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Rock Band 4 No Keyboards (Keys) My Thoughts. Good Or Bad?

1,445 views · Published 9 April 2015 · 5:30 · Indexed 10 November 2026

Channel: Rock N' Roll True Stories · 2015 · Gaming

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My thoughts on the lack of keys support for Rock Band 4.

The rhythm game genre seemed unstoppable for a number of years as both Activision's stable of developers and Harmonix cranked out sequel after sequel to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, respectively.

Fans bought game after game, along with expensive plastic versions of musical instruments so they could pretend to be in a rock band while pretending to play music in their living rooms.

Then, nearly as suddenly, it all stopped. Harmonix moved onto other projects, and Activision shuttered or collapsed a number of studios that were working on the Guitar Hero series. The era of plastic instruments ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.

It's been a little under five years since the release of Rock Band 3, and the whispers of a new title and the demands of players who have no rhythm games to play are becoming overwhelming. After hinting strongly that something big was in the works, Harmonix is officially saying it's time to get the band back together.

The rhythm game genre seemed unstoppable for a number of years as both Activision's stable of developers and Harmonix cranked out sequel after sequel to the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises, respectively.

Fans bought game after game, along with expensive plastic versions of musical instruments so they could pretend to be in a rock band while pretending to play music in their living rooms.

Then, nearly as suddenly, it all stopped. Harmonix moved onto other projects, and Activision shuttered or collapsed a number of studios that were working on the Guitar Hero series. The era of plastic instruments ended not with a bang, but with a whimper.

It's been a little under five years since the release of Rock Band 3, and the whispers of a new title and the demands of players who have no rhythm games to play are becoming overwhelming. After hinting strongly that something big was in the works, Harmonix is officially saying it's time to get the band back together.

The Rock Band team has been spending a significant amount of time playing past Rock Band games, trying to find the heart of the franchise. What they discovered was that later games suffered from a sort of feature creep: There were too many things bolted onto the sides, with few changes to the core mechanics.

"None of the games in the genre really delivered a lot of innovation, or maybe the right kind of innovation in the experience during that period. Consumers want something new," Harmonix co-founder and chief creative officer Alex Rigopulos told Polygon. "We view it as a responsibility to deliver that innovation this time around."

The challenge is maintaining the core of Rock Band while delivering those unnamed new experiences.

"I am consistently surprised by how few people are bored with that stock game, you know? I'm psyched about it. We can really lead the charge with the new things we're doing, but the things that people really care about are these platform issues that differentiate Rock Band as a title," product manager Daniel Sussman said.


Harmonix is claiming that the sprawl of Rock Band 3 will be replaced by a more focused experience that moves the series ahead on a number of levels. The push to get people learning how to play actual instruments will be set aside to focus on the arcade-style fun of the earlier titles.

"There is an existing gameplay core that is very powerful and very fun, and we don't want to tamper with that core. At the same time, we need to bring something new to the experience," Rigopulos said.

He listed three parts of the experience. One is the chase for the highest scores and most precise playing, which a "passionate minority" of players thinks about. Then there are the people who play Rock Band like a party experience, without much care for the "game" aspect of the title.

"The living-room party experience, the multiplayer, drunk party fun with rock and roll, these people don't care about score at all," he said. "[For them] it's all about having fun and making rock music with a group of friends."

The third focus is on the narrative progression of the game, the story that takes you through your career as a virtual rock star.

Those three aspects of the game will be the focus of Rock Band 4.

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