PS3 Fanboy

Another seven songs have been revealed from Rock Band 2's tracklist of 80 songs in the latest issue of Game Informer magazine. This makes a total of 17 songs officially known so far. The 7 songs are:

• Bon Jovi - "Livin' on a Prayer"
• Steve Miller Band - "Rock 'n Me"
• Joan Jett - "Bad Reputation"
• Social Distortion - "I Was Wrong"
• Rage Against the Machine - "Testify"
• Avenged Sevenfold - "Almost Easy"
• Billy Idol - "White Wedding Pt. 1"

Notice that every single one of these songs are on the earlier leaked list from 8bitfix, so that increases the possibility the rest of the songs on the list are correct. Other improvements disclosed in the extensive article include a more user-friendly lag calibration, quieter buttons on the guitar and quieter pads on the drums, simulated tuning during loading screens and more.

Ion, a maker of real drum kits, will release a premium Rock Band drum kit which will have "amazing" cymbals and pads, and the option to plug it into a real drum brain and for usage as a real electronic drum kit. Harmonix will also be producing limited edition guitars by taking a couple of real Fender Strats, ripping out the insides, and replacing each one of them with Rock Band parts. Sounds fancy, and very expensive. Who's first in line to sell their organs for one?

[Via Joystiq]

So, by now you should all be familiar with Jonathan Coulton's "Still Alive" aka "The Portal Song." In case you don't recognize the name, perhaps listening to the dude sing it himself would make you remember. If not, then you probably didn't play Portal and therefore the song becomes a lie. Anyway, the popular song will be available for free on Rock Band this coming April 17.

Why so late as compared to the Xbox 360 gamers who are getting it tomorrow? Did you already forget that the PSN is undergoing a redesign? Seriously guys, we might have to check you into the doctor for all that sudden memory loss.

[Via Joystiq]

We're sharing the same enthusiasm our Joystiq brothers are feeling over the new Rock Band store. So, when we heard about the store finally up and running, we immediately fired up our PS3 copies and upgraded to version 1.03 to test it out.

The store is definitely pretty with CD cover art for all musicians. It's also informative on the song choices; the previously known ability to preview songs and see difficulty ratings for individual instruments is a major plus. Purchasing songs is quick and easy.

Those are the good parts, but some things are not that great. For example, songs can't be bought in a batch like on the PSN, and must be bought individually (unless you're buying an artist pack). Unfortunately, to play your freshly downloaded songs, you'll still have to exit the game and install the tracks on your PS3. While the latter criticism is something we didn't expect to happen anyway, it does make the swiftness of an in-game store a tad cumbersome. In short, the store is good at driving a sale; it just needs to work on getting those tracks integrated quicker. That was the whole point of the store, was it not?

[Update: Just to clarify, the game does install tracks, but only when you download songs one at a time and if you wait until the song fully downloads. If you choose to 'perform in the background' and/or proceed to get more songs, you'll have to install manually and exit the game.]

FCC employees must have had a lot of fun testing out this one. Though the hipsters might call it Exhibit VFR822151, to the layman it's the Bluetooth-enabled wireless Rock Band guitar for the PlayStation 3. Shown on the site are some test reports, pictures of the guitar's innards (ew!) and snippets of the manual.

Somewhat perplexing is the picture of a USB dongle (pictured after the break). Because of the Bluetooth technology, the guitar shouldn't need an intermediary device to connect to the PlayStation 3; however, the user manual included with the FCC exhibit clearly show the dongle as part of the setup process. Perhaps it'll become clearer closer to Rock Band's holiday launch.

[Via Engadget]

You know you're awesome at guitar games, and you want everyone to know it. Well here's your chance to rock out with your mock guitar out (or mic or drum kit, if you are so inclined) and maybe even appear on MTV.

Beginning September 9th and continuing until December 13th, be on the look out for the Rock Band big rig at various cities in the contiguous 48 states. You can try out the game on a real life stage with lights and sound systems. Not only that, participants will be video taped and possibly be cast for one of two bands to appear on MTV's TRL.

Let's just hope they hook up the PS3 with wireless guitars so wanna-be rockers can bust out some backflips while playing.

[via Joystiq]

On of our eagle-eyed readers has noticed that the Gamestop and Amazon Rock Band cover art has been replaced. Now, instead of a bland DVD box (we hope that uninspired art is a placeholder), we can see the box that the bundle will come in. Only the PS3 version has been changed, the 360 version has remained the same. There's not a whole lot more to say about it, except: how exciting!

There's nothing like buying a game and getting a huge box full of stuff. Right? Though we're curious. How are they going to fit a guitar and drum kit into that box? Unless it's some Ikea style flat-pack deal. Flat-pack video games. Whatever next?

[Thanks Jared!]

If you've been following Rock Band news at all, you're probably aware that there are going to be bundles where you buy the game and get the instruments as well. No, there aren't any official prices, but that's okay because it's starting to seem like the PS3 is going to give you a mighty fine deal. Amazon and Gamestop both list the bundles for $199, except the PS3 version comes with a wireless guitar whereas the 360 version has a wired guitar.

We're not exactly sure if this is going to be the final prices or availability of the game and its instruments, but if it is, why is the PS3 getting a wireless guitar for the same price as the 360's wired one? The folks in charge of Rock Band certainly have some SKU control to take care of before the game releases, or else there are going to be a lot of questions, problems, and ambiguous answers for their pricing and controller bundles. Still, if the PS3 gets a wireless guitar for $20 less than the competition, we're not going to complain.

