Not only was I excited to try out the new Rock Band peripherals, the MadCatz Mustang Pro-Guitar and the Fender Squier Stratocaster Pro-Guitar, but I also wanted to see what the competition had going on. E3 primarily takes place in the South and West Halls of the LA Convention Center, and with one large exception, all rhythm games had a presence on the convention floor. For some reason that I don’t fully understand, Activision is no longer a member of the ESA (Entertainment Software Association), which is why there was no Activision booth at the show, only private demos by appointment. If you would like to see a hands-on impression of the new Guitar Hero game, go check out Joe’s review over at PlasticAxe.com.

Let’s talk about the non-Rock Band guitar peripherals first, to get those out of the way. With four different “real guitar” peripheral makers at E3, I quickly noticed a common thread: Each company claims to be the FIRST at making a real guitar gaming peripheral. First is nice, but best is better.

Peavey HeroMaker

First up we have Peavey’s HeroMaker guitar, a real full size Peavey electric guitar. I hadn’t heard anything about this prior to E3, and to be honest I’m not sure how far along in development this guitar is, but I imagine it’s still in the early prototype stages as I was not given the opportunity for a hands on demo. (AHEM… I like free stuff, Peavey!) I’ll go into what makes Rock Band’s Fender Squier unique later, but the thing that jumped out instantly for me was the “patented finger sensing system” on the guitar. It looks and feels like a thin strip of electrical tape added underneath the bottom string. Also, the touch sensor only extends across 12 frets, not all of them, which at the very least would have been more pleasing to the eye. I get an odd impression that the touch strip was added after the fact to try and compete with some of the other real/plastic guitar peripherals coming out.

In terms of interface with software, there’s no intuitive hands-on indication of how you’re supposed to play Rock Band or Guitar Hero with this, but I was told that the green button correlates to the highest fret on the guitar, unless you are using a capo. If my understanding is right, if you do use it with Rock Band or Guitar Hero, you’ll only be using five frets and the bottom string, which seems like overkill for this guitar if you plan on using it for playing in either franchise. The guitar is advertised to be compatible with Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, but I wouldn’t hold my breath on seeing this work with Rock Band 3.

Apparently I wasn’t popular enough to be given a hands-on…

What the HeroMaker does have going for it is that it is also designed to work with their proprietary ”game” “Jam Party” by software partner Zivix. With Rock Band 3 and Guitar Hero firmly entrenched in the market, and new comer PowerGig entering the market, I’m not sure there’s room for many upstarts in the genre, but it sounds like JamParty may be geared towards those ambitious plastic guitarists who want to create real music. Again, no real hands on with JamParty, either, but from the screen shots and literature I was given, its interface looks VERY similar to GHTunes. Not sure if that’s the best way you’ll want to create music, but if you can use a real guitar, it may be more accurate than GHTunes. If I recall correctly, the software will first be available on the PC, followed by the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles. The video below gives a slightly better explanation, but it doesn’t look like they’re offering anything that we haven’t already seen before elsewhere.

The question I have about the HeroMaker and JamParty is this: If you can use your plastic guitar to create music and share it, why the need for the real guitar? And if you have a real guitar, why the need for Rock Band and Guitar Hero? It’s nice to have a peripheral that can do both, but if there’s nothing bridging the gap between moving from a plastic guitarist to a real guitarist, your only customer base is gamers who are already guitarists.

For more information, and a downloadable demo of JamParty available on June 28th, check out JamParty.com.

You Rock Guitar

This one I’ve been hearing about for quite a long time, and I was really looking forward to check this out. The most “futuristic” of the real guitars at E3, it lacks a headstock and tuning pegs, with the neck of the guitar just “stopping” suddenly. (It appears that there may be a cosmetic headstock sold separately.) The finish of the guitar is excellent, and I think this guitar is the one worthy of the “we were the first to do this” phrase I heard so often at E3. This was also the first guitar controller I got a hands-on with at E3, and I liked what I found.

