Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 30, 2008, 03:19:53 AM
I've long been a critic of DS games that involve blowing into the system's built-in microphone. It's a forced, cynical use of a hardware feature that should either be used properly or not at all. Microphones are for speaking into and recording sounds, not for blowing. Lazy developers have turned this potentially revolutionary aspect of the DS into a glorified button press, much like the plague of "waggle" in Wii games.
Starting with Rock Band last year, the blatant misuse of microphones in gaming has crossed over into console territory. This is a new development sin, though. Popular music games with karaoke-like gameplay are now asking players to scream into the microphone in order to activate "star power" or some equivalent. Don't get me wrong, screaming is a legitimate element of rock music, but it certainly doesn't belong in every song. Moreover, the mechanic just doesn't work very well. I'm extremely disappointed to hear that this glaring design flaw hasn't been addressed in Rock Band 2, and it seems to have been directly copied for Guitar Hero: World Tour.
When playing Rock Band with friends, I usually spend a lot of time singing; most other people seem to consider it some kind of duty that must be fulfilled until your next turn at the drums. But I like singing, and I'm happy to take care of that role. Sadly, the vocals portion of Rock Band seems to get no love from the developers, either. Putting aside my many qualms with the pitch tracking, it's completely ridiculous that there is no good way to activate star power on the microphone. Screaming sounds terrible in many songs, and sometimes it doesn't even work. Other times, loud noises in the room (a.k.a. the drums) can set off your boost by accident. Hitting the microphone in your hand, as you would for the tambourine beats, doesn't seem to work very well either. Perhaps the most effective way to activate star power is –you guessed it– blowing into the mike. Regardless of your method, it sounds horrible when the game plays the input back over your TV's speakers to everyone else.
If the point of these music games is to make you feel like you're really playing the song, why can't the developers find some way to activate the vocal score boost without totally ruining that immersion? All it would take is one small button on the microphone. These companies are willing to ship $70 guitars and $100 drum sets, but they can't be bothered to include anything other than a cheap, plain $10 USB microphone. Hell, at least give us the option to press a button on the standard game controller! MadCatz makes a premium microphone for Rock Band on Xbox 360, featuring its own D-pad and controller buttons, but these can't be used to activate star power because the game isn't programmed for that functionality.
Am I the only one bothered by the complete disregard for these games' vocal components?
Update: Since I posted this blog entry, some readers have noted in the Talkback thread that Guitar Hero: World Tour does allow you to press a button on the controller. Now we'll see if Harmonix will use the extra three months of development on the Wii version of Rock Band 2 to fix this problem.
Post by: that Baby guy on October 30, 2008, 04:01:49 AM
Post by: Larson on October 30, 2008, 04:21:34 AM
Post by: Stogi on October 30, 2008, 08:49:05 AM
ugh....
Post by: NWR_Neal on October 30, 2008, 11:23:28 AM
If I'm singing in a video game, I'd much rather focus on singing than pressing a button. You don't have to scream either, you can tap the microphone, which is kind of like pressing a button, or you can say something.
For a while, my friends and I used to start singing other songs in the game during star power parts, or during Big Rock Endings on Rock Band.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on October 30, 2008, 12:15:21 PM
And this game is adored by all while WiiMusic is shunned by many....
ugh....
It's adored because it's an amazing game. The vocals are its weakest aspect, however.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on October 30, 2008, 12:29:26 PM
Post by: Bill Aurion on October 30, 2008, 12:48:02 PM
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on October 30, 2008, 02:08:27 PM
Post by: blackfootsteps on October 30, 2008, 04:03:10 PM
And this game is adored by all while WiiMusic is shunned by many....
ugh....
It's adored because it's an amazing game. The vocals are its weakest aspect, however.
Why is this? Isn't it just Singstar but with good songs?
Post by: vudu on October 30, 2008, 04:35:36 PM
Post by: NWR_Lindy on October 30, 2008, 04:53:07 PM
Why is this? Isn't it just Singstar but with good songs?
I don't know what SingStar is about aside from singing along with videos, but Rock Band allows you to do a lot of cool stuff. You can do vocals, guitar/bass, and drums on Easy/Medium/Hard/Expert. And you can go online with up to four people. And you can battle other bands online against a certain setlist. And there's a ton of DLC. And you can import all of the tracks from Rock Band 1, so you can potentially have something like 300 songs out of the gate. And you can turn off the ability to fail a song, so even little Timmy or Grandma Ethel can play with you. And you can create your own character and personalize them with clothes, tattoos, and whatnot. And you can form a band, name the band, and even create a logo. And if you want, you can have merchandise made featuring that band name and logo (t-shirts, heck you can even get a figurine made of your avatar). And of course, new DLC comes out on a weekly basis, and the interface to get it (i.e. Rock Band Store) is easy to use and very well-integrated.
I honestly can't poke many holes in Rock Band (especially Rock Band 2). For a Guitar Hero-type game, it just does everything right. I wasn't even into music games, and I bought the original Rock Band more out of curiosity than anything else. Little did I know that it would become one of my favorite all-time game series.
Post by: GoldenPhoenix on October 30, 2008, 05:19:00 PM
Post by: blackfootsteps on October 31, 2008, 05:38:08 AM
I was more wondering why the vocals were the 'weakest aspect'? I just assumed the vocals portion would be like singstar (ie fun with mates round drinking) except with rock songs and therefore a lot better. Is it only because the guitar / drums etc are more fun?
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on October 31, 2008, 05:59:32 AM
Or hitting a button on the controller.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on October 31, 2008, 12:40:51 PM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on October 31, 2008, 02:59:08 PM
Or hitting a button on the controller.
Was this added in RB2? I checked online and couldn't find any confirmation that it is possible in any of the games. (Larson says above that it's in GH: World Tour, but I couldn't find anything about it on the official site or GameFAQs.)
Post by: KDR_11k on October 31, 2008, 06:07:17 PM
Post by: Kairon on October 31, 2008, 07:25:34 PM
Post by: S-U-P-E-R on October 31, 2008, 10:33:10 PM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on November 01, 2008, 01:45:22 AM
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on November 02, 2008, 09:11:36 AM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on November 03, 2008, 03:57:17 PM
Post by: NWR_Neal on November 03, 2008, 09:47:52 PM
The GH:WT are set up very weirdly and there's no feedback to tell you if you're doing it correctly besides your multiplier/streak going up. Although the button for star power isn't too bad.
Post by: NWR_Lindy on November 03, 2008, 11:42:03 PM
Yep. I think it's sad that they haven't made any improvements to the vocals engine after so many chances.
I don't know what they'd improve it TO though, short of improving the speech recognition.
Post by: Flames_of_chaos on November 04, 2008, 09:38:11 AM
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on January 06, 2009, 01:24:27 AM
Post by: IceCold on January 12, 2009, 03:44:11 AM
Post by: Stratos on February 13, 2009, 12:29:03 AM
Post by: Nick DiMola on February 13, 2009, 08:28:33 AM
Wait, so instead of people receiving sexual favours they're now getting yelled at instead? What a gip.
lulz
Post by: TheYoungerPlumber on February 13, 2009, 09:55:30 AM
Post by: EasyCure on February 13, 2009, 11:42:43 AM
Man, all of these unreliable approaches sound really crude for a music video game. I'm with Jonny: give us a friggin' button.
Buttons are sOOoooOoooo last gen tho!
Post by: NinGurl69 *huggles on February 13, 2009, 01:19:26 PM
Amigo!
Post by: Jonnyboy117 on February 03, 2011, 05:19:30 PM
