Neversoft Community Event 2008(09/10/2008) 
11:32
Deimos: 
Hey folks, Deimos here, we've just gotten to Neversoft and gotten everything set up
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:32 Deimos
11:36
Deimos: 
they've got us set up in the motion-capture room here, there's 5 GH:WT setups here to play with
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:36 Deimos
11:37
Deimos: 
going to be slow for a bit, we're just trying to get everyone's laptops all hooked up, they only have so many ethernet ports :b
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:37 Deimos
11:40
Deimos: 
alright, been hooked up with a router now, so there's going to be a few of us available to run the liveblog throughout the day
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:40 Deimos
11:41
Deimos: 
we'll try to leave a fair amount of info in here so it stays interesting, but don't be upset if we take breaks sometimes to, you know, play the game
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:41 Deimos
11:42
[Comment From JayJay: ] 
Is this the near final build?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:42 Jay
11:43
Deimos: 
a few people have been asking if it's the final game - it's not necessarily, but we do have the full setlist here
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:43 Deimos
11:44
Deimos: 
As for actually revealing songs we don't already know about - I'm not sure yet, we definitely will if we're allowed to
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:44 Deimos
11:46
Deimos: 
Today, all the setups are on xbox 360
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:46 Deimos
11:46
Deimos: 
However, last night we were at a previously-unannounced press event for most of th evening, they had setups there with all 3 systems
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:46 Deimos
11:46
Deimos: 
so we have played on the Wii and PS3 versions as well, last night
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:46 Deimos
11:50
Deimos: 
Open note HOPOs interspersed with regular note HOPOs is going to take some getting used to o_O
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:50 Deimos
11:54
Deimos: 
open note HOPOs are represented as a white bar, instead of the purple bar, it's quite weird to play
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:54 Deimos
11:55
Deimos: 
there's some songs with sequences where you're keeping one long hopo streak with open notes in it, so there's just certain points in the streak where you have to... stop playing
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:55 Deimos
11:55
Deimos: 
timing window in general seems very similar to GH:A, it's definitely not quite as loose as GH3 was
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:55 Deimos
11:58
Deimos: 
open notes are only a bass thing, for those of you not understanding what I mean, imagine there's a hopo sequence that goes green-open-green. To play that, you strum and push green, then you have to let off the green fret for the open note, and push it again for the 2nd green
Wednesday September 10, 2008 11:58 Deimos
12:02
Deimos: 
someone asked earlier if it's only ScoreHero folks here - it's not.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:02 Deimos
12:04
Deimos: 
it mostly is, but there's also a few other people here. sluggo from gamespy is here, Jen from rockgamer.com is here, NikkiLove (a moderator at the guitarhero.com forums), and evybabee
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:04 Deimos
12:06
Deimos: 
ScoreHero wise, there's me (Deimos), ImaCarrot, Phr34k, emptyset, elx, FrankieB, toymachine, socrstopr, Barfo, JCirri, and krimsunmunkeys, in no particular order other than who I saw first looking around the room
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:06 Deimos
12:07
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:07 
12:07
Deimos: 
there's a picture of the setup we've got here, it's a pretty big room
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:07 Deimos
12:08
Deimos: 
lots of people are asking about the hardware in general, I think so far our impressions have been pretty good
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:08 Deimos
12:09
Deimos: 
Phr34k is bashing away on the drumset over there, he hasn't really been complaining about it. It's definitely a lot quieter than the RB1 drumset, much softer material
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:09 Deimos
12:09
Deimos: 
I haven't actually had a chance to play drums at all myself yet, everybody else always wants them, but I'll get one of the drummers over here to fill some details in later on
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:09 Deimos
12:09
Deimos: 
I can speak towards the guitar though, since I played that almost all last night
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:09 Deimos
12:10
Deimos: 
one thing that's much, much better is the neck connection - they're now using something almost more like a controller plug or a USB plug inside the neck, it absolutely does not move around at all, and I don't think it possibly can unless you're actually trying to pull it out
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:10 Deimos
12:12
Deimos: 
as requested, I'm going to get a picture of the neck connection, let me see if I can find a good way to show this
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:12 Deimos
12:15
[Comment From JohnJohn: ] 
Has anyone wanted to hurt toymachine for how he sings
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:15 John
12:15
Deimos: 
yes.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:15 Deimos
12:16
Deimos: 
actually, I think Krim wanted to hurt him more for how he plays guitar
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:16 Deimos
12:17
Deimos: 
Krim actually ripped the guitar out of his hands last night after him botching the first strummy part of The Way it Ends, back at the hotel
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:17 Deimos
12:17
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:17 
12:18
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:18 
12:18
Deimos: 
sorry, photos aren't great, it's a hard thing to take a picture of, but that's what the connector is like now