I tried it out with Guitar Hero on a song I’ve never played and it felt “organic,” like I was playing a plastic instrument and not really struggling too much on having to concentrate on my fingering. I’ve never really played a real guitar, so I’m coming at this with a plastic guitarist’s mindset. It has a lot of technical features that are going to be particularly attractive to guitarists, especially those looking to experiment and/or record at home.

There’s no bundled software that comes bundled with this, so if you for someone like me, the only initial value I found from this is the ability to get comfortable with a real guitar, since there’s no on-screen guidance teaching you how to play. They do offer “You Rock Mode I” and “You Rock Mode II” built in to the guitar, which let’s you learn scales and chord progressions designed for gamers, but I didn’t get a chance to try this out. (AHEM… I ALSO like free stuff, You Rock Guitar!)

Just so you can see how much effort went into this, there’s a lot of bells and whistles on this thing, including:

• 100 preloaded presets combining sounds, tunings, and modes
• 25 digitally sampled guitars, 6 and 12 string acoustics, electrics from jazz to shredding leads, etc.
• 50 synth sounds for layering, solos, organs, voices, strings and pads
• 65 open-tuning presets – and user programmable
• Proprietary “Never Needs Tuning” ability
• Compatible with Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, iPad/iPhone/iPod
• Detachable neck
• Standard guitar cable out, Stereo mini-headphone out, High Speed USB to MIDI, legacy MIDI 5 pin connector

Already available for purchase at $199.99, I think the strength of this device lies more with real guitarists and less with plastic guitarists. While I’ve played it with Guitar Hero, it also claims to work with Rock Band (although I’ve heard rumors to the contrary), and again I have serious doubts as to its future compatibility with Rock Band 3. While this guitar is not designed with a gamer in mind, I will congratulate them on the fact that it does not feel like they threw gamers a bone and added on the feature just before going to market; it was definitely included throughout the design process.

It’s biggest strength absolutely lies in it’s versatility. I can see a new or established guitarist loving this, especially if they want the ability to play wherever they go. Since you can play along not just with an amp, but also on PCs, consoles, and mobile devices, the detachable neck reminds you that this is meant to go where you go.

I had a chance to chat with JR deSouza, Executive VP, and others about this, and it’s clear that hardware maker Inspired Instruments is clearly dedicated to the device, as they have been making the rounds at E3, the Consumer Electronic Show, and NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) gaining support among musicians, celebrities, and gamers along the way.

For more info, check out YouRockGuitar.com.

PowerGig: Rise of the Six String

I had a chance to check out the real guitar for the new rhythm game PowerGig: Rise of the Six String at PAX East, however they were not giving any hands-on time, nor were they showing any gameplay footage. At E3, that changed. Not only was I able to get hands-on time with the guitar, but also the “drums,” as well as take a spin with the peripherals in the game itself.

After Rock Band 3, this was the game that I was most excited to try out. The guitar prototypes at PAX East looked like they had some pretty impressive build quality, despite the fact that the guitar is only 3/4 size. My initial thoughts were that if you’re going to make a real guitar peripheral for a game, my preference would be for a full-sized guitar, not a 3/4 sized one. While it has the guts of a real guitar, the size still makes me feel like I’m playing back in the Guitar Hero 2 days. However, when I was handed the guitar at their E3 booth for the first time, I was shocked at how heavy it was. It seemed like it was the same weight as a full-size guitar, only in a smaller package. I took that as a good sign and after learning how to play the game from the PowerGig staffers, I checked it out…

After I got done playing guitar on Rock Revolution PowerGig, I had a bad taste in my mouth. You can see from the gameplay what to expect… Rock Revolution meets World of Warcraft. I was instructed that by accumulating, I don’t know, whatever “power” they call in this game, you can hit the joystick on the guitar to make changes to the fantasy environment while you play. Really?! While I’m not a big fan of what Guitar Hero is doing with their next game, I think it’s a good move for their franchise, as they need to differentiate themselves from Rock Band 3. The problem here is that PowerGig seems to be taking all the worst (or at least, my least favorite) parts of the games in the genre and combining them into a single experience. And I haven’t even gotten to the drums yet…

(Seriously, this is their drum instructional trainer!)

