Rock Band

By Mike Fahey Black Friday is upon us, and that means there are some pretty good video game deals lurking out there. We've compiled a list of some of the best. Feel free to add your own! On the console side of things, Amazon has a 120GB PlayStation 3 bundle that comes with inFamous and Killzone 2, with a $10 Ama...

By Luke Plunkett As Guitar Hero's catalogue of downloadable content grows larger, it gets harder and harder to make a buck selling the older stuff individually. So...what about a subscription to the whole service instead? Guitar Hero' founder excited about future [Seattle Times, via 1UP]

By Stephen Totilo Activision's Wii Games Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock - 57 hours, 51 minutes Guitar Hero: World Tour - 35 hours, 18 minutes Guitar Hero: Metallica - 17 hours, 57 minutes Guitar Hero: Aerosmith - 13 hours, 14 minutes Guitar Hero: Smash Hits - 12 hours, 15 minutes

By Brian Crecente Xbox 360 with $100 Card for $200 This Weekend? Console Arcade, DJ Hero, Rock Band Set for Colorado Child's Play Fundraiser The 10 Most Avidly-Played Wii Games In America (As Of Nov 1) Review Round-Up: Tekken, Forza, GTA And More Dedication To Dedicated Servers Earns EA At Least 60 Bucks

By Brian Crecente We're asking for a minimum donation of $10 to get in and get a door prize ticket. We will be giving away a huge amount of swag including more than 70 T-Shirts, a custom straight jacket, a Guitar Hero drum seat, a popcorn machine and Divinity Dragon knives.

By Stephen Totilo We cannot stop new games from coming out, but we can at least review them. Here's what we reviewed last week, for those who may have missed them. Forza, Tekken, LostWinds, Saw, GTA, Dungeon Hunter, Rock Band iPhone, DJ Hero. Read! Rock Band Micro Review: iPhone Joins the Band

By Owen Good But I think I did detect a semipregnant pause from The Major after e piped up (31:30 of the podcast). Like "Oh man, someone's gonna stick this on a blog." And, I guess someone just did. Show #337: DJ Hero, MUA2, Lego Rock Band and MW2 [Major Nelson, thanks elektrixxx]

By Brian Crecente PositionTitlePriceWeeksLast Week1Rock Band (EA)$9.99212NBA Live (EA)$9.991-3Skee-Ball(Freeverse)$.99284Bejeweled 2 (PopCap Games)$2.991025Tetris (EA)$4.99836Doom Classic(id Software)$6.991-7Madden NFL 10 (EA)$9.99848Scrabble (EA)$4.999119The Sims 3 (EA)$6.998710Monop...

By Owen Good This week's count: 16 for Wii, 15 for DS, 10 for Xbox 360, seven for PS3, four for PC, three for PS3, two for PSP. Today (Nov. 1) Doc Louis's Punch-Out!! (Wii) Rabbids Go Home (DS, Wii) Friday (Nov. 6) We Wish You A Merry Christmas (Wii) Buck Fever (Wii)

By Owen Good Bayonetta Xbox 360 Selling Out? But PlayStation Home Is A Priority Now, Says SCEA Exec Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Out Now On Xbox 360 BioWare Reveals Dragon Age's "Massively Single-Player" Details iPhone Chart Toppers: Rock Band Video Game Speakeasy Slips Into Soho for a Night of Raucous Fun

By Mike Fahey If you prefer a more portable Rock Band experience, there's always Bullet For My Valentine's "Waking the Demon" and System of a Down's "Toxicity" for Rock Band Unplugged on the PSP, both of which contain zero Grohl-levels. Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (Nov. 3) and PlayStation 3 system (Nov....

Related articles from G4 TV, EL33TONLINE, Kotaku.com, Joystiq, GayGamer.net, Shacknews, XboxSolution and more.

By Mike Fahey DJ Hero is barely out the door and already there are new downloadable tracks, with 50 Cent, Queen, Gorillaz, and Public Enemy hitting Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network today - for $3.00 apiece. Lee explains why DJ Hero tracks cost a dollar more than Rock Band or Guitar Hero tracks:

By AJ Glasser The Dragon Age: Origins entry comes from Cameron Vetter's girlfriend (and man has she got some skills). The second Left 4 Dead pumpkin we've seen so far comes our way from Kotaku reader Necrothug. And lastly, we've got a rare white pumpkin entry from Alex Fortuno.

