Rock Band

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

Because Harmonix's tiering philosophy is to pick a tier, pick a random song out of a hat, and place it in that tier regardless of difficulty.

They get it wrong A LOT.

[Homestar Gunner]

Enter Sandman guitar is fairly difficult.

Enter Sandman drums are not. If you can do Maps you can do Enter Sandman, they're probably equal difficulty but separated by five tiers.

That said, In Bloom is surprisingly difficult on drums for being a tier 1 song, I think it should at least trade places with Gimme Shelter, if not be placed even higher up.

As for difficult songs that are placed correctly, expert drums for GG&HT are fine where they are, because there's only one difficult part. Otherwise it's just an endurance test.

I only speak of drums because overall, I think the guitar charts are easy enough - I five-starred most of the disc songs on my first try. And yes, I think having a difficult solo, despite whatever the rest of the song is, a song should be placed higher on the list.

[Depressio]

Yeah, the tiers in Rock Band are really inconsistent, especially when playing in band mode.

I like how Snow is considered substantially easier than Are You Gonna Be My Girl. I know Snow's vocals are easy but...come on.

[Bonkava!]

I just Guitar/expert FC'd Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld.

And Enter Sandman on guitar is only difficult if you're bad at stretching.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

Dan Teasdale confirms stuff:

http://www.rockband.com/rockers_blog_entry/hmxspraynwipe/408400
By popular forum request, I present some interesting Rock Band 2 song
statistics! Hooray!

First Songs
* For all but vocals, the first song in the game is "Eye of the Tiger".
This is because it is awesome.
* For vocals, it's "Pretend We're Dead".
* The easiest Harmonix song is "Conventional Lover" by Speck. Honestly
though, it's not about how easy it is, it's how you play it.

Final Songs
* "Painkiller" is the final band and guitar song by difficulty.
* "Panic Attack" is the final drum and bass song by difficulty.
* "Tangled Up in Blue" is the final vocal song by difficulty.
* The hardest Harmonix song is "Visions" by Abnormality.

Full Ranking List
* ...is going to be coming out through the gaming press very soon. Stay
tuned!

Other Stats
* The shortest song is "Hello There" by Cheap Trick, with a running
time of 1:37. Coincidentally, it was also the most played song at E3.
* While "Teen Age Riot" has the most guitar notes at 3,316 notes, the
majority are chords. "Panic Attack" has the most individually strummed
or HOPO'ed notes, with 2,767 - "Teen Age Riot" only has 1,824.
* As of right now the highest scoring band in Rock Band 2 is "Dogs of
the A.M.S.", a band comprised of OXM reviewers. Nice work, OXM!
* The band with the highest amount of fans, however, is "Empty
Theatrics", a band comprised of GameInformer reviewers. Do I sense an
impending Battle of the Bands face-off?

Gamespot Hands-On with Rock Band 2 (and videos!)
http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/puzzle/rockband2/news.html?sid=6196269&part=rss&tag=gs_all_games&subj=6196269

Bodhisattva + a little bit of the awesome "Battle of the Bands" mode
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/dor/objects/14257567/rock-band-2-game-only-/videos/X360_rb2_081808.html

Battle of the Bands general info
http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/899/899820p1.html

I'm sleepy so I don't have commentary for it right now. All I can say is that Battle of the Bands looks incredibly well-done (it pings you when someone beats your record!) and Bob Dylan = epic win

EDIT: Here's some videos for those of you who don't read good.
Gamespy previews of several songs
Also, check out what's in the Lazy Eye chart!

Wow.

Full band previews:
Alice in Chains- Man in the Box
(No, they're not on Expert)

Billy Idol- White Wedding Pt. 1
(yes, they are on Expert)

Rock Shop videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XM2awlWQEU4&feature=user
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59-3TOdpnkw&feature=user

Or, just go to this Youtube page and refresh it obsessively; that guy is compiling all the new video previews.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

AHH
MOVING PICTURES NEXT WEEK
HOLY CRAP







I cannot wait to see the bass for Red Barchetta (and to see how the instrumentals will work out for vocalists)

other stuff:
Information about next week's DLC
Harmonix interviews Rush
Rush plays Tom Sawyer...on Rock Band
Nas plays Tom Sawyer...on Rock Band

[Homestar Gunner]

And here's the difficulty tiers for Rock Band 2!!

Guitar

Vocals (I have a hard time believing that White Wedding is that difficult to sing)

Drums

And you can roughly deduce from that how the band tiers will go down.

[Alexisonfire]

(I have a hard time believing that White Wedding is that difficult to sing)

It's different for person to person. I found Highway Star and Welcome Home to be a lot easier than most of the songs in the game, yet they were ranked one of the highest.

Although they have to be doing something right. The three songs I figured would be the toughest to sing are all highest tier.

[Depressio]

Today is a good day to like Rock Band. What are they going to do with YYZ though? Only have the mic-tapping?

Also, I guess Float On is going to be pretty easy.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

And here's the difficulty tiers for Rock Band 2!!

Guitar

Kinda weird how Colony of Birchmen is Impossible. I've played it on real guitar and it's standard metal fare up until the solo.
Well, the solo IS pretty insane.

And a Bang Camaro song that isn't in the final tier? Maybe they actually did do the ratings right this time.

[Bonkava!]

Rock Band 2 >>>>>> Guitar Hero: World Tour

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

Rock Band 2 >>>>>> Guitar Hero: World Tour

What kinda rockstar wears briefs? 


Oh, I learned something cool today!
I can't pass Snow, Constant Motion, Sleepwalker, or Clouds Over California on Expert guitar. I came close on Sleepwalker but failed the crazy pre-solo, which is like Mosh 1 from Raining Blood on methamphetamines.

[Bonkava!]

Clouds isn't too hard. If you can do Knights of Cydonia, Beast and the Harlot, and Run to the Hills, you should be able to do it.

Constant Motion and Sleepwalker are all about saving overdrive.

Snow, yeah, is hard. Nothing I can say, 'cept I passed all those songs on my first try. (I have subsequently failed Constant Motion due to overdrive refusing to go off)

<.< OK, I'm a jerk.

[Sonic the Werewolf.]

Snow and Clouds Over California are down!  *goes to ice strumming arm*

Well, here's other stuff:
6 More Albums will be announced in August
Skip to 16:40 for the best RB2 preview ever

The new calibration feature looks so convenient for those of us with HDTVs.

[Bonkava!]

Sleepwalker is easier than Constant Motion, so I suggest you do that one first. Also, only having to pay a third of the price for Rock Band 2 = win.