Rock-Band-2 posts (Subscribe to this feed)

Rock Band Weekly: X, Carrie Underwood, Little Fish, Ace Frehley, OneRepublic

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 19th 2010 at 11:00AM }

Despite American punk rock band X being next week's featured Rock Band DLC pack artist, we decided to go with a picture of Carrie Underwood. Why? Isn't it obvious?! Her single, "All-American Girl," available next week, speaks to the struggles of the middle-class American female. Of gender roles, a father's love and providing babies for your husband. It's like the "American Pie" of a new generation. So that's why Underwood gets featured with that "how do I spend my next million, y'all?" look.

Check out the full release list after the break.

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GDC: Harmonix on the ups and downs of creating the Rock Band Network

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 15th 2010 at 5:30PM }

Eleven days ago, Harmonix delivered on a concept many of us had fantasized about since the very first time we ever played Rock Band: It democratized the track-making process. For the first time in the franchise's history, any schmo off the street with a bit of MIDI engineering experience and a song in their heart could put that song on the Rock Band Store for the world to see (and hopefully purchase).

At GDC, Harmonix senior sound designer Caleb Epps and Rock Band Network producer Matthew Nordhouse sat down to speak about the challenges that came with opening up the game to user-generated content, and how its dedicated community has organically evolved the song-sharing process.

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Seen@GDC: Some weird things happened at Harmonix's Rock Band event

by Griffin McElroy { Mar 12th 2010 at 6:30PM }

You've already seen the (arguably) most newsworthy video we filmed during Wednesday's Rock Band Bar Night event hosted by Harmonix at GDC. However, our Flip Cam captured a few other magic moments which we'd be remiss if we kept to ourselves. They're not the most news-y videos we've ever posted on our own site, though one of them does feature a preview of the upcoming Lady Gaga DLC. That's gotta be worth something, right?

Watch the whole sideshow after the jump.

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Rock Band Weekly Redux: Lady Gaga, Cartman, 3 Doors Down, Mute Math, The Subways

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 12th 2010 at 11:00AM }

Lady Gaga was already announced for Rock Band's DLC update next week -- but she's bringing friends along. The pop sensation will be joined by some, ahem, actual rock bands.

Check out next week's full list of releases after the break.

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Rock Band Weekly: Lady Gaga, Cartman's 'Poker Face'

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 9th 2010 at 12:58PM }

Don't even lie! You're just as excited as any club kid that boundary-pushing pop sensation Lady Gaga is coming to Rock Band next week. So, in the privacy of your living room, break out the tight-fitting pleather and get your jam on (to the tracks you, publicly, tell everyone you hate).

Of course, you could pretend you "accidentally" bought the Gaga Track Pack, when you actually meant to purchase South Park chubby charmer Eric Cartman's rendition of "Poker Face." Yup, that lil' ditty will also be available. See, now you can cover up that undeniable desire to go goo-goo for Gaga with a veil of irony!

Check out the full release list after the break.

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Rock Band Weekly: The White Stripes

by JC Fletcher { Mar 5th 2010 at 12:40PM }

It's a great time to be part of a two-piece Rock Band ... band. Next week, a three-pack of songs by The White Stripes will be released, each from a different album. In what might be the most appropriate music game DLC ever, "Fell in Love with a Girl" is totally playable in Lego Rock Band.

Other tracks to be added next week include songs from The Futureheads, The James Gang, Shaimus, and, for those of you who are both Canadian and four-armed mutants, Rush drummer Neil Peart's version of the classic Hockey Night in Canada theme song.

While you wait on that stuff, why not browse the new Rock Band Network selections? If you're playing on Xbox 360, that is. Everyone else: continue waiting.

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Rock Band Network live on Xbox 360, 105 songs available

by Alexander Sliwinski { Mar 4th 2010 at 12:45PM }

The Rock Band Network has gone live on Xbox 360 with a catalog of 105 songs. With over 4,000 registered authors and peer reviewers participating in the program, we're guessing a lot more tracks are in the pipe; and Harmonix and MTV Games have teased that tracks from from Flight of the Conchords, The Smashing Pumpkins, Twin Atlantic, All That Remains, Clutch, Prong, The Gaslight Anthem and hundreds of other artists are on the way. Song prices currently range from 80

to 160

($1 and $2)*.

A nice new feature of the Rock Band Music Store offshoot is that players will be able to download RBN samples to demo tracks before they buy. Songs will debut exclusively on Xbox 360 for 30 days, after which "a selection of standout tracks" will become available on PS3 and Wii.

*Artists who submit songs receive a 30-percent royalty of the RBN retail price (excluding tax) for every track purchased.

Update: List of RBN launch tracks after the break.

Gallery: Rock Band Network

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Rock Band Weekly: Disturbed, Mother Hips, Silversun Pickups, TRUSTcompany

by Alexander Sliwinski { Feb 26th 2010 at 12:30PM }

Next week's Rock Band DLC is quite ... eclectic? Yeah, let's go with that. With such variety, there's sure to be something that people will love -- or love to hate, which is typically the case. There's a track pack from chart-topping band Disturbed, with three songs off its 10th anniversary edition of The Sickness album. Meanwhile, Grammy-nominated band Silversun Pickups also contribute a couple more tracks to the DLC pile.

