Methinks Kotaku went a little sensational with the head line. Nothing is being bleeped, just keeping little Billy or little Jill from downloading Cannibal Corpse or Slayer behind mommy and daddy's back. Basically nothing more than in-game parental control.
I was saddened about the $10 transfer fee, that is until I was reminded the game was $50, so it evens out at the standard $60. Given there are plenty of songs I'd like to play and plenty more songs that are great for parties, I'm sold.
To all those that think the set list and/or censorship sucks, this game wasn't made for you, and you have no obligation to buy it. It's geared towards kids, and that's all its ever been meant to do. That the game includes features that appeal to the broader fan base like song export is simply icing on the cake.
Great pop/guilty pleasure songs at discount price with funny Lego imagery and rock challenges to spice up the gameplay/visuals? Lego Rock Band might be an unexpected buy...
If they have the capability of determining if a song is "family friendly", and limiting the download of it based on that information, then I have one question:
WHY DO THEY CENSOR THE LYRICS OF THE SONGS THEMSELVES?
I am sick of playing songs and finding that words, or even entire sections of the song (Down With the Sickness is a particularly egregious example of this), are simply gone. Deleted. Censored. I would rather they just did not use the song at all, if they are really so uncomfortable with the language in it. There are plenty of other songs to pick. And now, it turns out that they can and do implement a parental control type of system. Why, then, continue to censor lyrics? It's infuriating.
@MechaTama31: What are you talking about? Aside from the four-letter words, Down With the Sickness is completely intact in RB2, even the "child abuse breakdown" is still there, it's just not charted.
@MechaTama31: I've always thought the gratuitous cursing part of Down With the Sickness was stupidly excessive; if so many of the great metal songs of the 70s, 80s, and 90s could express such a wide range of emotions using little or no profanity, there's no reason that newer metal should be exempt. I even understand the sentiment of capturing the emotions of an adolescent or younger in the grip of extreme rage, but "you stupid sadistic abusive fucking whore"? Really?
And considering that not censoring some songs would lead to an M rating for the game, I'm okay with censorship in the game (if I know the song, I'll fill it in regardless), but I do definitely disagree with the censorship here; it's the right of parents to pick for themselves what their children are fit to hear.
For example, I'm a diehard Megadeth fan, but even I don't think Good Mourning/Black Friday is suitable for most kids, and it only has one f-bomb that is easily censored to "hell" or just removed. Hell, Dave Mustaine, who wrote the song during his drug-fueled dabbling-with-the-occult period of life, and who attributes his cleaning up to finding religion, felt the need to consult a priest as to whether, as a responsible Christian, he should even consider playing it live, which he has yet to do since '91, I believe. The priest, for the record, told him that as long as played the song with no ill intent and at the best of his ability, it was alright with God. Here are the lyrics, to justify that whole paragraph.
spiderweb1986 promoted this comment
Man In Gauze is an obscure reference to Courage the Cowardly Dog. was starred
Man In Gauze is an obscure reference to Courage the Cowardly Dog. was unstarred
"Songs included on LEGO Rock Band can be transfered to your hard drive to play on other Rock Band games for $10". This is why Rock Band rules and Guitar Hero can suck it.
@SteveZim1017: Kotaku didn't get that specific in the news story. Here's the snippet from the press release that shoots that idea down:
Owners of LEGO Rock Band on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be able to enter a unique code from an insert in their game manual into a dedicated website. The website will provide instructions allowing owners to unlock the export functionality of LEGO Rock Band. At that point, players will be able to export tracks from LEGO Rock Band to their hard drives for play in all game modes of the Rock Band Music Platform for a nominal export fee of $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points).
In other words, it's not quite the same as Rock Band 1 where you just bought the license and rocked out. You need the unique code off the manual which, once used, probably won't allow you to export a second time. My guess is Harmonix is combating exactly that phenomenon that sprang up around the first Rock Band after RB2 came out.
@spiderweb1986: and @Mcmax3000; Yes, i understand. I still however think it's a bit too expensive of a product, being that it's sixty bucks to actually get the songs on RB2.
However it may be a moot point for me since if it requires a code AND a fee, i may not even be able to buy the export update...