I know we’re talking about guitar peripherals in this post, but I digress for a moment. While PowerGig’s guitar peripheral lets you play as a real guitar, the drums decided to do the complete opposite. I mean… there aren’t any; it’s completely air drumming. Even air guitaring is sorta cool (and least when done by the right person)… air drumming is just lame. You have what looks like a game of Simon sitting on the ground projecting virtual cones upwards that you are supposed to hit with electronic drum sticks that look more like turkey basters than drum sticks. When you “bang” on the “virtual pad,” it’s supposed to register a hit signaled by an illuminated LED. They were atrocious… I don’t think the yellow pad registered once during the entire song that I tried. In fact, PowerGig’s big talking points when I asked about the drums where that they don’t make noise like real drums, and when you’re done, you can slide them under the couch. I mean, right in the instruction video, they say “Instead of the bulky and loud gaming drumkits of the past…” THAT’S WHAT DRUMS ARE!!! In retrospect, they should have just done away with drums and focused solely on making the guitar a quality experience… the game might have been salvageable.

What’s most unnerving about this is that supposedly PowerGig has the exclusive rights to Kid Rock, Dave Matthews Band, and Eric Clapton. I was pissed when I saw a Pantera DLC pack come out for Rock Revolution, and I’m pissed that we allegedly won’t soon be seeing Clapton on Rock Band now.

If you get a chance to play this game somewhere, give it a shot… I dunno; maybe you’ll like it. But with the features that Rock Band 3 is packing, I have a heard time seeing anyone truly enjoying this game.

For more info on PowerGig, check out PowerGig.com.

Rock Band 3 MadCatz Mustang Pro Guitar

OK, this is probably what you’ve all been waiting for. If you haven’t read my write up of the other instruments above, please go back and check those out, as I’ll be making references throughout this.

While at the MTV Games booth, I was lucky enough (thanks Jeff and Steph!) to get some up close and personal time with the Mustang and Squier Pro guitar controllers. I started with the MadCatz Mustang Pro Guitar. This peripheral is like nothing we’ve ever seen before. Instead of the 10 button Rock Band peripherals we’ve seen in the past, this guitar adds buttons for each of the 17 frets across the length of the neck of guitar, and then adds another dimension of buttons for each of the six guitar strings across the width of the neck. So instead of having to be comfortable with moving your hand on Hard and Expert to get that tricky orange button, get ready to have your hands flying all over the neck trying to hit the correct button from a total of 102! The addition of new buttons bids goodbye to the colored fret buttons of old. Gone too is the strum bar and instead replaced with six strings.

The Mustang is a hybrid of guitar game controllers and real guitars due to the button matrix on the neck, and is like nothing else seen at E3. It’s much more than your “old” controller, but not quite yet a “real” guitar. This controller is designed for players who want to move up to the Pro Guitar/Bass experience, but don’t want some of the drawbacks of a real guitar, the biggest of which I can only assume will be price. I was given the hands-on introduction by MadCatz PR Manager Alex Verrey, and when I lifted the guitar, I was shocked at how light it was, more on par with the weight of the Rock Band 2 Fender Strats.

As I’m sure you’ve seen by now, as the notes come down the highway in Pro Guitar on Rock Band 3, the lane now shows six strings, instead of five lanes. Each note that comes at you has a number from 0 to 17, corresponding with the fret to hold down, and the appropriate string must be plucked within the correct timing window. Every third group of frets has a tiny number on the side of the neck letting you know where you are, although Rock Band 3 Designer Sylvain told me that they encourage players NOT to look at their hands, and instead the game shows where your hand is by what frets you’re holding down (similar to how you hold down the green fret now, it shows the green fret depressed on the screen).

