It’s the re-return of THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND! Life has been busy, the blog has been suffering. Thanks to Simon for keeping up with some posts. Due to too much Rock Band news right now, I need to do a TWIRB. Green Day demo is live, Lost fans get some Drive Shaft, Pantera will ruin us all. So, here goes THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND!

Green Day: Rock Band Demo on Xbox Live

While checking my Twitter updates this morning I stumbled on the Xbox Live Marketplace account which mentioned, Green Day: Rock Band Demo.  So, I dug into it to find as of today the is a two song demo of the game available right now to Xbox Live Gold members.  It’s about 300MB, so it’s relatively small.

I have queued up the download and will be checking it out whenever I get out of work tonight.

If you have an Xbox Live Gold account, you can queue up the demo here.

If you haven’t pre-ordered the game, Amazon is now (finally) offering release day shipping, plus $20 off your next game and $5 of Amazon MP3s.  Pretty sweet deal! It’s the best deal there is. Pre-order Green Day: Rock Band for Xbox 360, PS3, or Wii here.

Pantera is now on Rock Band

Read Simon’s post from last week about the Pantera announcement, for all the details.  From my point of view, Pantera was one of the most influential bands of my teens and twenties. I was a drummer and singer in various bands, and most all would at some point use a Pantera song to warm up during practices. I had seen the band live many times, and shed a tear the morning after Dimebag Daryl was killed.

As of today, Pantera’s final great album (IMO) is available for Rock Band. I could only be happier, if Harmonix and Pantera would release their three preceding albums too. So, if you are like me, get this album now, and I will see you on Xbox Live tonight to sweat and scream the intensity of The Great Southern Trendkill.

It’s Dharma Time

Lost fans, stop crying and get ready to rock! Charlie Pace’s band Drive Shaft showed up in the Rock Band Network yesterday with their fictional hit, You All Everybody. Yes, I picked it up last night for a measly 80 MS Points ($1).  Yes, I played as Charlie on expert bass. Yes, I took heroine. Yes, I was a real rock star for a few minutes (in my living room by myself). Yes, it was well worth it.

If you are craving some more Lost in your life, or just want to add another cheap song to your Rock Band library, here’s the link to queue up You All Everybody.

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

• More Green Day: Rock Band announcements as we lead up to June 8.
• We wait in anticipation of the June 15 announcement of Rock Band 3 at E3.

Here’s another video from the Harmonix Lounge at PAX East.  So, what’s different about this one?  First, I did not record it.  Second, it features the first RBN track in Spanish (Arigato by Gandhi).  Third, I’m on the drums.

Yep, Just a few minutes after arriving in the Harmonix Lounge on day 1 of PAX East, I hopped in line to play a song.  I met up with a few folks that I’ve chatted online with, and other cool cats in the lounge.  We got up to the stage to play, and then Eric Pope changed the freeplay up and featured only RBN songs for a while.  So, the video here is the first time I’ve heard this song in its entirety, and the first time playing it.
(source: Samanthics on YouTube)

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.

We have the official current list of songs available on Rock Band Network (which just opened this afternoon).  This is defintely the biggest week for Rock Band downloadable content since the release of Rock Band 1 in 2007.  Check out the current band/song list below.  Then, turn on your Xbox 360 and start spending those MS Points. SOURCE

