Rock Band

KingPads · Post by **KingPads** » Mon Jan 17, 2011 2:54 am

So since the theme is music, I think we should have a Rock Band tournament, especially now that Rock Band 3 is out.

moviepyro512 · Post by **moviepyro512** » Tue Jan 18, 2011 9:46 pm

Agreed. Given that bands now have a maximum of 7 people, scoring will probably have to be based on entertainment value, not performance, which I think is basically how scoring's been done in previous years. Bonus points could be given for performance though.

Given that a 7 person band would be fairly difficult to mass, should bands be allowed 4-7 members?

XxX098 · Post by **XxX098** » Wed Jan 19, 2011 8:11 pm

YES INDEED since it is a music theme this year i think the staff needs to advertise the tournament more like putting them up n the tournament screens that was in the video game room. As for a winner of the RB2 tourney, there wasn't much groups would participated maybe because not much knew about the tournament.

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Thu Jan 27, 2011 5:36 pm

[quote=moviepyro512]Agreed. Given that bands now have a maximum of 7 people, scoring will probably have to be based on entertainment value, not performance, which I think is basically how scoring's been done in previous years. Bonus points could be given for performance though.

Given that a 7 person band would be fairly difficult to mass, should bands be allowed 4-7 members?[/quote]

its a moot point. rockband 3 only supports 4 scored players. the 3 vocalists are there purely for the sake of being there, and their performance isn't counted towards the band's total score.

that being said, i would love to see a rb3 or gh:wor tournament. (warriors of rock actually has much better gameplay. it has a playable bass mode as opposed to the boring charts you see in rockband)

[quote=XxX098]YES INDEED since it is a music theme this year i think the staff needs to advertise the tournament more like putting them up n the tournament screens that was in the video game room. As for a winner of the RB2 tourney, there wasn't much groups would participated maybe because not much knew about the tournament.[/quote]

what tournament? there wasn't anything on the paper schedules about a rb2 tournament last year. just sf4/tekken6/random other non-rockband games

XxX098 · Post by **XxX098** » Mon Jan 31, 2011 9:45 pm

Haha you see it wasnt advertised very well last year there was only like 8 bands played that year which wasnt much at all but my band ended up winning gift cards to gamestop

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Mon Feb 07, 2011 1:59 pm

The tournament last year was setup by non-video game staff last year as a additional event. It was added in the addendum schedule which hurt chances for a better turn-out.

As for this year, we'll be running a Rock band 3 tournament on Sunday at Noon. Our guy running the tournament is a battle of the bands champion (Complimentary Breakfast) and he'll post more when he finishes the rules...

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 10:36 am

is there going to be a guitar hero tournament as well? (warriors of rock > rb3)

regardless, that is great news.

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Thu Feb 10, 2011 6:44 pm

Most of the GH tournaments we do don't get great attendance so we generally don't do them unless we get a good request...

It especially sucks since GH is now discontinued.

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Sun Feb 13, 2011 2:40 am

If there is a Rock Band tourney, what controllers will be provided? Is pro mode going to get a separate tourney? Will the fender strat be available to guitarists? (I prefer playing on the RB2 fender; easier to slide and small fingers. I was so disappointed when I saw that the only guitar controllers they had for the Rock band setup were GH controllers)

Also, what will be the possible list of songs? Just RB3 and future DLC, or everything and anything?

Obviously, I don't expect a concrete answer to this right away since the con is still two months away, but I really want to participate in a RB tourney since I've never been.

moviepyro512 · Post by **moviepyro512** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 3:04 am

[quote=reaper527]
its a moot point. rockband 3 only supports 4 scored players. the 3 vocalists are there purely for the sake of being there, and their performance isn't counted towards the band's total score.
[/quote]

That's only when you get into All Instruments Mode. The game supports up to 6 scored players, as long as there isn't Guitar+Bass+Keys. The game can only support 2 of those 3, any more and the Wii and 360's processing speeds are fried. The PS3 possibly could handle it, but Harmonix didn't want to leave the other two out.

Basically, if you want up to 7 players, base judging only on performance. If you want to take scores into account, limit it to 6.

moviepyro512 · Post by **moviepyro512** » Tue Feb 22, 2011 3:12 am

[quote=Wasumaru]If there is a Rock Band tourney, what controllers will be provided? Is pro mode going to get a separate tourney? Will the fender strat be available to guitarists? (I prefer playing on the RB2 fender; easier to slide and small fingers. I was so disappointed when I saw that the only guitar controllers they had for the Rock band setup were GH controllers)

Also, what will be the possible list of songs? Just RB3 and future DLC, or everything and anything?
[/quote]

Last Connecticon, the judges based scoring on difficulty (Easy, Medium, etc), AND the difficulty of the song. They could just give another bonus if the player is on Pro Mode. It would eliminate having to set up another tournament, considering it might be hard to get enough Pro Mode players to make up a tournament.