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:18 Deimos
12:19
Deimos: 
as for the rest of the stuff on the guitar, the strumbar is nice, it definitely clicks, it has a bit of a rounded "tip" like the strat does
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:19 Deimos
12:19
Deimos: 
for some reason I found that my "strumming thumb" was actually a little sore last night though, I'm not sure what about it was making me hit it harder than I normally would
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:19 Deimos
12:20
Deimos: 
the fret buttons are nice, if you like the LP's (I do). They have that "softer" feel like the LP ones did
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:20 Deimos
12:20
Deimos: 
a lot of people are asking for more detailed photos of the guitar - I had thought the ones available were pretty good, what exactly would you guys like to see closer up?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:20 Deimos
12:22
Deimos: 
just asked Phr34k about pad misses and such on the drumkit, he says in general the kits he's played on have been really good so far
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:22 Deimos
12:22
Deimos: 
definitely not a common thing, at least
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:22 Deimos
12:23
Deimos: 
I'll try to take some pictures of a few things close-up, ImaCarrot's going to jump in here and talk about the guitar a bit
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:23 Deimos
12:25
Deimos: 
I'll start with the touch strip first,   you can tap it to simulate strumming, so you don't even need to use the strumbar for the entire song. It's really easy to tap out the beat, easier than strumming it out I'd say.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:25 Deimos
12:26
Deimos: 
I REALLY like tapping to strum, it's fun. Using it for the special zigzag sections works pretty well, but it takes a lot of getting used to.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:26 Deimos
12:26
Deimos: 
you can tap EVERYTHING
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:26 Deimos
12:27
Deimos: 
The touchstrip is always active.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:27 Deimos
12:28
Deimos: 
Certain sections can be tapped without having to fret, outside of those sections, you have to fret and the touchstrip functions like a strumbar
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:28 Deimos
12:29
Deimos: 
The Star Power button is going to take some getting used to, the start button is where the Les Paul's select button is, so I've paused the game multiple times trying to activate. The new SP button is pretty big though, so I'd say it is better.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:29 Deimos
12:30
Deimos: 
Deimos back - yeah, maybe that isn't clear, if it's not a specific "touchstrip section", tapping anywhere on the touchstrip is the same as strumming
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:30 Deimos
12:30
Deimos: 
also, if you're using it to strum, you can slide your finger back and forth on it to whammy, so it's effectively a different way of strumming/whammying, kind of fun
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:30 Deimos
12:31
Deimos: 
I took a few close-up pictures of things on the guitar, I'm going to post those, not sure if they show what you guys wanted though :b
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:31 Deimos
12:34
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:34 
12:35
Deimos: 
that one's a little bigger than the previous ones were, make sure you zoom in on it with the magnifying glass on the bottom left - that was trying to show the cross-section of the strum bar, how the end is rounded
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:35 Deimos
12:36
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:36 
12:37
[Comment From SephiSephi: ] 
Deimos: Everyone is commenting on your sexy leg.....btw
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:37 Sephi
12:38
Deimos: 

Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:38 Deimos
12:38
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:38 
12:38
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:38 
12:39
Deimos: 
the touch-strip doesn't push in at all, no, it's only just slightly recessed into the neck, one of those pictures should show it
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:39 Deimos
12:39
Deimos: 
the start buttons are on both ends of the large "star power" button there, that's perpendicular to the strum bar and beside it
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:39 Deimos
12:40
Deimos: 
I'm going to take some pictures side-by-side with an LP, going to get Phr34k to come talk about the drums while I'm doing that
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:40 Deimos
12:42
Deimos: 
Phr34k's right in the middle of a song - I'll get him to come over as soon as he's done though
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:42 Deimos
12:47
Deimos: 
ok - he's actually in the middle of a short SETLIST, so he'll come when he's done that then
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:47 Deimos
12:47
Deimos: 
lots of people are asking about the music studio - we haven't spent much time with it yet, hopefully we can give some info later
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:47 Deimos
12:47
[Comment From Phil(wiihaxor)Phil(wiihaxor): ] 
Hyperspeed... Is it a setting or a cheat this time around?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:47 Phil(wiihaxor)
12:48
Deimos: 
It's still in the cheats menu. One nice thing to note though is that it allows setting it per-instrument, so guitar/bass/drums can all have different levels of hyperspeed
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:48 Deimos
12:50
Deimos: 
on the same note, the tracks' scroll speeds are individual - so if you're playing Expert guitar, and your friend is playing Easy drums, it doesn't slow your track down, definitely a nice enhancement
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:50 Deimos
12:51
Deimos: 
going to post a few pictures now comparing the new guitar to a Les Paul, two try to show the size difference of the entire guitar, and the length of them, and one is showing how much longer the new guitar's strumbar is, it's quite a bit bigger
