It’s the return of THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND! Wow, it has been five months since my last TWIRB update.  Gee, I have slacked since Simon started doing the weekly Rock Band DLC updates, plus our friend Tommy at RockBandAide has been kicking ass and taking names on all things Rock Band.  Though, I do miss the TWIRB pieces that I used to write, plus there is so much Rock Band news within the past week. So, here goes THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND!

Rock Band 3 Announced

Let’s start this off with a giant BANG!  Just today, news started flying across the Twitterverse from @deliciousbees at Harmonix, that EA will continue to work with MTV/Viacom to publish Rock Band 3. Sure, that’s great news for the business people, but the big news from @johntdrake is that Rock Band 3 is expected “holiday 2010″.

Here’s the quote:

Harmonix is developing Rock Band 3 for worldwide release this holiday season! The game, which will be published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts, will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again, just as Harmonix did with the original Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and The Beatles: Rock Band. Stay tuned for more details!

So, we get no songs or features, or nuthin’.  But, we get something unofficially official, and that’s exciting.

Rock Band Network Store Opens, 116 Songs Available

On March 4, rumblings started in the wee hours from a Billboard.biz web posting about RBN store going live.  As the day progressed, Xbox users noticed a title update to Rock Band 2.  Then a couple hours later, Rock Band Network appeared as a new in-game music store.  Just like that, more than 100 songs were available for purchase. The official announcement came same day.  In less than a week, more than 115 songs have been made available for purchase, from 99 cents to 3 dollars, all in Microsoft funny money of course.  It seems that a few more songs appear available every day.  So, take a look and download the free demos of songs. Many will be unknown, but you may find something new you love.  There are some mid-range names starting to pop up in RBN too; Steve Vai, Flight of the Conchords, Jonathan Coulton, to name a few.  PlasticAxe did a great job building a list of all the RBN songs.

Lady Gaga and Eric Cartman DLC Announced for Next Week

We are going to get some Band Hero equivalent songs for next week.  The bizarre (yet beloved) Lady Gaga will make a 4 song appearance on Rock Band, plus a spoof by South Park’s Eric Cartman.

“Lady Gaga Pack 01” will include “Bad Romance,” “Just Dance,” “Monster” and “Poker Face”

All platforms will get the pack (individual for Wii)
Announcement here.

DLC Week of 3/9 – White Stripes, Shaimus, Neil Pert and more!

This weeks DLC, out today, is a great mix covering a few genre’s. You”l be able to pick these up on all consoles this week.

The Futureheads – “Decent Days & Nights” +
The Futureheads – “Hounds of Love” +
The James Gang – “Walk Away” +
Neil Peart – “The Hockey Theme” + *
Shaimus – “All of This” + *
Shaimus – “Tie You Down” + *
The White Stripes – “Fell in Love with a Girl” +
The White Stripes – “Seven Nation Army”
The White Stripes – “You Don’t Know What Love Is (You Just Do As You’re Told)” +

With that, what’s NWIRB?  NEXT WEEK IN ROCK BAND!

• Closer to PAX East. More details about Rock Band at the big show.
• Looking for more Green Day: Rock Band details.

Last week, we updated our Slacker Radio Rock Band radio station with the recent DLC plus upcoming DLC.  We even started moving into the realm of Rock Band Network (RBN).  Today, we have taken it a bit further.  Realize that many RBN artists are unsigned, and not well known on the internet radio world, but surprisingly,I am able to find quite a few RBN tracks.

I have only sifted through the announced list of RBN tracks from last Wednesday, and only up to the letter “J” “T”.    The good news, 16 31 songs so far from RBN are available on Slacker…and I have added them to the station for your listening pleasure.  The updated RBN list is at the bottom.

Remember, Slacker can be enjoyed from your favorite web browser, as long as you have Flash installed (and I’m 101% sure you do).  Plus, Slacker for iPhone, BlackBerry, Palm WebOS, and Android all exist.  If you haven’t tried Slacker on your phone, just go to www.slacker.com to download the free app.