See, rock band store doesn't work on mexican PS3s... i've been able to use the track packs because i just put a code on RB website and it gives me a free code wich i can us to my US PS3 account and i've been able to export my rock band 1 songs because i just paid for an update...
But if i need to introduce a code AND a fee, i may not even be able to do it, since i can't put money on US ps accounts and i cant buy stuff in-game on Rock Band.
Jimi Hendrix on RB? Woah, I thought it was a locked GH exclusive.
Otherwise, I'll have to do a Philip J. Fry character on RB/LRB which will sing "Walkin' on Sunshine", obviously.
For a game aimed at a younger audience, I see a lot of songs they might not be interested in. Do kids really listen to Bryan Adams, Queen, Iggy Pop, David Bowie and Tom Petty these days ? Can't I have those songs in Rock Band 2 instead ?
@Shteve: Developers, Publishers, and Marketing people in general are way out of touch when it comes to what kids like. However given how my kids have warmed up to songs in RB & GH series, they'll probably warm up to these as well.
The article forgot to mention that this time around you need a unique code from the instruction manual to export songs, which means you can't rent this and export the songs to Rock Band/Rock Band 2. Which is really lame.
@WarlockSoL: Its really lame that they don't want 90% of people to just rent the game?
Shame on them for wanting to have reasonable sales and make a profit! What else would you have honestly expected? I for one will be buying this new after it drops to about $30 or so. I picked $30 or so because I paid $60 for Rock Band 2 with 84 songs, this has 45 songs, about half, so I will pay about half the price. I will buy it new for obvious reasons of wanting to be able to import the songs.
Because pretty much it can go one way or the other, not both:
1. Code on the back as part of your game registration nets you a download through PSN or LIVE (AC/DC: LIVE, Track Packs)
2. Purchase a license through PSN or LIVE and download the content directly from the disc. This can be done unlimited times since you're buying a license everytime. (Rock Band 1)
Sounds like it's more like the second rather than the first.
@WarlockSoL: Oh poor baby. You need to actually buy things to get products. What an awful situation? See, this must be that that darn socialism Obama is imposing. Exchanging money for goods? That's un-American!
@Eviltim: The target audience for this game is kids (hence being "Lego"). Factor in the "family friendly" aspect and a large portion of your audience probably isn't even using the export feature.
Sure, you are not getting sales when people rent the game. However, most of these people are not going to buy the full game either. Instead of getting $10 per person, you're getting $0.
But Rock Band 1 is the only one that had a transfer like your #2, and that was only because Harmonix decided to do it after the fact, when it was too late to come up with singlue-use codes for the copies that already shipped. EVERY game since - AC/DC and all of the track packs - had a one-time only code.
I really don't see why this is any different. Harmonix is smart enough to know that people will just rent the game and kill their profits if they can, so I can't imagine why they'd willingly allow people to do that.
@BStu: Since when is paying the export fee "not buying the songs"?
If you want all the Lego crap, you buy the full game. I don't, I just want the songs. If they offered them on the RB network, even at a *higher* price (but below Lego RB retail), I wouldn't be complaining. But I'm not paying $60 for 45 songs and the same game I already own but with a Lego skin.
@spiderweb1986: Because for track packs, RB2, etc. you're downloading 20 songs over LIVE, PSN with the one time code.
Buying the license for RB1, you're moving about 40 from the disc to your drive. Utilizing the "back of the manual code" always results in a marketplace/psn store download. Buying a license always results in the tracks being ripped from the disc.
To mix those two redemption systems together... no, I'm not seeing it happening. Guess we'll see.
While I won't be getting this game, I can see the appeal for parents with younger children who want to introduce them to music in a friendly, interactive, non threatening way. Surely it can't hurt that children will grow up with a good appreciation for Queen, which is vital in today's bland, pop-centric society.
(But you know what Rock Band really needs? Chicago. The band, not the city.)
@Acebuckeye13: Blasting Zombies and Taking Names:
My fiancee's (then 10, now 11) kid has Guitar Hero World Tour. He might have Rock Band at someone else's house, for all I know. I'm sure a lot of kids already have one or both or those. So I'm trying to figure out what this game is fore, exactly.
shouldn't they let parents make the decision on which music their children can listen to?
Two problems there:
1) You assume that parents are familiar with all 700+ songs availble to Rock Band.
