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Flight of the Conchords say they're coming to Rock Band
The Emmys is, like, an awards show for television or something -- whatever, doesn't matter. What does matter is that Flight of the Conchords was nominated for an award, so FOTC creators and stars Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie were on hand at the show. During a red carpet interview, Bret confirmed to TV Guide that the group's musical musings are headed to Rock Band (watch the video interview past the break). Previously, the band's label, Sub Pop, announced plans to convert its "entire catalog" into playable tracks.Bret claimed that a total of three songs would be added to the Rock Band Music Store, though neither he nor Jemaine would elaborate on which songs would be released. Hey guys, make it happen: It's Business Time Albi (the racist dragon) Humans are Dead Which FOTC tunes are you praying to play?
Rock Band Weekly: Pearl Jam's 'Backspacer' album
Anyone see Kanye in the house? Phew. Moving on: This week's -- uninterrupted -- Rock Band Weekly announcement is headlined by Pearl Jam's Backspacer album. The new tracks will appear on Xbox 360, Wii and PS3 on September 20, 22 and 24, respectively. Also, a special edition of the Backspacer album at Target stores, which releases September 20, will have a code to download the album onto Xbox 360 and PS3. (Remember, it's only the "special edition" that'll have the code.)Check out the track list, along with the update for Rock Band Unplugged, after the break. Select a platform below to view complete DLC listing:
Nick Mason: We'd consider Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero
Despite how some musicians feel about music 'n' rhythm games, Pink Floyd drummer (and part-time T-Zero agent) Nick Mason isn't entirely ruling it out for his band. With The Beatles: Rock Band having just released, the BBC asked him if we could be seeing a Pink Floyd Rock Band or Guitar Hero game, to which he replied, "I think we'd consider it." While he isn't a big supporter of the genre (he thinks it deters kids from learning real instruments, just like other celebs do), he did add, "Everyone's looking at new ways of selling the music because the business of selling records has almost disappeared." Especially those vinyl ones, which (gasp!) weren't even interactive.
Iggy Pop goes shirtless for Lego Rock Band
We can't even begin to thank Harmonix for giving us a shirtless version of Iggy Pop that we're not completely revolted by. The guy's really been put through his paces over the years, so it seems only deserving that he should be all gussied up by Lego for upcoming rhythm/music game, Lego Rock Band. Jeux Video discovered the images, as well as a bit of gameplay with the iconic Stooges frontman. Unfortunately, the one major problem with licensing your likeness to a Lego game persists: You just look like a generic Lego dude! Is that Iggy Pop above? Sure, why not! People that could also be include, but are not limited to, certain versions of Eric Stoltz, and a muscle-bound Edgar Winter. [Via VG247]
Rock Band Stage Kit compatibility not being patched into The Beatles: Rock Band
Owners of the Rock Band Stage Kit must accept that the device will not be compatible with The Beatles: Rock Band. Harmonix has confirmed to Joystiq that there are "no plans to patch it for The Beatles: Rock Band." As to whether the device will be compatible with future editions of Rock Band, a company rep stated, "We haven't announced any future titles at this time."There's been some back and forth on the Rock Band forums about whether the smoke machine and disco ball-ish device -- originally $100 (but cheaper now) -- would be patched into The Beatles game. We hope this settles it -- not that you have a choice, apparently.[Thanks, Jeremy F]
Rock Band Weekly: Tenacious D, Anvil, Dinosaur Jr., The Guess Who
Rock Band Weekly heads up to Canadia next week for a three pack from heavy metal band Anvil. There are also tracks from Brütal Legend "star" Jack Black's band Tenacious D. It'll actually be pretty quiet week, as the Wii doesn't add its usual mega-list of back catalog tracks and is in sync with the Xbox and PS3 versions. Check it all out after the break. Select a platform below to view complete DLC listing:
Conan isn't the world's best Beatles: Rock Band bassist
On the eve of the launch of Harmonix's digital British invasion, Conan O'Brien had a very special guest on his show -- Dhani Harrison, a collaborator on The Beatles: Rock Band and son of the late, great George Harrison. He spoke with everyone's favorite ginger giant, then demoed the title with Conan, who struggled on the bass line for "Birthday." Sadly, it looked as though he was playing on Easy. Actually, it looked even easier than that. Does Beatles: Rock Band have a "Toddler" setting?You can check out NBC's site for a video of the interview and "Birthday" sampling. As for the Cone, we suggest he stay off the gee-tars and stick with his Edith Bunker-inspired vocal work.
