RockBand
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Rock Band slays 2007 Game Critics Awards
If you've already read the Joystiq E3 2007 Awards (you have read them, right?), you already know we picked Rock Band as Best in Show. Now, the winners of the 2007 Game Critics Awards have been announced and, whaddya know, Rock Band takes the title of winningest game with three awards, including Best in Show!Second place goes to Bioware's Mass Effect, winning Best Console Game and Best RPG. Some more fun stats: Xbox 360 is the winningest platform, with 11 wins, while Electronic Arts is the winningest publisher, with 6 wins (remember, three are for Rock Band!). Bringing up the rear, surprisingly: Nintendo.
Rock Band: Nirvana's 'Nevermind,' real venues and a possible release date [Update]
Should you find yourself with the September issue of GamePro magazine, you'll be treated to a three page feature on Harmonix's upcoming musical juggernaut, Rock Band. At E3, downloadable albums made a huge impact with legendary rockers The Who and Metallica. Joining this prestigious bunch is Nirvana with their infamous masterwork "Nevermind," which will be made available sometime after release. According to GamePro, we should also expect to see a new, full album to download every week. With such incredible albums, you'll need a venue in which to rock. Ditching the fictional locales of their previous work, Rock Band features 41 venues, spread across the likes of Amsterdam, Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Moscow, New York, Paris, Seattle, San Francisco, Sydney and Tokyo, just to name a few.So when exactly will you be teeing off neighbors with your plastic drum set? If you ask GamePro, November 6th, which would place it about a week after Guitar Hero III should you pay attention to GameStop. We've placed an inquiry with Harmonix and we'll let you know what we hear.[Update - Weekend be damned! Harmonix has gotten back to us regarding the November 6th release date listed in GamePro. As of now, there is no official release date beyond "Holiday 2007." So until Harmonix drops the official deets themselves, its best to take everything lightly.][Thanks, cezar515!]
Rock Band playable at PAX
Harmonix will have a booth at this year's PAX convention in Seattle Aug 24-26 where Rock Band will be playable. For those who during E3 didn't have an appointment with EA, get invited to the West Hollywood party or end up in the suite gathering, here's their chance to play with the general populace -- like Chris Furniss of The Weekly Geek Show. Furniss points out, "Sure you could play Harmonix's Guitar Hero-and-every-other-game-ever-killer behind closed doors at this year's E3 ... But it wasn't on the show floor. This just furthers my frustration with companies at this year's E3."Yes, the picture above created by and featuring Furniss does not actually use the Rock Band peripherals and he's using Donkey Kong bongos in place of the drums -- but it's still funny, darn it! Hopefully Harmonix will think ahead and have some plan set up for PAX and the mass of people who will want to play Rock Band. The 20x30 booth they'll have set up may only be for one set, which means PAX attendees will hopefully not experience the Nintendo Wii line of 2006 for their chance at the game. Thankfully, the game is just as fun to watch as it is to play.
Today's most Bowie video: Rock Band's Suffragette City
Everyone needs a little bit of Bowie in their day. Today's hit of Bowie comes care of a Rock Band trailer showing off David Bowie's "Suffragette City" with brief snippets of the title being played as a four-player rock fest. We still can't wait to get our hands on the the drum controller. Again.Video embedded after the break.%Gallery-3923%
Rock Band now available for pre-order
While prices and release dates for Rock Band have been floating for a while now, it looks like things may have finally settled down, with the entire kit now available for pre-order at a couple of retailers. If you're ready to go all out, you can snag a bundle for either the 360 or PS3 that includes the game, guitar, microphone, and drum set for $199, although you'll still have to wait until November 20th to actually get it. The whole lot is also available individually, with the game running $60, the microphone $30, and the drum set $80. Somewhat curiously, the 360 version of the wireless guitar is listed at $80 on both Amazon and GameStop, while the PS3 version only costs $50, although GameStop still says that the prices are "subject to change."Read- Amazon.comRead- Gamestop.com[Thanks, PacoDG]
Activision: Guitar Hero III still a contender
In the face of Rock Band, Activision seemingly has an uphill battle on its hands with Guitar Hero III. As one of our blogging buddies on Joystiq put it, "if you have Rock Band and a guitar, you already have Guitar Hero." Naturally, the addition of more instruments would seem to expand this value even further. According to Activision Senior VP of Marketing, Will Kassoy, however, Guitar Hero III is not down and it's certainly not out. First of all, Kassoy notes that Harmonix (developers of Rock Band and previous GH games) are experienced in software, not hardware. In other words, the Rock Band peripherals may not stand up to the standards set by Red Octane. A little more on point, Kassoy notes that the two games are likely to have a very large price disparity, with Guitar Hero III on the winning end of the spectrum. This makes much more sense, although it's somewhat mooted by the fact that Rock Band will support Guitar Hero II controllers. Still, there is no denying that the cost of entry for GHIII is lower than aiming for the full experience of Rock Band, and that may work in Activision's favor.
