RockBand Mods.net

The web designers at Harmonix have taken the official Rock Band site in to have some reconstructive plastic surgery and soon will remove the bandages to unveil it to the world.

Some of the new features to be added to the site include some that were announced with the first version of Rock Band, like the ability to create t-shirts and stickers of your band and band logos, but will also include neeto features such an extensive database of all Rock Band songs and much much more… Read More…

Harmonix is sending out press releases like their out of style.  The latest press release reveals the features that you’ll be seeing in Rock Band 2 starting in September for N. American Xbox 360 players.  Most of these features have been revealed over the last couple of days, but there are some confirmations to finally put some rumors to bed, such as the much talked about and very much anticipated transfer of Rock Band 1 songs to Rock Band 2 to prevent any disc swapping.

For the complete press release, be sure to hit the jump. Read More…

Konami is suing Harmonix for patent infringement over a series of game-related patents, according to the reliable Bloomberg news. Saying Rock Band violates their patents, and is demanding compensation, imagine that, and an order that would “block Viacom and Harmonix from using the inventions.”

Konami once considered a pioneer in the music-game genre, now considered a has-been, with its GuitarFreaks and DrumMania games, were available years before Guitar Hero was released, but failed to realize the potential market for these games in the West so they were only released in Asia. Konami is trying to return to the genre with its upcoming Rock Revolution game, which allows players to perform songs on guitar and drum peripherals.

Whats really funny about this lawsuit is that when Konami sought to bring karaoke games to home consoles, it turned to Harmonix.

Well, Harmonix has finally let the cat out of the bag.  In case you had any doubts, Rock Band 2 is real and it’s coming alot sooner than most expected.  That’s if you have a 360.  The Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 2 will be hitting store shelves in September while all other platforms (read PS3, Wii, PS2) will be available later in the year.

One of the most asked questions when it comes to a Rock Band sequel is whether or not the DLC from the original Rock Band will be compatible with RB2, and the answer is YES!  Rock Band 2 will be the first game ever to offer cross game DLC compatibility on both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.  Another good piece of info for our Xbox 360 friends across the pond comes from VG247, as EA confirmed that Rock Band 2 will also be released in Europe in September for the 360.

The folks at IGN have a nice interview with Harmonix Lead Designer, Dan Teasdale, about much of the new features of Rock Band 2 and why anyone that has the original Rock Band should upgrade to the latest incarnation since the current and future DLC will work for both games. Dan also sheds a little bit of light on the new hardware, such as the new, and I must admit beautiful, guitar pictured below.

 We’ll keep you posted as more information starts to trickle out, so keep coming back for updates.  Otherwise, you can check out the official press release below:

The Ultimate Music Game Is Back For An Encore
Harmonix, MTV Games and Electronic Arts Unleash Rock Band™2

Entire Rock Band Downloadable Content Music Catalog Compatible with
Rock Band 2

More Music, Online Modes, Features Than Ever Before With New and Improved Drum and Guitar Peripherals

Rock Band Online Music Store Passes 15 Million Paid Downloads

Rock Band 2 Makes Exclusive Debut on Xbox 360 This September

Cambridge, Mass. – June 30, 2008 – Harmonix, the world’s premier music video game company in the world, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with marketing and distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), are taking the groundbreaking music platform that forever changed the face of music video games to the next level this September with the release of Rock Band 2. With the original providing millions of players a new way to interact with the music and artists they love, Rock Band 2 is the next evolution of the franchise that redefined the standard for music games.

Rock Band is the groundbreaking platform that allows music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before - challenging players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune while learning to master lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals.

Rock Band 2 builds upon its foundation as the first music game to introduce co-operative band gameplay, multiple instruments, a robust online multiplayer experience, an unrivaled offering of downloadable content and raises the bar by delivering an entirely new level of depth, connectivity, authenticity and features including:

- Backwards compatibility with Rock Band downloadable music content. All previously purchased tracks will immediately load into your Rock Band 2 song list. No need to re-purchase or re-download.

- The biggest and most diverse soundtrack ever featuring some of rock’s most prolific acts, comprised entirely of master recordings.

- Major new and dynamic online modes that will connect the entire Rock Band community in more ways than ever before both locally and globally.

- More variety of instrument choices than ever before with new and improved drum and guitar peripherals, enhanced functionality and innovative new designs - all fully compatible with the original Rock Band instruments.
And much more.

“As successful as the original Rock Band continues to be, we’ve now had the benefit of the last eight months to listen to our fans’ requests and to build upon that foundation,” said Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of Harmonix. “Rock Band 2 is a second-generation band game that will elevate the music game experience to the next level.”

Rock Band 2 will make its debut on Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft this September and have an exclusive launch window in North America. Rock Band 2 will be available for additional platforms later this year.

“We expect Rock Band 2 to continue to drive an amazing social music experience on Xbox 360, said David Hufford, senior director, Xbox Product Management for the Interactive Entertainment Business, Microsoft. “We look forward to supporting Rock Band 2 on Xbox 360 as gamers continue to download hundreds of new music tracks from Xbox LIVE so they and their friends can perform the rock music they love most.

