When it was announced that Harmonix had acquired the rights to work on a music game featuring the Beatles, many a Rock Band fan were hoping that Beatles songs would become available to download for Rock Band.

Reuters is reporting that “while the Beatles will certainly give a boost to MTV’s music games business, none of the Fab Four’s songs will be available for download on the existing “Rock Band” franchise”.

This doesn’t come as a major surprise given that the Beatles music catalog is heavily guarded when it comes to licensing the songs for use. The Beatles are one of the few bands who are not on iTunes.

The songs will also not be able to be loaded onto gaming hard drives in the way that songs from the original Rock Band can. This arrangement also appears to follow in the footsteps of the recent AC/DC Rock Band expansion. AC/DC is another band that guards their music licensing quite heavily.

Source:
Reuters - MTV and Activision Face Off In Battle Of The Brands

Related Stories:
Console Hero - The Beatles Are Coming To Rock Band. (Sort Of).
Console Hero - Rock Band AC/DC Expansion Confirmed

Play.tm had an interview with Rock Band 2’s lead designer, Dan Teasdale of Harmonix, who mentioned that he is working on a new title, and it’s not the recently announced game featuring the Beatles.

“I’m working on another new project that I can’t tell you about yet.” Teasdale told Play.tm

Teasdale also talks about how Harmonix had initially wanted to have a music creation tool in Rock Band 2 and that they hope to have it in their future game saying they are “going to be exploring stuff like that in the future”.

One thing that gamers can get excited about is the hint that unlike the Guitar Hero World Tour music studio, if Harmonix releases one in an upcoming game it may feature the ability to record lyrics.

“The whole thing for us, our reason for making games, is to give people the experience of creating music. I think that expressing… player expressivity is definitely something that we’re going to be focussing on in the future. But we want to do it properly, we don’t want to go out half-assed.

“We want lyrics… we don’t want just another bullet on the back of the box. We want it to add something meaningful, not just to pad the game, but add something to everything people do in the game.”

Activision did not include the ability to record lyrics in Guitar Hero World Tour due to ‘copyright issues’, but music game fans will know that such a response might just be kotowing to the record labels because ‘covers’ of songs are legal.

Even the music game Lips has the ability to load mp3 files into the game to sing along to.

Is this announcement of a music creation tool in an upcoming Harmonix game too late? Has Guitar Hero World Tour cornered the market, or do you think Harmonix can bring it and do it right?

Sources:
Play.tm - Harmonix Working On Additional, Secret Title
Play.tm - Harmonix Consider User Generated Content

Related Links:
Console Hero - The Beatles Are Coming To Rock Band. (Sort Of).
Console Hero - Lips

The songs from The Presidents are;

• “Dune Buggy”
• “Feather Pluckn”
• “Ladybug”

The individual tracks are;

• Hinder - “Use Me”
• Fallout Boy - “I Don’t Care”

The Presidents of the USA track pack is available for $5.49 (or 440 Microsoft points) or the tracks can be downloaded individually for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) each. The tracks from Hinder and Fallout boy however are only $0.99 (80 Microsoft points) each.

These tracks will be available on Tuesday November 4th for the Xbox 360, and on Thursday November 6th for the Playstation 3.

EA has said that Rock Band 2 will be released on November 21 for the Xbox 360 with no announcement being made on the release date for the other gaming platforms.

The November 21 release date will be for the game only with the full bundle being released at an as yet unspecified date.

The software has been priced at 49.99 GBP (69.99 EUR)

Earlier today an exclusive deal with the fab four was announced during a conference call with Harmonix, MTV, and Apple Corps LTD.

This will be a new rhythm game produced by Harmonix, creators of Rock Band, but will not be an official Rock Band expansion.

“This is not just a Rock Band expansion pack, it is much much more than that,” said Harmonix’s Alex Rigopulos.

Indications point to taking advantage of the same instrument set as Rock Band but the exact details have yet to be confirmed.

This is seen as a huge blow to music game rivals Activision, who just released the latest installment of Guitar Hero on Sunday.

This wasn’t much of a surprise however as many in the gaming press received invites to a conference hosted by MTV, Harmonix, and Apple Corps.

While the game will obviously use the Beatles music catalog, a list of songs has not been mentioned.  While an exact date was not mentioned, it was indicated that the Beatles music game will be released during the 2009 holiday season.

Source:
Wall Street Journal - Beatles Tunes Join Rock Band Game

Just when we thought that Wii owners were getting the respect they deserved, the rumor mill is speculating that the bundle edition of Rock Band 2 might not be available for the Wii until January. That’s next year.

Destructoid originally reported this based on an email they were sent from an unnamed GameStop employee. Upon further investigation, Harmonix PR person John Drake initially commented that “We’re working on it”, which was followed by the confirmation that the Wii bundle for Rock Band 2 should ship in late December.

Should.

Mind you this is just a rumor at this point, but we will be keeping an eye on this.

Source:
Destructoid - Rumortoid: Wii version of Rock Band 2 bundle won’t see release until early 2009

The full list of songs available is as follows;

• Blink-182 “Dammit”
• Psychedelic Furs “Pretty in Pink”
• Silversun Pickups “Melatonin”
• Silversun Pickups “Well Thought Out Twinkles”
• Siouxsie & the Banshees “Hong Kong Garden”
• Siouxsie & the Banshees “Kiss Them For Me”
• Siouxsie & the Banshees “The Killing Jar”

Each track will be available for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points), and the Siouxsie & the Banshees three pack can be had for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points).

These songs will be available on Tuesday October 28th for the Xbox 360, and on Thursday October 30 for the PS3.

