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Rock Band 4’s next weekly DLC drop will be its last
Rock Band 4’s weekly DLC drops are coming to an end. Harmonix plans to give full attention to the Rock Band-like Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game inside Epic’s digital world.
Epic is taking over a dozen games offline, including Rock Band and Unreal titles
Epic Games is shutting down "out-of-date online services" and servers for several of its older games starting today. Most affected titles will still be available offline, but others will no longer work.
'Rock Band Rivals' rocks out with two new game modes
Rock Band Rivals was announced last month during E3 as the first paid expansion for Rock Band 4. It quickly generated buzz ahead of its October release, but there were scant details as to what the expansion would actually provide. Now the cat's out of the bag and Rock Band Rivals sounds a lot like something die-hard fans of the rhythm game series are going to want to get in on.
Daily Roundup: Best of Mobile World Congress, 'Rock Band 4' and more!
Mobile World Congress wrapped up today and we share our picks for the best smartphones we found in Barcelona. In other news, Harmonix is getting the band back together with Rock Band 4 and a spinning chair might make virtual reality feel more real. All this and more can be found in today's Daily Roundup.
Games of a Lifetime: Thomas' picks
After more than ten years devoted to video games and the people who make them, Joystiq is closing its doors. We won't be reporting on the best games of 2015, so join us for one last hurrah as the Joystiq family reveals their Games of a Lifetime. Super Mario World I'm not a marathon video game player – for me, binging on or tirelessly replaying masterpieces downplays the great moments within, tainting them with an undeserved state of blandness. And yet, there is something about Super Mario World's construct that is immune to my fickle play style. Though I've been hurling Luigi down pits since I was old enough to earn player 2 privileges, Super Mario World is a ceaseless joy to return to, even if an encore ensues moments after besting Bowser with a few well-aimed Mechakoopas. I'm inclined to most romps through the Mushroom Kingdom, but Super Mario World's memorable level design, subtle secrecy and introduction of the greatest power-up of all time elevate it above every other Mario Bros outing. Above all else, it's the king of fun within my gaming career – there is not a moment coded into that rackety cartridge that isn't bliss to play, even when a pack of Rip Van Fish inspire a spike of stress with their chase. Super Mario World was, is and probably always will be my hometown in the world of video games, and I look forward to reveling in nostalgia as I shove a pack of kids into their lava-filled demise during future homecomings.
Daily Roundup: the first VR live broadcast, 'Rock Band' makes a resurgence and more!
How would you like to travel the world without worrying about the tedious tasks of packing a bag or buying a plane ticket? When Next VR's live broadcast goes mainstream, doing so could be easier than you thought. We're also taking a look at the tech taking over Sundance film festival, and testing out Sling TV's beta service. Read on for details in today's roundup!
Joystiq Weekly: New 3DS XL, The Talos Principle review, no more review scores and more
Welcome to Joystiq Weekly, a "too long; didn't read" of each week's biggest stories, reviews and original content. Each category's top story is introduced with a reactionary gif, because moving pictures aren't just for The Daily Prophet. This was a busy week, but our decision to drop numerical review scores is probably what will have the longest-lasting effect on Joystiq. While not everyone has expressed support of the decision, we immensely appreciate the effort and thought many have put into discussing the topic with us. We hope our transition into using "In Other Words" text summaries and the new Joystiq Excellence Award will be more effective at conveying our stances and better at helping you find games that you'd actually enjoy. Even if you're indifferent about the discussion of reviews though, plenty happened this week beyond our shift in examining games. The New 3DS XL will reach us next month, Xbox One consoles slipped back to their $350 holiday price, The Talos Principle surprised us with its depth, and 3D After Burner 2 transcended the fabled "arcade-perfect" status of arcade ports. All those stories and more are waiting for you after the break!
Rock Band survey hints at modern console sequel
Following the recent release of the series' first new DLC in nearly two years, it appears that Harmonix might be gearing up for a new entry in its Rock Band series, if an online survey is anything to go by. "Hello friends! You should fill out this important Rock Band survey," reads a tweet from the official Rock Band Twitter account. "Sharing the link is encouraged. DO IT NOW!" The link attached to that message leads to a three-page survey regarding your history with the Rock Band series to date. It's pretty typical stuff - What Rock Band game did you play most?, Which console do you use to play Rock Band?, etc. - but the third page is where things get interesting.
