There are nine new tracks coming the week of December 2nd, one of which is absolutely free. The rest will set you back just 99 cents (80 Microsoft Points) when they go live on Xbox Live Marketplace next Tuesday and the PlayStation Store next Thursday. Some, however, are for a limited time only.

• Children of Bodom - Are You Dead Yet? ($.99/80 MSP)*
• Finley - Tutto E' Possibile ($.99/80 MSP)*
• Platero y Tu - Hay Poco Rock N Roll ($.99/80 MSP)*
• Squeeze - Tempted ($.99/80 MSP)*
• Tokio Hotel - Ready, Set, Go ($.99/80 MSP)*
• The All-American Rejects - Real World ($.99/80 MSP)*
• Miranda Cosgrove - Headphones On (free)
• Naked Brothers Band - Body I Occupy ($.99/80 MSP)
• Naked Brothers Band - I Don't Want to Go to School ($.99/80 MSP)

Song titles marked with (*) are available at a reduced price for one month only, at which point we expect they'll revert to standard $1.99 / 160 Microsoft Point prices.

Sooooo... what're you buyin'?

Release Notes:

Hardware
· Provided support for third party drum and guitar controllers including GHWT & RR.
· Adjusted crosstalk values for drum hardware.
· Bug fix for remote drum fills being silent – users will now hear the drum track when drum fills.

Gameplay
· Fixed overlapping drum fill bug on drum track.
· Fixed rare network crash involving client signing out during setlist creation.
· Fixed rare crash on calibration screen when users mash guitar controller buttons.
· Fixed bug where Leaderboard scores in BWT were not uploading after users played the first song.
· Fixed bug where Leaderboard career scores were posted including DLC songs and not just disc songs as originally intended.

RB2 PS3 Patch Notes: v1.01 [Rock Band Forums - thanks, Panda!]

Coming the week of November 25th (maybe):

• "Jesus Christ Pose" by Soundgarden
• "Pretty Noose" by Soundgarden
• "Laid To Rest" by Lamb of God

Yngwie Malmsteen Pack
• "Red Devil"
• "Damnation Game"
• "Caprici Di Diablo"

The Killers Pack
• "Spaceman"
• "Mr. Brightside"
• "Smile Like You Mean It "

Yes, we already knew about those tracks from The Killers, but the rest? New!

DLC Week of Nov.25 Soundgarden, Yngwie Malmsteen and more! [ScoreHero - thanks, everybody!]

Fans of movie comedy guy Jack Black and acting and music guy Kyle Gass can try to prolong the magic by singing, strumming and thwacking along with the Tenacious Twosome on Xbox LIVE this Thursday. JB & KG will be appearing on LIVE to promote their new DVD The Complete Masterworks 2.

Xbox LIVE Gold members can have a chance at playing with the band by sending a friend request to JBTenacious or KGTenacious and hanging out on LIVE for half an hour before the Game with Fame session starts on Thursday, November 20, 8:30 P.M. ET.

Play with Jack Black and Kyle Gass of Tenacious D [Xbox.com]

The song list for the DS and Wii versions of the game aren't that bad actually, with appearances by hits from The Who, Blondie, Devo and The B-52s. Too bad they're all covers, and from what I remember, bad covers. The full list is on the jump.

Wii Song List
· Girls Not Grey
· Complicated
· Hanging on the Telephone
· Song 2
· I Want You To Want Me
· All Right Now
· Anna Molly
· Club Foot
· Won't Go Home Without You
· Dashboard
· Helena
· Get the Party Started
· Crushcrushcrush
· Just
· Stumble and Fall
· When Did Your Heart Go Missing?
· In Too Deep
· Unconditional
· Somebody Told Me
· Always Where I Need to Be
· Debaser
· Fell in Love With a Girl
· Break on Through
· Beverly Hills
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation

DS Song List
· Move Along
· Rock Lobster
· First Date
· Whip It
· Take Over the Break is Over
· Hold On
· Our Time Now
· Just What I Needed
· All Day and All of the Night
· Steady As She Goes
· My Generation
· All Star
· Call Me
· Jenny Was a Friend of Mine
· 9 in the Afternoon

About Ultimate Band

With Ultimate Band, you don’t need to break the bank buying instruments to rock out with this peripheral-free performance music game. Use the Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ to become the ultimate “air band” as you perform to more than 30 hip indie and mainstream hits. This storyline-driven game also lets players create and customize characters that reflect their own unique personalities and attributes. For rocking-on-the-go, the Nintendo DS version features exclusive songs and puts players in the studio to let them create and perform their own tracks. Ultimate Band has ESRB ratings of E on the Wii and E10+ on the Nintendo DS, and is available this holiday season. MSRP is $29.99 for Nintendo DS and $49.99 for Wii.

