It was a feature that seemed bizarrely lacking when Rock Band launched, a way to buy the downloadable songs in-game. It felt clunky having to quit the game to buy songs, I mean you want to make it as easy as possible… right?

Well, thanks to a patch releasing today, now we’ll be able to do just that. But that’s not all, we’ll also be able to listen to a preview of the song before buying it! This will not only boost impulse buys but it’ll keep me from going to iTunes to listen to the track ahead of time. In addition to all that there’s also going to be info about the song/artist as well as the difficulties of the individual parts.

While they’re at it they’re patching a few other issues here and there, and it’s all good stuff. I’m no fan of these post release patches, but this one definitely adds some much needed features. Kudos.

[Game|Life]

This one was circling the interwebs late last night, and I found it too titillating not to share. Now that some of the long-awaited Rock Band accessories are starting to hit store shelves there’s an interesting tidbit on the packaging that raises a question: is Rock Band coming to the Wii?

As you can see from the picture above, the packaging for the Rock Band microphone clearly states that it’s available for the Playstation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360. At first you might think it’s just a big slip up, but as you can see from the pic below other parts of the packaging mention it and even feature a picture of the console;

That being said, there are a couple of things that do seem to scream that this packaging was done by former/current short-bus/ESL students. First up is the use of the word “FOUR” instead of “FOR.” Pretty basic grammar, and they get it right everywhere else on the packaging. Also — the Playstation 2 isn’t mentioned at all! Now I could be wrong on this, but if the mic works for every other system wouldn’t the same go for the PS2? If anyone out there has the PS2 version of Rock Band and can correct me on this (you guys are using a USB connection too, right?) it would be greatly appreciated.

So we have a few possibilities here — either A) they’re working on a Wii version, which considering the success of this title is entirely possible, or B) the monkeys that assembled and proof-read the packaging took a stab in the dark on what three systems this was on and got it wrong. What say you, EA/Harmonix/our dear readers?

[via The Tanooki]

Lame as it might sound, I’ve been dying to try playing guitar and singing at the same time in Rock Band. A lot of people say it’s harder than you can imagine, but I find myself singing along anyway so I’m dying to give it a try. The only problem? I don’t have a mic stand. At least, I thought I didn’t have a mic stand.

[youtube]5YoptwdzYks[/youtube]

I’m going to be giving this a try real soon. If anybody out there beats me to it (or has an even better solution) we’d love to hear how it’s working out for you!

[via RockGamer.com]

There are people who rock out, and there are people who rock out. This product, which is expected to release on 6/23/2008, is for the latter of the two. Destructoid caught a glimpse of a new item listed at GameStop called Rock Band Stage Kit. According to the image they managed to capture before it quickly got yanked (hop on over to their site to see it), it’s described as an “Interactive Light and Smoke Stage Show”. Starting this summer it’s possible I will be putting on shows out of my living room. Bring your earplugs and please remind me to turn my smoke detectors off.

[Destructoid]

It’s no secret, Dan likes Rock Band. It’s also no secret that while I find it innovative and an amazingly brilliant concept, I still don’t think it even came close to reaching its full potential. You could say that I’m still a guitar hero. So Dan, this one’s for you. Here is what you really sound like when you are playing this game, you rock star you.

ps - Please don’t fire me. kthxbai.

[games radar]

“Let’s talk about” is a new review format we tried out with Assassin’s Creed and I think turned out pretty well. What you end up with is a review that reads more like a conversation and you hear a few people’s opinion, instead of just one. Part one today, part two on Monday.

So, let’s talk about Rock Band!

There’s a few timeless moments I’ve had playing video games, and last Wednesday night was one of them. Getting a room full of people together to play Rock Band was immensely enjoyable and when everyone was into it, euphoric even. I think we played closed to 4 hours and in NO WAY did it feel like it. I’d occasionally worry about the noise we were creating, but my caring quickly went out the window when it came time to pick another song. Hell, I loved playing this game in a group so much I didn’t even mind singing! The game succeeds in the sense that I felt like a damn rock star. It’s still solid as a stand alone game, but it really does pale in comparison to the co-op.

But one of the reasons the single player campaign game can’t compete is because the deep “Band Tour Mode” is unavailable if you’re playing alone. This is truly a shame since it’s essentially where the game lies. Band names, multi-song setlists, different locales, tour buses and all the other things that make up a tour. Single player is pretty much just playing one song after another, which is cool…. but not as cool as the whole Tour thing. I understand what they were going for, but not all of us are going to have people around to join in all the time and it seems unfair for those of us out there to miss out on such a HUGE part of the game. Would it really have been so difficult to let people play through the Tour mode in single player?

Do you feel a bit cheated by the lack of single-player game modes, or is it just me?

DanZ

Continue Reading »

So I was a few hours into playing Rock Band tonight when I was prompted to install a patch. “Hmm, that seems soon” I thought to myself… “Wonder what’s wrong?” But before I knew it the file was downloaded and I was back to playing… or so I thought.

On fast notes (machine-gun notes) I noticed all the sudden I was missing every 4th or 5th note! I hooked up the GH3 guitar and had no problems whatsoever. Went back to the RB guitar and it started happening again.

So I hit the Rock Band forums and it seems I’m not the only one, not by a long shot.

Seems some people had problems out of the gate, but a bunch of people are reporting problems post-patch. Both platforms are reporting problems but is more commonly reported on the 360 side, probably on account of the patch.

And it’s mostly related to downstrumming on the guitar. I actually tested this out myself but doing entire fast patterns with nothing but upstrums and had no issues, but downstrums caused many missed notes.

So anyone else out there? Hopefully we’ll hear something official soon.