Last year they only had GH controllers for the RB tournament. I wouldn't mind there being at least one RB controller this time around.

I remember there being an ION drum set last year. Is that still being used?

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Thu Feb 24, 2011 3:22 pm

Let me try to list some answers I saw...

1. It will be a base instrument tournament. (ie. Bass, Guitar, 1 Vocal, drums)

2. Pro mode is disabled

3. DLC is available. (listing available possibly)

4. Difficulty is still yet to be decided.

5. it's based purely on skill rather than performance this time around.

The_Graverobber · Post by **The_Graverobber** » Thu Mar 03, 2011 12:53 am

Personally, I think having a performance score is rather important for Rock Band tournaments. Otherwise you might as have it be Guitar Hero battles. Hell, even Guitar Hero tournament players have some showmanship. But think of this way: would you go see a band if they stood still during the entire performance? No, you'd demand your money back and say it was the most boring concert you've ever seen. That's my 2cents on that.

Aside from that, any bands looking for another, I'm looking for a band that needs an expert level vocalist. Send me an IM or PM.

XxX098 · Post by **XxX098** » Fri Mar 04, 2011 11:20 pm

WOw this seems a bit more awesome haha im actually lookin forward to this

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 1:47 am

I like the idea of performance having some weight in the judging as well; it's how the game was meant to be played IMO.

Anyway, anyone need an expert guitarist and/or vocalist? (if there are no fenders at the tourney, then I can only do vocals...)

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Sat Mar 05, 2011 10:23 pm

i am currently bandless as well, so if anyone needs a guitarist for the tournament, i'd be interested.

i guess the only thing i have to give some idea of my level is my various guitar hero/rockband achievements

http://live.xbox.com/en-US/member/reaper527

i consider myself good, but wouldn't call myself a top tier player by any stretch of the imagination.

just out of curiosity, will there be multiple tournaments? (specifically a band tournament, and single player individual instrument tournaments)

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Mon Mar 07, 2011 12:59 am

lol, can't see your achievements; I'm on the PS3. Anyway, I'm interested in teaming with you possibly (ok, so I'm interested in teaming with anybody, but that's beside the point...)

On the PS3, I'm within the top 100 for RB3 on-disc songs on expert guitar, and I hold high spots on many other songs. Just to name a few off the top of my head: Blood Red Rock (can 100% the solo, working on the FC, currently #4 IIRC), Won't Get Fooled Again (FC'ed, currently #2), and Panic Attack (recently GS'ed, hold the #40 spot).

Of course, all of this is rendered moot if there aren't any fenders at the tourney. If there aren't, can people bring their own? And I assume the tourney's going to take place on an XBOX, but can someone confirm? Thanks.

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Fri Mar 11, 2011 2:08 pm

yeah, i'd be up for teaming up. since have 2 guitarists (or i guess more specifically that would translate into a guitarist and a bassist, since rb doesn't allow 2 guitarists like guitar hero does) we just need a drummer and singer

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Sun Mar 13, 2011 1:25 am

Which brings me to my next question; are three man bands allowed? 'Cause I can play expert guitar/bass and sing expert vocals at the same time...

RingoDeathStarr · Post by **RingoDeathStarr** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 1:16 am

[quote=moviepyro512][quote=reaper527]
its a moot point. rockband 3 only supports 4 scored players. the 3 vocalists are there purely for the sake of being there, and their performance isn't counted towards the band's total score.
[/quote]

That's only when you get into All Instruments Mode. The game supports up to 6 scored players, as long as there isn't Guitar+Bass+Keys. The game can only support 2 of those 3, any more and the Wii and 360's processing speeds are fried. The PS3 possibly could handle it, but Harmonix didn't want to leave the other two out.

Basically, if you want up to 7 players, base judging only on performance. If you want to take scores into account, limit it to 6.[/quote]
The game doesn't allow vocalists to score when Keys, Bass, Guitar, and Drums are in use is because the consoles only allow you to have four controllers active at one time.

allowing pro-mode won't negatively effect other players. If someone can play on pro-mode, good for them! They should be able to play it if they want to.