Rock Band DLC silence broken by Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters
It's been nearly two years since hit rhythm game series Rock Band last saw new downloadable music, but now it appears that developer Harmonix is tuning up for an encore. Come January 13, both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 Rock Band games will have access to three new songs: "R U Mine?" from the Arctic Monkeys, "Shepherd of Fire" from Avenged Sevenfold and the Foo Fighters' "Something From Nothing." Regardless of platform, each of these tracks will feature a $2 price tag. Whether this is an unexpected one-off DLC offer or if it might signal a return to regular Rock Band music releases is currently unknown. Harmonix makes no mention of its future DLC plans, and so far our attempts to reach the studio for more information have gone unanswered. [Image: Warner Bros.]
Harmonix announces closure of moribund Rock Band Network
Despite a nearly half-decade-long run, developer Harmonix has made the decision to shutter the Rock Band Network, effective immediately. As a showcase for Rock Band Network authors to share their music with potential fans, the Rock Band Network eventually grew to include 2,121 downloadable songs. When you include the Rock Band Network alongside the series' official DLC tunes, the total Rock Band series tracklist comes to a staggering 4,221 songs. Despite its impressive utility, in the end the Rock Band Network was laid low by mounting technical problems. "Some of those problems were server side here at Harmonix, while others were entirely outside of our control," reads the developer's official announcement. "At this point, with Harmonix resources devoted to several other titles in development, we're no longer able to operate RBN with the kind of consistency that it deserves." Edit: This article initially stated that the Rock Band Network allowed users to upload their own tracks. It has since been altered. [Image: Harmonix]
Rock Band's first Metallica DLC pack pulled from store, license expired
The Metallica Pack 01 DLC for Rock Band – featuring "Ride The Lightning," "And Justice For All" and "Blackened" – is no longer available for new purchase on the Rock Band store and will soon be removed from first-party marketplaces, because the license has expired. This won't affect those who already own the DLC, and even allows them to redownload the content if necessary. If you already own the Metallica Pack 01, it's still all yours.Harmonix launched Metallica Pack 01 in November 2007 for $5.50, or $2 per song."Now, over 5 years since the release of the first batch of Rock Band DLC, we're reaching the end of some of the earliest licenses we secured," Harmonix writes on its Facebook page. "Our Music Team has been hard at work extending these licenses to make sure that this has as small an impact on the community as possible, but there may be a very limited number of songs that will no longer be offered for new purchases in the Rock Band store."Harmonix plans to post relicensing updates on a quarterly basis, hoping to give players a heads up if songs expire.
Harmonix sites attacked, go down for the weekend
Harmonix notified registered users of RockBand.com and DanceCentral.com that its servers will be down for the weekend due to an apparent attack from an outside source. The developer disabled passwords for all Harmonix site accounts as a precautionary measure, and will require users to reset their passwords when the sites are live again.The email sent to Harmonix site users noted that "at this time, we have not found that any of our users' information has been published or misused. None of our sites maintain any credit card information, social security numbers, or financial account numbers for any of our users."The person behind the attack on Harmonix's sites might not have been a fan of Don McLean, the "American Pie" artist featured in the final piece of weekly Rock Band DLC.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]
Rock Band games to be removed from iOS App Store this month
Despite the fad of plastic instruments coming to a quiet end a few years ago, Rock Band is still a fairly popular brand, popular at parties and on the upcoming downloadable console version called Rock Band Blitz. But at least one part of Rock Band's legacy is going away for good: EA has announced that the iOS versions of the game will be off of the App Store as of July 31. Harmonix was the original creator of Rock Band, EA licensed the game and the name to put versions on the App Store (made by third-party developers), and as a result of that license expiring, Rock Band for iPhone and iPad are going bye-bye. All this means is that if you currently own one of these versions, you'll need to get it on your iPhone or Mac and back it up, because after July 31, you won't be able to reinstall it. If you haven't bought it yet, and want to, now's probably the time to do that. After the 31st, you won't be able to buy the app or any more new songs for it. Or maybe not -- Harmonix is currently at work on that Rock Band Blitz game, so there's a chance that, license back in hand, the company could release their own Rock Band game for iOS. Harmonix has released one app before (a non-game app called Vidrhythm), and while the company hasn't shown a lot of interest in Apple's platform beyond that, there's a chance the developer could take to the store itself if they thought the move would be profitable. [via Joystiq]
PSA: Rock Band iOS apps to be delisted on July 31 [update: EA explains]
