mtvgames

Rock Band Network to launch next year, open beta still planned for this year

November 26th, 2009 at 06:58am Under PS3

Rock Band Network, the MTV Games/Harmonix service that allows and enables musicians and fans of music (with rights to a song) to turn a song into a playable Rock Band track (and earn some money as a result) was scheduled to exit its current closed beta and launch this month, which, as yet, hasn’t happened.

Speaking to Kotaku, however, an MTV Games spokesperson has revealed what the company’s future plans for the service are:

“We’re working hard to get the Rock Band Network open public beta release of tools up before the end of the year, with our RBN storefront launching in early 2010,” said the spokesperson. “Exact dates still TBD. The tools necessary for bands to start authoring and prepare their content for review are already live on Creators.rockband.com/tools/download.

“The open beta launch will add access to the currently private website where all of the RBN community activity and peer reviewing of tracks will take place,” the MTV Games spokesperson continued. “People who join the Rock Band Network (bands, fans or otherwise) will be able to play and preview any song before it hits the store, so they should stay tuned for the official launch.”

Sounds like a plan!

Source: Kotaku

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More Nirvana and Foo Fighters for Rock Band this week

November 2nd, 2009 at 04:03am Under PS3+ PSP+ Wii / Nintendo

Rock Band fans can look forward to a bunch of new tracks this week. A three pack of Nirvana tracks, a four pack of tracks from Foo Fighters and a single track from Joan Jett & The Blackhearts will be added to the Rock Band Music Store this week for the Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. These tracks will also be available in the LEGO Rock Band Music Store. PSP gamers can keep an eye out for tracks from Bullet for My Valentine and System of a Down this week.

Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (Nov. 3) and PS3 (Nov. 5):

Foo Fighters – “Best of You”
Foo Fighters – “The Pretender”
Foo Fighters – “Wheels”
Foo Fighters – “Word Forward”
Nirvana – “About a Girl”
Nirvana – “Blew”
Nirvana – “School”
Joan Jett & The Blackhearts – “Fake Friends”

Gamers will be able to purchase the tracks as ‘Nirvana Bleach Pack’ or ‘Foo Fighters Pack 03’ and as individual tracks for the Xbox 360 and PS3. The ‘Nirvana Bleach Pack’ will cost £2.49 or 440 Microsoft Points while the ‘Foo Fighters Pack 03’ will be available for £3.49 or 560 Microsoft Points. Each track will cost £.99 or 160 Microsoft Points. Wii owners will be able to purchase the individual tracks for $2 or 200 Wii Points per track.

Tracks available for Rock Band Unplugged (Nov. 5):

Bullet For My Valentine – “Waking the Demon”
System of a Down – “Toxicity”

Each track will cost £.99 UK on the PSP.

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Talking Heads, Oasis and more hit Rock Band Store this week

August 31st, 2009 at 05:31am Under PS3+ PSP+ Wii / Nintendo

The Rock Band Music Store for the Xbox 360 and PS3 will be updated with a five pack of songs from Talking Heads this week, along with tracks from Avenged Sevenfold, The Jam, Oasis and Rage Against the Machine.

Wii gamers can look forward to tracks from Tom Petty, Billy Idol, Fleetwood Mac and Judas Priest while singles from Guns N’ Roses and Franz Ferdinand will be available for Rock Band Unplugged.

Each track costs $1.99 or £.99 (160 Microsoft Points) for the PS3 and Xbox 360, while the Talking Heads pack will set you back $8.49 or £5.25 (680 Microsoft Points). Wii winners will have to pay $2 or 200 Wii Points per track (except for those tracks marked with a * which cost $1 or 100 Wii Points each) while $1.99 or £.99 will get you a track for the PSP.

