Rock Band 2 Preview

It only seems like yesterday that we finally got hold of Rock Band in the UK (it still isn't available on platforms other than the Xbox 360), but Rock Band 2 is already almost complete. At E3 2008 in LA we caught up with Dan Teasdale, lead designer on Rock Band 2, to find out how rocking has been improved in the sequel, the use of a $300 peripheral and pricing in the UK.

VideoGamer.com: Could you explain your role on the game and the kind of thing that you do as part of the development team?

Dan Teasdale: I'm the lead designer on Rock Band 2. My job is basically to make the game fun and to make it a real authentic band experience. So my job is designing the game, writing specifications for people, balancing the game and making sure it's finely tuned and as balanced as possible.

VideoGamer.com: What are the key changes and improvements gamers will see in Rock Band 2?

DT: We've been focussing on perfecting the experience. We innovated on Rock Band 1 by bringing in 4 instruments, and now we're perfecting it with battle of the bands so you compete against the world as a band. We have improved instruments, so we have like a metal pedal, we have the ability to add cymbals onto our kit. But the main thing that is really striking is the set list. We have AC DC, we have tracks from Chinese Democracy (Guns N' Roses' new album), which is 14 years in the making, we have Bob Dylan tracks. It's an incredibly dense set list in terms of how great these bands are.

VideoGamer.com: Can you tell me more about Battle of the Bands?

DT: It's a tournament system essentially, so we'll be updating new tournaments for people to compete in daily. We might put up an expert battle where people have to try and get the best score on guitar, the next day we might put up a family battle where everyone in the band can play and we turn off the crowd meter so people can't fail out. We'll be adding new competitions for people to compete in. When they're competing they'll be competing through their friends lists first, trying to beat their friends. and once they get to the top of their friends we unleash them on the global scene and they try to beat everyone else in the world to get up to the number 1 spot.

VideoGamer.com: Is the reward purely a leaderboard sense, being on top of the leaderboard?

DT: That's the main reward right now, the leaderboard position. We're talking about doing some real world awards as well, but that stuff is still in the pipeline.

VideoGamer.com: How are you going to implement people coming together as a band, then sticking together as band and then taking that into Battle of the Bands?

DT: We've actually done a lot of improvement on that. We've slimmed down what we call match making, which is how we get people into online play. It's a single button press to invite people and find people who want to play. We have these bands as well, that have logos. You can go to rockband.com and see your band's web page, like a myspace band page. You can go through and make real merchandise from that. If I wanted to make a t-shirt I could can print my band's logo onto a t-shirt. If I wanted to print out 3D figures of my band, we can do that as well. It's bringing this fantasy of being in a band and bringing it into reality.

VideoGaner.com: Are you including any webcam features in Rock Band 2?

DT: We talked about it a a little bit, but we've really been trying to focus on being an authentic band experience. A lot of our focus is giving players the tools to pretend they're in a band, like the merchandising, rather than making it more of a game. Once you see footage of you sitting in your living room, with the couch in the back, it kind of breaks the fantasy a little bit.

VideoGamer.com: What are the differences to the instruments this time around? What improvements have been made?

DT: We've done a huge stack of improvements. On the guitar, there's a more realistic finish. It's a split wood type on the head stock and the neck, much like the real Stratocaster. We also have audio calibration as well, so you don't have to mess around and try and figure out millisecond numbers for TVs and stuff. You just hold your guitar to the TV and you get perfect synchronisation, which is amazing.

The drums are kind of a stand out feature for us. We have an improved Rock Band 2 drum set, which has quieter pads, a steel pedal. You can also expand your experience, so if you've been playing drums for a while, and you're comfortable with the four pads, you can buy cymbal attachments that attach to the back, or if you want two pedals you can add another for double drum pedals. The really awesome thing is that because we've been working with so many third parties, we have the the Ion Drum Rocker, which is actually in real life a real midi kit that has been adapted to play in Rock Band. It's $299 coming out around the same time as Rock Band 2. I can go through and play this kit in Rock Band, and then once I'm done playing in Rock Band I can unplug the Rock Band bit, and plug in a real midi translator. Play it on stage and do recording with it. It is a real midi drum kit. We have a clear transition from a single drum kit to playing on stage.