Lips mic compatible with The Beatles: Rock Band, RB2 'soon'
Harmonix has confirmed to Joystiq that the Lips (or Microsoft Wireless) Microphone will be compatible with The Beatles: Rock Band at launch, but that a patch for the peripheral to work with Rock Band 2 will be "coming soon." We sought clarification after a post on GameFaqs, allegedly quoting EA warranty support, implied that the patch for Rock Band would occur this week.The Lips mic patch for Rock Band has been in the pipe since last year, with a release window announced a couple months back for this summer, which we now know will occur after (not with) the release of The Beatles: Rock Band this Wednesday.[Via Aeropause]
Overheard@PAX: Harmonix talks Nickel-smack
Harmonix's Caleb Epps: So, you guys probably heard about Nickelback saying negative stuff about music games ... Crowd: (Boo!) Epps: I just want to extend an olive branch to Nickelback, and say that if they want to put their music into the Rock Band Network ... Crowd: (Emphatic boo!) Epps: Well, guys, it's peer-reviewed, so you can just vote them way down. Crowd: (Emphatic cheer!)
Rock Band Weekly: Freezepop, PAX artists, Jackson 5 and more
Rock Band Weekly celebrates PAX next week with tracks from artists performing at the big games convention in Seattle this weekend. The PAX trax come from nerdcore bands and artists like Freezepop, Jonathan Coulton, MC Frontalot and Paul & Storm; with each song at a wallet-friendly price of $1. Those looking for mainstream musica can consume tracks from 3 Doors Down and The Jackson 5. Check out all the stuff coming to the various versions of Rock Band next week after the break. Select a platform below to view complete DLC listing:
PSA: Beatles: Rock Band 'Special Value Edition' isn't such a special value
In addition to the fancy Premium Bundle of The Beatles: Rock Band, which features the new Beatles replica instruments, the game is available in a "Special Value Edition" for those unwilling or unable to drop $250 for a single game. The bundle contains the game and some regular Rock Band instruments for $160 -- a price that is cut by $20 on Amazon. MTV confirmed to us that the instruments included with the bundle are those from Rock Band 1. Here's the thing about this bundle: despite the fact that it says "special value" on the box, it's not the best value on a Beatles: Rock Band set you can get. If you want the superior Rock Band 2 instruments, you can get the RB2 bundle right now for $100. Purchase a separate Beatles disc, and you've got two games and one set of (nice) instruments for the same $160. If you don't care which instruments you get, and you're planning to buy on 360 or PS3, you can go even cheaper and grab the $79 Rock Band/Rock Band 2 game pack, which includes the Rock Band 1 instruments and Rock Band 1 and 2. Throw a $60 Beatles in and you have three Rock Band games for the price of one Special Value bundle. Of course, this information is mostly valuable for people planning ahead. The real place of the Special Value Edition is in stores, as a single box that makes an attractive impulse purchase.
Harmonix founders detail the company's failure-ridden road to success
Believe it or not, things weren't always going so well for Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchise developers Harmonix. Starting out in 1995 as a "music tech" company, founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy took four years of "misstarts and product concepts that never made it anywhere" before they had any success. Talking to CNN Money, the two detail five years of strange, misguided, or ill-informed ideas that eventually somehow lead to The Beatles: Rock Band.First up: "The Axe," something that Rigopulos describes as "a joystick music improvisation system." In so many words, you moved the joystick around and various sounds were produced. Unsurprisingly, only 300 were sold -- "a horrendous failure that led to a painful lesson," Rigopulos says. "You can't really build a business on an entertainment experience that only keeps people entertained for 15 minutes." Second, the two tried breaking into the (at the time) $10 billion Japanese karaoke market ... and met with resounding failure once again. Luckily for us, lessons learned overseas came back with the duo and Harmonix became a game company. Rigopulos and Egozy quickly changed their company's focus from "music tech" to "gaming," creating Frequency and Amplitude soon after. Though the games didn't directly lead to the financial success achieved later with Guitar Hero and Rock Band (GH didn't get off the ground until RedOctane approached Harmonix in the early oughts), both helped the now major developer to get a foot in the door.
Rumor: 45th track in Beatles: Rock Band is 'The End'
We can just picture it: Harmonix employees collectively having a laugh at our expense as the forty-fifth (and final) track featured in The Beatles: Rock Band is announced to be ... wait for it ... "The End." The image you see above certainly makes this possibility seem all the more real, as the Abbey Road track isn't listed anywhere on the nearly complete track list we've had for some time now. Apparently, the game has already landed in a few lucky forum-goers hands over at ScoreHero, who quickly revealed the alleged final track. Also revealed: The game's a lot of fun. Shocking! All kidding aside, though, we're fairly confident "The End" made it into the game as track number 45, but we'll have to wait and see with our own eyes when The Beatles: Rock Band launches next week.
