In the middle of the Expo floor in the West Hall was what appeared to be some sort of awesome rock bar on the strip. Dingy lighting, a big bouncer dude with tats standing by the velvet rope, hot chicks all over the place. The booth belonged to GIG, a new music game trying to give Rockband a run for its money. The boss and I sat down and played a song. Her on guitar, me on drums, we looked pretty good.
The guitar controller had strings and you do play with a pick. The drum set was interesting. A solid piece with sticks, the drum circles respond to to the lasers in the drum sticks. I have to say this was pretty fun and easy. I really enjoyed the range of motion I had. Meanwhile Sugar Momma was having a blast on the guitar just plucking away. So I left Gig thinking "it could give Rockband a little competition." I mean everything was just more compact and sleek.
Next day, South Hall, standing in line outside the Rockband concert hall booth, I'm looking at two very awesome guitar controllers. One was a real guitar, and then there was the mustang with keys for the frets and strings at the base, can we say rockstar status?
So we take a seat in the little theater and some Rockband press stuff comes on a big TV, complete with Cartman's performance of Poker Face. Then the curtain opens, we're suddenly viewing a seven man White Snake extravaganza, complete with keyboard. Holy cow. They were all development staff for the game and they were working that stage. (We'll be posting that video in our featured section soon)
After our delightful show we were bombarded with a zillion awesome and jaw dropping facts. Wanna know some of 'em?
- There is now a Keyboard controller. It can also be used for base and or guitar. Also, if you have a keyboard with a midi output you can just plug that bad boy in and go for a Magic Carpet Ride. MadCatz made an awesome wireless keyboard controller that's small and really let's you work on your stage presence as one of the performers demonstrated (he was amazing).
- As mentioned before you can now use a real guitar.
'Nuff said.
- Drop in or out anytime and it won't cause any agony or band breakups.
- The whole "nobody push any buttons!" dilemma has been fixed.
-Change your difficulty in mid-play.
- There's a challenge mode which allows you to unlock achievements and for the first time ever, you can win Rockband (I don't think it will be as South Park predicted)
- Create your own set lists on Rockband.com and they're waiting for you on your console.
- 2000 songs available for this game.
The title has really expanded its reach from the very casual gamer to the hardcore Rockband tourney contenders. I'll admit I was one of those people saying "music games are fizzling out." Yeah...not at all, this game will be a must at all the Hollywood parties. *DING* *DING* *DING* Sorry Gig but we have a winner. Congratulations Rockband, you honestly outdid yourself.
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