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E3 '07: Rock Band Stage Demo Impressions

Harmonix rocks out at Microsoft's E3 07 press conference. We take a look.

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Note to the game industry: Peter Moore is not very good at guitar games. At least, that's the impression one got after watching him play Rock Band along with the developers from Harmonix during Microsoft's E3 2007 press conference. The MS exec managed to hit the start button during the middle of the song not once, but twice. But, considering that we did get the opportunity to see Rock Band in action live during the conference, we're willing to forgive the man's lack of rhythm game prowess.

Click to enlarge!
Click to enlarge!

During the stage demo, the song "Main Offender" by The Hives was performed by Peter Moore and developers from Harmonix. The demonstration illustrated much of what we've seen in recent footage and noted in our most recent update. What was most interesting was getting to watch the game in action, played by all four players at once. The gameplay seemed every bit as crazy as one would expect a music game with four instruments to be, yet the interface wasn't so chaotic as to make it difficult to keep track of any one instrument at a time.

Though there wasn't an awful lot to the demo beyond the simple, energetic performance of the Hives song, of note was a statement by Moore that the announcement of more bands and tracks would be announced later this week. Stay tuned to GameSpot's E3 07 coverage for more on Rock Band.

Got a news tip or want to contact us directly? Email news@gamespot.com

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decapzombie42

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[This message was deleted at the request of the original poster]

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master_overshot

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Better be some good metal on here otherwise this game is gonna be way to easy. Guitar Hero2 was to easy i thought. I want a real challenge here! Give us some Slayer, Metallica(before they started to suck), and Dimmu Borgir or Job for a Cowboy! It would be so awesome to play the drum tracks off The Sepertine Offering. Ofcourse your foot would fall off from Hellhammers insane double bass skillz, but in a good way lol.

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blomme38

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ps3 and xbox360 as far as know. to bad it's not gonna be realeased on the wii, otherwise i would surely have bought it

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mattz721721

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Whoa. The guy right before me almost has the same username. Scary. screw that, I'll play guitar and sing at the same time! someone fetch me a mic stand, I'll play 2 instruments at the same time. The setlist is going to have to be non-metal, otherwise somebody's foot is going to get incredibly tired attempting to do double-bass drumming...on a SINGLE PEDAL. Nevertheless, there will *always* be custom songs - and when Rock Band and GH3 are released, people will do custom songs o_o And that would be awesome if the original playlists suck. What console is Rock Band for?

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mattzz10

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This game sounds sweet. I can't wait!

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eespo93

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This game looks like so much fun!

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lodaddy

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To answer Rush_For_Life According to what I have read, the drum set up is like this Snare High-hat Tom Crash/Ride cymbal Base pedal and they do provide real drumsticks with the drumkit. Though I doubt they will have a throne. Its pretty much a basic starter drumkit, which is enough for this game (first time out of the gate, they may upgrade the drums in a latter game if this sells as well as I think it will sell)

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thegame696911

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Thanks so much Gamespot, your live stage demo with Rock Band made my E3. Gonna be so hard to wait for this game !!! looks so awesome !!!

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Rush_For_Life

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I think this is a great idea for people who DONT play intruments, but the problem is im not convinced that Rock Band will be difficult enough or feel real enough for actual musicians. I think for something like drums or percussion, my personal specialty, that it would be really fun for a non-drummer, but will it be difficult or natural enough for someone like me who's played drums for a decade. Things like having Rush's Tom Sawyer is really cool, but unfortunately that is one of the easiest songs Neil Peart (the drummer) plays in all of Rush's many songs. Here is a list of things I noticed were good and bad about the DRUMMING aspect of Rock Band The Good: 1. The drumset looks very solid, and not a 'fisher price' piece of scrap plastic. 2. You can sit down and use the drumset, I was very pleased to see that, I really expected them to skimp on that and make you sit down on the ground with a little pad and play with that. I am happy to say thats not the case 3. The Bass pedal line is just that, A LINE, and not a circle which is great because you know that where you are supposed to hit the bass pedal is easy to see and looks different than the circles that look more like toms or snares The Bad: (.X This is speculation but my guess is the kit does not come with a pair of drum sticks or a throne, which will suck for people who arent drummers X.) 1. I didn't see any cymbal stuff, and i also saw no high hat function either...very lame. ESPECIALLY FOR TOM SAWYER, anyone who knows that song knows it has straight 16th note high hat the whole song. 2. It looks like its going to be really simple beats, which i totally understand cause playing the drums is hard, but they better have an unlockable insane mode or something 3. Peter Moor sucks... not that bad though, cause it was funny as hell Closing Statement: I believe you CAN in fact learn to play some drums in Rock Band, unlike just pushing buttons in Guitar Hero which wont get you anywhere in being a great guitar player. For those of you who are serious drummers, i can't say this will satify you, but keep an eye out maybe itll get better. We can only hope.