If you've considered picking up one of the Rock Band iOS games, now would be the time to do it. Come July 31, all Rock Band iOS apps, including Rock Band, Rock Band Reloaded and Rock Band Reloaded for iPad, will be delisted from the App Store. After this date, the games will be gone and users will no longer be able to purchase any DLC.Earlier this year, Rock Band app users received a message saying that the app would be pulled on May 31. At the time, EA stated that the message had been "sent in error." There doesn't appear to be a mistake this time around, as the iTunes pages for each app confirm the delisting. The original error, apparently, was that the message was sent two months early.Update: EA has posted a Q&A regarding the delisting, stating that "EA's licensing agreement with Harmonix is ending and as a result, EA is discontinuing downloads of Rock Band iOS and Rock Band Reloaded iOS on the App Store after July 31. "
Harmonix has 'three and/or more' new games in the works, and none are Rock Band or Dance Central
There's kind of a lot of stuff going on at Harmonix Music Systems. At least according to Harmonix director of communications and brand management John Drake, who teased a variety of new "Triple A IPs" that the studio has in the works – beyond Dance Central 3 and Rock Band Blitz. "Dance Central and Rock Band are kind of our big established IPs. And man oh man are we working on multiple – like, more than two – new triple A IPs, right now that we can't talk about at all," Drake said on the latest Harmonix podcast.He got even more specific, pointing out that "none of them are Rock Band or Dance Central titles," nor are they re-releases/new versions of Frequency or Amplitude. "It's not a previous game. It's not Led Zeppelin Rock Band. This isn't – I'm not talking about Rock Band 4. I'm not talking about the next Dance Central game. I'm talking about new, crazy stuff."And not necessarily music stuff, either, at least not in the strictest sense. "Some of them are music games, some of them are not full-on rhythm action games. Some of them are brand new things that we created from our gut and brains here at Harmonix. Some are things that we're expanding the universe of," Drake detailed.Though not much concrete information was doled out, Drake was a bit more clear about when we'll hear more. "Crazy stuff to talk about hopefully next year," he said. He worries that one of those projects is more prone to leaking than others, as "There's a lot of people working on one of them." Harmonix? Leak? Never. And it's always possible we'll hear more about those next Dance Central and Rock Band games sooner than the mystery stuff. "There may be some more Rock Band or Dance Central stuff in the works too," he said. The future is unknown.
Rock Band Weekly: Florence and the Machine, Cracker, Midnight Oil
This week, Rock Band brings us not only Florence, but also The Machine. Specifically, we get Florence and the Machine's popular jam "Dog Days Are Over." In addition to Florence's mechanical musings, we also get Cracker's "Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) and Midnight Oil's "The Power and the Passion."Cracker's track offers pro bass and guitar expansions, and both the Florence and the Machine and Midnight Oil tracks support the Rock Band 3 keyboard.
Rock Band Weekly: Bullet For My Valentine
A "Bullet For My Valentine" may sound like a really terrible gift for anyone that doesn't collect antique minié balls, but it's actually the name of next week's featured band over in Rock Band DLC world.The aptly named "Bullet For My Valentine Pack 01" features three songs spanning three albums, including 2008's Scream Aim Fire, which we're not entirely sure is an accurate or trustworthy set of instructions for properly operating a firearm. Remember kids, always consult your physician before taking advice from Welch heavy metal bands.
Rock Band Weekly: Iron Maiden
The "Maiden Epics" pack of Iron Maiden tunes coming to Rock Band next week has things that sound like they wouldn't be metal, but are, in fact, totally metal.Like "Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Sounds like some old epic poem, right? Well, it is epic in that sense, as well as in the sense of being thirteen minutes long.
Rock Band for iOS to remain playable after all
We had the original story on this waiting in our queue for a couple of days while we hoped EA would answer the question, "Why is an app people paid for being 'shut off' remotely?" Unfortunately we never got an answer. To sum up: EA released Rock Band for iOS way back in 2009, but within the past week users saw a notification (above), alerting them that the app would cease to function after May 31. As often happens when people are getting robbed by a major corporation, folks took to the Internet to express their displeasure. Today, we see reports that a new alert has appeared -- one stating the app will continue to be playable after May 31. Well, that's good, because bait-and-switch tactics don't win many fans. I don't know about you, but I think this whole thing is ridiculous and really not what Apple promised should happen with apps. Further, EA should have immediately sent out a release indicating this was an error. Unless it wasn't. Joystiq reports EA will tell us "soon" what was really going on here. I can't wait to hear the explanation.
EA: Rock Band iOS cancellation prompt made in error, more info soon
Electronic Arts has informed Joystiq that Rock Band for iOS will remain active for mobile rock stars. There was a panic at the disco yesterday after users of the app received a prompt telling them it would "no longer be playable" after May 31."Rock Band for iOS will remain live – the in-app message users received yesterday was sent in error," a representative for EA told us. "We apologize for the confusion this caused. We're working to clarify the issue that caused the error and will share additional information as soon as possible."And the band played on.
