Could Rock Band Be Adding Japanese Rock Bands?

[tehroc]

If these bands really want to be in Rock Band they can always just put out songs on the Rock Band Network. I think it should stay in that realm as a niche market just as Death Metal has been treated. Only problem with RBN currently is the lack of users subscribing to the development tools, not enough people to rate songs.

 

[MorteSphere]

I never liked those games in the first place, now all hope is lost. J-Rock is made of ass.

 

[MorteSphere]

I have a few friends who are literally trying to be Japanese. This would please them so badly.

They're called weeaboos.

 

[Jared]

Wewt! Pretty good selection there! I cant wait for them to release these into the wilds of Rock Band!

 

[solec216]

if i owned rock band i would play the JP DLC. i listen to L' Arc, flow, ABS, gackt, nightmare on my lastfm playlist

 

[Toriver]

I've always wondered about Rock Band style games overseas, do they sing in English? Are they translated? Does it all still 'fit'?
It's good to know they are getting some more non-English speaking talent. At least in DLC.
That said, I'm not getting it...

I don't know about other countries, but no games in the Guitar Hero or Rock Band series have ever been released here in Japan. Mostly because it would require them to make a Rock Band: Japan to ever have any hope of selling anything. As with many other things, the Japanese are fiercely loyal to their own home-grown music. Even with foreign music, they don't really like the stuff that would make for much good in a rhythm game. The most popular English-language bands here are The Beatles (I could see Beatles: Rock Band selling, but that's the only one) and The Carpenters (), along with some Britney and Michael Jackson. You can buy albums from just about any foreign band you want, but if they're not one of the above names, they will never even appear as a blip on the Oricon charts. Yep, not only is the Japanese pop/rock scene crazy on its own, they pick our craziest artists to import. You can find guitar and other instrument rhythm games in video arcades here, but only one is popular, and I'll explain it here.

The West needs to get its hands on this wildly popular rhythm game here, because it's very fun. It's called Taiiko no Tatsujin, and it's a taiiko (traditional Japanese drumming) game where you play the drums in that style to popular pop/rock/anime songs. It's just as addicting as Rock Band, and you can hit the drums as hard as you want without fear of breaking anything.

Oh, looking up the name, I see one installment in the series was already released in at least North America for the PS2 back in '04, called Taiko: Drum Master. I'm guessing that if only one was released in NA, it didn't sell well, but it should have. Great game.

 

[DTWolfwood]

finally a good reason for me to get RB

 

[Drof]

Well Personaly I Reckon Dir En Grey and Nightmare are both Very Good Bands and Could Be very fun in a rhythm game, however Some Dir En Grey Songs Have Some Very Intense Vocals and i Didn't really think that was Rock Bands Thing :s

Kinda surprised B'z isnt on there or Maximum the Hormone.

I'm also Suprised and Quite disapointed that there's no Maximum The hormone.

Still What With Activision Sucking and RockBand Having Frankly Amazing DLC Options I See this as Just Another Reason For Me To Get RockBand =]

 

[kiwisushi]

Hmm, a few interesting ones. Would have preferred Maximum The Hormone or Mad Capsule Markets but not a bad selection by any means. Can imagine Dir en grey will be close to impossible to sing to!

I just remembered Peelander Z, awesome band! The only band I know to have a breakdown consisting of the word "steak!", though psychostick have come close with their new album dedicated to food called Sandwich!

 

[drisky]

Well I looked at all of them on you tube just now and the one I'd most consider downloading is MIYAVI.
Gotta say though, there is a whole lot of cross dressing going on in J-rock

 

[tl333s]

Needs more Luna Sea and Beat Crusaders. :V

No, seriously, this is a great list to start off with. I'm sure if it works out well, we'll see more variation in the future. X JAPAN!

 

[Jacob.pederson]

Tank by YK and the Seatbelts. I would die. No, first I would scream like a little girl, and then I would die. If footloose and fancy free can make it on there, then surely the Seatbelts aren't too jazz

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-TAxm00jOg

I'd be the drummer btw

 

[Julianking93]

...No Maximum the Hormone? Really? You're going to have a game themed around Rock Bands and not have one of the best, if not, the best Japanese metal bands?

The fuck is that shit?

I don't even like Rock Band and I still find that retarded.

 

[Sleekgiant]

So they are officially scraping the bottom of the barrel, whats next country songs :O

 

[Larmo]

Now that is cool, might even make me take back my Rock Band set from my sister, i love J-Rock songs and singing in another language is easier than speaking or understanding what your repeating, so translation wouldn't even be necessary to me, translating a song is difficult and some of its meaning disappears with the rhythm constants of a song.

 

[Beyond D espair]

I can't believe the polls came up with just about every J-rock band I've ever heard of... Then again the poll is pry no different from a popularity contest. But I was more or less expecting to see more bands on it that I've never herd of. This article would defiantly please a good friend of mine who got me into J-rock. Although it would of been nice if 12012 was on that list too.

 

[Vhite]

I like rock, I kinda like j-pop but I cant get myself to like j-rock.

 

[EscapeGoat_v1legacy]

That wouldn't be too bad. In fact, I'd probably get DLC for a few of those bands, like The GazettE and L'Arc-en-Ciel, but I'm disappointed by the lack of Maximum the Hormone on that list.

 

[Yvl9921]

Fuck yeah, X Japan. Can't wait to play a 29 minute long song.

 

[Gildan Bladeborn]

I've always wondered about Rock Band style games overseas, do they sing in English? Are they translated? Does it all still 'fit'?
It's good to know they are getting some more non-English speaking talent. At least in DLC.
That said, I'm not getting it...

The game itself? Probably, but I rather doubt they'd "localize" the music itself, as that would just be a game full of covers then, wouldn't it? Plus a metric ton of bands in Europe sing in English anyways.

Even with foreign music, they don't really like the stuff that would make for much good in a rhythm game. The most popular English-language bands here are The Beatles (I could see Beatles: Rock Band selling, but that's the only one) and The Carpenters (), along with some Britney and Michael Jackson. You can buy albums from just about any foreign band you want, but if they're not one of the above names, they will never even appear as a blip on the Oricon charts. Yep, not only is the Japanese pop/rock scene crazy on its own, they pick our craziest artists to import.

I'll bow to your knowledge of the Japanese popular music scene, but I will point out that European Power Metal is actually quite popular in Japan - there's a long-standing (and kind of annoying, for me at least) tradition of bands releasing some of their best material as bonus tracks on the Japanese editions of their albums (which makes them hard to legally obtain as a resident of the USA), and quite a few live albums are from concerts in Japan.