3 Inches of Blood – Battles and Brotherhood
Alias Unknown – Top Back
Amberian Dawn – He Sleeps in a Grove
Amberian Dawn – River of Tuoni
Andrew Buch – Trippolette
Audio Fiction – Race The Hourglass
Bif Naked – Sick
Blackmarket – Tongue Twister Typo
Bojibian – Still There
C&O – We Are the Best
Chaunce DeLeon and The Fountain of Choof – Tadpole Search and Rescue
Children of Nova – The Complexity of Light
Color Theory – If Not Now When
Dear and the Headlights – Talk About
Despised Icon – Day of Mourning
DnA’s Evolution – The Heist
Error 404 feat. CJ Watson – If Trucks Drank Beer
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
Foreword – Watch It All Go Down
Free Spirit – Far Away from Heaven
Full-Source – End Quote
Full-Source – It’s Not You, It’s Everyone
Full-Source – Red Sky At Morn
Furly – Icarus’ Song
Gandhi – Arigato
Giant Target – In Memories
Giant Target – Signs
Glass Hammer – Hyperbole
Glass Hammer – Sleep On
Heaven Ablaze – Parhelia
In This Moment – Mechanical Love
James William Roy – Paper Valentines
Jonathan Coulton – Creepy Doll
Jonathan Coulton – Ikea
Jonathan Coulton – The Future Soon
KMFDM – A Drug Against War
KMFDM – Juke Joint Jezebel
Kristin Hersh – Fortune
Kristin Hersh – Mississippi Kite
Lacuna Coil – Survive
Lead the Dead – Rip’er
Longwave – No Direction
Marillion – Whatever Is Wrong With You
Matter in the Medium – Persistence of Vision
MC Frontalot – Goth Girls
Nick Gallant – Inside Out
Nick Gallant – Turn Yourself Around
Of Last Resort – Fade Away
of Montreal – Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse
Pink Flag – Nancy Drew
Ron Wasserman – Fight Back
Rose of Jericho – Buried Cold
Scratching The Itch – Lemon Juice
Scratching The Itch – The Buddy Disease
Scratching The Itch – You’re My Everything
Senses Fail – Lady in a Blue Dress
Skeletonwitch – Crushed Beyond Dust
Skindred – Stand for Something
Speck – Grumpytown
Speck – VP of Booty Reports
Stars of Boulevard – Limousine
Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess – Can I Stay
Steve and Lindley Band – Backyard Buildyard
Steve Vai – For the Love of God (Live)
Steve Vai – Get the Hell Out of Here
Steve Vai – The Attitude Song
Stroke 9 – Kick Some Ass ’09
Stroke 9 – Little Black Backpack ’09
Suicide Silence – Disengage
Surprise Me Mr. Davis – Sissyfuss
The Cold Goodnight – Give
The Dirty Love Band – Moonboy
The Everybody – You Got That
The Fisticuffs – Liverpool Judies
The Hold Steady – Sequestered in Memphis
The Humans – It’s Good
The Kimberly Trip – California
The Main Drag – Cease and Desist
The Main Drag – Don’t Let Me Down (Slowly)
The Main Drag – Dove Nets
The Main Drag – Homosuperior
The Main Drag – How We’d Look On Paper
The Main Drag – Love During Wartime
The Main Drag – Megatron
The Main Drag – Talk Them Down
The Main Drag – Teeth, Face, Outerspace
The Main Drag – Tricky Girl
The Main Drag – What’s Your Favorite Dinosaur?
The Shins – Australia
The Slip – Children of December
The Slip – Even Rats
Ultra Saturday – Not My Fault
Ultra Saturday – Superhero!
WaveGroup Feat. Becca Neun – Liquid Smog (StompBox Remix)
Wounded Soul – Rx
You Shriek – Lilith in Libra
You Shriek – No Heroes
Zack Wilson – Another California Song
Zack Wilson – Ox

My daily Google search for all things Rock Band returned a result from Billboard.biz. Is that a real Billboard web site?

Anyway, according to the article, Harmonix’ long developed Rock Band Network is opening today for business. If true, you, me, and all our friends on Xbox Live (sorry PSNers and Wiizers) will have a slew of lesser known, cheaper to buy, and community created tracks to play in Rock Band 2.

Nothing in the Billboard article states any official announcement of the RBN opening, other than old info that we already know.  So, this remains on the rumor category until someone can confirm that “yes, the RBN store is now available on Xbox Live.”

UPDATE: The RockBand forums are lighting up now. People are buzzing. So far, Xbox Live users have seen a title update for Rock Band 2, but after searching around the menus, there’s no new content. Stay tuned…

Additional updates come from our friend at RockBandAide:

UPDATE 2: Rumors are swirling that the “star ratings issue” has been fixed with the patch, although people are not seeing an RBN store details… yet.

UPDATE 3: Rock Band superstar @BillTVShow let me know that this thread over at the official RockBand.com forums has people also commenting on what they’re seeing.

UPDATE 4: IT’S OPEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It’s available under the “Music Store” menu! GO, GO, GO!!!!  (You may need to restart, but all signs are saying the RBN is now officially a-go!)

UPDATE 5: Also from @BillTVShow, the RBN is its own “location” in the sortable menu, so you can sort by RBN tracks.  He noticed too that if you press SELECT, you can rate a song!

UPDATE 6: The RBN is currently only available in the US and Canada (and I’ve heard Canadians are having some trouble getting it to work).  EU and other territories will be receiving it hopefully in a few weeks.

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.

Many of you are aware of the upcoming release of Rock Band Network, a new way for bands to get their music into Rock Band without having to go directly  through the game developer, Harmonix.  Some of you are aware the us at MyGGGo have started to dip our hands into working on songs for Rock Band Network (RBN).  So, with that, how’s about we give a status update of where we stand on RBN.

