Kotaku
Fuckin. A. EA and Harmonix have just announced that Rock Band will feature two very important things. The first is that entire albums will be made available for download as playable entities, with The Who's Who's Next to be the first offered. Which is awesome. Awesomer is news that Metallica are onboard for the game, with Enter Sandman to ship on the game's pack-in disc and further tracks to ship as downloads. Give me a playable Master of Puppets, Harmonix, and I might just get a little crazy. Epic duet of press releases after the jump.
Metallica Lets Fans Dig Deeper with Rock BandTM
Harmonix, MTV Games and the Superstar Band Bring Multiple Tracks to Rock Band Videogame
Game Disc to Feature The Band's Iconic Hit "Enter Sandman"
SANTA MONICA, CA - July 11, 2007- Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, MTV Games, a division of MTV Networks which is a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and rock icons Metallica announced today a deal that will showcase the incredible depth of the band's music in the highly anticipated videogame Rock Band™. The Grammy-award winning thrashers are making key tracks from their celebrated catalog available as digitally-distributed game levels. The incomparable metal song "Enter Sandman," will ship on the game's disc this holiday season.
"Metallica is one of the best loved bands in the world and their albums redefined hard rock and metal. Its one of the bands we had to bring to the Rock Band experience," said Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO of Harmonix. "Rock Band will allow gamers to jam with the guys through their long, successful career, from young, raw talent to mega stars, playing the hard-rocking sounds that the band is known for."
Distributed by Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS), Rock Band is a new platform for music fans and gamers to interact with music like never before. Offering four music games in one - Rock Band challenges rockers to master the lead/bass guitar, drums, and vocals or play in a cooperative band experience. Built on unprecedented deals with the world's biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in Rock Band will span all genres of rock and include many of the master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time.
Best known for its thrash-metal sounds, Metallica's 11 albums have sold more than 95 million copies over their 26-year career. Easily one the most influential and intense metal bands of all time, the range of Metallica songs that will be available to Rock Band players will allow them to play along as the history of the genre unfolds.
"Enter Sandman," the first single from the band's self-titled album and one of the best known tracks, is a staple at Metallica's live concerts. VH1 ranked it as the 22nd in its "40 Greatest Metal Songs of All Time."
"Our goal was to bring a deep musical experience to Rock Band by providing not just one song by a player's favorite artist, but a carefully-chosen career-spanning array," stated Paul DeGooyer, MTV's Senior Vice President, Audio, Home Video and Games. "Metallica has never been afraid to let their fans get closer, and now those fans will be able to inhabit this incredible music in a completely new way."
Rock Band is slated for release on Xbox 360™ video game and entertainment system from Microsoft® and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system this Holiday 2007. For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.
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MTV Games & Harmonix Announce Upcoming Rock BandTM To Become First Videogame Ever to Offer Digitally-Distributed Game Levels Based On Full-Length Albums
Developer Will Publish New Downloadable Content Every Week After Game's Release
Who's Next by Legendary Universal Music Group Artist The Who, to be First Album Available for Download; First 16 Rock Band Songs Officially Announced
SANTA MONICA, CA - July 11, 2007- Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, and MTV Games, a division of MTV Networks which is a division of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), announced today that one of the most influential records in rock history, The Who's iconic Who's Next, will become the first full length album available as a digitally-distributed game level for the upcoming videogame Rock Band™ - a first ever offering for a videogame. In addition to announcing full-length album availability, MTV Games and Harmonix also announced the first 16 Rock Band songs, spanning every genre of rock from alternative to classic to heavy metal. As previously announced Electronic Arts (NASDAQ: ERTS) will serve as the exclusive distribution and marketing partner for Rock Band, managing distribution for the game in US, Europe and Australia.
"Offering entire albums for play on the Rock Band platform is a monumental step forward in Harmonix's ever present quest to provide new ways for people to interact with music and creating the most authentic music experience possible," stated Alex Rigopulos, co-founder and CEO, Harmonix. "This will give players the opportunity to play through the entire album set list of arguably some of the most influential rock albums of all time and brings them one step closer to what it feels like to be a true rock star."
Who's Next will be the first album available for Rock Band owners to purchase soon after the game's release with new content planned every week following Rock Band's launch this Holiday. Universal Music Group along with other top record labels and music publishers announced earlier this year an unprecedented partnership with Harmonix and MTV to provide music for Rock Band, with this artist being the first of many being announced in the months ahead.
"Rock Band empowers users to interact with the music they love in a completely new way. This type of consumer engagement is vital in today's marketplace. We fully support licensing opportunities that allow consumers to have their music their way and it's a home run because of its cultural relevance," said Mike Davis, EVP/GM, Universal Music Enterprises.
"The Who's Who's Next is crystallized as one of the great moments in music history," stated Jeff Yapp, EVP, MTV Program Enterprises. "This is the first of many legendary albums available for download in Rock Band as a digitally-distributed game level. This enables us to connect music fans and gamers with the artists and songs they want to play so they can experience these historic moments through Rock Band."
