senor_herer

I like the idea of this but if they won't let you import titles you've already bought then they're shooting themselves in the foot. Having to buy the same game twice, the second time so that you can play it in a MS version of Home, would be taking the piss frankly. Which probably means that's exactly what you'll have to do

Only last night I was thinking "Hmm, a festive replay of Shenmue 1 & 2 might be in order" and here's the thread! If I can find the VGA box I might just have to do it, fucking love Shenmue

Yeah, you're probably right.

Nobody is The Beatles in terms of widespread recognition but I think you exaggerate, The Who have massive recognition (I'm no particular fan of The Who BTW). Also, I'm sure I read something about it being a relatively old age group buying RB Beatles and I think a lot of people who are likely to fork out for things like Beatles RB, or a Who RB, are going to old sods in their 30's & 40's who are happy to drop cash on nostalgia like this and are well aware of The Who's catalogue. Also, aren't (weren't) The Who similarly massive in the US? Maybe not Beatles massive, but still. Pink Floyd would be a much more obvious choice for the Beatles RB makeover, but I expect they're probably in the Led Zep camp of being super prissy about use of their music and snobby about "plastic instruments". Totally agree with this though, I'm no big Beatles fan either but the care and love that clearly went into Beatles RB was clear to see. But having separate franchises that are incompatible with the core RB game, and more importantly differences in how it plays so that they'll stay incompatible, is a really crappy way to go and I hope it ends here. I suppose it probably was a tad naive to think that EA/MTV/Harmonix weren't going to milk RB in the same way as Activision do with Guitar Hero. These band specific games are probably going to be their equivalent of Band Hero, DJ Hero etc.

Oh definitely. Like any other gaming collection it can easily spiral out of control if you're not careful. MVS carts are one thing, but PCB's certainly aren't as easy and convenient to store as DVD cases. And if it gets really bad then you end up having to rent a barn to put them all in like Shaun MAME is great, but there's nothing like playing on a cab using the original hardware

Arcades have been rubbish for at least 10 years but, aside from shallow driving and light gun games at a quid a go what else can they offer. Peripheral games post GH and Wii are now such big business that I can see even driving games a light gun shooters vanishing from arcades soon enough to be replaced with more fruities and other gambling machines that rake in far more money. Much better to just buy yourself a couple of cabs and boards and have your own arcade fun in your garage (or in the house if you're single!). Even with a CRT and decent arcade sticks, playing stuff emulated on a PC or 2D fighters on your console just isn't the same as standing next to someone at the cab hammering away at the buttons. I'm really into crap 2D arcade football games at the moment. As good as FIFA is these days I just find it all so po-faced and sterile and I haven't really enjoyed a console football game since ISS on the N64. I just find that a stupid, unrealistic, unfair 5 minute immitation of football with awful animation and filled to the brim with Engrish puts a smile on my face that FIFA simply can't Having been there, I heartily recommend paying Shaun a visit at the Barn if you want a nostalgic trip back to some cherished childhood memories. Arcades FTW

Yes, I've been barred from every restaurant in town for just that OK, so how about if Gears of War 3 launched with, let's say, 12 multiplayer maps on the disc, and another 6 as DLC on the day of release that you had to pay for? Or if Forza 3 launched with 100 tracks on the discs and another 50 as DLC that you had to pay for? Is that a good thing? I'd argue that it's not and is, in fact, a bit cheeky .... which is all I've said. I appreciate that there's a difference with music games, and that we're talking about one track (which as it turns out is for chariddy), but the general principle is still the same. Personally, I don't think that would be a good thing and it's not something I want to see start to happen with other games and other publishers. I'm not upset, or crying into my keyboard, or flaming Amazon reviews in protest, I just think it's a bit cheeky. I understand perfectly why you think otherwise, I just don't feel the need to question your sanity

Now that you mention it, we played at a mate's house on release day (Ion drumkit there y'see) and I was surprised by the numbers (-45ms audio, +45 video... ish) which were certainly quite different to his RB2 settings. It played fine though and there were certainly no synch issues so it was definitely calibrated properly.

I Totally agree although I think that's just the age of the music as much as anything else, I don't think it's anything to do with Harmonix.