More details regarding features and music for Rock Band 2 will be revealed at the 2008 E3 Media & Business Summit. Rock Band, the first installment in the franchise, garnered more than 40 awards including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007.

In addition, Harmonix and MTV Games today announced that The Rock Band online music store recently surpassed 15 million paid downloads since the game’s launch in late November 2007. With more than 200 tracks available to date via download purchase (complete list of tracks at http://www.rockband.com/dlc), the massive Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks, packs and albums from the vast selection of offerings available as they build their own custom Rock Band library.

Rock Band 2 is rated “T” for Teen (lyrics, mild suggestive themes) by the ESRB.

For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.

#####

About MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN/THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.

About MTV Games
MTV Games is dedicated to creating, marketing and publishing high-quality, innovative interactive products that are relevant to the MTV audience and complement the core values of the MTV Networks brands.

About Harmonix Music Systems, Inc Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., based in Cambridge, MA, and established in 1995, is the leading developer of groundbreaking music-oriented videogames. Harmonix was founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, who formed the company to invent new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music and have pioneered music and rhythm gaming in the US. For more information please visit: www.harmonixmusic.com .

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world’s leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTSTM, EATM, EA SPORTS Freestyle TM and POGOTM. In fiscal 2008, EA posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA’s homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA’s products and full text of press releases can be found on the Internet at http://info.ea.com.

© 2008 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Harmonix, Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., a MTV Networks company. Rock Band and Rock Band 2 developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. MTV: Music Television, MTV Games and all related titles and logos are trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc All other marks are the property of their respective owners. EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox. Xbox 360 and Xbox Live are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

Harmonix has released a press statement explaining how they are extending their extended warranty exception on all Rock Band hardware until October 1, 2008.  What it boils down to is this, you won’t have to provide proof of purchase for any hardware that requires repair/replacement like it was previous to them actually enforcing their 60 day warranty policy.

When Harmonix decided to actually start enforcing their warranty policy, much of the Rock Band community was upset due to the fact that there was still plenty of 1st generation controllers that were out in the market and just now starting to break.  Since Harmonix knew about all of the hardware defects, and these were purchased long before 60 days ago, they felt shafted.

However, it appears that Harmonix is trying to remedy that by once again lifting the 60 day proof of purchase requirement until October.  You can read the press release in it’s entirety below:

***UPDATE TO WARRANTY PROGRAM – EA CUSTOMER SERVICE TO IMPLEMENT ON MONDAY, JUNE 30th***

JUNE 26, 2008: Great news! For a limited time only, we are honoring warranty requests past the official 60-day limit.

Our warranty policy since Rock Band’s launch in November has been to require proof of purchase within 60 days of the warranty claim. However, we decided (on our own and without any obligation) to allow our customers to take advantage of the EA warranty program even if they didn’t have a receipt and even if they sent it to us after the 60-day period had expired. We did this to make sure that our customers had the best experience possible with Rock Band.

Over seven months later, we decided to no longer make exceptions to our warranty program. The reasons for this were (1) we have a great deal of confidence in our peripherals, (2) we believe we have a great warranty program in place and (3) we found that a large number of the reported problems–especially those after the 60 day period–were due to mistreatment of the equipment.

Many of you out there felt that the change regarding enforcement of our policy had come without enough notice and some of you had legitimate warranty claims that were impacted by our decision.

Harmonix and MTV Games have always, and will always, remain open to fan feedback about your experience with Rock Band. This feedback is crucial to our development, as it allows us to provide you with the ultimate rock experience and meet your needs as members of the Rock Band community. Thanks to your feedback, we have decided to extend our previous practice of not requiring a proof of purchase until October 1. 2008. This change will go into effect Monday, June 30th, 2008.

However, effective October 1, 2008, any customers who wish to take advantage of our warranty program will need to (1) provide a receipt and (2) report defects within the 60-day period. Please note that any products that have been misused, modded in any way or were broken or defective due to excessive wear and tear are not covered under the warranty at all and all other terms and conditions of the warranty program will be enforced. We hope that, with this advanced notice, you be well prepared for this change in practice as the fall nears. In the meantime, rock on!

As always, to take advantage of our warranty program please contact EA’s Customer Support at http://support.ea.com/rockband  

Peter Moore, ex-Microsoft exec, current EA exec, and known around the Rock Band community as being “pulled” recently sat down with the fine folks at Xbox World 360 to discuss his plans for Complete World Domination EA Sports.  When asked if casual games are the wave of the future, Mr. Moore had this to say:

Well, look at Rock Band. It really came home for me when we were in Munich for our global marketing meeting and we took over the Hard Rock Café for the night and had a Rock Band competition. There were a hundred of us and it was like a real rock concert. It was a blast. I stood back and I thought that this was an incredible cultural phenomenon.