By Brian Crecente What you missed: The Who: Rock Band Coming Next Year? New Xbox/PS3 Madden Was Born On The Wii BioWare Reveals Dragon Age's "Massively Single-Player" Details DJ Hero Review: You Spin Me Right Round Netflix On PS3 Getting Embedded Solution "Late Next Year"

By Mike Fahey DJ Hero was developed by FreeStyleGames and published by Activision on October 27th on the Wii, PlayStation 2. PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. Retails for $119.99 ($99.99 for the PS2). A copy of the Xbox 360 version of the game was given to us by the publisher for reviewing purposes. Performed all tr...

By Brian Crecente In a wide-ranging interview with Mass Live, The Who's lead singer Roger Daltrey appears to spill the beans on The Who: Rock Band coming out next year. Near the tail-end of the four-page interview, the site mentions The Beatles: Rock Band to Daltrey, who cuts straight to the bean spilling.

By Brian Crecente Win One of Five Copies of Uncharted 2: Among Thieves Fortune Hunter Edition You're A Moustache Away From A Red Dead Redemption Cameo Surprise Football Game Pops Up On Xbox Live Frankenreview: Ratchet & Clank: A Crack In Time Rock Band Micro Review: iPhone Joins the Band

By Brian Crecente I just went through my current stash of goodies sent me from publishers and there are a ton of neat things we're giving away including more than 70 T-Shirts, a custom straight jacket, a limited edition Brutal Legend statue, a Guitar Hero drum seat, a popcorn machine and a Divinity Dragon kn...

By matt cabral Loved Band in Your Hand: Four instruments-guitar, bass, drums, vocals, 20 tracks, world tour, quick play, multiplayer, and even a music store make the jump to Apple's slick portable. Despite the absence of plastic peripherals and avatars , Rock Band on iPhone, well...rocks!

By Mike Fahey These numbers make sense to me. While Guitar Hero and Rock Band have the benefit of recognizable instruments and music, DJ Hero consists of mashups of popular songs performed using a device that not a lot of consumers are familiar with. Just tally up how many times you've seen someone play im...

By Brian Crecente PositionTitlePriceWeeksLast Week1Rock Band (EA)$9.991-2Bejeweled 2 (PopCap Games)$2.99923Tetris (EA)$4.99784Madden NFL 10 (EA)$9.99735Need For Speed Undercover (EA)$4.99746Tap Tap Revenge 3(Tapulous)$.99357The Sims 3 (EA)$6.99798Skee-Ball(Freeverse)$.991-9Scrabble (EA)...

By Michael McWhertor Sure, it could use a little more footage from games that aren't Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, Gran Turismo, Madden, The Beatles: Rock Band, Assassin's Creed II, Killzone 2 and Resistance 2—some Demon's Souls would've blended in quite naturally—but its clear Sony is starting to get epic.

By Mike Fahey Harmonix celebrates Halloween in the Rock Band Music Store next week by cavorting with wild animals and the undead, adding new tracks from Rob Zombie, Wolfmother, and Liz Phair. Available on Xbox 360 and Wii (Oct. 27) and PlayStation 3 system (Oct. 29):

By Michael McWhertor Hey, Trine finally made it to the PlayStation Store! That accomplishment may be exciting, but perhaps not as exciting as some of the other addition's to the North American PlayStation Store this week. Check out the full list of new non-microwaveable treats in the PlayStation Store, righ...

Related articles from EL33TONLINE, GayGamer.net and more.

By Michael McWhertor The official Rock Band web site is selling the Rock Band Special Edition Bundle, including the game, drums, microphone and guitar, plus a copy of Rock Band 2 for a combined $79 USD. That's shipped. Shipped! Obviously, you're getting first gen instrument controllers, but you're also getti...

By Mike Fahey Sure, Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury might have passed, but including a virtual representation of him in LEGO Rock Band is okay, since it's just adorable. Besides, he wasn't the voice of a generation, like other deceased lead singers we could mention.