2) You are able to play previews through the in-game music store...meaning you can still see the song titles and 30 seconds of a song (which in some situations are enough to teach little Billy some pretty interesting phrases).
This isn't censorship, not by a long shot. To call it such is really trying to set the tone before people can judge for themselves.
@TRT-X: Censor
–verb (used with object)
6. to examine and act upon as a censor.
7. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity as a censor.
by barring songs from purchase, they are effectively deleting them, for moral concerns. That is the definition of censorship.
@TRT-X: I pretty much agree with everything you just said.
I for one fail to see how this is censorship.
Rock Band 1 and 2 are rated Teen. As such Harmonix also follows a model where all of their DLC fits within that ratings such that all of their songs are rated at most, Teen.
On the other hand, Lego Rock Band will be rated E10+. This means that there are some (probably plenty) of songs in the Rock Band store that are not suitable for an E10+ rating. As such Harmonix has made the reasonable (in line with their previous workings) and logical decision to have DLC follow the rating of the game played.
Also, how is it censorship if you can go out and buy Rock Band 1/2 and get all of those other songs? Nothing is stopping you from playing those other songs if you have those two games. You just can't buy them in the Lego Rock Band store. And like you said, there are plenty of previews of songs in the Rock Band store that have some interesting or possibly suggestive lyrics.
I for one hope this isn't overly criticized as I don't think it deserves to be.
@Eviltim: ANYTHING that restricts access to content is, at least technically, a form of censorship. I think it is a stupid thing to throw a hissy fit over, but it IS censorship. If they had a disclaimer like songs on the store may be rated teen, or be inappropriate or whatever, they would have their bases covered, without censoring it.
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To all those that think the set list and/or censorship sucks, this game wasn't made for you, and you have no obligation to buy it. It's geared towards kids, and that's all its ever been meant to do. That the game includes features that appeal to the broader fan base like song export is simply icing on the cake.
10/12/09
Ditto on both. I keep a setup for parties, and not just my own personal tastes. I'll likely end up getting it.
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Fair enough.
10/12/09
WHY DO THEY CENSOR THE LYRICS OF THE SONGS THEMSELVES?
I am sick of playing songs and finding that words, or even entire sections of the song (Down With the Sickness is a particularly egregious example of this), are simply gone. Deleted. Censored. I would rather they just did not use the song at all, if they are really so uncomfortable with the language in it. There are plenty of other songs to pick. And now, it turns out that they can and do implement a parental control type of system. Why, then, continue to censor lyrics? It's infuriating.
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And considering that not censoring some songs would lead to an M rating for the game, I'm okay with censorship in the game (if I know the song, I'll fill it in regardless), but I do definitely disagree with the censorship here; it's the right of parents to pick for themselves what their children are fit to hear.
For example, I'm a diehard Megadeth fan, but even I don't think Good Mourning/Black Friday is suitable for most kids, and it only has one f-bomb that is easily censored to "hell" or just removed. Hell, Dave Mustaine, who wrote the song during his drug-fueled dabbling-with-the-occult period of life, and who attributes his cleaning up to finding religion, felt the need to consult a priest as to whether, as a responsible Christian, he should even consider playing it live, which he has yet to do since '91, I believe. The priest, for the record, told him that as long as played the song with no ill intent and at the best of his ability, it was alright with God. Here are the lyrics, to justify that whole paragraph.
[www.lyricstime.com]
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Owners of LEGO Rock Band on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 will be able to enter a unique code from an insert in their game manual into a dedicated website. The website will provide instructions allowing owners to unlock the export functionality of LEGO Rock Band. At that point, players will be able to export tracks from LEGO Rock Band to their hard drives for play in all game modes of the Rock Band Music Platform for a nominal export fee of $9.99 (800 Microsoft Points).
In other words, it's not quite the same as Rock Band 1 where you just bought the license and rocked out. You need the unique code off the manual which, once used, probably won't allow you to export a second time. My guess is Harmonix is combating exactly that phenomenon that sprang up around the first Rock Band after RB2 came out.
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I'll have skip this game for longer that i thought and buy it in a couple of years when it's cheaper.
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However it may be a moot point for me since if it requires a code AND a fee, i may not even be able to buy the export update...
