Last week, we shared the news that Rock Band 4, everyone's favourite music game, is indeed in development, releasing later this year. Originally teased via a fan survey, the game, which lets up to four folks jam together in a virtual rock band via a load of plastic instruments, has been on a bit of a hiatus, with the previous instalment, the cunningly titled Rock Band 3, hitting stores way back in 2010 - almost five years ago.
Literally the only Rock Band 4 picture we have...
While specific details on Rock Band 4 are a little scant on the ground at the moment, we do know that the games will launch on the current generation of consoles, the Playstation 4 and Xbox One - rather than the old Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. While Harmonix have promised there'll be a way to carry over your downloadable song purchases between the consoles, there's been no mention of such backwards compatibility for the instruments as of yet, despite Harmonix saying how important it was to fans. Whether they're going to reveal some magic adaptor device come May (when they've promised us more details), or whether they're expecting everyone to reinvest in new plastic guitars remains to be seen.
But we do have a bit of information on the instruments at least. By partnering with gaming peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz, Rock Band 4 will apparently come in two main flavours - the now synonymous 'Band In The Box', and a separate Guitar bundle.
The former comes with everything you need to form your own virtual band - a Wireless Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller, a Wireless Drum Controller and a new Microphone, alongside a copy of the game. The Guitar bundle meanwhile, comes with just a Wireless Fender Stratocaster Guitar Controller and the Rock Band 4 disc, making it a much cheaper option for those who mostly play on their own.
But details aside, what do the new instruments look like? Well... they're pretty familiar to say the least:
Hopefully they've reinforced the drum pedal this time!
With Harmonix having said on record that this is Rock Band on a tight budget, we perhaps shouldn't have been expecting an all singing, all dancing new controller, but we were still hoping for something that at least looked a little bit different. Instead, the guitar and drum kit look almost totally identical to the ones that have come before - however, there have been a few important changes and tweaks here and there.
The guitar now boasts improved tilt controls (for deploying that all important score-boosting Star Power), the mics' response has been improved, while we're praying to the Gods of Rock that someone's reinforced that bass pedal on the drums (RIP in peace our first bass pedal, stolen from us by too soon by Rush's Tom Sawyer). Also noticeable by its absence is the keyboard controller for Rock Band 3, which... we're kind of glad to see go to be honest, as, despite being a real-life piano player, the way they did the note tracks for the game was borderline unworkable and more than a little disorientating. But what is perhaps the biggest change going forward, is the fact that the instruments now appear to be wireless as standard - previously, the only wireless Rock Band instruments you've been able to get were the limited editions for The Beatles Rock Band. Which means we'll have to stock up on batteries before it hits stores!
For those desperate to spend their money on something totally new, though, attendees to PAX East had the chance to splash some cash on a custom, and apparently very limited edition, Rock Band 4 guitar, featuring a motif of one of the characters from the Penny Arcade web comic. While it's not quite to our tastes, we can't help but wonder if this could be the start of something special, with custom, limited edition Rock Band 4 guitars being released from time to time... We're not sure we could resist if it was something particularly cool... Maybe you could even get one done up with your band logo...
Harmonix are promising a more in depth look at the instruments and new features in May, on the run up to this year's E3 - and if Rock Band 4 follows the same sort of release pattern as previous instalments, we could be on for an October/November launch, in time for Christmas. Either way, we'll have more details on Rock Band 4 in just a few short weeks time - so make sure you keep checking back!