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:51 Deimos
12:52
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:52 
12:52
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:52 
12:52
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:52 
12:53
[Comment From ArmoredPenguin0ArmoredPenguin0: ] 
Is it heavy, like the les paul?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:53 ArmoredPenguin0
12:53
Deimos: 
It feels to be about the same weight, maybe slightly lighter, but not significantly
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:53 Deimos
12:54
[Comment From TheRiffTheRiff: ] 
Have 4 note chords become a normal thing in song charts?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:54 TheRiff
12:54
Deimos: 
No, definitely not, I haven't seen any at all, 3-note chords haven't even been that common overall
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:54 Deimos
12:55
Deimos: 
A lot of people are asking about Wii/PS2 versions, I can't answer much about those, because I just don't know. I can try to get some info later, but for now there's not really much I can do
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:55 Deimos
12:56
Deimos: 
ok, I'm going to let Barfo talk for a bit about the rock meter system and how that works in band play, I've heard him yelling stuff about "undisplayed negatives" and such for a while :b
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:56 Deimos
12:59
Deimos: 
(Barfo) well we ran some testing of the rock meter system, its very complex and has a lot of hidden depth, but the one thing i think everybody was noticing is that its not too freindly in terms of just sitting down to play it (its tough to follow becuase its so complex).   However once i sat down and we ran a few tests playing a couple songs with some of us intentionally failing it actualyl has a lot of functionality - the challenege is going ot be to utilize it.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 12:59 Deimos
1:01
Deimos: 
(Barfo) What its doign is taking a straight average of everybody's performance, and what i saw it seems to actually go into negative (undisplayed), so essentialyl it has a similar functionality to rock band, excepot that when you are in the *failed out* state, you are still seeing notes it seems (cause you arent actually 'failed' you are negative rock meter - you will eventually fail out the band if it continues
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:01 Deimos
1:03
Deimos: 
(Barfo) other people using SP when you are low in rock meter actually does - sort of - save you, because when they use rock meter it seems to add some meter directly to you if you ar in the red on your instrument.   Unlike rock band equivalent (which pretty much gfives you a full bar) its a lot less but its enough to help you out, but i think of really tough songs its goign to eventualyl fall on the person to also help themselves even if they get that rock boost, cause it wont be enough to propel you throught he song liek in rock band (actualyl i sort of like this system)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:03 Deimos
1:04
Deimos: 
(Barfo) because its a very complex system and its a average, so far it feels very abrupt when you fail, since actually when you fail it sort of takes two people - one person goes deep red and drags down the average a lot, and then if a second person hits a rough spot their meter dropping to borderline yellow seems to actualyl be the trigger event (because the overall average takes a big dip and goes below red)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:04 Deimos
1:06
Deimos: 
(Barfo) Also it means there isnt much overall rock meter motion, even on tough songs i wasnt seeing it move much.   The indivudual meters seem to be deeper than GH3, the number of notes you can miss to fall out of the red is much bigger, you shouldnt go from yellow to red to fail as fast - but i didnt play any solo stuff - its hard to say in full band cause when you f'fail' (as noted above) you arent actualyl failed you can still play to try and dig yourself out of the negative stuff
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:06 Deimos
1:11
Deimos: 
(Barfo) note that this is all based on just a quick tests with the version we saw, i might have made some errors in observatoin, so dont take it as gospel.   THe executive summary is that the rock meter looks really complex, it looks like it has a lot of similar functionality to Rock Band's but its going ot be a thing where people are definjitely going to have to perhaps have an adjustment time to it in order to figure out how to use star power to save people, etc to best advantage
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:11 Deimos
1:12
Deimos: 
(Barfo) Pizza time, im off, hopefulyl i didnt create too many more questions than i answered.   overall i like it a lot, once i figured out what was goign on underlying
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:12 Deimos
1:17
Deimos: 
Deimos back - going to be taking some more photos in a bit, of a few of the interface things people have asked about
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:17 Deimos
1:18
Deimos: 
for example, there is a More Stats screen for full-band, so I'm going to get that, as well as some of the other options screens and such
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:18 Deimos
1:21
Deimos: 
FrankieB is currently playing Eye of the Tiger one handed while eating pizza, on Beginner
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:21 Deimos
1:21
Deimos: 
yeah, it's hard to get people to stop playing
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:21 Deimos
1:23
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:23 
1:29
Deimos: 
Frankie would like it to be known that this was a world first - first double FC of Eye of the Tiger Beginner + slice of pepperoni pizza
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:29 Deimos
1:32
Deimos: 
Phr34k's going to talk about the drum stuff now, finally dragged him off the game/pizza
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:32 Deimos
1:35
Deimos: 
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallrighty guys :D Phr34k in da' house.