Rock Band 2 will feature the band's signature hit "Mr. Brightside," alongside "Smile Like You Mean It" and "Spaceman." (GHWT had "Human" and "Losing Touch" instead.) That information comes from MTV and was reported by Wired.com yesterday.

Guitar Hero, Rock Band Add Killers Tracks [Wired.com, thanks Stephen Z.]

Yes, Rock Band 2's debut on the Xbox 360 in September gives Guitar Hero the advantage of dropping four new SKUs at once. But it appears Guitar Hero World Tour is already catching up, moving 534,000 units last month. Activision Blizzard is closing the gap and it would appear Harmonix, EA and MTV Games have some competition.

Guitar Hero World Tour's Dollar Sales More Than Double Rock Band 2 [GameDaily]

You can watch her play all the instruments, which includes pounding the kick drum in a pair of less-than-sensible stiletto boots, and getting booed off the stage singing Blondie's "One Way or Another." I want to bring her into Kotaku tower to have her eat Kentucky Fried Chicken's Guitar Hero Super Smack Pack Whatever the Hell it Is Meal and tell us what she thinks of that.

Playboy's Miss November vs Guitar Hero World Tour

XBox 360 Arcade Holiday Bundle w/Rock Band 2 Game - $199.00.

For reference, the Arcade is $199 anyway. So you get a free copy of Rock Band 2 with it. And the free Sega Superstars Tennis. And the five free arcade games. It's most likely the disc-only version of Rock Band 2, but still, that's a handy saving should you be...someone who owns Rock Band 1 (with instruments) on 360 and...needs another 360...without a HDD...

Dell Home [Black Friday]

Another $150 million will be paid to the Harmonix dudes in 2009, making the total... carry the 1... an impressive $300 million in bonuses from owner Viacom.

Given Sumner Redstone's current money issues with his other businesses (Midway, National Amusements) it may seem a little out of whack in terms of fund allocations, but a spokeswoman told Bloomberg "If they are making more money for us and we have to give a little back, that's OK."

Viacom to Pay $300 Million Bonus to `Rock Band' Maker [Bloomberg]

Speaking to Videogamer.com, lead designer of Rock Band 2 Dan Teasdale said that he had played a little with World Tour's studio functions and come away with a few ideas.

"The main one is that you can't do it half-arsed," said Teasdale "If you want to do a way to let players create and distribute music, you have to go all-in - not just do it as a bullet on the back of a box."

"We actually want to find a way to for people to create music and express themselves, but when we do we want to make sure that people can sing, or the songs can be longer than three minutes, or that you can have more than 1200 notes. We want to make sure it's an authentic experience and it fits on the platform."

Harmonix: music creation can't be half-arsed [Videogamer]

1. "Doll"
2. "Monkey Wrench"
3. "Hey, Johnny Park!"
4. "My Poor Brain”
5. "Wind Up"
6. "Up in Arms"
7. "My Hero"
8. "See You”
9. "Enough Space"
10. "February Stars”
11. "Walking After You”
12. “New Way Home”

The full album will be priced at $19.99 or 1600 Microsoft Points depending on your platform, with individual tracks priced at $1.99 or 160 Microsoft Points. All tracks are, of course, masters. Yay!

After listening to both for a bit I'm starting to think they're both about the same, though one sounds deeper and the other has a higher pitched sound to strikes.

“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Nintendo,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “Together we will provide Rock Band fans the opportunity to enhance their gameplay with Mad Catz’ premium instruments for Nintendo’s extremely popular Wii system.”

Incidentally, the agreement covers the entire known world except for Asia, so if you live in Asia and got all excited just now I am terribly sorry.

Mad Catz Enters into Multi-Year License Agreement with Nintendo for Wii Rock Band™ Peripherals

SAN DIEGO—(BUSINESS WIRE)—Mad Catz Interactive, Inc. (AMEX/TSX: MCZ), a leading third-party interactive entertainment accessory provider, announced today that it has entered into a multi-year licensing agreement with Nintendo of America Inc. whereby Mad Catz has secured the rights to produce and distribute peripherals for the critically acclaimed Rock Band™ video game for the Wii™ system.

