When the Green Day: Rock Band demo confirmed the keyboard controller for Rock Band 3, we were expecting it to be unveiled at E3 in a few weeks. Harmonix seems to have somewhat pre-empted us though, and unveiled the keyboard controller today.
Courtesy of, believe it or not, USA Today
Looking like a typical midi keyboard, the keytar controller has 25 buttons, with coloured sections along the top corresponding with the typical Rock Band buttons. Playing on easy will only have you pressing any button in the coloured section, but increasing the difficulty will increase the accuracy of the buttons you need to press, eventually leading to the new "Expert Pro" mode having you playing the song note for note.
Also released today was first gameplay footage, from when USA Today got the chance to go hands-on with the Keytar.
Along with the keyboard controller, Harmonix have also said that they've got new Guitar controllers in the works with real strings, that will presumably also teach you how to play the guitar, much like Power Gig: Rise of the SixString that we covered yesterday.They've also released an initial tracklist, which, in all honesty, looks a bit... rubbish. While Bohemian Rhapsody and The Power of Love ought to work fairly well, there are a fair few in there that seem to be strange choices to say the least for the keytar controller - and they certainly don't fit as well as the 15 songs we'd said we'd like to see in the Rock Band 3 setlist last week.
The Hardest Button to Button? Does that even really have four parts?
Hopefully they're just holding back the good stuff for a later date... or a big E3 reveal....
2000s
- Combat Baby - Metric
- Dead End Friends - Them Crooked Vultures
- Get Free - The Vines
- Lasso - Phoenix
- Me Enamora - Juanes
- Oh My God - Ida Maria
- Portions of Foxes - Rilo Kiley
- The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes
- 1990s
- Been Caught Stealing - Jane's Addiction
- In the Meantime - Spacehog
- Plush - Stone Temple Pilots
- Walkin' on the Sun - Smash Mouth
1980s
- Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
- Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
- I Love Rock and Roll - Joan Jett
- Just Like Heaven - The Cure
- Rainbow in the Dark - Dio
- The Power of Love - Huey Lewis and the News
- Sister Christian - Night Ranger
1960s-1970s
- Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen
- Break On Through - The Doors
- Crosstown Traffic - Jimi Hendrix
