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NEWS: Sgt. Pepper coming to The Beatles Rock Band

Dan Sung — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 16:29:06 +0000

Second downloadable album available for 60s rhythm game hit

It was 2 months ago today, that Rock Band let us play, a truck load of Beatles songs, so that we could all sing along. Now may I introduce to you, the pack we've all wanted for years - Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band!

Yes, Harmonix and Apple Corps. have been generous enough to let their adoring fans spend more money on more tracks for The Beatles Rock Band. It's the second such downloadable album for the game after Abbey Road was announced at launch and became available last month.

The album pack will be out from 17 November on Xbox 360 and Wii, costs ?7.49 and consists of:

Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band singles: “Fixing A Hole,” “She’s Leaving Home,” “Being For The Benefit of Mr. Kite!,” “Within You Without You,” “When I’m Sixty-Four,” “Lovely Rita,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band (Reprise)” and “A Day In The Life.”

The individual tracks are also available for 99p each.

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NEWS: Rock Band is still not profitable, says Viacom

Duncan Geere — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:51 +0000

Making plastic instruments proves costly

Viacom has admitted that its Rock Band series is still not making any cash - on the contrary, it's losing the company money. Viacom's chief financial officer, Tom Dooley, admitted in a quarterly earnings report that "Rock Band was a negative contributor to margins in the third quarter".

He added: "We expect it to break even or be slightly profitable in the fourth quarter from a margin point of view. It really depends on how many units we sell in the holiday season".

The big problem is that making the plastic guitars, drums and microphones is expensive. The company's plan, it seems, revolves around getting those controllers into as many into people's homes as possible, then selling them future games in the franchise that cost both the company and the consumer less.

To that end, both Rock Band 2 and Beatles: Rock Band are compatible with older controllers on the same platform, but it seems to be a pretty long-term strategy. Having said that, Beatles Rock Band is apparently doing reasonably well - "the economics of our Rock Band franchise are improving, though not as quickly as we'd like", said Viacom's CEO, Philippe Daumann.

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Tags: Gaming Rock Band Viacom MTV Biz

Rock Band is still not profitable, says Viacom originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Thu, 05 Nov 2009 18:05:51 +0000

NEWS: The Who: Rock Band on the way

Duncan Geere — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:20:38 +0000

Beatles follow up due in 2010, claims Roger Daltrey

Roger Daltrey, the lead singer in The Who, has revealed that his band will be the stars of the next edition of the plastic-controller music series Rock Band. The singer confirmed the move to the Republican in an interview.

Daltrey, when asked about Beatles: Rock Band, replied: "The game, yeah, yeah, they're going to be doing a Who one next year. There is one planned. (The idea) is fabulous. Anything that gets non-musical people interested in music is wonderful. In my opinion, music is our last true great freedom. They can burn our books, they can burn our paintings, but they can't stop us singing and making music".

He's changed his tune somewhat from the middle of 2008, when he said that he had tried Rock Band but that it "bored" him. He said that back in the 60s, "all we had was music". "There was nothing else. There was cinema, music and sex. Life was better". Perhaps seeing how much the Beatles are making off the game changed his tune.

Still, Who fans will be pleased to hear about the development, which remains unconfirmed by Harmonix. A spokesperson said, on the subject, ""We're working closely with The Who on what's next, but don't have anything new to announce at this time".

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Tags: Gaming The Who Music Music games Rock Band Harmonix

The Who: Rock Band on the way originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:20:38 +0000

NEWS: Altec Lansing launches Stage-Gig speaker

Duncan Geere — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:48:04 +0100

Make Rock Band or Guitar Hero sound awesome

Let's be honest here - TV speakers are a bit weedy. Unless you've got a meaty pair of speakers hooked up to your television, odds are that you're not getting the best sound experience out of your games console, particularly when it comes to music games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero.

So Altec Lansing has decided to do something about it and launch an amplified monitor speaker specifically designed for video games. It's not quite as weighty as it looks - it puts out 40W from a 6.5-inch woofer, but that'll still upset your neighbours quite considerably.

There's a great big volume knob, along with RCA outputs for hooking up even more speakers. It also has a "grab and go" handle to make life a little easier for your roadies. It's pricey for its specs - $100 - and it'll be available in early November in the US. No word on the UK release date yet.