Related articles from Joystiq, Gaming Bits, EL33TONLINE, GayGamer.net and more.

By Mike Fahey Guitarist Brian May may have beat them to the punch, but that won't stop Warner Bros. Interactive and MTV Games from proudly announcing tiny LEGO versions of super group Queen in LEGO Rock Band....

Related articles from Joystiq, Gaming Bits, EL33TONLINE, GayGamer.net and more.

By Michael McWhertor The Beatles: Rock Band folks further rub their victory in Activision's corporate face by pointing out that Guitar Hero 5 shipped on an additional platform (the PlayStation 2) and even included a copy of Guitar Hero: Van Halen thrown in for free.

By Stephen Totilo Music Game Platform Choices Juggle: A lot of people are rightly focusing on the September victory of The Beatles: Rock Band over Guitar Hero 5. That's interesting. But here's another twist. Last year, Guitar Hero: World Tour launched in November 2008 with the Wii version as the top-seller (...

By Michael McWhertor 01. Halo 3: ODST (Xbox 360) - 1,520,000 02. Wii Sports Resort (Wii) - 442,900 03. Madden NFL 10 (Xbox 360) - 298,600 05. The Beatles: Rock Band (Xbox 360) - 254,000 07. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 (Xbox 360) - 236,000 09. Guitar Hero 5 (Xbox 360) - 210,800 10. The Beatles: Rock Band (Wii) - 208,600

By Mike Fahey The first downloadable album for The Beatles: Rock Band hits this week, with the remainder of Abbey Road allowing fans to play the entire 16 minute B-side medley all at once. Available for Xbox 360 (Oct. 20) and PlayStation 3 System (Oct. 220: Available for Wii (Oct. 20):

Related articles from GayGamer.net, EL33TONLINE, DigitalBattle, Shacknews.

By Brian Crecente All of those pretenders to the portable rhythm game throne better be ware, the official Rock Band game just hit iTunes. Harmonic' Rock Band for the iPhone and iPod Touch lets you jam out with a lead guitar, bass, drums or vocals... though no singing is involved with that last one, and will set you...

Related articles from Gizmodo and more.

By AJ Glasser At some point during the talk, the moderator asked if the market was saturated with plastic peripherals. Fair point, but how are you going to get a guitar in the hands of everybody who wants to play Guitar Hero? Face it, cell phone interfaces just aren't the same.

By Owen Good The next Xbox Live update will deliver Facebook, Twitter and Last.fm, but, Ron Popeil style, wait, there's more! According to an email from Microsoft, anyway. Get ready for news headlines and dedicated music stores in the Xbox Live dashboard.

By Brian Crecente Right now it looks like we're going to have at least two music set ups on stage, perhaps Rock Band and DJ Hero, so people can play back to back without having to wait for the players to set up first. What you missed: You Have the Power 250GB PlayStation 3 Priced And Dated For North America

By Owen Good Yeah, my last account was permanently disabled due to (I think) Activision. Right before my account was shut down, the Kurt Cobain vid was removed due to copyright claim by Activision Games Inc. I will be continuing with this account so whatever f—k it all.

By Brian Crecente What you missed: LEGO Rock Band Ships With 45 Songs, Music Censorship Bayonetta PS3 Versus Bayonetta 360 Brutal Legends' Riggs Up Close and In Ceramic What Makes A Video Game Scary Left 4 Dead 2 Achievements Reveal New Items, Confirm Campaigns The Awards We Don't Give

By Brian Crecente Those cleared songs are the only tracks that will appear within the LEGO Rock Band store for purchase. The LEGO Rock Band store will continually highlight any new family-friendly tunes that can be played across the Rock Band platform as they are released for Rock Band. "

Related articles from Kotaku.com, GayGamer.net, EL33TONLINE.

By Owen Good Acclaimed short-story writer and poet Raymond Carver died today. He was an influential force in American literature and an all around mega man. You know who else is a mega man? Mega Man, the new video-game character who will likely be bigger than Carver, Shakespeare, and even the printed wo...

