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Bed Intruder Song 'coming soon' to Rock Band Network
Rock Band Network production company -- er, "dude" -- Kario Charts will test the staying power of last summer's Bed Intruder meme when he releases "Bed Intruder Song" on the service in the coming days. Kario has uploaded a video preview of the Rock Band build on YouTube (sing along after the break), confirming on the Rock Band Forums that he "signed" the song's creator, The Gregory Brothers, to a contract back in December (he also has the rights to create an RBN version of the group's "Double Rainbow" ditty). The untimely delay of "Bed Intruder Song" on RBN is due in part to the integration of Rock Band 3 Pro Keys charting, and Kario continues to make tweaks to the track based on feedback in the forums. RBN members will be able to playtest the song at the end of the week, when Kario plans to upload it for the first time. Kario has also teased RBN releases of other viral virtuosos' works, including Ronald Jenkees' "Throwing Fire" ("Guitar Sound" is already available) and a collection of guitarist Erik Mongrain's songs, featuring "AirTap!"
Rock Band Weekly: OK Go, The Police, War
Next week's Rock Band DLC announcement is a day early (wonder why?), featuring four individual tracks from three different artists. Details after the break.
Rock Band Weekly: Depeche Mode, Death Cab For Cutie
Find your "Personal Jesus" in next week's Rock Band DLC, featuring three tracks from iconic electronic music band Depeche Mode. If you're not in the mood to declare your "Policy of Truth," there will also be a single number from Death Cab For Cutie available. Check out the full DLC details after the break. [Pictured: Screencap of "Personal Jesus" music video; source: YouTube / WMG]
Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster video review: Going to town in a Lincoln
Though the cornucopia of Pro Guitar tutorials available on last year's Rock Band 3 possessed multitudes of promise, the absence of a solidly-built, authentic guitar controller squandered away my hopes of learning to more proficiently rock in the real world by taking lessons in a fake one. I've sustained myself over the past four months on the possibility that the MIDI-enabled Squier Stratocaster controller would capitalize on these possibilities. After spending a few hours with the axe, I'm happy to report that I wasn't disappointed. Check out the video after the jump for the full scoop on the Rock Band 3 Squier, presented in a bold, groundbreaking audio-visual format. (How else could you be impressed by all my mad shredding skills, and my capacity for producing sweet, crunchy riffs?)
Harmonix brainstorming 'reimaginings' of Rock Band, new motion games
"There's no denying that Rock Band 3 hasn't yet sold to the level we hoped it would out of the gate," Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos admitted to Edge. "But on the flipside of that we also believe that it's a product that has a lot of life." It may be difficult to share Rigopulos' optimism. Since the beginning of the year, Viacom sold Harmonix (back to Harmonix), MTV Games was shut down and Activision hit the pause button on its long-running Guitar Hero franchise. Still, Rigopulos offers a "glass half-full" interpretation of Activision's retraction from the genre, seeing a newfound opportunity to expand the developer's audience. "We think there are also a lot of devoted Guitar Hero fans who have probably never given Rock Band a try," Rigopulos told Destructoid. Harmonix wants to convert them and "let them know that Rock Band 3 is worth giving a try." Rock Band 3 will continue receiving updates through the year, as Harmonix tries to "cultivate" the platform -- though Rigopulos added that "fundamental reimaginings of the Rock Band franchise" are being planned. "The marketplace is clearly demanding something very new," Rigopulos noted. "It's clearly demanding a dramatic evolution of the Rock Band franchise, I think, and I think that's actually exciting for us." While rebooting the band genre will be an uphill battle for the company, there's still one bright star in the studio's portfolio: Dance Central. Finishing the sequel is an obvious next step, but it seems Harmonix has more motion-gaming ideas. "It's safe to say you'll see a lot more in that domain from Harmonix beyond Dance Central," Rigopulos teased. "We'd be absolutely open-minded about that." With their future projects still shrouded in secrecy, it seems Rigopulos is confident that his team will easily bypass this dark era for music gaming. Contrary to industry perception, the company might have too much on its plate. "We have a lot of very cool new ideas in the works right now, looking out beyond both Rock Band and Dance Central." [Image credit: RockBandAide]
You Rock strums its way into Rock Band 3 Pro mode
Those seeking the upper echelons of virtual guitar wizardry have a third option now -- the You Rock Guitar, which is now compatible with Rock Band 3's Pro mode. So long as you've also got Mad Catz' MIDI-Pro adapter handy, the multi-touch fret board sounds like a solid middle ground between the uber-realistic Squier Stratocaster strings and the tiny toy-like fret keys of the Mustang Pro, and at roughly $200 street it's priced right between the others as well. PR after the break, and find our early impressions of the You Rock here.
