I honestly think this will be one of the lowest reviews for the game at the end of it all. The guy seems to whine about a lot of problems that aren't really a harm to the game as a whole. Most of it seemed to revolve around keeping the game closer to playing the actuall instruments, but thats not the point of the game. He strikes me as one of those that would bag on the original Guitar Hero saying people should just go learn to play the real instument while missing what actually makes the game fun.

Wow and Rock band 2 got a 9/10.

huh. I didn't play GH2 until after playing GH3 as my introductary game. In all honesty I didn't like GH2. Most of the songs I played felt lack luster in comparison. I then got to play Rock Band, and was VERY underwhelmed by the music. I found the songs to feel way off sync to what I was playing. The play list had so little interest to me.

Overall I feel that Harmonix isn't as good doing the songs. Since they would have been in charge of GH2/RB. Anyways that's my opinion and experience.

I also think this Red Octane/Neversoft ripping off RB is a joke. They are clerly not. What was happening. Was that this idea of a band game design was already in the works. Harmonix was bought up splitting the development. Most of the team went with Harmonix leaving NS/RO in the lurch, but still on the same road. Harmonix is clearly farther down the road.

oh the Irony. Wasn't part of Rock and Roll be about "sticking it to the man". Wouldn't EA and MTV now days are the man. Doesn't it make the small guys the rebels. Doesn't this mean that Activision and NS/RO are the little guys rebelling agains the man.

edit: oh that's right. The game is out. it's the Super Bundle that isn't released till tomorrow. Well I feel stupid.

I think the whole ripping off ideas thing is stupid. If your idea is unique then patent it, plain and simple. Otherwise it's free game. Konami made the patents on some of the ideas, so they can truly claim ownership of ideas.

Do people say that Half Life or any other FPS rips off Doom or Wolfenstein? Is WoW or any other RPG a ripoff of D&D? No, they are continuations of a genre. You can't own a genre.

Most of the reviews seem to be coming up around 90, so you may be right about a 7.9 being towards the lower end of reviews.

Uh, yeah, not so much. Neversoft, were brought in by Activision to take over when Harmonix took off to do Rock Band instead of pumping out rehash after rehash of Guitar Hero. (A task I'm sure Neversoft, aka Tony Hawk franchise-into-the-ground-runners, had no issue with.) Activision bought RedOctane and wanted more Guitar Hero, Harmonix wanted to do something more, so they went elsewhere. It's not like half of Harmonix jumped ship, formed Neversoft, and continued making the GH games. If Neversoft wanted to make a band game, they had ample time to do so for last year, and they didn't. Now, Harmonix forced Neversoft's hand, because now that Rock Band is established with consumers, releasing another guitar-only game would have been pretty much suicide for this holiday season.

As for the reviews, I'm guessing it settles into the low to mid 80's when all is said and done, and a 7.9 isn't all that far removed from a mid 80's score.

I'm actually glad to see (say its a great game) get a lower score.

Too many damn games these days all getting mid 9's. Getting a 9 or higher means nothing anymore. You have to make a really shitty game it seems to get anything lower.

Maybe they are trying to fix the rating system.

Last I heard it was MTV and EA that were interested to expand the experience. However there is no word if Harmonix was already in developement for a band game. It's an easy assumption that they werent, but it's unlikely that it wasn't already brought to the table. I also don't recall anyone from Harmonix jumping ship or mentniong it. I am focusing on what was on the develepment table. What your saying is that NO ONE that isn't from Harmonix was part or considered a band game. Also your mistaking wanting to and allowed to much. You even contradict your statement. Activision wanted more GH. Neversoft had ample oppertunity. Doesn't work that way. If Activision wanted more GH. Then NS didn't have ample oppertunity.

It seems more likely when the main developers who had the experience already were bought up(willingly or not) only left behind design documentation. Ala why GHWT main system seems like RB1 from what I hear. NS wasn't ready to design RB and were limited by Activision wanting a straight GH(more assumption).

Also to be fair NS is pushing Harmonix hand just as much. Though you are right about that. Harm made an excellent game. Forces NS to make a band game. The extra features, bigger name, etc... forces Harm to release RB2 earlier. But could only do so with a serious focus on only 1 console.

Anyways, admit it. We are both speculating, but I'm trying to approach the what if's from a longer stand point of game design.

In regards to "Harmonix not aspiring to make a band game." From June of 2007:

IGN: Has the concept for Rock Band been something that Harmonix has been working on for a while?

Alex Rigopulos: The concept itself has been gestating here for many years, but honestly, before Guitar Hero, the market for music games in the US was so small that it simply wasn't realistic for us to consider building a game of Rock Band's magnitude. Of course, after Guitar Hero exploded, everything changed, and it quickly became apparent that it was finally time for us to swing for the fences. So we've been working on Rock Band more or less since we finished the original Guitar Hero.

So, since the end of 2005 to beginning of 2006. Hardly an idea forced on them by EA/MTV.

And Activision wanted straight-forward GH last year. This year, they knew they had to up the ante, or be lost in Rock Band's wake. That's not contradictory, that's just common sense. Neversoft had no problem giving Activision what they wanted last year, and this year, they had their hand forced into making a full band game. If Activision didn't want a band game, I'm sure there would have been no questioned asked, and Neversoft would have launched Guitar Hero: Stryper & Friends this week instead of World Tour. If Tony Hawk taught us anything, it's that Neversoft is entirely content to run something into the ground if it makes money.

Gee don’t you just LOVE how people are always trying to take credit for things that would probably have been done or said or discovered anyway?

Everyone can say random stuff like that! I could even say Miyamoto copied my concept for Super Mario Galaxy. Would you obviously think I was the first one to think about it? He's just covering his ground. Maybe RedOctane thought about it as well?