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Tags: Gaming Audio Altec Lansing Altec-Lansing Stage-Gig Rock Band Guitar Hero

Altec Lansing launches Stage-Gig speaker originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Fri, 23 Oct 2009 09:48:04 +0100

NEWS: Rock Band now available in App Store

Duncan Geere — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:50:10 +0100

Complete with four-person multiplayer mode

Exactly as rumoured, Rock Band for the iPhone has now appeared in the App Store. EA made the app official shortly after the game was spotted in a mobile showreel for the company, and it's now available in the App Store for ?6 or $10, depending on which side of the Atlantic you reside on.

?The game shares a lot of its mechanics with the Tap Tap Revenge series (which in turn took its cues from the console versions of Rock Band and Guitar Hero). You simply tap the screen in time with the music to play notes, and missing one will reset your score multiplier. Overdrive is present, as is the star ratings system from the console versions.

You can pick from guitar, bass, drums and vocals, though they're all performed by tapping the screen so there isn't much difference between them. You can't sing into the iPhone, unfortunately. Multiplayer is present - up to four players through Bluetooth, complete with Facebook Connect to make it more easy to rope your friends in.

There's 20 songs that come with the game, and more that you can buy from an in-game store. Here's the full tracklisting, which seems pretty similar to the Rock Band 2 tracklist:

"Attack" – 30 Seconds To Mars
"Girls Not Grey" – AFI
"Move Along" – All American Rejects
"Sabotage" – Beastie Boys
"All The Small Things" – Blink-182
"Hanging on the Telephone" – Blondie
"Learn To Fly" – Foo Fighters
"Everlong" – Foo Fighters
"Bad to The Bone" – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
"Hymn 43″ – Jethro Tull
"Bad Reputation" – Joan Jett
"Simple Man" – Lynard Skynard
"Ace of Spades ‘08″ – Motorhead
"Debaser" – Pixies
"Ladybug" – Presidents of The United States of America
"Give It All" – Rise Against
"Lazy Eye" – Silversun Pick Ups
"Cherub Rock" – Smashing Pumpkins
"Take The Money and Run" – Steve Miller Band
"We Got The Beat" – The Go Go's

If you pick it up on your handset, let us know what the experience is like in the comments below. Does the iPhone 3G have enough power to let the game run smoothly? We imagine it wouldn't be much fun if it were jerky...

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Tags: Gaming Phones Mobile phones iPhone App Store Apple Rock Band EA Tap Tap Revenge

Rock Band now available in App Store originally appeared on http://www.pocket-lint.com on Mon, 19 Oct 2009 10:50:10 +0100

NEWS: Tekken and Rock Band coming to iPhone

Duncan Geere — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:30:33 +0100

Developers shifting focus to Apple

Both EA and Namco appear to be planning iPhone versions of their popular video game franchises - Rock Band and Tekken, respectively. Both games are in development, with Rock Band seeming to be the one that'll be appearing first.

Rock Band is already available on several mobile devices, but judging from a demo reel of EA Mobile's portfolio, spotted by CrunchGear, the game is firmly in the works with a video showing notes flowing down a fretboard and four plectrum-shaped buttons at the bottom for triggering them. It'll apparently have premium content downloadable, and four player multiplayer via Bluetooth.

Tekken for the iPhone, on the other hand, has been outed by Jonathan Kromray - Namco's head of its Apple Games division. Speaking to the Washington Post, he said: "If we can take Tekken and make it really fun to play on the iPhone, then we will. We do have a back catalogue of Japanese games that we're working on, as well as some new IP".

We'll keep you posted on the progress of both games as we get new information.

NEWS: Rock Band gets ten-song Queen pack

Duncan Geere — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 11:04:27 +0100

Fat Bottomed Girls are coming your way

Harmonix has announced a ten-song pack of downloadable content for Rock Band. The songs are all from one band - British rock legends Queen. The pack comprises of:

Another One Bites the Dust, Crazy Little Thing Called Love, One Vision, Fat Bottomed Girls, I Want It All, I Want to Break Free, Killer Queen, Somebody to Love, Tie Your Mother Down, and Under Pressure.

The band is about to release another best-of collection - this time compiling its three best-of collections into a single CD titled "Absolute Greatest". All the songs in the pack are on the record, except Fat Bottomed Girls and Tie Your Mother Down.

The DLC pack will be available on 20 October.

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