Impromptu E3 gathering wants Rock Band, dead or alive
To anyone who might still doubt that Rock Band can instantly create a party, any time, anywhere, check out the above video of an impromptu gathering at the E3 2007's Fairmont hotel. Remember, these are highly jaded journalists and developers, coming to hang out and play a game after the formal show has ended for the day. If they're singing along, just imagine how much your friends will get into it.
E3's Rock Band guitars wired, fuels 360 price speculation
After an intense session of Rock Band from Harmonix -- we totally nailed the vocal for Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline" by the way -- we noticed that the guitars had dangling wires tethering them to the Xbox 360. Considering the game has been widely advertised as having wireless guitars, this made us curious. Remembering the recently leaked price memo, you may recall that the wireless 360 guitar was listed at $79.99 while the PS3 guitar was listed at $59.99. Some have speculated that the 360 discrepancy is the result of having to pay Microsoft to use its proprietary wireless technology. Is MTV Games making cheaper wired guitars for those that can't afford wireless? Mmm ... could be.
Attend the Rock Band party vicariously through the magic of video
You've seen the pictures. You've read the psuedo sort-of liveblog. Now, check out Joystiq's exclusive video of EA/MTV/Harmonix's Rock Band Party at LA's historic Troubadour bar. Apologies for the sound and picture quality at parts -- the lighting and speakers weren't exactly specifically tuned for our pocket shaky-cam. Be prepared to turn the volume down ... to 11!
Rock Band to have weekly DLC, Full Album downloads, and Metallica
Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos announced that Rock Band has some serious plans for delivering content to players. First off, Harmonix plans to release new music tracks every week. They can be released in singles, multi track bundles, or more deliciously, full albums. As an example Alex announced that The Who's Who's Next would be available for download following the game's release. As icing on the proverbial cake, selections spanning Metallica's musical career will be made available, with "Enter Sandman" playable on the retail disc. All in all, Harmonix is pushing Rock Band more as a platform than just a game, and we couldn't agree with the prospect more. We'll be back with hands on impressions and a proper tribute to Weezer as soon as we can.
Steven Van Zandt chairs Rock Band music advisory board
During EA's E3 press conference, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos announced the formation of the Rock Band music advisory board. The board is to be comprised of music industry experts and will oversee the selection of music that will appear in Rock Band as the game's constantly expanding music selection grows every week. Rigopulos further announced that the advisory board would be chaired by Steven Van Zandt, former guitarist for the E Street Band (and Silvio Dante from The Sopranos). Van Zandt stated to the crowd that is the advisory board's mission to select the best songs from every era of rock n' roll as well as selections from up and coming artists.Of course, there are still a few unanswered questions, the first being how much all this mammoth content will cost. We'd also like to know what other music luminaries have been invited to join the music advisory board. Your guess is as good as ours.
Rock Band picks up Metallica, entire album DLC
Rock Band served as the tail end of EA's E3 press conference, and they made sure to save a few announcements for last. CEO of Harmonix, Alex Rigopulos announced that Rock Band will receive downloadable content every single week after its initial release. Even better, he announced that players not only be able to download single songs and multi-song packs, but entire albums. The first album that will be available for download is The Who's Who's Next. Finally, Rigopulos announced that Rock Band musicians will at last be jamming to Metallica. It was revealed that Metallica's "Enter Sandman" will ship with the retail version of Rock Band with many more career-spanning tracks coming as downloadable content.Guitar Hero III may have Slash, but Metallica is certainly a jagged metal feather in Rock Band's increasing ostentatious cap.
Rock Band Guitar Prices PS3 vs 360
An anonymous employee from Game Crazy sent a tip and scan to Joystiq of their pricing for Harmonix's Rock Band peripherals for both the PS3 and Xbox 360. The microphone and drum kit cost $29.99 and $79.99, respectively. Unfortunately, the guitar controller has a price discrepancy between the two platforms, with the PS3's wireless guitar costing $59.99 and the 360's $79.99, a twenty dollar difference.As the story goes, Red Octane supposedly couldn't get a wireless guitar because using Microsoft's proprietary wireless technology would jack the price on the controller. Could the PS3's wireless technology be easier and cheaper to implement that would cause it to be cheaper than the 360's? Harmonix denied their being any discrepancy when asked that question, so we'll have to wait for either an announcement on pricing or some more concrete evidence from retailers.
