I Wanna Rock
Originally published at Disjunction. You can comment here or there.
14 days. Two weeks. Half a month. An eternity. All of these describe the time between now and the release of Rock Band.
I’ve been a Harmonix fan for a long time, so I’m more than happy to keep following them along their development path, especially if it means buying a host of peripherals good for one game only. (See also: DDR, Pump It Up, Karaoke Revolution, Ace Combat 6, Beatmania, Donkey Konga) My Rock Band pre-order was filed with a local Gamestop some time ago, so it’s now just a waiting game.
Well, a waiting and accessorizing game. You see, it is never enough for me to just get a stock game and play it. Oh no, I must add to the experience in some way. For DDR, it was making custom control boxes for my dance pads. For Guitar Hero, it was purchasing aftermarket guitar straps and decals in order to make the toy controllers look dorkier than originally designed. And now with Rock Band, it’s all about setting the stage.
To that effect, I have on order a few items. The first is a microphone stand with a boom arm so that I can position the mic for a variety of scenarios: standing with just the mic as the lead singer; standing with the mic while playing guitar; sitting with the mic while playing drums. Of course, I can’t sit at the drums without a good seat, so I’ve also ordered a drum throne.
On the cheap and easy side of things, I’ve printed out the game’s track list and have started hunting for the tracks on the Zune Marketplace since I’m licensed for them under my monthly Zune Pass. Why do I need to do this? Because I’m hoping to join the ranks of drummers who sing, even though what I’ll be doing is neither really drumming nor really singing. But in order to do both, I’ll need to know the song lyrics since I won’t be able to follow the screen cues for the lyrics and the drum hits simultaneously.
I know what you’re thinking: “Travis, you have my undying admiration for your faux rock aspirations.” And I thank you for that. I also thank my loving wife whose eyes will certainly roll at watching me dive into yet another obsession. Perhaps she’ll feel better when I present her with the gift of leather, eyeliner, and a choker so that she can masquerade as my groupie.
Or, perhaps not.