Direct link to Rock Band Station on Slacker.com

Rock Band Network, now on Slacker:
3 Inches of Blood – Battles and Brotherhood
Bif Naked – Sick
Color Theory – If Not Now When
Dear and the Headlights – Talk About
Despised Icon – Day of Mourning
Fake Shark-Real Zombie! – Angel Lust
Fake Shark-Real Zombie! – Horses in Heaven
Fake Shark-Real Zombie! – Running for the Razors
Fake Shark-Real Zombie! – Sestri Levante
Five Finger Death Punch – Burn it Down
Flogging Molly – Drunken Lullabies (Live)
Flogging Molly – Requiem for a Dying Song
In This Moment – Mechanical Love
Jonathan Coulton – Creepy Doll
Jonathan Coulton – Ikea
Jonathan Coulton – The Future Soon

UPDATE: Just added a bunch more.

KMFDM – A Drug Against War
KMFDM – Juke Joint Jezebel
Lacuna Coil – Survive
Longwave – No Direction
Marillion – Whatever Is Wrong With You
of Montreal – Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Senses Fail – Lady in a Blue Dress
Skeletonwitch – Crushed Beyond Dust
Skindred – Stand for Something
Steve Vai – For the Love of God
Steve Vai – Get the Hell Out of Here
Steve Vai – The Attitude Song
Stroke 9 – Kick Some Ass
Stroke 9 – Little Black Backpack
Suicide Silence – Disengage

Our Slacker Radio Rock Band radio station has been updated with this weeks installment of Rock Band DLC. This week you get 21 new tracks including packs from White Stripes, Mother Hips, HIM, and Disturbed. I now working to locate the additional 116 Rock Band Network songs released withing the past 48 hours.  Yes, 116 RBN songs released in less than 48 hours.  Those will be coming to the channel soon.
UPDATED: Just added a few RBN songs to the station.

3 Inches of Blood – Battles and Brotherhood
Bif Naked – Sick
Color Theory – If Not Now When

Direct link to Rock Band Station on Slacker.com

Our Slacker Radio Rock Band radio station has been updated with this weeks installment of Rock Band DLC. This week you get Megadeth’s classic album Rust In Peace, in its entirety; plus 5 tracks from King of Soul, Otis Redding; plus 4 singles to make a very eclectic mix. (see Simon’s post for the details…whenever he gets to writing it).

Direct link to Rock Band Station on Slacker.com

Welcome to a new section on My Gadget Game & Gizmo Obsession, known as Help Desk Corner. The idea just popped in my head this morning (which means I likely saw it somewhere else and have inadvertently stolen it.) This new section will contain helpful quick tips that you’d typically get from a support call to a help desk.

Today, we will kick things off with bringing speed and performance back to your Windows PC.  If you had your PC (Windows ME, XP, Vista, etc) for a few years, chances are that it doesn’t run as fast as it did when you first got it. I’m going to show a few quick steps (with a reboot) that may help get a little spring back in your PC’s step. There’s nothing incredibly invasive with these steps, though I’ll throw out a disclaimer here. THIS TIP COMES WITH NO WARRANTY AND NO OBLIGATION FROM WWW.MYGGGO.COM. FOLLOW THIS TIP AT YOUR OWN RISK.

With that disclaimer, I have done this step on several of my computers, and have either seen some improvement, great improvement, or just about the same as before.  I have not seen any adverse affects.

To do this you should have administrator rights to your computer.  If you are using your PC at home, or in a small office environment, you likely are already running with admin rights.  If you are in a large network, your system administrator (or help desk) may have to grant you admin rights.  Try the steps below, and if they don’t work…you don’t have the necessary rights.

1. Using MSCONFIG to remove unneeded startup applications. This may speed up your PC’s start up time.
   1. Click the Start button (on the lower-left of your Windows Taskbar).
   2. Choose “Run”. This will bring up the Run dialog box.
   3. In the Run dialog box, type msconfig and click OK. This will bring up System Configuration Utility with 7 tabs.
   4. Click the Startup tab. The Startup tab contains checkboxes to all the applications that automatically start when you turn your computer on.  Many everyday apps like iTunes, Adobe Reader, Skype, and Google automatically add themselves to Startup when you install them. They are started automatically, so when you want to run them, they open quickly.
   5. Scroll through the checked items in the Startup tab.
   6. Uncheck any application that you recognize and do not need running when your computer starts. Some suggested applications are listed below:
      1. QTTASK – QuickTime
      2. AdobeARM – Adobe
      3. Reader_sl – Adobe Reader
      4. RIMAutoUpdate – BlackBerry Desktop Auto Update Application
      5. iTunesHelper – iTunes quick launch application
      6. RoxWatchTray9 – Roxio CD/DVD burning quick launcher
      7. Skype – Skype quick launcher
      8. GoogleToolbarNotifier – Google browser, desktop, or other app quick launcher
      9. hqtray – VMWare quick launcher
   7. Click Apply to save your changes.