By Brian Crecente What you missed: Ratchet & Clank, Uncharted 2 Coming Home Chat Live With the Man Behind Tony Hawk: Ride Next Week Modern Warfare 2 Goes Past 11, And 69 Your Amazing, Disturbing Wii Play Times Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days Review: Crisis Hearts

By Mike Fahey EA Mobile sure has a busy Facebook page. First they reveal iPhone Rock Band, and now they drop details on the iPhone version of Command & Conquer Red Alert. EA Mobile: Command & Conquer Red Alert for iPhone and iPod touch [Facebook]

Related articles from Shacknews, DigitalBattle, Gaming Bits, TeamXbox and more.

By Mike Fahey Rock Band coming to iPhone with 4-way Bluetooth multi-player mode! [IntoMobile]

By AJ Glasser Now, of course I've heard people say that this is wrong; that video games cheapen or damage the experience of learning real music with their plastic peripherals and oversimplification of beats, rhythm and notes. But it seems like even more music games seem to be popping up in response to th...

By Brian Ashcraft Just because The Beatles are in Rock Band, that doesn't mean every single Beatles album will be in Rock Band as downloadable content. Why, you ask, well here is why. Harmonix's John Drake tells game...

Related articles from Joystiq, monstersandcritics.com.

By Owen Good You get the same four instruments in the mobile version - git-tar, drums, bass and vocals. Multiplayer functions like it does in the console game - you'll hear your bandmates' missed notes and be able to save their ass with overdrive.

Related articles from Gizmodo and more.

By Michael McWhertor The rest? Well, there's "Gay Bar." It's now available to owners of the PlayStation 3 version of Rock Band. That's pretty exciting. The full list of goods for this week's PlayStation Store update, including a few new PSP games for your PSPgo, is after this. Guitar Hero tracks

Related articles from EL33TONLINE, GayGamer.net and more.

By AJ Glasser Last month, it didn't look like we were getting Rock Band on the iPhone right away. But IGN reports that we're not far off now, pending a big announcement from EA Mobile this morning. The current...

Related articles from Gizmodo and more.

By AJ Glasser The current mobile version of Rock Band features 25 licensed songs from artists like the Beastie Boys and Smashing Pumpkins. Plus, there's multiplayer jam sessions and the ability to perform lead bass, drums, guitar & vocals. Rock Band Coming to iPhone [IGN]

Related articles from Gizmodo and more.

By Mike Fahey More than just an extremely pretty face, the Fender Telecaster 'Player's Edition' comes complete with fast-action ‘Shredderz' fret buttons, an exclusive addition to the model with a rapid action that the company says is perfect for difficult solos. The Telecaster also has four differ...

By Brian Ashcraft With the music business falling apart, musicians are hoping to get their cut of the music game pie — even The Beatles have their own Rock Band title! Now, it looks like Irish rockers U2 want in, too. U2: 'We definitely would like to be' in video game [USA Today Thanks, Quipp!] [Pic]

By Michael McWhertor Hey, musicians! Harmonix, the developers of Rock Band and the recently announced Rock Band Network, have released the software tools and online know-how that lets you put your songs in the game. Download 'em now! Rock Band Network Tools and Documentation Released [Rock Band Forums]

Sports Ads: Everything You Want in a Video Game - and LessMadden Launch Returns to Its Roots - for One Weekend Only?In a League of Your Own, Where Your Word is LawThe Art of Calling an Unseen Game/a>In the Preseason, 2K Sports Reports FirstSo I Went to a Fight, and a Video Game Broke Out ...Whe...

By AJ Glasser You Can Pair It With Guitars: This is a point toward DJ Hero's "utility." If you already own a Guitar Hero-compatible guitar, you can hook it up and play alongside the DJ. I'm not sure how great any of it sounds (presumably, these sections have been given the same attention as the singleplayer...

By Owen Good That's the $249 version, with Ringo Starr's drums and Paul McCartney's bass (plus microphone and stand). GamesIndustry.biz reports that Phillipe Dauman, the Viacom boss, told a conference yesterday that sales have exceeded internal expectations, to the tune of 25 percent of its inven...