Skill and performance should be a combined factor. The final score of the song should be added to a judge's score which will be based on the overall enjoyment of the band's performance.

Wasumaru: I'm not the one to say if 3 man bands are allowed or not but if you can play and sing at the same time, you could do harmonies.

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 6:22 pm

lol, ok. And sorry if I've already asked this a thousand times, but does anyone know for sure if fenders are going to be available at the tourney? And I assume the XBOX is going to be the system used?

Also, how's the dlc going to work? Can we request songs that we'll use at the tourney?

RingoDeathStarr · Post by **RingoDeathStarr** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:02 pm

I think last year they had all the current DLC available but someone had said that the songs didn't work. I think I remember my friends and I trying to play a song but not being able to.

It's probably because the console didn't have the license to play the DLC offline. In order to play the songs, the xbox would have to be connected to the internet with the owner of the songs signed in or the owner would have to transfer their console license to the one being put out for play. Xbox has a video explaining how to do that.

The_Graverobber · Post by **The_Graverobber** » Wed Mar 16, 2011 7:02 pm

It'd be great for someone in charge of the Tournament to answer some of these questions...

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 4:48 pm

if there are any expert level drummers out there looking for a band for the tournament, the band i am in is currently looking for one (we have vocals/guitar/bass already), so shoot me a pm if you are interested in joining us.

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Fri Mar 25, 2011 3:41 pm

i seem to either be completely blind or the edit button disappeared on my post. we found a drummer and now have a full band ready for the tournament

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 4:19 pm

Basic Rules
- Teams of 4 (Solo Vocals)
- No Pro Mode
- No Keys (Classic RB Game Play)
- Songs Allowed: On-Disk Songs of RB1, RB2, and RB3 (DLC allowance will be voted by the players)
- Single Elimination: Best of 3 songs (Played Simultaneously) (3rd song if needed will be random)
- Highest Score wins the Song
- Coin Flip determines song choice order
- Difficulty will be given preference to the highest difficulty as this is a skill based tournament
- Failure results in a score of 0 for the individual song.

Let me know if any other things need to be addressed...

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 5:00 pm

[quote=DeMarcus]Basic Rules
- Teams of 4 (Solo Vocals)
- No Pro Mode
- No Keys (Classic RB Game Play)
- Songs Allowed: On-Disk Songs of RB1, RB2, and RB3 (DLC allowance will be voted by the players)
- Single Elimination: Best of 3 songs (Played Simultaneously) (3rd song if needed will be random)
- Highest Score wins the Song
- Coin Flip determines song choice order
- Difficulty will be given preference to the highest difficulty as this is a skill based tournament
- Failure results in a score of 0 for the individual song.

Let me know if any other things need to be addressed...[/quote]

so if i am understanding this correctly,

1. there will be a bracket with all of the bands competing 1 on 1, until eventually there is a winner?

2. how difficult a song is, is irrelevant, but what is relevant is the difficulty setting played at?

also, can you elaborate on failure. i assume you mean that if an individual fails mid song but is revived by their band and they complete the song, then there is no penalty, but if the band fails the song as a whole, than that is the 0 you are talking about?

most importantly, you say this is a tournament of skill, what is the basis for who moves on? is it percentage of notes hit, or is it total score

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:18 pm

Thanks for the questions, let's see...

[quote]1. there will be a bracket with all of the bands competing 1 on 1, until eventually there is a winner?[/quote]

Yes each band will compete against another band every round in a bracket similar to most fighting and Bemani tournaments.

[quote]2. how difficult a song is, is irrelevant, but what is relevant is the difficulty setting played at?[/quote]

Correct, because we are scoring by band total score. Both bands need to be on the same difficulty per instrument as to not skew or sandbag. We've had plenty of tournaments where the everyone but one instrument was on expert. A lot of tournaments default vocals to hard just because of the inconsistency of the tracks sometimes. It's a courtesy given to the players to agree on for sport otherwise the tournament would be all Expert which would detract a broader audience.

[quote]also, can you elaborate on failure. i assume you mean that if an individual fails mid song but is revived by their band and they complete the song, then there is no penalty, but if the band fails the song as a whole, than that is the 0 you are talking about?[/quote]

If your team fully fails out fully as in the song ends abruptly, you lose just the individual song if the other team passes no matter what the score. If an instrument fails or is revived even if its fail coasting til the end of the song the score counts.