1. Using MSCONFIG to remove unneeded services. This may speed up your PC, in general.
   1. In System Configuration Utility, click the Services tab.
   2. First, check the box at the bottom that says “Hide All Microsoft Services”. This will ensure you do not disable any critical services.
   3. Scroll through the remaining checked items in the Services tab.
   4. Uncheck any service that you recognize and do not need running. Some suggested applications are listed below:
      TIP: If you see a service that you do not recognize and question what it is, search Google for the name to determine what it is and what it is used for.
      1. Google Update Service
      2. Google Software Updater
      3. iPod Service
      4. Roxio UPnP Renderer 9
      5. Roxio Upnp Server 9
      6. RoxMediaDB9
      7. Roxio Hard Drive Watcher 9
   5. Click Apply to save your changes.
2. After you have completed removing Startup applications and Services from System Configuration Utility, click Close to close the dialog box. This will prompt a a Restart.
3. Click Restart. Your PC will shutdown and reboot. After the system restarts and you log in, you will be prompted with a dialog box informing you about the changes you made in MSCONFIG.
4. Check the only checkbox in the dialog box, otherwise it will bring up the message everytime you reboot until you do check the box.

That is it.  Hopefully, you have seen some improvement in your PC’s startup time.  Also, hopefully you will notice some overall performance improvements in your system.  The above steps most benefit older computers that have limited memory (RAM and disk space).

If this helped, didn’t help, or you have other suggestions for future Help Desk Corners let us know in comments.

Let’s start February off on the left foot, with a Slacker Radio Rock Band radio station update.  This week you get more live Tom Petty, the rest of the Metal Track Pack (minus Bulls On Parade…sorry it’s not on Slacker), the rest of the Country Track Pack, plus a couple from Blue Öyster Cult. (see Simon’s post for the details).

Direct link to Rock Band Station on Slacker.com

Some heavy hitters in the current music scene quickly joined up with www.MusicForRelief.org to help raise money for the victims of the Haiti earthquake. They organized an album of previously unreleased songs and are giving it away. They are requesting you donate whatever you can to the cause. It’s simple, you provide youe email address, and a link is sent to you with the album to download. Then you have to go back to the site to donate. Donations are completely optional, but might help the cause.

Linkin Park, Dave Matthews Band, Peter Gabriel, Alanis Morissette, Slash, The All-American Rejects, Hoobastank, Kenna, Enrique Iglesias and Lupe Fiasco team up with Music For Relief to aid earthquake victims.

Our Slacker Radio Rock Band radio station has been updated with this weeks installment of Rock Band DLC. This week you get 5 tracks from Alice In Chains (see Simon’s post for the details).

Direct link to Rock Band Station on Slacker.com

Wow, we are already a week into 2010 and I have yet to post My Top Obsessions of 2009. Shame on me, and sorry for the delay. You may remember what my top 7 obsessions from 2008 were.

As we wind up 2010, let me recap on the obsessions that have kept me coming back to the blog. In looking over the past 12 months, I’ll highlight the top ten obsessions that have swallowed up all my free time this past year. I’ll also take a look at what obsessions might be cropping up for 2010.

Here are the obsessions in order of importance to me.

Picture the ball dropping, and countdown on…
10. Rock Band Network.
You may be wondering, why is this at #10 and not higher on the list.  For me, I looked at RBN as a way to get my old bands music (and possible new bands music) into Rock Band. It’s kind of a dream of mine. Then when I got into the RBN beta, I realized (1) I don’t have the free time to do this, (2) I don’t want to free up time to do this. So, RBN, as exciting as it seems to me…has been a pipe dream to me, and my exploration of the tools has been short lived. In 2010, I do expect to take advantage of the grabbing songs from the RBN store, and possibly getting back in the development ring…but, neither is happening yet.

