (green meter on left) measures the performance of each band member, while the Energy Meter (gold meter beneath each interface) tracks each player's Overdrive.
Each instrument is represented by a different interface: lead guitar (left), drums (middle), bass guitar (right), vocals (top). The Band Meter (green meter on left) measures the performance of each band member, while the Energy Meter (gold meter beneath each interface) tracks each player's Overdrive.

    See also: Gameplay in Rock Band

Rock Band players use peripherals modeled after musical instruments to simulate the performance of rock music. Players must play these instruments in time with musical "notes" as they scroll towards them on the screen. Rock Band offers single-player and multiplayer gameplay for lead guitar, bass guitar, drums, and vocals, allowing for any combination of parts to play as a band.

During song performances, Rock Band displays up to three tracks of vertically scrolling colored music notes, one section each for lead guitar, drums, and bass. The colored notes on-screen correspond to buttons on the guitar and drum peripherals. Along the top of the screen is the vocals display, which scrolls horizontally. The lyrics display beneath green bars, which represent the pitch of the individual vocal elements. The remainder of the screen is used to display the band's virtual characters as they perform in concert.

During cooperative play as a band, all players earn points towards a common score, though score multipliers and "Overdrive" are tracked separately for each player. Overdrive is collected during select portions of a song by successfully playing all white notes within that section (guitar and bass players can also use the guitar controller's whammy bar to extract Overdrive from white sustained notes). Once a player's meter is filled halfway, they can deploy their Overdrive, resulting in the "Band Meter" (which tracks how well each player is doing) changing more dramatically. This allows players to strategically use Overdrive to raise the Band Meter and pass portions of a song they otherwise might have failed. In solo play, a player deploying Overdrive doubles the player's score multiplier. However, in band play, a player activating Overdrive instead increases the score multiplier of the entire band by two.

Each band member can choose the difficulty at which they play (spanning Easy, Medium, Hard, and Expert). If a player does not play well enough and falls to the bottom of the Band Meter, they will fail out of the song and their instrument will be muted from the audio mix. However, any active player can activate their Overdrive to bring failed players back into the song, "saving" the band member. However, a band member can only be saved twice; after the third failure, they cannot be brought back for that song. Failed players continuously drag the band's Band Meter down until they are saved. If the player is not saved before the Band Meter reaches the bottom, the band fails the song. Bonus points can be achieved from "Unison Phrases" and "Big Rock Endings."

Tour mode

Unlike Rock Band, which segregated the single-player Solo Tour mode and the multiplayer Band World Tour mode, Rock Band 2 features a single "Tour Mode" that makes no distinction of the number of players. Any combination of 1–4 players, both online and local, can create a band composed of the player(s)' virtual characters. A band leader is no longer necessary, allowing the characters within the band lineup to change at will, as well as swap instruments. The band must also select a name, logo, and hometown before proceeding to their "practice space". From here, the band can choose to "Start Tour", undertake "Tour Challenges", or compete with other bands in "Battle of the Bands."

If the band chooses to "Start Tour", they will enter the game's equivalent of the original Rock Band's Band World Tour mode, allowing the band to play gigs and tour a virtual representation of the world. Once setup is complete, the band can begin playing concerts in small venues in their hometown until they unlock vans, tour buses and private jets, which unlock more cities and different continents. Unlocking and completing new gigs unlocks additional songs for play across all game modes. Successful performances also earn the band fans (used as a metric of measuring the band's popularity), stars (which accumulate based on the success of each individual song performed), and in-game cash (which each player can spend at the "Rock Shop") Most cities and larger venues require the band to achieve a certain number of fans and stars before they are unlocked.

The band must complete unique sets of activities at each venue. Performances consist of single songs, multiple song sets, "make your own" setlists, and mystery setlists. Bands need to choose which sized venue they perform at carefully, as a poor performance at a larger venue poses a greater threat of the band losing fans. For certain performances, bands are faced with an optional challenge that requires the band to average a certain number of stars for their gig in order to reap the rewards. Bands can also hire personnel, including band managers, roadies, security personnel, and sound guys.

The second option from the band's "practice space" is "Tour Challenge", which is a set of non-linear challenges. Some of these challenges include completing certain band-specific setlists, sets of songs that are difficult on a particular instrument, or songs all with a common theme. New downloadable songs will be integrated into this mode, allowing the creation of new challenges.

The final option from the band's "practice space" is "Battle of the Bands". This mode will be composed of online tournaments created by Harmonix with daily unique challenges, with each band attempting to outscore other bands.[9] These challenges will expire after a certain deadline and will require bands to rise in rank among their online friends before attempting to climb the world leaderboards. One example includes beating a certain song without using Overdrive.

