http://www.ign.com/articles/2015/03/05/rock-band-4-announced-for-ps4-and-xbox-one

Rock Band 4 will be released this year for Xbox One and PlayStation 4, longtime series developer Harmonix Music Systems has announced.

“When we stopped developing Rock Band 3 , clearly the market needed a break,” Harmonix Chief Creative Officer Alex Rigopulos told IGN. “But since then we’ve been paying close attention to what our community has been saying about it. There’s been this steadily growing crescendo of fans saying, ‘Hey Harmonix, what the hell? It’s time! Why haven’t you announced a new Rock Band? We’re ready for it!’”

Crucially, your purchased songs from previous Rock Band iterations will transfer to the new generation of consoles, with a few notable exceptions. First, as your purchases are tied to your console account, Xbox One players will only be able to import Xbox 360 DLC, and PS4 players can only bring in PS3 DLC. However, there will be no import fee to bring your DLC into Rock Band 4.

Due to licensing restrictions, Rock Band 3’s on-disc music will also not be available in Rock Band 4, though Harmonix told IGN that it’s possible that a deal could be reached in the future for this to happen. Songs from The Beatles: Rock Band will also not be making the leap to Rock Band 4.

Meanwhile, backwards compatibility with your old plastic guitars and drums are still up in the air, as both the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 utilize different wireless controller communication protocols than their predecessors. Harmonix is in active discussions with Sony and Microsoft, with the hopes of getting permission to create sold-separately adapters that would plug into your console and enable your last-gen instruments to work.

“It is a challenge, but it’s something that working actively with us on,” Rigopulos explained. “I am confident that we’ll be able to find workable solutions.” Harmonix adds that they’re getting back to the “core” Rock Band experience, and thus keyboard will not be supported (though the vocal harmonies added in The Beatles: Rock Band will be).

Furthermore, Harmonix has no intention of releasing yearly sequels that, once upon a time, helped saturate and destroy the music game market. In fact, they don’t plan to release any sequels. Rock Band 4, they say, will be a platform that they add to over the course of the console generation, adding new features as well as new music.

“Going forward, our goal is to view as more of a live service where we can gradually and incrementally append new functionality to the core experience rather than having $60 annual title updates,” Rigopulos said. “You shouldn’t expect a Rock Band 5 in 2016.”

Finally, Harmonix is offering pre-order exclusive instrument colors if you plunk down money on Rock Band 4 via their website.

Are you ready to get the band back together? Be sure to check out our list of 7 Things We Want in Rock Band 4!

recently my son has been asking about Guitar Hero because he saw me play it at Dave and Busters. I think im gonna try and find some used shit at Goodwill because we are going to be all over this.

I've never played a plastic guitar in my life, but I killed all of RB3 on keyboards.

They're refocusing on the core of the game - guitar, bass, drums, vocals.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

I was excited when I saw this because I love the pro keys, now back to being disappointed in the way music games died

This seems like a final cash grab. At least do they have vocal harmonies?

(here's a link if you find a lack of podcasts at some point: http://www.giantbomb.com/podcasts/interview-dumptruck/)

Seemed like their biggest concerns are A) getting everything from Rock Band 1 and 2 to translate over to Rock Band 4 (something about 3 is tricky licensing wise it sounds like, probably just the sheer number of songs they put out for it), including the DLC (and for PS3/360 owners to be able to transfer to the same console, PS4/One) B) making sure your old (basic) instruments (plus Pro drums) work on the new consoles and C) refining the three styles of game people play for (score-based, party-based and career-based).


Essentially it sounded like they want to take everything they learned from the past four games, roll all those lessons back to the original Rock Band with a 2,000+ song library (though it's unclear if you'll be able to get any of that stuff if you didn't already own it) while keeping the 'platform' identity of Rock Band 3 where music is always trickling out.


I've also heard rumors that it might be a subscription-based game so you don't have to buy everything individually, that you would buy the game and then pay a monthly fee for access to everything in their store similar to Spotify.


~~~~~~~~~
"This is the streets, and I am the trap." � Jay Bilas
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/archive/contributor/517
Hip Hop Handbook: http://tinyurl.com/ll4kzz

As long as you can also buy shit.

they really should at least let people use midi instruments still, even if they kill pro mode.

But really? Keys was some niche shit. Tons of songs didn't have it, and some of the ones that did were useless.

Playing INXS "Need You Tonight" on Pro Keys is the most hilarious shit ever. It's like two keys you use the whole time.

It was fun to me, because I believe I got RB3 super cheap or free, and the only thing I had to buy was that adapter and songs. Pretty low barrier of entry vs. buying the game and a room full of instruments.

Now if they get Dead Sara's 'Weatherman' I'm all over this

Man I want one of those

I originally got it for another project (I was going to have it wired to work on both PS3 and X360, so I can play when I head to my friend's house), but since the body is solid wood, I'd have to do too much to get it to work, so I left it as is

and shoot bad guys in the neck like Laura Croft

I also blow up enemy locations on the daily

We talking games
get over yourself

not here that much these days. just a lil snark for old times sake

That game was fun for about 35 minutes




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Supposedly stores will have the adapter bundle by the end of the week. ugh

Either that or I'be overlooked some option.

I can imagine I'll just have to let mine run wile at work to DL everything I had over the years

you have to go into the store and click on each dlc song you previously owned one by one and go the process of clicking it, purchasing it for free and downloading. They say right now they're working on a process to allow users to download the disc tracks from rock band 1, 2, and 3. So there's still a wait for those.