Harmonix to 're-energize' its franchises after The Beatles: Rock Band
Sure, The Beatles: Rock Band developer Harmonix has been busy working on next week's big release for some time now, but did you know it's also working on "re-energizing" its "core franchises?" Harmonix PR overlord John Drake told CVG as much, saying that while the studio is ready to refocus on its existing portfolio, it's been busy making sure it got The Beatles game 100 percent right. "We were terrified while making the game, hoping we don't make [Apple Corps] mad at any point -- they're really nice and easy to work with, but this is The Beatles, you can't afford to mess this up." Considering the longtime rhythm game developer more or less re-energized its Amplitude and Frequency franchises with Rock Band Unplugged, we're taking a wild stab in the dark here when we suggest Drake's likely talking about Rock Band 3. And does "re-energizing" in this case mean "adding Project Natal functionality?" We're not sure yet, but we've got our fingers as uncrossed as possible, just in case.
Rock Band drumming up more business on mobile phones
Get out your toothpicks, because Rock Band is coming to cell phones. After shrinking the rhythm franchise down for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP, EA is looking to make it even smaller on September 16th, when Verizon gets a mobile version. The 25 included songs are listed after the break. The title will also support multiplayer, along with quickplay, "Tour mode," and leaderboards. We're currently unaware if players will be able to download additional tracks -- there's nothing we'd like more than adding another category to our novella-sized Rock Band Weekly posts.
Rumor: Rock Band 2 will import LEGO Rock Band tracks
Wired's GameLife cites a "highly-placed source close to Harmonix" as informing the site that Rock Band 2 owners will be able to rip tracks from the LEGO Rock Band game disc, just as they were able to do with songs from the original Rock Band. The source also notes that a "small fee" will probably be involved -- again, just as with Rock Band to Rock Band 2 song importing. ($5, in case you forgot.) Along with this rumored feature, the site has posted a list of upcoming DLC, including 10 tracks from Queen and three from The Raconteurs due in October. Three songs from The White Stripes are listed for November release. Undisclosed material from Attack! Attack! and The Duke Spirit appears as undated Rock Band Network content.When contacted for comment, Harmonix told Joystiq, "While we don't comment on rumors or speculation with regards to our upcoming downloadable content, we can promise that the Rock Band platform is poised to remain the unchallenged best value and source of music for rhythm games."This supposed "leak" is very conveniently timed, given that Guitar Hero 5 releases tomorrow. Doncha' think?
MTV spent big for The Beatles, slowly backing away from peripheral business
It appears that Viacom, parent company of MTV Games and Harmonix, guaranteed a minimum of $10 million, along with another potential $40 million in royalties, to its respective estates for the use of The Beatles in the upcoming Rock Band game. Sources familiar with the deal tell The LA Times that the "royalty rates on [the deal] are not even comparable to anything that has been done before." All this cash is being thrown around in the midst of a revenue decline in the rhythm genre.MTV Games is seemingly taking even more steps away from producing and distributing peripherals. Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president at the company, explains that its "core competency is media" -- he'd rather let Activision "take on the burden of getting those super-tight margin instruments out there."
The Beatles: Rock Band visits Abbey Road
In a 30-second clip that we're not exactly sure came from this decade, MTV Games/Harmonix preview upcoming music/rhythm game The Beatles: Rock Band by way of a big party on Abbey Road. No, we don't mean the street itself, we mean that the enormously famous album cover got turned into a big ol' 30-second party in celebration of the upcoming game. Other than a somewhat creepy faux John Lennon around the halfway mark, this commercial provides yet another reason to be more excited than ever for the day that the Dreamcast turns 10.%Gallery-68343%[Via Kotaku]
Rock Band Weekly: Talking Heads, The Jam, Oasis, Rage
Why, hello! Next week's Rock Band Weekly brings a heaping serving of Talking Heads. No, no, not television talk show guests and nightly news anchors ... the band, you know? You ... you don't know? This is awkward. Best educate yourself before we have to silently crack some skulls. The Wii will get another massive injection of tracks from the back catalog, including a whole slew of Judas Priest. Hold up, you don't know who Judas Priest is? Seriously, why are you even reading this? Go check out all the track coming to the various forms of Rock Band after the break. Select a platform below to view complete DLC listing:
PSP Go's Rock Band Unplugged demo plays DLC
We were disappointed a few weeks ago when we learned that the PSP Go wouldn't come bundled with Rock Band Unplugged as we'd heard, but rather a "voucher" for an exclusive demo of the title. We then wondered why you would need a voucher for a demo. PlayStation.Blog has answered our questions, revealing one very important, kind of awesome detail about the PSP Go Rock Band Unplugged Lite: not only will it come loaded with five songs, it will accept downloads from the Rock Band Unplugged store, effectively allowing players to build a track list a la carte. It's a nice bonus that extends the allure of the demo (good for PSP Go buyers) and encourages DLC purchases (good for MTV, Harmonix, EA, etc.)
