Sex, Drugs, Rockband

gamasutra.com - [The eight most-played Xbox Live games of the holiday season were all sequels, according to gaming social network GamerDNA. The third part of this Gamasutra-exclusive analysis mines GamerDNA’s userbase to glean player stats on the last two Guitar Hero and Rock Band games, to see what insights about sequels can be gleaned alongside our previously published Gears of War and Call of Duty studies.

Our previous studies of the Gears of War and Call of Duty franchises’ two most recent sequels revealed a few interesting insights — significantly, that a steady drip of DLC did little to boost long-term player engagement with a title, and that players’ relationships with a game can be often inconsistently indicative of their behavior with a sequel.

Now, we look outside the shooter genre to examine the rhythm game genre, to compare and see whether insights on sequels hold up in a different arena. Gaming social network GamerDNA, which lets users track and share play time, progress and achievements on networked titles, also acts as a database that studies player trends for the benefit of developers.
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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.

Zergwatch.com: Harmonix and MTV will bring seven new tracks to Rock Band and Rock Band 2 rockers next week, including a triple-shot of classic, leather pants-wearing Irish rock from Thin Lizzy.

The Thin Lizzy three pack features a trio of live tracks from the band’s Still Dangerous: Live At The Tower Theater Philadelphia 1977 album. That’s obviously better than the two-for-Tuesday my local classic rock station can offer.

Joining Thin Lizzy are individual tracks from Pat Benatar and The Pretenders, plus a pair from Nikko, the pre-packaged pop group from the movie Spectacular!.

Thin Lizzy 3 Pack (440 MS Points / $5.49)

“Boys are Back in Town (live)” (160 MS Points / $1.99)
“Cowboy Song (live)” (160 MS Points / $1.99)
“Jailbreak (live)” (160 MS Points / $1.99)
Individual Tracks

Pat Benatar “Hit Me with Your Best Shot” (160 MS Points / $1.99)
The Pretenders “Precious” (160 MS Points / $1.99)
Nikko “Don’t Tell Me” (80 MS Points / $0.99)
Nikko “Break My Heart” (80 MS Points / $0.99)

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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