Called the "New York City" pack, it will include three songs from a recent live performance in NYC: Jet, Band on the Run and Sing the Changes. Or, as per usual, you could just download them individually.

They'll hit Xbox Live on January 5, and the PSN on January 7.

As you can see, the band's rocking out to "American Idiot" with note highways, band shots, the works. And then as if to drive home the point, the title card Green Day: Rock Band slams over it at the end. Sounds rather definite to me. I guess we shall know if this is for-sure real or not in about 90 minutes, right?

MTV Teases 'Green Day: Rock Band' [Joystiq]

Sure, Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury might have passed, but including a virtual representation of him in LEGO Rock Band is okay, since it's just adorable. Besides, he wasn't the voice of a generation, like other deceased lead singers we could mention.

Check out a clip of LEGO Queen declaring themselves the LEGO champions in the LEGO gallery below. Also, LEGO.

I didn't, which means I missed a bit of Jack Black cosplay.

Never mind the whole Kanye West/Taylor Swift imbroglio or the Lady Gaga performance blood bath, I didn't get a chance to see Black walk the carpet as Brutal Legend hero Eddie Riggs.

MTV Multiplayer's Russ Frushtick says Black was wearing a muscle shirt, head banger's wig and sporting a ginormous ax. He really should have brought a legion of Headbangers with him to complete the look.

VMAs Feature Jack Black Dressed As Eddie Riggs Of 'Brutal Legend' [MTV Multiplayer]

While several bands have gotten their own standalone music titles, none have gotten nearly the sort of treatment Harmonix has given The Beatles: Rock Band. Not only is the track list solely comprised of some of The Beatles' greatest hits without any filler bands clogging up the works, the Fab Four even scored exclusive plastic instruments and a new vocal harmonizing feature in order to ensure as accurate an experience as possible.

Did the extra added attention to details pay off, or will your plastic guitars gently weep little plastic tears? Only the assembled game critics know for sure...

GameTrailers
The Beatles: Rock Band is part music game, part interactive documentary. The music game part is a reasonable facsimile of past Rock Band games, with many of the same modes and features you've become accustomed to. But the game truly excels when it redrafts that formula to suit the most revered rock band in history. The presence of a story mode might catch you off-guard. It's essentially a stand-in for career mode, but it's hard to dismiss it as such.

GameDaily
It's obvious that nothing's been spared when it comes to the overall presentation. The Fab Four and some of their better-known venues were lovingly recreated as animated illustrations (using the word "cartoon" would be an injustice). As the Beatles went from a pop act to a more studio-based band, the game adds its own trippy graphics (all very reminiscent of the Beatles' Yellow Submarine) that flow in time with the music. The menus are also completely decked out with graphical flourishes, and this entire experience was obviously created with an almost religious sense of reverence

Eurogamer
Four points. First, 45 Beatles songs stack up pretty well next to the 28 Metallica tracks in the box for their Guitar Hero gig, the rest contributed by "friends"; second, how many artists are there who have 45 songs strong enough to justify a commercial release?; third - boring commercial reality time - these songs must cost a staggering amount to license and MTV does not have an infinite vault of money; and fourth, how many tracks on average do you genuinely love in the average Guitar Hero/Rock Band release? Be honest. I can only speak personally here, but every single track on The Beatles: Rock Band, whether it be a particular drum fill, a swooning bassline, ingenious harmony or classic riff, contains a memorable, enjoyable gaming moment.

Strategy Informer
The game modes aren't as extraordinary as the technical aspects, but that, by no means, holds the title back. From Quickplay game modes such as Tug of War and Score Duel, to the Story Mode, there are many reasons to stick around and play The Beatles: Rock Band. Although the vocals are still relegated to singing (or humming, if that's your thing) the right note rather than the correct lyrics, the rest of the gameplay is fantastic. There's not as much feedback through the speakers of the lead singer as there was in Rock Band 2, so it's less about karaoke, and more about enjoying the quality songs put forth by the legendary Beatles. Players are able to add in two extra microphones to their band as six players can now play with two microphones set as harmonizers – so the Rock Band experience is even more extravagant than before.

TeamXbox
What I think is the most interesting aspect of Beatles:RB is its potential in a number of areas: It's altogether possible that it may draw in older gamers who are very familiar with the Beatles' catalog, but aren't much into video games-and anything that grows the user base is a good thing for all of us (though I figure that gamers having their parents and grandparents fighting with them for time on the family game console won't be seen as all that positive). Also, having the Beatles' music introduced to a whole new generation via a video game might finally get the music industry to fully appreciate the game as a viable medium for selling music, which will get more people on board supporting the game industry, which is also a good thing for gamers.

