Wednesday 23 September 2015

Rock Band 4 Xbox One Legacy Adapter Discount

For those of you that are interested in the Rock Band 4 legacy adapter, they were just released for pre-order on amazon at a very large discount! They are regularly priced at $25 USD, but there is currently a coupon code discounts it $15 making it only $10.

The adapter can be found here. Use coupon code "RB4ADAPTER" at checkout.

I am not sure if the offer is available outside of the US.

Friday 4 September 2015

Rock Band 4 and PBaE

Hello all,

I wanted to make a statement regarding PBaE going forward now that the band genre seems to be having a bit of a revival. I don't think there could be a better time than with the release of the Rock Band 4 achievement list.

For the time being, Rock Band 4 development of PBaE will not be happening. While it may not be possible to develop PBaE for Rock Band 4 at all, this decision is mostly personal. I have a lot of history with and respect for band games, which has led me to this decision. I go into more details below.

Initially I created PBaE for two reasons. One was a personal project that allowed me to tinker and to get the last few of my drum achievements before I moved out of the country and had to leave all of my drum sets behind. After seeing its potential, I thought it would be a good way to spread the fun that I had with Rock Band and Guitar Hero over the years to those that did not have the skill level to complete some of the harder achievements.

The target audience was both those that had never played band games because they cared greatly for their achievement/trophy completion percentage, as well as those that had regrets putting the games on their account many years ago. By offering a solution to the past regret and giving those that previously avoided the game a full opportunity to enjoy it, my goal was to give more people a more positive image of Rock Band going forward. Unfortunately, there was, and still is some opposition to the project. I do, however, feel there has be more positive than negative impact.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero are both very important to me. To this day they remain some of my favourite games. In the heyday of band games, I lived and breathed Rock Band. My friends and I would play daily, having regular weekend get-togethers that almost always involved Rock Band or Guitar Hero. Although the peak has long since passed, band games will always carry these great memories with them.

Additionally, Guitar Hero and Rock Band taught me to love music. When I was quite young, I had a few not so great experiences with music that led me to not listen to music. I had no interest whatsoever in learning to play an instrument. The first time I played Guitar Hero, that all changed. I was immediately hooked. I loved the music, I loved the gameplay, everything about it was great. It allowed me to give music a chance. Fast forward a few years, I have gotten into Rock Band with a focus on drums. I eventually decided to learn to play a real drum set. Now on my visits to the old country, I look forward to regular jam sessions with friends.

Because of my long history with these games I know the competitive scene is solid. While I did not make PBaE with the intention to put big scores and FCs on the boards, I know that it is a definite possibility however. I was not too concerned with this on older band games because they were really, for the most part, past their time for intense competition. However, with the revival of band games, I don't want to compromise competition, which is why I will not be developing PBaE for Rock Band 4.

I want others to be able to enjoy Rock Band 4 the way that I did, and competition is a very important part of that. By releasing PBaE compatibility for a current version of Rock Band, the potential harm is much greater than the potential gain. That does not fall in line with my mission for the project. Down the road when Rock Band 4 is much older and maybe (hopefully) has a few more sequels, I may look into it, but for the time being it will not happen.

This post is a little long, but I really wanted to fully express my feelings and respect for Rock Band 4. If you have made it this far, thank you for reading.
-Randy Twoseventwoseven