By Brian Crecente Ms. Cobain is extremely upset about Activision's use of Mr. Cobain's likeness to sing the songs of others in its Guitar Hero game," Keith A. Fink, Love's attorney, told Kotaku. "Activision was granted permission by Kurt's trust solely to use his name and likeness. Activision was not given an u...

By Brian Crecente Instruments: Another level of realism includes the creation of four new controllers based on the instruments used by The Beatles. The Special Edition bundle of the game comes with a Ludwig drum set, a microphone and microphone stand and Paul McCartney's Hofner bass. While the drum isn't d...

By Stephen Totilo Launching on the Xbox 360 in November and coming later to the PlayStation 3, the Rock Band Network is one of those grand creations that just maybe could change how everything works in its corner of the video game kingdom. At the MTV offices in Times Square earlier this week, a quartet of Harmo...

By Stephen Totilo My expectations for how the band would take to Rock Band were initially low, especially when the microphone kept disconnecting, preventing an experiment in how Mintz's signature howling vocals might translate to the game. As the Rock Band quartet lost Dvorak's attention in favor of the...

By Luke Plunkett But you know what? That doesn't really matter. They're no worse than Rock Band peripherals. And these are plastic instruments that are perfect scale replicas of the actual instruments The Beatles used, right down to the logos and paint schemes. That'll be more than enough for most Beatles f...

By Michael McWhertor MTV Games' Rock Band series shrinks down and drops the plastic instruments for the PlayStation Portable release Rock Band Unplugged, which turns the band video game series into a break out solo effort. If you're at all interested in the Rock Band series or have enjoyed Harmonix's origina...

By Owen Good Studies and claims have tied the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band to actual music performance for some time. A British study says the games' popularity have inspired children there to experiment with music. There are unverifiable claims Guitar Hero is responsible for a surge in sal...

By Mike Fahey We've taken a look at the songs that simply must be included with the game, along with instruments they could reproduce in order to make The Beatles: Rock Band Premium Bundle worth picking up, even if we already have a living room full of plastic instruments.

By Owen Good But he never had any exposure to Rock Band or Guitar Hero until recently in a mall store, where he was literally beaten at his own game. I know about Rock Band, because Nirvana has some songs on it. I had never tried the game before, so I gave it a go. I worked through the menu and found the song "In Blo...

By Mike Fahey M.I.C. actually stands for Microphone with Integrated Controller, and that's exactly what the Rock Band M.I.C. is. You've got your standard wired premium microphone, with the Xbox controller's A, B, X, Y, start, back, and home buttons placed in a line down one side of the grip. It's a design so sim...

By Brian Crecente While playing Guitar Hero World Tour for my review of the game I started thinking that maybe the plastic and rubber drum kit was a bit louder that Rock Band 2's. So Adam and I made this short little video showing me playing a chunk of the same song. This isn't scientific at all (You'd need a way to m...

By Brian Crecente Guitar Hero: World Tour was developed by Neversoft for the Xbox 360 and PS3, published by Activision and released on Oct. 26 for Playstation 2, Playstation 3, Wii and Xbox 360. The Band Kit retails for $189.99 USD. Completed single-player tour using guitar, played many songs using bass, drum...

By Mike Fahey Other than a brief mention of Rock Band during the teleconference, so far no mention has been made of the band's songs coming to Rock Band or Rock Band 2. In fact, Harmonix's Alex Rigopolis stated during the call that this is not a Rock Band expansion pack, but an all-new game title built from t...

By Mike Fahey Has Activision managed to beat Harmonix at their own game, or is Guitar Hero World Tour but a pale imitation? Let's see what the all-star game critics super group has to say. From nowhere near even Rock Band 1 to look out, Harmonix, in five easy steps.

By Owen Good Hope everyone's had a good chance to fan themselves and hose off following Thursday's introduction to Grace Kim, the former Activision PR rep turned Guitar Hero Rock Band vixen in this month's Playboy. Remember a while back, the survey that asked if anybody's played video games in the nud...

