# Rock Band 2 **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 6, 2008, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690 "2008-10-06T16:00:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/101 "2008-11-27T04:32:44Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > Is that the cost of an older-gen PS3, or the Rock Band for the PS3’s cost? > > Because I’m kind of liking the idea of downloadable extra songs. Oh, you’re still getting Rock Band… In that case the older 60GB PS3 (the best all-around one they released) is going for up to $1000 (!!!) Buy It Now on eBay, but the newer ones can be had for $400. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/102 "2008-11-27T04:34:15Z")
For those of you who want a better pedal, here’s what I did: I went to the music store and bought a real pedal. Then I opened up the rock band pedal and removed the reed switch and magnet, and hot glued them into position on the real pedal. Works like a charm. You can get pedals for somewhere around $30. Here’s a web page I put together explaining how to do it. It took me less than an hour: [Home Made Rock Band Pedal](http://members.shaw.ca/danhanson/RockBand/RockBandPedal.htm) ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/103 "2008-11-27T04:37:31Z")
That’s cool, I might have to do that. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/104 "2008-11-27T04:49:05Z")
> [@control-z](#): > > Oh, you’re still getting Rock Band… > > In that case the older 60GB PS3 (the best all-around one they released) is going for up to $1000 (!!!) Buy It Now on eBay, but the newer ones can be had for $400. Yeah, I meant I didn’t have to cater to his game system whims when choosing what platform to get it for, because he’ll probably run screaming if I bring the game home and thus isn’t going to care if he doesn’t play it on PS3 vs doesn’t play it on Wii. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/105 "2008-11-27T04:54:53Z")
I bet once he hears you playing songs like Gimme Shelter or Blitzkrieg Bop he’ll probably want to start playing. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 11:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/106 "2008-11-27T11:46:11Z")
If you end up buying the PS3 version, get the RB2 bundle since the instruments are better and more durable. You can probably buy up an RB1 disc alone for very cheap and export all but 4 songs to RB2. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2008, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/107 "2008-11-27T16:15:24Z")
So it just now occured to me that it seems in RB2, when making a custom song list, when sorting by difficulty, it sorts by the OVERALL difficulty of the song. In RB1, when you were playing alone, it would sort based on the difficulty of the instrument you were playing. I guess in RB2, since world tour is either single or multiplayer, they never bothered to differentiate the listings. It’s pretty annoying when you’re trying to work your way up with drums, pick “hard” on the medium-skill mystery setlist and then get a system of a down song and crash and burn because the game thinks the overall song (band difficulty rating) is moderately difficult. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/108 "2008-11-28T19:44:46Z")
IIRC it shows the difficulties of the song for each instrument from 0 to 5 dots, doesn’t it? Shows 5 devil heads for the really hard ones. I just wish it would show the album covers and stuff when you’re in Tour mode. Rock Band seems to be like so many successful franchises, so many little nitpicks but overall the look and feel are pretty compelling. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/109 "2008-11-28T19:55:13Z")
It does, it just doesn’t sort by them. Which is too bad, because that’s what RB1 did and it made a lot more sense. That is - all songs that would be 0 dots on drums would be sorted under warmup, 1 dot would be the next level, etc. It would be easier to work your way up the ladder when you’re trying a new difficulty level. It’d also keep you from getting screwed on random setlists where the general song level of difficulty fits, but it has a particularly hard part for the instrument you’re playing. Like sometimes you’ll get BYOB which is a bitch on the drums on the medium hard set lists. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/110 "2008-11-28T19:57:56Z")
Gotcha. Yeah while I like the new idea that you can “Tour” by yourself, I do miss the old single-player ladder, sorted by difficulty. ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2008, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/111 "2008-11-28T20:26:02Z")
Can’t you just play in Challenge mode if you want to go up the ladder like that? (I realize that doesn’t pertain to **SenorBeef** ’s issue, though.) ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/112 "2008-11-29T03:58:29Z")