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alexaoeato

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im not too sure how they are going to do it, like are they going to have different packs like a guitar pack, and a bass guitar pack , a drums pack and so on, or are they all just going to be together when you buy it?

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trupinoigamer

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its gonna be pretty kool although pretty expensive.they should have a freestyle mode where you and your freinds can play whatever they want together and you dont have to follow a song that wood be awesome

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Possede

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I think there will be a lot of drummers...i will be one because i want to try something new instead of playin the guitiar all the time...but there wont be that many singers thats for shure

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gamer_girl15

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Poor Peter Moore... At least he tried :P

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ShadowClaw48

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How can you guys say David Bowie is crap? He's great! Neway, since this is a games site I wont argue that point further. But at the moment its very close between this and GH3. Probably gonna get GH3 on the old PS2 becos I cant afford ANOTHER peripheral for the 360, besides the Drum one for this

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fredrising

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I'm going to get this game instead of GH3 with the drums and mic (i have 2 guitars from GH2 on 360 so hopefully they are compatible with this game.)

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RiseFM

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GH3 will be cool but Rockband will really kick ass.

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weisguy119

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That song is crap. From the looks of GH3, so far, Neversoft gets it. People want to play the big songs by the original artists. Harmonix keeps trying to force their personal taste in music upon the masses. If the track list blows, I'm not blowing $200 on Rock Band. GH3's track list is looking far superior, as of now.

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yinyang3

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Looks fun, but that song was lame.

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edflam311

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@chriseyebrows thats why you form a band of consistent people you know can/will play drums,sing or whatever. If you embrace the community aspect of it youll have no problem finding people to play with

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deactivated-5e9798654a05d

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that was most certianly a highlight of E3 :D

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ChrisEyebrows

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This is why I will be getting both this and GH3, This will be good for a while untill you realise that there are 10000000000 guitar players, 2000 drummers and only 3 people good enough to sing. GH3 will be mano o mano, guitar god vs guitar god.

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playstation_wii

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looks cool!

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comthitnuong

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I hope there are some more great songs. I have high hopes for the game but I will have to spend a good amount of time saving up for it if I want the 200 dollar bundle.

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Pete5506

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Its a good idea, and it would be cool, but if you are trying to sell it already, get people that can sing

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phillymaniac14

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hopefully, this will be coming to the wii, too. looks like an awesome game to play with 4 players, but is probably boring to play alone.

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Jared_Vegeta

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Sweet, can't wait for more song announcements.

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Le-Beave

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hmm... not as much information as i was hoping for... guess i will have to stay tuned!...

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SteeleInd

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Peter Moore has the voice of an angel. At least.. one that has been lit on fire and later dipped in a vat of alcohol.

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bgres077

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Looks like a cool game, however after hearing that horrible "singing" I want no part of this game in my house.

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mjwickstrom1

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Rock Band looks like a great game, and I'm surprised Microsoft started off their conference with it. It's about time we saw some gameplay of it. Looks sweet!

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f15srcool

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Short story.

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football_legend

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Awesome, this will own Guitar Hero 3.

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GH_GOD_OH_YE

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Man that guy sucked!! the video at E3 was a little dodgey, but the game still ROCKS!!

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dogdirt2000

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well, considering that the ps3's gpu isn't as good as the 360's and that the cell processor will not be able to improve upon graphics due the nature of that type of processor, i do not see how graphics can look better. The 360 has everything going for it in the graphics department even if the ps3's got a more powerful cpu.

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Da1ShrpSh0trGrl

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Oh so that's why the game kept stoping. He kept hitting the stop button. LMAO!!! I was soo tired I couldn't figure out what happened. It was almost mid nite here in the East Coast so my mind was working slower. lol

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princesszelda

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This was by far the most hilarious part of the conference. His singing could use some work. The game looks pretty fun to play. The drums look they are going to be killer though.

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Stucazzo

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Shmenonpie: I'm not sure how it's going to be better on the PS3. Maybe because of the graphics?? Don't forget, 360 has the edge with XBOX Live

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ShmenonPie

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I think it will be better on the PS3...

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jakeboudville

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the drums is so cool to play..

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Captain_Orgasm

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The fake Strat looks superb - I hope the other peripherals look just as good.

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Ministry4390

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Can't wait to try the drums

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s0njas0n

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yeah, not only did he suck at playing, he was a terrible singer too, it was awesome...

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jesus_knight

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haha yes you right kappareign i saw the video online!

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kappareign

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lol he ruined the 'big finish' when he paused it the second time... no fault to the game tho. looks ok

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whgresiak

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Haha Peter Moore sucked

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Bolund

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gonz87 the drums look pretty hard to master yeah but if you play the drum like me, you wouldn't stop laughing at the guy playing the drums it was way to simple

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JehovaWrinkles

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Who the hell is Peter Moore

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juanfraino

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I lol'd when peter paused the game for the second time :lol: Still, very fun loking game, I just hope it doesn't cost 200$ or more.

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gonz87

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the drums look pretty hard to master

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everccr

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up to 11,up to 11

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