9. New Site Name.
This isn’t exactly a highlight, but it is something that took up part of early 2009.I moved my web site to a new host, and changed the URL. It once was at http://blog.javadevelop.com, which was just a spinoff blog of another site. As this site was growing in popularity, I decided to rename it to http://www.MyGGGo.com, short for My Gadget, Game & Gizmo Obsession. It looks to have been a poor decision, since the site statistics showed my daily visitors went form about 300 to about 30. Ouch, that hurt!  Well, you live and you learn.  I’ve decided to stick with the new name and rebuild. Some of you have stuck around, and I greatly appreciate it. I hope to get the site (now going on its 4th year) back up in readership and commenters throughout 2010.

8. BlackBerry Bold.
It’s funny to see that last year, the BlackBerry Storm made it to my #3 spot, and truly should continue into 2009. Though, in the wee months of 2009 (Fabruary to be exact) the Storm was replaced by the BlackBerry Bold 9000. It wasn’t replaced because I didn’t like it. It was due to the fact that my company was willing to supply me with a BlackBerry and the Storm wasn’t on the “accepted devices” list. With that, I jumped from the Verizon ship onto AT&T and picked up the Bold. It’s really a great phone, though I wish it had a larger touchscreen. It’s got high-resolution, good call quality, and decent email (funny that BlackBerry does not have the best email client of all). It’s even a good media device, which has allowed me to continue my life of mobile convergence (cell phone, calendar, email, music player, GPS, and web all-in-one). The Bold remains my current device, and I am eyeing an upgrade to the Bold 9700 in the coming months. Although, this blog was founded on gadget obsessions,  formerly known as “My Treo Obsession”, I didn’t spend as much time on BlackBerry posts throughout the year.  An interesting statistic, my readership has suffered for that too.  Looks like I need to get back to my gadget roots here.

7. New Music Games
Why do I keep this so general? Well, there were a few music games I picked up this year, and each had something I loved. First, I have to say, I’m disappointed that no Rock Band 3 came out in 2009, but I’m sure it will be stellar when it does. Guitar Hero 5: This is possibly the best party music game of the year. With drop in/drop out play, it’s great for parties. Also, the ability to have 4 players on any instrument is great. Especially at my house right now, where if one person sings, everyone wants to sing; or if one person plays guitar, everyone wants to play guitar. Though the soundtrack didn’t grab me, and all my DLC is on Rock Band, so the game didn’t get much rotation. The Beatles Rock Band: This showed us what Rock Band 3 might be like, with 3 part harmonies. This game is beautiful, we all know enough about it. Guitar Hero Van Halen: This is my favorite music game to play this year. You say. “WHAT?!?!” I love classic Van Halen. Activision, screwed the pooch in it’s implementation of the story and the band, but the songs and charting are fantastic. What’s missing? The same thing as all GH games, DLC. Finally, Lego Rock Band: It’s so much fun to watch the cut scenes, and play Super Easy mode with the little kids. Plus, the import/export of your existing Rock Band library makes this a fun game.  Though, I would have rather seen Rock Band 3 over all of these, it was a decent year of flooded music games.

6. Slacker Radio.
The streaming music service available via web browser, stand alone desktop client, iPhone, BlackBerry, and some select Sony TV’s, has been a staple of mine since I learned of the service in late 2007. With the Slacker Radio application for BlackBerry release on February 2009, it truly became my de facto music source for the entire year.  I use it via my web browser at work. I use it in the car via my BlackBerry plugged into my stereo AUX jack, I use it at home via Berry or computer, and when I travel. I’ve made several custom stations including a Rock Band station that I update regularly with all the songs available for the game. 2010 definitely looks to be a year where Slacker continues to be part of my daily obsessions.

5. Rock Band DLC.
Rock Band 2 came in at #2 on my 2008 list, and I had anticipated that Rock Band 3 would have come out in 2009.  Well it didn’t but guess what did? Over 370 songs available for download into Rock Band. I didn’t play as much as I would have wanted (due to moving and life), but the abundance of weekly DLC from Harmonix has kept this game (Rock Band 2), although now getting a little long in the tooth, from passing away.