Memo shows $20 gap in Xbox and PS3 Rock Band guitar
Nailing down a Rock Band peripheral price has been almost as difficult as explaining how Keith Richards is still alive. An employee of Game Crazy sent us a printout of the pricing list which they received on July 3. The only thing that really jumps out is the Xbox 360 guitar price being $20 more than the PS3 (more on this in a second). Much of the information is still in line with the GameStop pricing reported months ago. Officially a Harmonix representative says, "We have not released any pricing details regarding Rock Band as of yet, but stay tuned."The price discrepancy could go back to the issue from last year regarding Red Octane and their attempt to get a wireless guitar on the Xbox 360. Turns out to license Microsoft's proprietary wireless technology would have increased the cost of the wireless guitar and the company decided not to do it. Could $20 be the magic number being tacked on for the consumer? This would also assume, if the pricing is correct, that neither the drum set nor the microphone would be wireless given the lack of a price difference between the two systems. Although, we do have a statement regarding the price discrepancy as well. We were told by the Harmonix rep, "I am not aware of a price discrepancy." It looks like it's going to be a while before the actual, solid, final price of the peripherals gets nailed down. Right now, it's still all rumor and speculation -- officially.[Thanks Anonymous]
Video: Rock Band's Mississippi Queen
Update: It looks like the video has been pulled.Gametrailers has a new video up of a Pre-E3 Rock Band playtest, akin to the one our fellow 'Stiqqers attended, and shows off the menu UI, along with band member selection prior to the song. Speaking of which, today's performance is "Mississippi Queen", and despite Player 2 pausing twice during the jam session, it all went well, especially since the song featured more cowbell. The guitar players are using the Fender Stratocaster, and the drum kit is different than the one seen in the earlier video, as it is all black. Also, at the beginning, other songs in the play list that are different from the ones revealed earlier are David Bowie's "Suffragette City" and The Hives' "Main Offender". All in all some cool tidbits, and we can't wait to play "Say it Ain't So" at E3 next week. [Thanks, DarkStar]
Joystiq plays Rock Band, now with cow bell!
Of all the wonderful things we've learned about Rock Band, we were completely unprepared for the bombshell dropped in Joystiq's hands-on with the game. It is truly the best thing we have heard in a long time. Yes, that's right, the microphone not only doubles as a tambourine, it also serves as a cow bell. If you're playing Blue Oyster Cult's "Don't Fear the Reaper," you can bet your booties that you'll be applying some judicious cow bell. Of course, Joystiq's hands-on preview contains much more information, and you really should read it, but it is our job to extract the essence of all that we cover. If there be anything purer than cow bell, we haven't seen it.%Gallery-4604%
New Rock Band video welcomes you to the Jungle
Behold. The first gameplay footage from Rock Band. The great thing about this video is that it shows what's going on off-screen as well as on-screen. Though the people playing are a little over the top, they're also very good. That song looks incredibly hard, for all involved.The drumset pleases us. Especially after the worries we had when we head it described as a "dinner tray stand". It's also great to see that you can use wooden drumsticks, which means that the hardware will have to be fairly well built. This game presses all of our buttons and we can't wait to see more. Here's hoping some song titles are released during E3.
First Rock Band demo video surfaces [update 1]
Our friends over at Gamespot posted a video demonstrating Rock Band in all its four player band mate glory and then they quickly pulled it. But thanks to some quick saving and YouTube, we have the video embedded above. The video showcases four enthusiastic band mates jamming to Guns N' Roses' "Welcome to the Jungle" using two Guitar Hero II X-plorer controllers, the drum kit and a microphone. The screen layout is simplistic enough with vocals on top, guitars on the left and middle right, with drums placed in the right middle. Very slick indeed. Take a looksy at the Rock Band gameplay footage and get a feel for what you'll be experiencing this Fall. And please, don't make eye contact with the lead singer ... she'll turn you to stone.Update 1: Sean, Harmonix man, posted on the official Rock Band forums that this video is a very early build used for internal purposes and isn't representative of the final game. Also, "Welcome to the Jungle" was used as a demo song and is NOT locked down to be in the game just yet. So, it's far from official, but a boat load of media will be headed our way during E3. Stay tuned.[Thanks, to everyone who sent this in]
See Rock Band in action
Care to see how four players jam together in the upcoming Rock Band? Gamespot has had footage of a quartet taking on Welcome to the Jungle by Guns n' Roses. The two guitarists here aren't using the new Fender strat replicas and a microphone is nothing new, but seeing the drums in action and how they'd be implemented on screen (check out the right middle column) is interesting. And yes, you too will be required to make those faces when you play the game.Update: The video has been taken down from Gamespot, but quazi has found a copy on YouTube. Footage embedded after the break.
Jam out with more Rock Band instruments
More Rock Band instruments have crept onto the internet this week. Found in the latest Game Informer, we now have our first glimpse of the drums and microphone. The microphone has a very polished and professional look to it. What's more, it looks like it can stand up to some punishment, which is good since it's going to double as a tambourine. The drums (currently a prototype model) take a step back towards a more toy-like appearance, which is unfortunate in light of the authenticity of the guitar. Each drum pad is surrounded by the corresponding color, which we definitely prefer to coloring the pads themselves. There is also what appears to be a pedal for the bass drum as well.So, which instrument will you "play" when Rock Band makes its debut?[Via Engadget]