The crowd were going wild, but all we were doing was playing on toy guitars, toy drums and singing badly into a microphone. Now the beer might have had something to do with it, I don’t know, but it was a great social thing. And I said, “Boy, this product is going to change the way we think about games”.

I don’t know if I would tag Rock Band as a casual game, more like a social game, but he’s right on the money. No other game that I’ve played can bring together a large group of people and have all of them interested in what’s going on in a video game. From everyone playing the song, to the onlookers just watching, they all seem to be “into” the game. It will be interesting to see where this takes games in the near future.

It appears that the first 3rd party instruments for Rock Band are going to be available for purchase starting next week (June 22nd).  Mad Catz was given the official stamp of approval from Harmonix to become the officially licensed 3rd party manufacturer of instrument controllers for Rock Band, and it looks like their wired Bass controller for the Xbox 360 is the first out of the gate.

[EDIT] The product links have been removed from Amazon, but we’ve still got all the details here. 

Read More…

Rock Band 2 is coming, even if Harmonix doesn’t want you to know yet.  The evidence to support the fact is growing daily and the latest smoking gun in the case comes from our good friends at Joystiq.

Discovered in the obituary from the recently passed musical genius Bo Diddley, it was announced that Bo Diddley has been working with ZZ Top’s Billy Gibbons to create the Billy-Bo-Jupiter Thunderbird guitar for Gretsch guitars.  The Billy-Bo-Jupitor Thunderbird guitar was based on Bo’s classic Gretsch Jupiter Thunderbird and according to the obituary it will be featured in the “impending” Rock Band 2.

If Harmonix is waiting until E3 to make the announcement on Rock Band 2, I’m sure that July can’t come soon enough for them.  Otherwise, at the rate that leaks have been appearing for the game, they won’t have anything left to announce. 

Thanks to a tipster at Joystiq, box art concepts for Rock Band 2 were revealed in an online survey posted by Listen Research.  The survey displayed the two box art images and asked the following questions:

• Indicate which of the two covers below would attract you more if you were shopping for a new game in a store.
• Indicate which game box cover you believe is a better fit with the description of the game.

The description of the game in the survey was as follows:

“Rock Band 2 lets you and your friends play as a virtual 4-person band, in person or online, to rock out to some of the biggest rock anthems from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and 2000s. Rock Band 2 will be a full featured sequel, similar to full featured sequels you see released by other big video game franchises, such as Need for Speed, Devil May Cry, Final Fantasy, Call of Duty, or Halo. In the music/rhythm genre, it is similar to the feature jumps made from Guitar Hero I to Guitar Hero II or Guitar Hero II to Guitar Hero III.”

And here are the concept images:

I was also asked to participate in the same survey, but unfortunately they thought I was too old.  So, it appears that Rock Band is getting closer to being announced day by day.

Harmonix and Q Entertainment have teamed up to bring a localized version of Rock Band to Japan according to Wired.  While details are sparse, it appears that Q Entertainment, creators of  the critically acclaimed games Lumies and Rez HD, will be responsible for the localization.

This will be the first time that a U.S. based rock music game has been localized for the Japenese market.  The Japenese version will also include Japenese musical acts and Japan-style trimmings for it’s “return to the birthplace of rhytm games.” 

 No other details, such as a release date, have been revealed. The complete press release follows:

CAMBRIDGE, Mass - June 2, 2008 – Harmonix Music Systems, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), announced today that they will team up with Q Entertainment, a leading Japanese music game designer, to bring the best-selling music videogame Rock Band to Japan. The two studios will work together to develop the title, marking the first US-originated rock music game to be heavily localized for the Japanese market. The game will feature Japanese musical acts as well as other localized assets.

Rock Band’s return to the birthplace of rhythm games will
benefit from Q Entertainment’s experience designing progressive and engaging games many of which have a heavy focus on integrating music elements into gameplay. Since its founding in 2003, Tokyo based Q Entertainment has become a leader in rhythm oriented titles, including the critically acclaimed music and luminary action puzzle game series Lumines,and the recently released Extend Every Extra Extreme (E4) and Rez HD for Xbox Live.

Today’s announcement was also featured Saturday at the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards - Japan, where a Rock Band trailer was presented.

The US-version of Rock Band was also prominently featured backstage and at the afterparty, giving Japanese attendees a taste of what’s to come in the newly announced title.

Rock Band, which has sold over 3 million units in North America and Europe, is an all-new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music. The game challenges players to put together a band and tour for fame and fortune, mastering lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals.With more master recordings than any other music game, Rock Band features some of the world’s biggest rock artists and spans every genre of rock ranging from alternative and classic
rock to heavy metal and punk.

Rock Band is a true music platform, with over 12 million songs sold as downloadable content since its initial release. There are currently over 140 songs available for download in the Rock Band Music Store and Harmonix continues to release new music every week.

Since its North American release in 2007, Rock Band has garnered over 40 awards including Game Critics Award: Best of Show E3 2007and three awards at The 11th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including Outstanding Innovation in Gaming, Family Game of the Year, and Outstanding Achievement in Soundtrack.