Unknown songs are fine so long as they are cheap and/or great. Maximo Park is pretty known in UK, and sound pretty good (don't know about how fun they'll be though), but the other three, not really as solid in my opinion.
Problem with gunning for obscurity is there's just way too much of it, so pleasing obscure music fans is going to be quite hard. I could probably do a whole setlist of obscure songs and someone else into obscure/indie stuff might not have heard of anything I pick.
From a design standpoint... I actually prefer the RB1 silhouette style. It creates a human scene without creating characters, something important in the "you are the band" mentality the game's trying to convey. In that vein, I prefer the second option, but... it's too white. Needs more color.
Also, it depends on how different RB2 would be from RB1. If it's meant to be similar, the box art should be as well- keep the visual branding going. If it's substantially different... aside from my concerns about that gameplay direction, it should look sufficiently different from the first game, in which case I'd go with the first.
...and this is why they generally don't allow full-text comments on surveys.
Yea, all Rock Band DLC releases are synchronized across countries. The difference in dates between platforms is a platform issue, outside of that things are as synchronized as possible.
Hopefully it's as platform-neutral as possible as quick as possible, but anything that lets me play Tribes-like games with a lot of other people has my stamp of approval.
More 'Splosion Man songs coming to Rock Band Network
Apr 4th 2010 8:13PM (Joystiq)Jimi Hendrix joins Guitar Hero World Tour
Jul 21st 2008 4:39PM (Joystiq)AC/DC is implied as a Rock Band exclusive, but I don't believe it's official.
Metallica is not an exclusive to either side.
Team Fortress 2 update nearly complete, Sniper getting intro, Pyro getting axe
Jun 7th 2008 11:28PM (Joystiq)Rock Band Weekly: The Material, The Myriad, Them Terribles and Maxïmo Park
Jun 6th 2008 6:15PM (Joystiq)Problem with gunning for obscurity is there's just way too much of it, so pleasing obscure music fans is going to be quite hard. I could probably do a whole setlist of obscure songs and someone else into obscure/indie stuff might not have heard of anything I pick.
Missing masters may be behind Who's Next DLC delay
Jun 6th 2008 11:25AM (Joystiq)Survey reveals Rock Band 2 concept box art
Jun 5th 2008 3:38PM (Joystiq)Also, it depends on how different RB2 would be from RB1. If it's meant to be similar, the box art should be as well- keep the visual branding going. If it's substantially different... aside from my concerns about that gameplay direction, it should look sufficiently different from the first game, in which case I'd go with the first.
...and this is why they generally don't allow full-text comments on surveys.
Rock Band Weekly: Jimmy Buffet and Disturbed
May 30th 2008 5:49PM (Joystiq)Joyswag: Win a $100 InstantAction account
Mar 11th 2008 12:26PM (Joystiq)Joyswag: Five copies of Devil May Cry 4 (on your platform of choice)
Feb 19th 2008 8:57PM (Joystiq)Rumor: cracked Rock Band DLC reveals future songs
Feb 14th 2008 12:35PM (Joystiq)This guy does guitar videos for every single DLC song. They're not official, sure, but it's something.