Customization

Players can create and customize their own in-game character, complete with adjustable hair, body physique, clothing, tattoos, onstage movements, and instruments. Using cash earned within the game, the player may purchase items at the in-game "Rock Shop," with which they can customize their rock star. The game features an art maker where players can combine different clip art elements to create custom face paint, tattoos, clothing designs, instrument artwork, and band logos. The same character will be usable to play any of the instruments in the game, unlike in Rock Band where a character was fixed to one specific instrument.[10] Through the game's website, players will be able to view their characters and band, and obtain posters and figurines of their bands and characters.[11] Players will be able to create custom setlists to select from for Quickplay modes.[10]

Other modes

Also included in Rock Band is a "Training" mode, which will help players learn how to play each instrument. Within this mode is the "Drum Trainer", which will help improve players on the drums through a "Beat Trainer" (with dozens of drum beats to practice), "Fill Trainer" (which will teach players how to perform better drum fills), and a "Freestyle Mode" (which will allow player to freeplay the drums over MP3 songs on their console).[10][12] A "No Fail Mode," which will allow playing through songs without anyone being able to fail, and a "Breakneck Speed" mode, similar to the Hyperspeed code in Guitar Hero II which doubles the track's scrolling speed, appear to be unlockable through an "Extras" menu.[13]

Instrument peripherals

The game features special Rock Band 2-branded guitar controllers modeled after the Fender Stratocaster. The guitar is nearly identical to the original Rock Band Stratocaster in terms of gameplay. To use the guitar controller, players must hold the fret button that corresponds to the scrolling colored note on-screen while simultaneously pushing the strum bar. The Stratocaster controller has five additional fret buttons of smaller size located lower down the guitar neck, allowing for notes to be played as hammer-ons and pull-offs during solos. The controller also features an effects pickup switch that can toggle between five different effects. Overdrive for guitarists can be deployed by holding the controller in a vertical position or pressing the "Select/Back" button. Rock Band 2 features a "Lefty Flip" setting, supporting left-handed guitar players. Improvements to the new guitar include a sunburst paint job, a more reliable strum bar and Overdrive accelerometer, a self-timing calibration, and quieter fret buttons.

The bundled drum controller is also similar to the one featured in the original Rock Band. It features four rubber drum pads and a kick pedal. The pads have colored rings around the edges that correspond to the notes on-screen. The kick pedal simulates the bass drum, with on-screen notes represented as orange horizontal lines. To use the drum controller, players must strike the pads with the included authentic drum sticks and/or press the kick pedal in time with the scrolling notes on-screen. Drummers can improvise in special "freestyle drum fill" sections of songs, indicated by the columns for each note turning a solid color. Overdrive for drummers can be deployed by hitting the crash cymbal (green note) that appears directly after a freestyle drum fill. New improvements include velocity-sensitive drum pads (the force of the drum hits will dictate the in-game volume) with more rebound and less noise,[14] a metal-reinforced kick pedal,[10] expansion plugs for separately-sold cymbals,[14] and wireless capabilities.[14]

Rock Band 2's USB microphone instrument is identical to the microphone from the original game. Singers are judged by pitch, or during "talking parts", their ability to enunciate spoken vocals. The phoneme detection system used for atonal vocal parts has been completely replaced with a new, more accurate engine, and songs imported from Rock Band and pre-existing downloadable content will be converted to use the new phoneme system.[9] Some sections without vocals will display circle notes, allowing for the microphone to be used as a tambourine and cowbell by tapping it or making vocal cues. Overdrive for singers can be deployed by singing in freestyle vocal sections of songs, denoted by yellow artwork in the background of the vocals interface.

Harmonix and MTV Games will also be providing limited edition instruments, including a real Fender Stratocaster guitar retrofitted with the game's input controls, and an Ion Audio electronic drum kit that can work both as a standard kit and within Rock Band 2 featuring four drum pads, three cymbal pads, and a bass pedal.[14]

Soundtrack

    Main article: List of songs in Rock Band 2
    See also: List of songs in Rock Band
    See also: List of downloadable songs for the Rock Band series

Game designer Dan Teasdale has stated that between existing downloadable content and on-disc songs, there will be over 200 songs available for Rock Band 2, including 84 master recordings available on the game disc[5][15][16] and 20 more to follow as free downloadable content.[17] Backward compatibility was one of the most requested features of the game[14], and thus existing and future downloadable content will be entirely compatible with both Rock Band titles.[5] At the 2008 E3 convention, Harmonix confirmed that the original Rock Band will be updated to contain a Disc Export feature that will allow most of the original Rock Band tracks to be converted to work in Rock Band 2,[17][18] storing the songs on the console's hard drive.[9] The full list of songs that can be transferred is not yet known, as each Rock Band song had to be relicensed for use within Rock Band 2,[19] though Gamespy claims it is "unlikely that more than four or five songs will be left out due to licensing issues".[9] While Teasdale has made reference to custom song creation, as will be available in Guitar Hero World Tour, Alex Rigopulos has confirmed that there will not be a similar mode, saying that they really hadn't focused on that aspect for Rock Band 2 and that they would like to do it differently.[5]

The full set list for on-disc material was announced on July 14, 2008 during E3, and includes music from AC/DC, Bob Dylan, Metallica, and Pearl Jam.[20] Notably, the song "Shackler's Revenge" from the long-delayed Guns N’ Roses Chinese Democracy album will be part of the soundtrack, and is seen as a precursor to the actual release of the album.[21]