BANDS

I will start out by saying, we are not very far at all. On the positive side, we have already built relationships with several bands who want us to get their music into RBN.  That has been extremely exciting and positive.  We’ve started working with bands from all over the world.  Go here to see the list of a few artists that we are able to announce. We have a few other bands waiting in the wings, which have a mutual interest.

GETTING WORK DONE

I quickly learned that doing work for RBN projects requires dedication, skill, and time.  My toughest part of the three requirements is #3, time (which I guess transcends to #1 also). I took RBN projects on as a hobby with several friends.  The problem for me and my friends, we are all gainfully employed.  Most with full time careers in some form of software development/implementation, and a side job (or band) to boot. Some of us are married and with kids.  My team of four engineers to do RBN work, quickly went to one…as the other three are more interested in just writing/recording new music.

As a single author/producer for RBN projects, I haven’t been able to get very far.  I have received some of the needed files to properly build songs for RBN: MIDI files, WAV files, written lyrics, and various MP3 mixes of songs. I’ll use the digital music of Innerfuze (@innerfuze) as an example. I’ve taken the MIDI and WAV files for Innerfuze’s sleipovr, and imported them into Reaper (a digital audio workstation, recommended by Harmonix).  I’ve been able to assign the instruments to the song and start charting the tiers. The skill is there, the time & dedication has kept me from getting much further.

Oh, and a big limiter…I have been in transition (aka moving & moving again) since June.  I’m just getting re-settled and hoping to start to get more immersed.

RECRUITING AUTHORS

With our Twitter accounts @MyGGGo and @MyRBN (not affiliated with, or endorsed by, Harmonix Music Systems Inc., MTV Networks or their affiliates), we have put out calls for authors, or n00b’s who might want to try their hand at authoring.  What it has returned is more bands looking to get their music in.

So, here is another public call for people interested in getting their hands dirty and building their resume with “Authored songs for Rock Band Network”. I have the tools to supply.  I can train the basic skill set to get started.  You need to supply the dedication and time, and a Windows PC.

SORT OF CEASE & DESIST

Here’s a bit of gossip, for those of you still reading.  I received an email just yesterday from folks at Harmonix and MTV, asking me to change the name of our RBN web page.  The name is was MyRBN, and includes the picture of Rock Bands Fender logo.  Looks like I crossed a line, and our buddy Matthew at Harmonix asked me to change the name and logo. You’ll now see that MyRBN is no longer, and is now replacing with a more generic MyGGGo Authoring. The logo got a quick and dirty update also. Now, I need to scour the content to see what else might need some changing.

If you have any feedback, please post in comments below.

THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND! As can be expected, there’s a redonculous amount of news surrounding the rhythm game genre this week, and in particular, our favorite franchise…Rock Band.  Let’s talk about some epic DLC over the next couple weeks, a new iPhone game, the inaugural podcast, and more. It’s time for THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND!

More Beatles Rock Band News

• Abbey Road DLC coming October 20

In less than a week, we will get all the remaining tracks from the album Abbey Road. Along with that, a new Challenge will be added to the game, allowing play of the album from beginning to end without stop. This new DLC is promised to bring new dreamscapes to the game.  So, it’s great to see some DLC for TB:RB, but to add additional visualizations is going to be a treat to this already beautiful game.

What’s next for Beatles DLC?  Two other albums are already in the works, but past that…it all depends on how stuff sells, according to Harmonix.  So, if you want more Beatles for your game, buy what they offer now.  Don’t hold out for your favorite album (like I might do for The White Album).

As far as fun to play, I have personally seen parents and grandparents interested in, at least, watching the game in action.  I still haven’t seen the 50+ crowd interested in playing the game, but they sure love watching the game and listening the great sounds of The Beatles.

Lego Rock Band Update

• Entire track list revealed (biased opinion, it’s a great list too)