4. Drumming Stuff.
This is a continuation from 2008, where drumming made my top list.  This year I successfully built (though not yet completed) a custom electronic drum kit. It’s custom because, I purchased it piece mail via auctions on eBay. A stand here, a pad there, etc. I’ve also used an old “brain” or module (the Yamaha TMX) to connect the kit via MIDI to the Guitar Hero World Tour drum kit.  Now, all my video game drumming takes place on a professional electronic drum kit, instead of the cheap’ish plastic kits that are available for the game.  Due to moving for much of the year, I haven’t used the kit since May, but am in the processes of setting it back up in the new place.  In 2010, I plan to buy some more components to round out the complete pro kit, and write some posts (with photos) on how to build the DIY pro kit.

3. New Music.
Last year, GNR with the release of Chinese Democracy made my top list.  This year, I could put in a single album in the list, though I will span this to cover the few albums that got me a bit obsessed this year. At the top, is Green Day’s 21st Century Breakdown. Sure, it got trashed by the GD purists, but I love it. It’s a great listen, easily digestible, well told story, and similar to their American Idiot album. Next is Dream Theater’s Black Clouds & Silver Linings album. I was hooked pre-release due to my resurgence of interest in the band, thanks to Panic Attack and Constant Motion in Rock Band. The new album is 6 songs, but more than 70 minutes. The songs are extremely long, you do the math.  I mostly appreciate the fact that the album was released with a 3-disc set, containing instrumentals and a bonus disc of covers. We also got 311’s Uplifter this year. It was more of a downer than an uplifting experience, as it was just bland.  But, I did obsess over it, so it makes the list.  Finally, Dave Matthews Band release of The GrooGrux King.  Good old DMB. Nothing exciting, just a good listen. The album came out shortly after the death of saxophonist LeRoi Moore.

2. Prototype.
This game (for PS3 and Xbox 360) got trashed by just about everyone. Worse, it’s near clone, inFamous (for PS3) made it into many pro game journalists top 10 of the year. For me, Prototype was the most played game (excluding rhythm games) for me in 2009. I bought it in July when Amazon had a one-day sale, for $40. It was during a time where I was “without home” and no place to setup my Rock Band lair, so needed something else to pass the gaming time. This game is a sandbox (New York City), much like GTA IV, where you are basically evil and trash anything and everything in your way.  There’s a ridiculous amount of multi button combos, which does take some getting used to. But for me, this 3rd person game has taken more than 40 hours of my year, and I still haven’t finished it or reached 50% of the achievements. It’s not without its issues. (1) There is no Xbox Live component. Which is ok for me, but now that I have played much of the story and some of my friends have picked up the game, we’d really like to play online together. (2) You can’t leave NYC. If you try to cross a bridge or swim away from the island, God sends in an immediate missile strike and you are killed. Towards the end of the game, there is a hint that you get get to a ship, but I haven’t made it yet. (2) There is no DLC. This is a real drag, since the game could really leverage a new downloadable map, possibly some new combos, or something. I would likely pick up DLC if it were ever released. I stand by my words that this is a fun game to play. Find it in the bargain bins and enjoy.

1. You, the readers, and authors.
Thanks for those readers who have stuck around during some transitions of 2009.  Thanks to some of my part-time (and near full-time) authors that write posts.  It’s been another fun year of obsessions, and more to come in 2010. I hope to grow the site in different ways this year. Not yet sure how, since It’s a kinda “fly by the seat of my pants” blog.  I’m happy to see some people taking advantage of the Store offerings we add to various posts (sponsored by Amazon and Google), and just glad to see that people enjoy reading and discussing the same things that I obsess about. Thank you!

With that, we’ve come to the end…

Happy New Year!

Please share your top obsessions in comments below.

We haven’t put up a post on Rock Band DLC in a week or two. Hey, it’s the holidays…cut us some slack.

So, as a roll up and a special bonus to you, I’ve updated our Slacker Rock Band radio station, with every itsy bitsy morsel of DLC goodness, including next weeks songs (even included the 1 confirmed song for Green Day Rock Band…American Idiot).

In this update you will get all from the December 8 DLC release, of Slipknot and Simon & Garfunkel. The Lights Resolve track isn’t yet in Slacker, but I have “hearted” the band, so hopefully it will make an appearance.

You’ll also get to treat your ears to the December 15 DLC, including more Green Day, 30 Seconds To Mars, and AAR. Oh, and that small Beatles album DLC of Rubber Soul too.

Plus everything else through next week, including: more Paul McCartney, Blink, Psychedelic Furs, and Ramones.