The agreement provides Mad Catz these rights worldwide, outside of Asia. The products to be produced under the agreement are a bass guitar and a portable drum percussion set. Mad Catz expects these products to be available early in 2009.

“We are thrilled to enter into this agreement with Nintendo,” said Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “Together we will provide Rock Band fans the opportunity to enhance their gameplay with Mad Catz’ premium instruments for Nintendo’s extremely popular Wii system.”

The Rock Band series of video games, published by MTV Games and developed by MTV Network’s Harmonix Music Systems, allows music fans and gamers to interact with music, challenging users to master the lead/bass guitar, drums and vocals as solo artists or cooperatively as part of their own band. Built on deals with the world’s biggest record labels and music publishers, the music featured in the Rock Band games span all genres of rock and includes many master recordings from the greatest songs and artists of all time. Rock Band for Wii is currently available in North America and in Europe.

Harmonix community honcho Sean Baptiste updates us on the status of the Rock Band freebies, writing on the game's official forums "We have hit an unexpected delay with getting the content online with Microsoft and are working diligently with them to get that resolved."

"We have suspended sending out the token codes until the content becomes available," Baptiste continues, explaining that the Harmonixers are "working our butts off" to get them online. Expect more info over the next day for Xbox 360 types, with news on the PlayStation 3 versions to come later.

"The codes for the 20 free DLC on 360 will begin to go out this evening for redemption," he writes on the official Rock Band forums "Due to the volume of emails being sent, these will roll out over a 24 hour period." Baptiste further clarifies that codes for owners of the PlayStation 3 version "will be coming later in the week." Patience. They should really gets Guns 'n' Roses' "Patience." That'd be great.

20 Free DLC Xbox Announcement [Rock Band Forums]

• The Presidents of the United States of America “Dune Buggy” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• The Presidents of the United States of America “Feather Pluckn’” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• The Presidents of the United States of America “Ladybug” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Fall Out Boy “I Don’t Care” ($0.99/80 MSP)
• Hinder “Use Me” ($0.99/80 MSP)

The Presidents of the United States of America 3-pack can be had for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points) if you call yourself a fan. The Fall Out Boy and Hinder tracks are priced on the low end for a limited time only, so snap them up within the month.

Also hitting November 4th are the twenty free downloadable tracks promised by Harmonix, a batch of largely unknown bands that will round out your stock set of Rock Band 2 tunes to over one hundred.

That tech demo wasn’t the first time Joe and Jane Q. Public had seen what Image Metrics was capable of — nor is it the end of it. Image Metrics did face work for Grand Theft Auto IV, Unreal Tournament II as well as Gnarls Barkley’s “Who’s Gonna Save My Soul” and Rock Band 2.

Traditional face motion capture uses traditional tools. Ditching pricey, special equipment or markers, the Image Metrics solution is software-based. All that’s needed is a well-lit video of the actor’s performance. Company CEO Kelvin Duckett explains: “ Image Metrics provides markerless performance-driven facial animation using its proprietary technology. Our solution starts with video footage of an actor’s performance, which is then analyzed pixel-by-pixel. The resulting data is transferred back onto the CG facial model.” That’s it, folks.

The tech is the fruits of Walker's studying computer vision at Manchester University. After completing his PhD, Walker and a colleague created what would become Image Metrics on the hopes of getting closer to the industries that their science had so much to offer." We were convinced that this was the best way to really understand and solve the problems that had prevented computer vision from becoming integrated into the many fields it could benefit," says Walker.

A lifelong gamer who lost a large part of his childhood to playing Elite on my BBC model B, Walker could see how gaming would only benefit from better computer vision. Better computer vision meant better rendered faces. "As computer vision can be applied to many fields, when developing the technology, we were looking for the most difficult task to test it with," says Walker. "Facial animation was the perfect challenge. Faces, for the most part, are quite similar, but the small subtle differences are what make us so unique. Teaching a computer to learn to recognize those minute elements that define our personas was quite a challenge."

Coupled with the tech challenges, Walker and his colleagues didn’t have a background in animation. It was an uphill climb, there were obstacles, but they lucked out and met industry types who could see the inherent value in Image Metrics and were willing to fill in the gaps and plug the leaks. Image Metrics did the only smart they could with these experienced industry vets: Hired them.