The Who's Who's Next (1971 Release)
1. "Baba O'Riley"
2. "Bargain"
3. "Love Ain't for Keepin'"
4. "My Wife (Entwistle)"
5. "The Song Is Over"
6. "Getting in Tune"
7. "Going Movile"
8. "Behind Blue Eyes"
9. "Won't Get Fooled Again"
Influential British rock band The Who, featuring legendary guitarist Pete Townshend, has agreed to make its 1971 album Who's Next the first downloadable album available for Rock Band gamers. Considered by many to be The Who's greatest album, Who's Next has also been named one of the best albums of all time by VH1 (#13) and Rolling Stone (#28).
Comments
niiiiice....
wow this game is gonna rock,
all I need from Metallica is Harvester of Sorrows
i guess they can always add Led Zeppelin as a DL
just one led zeppelin song would be great
"Achilles Last Stand" FTW!
I think this just about ties it up for Rock Band. Poor GH3.
christ I want this
I think i just shit myself.
I cant WAIT to bring this to parties!
Gimme fuel
Gimme fire
Gimme that which I desire
Wow.. This could be awesome
drool.....
I want it, but have they announced what this fucker is going to cost officially yet?
I think the cost of the game with the necessary controllers to play it is going to be very prohibitive to most everybody except the hardcore. It sounds good, but I don't want to play drums or sing and don't want to pay for the controllers nor have to store them, so Guitar Hero 3 still has my vote.
But I've gotta say, they're going on the right direction with this downloadable album thing. I hope Guitar Hero copies that shit.
I CANNOT wait to download The Who's album. Best idea for DLC ever to give full albums to play. Good job Harmonix
All news about this game has been great but this is definetly the best news about this game so far.
@iameleveneight:
I think the full bundle is around $199 US
I agree with Luke, Give me Master of Puppets and things just might get a little crazy up in ha...
is anyone elses view all messed up? The main page is loading a whole bunch of stuff layered on top of each other. its crazy! i tried it in both ie and firefox, please tell me its not just me.
Guitar Wars: Rock Band strikes back
This game can't get any better (unless they announce the microphone to be wireless). It's time to pull out the old shirts and maybe even possible grow a mullet!
Baba O'Riley.
Can't f'ing wait.
MetallicA on there ... I am sold! GH3 who?
The only downside to them putting out DLC is if they really will come through with it
I mean GH II for the 360 got shafted and got no DLC after the first 3 song packs
@jebus2477:
That is because GH3 is coming out!
@EnigmaNemesis: GH II was released in April and Harmonix promised us that they would give us an abundance of DLC. Granted you have GH III coming out but at least make good on something you said...
Whats sad is im complaining about all of this and I still totally plan on buying GH III and Rock Band w/ the Full Bundle LOL
can't wait to see the near-riots caused by the overpricing of this DLC...
@jebus2477:
I'm hoping they'll use the negative response to GH2's pitiful DLC to their advantage and release loads. Even one whole album confirmed for DLC is more than what GH2 has had in months.
IMO, with MTVs music clout and Harmonix's passion for the game there'll hopefully be plenty to download.
Anyhow, this game is getting better and better. I've hardly any reason to get GH3 now, unless they let the Rock Band guitar work on it.
Who's Next is one of the best albums in history. I'm not kidding.
"Darkness imprisoning me
All that I see
Absolute horror
I cannot live
I cannot die
Trapped in myself
Body my holding cell
Landmine has taken my sight
Taken my speech
Taken my hearing
Taken my arms
Taken my legs
Taken my soul
Left me with life in hell"
@jebus2477:
I thought Harmonix doesn't do the GH series anymore?!
Ah Metallica. Just like Megadeath without the talent.
*runs*
@Top Shelf 333: Absolutely, Who's Next is one of the best albums of all time... Now if they could get Quadrophenia too, I would wet myself.
*sob* Its so beautiful *sob*
Are you saying I can play Enter Sandman and Baba O'Riley on the same game? Done. Day one purchase.
@H2oGatesy:
\m/ o.o \m/
M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-M-MEEEEEEGAAATONNNNNNNNNN!
@H2oGatesy:
hell yea! "One" should be in rockband
IT'S A TEENAGE WASTELAND
@jebus2477:
[kotaku.com]
I guess your questions are answered! Of course why would you want to ask so much for this overprice stuff is beyond me! (of course Rock Band could be too, but lets hope they learn).
Does anyone know if the guitar from GH will work with rock band and vice-versa?
I'm automatically getting this game plus all peripherals just for Who's Next.
It's not the full album though. Why claim entire albums if the first one they release isn't full?
And where is Water? I was looking forward to wailing like Daltry on that one!
"We need water... or maybe somebody's daughter"
Sweet freakin' jumpin' motherfuckin' Jesus!
I'm buying this game, drums and all!
Wooo!