Click past the jump for the full list of new additions!

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Rock Band Weekly: HIM, Marilyn Manson, The Police

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 19th 2010 at 11:30AM }

Last week, the Rock Band Store got a few healthy slices of Americana with tracks from Otis Redding and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. This week's offerings are much more foreign -- there's a three-pack from Finnish rock band HIM, a song from Britain's One Night Only, a track from The Police, and a song from Marilyn Manson, whom we all know actually descends from an extinct alien race whose name our human tongues could never hope to pronounce.

Click past the jump for the full list of new additions!

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EA: Rock Band deal with Viacom only through March 2010

by JC Fletcher { Feb 8th 2010 at 6:20PM }

If you're wondering where Rock Band 3 is, a year and a half after Rock Band 2 and five months after the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band, it seems EA isn't sure it's going to get to publish it. During an investor conference call, EA execs revealed that the publisher's deal with Viacom (the company that owns MTV, Harmonix, Rock Band and maybe you as well) is only active through fiscal year 2010 (which ends March 31).

Presumably the deal somehow includes the yet-to-be-released Green Day: Rock Band -- but EA's unlikely to announce any more Rock Band games until it knows it has the license locked down for another year.

[Update: An MTV/Harmonix spokesperson has told us "The previously announced Green Day: Rock Band will be published by MTV Games and distributed by EA. Stay tuned for news of MTV Games' other titles soon."]

Rock Band Weekly: Megadeth's 'Rust in Peace,' The Who mashed-up

by Griffin McElroy { Feb 4th 2010 at 9:30PM }

Hey, Rock Band aficionados! Are you ready to spend your hard-earned Microsoft Points, Wii Points or good old-fashioned cash money on tracks which you'll never be able to play without injuring your tender, fragile metacarpals? Brace your bones -- the Music Store is about to get a healthy dose of Megadeth, in the form of the outfit's 1990 album "Rust in Peace." Or, as it's more commonly known, "The one with 'Hangar 18' on it."

The nine-track album will be available for $14.99 (1200

, bundle not available on Wii), and can also be purchased piecemeal for $1.99 (160

, 200 Wii Points) per track. In addition, the Who's "Super Bowl S-mashup" medley will be made available on Sunday after the big game for $1.99 (160

, 200 Wii Points).

Check out all the songs included in next week's update after the jump.

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Rock Band Weekly: Chesney, Gentry, Flatts, Evans, Adkins & Willie Nelson

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 29th 2010 at 11:04AM }

Next week's Rock Band Weekly update puts country stars on the road again, yup, they just can't wait to get on the road again. So, this is the part where I confess that I know little to nothing about the artists featured in the next update. Honestly, the closest I get to country is driving in my friend's pick-up along the forest-filled back roads of Connecticut.

Check out the full pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.

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Rock Band Weekly: Blue Oyster Cult, Motörhead, Rage Against the Machine

by David Hinkle { Jan 22nd 2010 at 11:30AM }

Next week's Rock Band update is a raucous blend of heavy-hitting tunes, comprised of songs from Motörhead, Blue Oyster Cult and Rage Against the Machine. The metal mayhem, for obvious reasons, won't be compatible with Lego Rock Band -- somehow we just can't picture Lego people playing "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult without being rocked to pieces.

Check out the full pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.

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Rock Band Network open beta begins tonight [update]

by Griffin McElroy { Jan 19th 2010 at 2:00PM }

If you've been tinkering around with the Rock Band Network song programming tools, turning your heartfelt ballads into batches of multicolored gems, you'll be able to place your work in front of an audience for the first time today. Harmonix is launching an open beta of the platform at some point this evening, which will allow musicians with an XNA Creators Club membership to publish their songs, and peer-review the work their fellow artists have contributed.

Of course, we won't be able to download the songs until the platform officially goes live -- which Harmonix recently informed Destructoid wouldn't be until "we accrue a good base of content, though we're already really excited by what we have in the pipeline." If you were curious about what that pipeline currently looks like, we suggest checking out this Harmonix forum post, which compiles all the bands who've shown interest in Rock Band-ing their ditties.

Update: Okay, the beta is actually live now! Let the rocking commence.

Rock Band Weekly: Tom Petty, Phoenix, Silvertide

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jan 15th 2010 at 11:15AM }

OK, so next week's Rock Band DLC doesn't include "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (pictured above) -- that was included in the previous Tom Petty live anthology pack -- but that video is all we can think of when someone mentions Petty. Well, that and the "Don't Come Around Here No More" video, which had Petty playing The Mad Hatter and is also positively frightening -- but that song is in neither pack. Beyond Petty memories of our broken childhood, next week's update also includes tracks from Phoenix and Silvertide.

Check out pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.

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