Tracks available on Xbox 360 (Sept. 1) and PS3 (Sept. 3):

Avenged Sevenfold – “Bat Country”
The Jam – “A Town Called Malice”
The Jam – “Going Underground”
Oasis – “Supersonic” (Live)
Rage Against the Machine – “Guerilla Radio”
Talking Heads – “And She Was”
Talking Heads – “Crosseyed & Painless”
Talking Heads – “Girlfriend is Better”
Talking Heads – “Once in a Lifetime”
Talking Heads – “Take Me to the River”

Additional tracks available for Wii (Aug. 25):

Billy Idol – “Mony Mony”
Billy Idol – “Rebel Yell”
Fleetwood Mac – “Don’t Stop”
Fleetwood Mac – “World Turning”
Jet – “She’s a Genius”
Tom Petty – “I Won’t Back Down”
Tom Petty – “Runnin’ Down a Dream”
Bare Naked Ladies – “Hanukkah Blessings” *
Billy Squier – “Christmas is the Time” *
Judas Priest – “(Take These) Chains”
Judas Priest – “Bloodstone”
Judas Priest – “Devil’s Child”
Judas Priest – “Fever”
Judas Priest – “Pain & Pleasure”
Judas Priest – “Riding on the Wind”
Judas Priest – “Screaming for Vengeance”
Judas Priest – “The Hellion/Electric Eye”
Judas Priest – “You’ve Got Another Thing Comin’”
Nikko – “Break My Heart” *
Nikko – “Don’t Tell Me” *
Pretenders – “Blue Christmas” *
Pretenders – “Precious”

Tracks available for Rock Band Unplugged (Sept. 3):

Franz Ferdinand – “Lucid Dreams”
Guns N’ Roses – “Riad N’ The Bedouins”

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MTV Games confirms Rock Band 3 is in the works

August 24th, 2009 at 02:36am Under PS3+ Wii / Nintendo

Rock Band fans rejoice because Harmonix has already started work on Rock Band 3. This is according to MTV Games executive vice president and general manager Scott Guthrie who confirmed that the third Rock Band game is en route in a recent interview with MCV.

Guthrie also confirmed that MTV Games is exploring the possibility of doing another game devoted to one major artist in 2010, like next month’s The Beatles: Rock Band.
“We’re exploring both – and possibly will do both. The Harmonix development team are working on what is effectively the next game, or ‘Rock Band 3’.”

“We aren’t standing still – we will keep moving into new areas and look at new technologies that our platform holder partners are also developing, such as Project Natal from Microsoft. We’re working with them to pull some things together. So it’s pretty exciting time for the future of our music game business.”

Guthrie discussed how the music game industry is “transitioning as a category out of the ‘plastic’ area.” This means that MTV will be focusing on software, both packaged and online. Although DLC is not tracked through NPD or Chart Track, Guthrie commented that it is “significant,” a “double digit portion of [their] total revenue stream” which “grows month on month.”

DLC allows MTV flexibility because of reduced manufacture costs and the ability to do different things with artists. “If there are upcoming tours or new songs that a band wants to try out, DLC is perfect. We can do things online in a manner that you can’t with pressed plastic.”

The margins on hardware on the other hand are small, because the instruments are already in the households. In fact Guthrie noted a drop in revenue because [they] are not selling $149 bundles anymore.

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Rock Band Metal Track Pack detailed

August 14th, 2009 at 05:48am Under PS2+ PS3+ Wii / Nintendo

Harmonix and MTV Games have announced that a Rock Band Metal Track Pack will be available on the 13th of October for the PS3, Xbox 360, PS2 and Wii. The standalone disc will be available at retail for $29.99.

The Metal Track Pack will contain 20 tracks including Godsmack, Children of Bodom, Evile, Judas Priest and Bullet For My Valentine. Six of the on disc tracks are new to Rock Band and will be exclusive to the Metal Track Pack disc for a limited period, after which they will be available as downloadable content on the Rock Band Music Store.

Xbox 360 or PS3 gamers can play directly from the disc or download the songs to their console’s hard drives through a free offer with Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network. Once players have downloaded the songs they will automatically appear in the library so players can include them into setlists and play them in all game modes.

The full tracklist for the Rock Band Metal Track Pack follows: