How did we miss this, a nine-page article in the New York Times about The Beatles: Rock Band? Is it overkill? Perhaps. Rock Band isn’t exactly new, and The Beatles aren’t exactly some unsigned band, but you have to consider the Times’ audience: older folks who probably saw The Beatles live at Shea Stadium, and who would be genuinely excited to see the band show up on iTunes one day (despite the fact that ripping their CDs is quite simple). → Read More
The moment that Wii owners have been waiting for has finally happened. Yep, Harmonix announced yesterday that the Rock Band store for the Wii is finally open, and owners of the game can start downloading tracks and getting their rock on with some new music. → Read More
Rock Band 2 has been available for ages on the PS3 and Xbox 360, but the Wii version has yet seen a retail shelf. According to the Harmonix website though, that will change on December 18, 2008. So hopefully, within a few days, you can get your fantasy rock’n on the Wii, but we’ll believe it when we peep the box at Wal-Mart. We want to apologise for the delay in getting RB2 onto the Wii and to reaffirm that we believe that Wii is an amazing and unique fit for Rock Band 2, and one that we care deeply about getting right. Those are awful humble words, but still, where the hell is the Rock Band 2 for the Wii! Harmonix via Kotaku → Read More
Just in time for the holiday rush, Harmonix has announced that they’re slashing prices on RB SE bundles for all major platforms. PlayStation 2 and Wii owners can pick up the bundle for $99 while the Xbox 360 and PS3 bundle will retail for $140. How much were these things before? → Read More
This is a silly, nigh inaudible video of some Harmonix developers playing Rock Band. They mostly stink, I think—I’m not a Rock Band or Guitar Hero connoisseur—but as Kotaku points out, it’s hard to fault Harmonix completely. First of all, this video was taken at the Nottingham GameCity3 event, whatever that was—it’s fair to assume that they all had a few beers in them. Unless you’re James Hetfiled in the late 1980s, you shouldn’t be mixing alcohol and guitars. Second, the girl isn’t even an employee of Harmonix; it’s former Edge editor Margaret Robertson. That’s no slight against Edge, mind you, but her awful playing is in no way Harmonix’s fault. Third, why hasn’t anyone made a Hop-Hop Hero Hip-Hop Hero (I leave the typo there to encourage you kids to stay in school, forever if at all possible) game? You’d think the big game publishers would be all over that. → Read More
Harmonix just confirmed on its message board that Wii Guitar Hero III controllers will work just fine on Rock Band 2, which is due to be released on November 18. Note that the opposite—using Rock Band 2 guitars in Guitar Hero—isn’t confirmed. via Wii Fanboy → Read More
Hey, look at that fancy guitar there, wouldja? That’s what you’ll get if you buy Rock Band 2 when it comes out in the fall. If you already own the first Rock Band and you purchased any songs for it, they’ll all transfer over to Rock Band 2. Glory be! Kotaku tells us that you’ll also get new drums with “a metal reinforced pedal, quieter pads, velocity sensors” and it’ll also be wireless. The guitar itself will also be wireless and feature a “sturdier strum bar” and “quieter buttons.” → Read More
I like the look of this thing better. Looks more like my guitar, which I think is good because my guitar is good-looking, even if I can’t play it worth a damn. As you can see, it’s got a knob to serve as a whammy bar (I’m guessing), as well as a touch-sensitive bar for bending and sliding notes and even an accelerometer to activate your thrashing super powers. Nice little racket they’ve got going on here! New game, new controllers, new accessories. I think console owners just lost the right to complain about the cost of PC upgrades. → Read More
Very funny, MTV News. You thought you’d wait a full 8 days after April Fools to try to pull one over on us, but I’m onto you. According to the site, Harmonix is set to follow up the hit Rock Band with a larger-scope game called Record Label, where you use payola, pre-fab producers, and scantily clad teen pop stars to get as far ahead in the music biz as you can. The game uses creative direction from Sony’s BMG, one of the largest labels in the world to make it realistic, and not surprisingly would be a PS3 exclusive. You’d even likely be able to install rootkits on your CDs! It sounds fun, but sadly it’s fake. You can’t spell “Harmonix” without “hoax”! → Read More
Flickr’d Rock Band‘s creators say Nintendo goofed by not including a hard drive in the Wii. Without the drive, Harmonix argues, there’s no way it can offer downloadable content, or DLC in the vernacular. DLC for Rock Band usually chimes in at around 30MB per song; the Wii only has 512MB of internal storage. What hath God wrought? Not much, apparetly. → Read More
Attention Wii owners: Rock Band is coming June 22, but you won’t have the Music Store or be able to rock online. In lieu of that you’ll get five bonus songs that are more than likely ones that are downloadable now. That’s craptastic. It will retail for $170. Rock Band Finally Rocking Wii In June [Wired] → Read More
So I’m thinking of suing Activision. I figured that since everyone else is doing it, the company might not notice and just send me a check to avoid the hassle. I’ll just go for something small like $250 and claim that since I played air guitar to Appetite for Destruction back in ’87 — thus simulating a rock concert — I came up with the idea for Guitar Hero. → Read More
[photopress:rock_band_street_date.jpg,full,center] It’s no secret and no surprise that Rock Band is selling quite well. The game is one of the most fun multiplayers around and is on both major gaming platforms and will hit the Wii soon. The talk of the Web today, though, is the $208.7 million payout Viacom has ready for Harmonix, the Rock Band developer. This is a performance-based earnout, as Viacom’s MTV bought Harmonix in 2006, so the money would go to Harmonix shareholders. This is great news for Harmonix as well as Rock Band fans; this means the promised updates are sure to materialize, which is going to be the key moneymaker for this game. Harmonix Earns Possible $208.7 Million Bonus From Viacom [Gamasutra] → Read More
