Rocksmith 2014 Gets an Update – And a Concert!

Posted by Rampant Coyote on August 5, 2016

Rocksmith 2014 Edition Remastered is coming out this fall. Besides adding six new songs to the original lineup, it addresses nearly everything I’ve had on my wishlist over the years (yes, I’m still playing… though not as often as I should. But I’m still improving!). It will be released on all six platforms (Windows, Mac, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One). It will be a new retail release, as well as a free update for all existing owners.

For one thing…. my song library has gotten pretty large over the years. The Rocksmith team referred to it in a recent streaming chat as it being “crushed under the weight of its own success.” They are offering new tools to manage the song library with improved search, sort, and filter tools. Even better, you can build multiple song lists (playlists!) for Nonstop Play. This has been a request of mine for a while. The song lists can also be used as filters for the Learn a Song mode. For me, I have a short list of songs that I’m actively trying to learn / master, a bunch of songs I have already gotten pretty good at that I want to make sure I review from time to time so I don’t forget how to play them, and then a whole lot of favorites I just like to try out every once in a while just for fun, and to see if I can increase my score.

Another enhancement to Nonstop Play is that you can filter by tuning – which is half the reason I wanted custom playlists in the first place. In both the song hub and in Nonstop Play, all arrangements will now be directly available. This means you don’t need to change your “path” anymore. This will be really nice (and is another reason I wanted custom playlists in Nonstop Play – I wanted songs I prefer to practice for lead work, and those I preferred to practice the rhythm parts).

The Riff Repeater gets some needed interface improvements. Even though it was a vast improvement over the original Rocksmith, it’s still a little clumsy to use. Part of that is no doubt because of the limitations of game controller support, something those of us belonging to the Glorious PC Gaming Master Race don’t really understand. But I welcome the improvements. Ubisoft is also promising the ability to better control the dynamic difficulty adjustments, and better in-game player statistics to track your progress.

Anyway – small improvements, but RS2014 is pretty amazing as it is, and didn’t need much.  Existing RS2014 owners get the upgrade for free. We won’t get the new songs (which includes Bob Marley’s Three Little Birds, Elvis Presley’s Suspicious Minds, and Train’s Drops of Jupiter) – those will be available as separate DLC for existing owners, but free for new owners of the remastered edition.

As a side note, they’ve gone back to manufacturing cables again, so those will be more available – and more reasonably priced – again soon.

It’s not a major overhaul of the game. I’m actually pretty glad about that – with a handful of exceptions, it’s been a fantastic tool, and there’s not much I’d want to see done differently.  If you have an electric guitar gathering dust in the closet that you’d like to really learn to play someday and haven’t picked up this game yet, the new edition might be a great way to start.

HERE’S THE FAQ

The other thing they are doing to celebrate the 5th anniversary of the franchise is a live concert featuring Rocksmith players who have honed their skills in the game. They jokingly refer to this as the “Ultimate Master Mode” – playing at Slim’s in San Francisco on stage in front of a live audience. They’ll be picking two Rocksmith players to act as “ambassadors of the game” to show the world how Rocksmith taught them to play guitar or helped them improve.  The headliner will be the ultimate Rocksmith-taught guitarist, 12-year-old Audrey from Japan.

Anyway, pretty cool stuff. No, I won’t be submitting anything…  but I’ll be cheering on the winners. It’s a really cool opportunity.

You can get more information here: Rocksmith Live at Slim’s

As a fan of the game, I’m pleased to see that it’s still going strong. It’s my digital songbook and a really fun way to practice. I think it’s the only way I *would* practice, especially when I’m working the extended-hours at the day job and have so much to get done at night. Practicing the guitar would totally have fallen to the wayside by now. It’s as much entertainment as it is practice. That’s a great motivator.

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