Kotaku
The promise of Harmonix and Apple Corps working together to deliver a new way to experience The Beatles can't help but raise expectations. It doesn't help that early on Harmonix was adamant that what fans would receive would not be Rock Band featuring music from The Beatles. And that eventually, ultimately, is very close to what Harmonix delivered. But while the game's core remained mostly untouched, the developers managed to massage enough new, enough subtlety into the title to deliver something that leaves gamers somehow feeling much more in tune with not just the music of The Beatles, but their personalities. Ultimately, The Beatles: Rock Band is an interesting experiment, one that, while flawed, eventually delivers a new and rewarding experience for music and game fans alike.

It got by with a little help from its critics

Now, that may be true, it may not be true, we'll probably never know. But when you hear Paul McCartney say stuff like this, well...

I haven't, actually [played it]. I'm kind of, you know, looking forward to playing it. My excuse is, I play guitar. I was on the real record. So the idea of pushing buttons and things in time is kind of slightly intriguing for me, but it's actually more interesting to do a show like this...[gestures towards crowd at concert].

You mean over the past 18 months nobody ever put a controller in his hand? Must be a generational thing, because if somebody was making a game based on, well, me, I'd want to at least have a go.

How the Beatles got ready to conquer the world - again [The Observer]

SPOILERS

"The End".

END SPOILERS.

If this checks out (it's unconfirmed for now, but seems likely, as the Abbey Road DLC won't be out until October), was it really worth all the fuss? I mean, nice song and all, and poignant considering the circumstances, but the secrecy around it probably had people thinking it was something a little more...well, worthy of all the secrecy.

We contacted Harmonix for confirmation, and were told...that Harmonix wouldn't comment.

The Beatles Rock Band - (almost) Full song list!! (44/45) [ScoreHero]

So if you own Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and LEGO Rock Band, you can put all your songs in one place, and never have to swap discs ever again. Like Rock Band 2's import feature, there'll be a small fee, but as Rock Band 2 showed, people are willing to pay for that convenience.

Rock Band News: Lego Songs Exportable, Deets on Queen, White Stripes [Wired]

A "competitive analysis" chart obtained by Wired - drawn up to show how Harmonix's Rock Band offerings compare to Guitar Hero's - has revealed that along with the two Queen songs included in LEGO Rock Band, there'll be another ten Queen songs coming as downloadable content next month (only one, "Under Pressure", has been named").

That leaves nine chances for one of them to be Princes of the Universe.

Rock Band News: Lego Songs Exportable, Deets on Queen, White Stripes [Wired]

Asked by MCV whether Harmonix and MTV Games would in 2010 be releasing Rock Band 3 or another "major artist game", MTV's Scott Guthrie has said "We're exploring both – and possibly will do both. The Harmonix development team are working on what is effectively the next game, or ‘Rock Band 3'."

Great! Though we're actually more interested in what "major artist" MTV would follow up after The Beatles. It'd have to be someone big. Our hearts say Led Zeppelin, but our brains say...listen to our hearts.

Great Scott [MCV]

An interview with some of the developers working on The Beatles: Rock Band over at Wired reveals that, in March of this year, Ono turned up on Harmonix's doorstep. With demands.

Ono made specific suggestions, like proposing that the game's final scene-the Beatles' infamous rooftop concert on the Apple Corps building in Knightsbridge-look windier. Her criticism sent Harmonix scurrying to improve the graphics.

MTV's Paul DeGooyer says "She gave the designers hell", while Harmonix's Alex Rigopolous was equally glowing in his praise, saying "She's an artist,"so she was very concerned with the look of the game. She really held our feet to the fire."

Sounds like a real hoot, doesn't she?

The Beatles Make the Leap to Rock Band [Wired]

News of the pack comes via two sources; an ESRB rating and a leaked achievements list, which when combined give us the following songs:

The Haunted: DOA
Blue Oyster Cult: Transmaniacon MC
Nazareth: Hair of the Dog
Hawkwind: Master of the Universe
Motörhead: Killed by Death

Those might be the only songs the pack includes, it might just be a selection from a much larger pack, we don't know. All we do know is, this game needs more [insert favourite metal band from the 80's/90's]

Rock Band: Metal Track Pack to feature Motorhead, Nazareth, more [Joystiq]

[via Joystiq]

Speaking with Games Radar, the ginger fox (and overseer of the upcoming Prince of Persia flick) answers with "I couldn't tell you that. They just haven't quite captured the imagination of the audience yet, but they will. I think it will definitely happen, whether we do it or other people do it."

Well, hopefully you do it. I'm not paying $10-15 just to see Jake Gyllenhaal prance around with his shirt off...more than one or two times.

Can Jerry Bruckheimer attract female gamers? [Games Radar]

The reality show is seeking gamers with an unhealthy attitude toward the hobby, giving you a national basic cable venue through which to vent your spleen and have your psychological addictions empathized with and/or roundly mocked by MTV viewers. MTV producers are looking for people with personal relationship problems or anyone considering going to rehab to kick their gaming habits.

The full description should give you a better idea of what the producers are looking for—a complete and total wreck of a person.