Rock Band Weekly: Nine Inch Nails, Pro Guitar upgrades for legacy DLC
Can the same game really teach you both industrial noise and chooglin'? That's exactly what Rock Band 3 will be capable of doing next week, with four tracks from the remastered version of Nine Inch Nails' Pretty Hate Machine (one of which, "Head Like a Hole," includes Pro Guitar support) and Pro Guitar upgrades for legacy DLC including two Creedence tracks. Find the full list of tracks available for your versatility training after the break.
You Rock guitar now compatible with Rock Band 3 Pro mode
In addition to the Mad Catz Mustang guitar controller and the upcoming Fender Squier Stratocaster, there is now a third option for realistic shredding in Rock Band 3, thanks to a firmware update for You Rock Digital's You Rock guitar. The You Rock guitar is similar to the Mustang in that it has real strings for strumming, though they don't stretch along the full length of the guitar. Unlike the Mustang's many, many buttons, the You Rock features a touch-sensitive fret board. The You Rock also functions as a MIDI instrument and includes many built in sounds and effects. Those wishing to use the You Rock for Rock Band 3 will need to download firmware 1.2 from the You Rock website. Like the Fender Squier, the You Rock requires the Mad Catz MIDI adapter for use with Rock Band 3. The guitar is compatible with all versions of the game and, in addition to pro mode, it can be used to play standard modes as well. That's what we call a two'fer.
Dragon Quest VI, Medal of Honor, and a bunch of Wii music items in Amazon Gold Box
Amazon is offering a spate of gaming deals in its Gold Box today, revealing a new time-limited offer every couple of hours. Strangely, the discounts are about half Wii music-game themed -- things like the Wii versions of Michael Jackson: The Experience (the Deal of the Day at $30), Rock Band 3, and Dance Dance Revolution. However, the non-Wii part includes savings on the DS version of Plants vs. Zombies, Dragon Quest VI, Civilization V and others, so the lack of a fully committed theme is forgivable. Find the list after the break.
Rock Band Weekly: Pat Benatar six-pack
A Pat Benatar six-pack is next week's Rock Band DLC offering. Oh, Pat Benatar. Her music and iconic videos during the early days of MTV traveled on parallel lines of logic. There's "Love is a Battlefield," forever remembered for its shoulder shimmy and then there's the toilet-papered land of "We Belong." Also, in retrospect, the drummer in that latter video totally looks like Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs. Put the Benatar in the shopping basket next week! Full track-pack details can be found after the break. [Pictured: Screencap of "Love is a Battlefield" music video; source: YouTube / GiraldiMedia]
Rock Band 3 V-Day DLC video shows us what love is all about
Today, we discovered that Harmonix is not only one of the most talented developers out there, but also one of the most romantic. The team understands love on a deeper level than we could ever hope to tap into, evidenced by the V-Day DLC pack video past the jump.
Harmonix issues statement on ending of Guitar Hero franchise
You might think that the developer of the Rock Band franchise would currently find themselves doing a victory dance over the grave of the recently buried Guitar Hero franchise -- however, Harmonix's John Drake recently posted the studio's very tasteful response to the news over on the Rock Band forums. "We were sad to hear yesterday that Activision was discontinuing development on Guitar Hero," Drake said. "Our thoughts are with those who are losing their jobs, and we wish them the best of luck." The statement acknowledges that sales in the music genre have slowed, but pledges, "In short, the beat of Rock Band marches on." Drake later adds, "It's been a wild battle of the bands since 2007, but we respect and appreciate all of the hard work and innovation of our peers who have shared the music gaming space with us, and we look forward to rocking in the future." Yeah! Maybe one day, after the wounds of battle have healed, you guys could get together, and form up some kind of supergroup-jam-band! You could call it Guitar Band, or Rock Hero, or, perhaps, Damn Yankees.
Rock Band Weekly: V-Day Pack featuring Meatloaf, Stevie Nicks, more
Hey there, lonelyheart. Need some musical accompaniment for a Valentine's Day spent in romantic anguish? This week's Rock Band 3 update has your back -- not only is it eschewing the game's usual DLC schedule, dropping the tracks this Friday so that they'll be available on Valentine's Day, but each of the songs is an absolute heartbreaker. Though, ironically, most of them feature duets, which is kind of a slap in the face to lonely-folk like yourself. Check out the tracks from Meatloaf, Bonnie Tyler, Stevie Nicks and more after the jump!
Three Super Meat Boy tracks coming to Rock Band Network
The indefatigable Danny Baranowsky -- soundtrack composer for both Canabalt and Super Meat Boy, among others -- confirmed to us this morning that three tracks from Super Meat Boy are headed to the Rock Band Network. "The Battle of Lil' Slugger" and "Can o' Salt" will be released as remixed, extended versions, while "Betus Blues" is getting a retro remix for the RBN release. "I wanted to have some stuff in there for the people who delight in 100-percenting expert Dragonforce," Baranowsky told us of the remixes. From what we heard this morning of the extended, retro-ized "Betus Blues," we expect those folks to be handily challenged (as well as thoroughly entertained). No release date or price has been applied to the tracks yet, but the pack's author has them pegged as arriving "soon" -- it also labels them as coming to RBN 2.0, so we'd expect the tracks to arrive some time after February 15.
Rock Band Weekly: Bob Marley eight-pack
If you've got a contact high from playing "Get Up, Stand Up" and the entire Legend album a hundred times, Harmonix wants to keep the party going by delivering more Bob Marley tracks in an eight-pack next week. The latest DLC from the reggae icon includes "Burnin' and Lootin'," "Kaya," and "Them Belly Full (But We Hungry)." Get a case of the munches by checking out the full update details after the break.
Beefy Rock Band 3 title update does away with the eyebrow of death
Harmonix has been hard at work on a major title update for Rock Band 3 -- today, we finally get a look at the fruits of the studio's labor. The update -- which is live now on Xbox 360, and is expected to drop on PS3 within the next 24 hours -- addresses a diverse load of problems; for instance, pausing the game too many times while playing a song disables scoring, which prevents players from using the pause-rewind feature to artificially boost their scores. Also, that Stage Kit you dropped a Benjamin on a few years back? The game now supports it in a limited capacity. Our personal favorite patch is one that fixes a crash that cropped up whenever the player chose a "particular eyebrow asset," which, henceforth shall be known as the "eyebrow of death." Sadly, that power has been extinguished by the update, and now rests solely in the forehead of Mr. Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. Check out the full list of updates after the jump!
Rock Band Weekly: The Clash's 'London Calling' album
Sure, there are some Clash songs available for Rock Band 3, but how about the entirety of the band's most famous (and arguably best) album, London Calling? Coming February 1, you can get just that. Out of the legendary album's 18 tracks, five have "Pro" guitar and bass functionality available for an extra $1 each, while all of them have thoroughly enjoyable music and lyrics. As per usual, individual tracks are available for 160 MS Points/200 Wii Points/$1.99, and the entire album can be purchased (at a hefty discount) for 1600 MS Points/2000 Wii Points/$19.99.
Rock Band Weekly: David Bowie
All you need to know about next week's Rock Band DLC featuring David Bowie is: Ziggy played guitaaaaaaaaaaar! Also, he believed in "fame" and "modern love" with "young Americans" named "Blue Jean." Check out the full details after the break.
Rock Band Network 2.0 hits the stage in February
Posting on its Rock Band Network creators site, Harmonix has stated that version 2.0 of the do-it-yourself Rock Band track creation system will roll out on February 15. RockBandAide has all the details -- it seems that all songs currently in-process for RBN must be completed by February 14, when version 1.0 will go into the great beyond. All RBN content following the new system's activation will require a copy of Rock Band 3, sitting in your disc tray. The standard Rock Band Weekly tracks have been incompatible with any prior version of the game since RB3 launched in October.
Wii Rock Band Network releases to stop next week
All Rock Band Network tracks are available for purchase through the Xbox 360 Rock Band games, and Harmonix periodically dumps some popular tracks from the DIY authoring service onto the PS3 and Wii games as DLC. Next week's set of RBN songs (after the break), however, will be the last to make the trip over to Wii. "With the smaller online install base, limited demand for releases so far and the significant amount of work it takes for our producers and audio team to convert and process these additional tracks," Harmonix's Aaron Trites explained in the weekly DLC announcement, "we're no longer able to continue submitting RBN content to the Wii." That's not the end for all downloadable music on Wii, however: "regular Wii DLC, and RBN releases for the 360 and PS3 will continue uninterrupted."