All American Rejects, “Swing, Swing”
The Automatic, “Monster”
Blink-182, “Aliens Exist”
Blur, “Song 2”
Bon Jovi, “You Give Love a Bad Name”
Boys like Girls, “Thunder”
Bryan Adams, “Summer of 69”
Carl Douglas, “Kung Fu Fighting”
The Coral – “Dreaming of You”
Counting Crows, “Accidentally in Love”
David Bowie, “Let’s Dance”
Elton John, “Crocodile Rock”
Europe, “The Final Countdown”
Everlife, “Real Wild Child”
Foo Fighters, “Breakout”
Good Charlotte, “Girls & Boys”
The Hives, “Tick Tick Boom!”
Iggy Pop, “The Passenger”
Incubus, “Dig”
Jackson 5, “I Want You Back”
Jimi Hendrix, “Fire”
Kaiser Chiefs, “Ruby”
Katrina & The Waves, “Walking on Sunshine”
The Kooks, “Naïve”
KoRn, “Word Up!”
KT Tunstall, “Suddenly I See”
Lostprophets, “Rooftops”
P!NK, “So What”
The Police, “Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic”
The Primitives, “Crash”
Queen, “We Are The Champions”
Queen, “We Will Rock You”
Rascal Flatts, “Life is a Highway”
Ray Parker Jr., “Ghostbusters”
Razorlight, “Stumble and Fall”
Spin Doctors, “Two Princes”
Spinal Tap, “Short & Sweet”
Steve Harly, “Make Me Smile”
Sum 41, “In Too Deep”
Supergrass, “Grace”
Tom Petty, “Free Fallin”
T-Rex, “Ride a White Swan”
Vampire Weekend, “A-Punk”
We the Kings, “Check Yes Juliet”
The Zutons, “Valerie”

• 45 tracks for $50 = 90¢ per song (a bargain)
• 100% tracks exportable to RB2

The game appears to be a bargain, at $50 (that’s $10 off the typical game right now).  You get 45 songs, working out to 90¢ per song.  That’s 10¢ less than the cheapest DLC in the Music Store.  Plus, you get a new game with new types of game play.  Though, it’s not really a deal if you plan to do the import/export thing.  It’s $10 to export the Lego songs to RB2, and you actually get the entire set list exported.  What’s really cool about this feature, is any “kid friendly” song from your current and future DLC songs, will immediately be importable into Lego Rock Band.  You can give the kids the Lego disc and have no fear they are playing Aqualung when you are away, but you can gank all their Lego songs for your RB2 playing pleasure.  It’s a win-win to me.  For a total of $60 ($50 for game, $10 for export), it’s typical retail pricing after all.

• Iggy Pop and David Bowie in game (I do not understand this idea. I would think Taylor Swift or other less ancient characters would be in the game).

Honestly, why the hell are these old guys getting the Lego makeover and going in to a kids game?  Where’s Taylor Swift?  Where’s the American Idol stars?  Why are they using rock stars from yesteryear in a game that’s designed for kids and purposely using the E10 rating?

Link to the Harmonix Announcement.

U2: Rock Band Rumor

The world is saying “what’s next?” after The Beatles: Rock Band.  There is the quick answer: RBN, Lego Rock Band, the yet to be announced Rock Band 3, and of course more DLC.  But, what about full band games.  Harmonix has already stated in interviews this year that they are working on another band game.  Rumor after rumor (including many wish lists) have popped up all over the Intertubes.  The one rumor that seems to be sticking the most, is U2.

Think about it.  U2 definitely has the catalog to support a full game, with 12 albums.  They have the standard 4 person band that would fit nice with the available plastic instruments. Their 4 members have been with the band since the early days.  They have a 30 year history to share. Plus, they have yet to put a song in Rock Band.

Though, don’t forget that Harmonix and Pearl Jam sent out an announcement to fans (just after the release of the album “Ten” on DLC, for help selecting live PJ songs for an “upcoming Rock Band project”.  So, the PJ announcement leads me to believe that we will see even more PJ in the future.  Though, I don’t know if it will be a full game or just DLC.  I’d take a guess at Pearl Jam being just DLC.

Rock Band Mobile Goes iPhone

The official announcement came last week that the iPhone version of Rock Band is coming.  It’s as beautiful as the PSP version, and allows multiplayer up to 4 players, via WiFi. 20 songs make it in the game, plus there (of course) will be a Music Store to buy more.  The DLC train never stops.

The game allows play for all four instruments, via screen taps.  For vocals, you tap the screen where the vocal line is drawn.  The game is destined for gigantic success on iPhone.  The only thing I ask (as a BlackBerry user), where’s the BlackBerry love?

Here’s the initial setlist:

Attack-30 Seconds To Mars
Girls Not Grey – AFI
Move Along – All-American Rejects
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
All The Small Things – Blink-182
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Learn To Fly – Foo Fighters
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Bad to The Bone – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Hymn 43 – Jethro Tull
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
Simple Man – Lynyrd Skynyrd
Ace of Spades ’08 – Motorhead
Debaser – Pixies
Ladybug – Presidents of The United States of America
Give It All – Rise Against
Lazy Eye – Silversun Pickups
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Take The Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
We Got The Beat – The Go Go’s

Link to the Harmonix Announcement.