First off, I'd like to comment that the kits I've played on so far have all been very good. It takes a bit of time to get used to the layout if you've been playing other drumming games, but after an hour or so it should be second nature.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:35 Deimos
1:36
Deimos: 
The velocity sensitivity is very fun to play around with. When you have freestyle sections, like in the intro in Hot For Teacher, you can play what you want. Depending on the weight of your hit you get a different sound from the drum. So you can get snare accents or open hihat hits, ride taps or heavy crash hits.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:36 Deimos
1:37
Deimos: 
Activating Starpower takes a bit to get used to, as you have to hit both cymbals at the same time. If you already have a yellow or orange hit, you can hit the other along with it, keep your combo, and activate at the same time. Alternatively, you can just hit both cymbals in an open space and not break combo while activating.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:37 Deimos
1:39
Deimos: 
There's also drum sustains. Which basically give you cymbal rolls, or drum rolls. In order to keep it going, you have to keep the hitting fairly fast, about 3 times per second.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:39 Deimos
1:40
Deimos: 
The pedal took a lot to get used to. It's a softer feeling plastic with a velocity sensitive trigger, which also translates into the freeform sections in game.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:40 Deimos
1:42
Deimos: 
The pedal does shift around a little bit, but not nearly as much as you would think. It can be grounded pretty easily using velcro on carpet.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:42 Deimos
1:46
Deimos: 
One more thing I want to comment on is the Accented notes, which are visually brighter in the charts. Basically you can hit harder for that note and it will explode differently, letting you know that you hit it properly. This does not give you bonus points, but instead bonus money or experience for leveling up your character in solo and tour mode. Plus it's fun as hell :D
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:46 Deimos
1:46
[Comment From tomcovetomcove: ] 
Does it feel like the kit can stand up to a bit of harder playing? When I gave it a try, it seemed like the cymbals might snap off if I hit them too hard for too long.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:46 tomcove
1:47
Deimos: 
Definately. The pads are a thicker rubber feel. Extremely good rebound and response. The pedal also feels like it's not gonna break too easily, like it was designed to give some give when playing.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:47 Deimos
1:47
[Comment From BigZ7337BigZ7337: ] 
Have you had a chance to use Rock Band's drumset with the game to see how the charts are compressed?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:47 BigZ7337
1:47
Deimos: 
I have not yet, but it's something I would like to do before we leave.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:47 Deimos
1:48
Deimos: 
I don't know much about the solo tour modes personally, others have been taking a look at it, and I'd expect some comments from them regarding it, if permitted.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:48 Deimos
1:49
Deimos: 
Okay, I'm gonna go back to playing. Not sure who is gonna jump in next to comment on stuff.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:49 Deimos
1:58
Deimos: 
Deimos back, was just starting to play through the Band Tour mode a bit, see what they're doing with that
Wednesday September 10, 2008 1:58 Deimos
2:03
Deimos: 
got a couple pictures of the stats screens at the end of a full-band play that I'm about to post
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:03 Deimos
2:06
Deimos: 
alright, here's the "newspaper" replacement screen, followed by what comes up when you push red for More Stats
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:06 Deimos
2:06
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:06 
2:06
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:06 
2:12
Deimos: 
there's a few people playing with the music creator right now, hopefully one of them will come talk about it in a bit
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:12 Deimos
2:12
Deimos: 
I haven't really had a chance to even touch that part of the game yet, myself
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:12 Deimos
2:14
Deimos: 
going to let toymachine on for a bit to talk about vocals
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:14 Deimos
2:16
toymachine: 
I am very impressed with the vocal engine in terms of allowing actual singing to be a viable way of completing an expert vocals song- There are a number of songs were I was able to actually mimic the voice of the artist and still maintained an average multiplier of x3 at the very least
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:16 toymachine
2:17
[Comment From MikeMike: ] 
Better than RB1 would you say?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:17 Mike
2:19
toymachine: 
The fact that talkies are now charted with red-lines and are able to be easily done (kind of a gimmie type thing) is a welcome aspect for the novice vocalist (hey don't tell me how to talk!) but this vocal engine is far more enjoyable than Rock Band but I feel that given the fact that the way you can tell if you're doing well on a phrase is supposedly given by a visual particle effect will make it hard to determine how you can improve on each phrase. As of right now I think that it will take much adjustment to FC any of these songs on vocals.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:19 toymachine
2:21
[Comment From skillphiliacskillphiliac: ] 
So, basically you are saying it is really closer to the actual pitch. and not the ideal pitch as demonstratet in RB?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:21 skillphiliac
2:22
toymachine: 
from what I can tell yes. This game will not allow you to hum and FC a song as far as I can tell- I am not 100% sure on this so don't quote me
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:22 toymachine
2:23
[Comment From ThirdkoopaThirdkoopa: ] 
How does star power activate?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:23 Thirdkoopa
2:23
toymachine: 
starpower activates two ways- you either hit the microphone or you can press A on the controller (or X on PS3) and have it activate
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:23 toymachine