Give me One and Fade to Black.
That's all I ask.
@zozart: I thought that Red Octane & Activision was taking care of all the GHII stuff???
Well, it's certainly about time for this idea. I might quibble about which records they pick, but ultimately, good things will probably come of this.
@Rocky1115: As I understood it the only thing that Harmonix did for the download content on GH2 was convert the songs so they would work in the 360 game, the whole pricing mess was Activion's fault.
I sense a disturbance in the force...
why are people so stupid about Rock Band?
IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A GUITAR HERO CONTROLLER AND ONLY WANT TO PLAY GUITAR, YOU CAN SIMPLY BUY THE ROCK BAND GAME WITH NO PERIPHERALS FOR STANDARD $59.99 MSRP AND USE YOUR GH CONTROLLER AND PLAY IT JUST LIKE GUITAR FREAKING HERO!!!
idiots. sheesh.
Actually that is the whole album for the WHO'S Next what you might have is a reprint on cd. But the actual album is the songs listed:)
I'll probably stick with Guitar Hero. I don't like feeling like I'm only playing 1/4 of the game and I'm having my doubts of how much quality the transfers to the game the songs are going to have with the sheer number of songs they are transferring into the game. That, and it seems like there is too much focus on DLC, which will probably make the game get really expensive really quickly.
@LordPoochie:
Who's Next is one of the best albums in history. I'm not kidding.
Why would you be? Any one who disagrees with you is just fucking nuts. :)
Seriously, after Nintendo's pieces of plastic and a green 360, I'm pretty sure all the best news this week will be Rock Band-related.
Ugh nu-metallica. I tried to love the black album but that was the day my love for them faded, and it has diminished BIG TIME ever since, as they parade and preen around, egos unchecked. *sigh* What happened to their anti-video stance? Now they slop out shit videos left right and center, again due to the Cack album as I know and loath it by.
'One' is a metal classic, Enter Sandman is an average song at best.
All in my opinion of course ;)
Anyway Rock Band is going to be HUGE!
Can't wait!!1
Say goodbye to the last chance of real micropayment.
Evidently the relative flop of GH2 downloadable content wasn't flop enough to justify a change of pace in MS strategies: now we will compelled to buy a whole album (that will be priced accordingly, surely not even near to the concept of micropayments) even if you are interested in just one or two songs.
I guess that fewer people will buy contents. It's clear that companies aren't really interested on creating a long-term relationship with users that will bear long-term profit, they just want to cash more and stat on a few of them, as long the margins are higher enough.
I'm beginning to hate this pointless Western Otaku-oriented economy.
Umm, if you like the band, what's so bad about buying their whole album?
Guitar Hero 2's packs are bad because they mix up 3 random bands, not to mention they're too costly as well.
If Harmonix is charging 500 points for 3 songs from GH1, how much are they going to charge for a whole album in Rock Band. 1000 points? $12.50? or more?
Can you play Bass in Rock Band, because getting to lay down some Entwistle lines would be awesome.
I love how every time Metallica gets brought up in conversation, there is always that one fuckin' moronic metalhead that is all like "Metallica is teh suxx0rs now, they does not plays teh hardc0re metols no more!".
Seriously, they changed their style of music because they got tired of playing the same thing over and over again. Both James and Lars have said as much. After four albums of pure thrash they had pretty much felt like they did it all already and they wanted to grow a little a musicians.
Obviously somebody liked the Black album, if it turned out to be one of the biggest albums of all time.
How about expanding your musical palette a little and getting over it, eh?
Woo Enter Sandman is one of my Karaoke favourites what with my manly manly gravely singing voice and all. Hope they have Motley Crue "Girls Girls Girls" available as DL
@MakoAoyama: You dont have to be a "moronic metal head" to be critical of Metallica's career direction. I personally rarely listen to metal, mainly indie rock and electronica though I am open to all styles. It's just that they could have gone the Radiohead route, being braver, more experimental, pushing boundaries (especially after the success of Black), but they just moved further into the middle of the road. And are now ironically playing the same shit over and over, except this shit is bland and uninspiring imo. So many bands piss all over Metallica now its untrue. But then my tastes are different and I guess they evolved further than Messrs Ulrich/Hetfield.
Shouldn't it be "Fuckin' Eh!"?
@ZombieAlmeida: Although I fail to see how Load and ReLoad were "middle of the road", as I always saw them as excellent hard rock albums and highly experimental(for Metallica anyway), I'll give you St. Anger.
Not a lot of people liked that album, even I have to be in the mood for it when I do listen to it. It's just to damn rough around the edges and the lack of solos was disappointing to say the least.
I just think Metallica takes WAY too much shit from people. People tend to jump on the "hate Metallica" band wagon for no reason other than because everyone else does.
There ARE better bands out there, but Metallica DOES still make good music. People(usually the "moronic metal heads") just won't give it a chance because it doesn't sound exactly fuckin' like Master of Puppets.
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