Sex, Drugs, Rockband

el33tonline.com - Harmonix and MTV Games have announced that they’ll be expanding their selection of indie rock tracks by releasing a 3-pack of songs from Scottish alternative rock band, The Fratellis, for Rock Band.

The track pack will include ‘Creepin Up the Backstairs,’ ‘Flathead,’ and ‘Henrietta,’ which were all featured in the band’s 2006 debut album, Costello Music. As for the band’s credibility, they’ve won several awards, such as the 2007 BRIT Award for ‘Best British Breakthrough Act.’ Pretty credible, then.

The pack releases tomorrow (February 10th) on Xbox LIVE Marketplace and on Thursday (February 12th) on the PlayStation Store.

Look forward to it!

news.teamxbox.com - In his first major interview in nine years, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose has revealed that the band’s latest studio album will make its way into the Rock Band Music Store catalog of downloadable content. Rose told The Billboard:

“There is talk about a “Rock Band” release, and they felt the record-based on the nature and complexity of the depth of instrumentation-deserved a bit more attention and some more involved elements than they’ve generally dealt with. I have no idea what that means but it’s my understanding they were very enthusiastic. We’re looking at a Feb. 28 release, according to [executives at MTV responsible for] “Rock Band.”

We contacted the developers to get further details and an MTV spokesperson confirmed to TeamXbox.com that “Chinese Democracy is coming to rock band this spring as DLC.”

No further details on the release date or pricing were provided.

RedHerring.com - It seems that for some people, strumming plastic instruments at home just doesn’t quite cut it.

Power Chord Academy has launched a camp for people to play Guitar Hero and Rock Band, of all things. While PCA usually hosts camps for young musicians, wherein they can learn how to play real instruments, meet a band, and perform, this marks PCA’s first foray into music gaming.

The programs, the 3-day GameRockers and 1-day iRocker, are geared towards teens between 12-18, and will allow them to share their digital compositions, play in competitions, and perform in a “Battle of the Bands.”

While there’s certainly potential there to bridge the gap between playing a game and picking up an instrument, there is always the distinct possibility that hundreds of dollars will be spent so that your kid can go play video games.

…Rock on?

GameDaily.com - Pearl Jam dips into Rock Band territory next month when their groundbreaking album Ten becomes available for download, but Best Buy has a bonus deal that will give you three extra tracks.

Two special repackagings of the original Ten album will be sold exclusively through BestBuy.com, featuring bonus content suited for Pearl Jam fans. The Super Deluxe Edition, selling for $200, features a previously unreleased acoustic show, four vinyl LP’s and more.

In addition, however, fans that pick up the pack will also receive a code to download three bonus tracks for the Rock Band games on PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360. These tracks are live versions of “Alive” and “State of Love and Trust,” as well as the studio track “Brother.” No word yet if they’ll be available for download outside the promotion, but we’re guessing eventually they will.

Some I agree with, most I don’t. You decide…GameSpy.com: A few days ago, GameSpy brought you the news that MTV planned to have a whopping 5000 songs available for download in the Rock Band store by the end of 2009. While that claim has since been dismissed and debunked by the folks at Harmonix, it got us thinking about the songs we’d most like to see the next time we decide to pop into Rock Band’s virtual storefront. Keep in mind that all of these entries are simply the opinion of the editor that wanted them and that, as you’ll see as you read on, we generally have terrible taste in music.

After reading our suggestions, be sure to head into the forums or down to the comment section to let us know what tunes you’d want to play!
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calgaryherald.com - NEW YORK — MTV Networks announced on Thursday a deal to use songs by 60s band The Beatles in a custom video game similar to its popular “Rock Band” video, marking the band’s first key plunge into digital music.

MTV Networks said there was no release date or sale price for the game, but that it was due to be ready for release around the holidays next year. Jeff Jones, chief executive of The Beatles Apple Corps Ltd, said the game would include “samples of the whole (music) catalogue.”

MTV Networks, owned by Viacom said the game was creatively conceived by former Beatles Sir Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr and the wives of late Beatles John Lennon and George Harrison, Yoko Ono Lennon and Olivia Harrison.
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What’s this then about a new Rock Band game?
The reference comes from, of all places, Vic Mignogna, best known as the voice of Edward Elric in Fullmetal Alchemist and his work in quite a few Dragon Ball Z games. About 6 minutes into part five of a six part recording taken from the Winter SAC-Anime convention Mignogna falls face first into what appears to be NDA-breaking material.
“I did this, it’s like this Rock Band video game that’s coming out… Oh, I don’t think I should have said that,” gets out before stopping. At which point another panelist, Laura Bailey, pulls him aside and whispers things in his ear and they change the subject. Brief, innocuous, possibly apocryphal, but still tantalizing.
If it is indeed a Rock Band, Rock Band game, my money is still on it being the Beatles title Harmonix is working on, seeing as they’ve said that that game is taking up all of their time right now. Of course it could be Dragon-Ball Z’s Marching Musical Mayhem or any number of rhythm game knock-offs.

kotaku.com Earlier this week, Forbes writer Peter C. Beller made a tit of himself when he swallowed some Activision PR and reprinted it in his article on Bobby Kotick. Today, surprisingly, he stands by it.

To recap, in the original piece, Beller called Rock Band a “shameless knockoff” of Guitar Hero, seemingly oblivious of the fact Harmonix designed both games, and equally oblivious of the fact Guitar Hero World Tour is a “shameless knockoff” of Harmonix’s own Rock Band.

Explaining himself to GameDaily, Beller writes:

My terming Rock Band a “shameless knockoff” of Guitar Hero was based on the fact that it came out after Guitar Hero and sported very obvious similarities with Guitar Hero, including color-coded prompts moving onscreen along a fret board. It even accepted the same Guitar Hero guitar controller, I believe.
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Infamous Commonwealth Theatre presents our winter fundraiser: ICT’s ROCK BAND TOURNAMENT on Sat., Feb. 7th, 7pm at Ravenswood Pub, 5455 N. Ravenswood Ave.

Channel your inner rocker! Gather your band (at least three members required) and give your favorite Rock Band song your best shot. Judges will evaluate your performance based on accuracy, stage presence and creativity. The judges’ scores will be averaged with the Rock Band’s game score, and the top four bands will move to the final round. The grand prize winner receives a FREE seven night resort stay at a destination of the winners’ choice (selected from a list of several resort locations across the country, transportation not included).

Only 12 bands are allowed to compete, so we highly recommend pre-registration. Please pre-register by contacting Jayme Sellers at jayme_sellers@yahoo.com.

$30 per team, $25 if you pre-register. “Groupies” (i.e., non-participants) pay $5 at the door. Bring as many groupies as you can - the judges are heavily swayed by audience response!

There will also be a cash raffle to win a brand new Wii!

All proceeds benefit Infamous Commonwealth Theatre’s Spring 2009 production of The Grapes of Wrath.

Founded in 2001, ICT’s unique mission is to illuminate diverse perspectives around one centralized topic per season. ICT’s 2008-2009 season topic is NATURE. ICT has received seven After Dark Awards and four Joseph Jefferson Citations since its inception. For more information on ICT, please visit www.infamouscommonwealth.org.