2:24
toymachine: 
drum activation is by hitting both cymbals at once and I am told that a note will be "hammered on" to prevent breaking combo after you activate- from a breif conversation with AndyTHPS
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:24 toymachine
2:27
[Comment From NastyNasty: ] 
Is the mic more sensitive or would you say it is pretty much the same as Rock Bands?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:27 Nasty
2:29
toymachine: 
From my brief experience where I played RB2 on 360 and my extended experience of using the stock mic- I can almost say that this engine/mic is much better at picking up sound- there are still some slight issues with vocals kind of jumping at the end of a phrase but other than that it's vastly superior in my opinion- I mean if I tried to sing like Jim Morrison in RB I would fail on expert :P
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:29 toymachine
2:30
toymachine: 
I think if you yell really loud you may activate SP on vocals but in options you can turn this option off if you're going for a specific path and use the controller to activate ONLY
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:30 toymachine
2:32
[Comment From HoorayItsMikeHoorayItsMike: ] 
Would you say it is difficult, or at least awkward to try and activate SP on drums without breaking combo at any given time? Meaning if I'm playing a typical drum beat can I just "Activate SP" and not have it really affect my playing ability too much?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:32 HoorayItsMike
2:33
toymachine: 
I was able to do it a few times without breaking combo- but I am a terrible drummer- What I mean by "hammered-on" is that when you activate SP the next note will be hit automatically to give you time to continue hitting the upcoming notes without breaking your combo
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:33 toymachine
2:34
[Comment From FelipeFelipe: ] 
During solos, does the singer hit the cowbell and another percussion instruments like Rock Band?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:34 Felipe
2:34
toymachine: 
no. thank god
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:34 toymachine
2:37
[Comment From GuitarHeroGuy99GuitarHeroGuy99: ] 
Are any songs overcharted or do you feel that they were charted fairly?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:37 GuitarHeroGuy99
2:38
toymachine: 
I have played a majority of guitar charts and I feel that Neversoft has really REALLY improved and I think everyone here would agree that all these songs are fun as hell to play.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:38 toymachine
2:39
[Comment From HoorayItsMikeHoorayItsMike: ] 
So with this new "Hammer On" SP thing, do you think it would actually be possible to take advantage of difficult parts in a drum solo, drum roll, etc. by activating SP and having it play for a little bit on its own? Of course this is probably thinking MUCH too into the future about this whole thing...but also, is it JUST the next note that is "Hammered On"? Or are the next few notes (or maybe .5 seconds or so) played on their own?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:39 HoorayItsMike
2:39
toymachine: 
I *believe* it is just the next note- we will have a definitive answer after our discussion with the note trackers
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:39 toymachine
2:41
[Comment From BogusBogus: ] 
How lag-friendly would you say the vocal engine is? In Rock Band, I would always find myself having to sing before the phrase actually began, regardless of calibration. It vexed me greatly.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:41 Bogus
2:42
toymachine: 
it's always good to start a bit early that's a given but I have combo'd songs by just singing right away (as long as I was on pitch obv)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:42 toymachine
2:44
[Comment From WorldkaosWorldkaos: ] 
By "next note" does that mean a bass pedal note as well? Like if there's a RY with a bass line on top of it, will all three be HOPOed?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:44 Worldkaos
2:45
toymachine: 
once again I have no idea- also Chris Vance is playing with my hair and smacking the back of my head >___>
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:45 toymachine
2:45
[Comment From MirinuMirinu: ] 
On the assasin ending, it said your highest multiplier was 3.... is that the peak now? or did it just kinda work out that way for people missing notes?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:45 Mirinu
2:46
toymachine: 
the song is tough- lot's of strumming with awkward breaks. I only played it once but it kind of reminds me of free man's laurels but for the whole song (imo)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:46 toymachine
2:46
[Comment From dcos15dcos15: ] 
besides singing obviously, is there any other way of scoring points as a vocalist? I know there is no tambourine/cowbell
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:46 dcos15
2:48
toymachine: 
there are freestyle sections where you can say whatever you want- not sure of the max score you can get for each window and it is multipled by your multiplier you have previously. I really need to play a vox song single player to fully understand this. I am also pretty confident that each phrase is worth 1000 points xmultiplier. Unsure about vocal practice mode
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:48 toymachine
2:49
toymachine: 
during the sections marked with \m/ you can increase the rock meter by saying stuff ^_^
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:49 toymachine
2:51
toymachine: 
err I meant each non-freestyle phrase is worth 1000- alright going to play more later
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:51 toymachine
2:53
Deimos: 
Jen from rockgamer.com is going to talk for a bit now about the character creator functionality, she's been playing with that for a while
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:53 Deimos
2:54
RockGamerJen: 
Hey folk, you've been hearing from all the techie people about all the details for expert gamers.   I am gonna share stuff that even your girlfriend will like.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:54 RockGamerJen
2:55
RockGamerJen: 
I've been playing around with the character creater, looking at outfits, makeup, tattoos, accessories and more and I've really been blown away.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:55 RockGamerJen
2:56
RockGamerJen: 