I struggled through one song with people from Harmonix cheering me on (including Bryn of Bang Camaro). It’s EXACTLY like playing Guitar Hero/Rock Band for the first time again. It’s frustrating when you miss, but when you nail a few in a row, it’s such an exhilarating feeling. I’m not sure I ever made it all the way up to even a 2X multiplier, but it’s exactly the shot in the arm the expert plastic guitarists need to get them excited about rhythm gaming again. I was told that in focus testing, players were able to progress only in a matter of hours through easy and medium Pro, even those new to rhythm gaming, so the learning curve as described to me doesn’t appear to be as steep as one would anticipate.

The neck for the Mustang is detachable, which is a nice feature for portability. It also includes a MIDI out, so even though this is more of a hybrid instrument than any others featured here, you can still use it outside of just Rock Band 3, helping to justify the $149.99 price tag. I would definitely be picking this up, but I have my eye on something else much more badass…

Rock Band 3 Fender Squier Stratocaster

Let me just say, this thing is the real friggin’ deal. Even though these are still in prototype and only six exist at this point, I can tell that it is an amazing piece of hardware. It’s a REAL Fender guitar, and even up close, most people would NEVER know this is also a game controller.

When getting ready to play, I assumed that it would be just as “easy” as the Mustang guitar, but in reality, it was even harder. Instead of depressing the correct button and strumming the correct string, with the Squier, you have to hold the correct fret in the correct place and strum the correct string at the correct time. I got something like 1,300 points when I was done… Not my best score. But when I finished butchering the song on Easy Pro, I had that same feeling I had when I first played Guitar Hero 1… I wanted MORE!

Same as on the Mustang, you’re encouraged to look at the screen rather than your hands when playing. This is possible due to new technology added in to the neck and fingerboard to track finger positions in real time. This is one of the bigger reasons why you probably won’t be able to use the Rock Band 3 MIDI Controller with your own MIDI compatible guitar with Rock Band 3.

The best part about playing on Pro Guitar mode is that even on Easy, you’re starting to learn how to play the ACTUAL song on an ACTUAL guitar.

Now for the bad news… I’ve been pointed to a quote over at TechNewsDaily that unfortunately says the Squier may not be ready for the launch of Rock Band 3:

MTV reps said these controllers might not be ready for the release of Rock Band 3 later this year. Understandably, it’s a big undertaking to make a real guitar compatible with a music game. Other companies have been working on the same technology for years with similar results.

This is also one of the reasons why there is no price set on the Squier. It’s not that Harmonix is being coy about releasing pricing details on what is obviously going to be an expensive peripheral. It’s more that they probably don’t know how much something like this is going to cost to build and ultimately price for the market. If the Mustang Pro is $149.99, this sucker I’m assuming will be no lower than $299.99. Expensive yes, but that’s the price to pay if you want to be able to get the best experience out of Rock Band 3 AND a real instrument!

Summary

While I didn’t have enough hands on time to properly compare and contrast all the peripherals (AHEM… I appreciate free stuff everyone!), the thing that instantly jumped out at me was how Rock Band managed to differentiate themselves from everybody else. Each of the guitars listed above lets you both play in-game as well as in real life, but with the exception of the Rock Band 3 guitars, none of them attempt to bridge the gap between playing a plastic instrument and playing a real instrument.

For those of you who, like me, want to learn to play real guitar, you won’t be finding that from the other peripherals. To take advantage of what they have to offer, you have to already know how to play guitar, which I’m assuming most of you do not. As I mentioned at the top, being first is great and everything, but being the best at something is better. While the instruments above may ultimately beat Rock Band 3 to market, none of them come with software tailored to bridge the gap between transitioning from plastic to real guitar. And with the track record Harmonix has on creating quality music software, being the best is probably a given… also being first is just icing on the cake.

It is nice to know that there are options out there, but I think we can all take comfort in the fact that by the end of the year, when people say to you “Why don’t you play a real instrument?” you can now answer them: “I am.”

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