Power Gig, Def Jam Rapstar, DJ Hero 2.Feels like I’ve writing a bunch about music games lately. Part of that’s because I like music. But the other part is because the genre’s evolving, adding new musical styles and modes of interaction in a bid to engage players in different ways. And, to make more money, of course.
The latest rhythm title to try and improve its chops is Rock Band 3. A few weeks ago, an icon at the end of the Green Day Rock Band demo teased the long-standing rumors of keyboards coming to Harmonix’s juggernaut. A report in USA Today gets Harmonix’s CEO Alex Rigopoulos on the record to confirm not only a playable piano-style insrtrument, but also a full-size six-stringed Fender guitar peripheral as well.
The keyboard will apparently have five keys (just like the guitar and drum counterparts) and will also be a MIDI contoller compatible with PCs. Other changes coming to RB3 will be vocal harmonies, with lead and back-up parts for new songs, and real-time difficulty toggle, which will let you scale down to easy or medium if a song’s kicking your butt.
I’ve been saying that music games need to add a keyboard for years now and now that it’s happened, there better be some new Steve Wonder on that RB3 song list. What about you dear readers? What rocked-out keyboard classics do you want to jam to in Rock Band 3?