there is so much functionality in this game, you could make a green elven princess with tipped ears, lime green skin, who looks 80 years old but dresses like a pop star.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:56 RockGamerJen
2:58
RockGamerJen: 
I'm gonna post some photos to give you an idea of the overwheming number of choices you have, but literally you could spend a dozen hours or so working on this
Wednesday September 10, 2008 2:58 RockGamerJen
3:00
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:00 
3:00
RockGamerJen: 
so here is the old lady face I was talking about.   you can't see the first choice which is "teen" but there wasnt much difference from mature
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:00 RockGamerJen
3:01
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:01 
3:01
RockGamerJen: 
here are most of the different styles of characters you can choose.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:01 RockGamerJen
3:02
RockGamerJen: 
when you go back and forth between these menu choices, it will randomly create a new character each time for you to start from, so you can always try a couple before you choose your platform
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:02 RockGamerJen
3:03
RockGamerJen: 
here comes a shot of the first face menu
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:03 RockGamerJen
3:04
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:04 
3:05
RockGamerJen: 
here's where you can choose the age, overall size and shape of the head, shape and size of nose, and mouth including chin
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:05 RockGamerJen
3:06
RockGamerJen: 
all of this seems obvious, but as you dig deeper in the menu, its like you get deeper and deeper into a maze...
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:06 RockGamerJen
3:06
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:06 
3:08
RockGamerJen: 
if all of this seems too much, there are still all of the old favorites like Judy Nails, Clive Winston (yes!) etc, and you certainly dont have to go into all this detail
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:08 RockGamerJen
3:09
[Comment From SaikoSakuraSaikoSakura: ] 
Hey Jen, are characters tied to their instruments and items like in RB1?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:09 SaikoSakura
3:10
RockGamerJen: 
Hey Izzy - no characters are not tied to instruments.   Once you are logged in as your character, you're taken to a screen where you select from the 4 instruments.   You can swap with a bandmate at any time.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:10 RockGamerJen
3:12
RockGamerJen: 
we made this one look like she paid too much for collagen injections
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:12 RockGamerJen
3:12
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:12 
3:13
RockGamerJen: 
ther eye colors were a little disappointing
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:13 RockGamerJen
3:14
RockGamerJen: 
I was hoping for more of a color wheel choice, but we got this type of menu instead
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:14 RockGamerJen
3:14
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:14 
3:14
RockGamerJen: 
some good choices, but a limited number beyond the obvious
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:14 RockGamerJen
3:15
[Comment From yakityyakblahyakityyakblah: ] 
How does that work though? If you have the guitar controller and switch to drums are you on drums with the guitar controller?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:15 yakityyakblah
3:15
RockGamerJen: 
you hand the guitar to the drum player, and you sit down.   when that screen comes up (which is does before every song) you'll select a different instrument for your character
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:15 RockGamerJen
3:15
RockGamerJen: 
that part is definitely pretty cool
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:15 RockGamerJen
3:17
RockGamerJen: 
here's an example (unlike the eyes) where you are given a color wheel to get very very specific
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:17 RockGamerJen
3:17
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:17 
3:18
RockGamerJen: 
this was for choosing the skin color in this shot, where we chose green for our elf
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:18 RockGamerJen
3:19
RockGamerJen: 
there are 4 or 5 different color wheels and when you choose the primary wheel, it digs deeper into a secondary wheel
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:19 RockGamerJen
3:20
RockGamerJen: 
Here's the starting screen for the tattoo maker.   Reminds me of my Young Man Blues drumming video
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:20 RockGamerJen
3:20
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:20 
3:21
[Comment From wiihaxorwiihaxor: ] 
what about proportion? do they all have to be these skinny little rockers? cuz i wanna make a character thats like 400 pounds :P
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:21 wiihaxor
3:22
RockGamerJen: 
we spent some time on the "proportions" menu so yes, you can change height and weight, and there was more range than in RB
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:22 RockGamerJen
3:22
RockGamerJen: 
not 400lbs worth of range though :)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:22 RockGamerJen
3:23
RockGamerJen: 
one of the cooloer menus I liked was the presence menu
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:23 RockGamerJen
3:23
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:23 
3:24
RockGamerJen: 
you can choose your "attitude" for intros, wins, and losses.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:24 RockGamerJen
3:24
RockGamerJen: 
they are bizarrely named
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:24 RockGamerJen
3:24
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:24 
3:25
RockGamerJen: 
the list is the same for all three, but you may choose a "that sucks, dude" for losses and a "give it up" for intros etc
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:25 RockGamerJen
3:25
[Comment From truegamer88truegamer88: ] 
so u can make your rocker look like a 12 or 13 year old? cuz that would be cool so i could make my video game self
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:25 truegamer88
3:26
RockGamerJen: 
you can choose "teen" looking faces, but nothing younger than that.   and the shortest people we made were probably not under 5feet tall.   But you can make them pink if that helps?