IE. If you won the first song and your playing your second song and your team fails, you only would lose the second song if the other team passes it. The match would be settled on the last song which would be random.

[quote]most importantly, you say this is a tournament of skill, what is the basis for who moves on? is it percentage of notes hit, or is it total score[/quote]

We count simply each match which team won more songs. whichever team had the higher team score after each song wins that song. Mathematically all you need is two songs to win your match and move on to the next round.

EX. A plays B
Song 1
A wins coin toss
A picks carry on my wayward son
both teams play song
team with higher score wins first song

B picks song
both teams play song
team with higher score wins second song

If score is tied a final song is played (random)
If score is 2-0 there is no need for random

Sorry I know it sounds weird on text but its really simple...

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 7:27 pm

[quote=DeMarcus]
Sorry I know it sounds weird on text but its really simple...[/quote]

this is actually perfectly clear, and clears up any questions i can think of right now.

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Sun Apr 10, 2011 10:21 pm

So, the system used is the XBOX 360 then? And what controllers will be provided? (i.e. is the Fender Strat going to be available?)

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 12:45 pm

the system is gonna be PS3 and I'm not sure about the strat...

moviepyro512 · Post by **moviepyro512** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 1:33 pm

Do you know what drum kit will used? RB1, RB2, Ion, etc?

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 2:46 pm

Ion...

RingoDeathStarr · Post by **RingoDeathStarr** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 3:02 pm

Does that mean that the tournament won't allow harmonies at all? =/

The_Graverobber · Post by **The_Graverobber** » Mon Apr 11, 2011 9:29 pm

No Ringo...it says solo Singer. Personally I think DLC should be allowed now or not have it at all, since I know my band has songs in mind for DLC that we want to do. If it waits til the con, unless the system we're using has EVERY DLC song available, it's unfair to bands who wanted to play songs that aren't on that account. My vote goes to having DLC.

moviepyro512 · Post by **moviepyro512** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 12:08 am

I'm with Joker.

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Tue Apr 12, 2011 10:59 am

agreed. it would definitely be nice to have at least a weeks worth of notice on if dlc will be allowed or not (and what songs will be available if dlc is allowed)

KunoichiBaka · Post by **KunoichiBaka** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 4:24 pm

i also agree on having DLC.

also i have question: if two bands play the same song and wouldn't it be unfair that most likely that the other singer would not know the song? Or is this only based on score of the instruments excluding the microphone?

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Wed Apr 13, 2011 8:11 pm

@KunoichiBaka Unfortunately, the singer should know the songs, especially if we're using only on-disc songs, and yes, the singer will be scored as well.

If there's DLC, then I can see where you're coming from. However, good singers should be able to get a feel for the melody and verses on their sightread. (being an expert vocalist, I would know.)

Speaking of DLC, it would be nice to get a list of the available DLC before the start of the con. If no such list is made until then, then I say no DLC and just use RB1, 2, and 3. I would like to request some Bang Camaro though...

Wasumaru · Post by **Wasumaru** » Mon Apr 18, 2011 4:50 pm

Since the system is PS3, I will bring my fender (with fresh batteries) to the tourney to ensure there's at least one there. I assume bands will have a chance to recalibrate beforehand?

Also, I assume two separate systems will be used if two bands are going to play simultaneously. So, are we playing in quickplay mode or head to head mode? Last I checked, it's impossible to fail in head to head mode, but I don't know if they changed that for RB3.

Any news on DLC? At this point, it might be fair to just not have it.

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 2:20 pm

both bands aren't going simultaneously they go one after the other. What we do to help a vocalist out if they don't know the song is make the team who picked the song go first that way the vocalist isn't high and dry.

As stated before DLC will be voted by participating members at the tournament.

DeMarcus · Post by **DeMarcus** » Tue Apr 19, 2011 9:23 pm

[quote=DeMarcus]As stated before DLC will be voted by participating members at the tournament.[/quote]

scratch that, to ease the headache so we don't have a he said she said We've decided that DLC is not gonna be allowed in the tournament.

reaper527 · Post by **reaper527** » Wed Apr 20, 2011 3:38 pm

[quote=DeMarcus][quote=DeMarcus]As stated before DLC will be voted by participating members at the tournament.[/quote]

scratch that, to ease the headache so we don't have a he said she said We've decided that DLC is not gonna be allowed in the tournament.[/quote]

what are the rock band 2 songs that couldn't be exported, but later were released as a free dlc pack being counted as?

they are technically rb 2 songs, but at the same time, they are dlc.