Rock Band 3: Holy Fucking Shit

Relevant link: http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-2010-rock-band-3/101091

Wow, just wow.  We already knew there were going to be keyboards.  I was wondering how exactly it was going to work, and the trailer alone only really showed the note tracks.

It's a real fucking keyboard.  No joking around here.  It's basically a miniature keytar.  Hopefully it comes with a neck strap for rocking out at parties.

The thing I didn't even know existed until now is Pro mode.  Pro mode basically forces you to be more accurate, like you're playing an actual instrument.  Keyboards outside of Pro mode will use the customary five colors we're used to, which map to groups of keys on the keyboard controller.  Keyboards in Pro mode will call for specific keys to be pressed, like you're actually playing a real keyboard.

The other facet of Pro mode I know for certain right now is that there's an entirely new guitar controller for it.  With six strings and seventeen frets' worth of buttons (that's 102 buttons for the mathematically challenged), and strings to strum instead of a strum bar.  All I can really say is, thank you.  Thank you for injecting more realism into rhythm games, and thank you for injecting brand new challenge into an otherwise stale genre where each new game was basically "more levels, same gameplay".  I can't wait to get owned by the game all over again.

Side note, I just realized that the Pro mode guitar controller is a Fender Mustang.  Azu-nyan's guitar.

Vocals have harmonies, the feature first introduced in The Beatles Rock Band.  This fits perfectly, because often there are backup vocals or multiple people singing at once, and it's weird to only ever be able to sing one of the parts.  It does require multiple microphones to have all the vocalists playing simultaneously, but that's to be expected.

Drums they didn't touch on, but I can infer from the controller and the note tracks that Pro mode will probably require you to hit a cymbal when there's a cymbal crash vs. hitting the regular pad, which would count as a tom.  Up until now drum controllers (especially RB's) haven't been very intuitive at all.  Being a music person who started on piano in elementary school and moved through the symphonic band learning absofuckinglutely everything, intuitiveness and realism in the plastic instrument I'm using are pretty much required for me.  Other than lack of access to a controller, lack of intuitive design of the controller itself has been the major barrier preventing me from getting good at drums in rhythm games.

As for how exactly Pro mode works, they didn't touch on.  Personally I'm hoping that it's a game modifier of sorts, rather than just being the difficulty level above Expert.  It's going to have an insane learning curve, so being able to play dumbed down charts to learn the ropes of Pro mode will pretty much be required.

Hopefully there will be better support for multi-instrument play (as in, one person, two instruments, usually vocals and one other).

Since the genre is basically dying (It's pretty much confirmed that GH6 and RB3 are the last of each franchise) it's nice to see Harmonix going out with a bang.  Hopefully Neversoft will pull off something awesome as well, though matching what Harmonix has at this point will be really tough.  Looks like the company that originally created Guitar Hero is asserting its dominance.

Now if we can just get some Galneryus tracks in the setlist or as DLC.  They match this setup perfectly (vocals, one guitar, five-string bass, keyboards, and drums), and their music is undeniably awesome.