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:26 RockGamerJen
3:27
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:27 
3:28
RockGamerJen: 
here is the accessories menu, which had a lot more cool crap than just the standard "Yard Dog Cuffs" type stuff
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:28 RockGamerJen
3:29
RockGamerJen: 
we only saw one lip piercing, but we did see some things being unlocked in the game so its possible more piercings can be created as you go.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:29 RockGamerJen
3:30
RockGamerJen: 
one last screen shot, because there are probably 100 more, but you get the idea
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:30 RockGamerJen
3:30
Expand
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:30 
3:31
RockGamerJen: 
basically, what you get out of this whole thing, is that you can zoom in, rotate 360 degrees etc
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:31 RockGamerJen
3:31
RockGamerJen: 
this is true on all menus so when you're shopping for shoes, you can see different angles, much better than the ones we're used to :)   (cough cough)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:31 RockGamerJen
3:32
RockGamerJen: 
zoom in to see the outfit, out to see the whole package, go back and change the nose after you've chosen the hair.... all in all, customization is the key here
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:32 RockGamerJen
3:34
RockGamerJen: 
Ok, so that's all from RockGamerJen.   I'll turn things back over to all the techie types from scorehero who can talk about midis, and FCs, and ratios etc.   Check back later and I may talk about how the notes designed for the new guitar neck thingy looked like they're tied together with purple silly string.   till then...
Rock on!
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:34 RockGamerJen
3:41
Deimos: 
So, Barfo's been playing World Tour
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:41 Deimos
3:41
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:41 
3:42
Deimos: 
Last night at the hotel he asked someone to pick a number between 50,000 and 200,000, Chris Vance picked 115,269. Barfo got it in one try on Bulls on Parade.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:42 Deimos
3:45
Phr34k: 
So I just finished the Drum Duel against AndyTHPS
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:45 Phr34k
3:45
Phr34k: 
Expect videos from GameSpy.com on it.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:45 Phr34k
3:46
Phr34k: 
We played a best of 3, started with Assassin by Muse... Beat him by a decent margin, 10k.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:46 Phr34k
3:46
Phr34k: 
He best me on the 2nd song by about 60k.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:46 Phr34k
3:46
Phr34k: 
Then we played Hot For Teacher...
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:46 Phr34k
3:47
Phr34k: 
I doubled his score, getting nearly 480k, winning the duel.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:47 Phr34k
3:47
Phr34k: 
There is some guitar dueling going right now, not sure if there is gonna be videos or not about it.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:47 Phr34k
3:57
JCirri: 
I was just testing strumming with the touch pad.   It's not very reliable for fast alt strumming with two fingers, but will make it much easier to begin and restart tapping sections.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:57 JCirri
3:58
JCirri: 
As opposed to elbow strumming.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 3:58 JCirri
4:04
JCirri: 
There aren't any extra points awarded for using the touchpad, and any sections that use sliding can also be played on the normal frets without having to strum at all.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:04 JCirri
4:07
JCirri: 
The starpower button is a long bar which is easy to hit, but there are also small start buttons above and below which a few of us have accidentally hit while trying to activate.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:07 JCirri
4:07
JCirri: 
But the game now has a 5 second countdown when you unpause before it resumes, so that everyone can prepare to start again.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:07 JCirri
4:10
JCirri: 
We also tested pausing and unpausing while holding a sustain note and it doesn't break the hold anymore like previous games.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:10 JCirri
4:15
Deimos: 
thought some people might like to see this - the sound options are pretty detailed now:
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:15 Deimos
4:15
Expand
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:15 
4:16
Deimos: 
also, this is probably the most serious error you can get while playing GH:WT:
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:16 Deimos
4:17
Expand
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:17 
4:21
emptyset: 
just got done playing sluggo in some guitar faceoffs, tons of fun.   I beat him 3 songs to 1 but he has much hotter hair than me
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:21 emptyset
4:21
emptyset: 
(also, that WARNING screen is just to let you know that you hooked your controllers back up properly after one became disconnected / ran out of batteries, etc)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:21 emptyset
4:22
emptyset: 
"WARNING: EVERYTHING IS FUNCTIONING PROPERLY"
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:22 emptyset
4:25
emptyset: 