It's not weird or arbitrary, it's just an opinion. I never said anything about licencing costs, or that I expected hundreds of songs, and I really don't "care" when the DLC is released because naturally I have the choice not to buy it. All I said was that IMO it's a bit cheeky to already have DLC available before anyone has even had a chance to play the songs on the disc. This sort of thing sets an upleasant precedent for the way all publishers would like to ream their customers given half the chance. Not content with the forty notes the punters have just shelled out on release day? Get some DLC up there and ream them a little more. Some may see it as a marvel of consumer capitalism, others might feel a little bit peeved, so what? I'd just appreciate a chance to play the 45 tracks on the disc before you start offering me extras, it's like bringing the desert trolley round before I've finished my main course. I'm not advocating a ridiculous backlash like L4D2 or anything of the sort, just stating that IMO it's a bit cheeky. Having already qualified that I wasn't aware that the proceeds of the track were going to chariddy, I've already retracted my modest call of shenanigans against the publisher in this instance. However, not wanting to see this sort of day one gouging become the norm for publishers is neither weird nor arbitrary and I'm suprised you find it so hard to see it from somebody else's point of view. Anyway, RB Beatles is a lovely addition to the RB family and, drumming niggles aside, it's a lovely package that deserves to sell millions. So let's get back to the love in .... all you need is love etc.

I personally miss the fills more, but the absence of both will be an irritation to RB drummers. It must be something to do with the licence, but I hope it's not setting a precedent for future DLC. I'm not sure if it's harder than a real guitar (as I don't play the guitar) but what I do know is that every release of RB and GH gets a little bit easier IMO in terms of stuff like the window for hitting notes. If you played GH1 then you'd really appreciate how much easier and more forgiving these games are now compared to the original.

So the manual says. "Any USB mic" should work, it's just Live headsets that won't.

Horses for courses I suppose. I don't see why you find it "baffling" though, it may not bother you personally (and it's not like I care anywhere near enough to get all "LAAANNGDELLLLL!!!!" about it) but I'm sure you can understand why a RB or Beatles fan who's bought the game on day one might feel a little shafted. It's a minor issue, but knowing what gamers and the internets are like I'd have thought publishers would have a bit more sense that to start trying to flog them DLC the second they've bought the game. Having said all that, I certainly wasn't aware that it was for "chariddy" though so, in that light, I retract my gripe in this particular instance.

Ploughed through the whole story mode yesterday at a mate's house, I haven't had chance to read through the rest of the thread but my impressions are; Good: - The presentation and general feel of the game is outstanding - clearly a lot of time, love and money have been lavished on this - Surprisingly, every bass track I played (probably 20+) was really satisfying and fun. McCartney unexpectedly FTW! Mixed Blessings: - Harmonix have sensibly copied GH by having the game count you back in after pausing, except there's no audible beat like there is on GH so it's still pretty useless Bad: - No drum fills (boooooooo!), presumably because it's considered a crime to mess with the Beatles. The other problem with this is that we always activate Star Power based on the drummer, and the fills in RB are a nice clue that the drummer is about to do so. It makes the absence of fills a double punishment, one for the drummer who misses out on a bit of free-form fun and one for the rest of the band who take a little longer to realise that they need to activate Star Power (or whatever the hell it's called these days). - No ad-lib drumming before/after the track. Not a major gripe (especially when I'm playing lead/bass when the excitable drummer is faffing about and throwing out my timing at the beginning of the track!) but still, booooooo! - No Live headset compatibility. You can use any mic, except for the one that almost every 360 owner already has. And unless you happen to have two or more spare mic stands just lying about, or are prepared to buy some, it means you can't play and sing without some ridiculous arrangement of draping the mike over your head. I applaud the inclusion of the vocal harmonies, but was it really out of the question to get them to work with Live headsets? - Some DLC available to buy online from day 1. Nice in theory, but it's a bit cheeky and cynical when they could have either put it on the disc to begin with or just wait a week after launch so not to be seeming to take the piss. All in all the amount of work that's gone into this more than justifies releasing it as a full price package rather than just releasing the tunes as DLC. The changes to the way the drums play are definitely for the worse, but I assume there's probably a reason for them. Now, somebody send copies of this to Led Zep and all the other miserable old men who refuse to let their music be released on RB because they sneer at "plastic instruments"

Clearly, yes. Not that I have anywhere to put them or fix them up, mind