See, rock band store doesn't work on mexican PS3s... i've been able to use the track packs because i just put a code on RB website and it gives me a free code wich i can us to my US PS3 account and i've been able to export my rock band 1 songs because i just paid for an update...
But if i need to introduce a code AND a fee, i may not even be able to do it, since i can't put money on US ps accounts and i cant buy stuff in-game on Rock Band.
I hope it works!
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Otherwise, I'll have to do a Philip J. Fry character on RB/LRB which will sing "Walkin' on Sunshine", obviously.
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Shame on them for wanting to have reasonable sales and make a profit! What else would you have honestly expected? I for one will be buying this new after it drops to about $30 or so. I picked $30 or so because I paid $60 for Rock Band 2 with 84 songs, this has 45 songs, about half, so I will pay about half the price. I will buy it new for obvious reasons of wanting to be able to import the songs.
10/12/09
Because pretty much it can go one way or the other, not both:
1. Code on the back as part of your game registration nets you a download through PSN or LIVE (AC/DC: LIVE, Track Packs)
2. Purchase a license through PSN or LIVE and download the content directly from the disc. This can be done unlimited times since you're buying a license everytime. (Rock Band 1)
Sounds like it's more like the second rather than the first.
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Sure, you are not getting sales when people rent the game. However, most of these people are not going to buy the full game either. Instead of getting $10 per person, you're getting $0.
So yes, it is indeed lame.
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But Rock Band 1 is the only one that had a transfer like your #2, and that was only because Harmonix decided to do it after the fact, when it was too late to come up with singlue-use codes for the copies that already shipped. EVERY game since - AC/DC and all of the track packs - had a one-time only code.
I really don't see why this is any different. Harmonix is smart enough to know that people will just rent the game and kill their profits if they can, so I can't imagine why they'd willingly allow people to do that.
10/12/09
If you want all the Lego crap, you buy the full game. I don't, I just want the songs. If they offered them on the RB network, even at a *higher* price (but below Lego RB retail), I wouldn't be complaining. But I'm not paying $60 for 45 songs and the same game I already own but with a Lego skin.
10/12/09
Buying the license for RB1, you're moving about 40 from the disc to your drive. Utilizing the "back of the manual code" always results in a marketplace/psn store download. Buying a license always results in the tracks being ripped from the disc.
To mix those two redemption systems together... no, I'm not seeing it happening. Guess we'll see.
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(But you know what Rock Band really needs? Chicago. The band, not the city.)
10/12/09
My fiancee's (then 10, now 11) kid has Guitar Hero World Tour. He might have Rock Band at someone else's house, for all I know. I'm sure a lot of kids already have one or both or those. So I'm trying to figure out what this game is fore, exactly.
Super strict, conservative parents, maybe.
10/12/09
Two problems there:
1) You assume that parents are familiar with all 700+ songs availble to Rock Band.
2) You are able to play previews through the in-game music store...meaning you can still see the song titles and 30 seconds of a song (which in some situations are enough to teach little Billy some pretty interesting phrases).
This isn't censorship, not by a long shot. To call it such is really trying to set the tone before people can judge for themselves.
I'm a bit disappointed.
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–verb (used with object)
6. to examine and act upon as a censor.
7. to delete (a word or passage of text) in one's capacity as a censor.
by barring songs from purchase, they are effectively deleting them, for moral concerns. That is the definition of censorship.
10/12/09
I for one fail to see how this is censorship.
Rock Band 1 and 2 are rated Teen. As such Harmonix also follows a model where all of their DLC fits within that ratings such that all of their songs are rated at most, Teen.
On the other hand, Lego Rock Band will be rated E10+. This means that there are some (probably plenty) of songs in the Rock Band store that are not suitable for an E10+ rating. As such Harmonix has made the reasonable (in line with their previous workings) and logical decision to have DLC follow the rating of the game played.
Also, how is it censorship if you can go out and buy Rock Band 1/2 and get all of those other songs? Nothing is stopping you from playing those other songs if you have those two games. You just can't buy them in the Lego Rock Band store. And like you said, there are plenty of previews of songs in the Rock Band store that have some interesting or possibly suggestive lyrics.
I for one hope this isn't overly criticized as I don't think it deserves to be.
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