Have video games totally taken over your life? Is your game play increasingly getting out of control? Have your friends or family confronted you about your gaming habit? How about your marriage or personal relationships – are they being affected? Is it difficult to balance work and gaming time? Do you sometimes skip doing homework or household responsibilities to play? Have you played video games as a way of escaping your problems? Has your game playing habit become so encompassing that you may need to go to rehab to kick it? If you can identify with any of the above, MTV wants to hear from you.

True Life's show topics cover everything from "I'm Obese" to "I Hate My Tattoos" to "I'm a Mixed Martial Arts Fighter." The show has previously covered gaming with the episode "I'm A Professional Gamer."

MTV True Life Wants to Know - Are you Addicted to Gaming? Casting Call [via Siliconera]

We'll make this short and sweet so you guys can get busy commenting on how it's called Rock Band and not Country Band. The Rock Band Country Track Pack is a retail release set to hit stores on July 21st for all four consoles. It will feature 21 songs from a wide variety of popular country music artists, including Kenny Chesney, Alan Jackson, Rascal Flatts, Kenny Rogers, and Shania Twain. The songs will be playable directly from the disc, or players can add them to their Rock Band library on the PS3 and 360.

"Rock Band loves country music too, and these tracks are among the most fun to play of any we've released to date," said Paul DeGooyer, Senior Vice President of Electronic Games & Music for MTV Networks Music Group. "We've received a ton of requests from fans to bring more country to the game, and our artist partners responded. We're very excited to be able to offer this set, featuring some of the greatest songs ever recorded."

While some of the songs are already available for download, several tracks will be exclusive to the disc for a limited time before showing up for purchase on the Rock Band Music Store.

The Rock Band Country Track Pack will be available on July 21st for $29.99. Check out the listing of the first thirteen confirmed tracks below.

Rock Band Country Track Pack

Alan Jackson Good Time
Brooks & Dunn Hillbilly Deluxe
Dierks Bentley Free & Easy (Down the Road I Go)
Dixie Chicks Sin Wagon
Drive-By Truckers 3 Dimes Down
Jason Aldean She's Country
Kenny Chesney She Thinks My Tractor's Sexy
Kenny Rogers The Gambler
Lucinda Williams Can't Let Go
Martina McBride This One's For the Girls
Rascal Flatts Me and My Gang
Shania Twain Any Man of Mine
Steve Earle Satellite Radio

The Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet are a pair of full-bodied, classic guitars used extensively by John Lennon and George Harrison throughout their careers. The Rickenbacker was actually one of my suggestions for a Beatles guitar controller back when the box set was first announced, while I figured the Gretsch Duo Jet was a bit too obscure a name to appeal to the more mainstream fans. Goes to show what I know.

Both guitars should be available for purchase when The Beatles: Rock Band launches on September 9th, retailing for $99, €99.99, or £89.99 depending on where your store is located. This brings the price tag for the true Beatles Rock Band experience up to $450, and that's not counting extra microphones. I'll probably just use the instruments I've already purchased plus Rickenbacker for flavor.

While the official site doesn't make notable mention of the million Rock Band tracks rumored to be given away, it does confirm other details, including the opportunity to win an MTV Music Awards "Moonman" by making your own Rock Band music video.

It appears that MTV, MTV Games and Pepsi will also be giving away Xbox 360s and Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundles via the "under the cap" contest.

We've contacted reps from all parties involved to see if they'd like to comment on the matter this time and will let you know.

Drink Rock Win [Yahoo!]
Rumor: Pepsi Giving Away 1 Million Rock Band Tracks This Summer [Kotaku]

We first explored this topic last month, asking "What Could Make The Beatles: Rock Band Worth $250". We know now that the bundles will indeed include a replica Höfner 500/1 "Violin Bass", as used by Paul McCartney, along with the Ludwig drum set with the predicted black oyster pearl finish and vintage replica kick drum head. They've even thrown in a mic stand for good measure, but is it worth a quarter of a grand?

Well first off, we can pretty much discount the particular music choices from our calculations. The game is $60 no matter what tunes it contains, so the set list is a moot point. What we have here, is a game, a plastic bass guitar, plastic drums, a mic, and a mic stand. Let's break down what those would cost individually using Wal-Mart pricing, rounded up:

The Beatles: Rock Band game: $60
Wireless Rock Band 2 guitar: $70
Rock Band 2 drum set: $90
Rock Band Mic (Not Available, Estimating): $20
Rock Band mic stand: $25

Grand Total: $265

Assuming the Höfner bass guitar is wireless, this would put the bundle at $15 cheaper than individually buying everything included in the set, and that's including the generic Rock Band 2 instruments. Once you figure in the cost of producing the band-specific instruments, it actually isn't that bad of a deal. It's still more expensive than a boxed set of Rock Band 2, but then this set isn't for your average Rock Band 2 player.

My suggestion? If the price turns you off, then you probably shouldn't be buying it. If you've already got plastic instruments, then there really is no benefit to getting more plastic instruments anyway. This set is mainly for the consumer who is newly drawn to the Rock Band experience by The Beatles, and for them, paying a little bit more for a touch of authenticity might not be quite as painful.