here's another screen I think you guys might like to see
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:25 emptyset
4:25
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:25 
4:26
emptyset: 
Enabling/disabling the countdown refers to when you pause.   It'll do a 4 click count-off before the note tracks start again.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:26 emptyset
4:27
emptyset: 
oh, and there'll be a video or videos of my pro face-offs with sluggo up on gamespy.com tomorrow or next week
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:27 emptyset
4:34
emptyset: 
I got some time on bass, I really enjoyed the open notes after I got used to them.   the neat thing is they don't appear in every bass song; they only appear in songs where they're in a key that would require open notes on a real bass
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:34 emptyset
4:34
emptyset: 
so if a song's in the key of E, when you play an E, it's charted as an open string - so it feels very authentic
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:34 emptyset
4:35
emptyset: 
if a song is in, like A-flat, you probably won't see an open string at all
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:35 emptyset
4:35
emptyset: 
also you can hammer-onto and off of open notes :)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:35 emptyset
4:42
emptyset: 
tapping with the touch strip is fun, but takes some getting used to - you'll have to spend time with it to learn where to orient your fingers.   it certainly makes certain sections easier
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:42 emptyset
4:43
ImaCarrot: 
I love to play an entire song by slapping the touch strip to strum
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:43 ImaCarrot
4:44
ImaCarrot: 
After awhile it does start to hurt to slap the touch strip, you are smacking plastic afterall.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:44 ImaCarrot
4:45
ImaCarrot: 
The word is good my good friend, the word.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:45 ImaCarrot
4:45
emptyset: 
I thought I'd found a bug when I was trying to tap a section in practice mode on the fret buttons, but it was really my arm hair brushing against the touch strip.   :|
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:45 emptyset
4:48
ImaCarrot: 
I love the drums, so much quieter and I feel like I'm actually pretty good when I play. Was able to rock a pretty hard song that I would have failed miserably in Rock Band.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:48 ImaCarrot
4:51
socrstopr: 
as far as the quality of hardware for both guitar/drums, I'm very pleased, no issues at all, except me just sucking at drums in general
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:51 socrstopr
4:51
emptyset: 
whoops, that was supposed to be me saying that :p
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:51 emptyset
4:52
emptyset: 
the ending of hot for teacheron guitar is nuts, have fun trying to FC it :p
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:52 emptyset
4:53
emptyset: 
right, IF you get past the intro and the solo with an FC, the solo I haven't remotely figured out yet.   the riff is pretty tricky too, sluggo and I played it in one of our faceoffs, so that might be one of the upcomgin videos that gets upped to gamespy.com
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:53 emptyset
4:55
socrstopr: 
In case anyone was worried about the coldplay song, the drums are very fun :)
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:55 socrstopr
4:56
socrstopr: 
re: coldplay, dunno, i was too busy trying to figure out the drum chart :p
Wednesday September 10, 2008 4:56 socrstopr
5:08
Deimos: 
We're starting to wind down here, we're just going to sit down and have a chat with the Neversoft guys for a bit. However, before we leave, I'll still be back, with some stuff you'll definitely want to see, so stick around for just a little longer. It'll be worth it.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:08 Deimos
5:49
Deimos: 
Alright, we're just about to shut this all down and head off to the airport
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:49 Deimos
5:50
Deimos: 
but before I do that, we've got two things to reveal
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:50 Deimos
5:51
Deimos: 
First of all, here's a video for you guys to download, we're the first ones to get to release this:
http://www.scorehero.com/liveblog/Guitar_Hero_World_Tour_-_Ted_Nugent_Trailer_HD.wmv
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:51 Deimos
5:52
Deimos: 
And secondly, one last photo before we go
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:52 Deimos
5:53
Deimos: 
Now, take note that this is a cropped band photo, I just took the other two instruments' stats out, so don't pay too much attention to the score/multiplier. However, the important part is in there. This is Krim on guitar, one of the best plastic guitar players in the world, and this is not his sightread, this is after several plays of the song.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:53 Deimos
5:54
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Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:54 
5:58
Deimos: 
Aaaand that's all, hope you guys got some good info today and that we answered some of your questions. We'll all be writing detailed writeups in the next little while, so keep your eyes on the site for that.
Wednesday September 10, 2008 5:58 Deimos
5:59



 
 
 
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