Read the full press release after the break.

ROCK BAND® ADDS BLINK-182, PSYCHEDELIC FURS, A 3-PACK FROM SIOUXSIE & THE BANSHEES AND MORE TO THE EXTENSIVE DOWNLOADABLE MUSIC STORE CATALOG

Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of seven new tracks to the Rock Band® Music Store catalog of downloadable content. This week’s diverse lineup includes the hit single “Dammit” from punk band Blink-182, which joins “All the Small Things” as their second track in the Rock Band library of downloadable content.

In addition, the following six tracks will be added to the Rock Band music catalog: Psychedelic Furs’ “Pretty in Pink,” Silversun Pickups’ “Melatonin,” and “Well Thought Out Twinkles” and a 3-pack by Siouxsie & the Banshees featuring, “Hong Kong Garden,” “Kiss Them For Me,” and “The Killing Jar.”

Each track will be available starting October 28, 2008, for the Xbox®360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and October 30, 2008, for PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system. Each individual track will be available for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points) or $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for the Siouxsie & the Banshees 3-pack.

Release date:
Tuesday, October 28, 2008 (Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360)
Thursday, October 30, 2008 (PlayStation®Store)

Tracks:
Blink-182 “Dammit”
Psychedelic Furs “Pretty in Pink”
Silversun Pickups “Melatonin”
Silversun Pickups “Well Thought Out Twinkles”
Siouxsie & the Banshees “Hong Kong Garden”
Siouxsie & the Banshees “Kiss Them For Me”
Siouxsie & the Banshees “The Killing Jar”

Price:
$1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) per track $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360) for the Siouxsie & the Banshees 3-pack (All tracks are original master recordings)

Locations:
Xbox LIVE Marketplace for Xbox 360 and PlayStation®Network ** Dates for Rock Band game tracks are tentative and subject to change **

With the addition of these tracks there are now more than 400 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/dlc). Rock Band continues to fly off shelves and satisfy music fans and gamers’ voracious appetite for rock with more than 25 million downloads since its launch on November 20, 2007. The Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks and packs from the vast selection of offerings available to date without ever leaving the game as they build their own custom Rock Band library.

Rock Band and Rock Band 2 allow online play and features that expand the boundaries of music gaming. Rock Band downloadable content is playable and integrated into setlists in all game modes. In order to play downloadable content for head-to-head matches or multiplayer online, all players must own the same downloadable track. Downloadable content for Xbox 360 is available for purchase via Xbox LIVE® Marketplace for Xbox 360 using Microsoft Points and is downloaded directly to the hard drive of Xbox 360. Downloadable content for the PLAYSTATION 3 system’s version of Rock Band is available for purchase on the PlayStation®Store through the free PlayStation®Network and is downloaded directly to PLAYSTATION 3 system’s built in hard drive.

Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360 and PLAYSTATION 3 system is now available nationwide and supports all previously downloaded content. The groundbreaking music platform that forever changed the face of music video games is committed to taking gaming to the next level with the evolution of the franchise. Rock Band 2 will be available for additional platforms later this year. Rock Band and Rock Band 2 are rated “T” for Teen (lyrics, suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

Unlike the first game, Rock Band 2 for the Wii will allow users to download additional content and songs, either on to the Wii’s built in flash memory or onto an SD card that can be connected to the Wii.

Unless the content is free, the additional DLC would be purchased using Wii points. One downside is that Wii points can not be purchased in Rock Band 2, so you would have to buy the Wii points first, and then start up Rock Band 2.

For online play, Rock Band 2 will utilize the Wii’s friend codes to find your friends and other gamers online. While not as user friendly as the 360 or PS3 to find gamers, at least the functionality for online play is available.

More info about Rock Band 2 for the Wii functionality will be revealed as it becomes available.

It was kind of expected that the additional 20 songs would be similar to the bonus songs that Harmonix has released with the last version of Rock Band, as well as with earlier Guitar Hero’s, when they would include songs from some less well known bands.

Those songs have been announced with a November 4th release date and they are;

• The 88 - “Sons and Daughters”
• Authority Zero - “No Regrets”
• Between the Buried and Me - “Prequel To The Sequel”
• The Cab - “Bounce”
• The Chevelles - “Get It On”
• The Cocktail Slippers - “Give It To Me”
• Dealership - “Database Corrupted”
• Endeverafter - “I Wanna Be Your Man”
• The Ghost Hounds - “Ashes To Fire”
• Hollywood Undead - “Young”
• Kutless - “The Feeling”
• The Len Price 3 - “If I Ain’t Got You (Please Drink Responsibly)”
• Lesley Roy - “I’m Gone, I’m Going”
• Opiate For The Masses - “Burn You Down”
• Semi-Precious Weapons - “Magnetic Baby”
• Shaimus - “Like A Fool”
• Thenewno2 - “Crazy Tuesday”
• Tickle Me Pink - “The Time Is Wrong”
• Undearoath - “Desperate Times, Desperate Measures”
• X Japan -”I.V.”

Source:
Console Hero - Rock Band 2’s 20 Songs Announced

The survey also mentions that Rock Band 2 will feature “120 of the biggest rock anthems from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s”.

The survey also mentioned other details, including improvements in “instruments, character creation, and online play”.  The survey said that the drums would also be improved but it did not specify the areas of improvement.

Much like Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band 2 will also allow the player to “develop and personalize artwork and apparel in the game, which you can then order as actual merchandise to be mailed to you.”

How cool would it be to personalize your own skins and buy them.

Source: Kotaku - Rock Band 2 To Get A Jolt of ACDC, Survey Says