By Owen Good Nintendo Responds to Trade Commission Investigation of Wii Rock Band 2 Review: Second Verse Same As The First Training Wheels: My First MMO The Best Damn Video Game Infomercial You'll Ever Not Walk Away From Activision Boss Says Guitar Hero Is "Dominating" The Competition

By Brian Crecente Rock Band 2, developed by Harmonix and published by Electronic Arts was released on Sept. 14 for the Xbox 360. Retails for $60 for just the game, $190 for the special edition with instruments. Focused on tour mode both solo and with others, tested Xbox Live online play.

By AJ Glasser Here’s the thing – this game is Rock Band. No, don’t give me that crap about how it’s different, it’s better, it’s got six drumheads, so it’s totally different. It is Rock Band. And who says that’s a bad thing? I already knew how to play the instruments. Not well, mind you, but it’s not like I needed...

By Owen Good Casting Agent Confirms Rock Band 2 TV Show Spore Review: Evolutionary Creationism Harmonix To Release Rock Band: AC/DC? Microsoft: "No Comment" On Batshit Insane Xbox 360 Relaunch Rumor Can Rock Band Really Teach You to Rock Out?Happy 9th Birthday Dreamcast!

By Brian Crecente This year around the retailer-only show will give folks their hands on time with Guitar Hero: World Tour, Rock Band 2, Wii Music, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed, Spore, Call of Duty: World at War, Animal Crossing and, I'm told, a first ever chance to check out Halo Wars.

By Jim Reilly There are new and improved guitars this time around. All the instruments are sturdier and all wireless, including the drums. The guitar is pretty much the same, with the exception of a new wood grain look and a sensor to test playback lag. The drum foot pedal stays attached to the drums and feat...

By Mark Wilson Anticipating the comments, I'm going to point out that, yes, you could make such a contraption at home for less money. But given what we've already spent on Rock Band, what's another fitty? Lightning Review: Rock Band Stand Keeps Your Guitars, Controllers and Mics in Check [Gizmodo]

By Michael McWhertor What a glorious console age we've entered, when individual tracks from Rock Band get their own patched releases. It's all for the best, though, as they're merely minor fixes that aren't treating game killing bugs, just addressing incorrect meta information. In the case of "Limelight", t...

By Mike Fahey Fontaine also stated that he "was particularly pleased with record holiday handheld sell-outs of the Nintendo DS and the Sony PSP. The Nintendo Wii, even in the face of on-going seasonal shortages, Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3, proved to be on many holiday wishlists as n...

By Mike Fahey Chris Paladino with Microsoft's Gamerscore Blog got a chance to rock out to Black Hole Sun on a prototype Rock Band drum set being developed by Ion. Lovely little set, with cymbals included that mirror the placement of the drum for a more authentic drumming feel. Chris kicked it up to expert a...

By Michael McWhertor The Harmonix community manager writes at the official Rock Band forums that a routine patch for the PlayStation 3 version of the game is coming soon, one that will address "a number of items related to guitar controller compatibility." The patch was expected to be released yesterday, but...

By Mike Fahey While members of my family are great at bullshitting, we're also pretty good with rhythm and music. My mother and her mother before her ran dancing schools for most of their lives, with most of the girls in the family performing at some point. My brother Richard and I both dabble with musical i...

By Michael McWhertor Sorry, SingStar, but any intentions I had of purchasing your off-disc tunes have gone by the wayside, now that I know that stellar downloadable content from Metallica will be arriving for the week of Rock Band's release. Gamespot has details on the planned song list, as well as the flexibl...

By Michael McWhertor The latest issue of the Official Xbox Magazine features not only a gushing review of Harmonix and MTV Games' Rock Band, it also provides zipper tearing details on the game's upcoming downloadable content. We've known for some time that tracks from The Who, The Grateful Dead, and Nirvana w...

By Mark Wilson · The Rock Band Special Edition Bundle for the PlayStation 2 system will feature a wired drum kit, wired microphone, wireless Fender Stratocaster guitar controller and a USB hub. · Standalone instrument peripherals for Rock Band, including a wireless guitar option for the Xbox 360, wil...

By Michael McWhertor Of course, Croal has a number of reasons for suggesting this course of action, including that potentially "thousands of Xbox 360s [are] in stores with this design flaw" and that many gamers looking to play this year's hottest 360-bound titles—Rock Band, Halo 3, Grand Theft Auto IV, Mass...