Tag Archives: Rock Band 2

Rock Band 2

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I had an issue with the strum bar not working on the wireless guitar for Rock Band 2. I was sort of aware of the problem, which is to say that I had seen it before, but dismissed it the one, and only, time I played guitar and noticed it, because I thought it was just a temporary hiccup. Well, it was not temporary, and when Derek and Tim came over to play Rock Band 2 this weekend neither of them brought their guitar and the problem reared its ugly head. I thought they fixed these sorts of problems for Rock Band 2. I had the same problem, basically, with the guitar for the original Rock Band, and I had to return it.

The real reason I am bothering to post about this is because while the situation is resolved it was not handled the way I would have preferred. It would seem that EA who have been very vocal about the enormous losses they have endured having to replace faulty equipment have moved to a 60 day warranty on all peripherals. That’s not really that much time. It is the kind of thing that has earned EA a reputation for being poor at customer service in a community of gamers. That reputation was well earned today.

Columbus Trip

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Tim and I went down to Columbus this weekend, and I believe the word “finally” fits in here nicely. See the trip has kind of been being planned since November, but at that time I wanted to wait till after finals. Finals came and went, and then I believe I got sick. Then Tim’s Grandfather got sick. Then some other things happened. I guess a month and four canceled opportunities isn’t all that bad, but it seems like it was a long time coming.

I found out that in case of a snow storm I don’t want to be in Akron. Nothing makes this more apparent than driving away from Akron, and then having to come back. It seems that when driving anywhere Akron is always piled beneath a foot of snow, but every where else has snow plows that come out and clear the roads. They even put down salt. It’s amazing what you get when you don’t live in Akron.

It was nice to see Rick and Melissa. They have a roommate currently, from Alabama, who wanted to move up here for a while. She got a job working where Melissa does, and she is experiencing all the freezing rain and snow that Ohio has to offer. At least the driving doesn’t look too bad.

While we were down there they got me cymbals for the Rock Band 2 drums for Christmas. I really do think they are cool, even though I’m not entirely sure how to use them. They are easy to assemble. They seem to work flawlessly. It’s just that you sort of have to retrain yourself to use them. Awesome gift. Tim got a gift card and I have a gift for Jo in my car, but I’m not driving out there till the roads get nicer.

It was a nice trip, and I’m sure in about a month they’ll go ahead and come up here. Then it’ll be our turn again.

Rock Band 2

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I finally got Rock Band 2 and I finally got Jacqui over to see it. She reacted much the same as anyone who has played Guitar Hero and gets to play guitar on Rock Band, which is to say that they always lament it as being just an “Ok” experience. She warmed up quickly to the experience though once we let her play drums. She claimed that she’d be an expert in 2 weeks if she could have a drum set, and while I doubt that, she did take to medium pretty quickly and even managed to play a fairly easy song on hard. It’s amazing how fast some people pick up on how to play drums. Kind of like Derek and “Maps”.

I know I didn’t mention getting Rock Band 2 here, but I am now. It’s a family gift for Christmas, and so everyone can enjoy it. Everyone has been enjoying it so far. I got an amazing deal on it, because the Toys-R-Us ad had it for $109, which is $80 off what it normally is.

Awesome Night

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I had a pretty awesome night. I had a lot of friends over, and one new person I had never met before. Her name is Kate, I think? I messaged everyone this morning to find out her name, because honestly I forgot, and it turns out nobody else remembers either. So, I’ll just call her Kate for right now, and if I’m wrong I’ll be corrected later.

On to who was here. Melissa and Rick came up from Columbus. They picked up Tim for me. Tim brought Rock Band 2 and his real guitar and amp. Andrew came over with Kate, who is a friend of his from World of Warcraft. Anthony showed up. Jo came with his laptop and assorted gadgets. Derek came with his real guitar and amp as well. Renee was here, left for bowling, and came back.

Rick and Jo tried to fix Patty’s television. I’m glad they tried, I just wish it had been successful. They also played World of Warcraft together. It seems like people pair up at these things. Everyone picks someone to do everything with.

With this many people I had to get creative with the parking. I parked Derek’s car in the driveway of the abandoned house across the street. I ended up putting Anthony’s car in the front yard. I had to pull the car into the back yard, then pull the van up into that spot, move Melissa’s car back, move the van to that spot, and then move my car back to where it was.

We all played Rock Band. That used to be the whole reason we all got together and now it’s just something else to do. I noticed Tim, Anthony, and even myself just jumping on and playing some solo when everyone else was doing something else.

Derek and Tim spent a lot of time watching Youtube and playing guitar. I guess Tim was teaching Derek some stuff. They were watching Youtube video’s of other people playing guitar. They also had some program for learning guitar on there, but I don’t really remember what it was.

Andrew and Kate left, and we all went to Chinese. It was a great idea. We all went through what Chinese sign we are on the place mat. Then we all laughed about how entirely inaccurate it was, which of course is inherently insulting. Anthony’s sign said he was “intelligent” and mine was that I was “articulate”. It’s good fun. We named the chicken on a stick “Bob”, because we don’t believe it was really chicken and Bob is the homeless guy that showed up to my door a few weeks ago and was looking for a handout. I don’t think anyone’s drink got tampered with. We all ate a ton of food and continued the party.

There was a lot of trading and the purchasing of objects. Jo bought an external CD-ROM thing from Rick, I got mobile AIM from Jo, and Andrew finally got his assorted bag of computer parts that he left at a LAN about a month ago back.

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A Full Driveway

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I had quite a few friends over last night. We all came together to play Rock Band 2. Anthony (Codex) brought Andrew (Trewr). I had to pick up Tim, so I got a chance to use the GPS on my phone. Renee was holding it and it worked like a charm. It said “destination arrived” when we were exactly in front of his house. I know that’s what it is supposed to do, but I am always surprised when things work that way. Derek came over after work.

We played Rock Band 2 almost the entire night. There are so many songs to choose from. We ended up trying to do every song that everyone had to do. Everyone has a song some where in that game that they just have to do. Derek has to do a Coheed and Cambria song. Anthony had to do a Disturbed song. I needed to do something from the early 90’s. Jo doesn’t even play and he needed us to do “Girls on Film” by Duran Duran.

It was some fun. We had plenty to eat. We had pizza, beer, and chips. I ordered the pizza using Google 411, which is a free service where you call the number and you put in the zip code where you are and then you can ask for a specific business or you can get suggestions by saying something like “pizza”. It’s pretty neat I think everyone should try it just for fun. I know that there are new home phones that are coming out that actually have a button for the Google 411.

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Rock Band 2

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Jo, Tim, Trewr, and Codex all came over to play Rock Band 2. They are supposed to come over tomorrow as well. I’m pretty impressed with it, but it seems that they changed a lot regarding how the drums work. The notes were completely different than anything I had seen on the original, even on songs that were supposed to be “warmup” or “easy”. Be interesting to get into it more and see if I could get the hang of it.

I do enjoy quite a few songs that were picked for Rock Band 2. I mean, there are always going to be some ridiculously hard songs in these kinds of games, but there is a very large selection of songs to choose from now. That is when you consider that you can transfer all the songs (I know except for 3) from the original Rock Band on to the hard drive and play those while you are playing Rock Band 2.

I took some pictures of them with the camera on my phone. I’m not sure I like how they came out, and I think I’m going to have to play with the phone a bit to get the pictures to look better.

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