Actually, there’s been a lot of complaining about the lack of a decent solo game. Taking away the stars from the song list was a real boneheaded move. You are given your star rating when you finish a song, but then there’s no way to ever see it again. Crazy. For people like me who rarely plays with others, most of the fun in the game (aside from just enjoying the music) came from going through your song list trying to improve your star level. They still show scores, but scores without stars are completely useless. If I see I got 123,393 points on a song, what does that tell me? Nothing. I have no idea if that’s a good score or bad, and there’s no way to tell. And with hundreds of songs on my drive, there’s no way I can remember what the score represents on each one. It’s really starting to bug me. The Rock Band forums are full of people complaining about the removal of the stars. What I want is simple: Give me the list of songs, and then let me use one of the buttons to cycle between score, stars, and my rank on the leaderboard for that song on the current instrument. Let me sort by whichever stat I’ve selected, so I can see all my songs together in star order, or in order of best finish on the leaderboards to worst, so I know which ones need practice. That’s all. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/113 "2008-11-29T04:02:09Z")
> [@DeadlyAccurate](#): > > Ah, can’t help you there. I can do a few easier songs on Hard, but I’m still mostly just trying to figure out Medium. > > Does GH:WT have a drum beats trainer? > > Correct. You would need at least one instrument, but if you want to try out all parts of the game, you’d need one drum kit, one guitar, and one microphone. > > (Also, you’re getting to be as bad as me, playing several games at once. 🙂 Did you ever get into LOTRO?) Sorry to be just now answering you, **DeadlyAccurate** , but I forgot about having posted here. To answer your question, I _tried_ to get into LOTRO, but they sold me a corrupt download, and it was hell cleaning up my system afterward, so i went back to Wow. Thanks Q ---
**Author:** ![Raygun99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Raygun99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raygun99)\ **Post date:** [November 29, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/114 "2008-11-29T04:10:50Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > What I want is simple: Give me the list of songs, and then let me use one of the buttons to cycle between score, stars, and my rank on the leaderboard for that song on the current instrument. Let me sort by whichever stat I’ve selected, so I can see all my songs together in star order, or in order of best finish on the leaderboards to worst, so I know which ones need practice. That’s all. I heartily endorse this event or product. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/115 "2008-12-14T19:26:57Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > If you end up buying the PS3 version, get the RB2 bundle since the instruments are better and more durable. You can probably buy up an RB1 disc alone for very cheap and export all but 4 songs to RB2. _bumpity_ Looks like this will be the plan, as my husband and I just brought home a PS3. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Asimovian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asimovian/32/172_2.png) [@Asimovian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asimovian)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/116 "2008-12-14T22:55:57Z")
> [@Ferret\_Herder](#): > > _bumpity_ Looks like this will be the plan, as my husband and I just brought home a PS3. 😃 Merry Christmas to you! Welcome to the club. 😉 Our little band is just shy of 12 million fans currently. We just played a four-song set on Expert that netted us well over 1 million fans. What’s the maximum number of fans you can earn per song on Expert, if anyone knows? ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/117 "2008-12-14T23:08:30Z")
Anyone know what the patch a few days ago did? ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/118 "2008-12-14T23:26:44Z")
> [@Asimovian](#): > > Merry Christmas to you! Welcome to the club. 😉 Well, I don’t have the game yet, but oh, I do believe I will. We have both the Wii and the PS3 connected to our system, no switch needed or anything, because the PS3 took over the DVD connection. ---
**Author:** ![control-z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@control-z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/control-z)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/119 "2008-12-15T03:16:50Z")
They’re releasing some country songs as downloadable content: [Rock Band - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Downloadable_content_in_Rock_Band#Confirmed_songs) “Mud on the Tires” Brad Paisley “Hillbilly Deluxe” Brooks & Dunn “Free and Easy (Down the Road I Go)” Dierks Bentley “Sin Wagon” Dixie Chicks “Gunpowder & Lead” Miranda Lambert I know a lot of people don’t like country, but I find some modern country songs are comparable to classic rock. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [December 15, 2008, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690/120 "2008-12-15T05:46:26Z")
My husband and I have been saying a Country Band version of the game would probably be a huge success. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rock-band-2/466690.md?page=7)