[via Joystiq]

Was there any doubt that LittleBigPlanet is the most original game of E3? The Game Critics Awards have named Media Molecule's 2D wonder the "Best Original Game" of E3 this year (a week after we named it the best PS3 game; and Joystiq also named it the "Best Original Game").

In addition, Killzone earned special honors in graphics -- it didn't match the visual fidelity of the original trailer, but boy did it get close.

Finally, the Game of the Show was Rock Band ... a multiplatform release that'll find its way on PS3. Not a bad line-up of awards for the PS3, no?

[Via PlayStation.blog]

Behold. The first gameplay footage from Rock Band. The great thing about this video is that it shows what's going on off-screen as well as on-screen. Though the people playing are a little over the top, they're also very good. That song looks incredibly hard, for all involved.

The drumset pleases us. Especially after the worries we had when we head it described as a "dinner tray stand". It's also great to see that you can use wooden drumsticks, which means that the hardware will have to be fairly well built. This game presses all of our buttons and we can't wait to see more. Here's hoping some song titles are released during E3.

Harmonix was just getting us warmed up, it seems. Instead of the five fret buttons we've grown accustomed to on the past Guitar Hero series, the Rock Band official Stratocaster-based guitar controller displays ten fret buttons. On the second pic embedded below, you'll notice the five new buttons down at the base of the neck. We can only imagine what kind of sick guitar solo action Harmonix has in store for us with these.

The pics arrive courtesy of a Gamestop newsletter, which also details the new features embedded into the guitar controller. As we reported earlier, guitar effects will play a large role, allowing the player to flange, wah, reverb and delay their way into guitar gaming bliss. No official pricing was included at this time, though we wouldn't be surprised to see something closer to $79.99 or thereabouts for the controller alone. Price be damned, we're still going to have to give this bad boy a spin. Anyone else?

Emphasis is on the online play, with a strong community based system (read: Myspace clone) for finding other bandmates, the ability to create a band logo and to customise your avatar. There is no clarification of whether PS3 and 360 users will be able to play together. We strongly hope they will. Due to Microsoft requiring special circuit boards for their peripherals, the controllers will be console specific.

The guitars will have ten frets. The normal five near the top of the neck and an extra five near the bottom, used exclusively for solos. There is also a five-way effects switch, with purchasable effects such as Flange and Wah. We've always wanted to fit those words into a post. USB microphones will be supported, giving us another reason to pick up Singstar when it's released. The drum controller promises to be a "TV dinner tray stand, only cooler," which could go either way, really. We hope it'll be a decent sized piece of equipment. It will come with wooden drum sticks and have four pads to hit with them.

Check out the rest of the details at NeoGAF and, if you want to see the accompanying images, pick up the latest issue of Game Informer. We certainly will.

[Via CVG]

When asked whether Rock Band would feature strong single player gameplay for each instrument Rigopulos responded, saying "I can't speak to what Activision has planned for future versions of Guitar Hero, but what I can say is that Rock Band's guitar game alone will be more substantial than any of the prior Guitar Hero releases." He then goes on to remind us that there will be a singing section, a drum section and a co-operative band section on top of the guitar portion of the game. If each of these four game modes are as big as he is indicating then Rock Band is going to be truly immense. I can already hear RedOctane quaking in their boots.

As for those potentially bank-breaking controllers, Rigopulos says that making a game like Rock Band requires good quality peripherals to enhance the gameplay experience. As a development team full of musicians, Harmonix is determined to make the controllers for Rock Band feel more authentic than any instrument peripheral we've seen before. As a drummer himself, Rigopulos has seen to it that the new drum controller is "a real piece of hardware."

Read the rest of the interview for more info. Also, don't forget to suggest which songs you'd like to see in the game on the official website. Our excitement for Rock Band is peaked (until Harmonix throws some gameplay info our way, at least), how about you?

Those of you who are keeping an eye on the official Rock Band website will notice something new today. Harmonix is requesting that their fans, fervent and obsessive as we are about our virtual music playing tastes, send them song suggestions for their upcoming title.

We hope Harmonix is ready for what will no doubt be an unyileding barrage of track names crammed into their inbox. This is a great opportunity for us who found the Guitar Hero II tracklist lacking to make the songs available for Rock Band really stand out. So do your part and submit some classic tunes for us to rock out to when the game is released at Christmas. Once you've done that, post a comment and let us know what it was you suggested. We're curious.

If you feel like suggesting some songs by Jimmy Eat World, Bloc Party, Arcade Fire, Snow Patrol or Something Corporate then go for it. Transparent? Maybe. An opportunity we'd be silly to pass up? Definitely.

[Via Joystiq]

Harmonix have signed an exclusive deal with Fender, guitar maker extraordinaire, to design the upcoming Rock Band controller around their ultra-popular Stratocaster model. There's a bit more teaser information on the game itself to follow.

When asked about whether the new controllers will be compatible with Guitar Hero III onwards, or vice-versa, Harmonix responded saying that they would love for that to be the case. Guitar Hero I and II controllers will be compatible with Rock Band (cutting the price slightly for those wanting the Ultimate Rock Band experience), but that the new controllers would have a couple of new features over the old ones. Whether the new Fender Strat controllers will be compatible with Guitar Hero III, however, is up to Activision but is something the guys at Harmonix would be very interested in making happen.

Responding to worries of a lack of single player mode, due to the apparent focus on online-play, Harmonix made sure to reassure everyone that there will be a "deep, complete solo experience" for each of the different instruments. So that Guitar Hero, Donkey Konga, Singstar combination idea you thought up down the pub last year is even closer than you think. As for fears that the online play might be ruined by lag, we're told not to worry. It's a problem "for which we have a unique solution...and it's a heck of a lot of fun in action."