Official Harmonix Rock Band Podcast, Episode 1

We were treated to the inaugural podcast last week, hosted by HarminoxSean, community manager.  It was a very impressive first podcast too. Great sound quality, several different segments, and top notch interviews from Thim Schaffer (maker of Brutal Legend) and more.  I won’t spoil the whole thing, but if you have an hour to kill and want to get a little more personal with the HMX staff, I suggest you subscribe to it in iTunes, or your favorite RSS reader. By the way, within a few hours of its release, the podcast became the #2 highest downloaded music podcast on iTunes.

Link to the Harmonix Announcement.

There is so much more news like this weeks DLC (that Simon already posted about earlier), next weeks Queen DLC too.  This post is already getting long, we will cut it here.

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

• Queen and Beatles DLC gets released.
• Chatter leading up to the release of Lego Rock Band.

It’s the return of THIS WEEK IN ROCK BAND! Simon has been doing a great job with the rock Band happenings lately, and it’s much appreciated (by me at least). 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 Network Tools & Documentation Available

Just two days ago, we got word that the Rock Band Network (RBN) left its “closed” beta phase, which was invite only, and moved into the “open” beta.  The open beta is free for anyone interested.  Well, sort of free.  First of all, right now RBN is only for the following people:

• Musicians
• Music producers
• Content charters/authors
• Players willing to “play test” unreleased songs
• and most importantly, those with money to spare.

In order to use RBN, you must have a Windows PC, an Xbox 360 with Rock Band 2, and a Microsoft XNA Premium Membership (price $99 p/year).  Those items, plus Harmonix’ free Windows-based application MAGMA, will allow you to “play test” any available song in the RBN web site (http://creators.rockband.com).

If you are more of the musician, producer, or want to dabble in charting your (or other peoples) songs, you can take it a step further.  You’ll still need all the items required for play testing, plus you will need a digital audio workstation (or DAW as the cool kids call it).  The Harmonix recommended application is Reaper (price $60) which is what Harmonix’ authors use to chart Rock Band DLC.  Along with Reaper, Harmonix worked with Reaper to develop add-ons for Reaper, helping with color coding, and other RBN authoring optimizations.

Finally, all the documentation you need, plus links to download MAGMA, Reaper, and the Reaper add-ons can be found at the RBN web site (http://creators.rockband.com).

You may know that MyRBN (the spin-off of MyGGGO) is already entrenched in RBN authoring and is looking for people to help do some guitar authoring. If interested in trying this out (even if it’s new to you, since it’s new to just about everyone), let us know.

Link to the Harmonix Announcement.

Drum Pedal Warranty Update

If you own the Rock Band 1 drum kit, then chances are you have broken 1 or more drum pedals.  For me, it was two before I gave up and built my own custom pedal. Harmonix (who was under a class action law suit about that very pedal), announced on October 1 “We are now honoring warranty requests for plastic Rock Band bass drum pedals past the official 60-day limit”. Basically, from now until March 30, 2010, EA will honor warranty replacements for the Rock Band 1 drum kit pedals without any proof of purchase.  Just contact at http://support.ea.com/rockband and a new pedal will be sent to you.  This does not include Rock Band 2 or Beatles Rock Band drum kits.  Nice job EA and Harmonix, and well done as it forced the end of the law suit.

Link to the Harmonix Announcement.

DLC of the Week

Already released on Tuesday (today on PS3) is the weeks DLC (Raconteurs, Alanis, Electric Six, Flobots). See Simon’s earlier post for the details.  It’s another great mix this week.

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

• Two weeks until Beatles and Queen DLC. Huge, HUge, HUGE NEWS!
• iPhone Rock Band. The details are floating around and we will bring you more details next week.

Want to see some live iDM (that’s intelligent dance music), in a competition of DJ’s?  Also, want to see the next generation of music coming to Rock Band Network?  Do you live in the Boston area?

From Eric of Innerfuze

playing my first live set at the links soundclash…  tomorrow, oct. 3 at the tavern at the end of the world in charlestown.  i would love it if you could make it…

the soundclash puts 6 DJs up against one another playing all original material (stuff we made) and uses crowd feedback to determine a winner…

the more people in my corner the better!!

tell your friends, come down to charlestown, have some fun….

Help MyRBN support Innerfuze, and come to Charlestown tomorrow. The show starts at 10:00PM and there is no cover (SWEET!)

Address:

Charlestown, MA