With the new tech in hand, the differences were startling. Traditional mocap can only capture markers, losing whatever is in the space between the markers. Image Metrics captures the entire face and thus, renders a more emotive mug as seen in the the Emily demo. "While we’re always working on improving our technology, I think the Emily demo shows how real we can get with it right now," says Walker. For film and television, the company is able to produce photo-real facial animation like in the Gnarls Barkley video. "We can produce Emily-quality animation for games as well, but it just can’t work in a real-time gaming environment," says Walker.

We’re venturing into Uncanny Valley territory here. That’s a robotics theory that humans are repulsed when robots and androids look and act too much like real people. First hypothesized in 1970, the theory has since been expanded to encompass photo-realistic animation as well. While it’s often taken as a scientific law and not a theory, roboticist David Hanson, best known for his realistic humanoid faces (pictured), reminds: “The Uncanny Valley Theory is just that: A theory.” Walker agrees, seeing that point of heighten realism as something Image Metrics should strive for and not avoid. “If we cross it,” he says, “we know that we’ve achieved something outstanding.

Apparently MTV Networks, owners of Harmonix, and Apple Corps Ltd, administrators of The Beatles releases of the 1960s, are holding a press conference tomorrow to make some announcement about an "exclusive agreement to develop a global music project."

The release lists a number of media contacts, including one of the main PR folks for Rock Band 2. This seems to back up what the Financial Times reported back in June. Though at the time it sounded like both Activision and Harmonix were wooing Apple Corps. Did Guitar Hero get the shaft or is another announcement, this one with Activision, hitting later this week? We'll update once we can needle out more official word.

Apple Corps Ltd. and MTV to Announce Exclusive Agreement to Develop Unprecedented Global Music Project

WHAT: Apple Corps Ltd. and MTV to announce an exclusive agreement to develop a global music project.

WHO: Jeff Jones, CEO of Apple Corps, Ltd.
Judy McGrath, Chairman and CEO of MTV Networks
Van Toffler, President of MTV Networks Music/Logo Group

WHEN: Thursday, October 30, 2008
2:00 pm UK Time, 10:00 am ET, 7:00 AM PT

About Apple Corps. Ltd.
Apple Corps Ltd. was founded by The Beatles in 1968 to look after the group's own affairs. The London-based company has administered the catalogue of The Beatles releases of the 1960s that have sold to date more than 600 million records, tapes and CDs. Since the 1990s Apple has piloted new Beatles projects that have become benchmarks for pioneering accomplishment and which have included The Beatles Anthology projects, the 28 million-selling album The Beatles 1 and the The Beatles LOVE show and CD. Further information on The Beatles' projects can be found at www.thebeatles.com.

About MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of entertainment content, with brands that engage and connect diverse audiences across television, online, mobile, games, virtual worlds and consumer products. The company’s portfolio spans more than 150 television channels and 350 digital media properties worldwide, and includes MTV, VH1, CMT, Logo, Harmonix, Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Noggin, The N, AddictingGames, Neopets, COMEDY CENTRAL, Spike TV, TV Land, Atom, Gametrailers and Xfire.

Top of the list is news that Xbox 360 users can now download a Guitar Hero World Tour update that will allow ION Drum Rocker owners to use the drum kit with the game.

More importantly Neversoft wants everyone to know that while they’ve done everything they can to get the Guitar Hero World Tour drum and guitar to work with Rock Band 1 and 2, they’ve reached an impasse.

The team at Neversoft worked diligently on making the drum and guitar controllers compatible across Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 1 and 2 on the PlayStation 3 platform. The Guitar Hero World Tour drum and guitar controllers currently support a basic level of gameplay with both Rock Band games.

However, integrating the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller into the Rock Band games requires an update to the Rock Band game software. Until that update is made to the Rock Band software, the Guitar Hero World Tour drum controller will not function in the PlayStation 3 version of that game.

While I applaud the effort being put into making sure that people who own different pieces of hardware can use them with different games, I have to wonder how many people this actually affects. Seriously, let me know in comments. Is this a burning issue for a lot of you? Do you want to use one drum kit on another game? The only thing I want to do is use BOTH drum kits on one game. Maybe set them up in a metal cage with some hydraulics.

It’s the little dreams that keep me going at night.

Still no word on the PlayStation 3, PS2, and Wii versions, but considering they only saw release across the pond last month, I suppose they can wait a little bit longer. They've barely even had time for their instruments to break.

MTV GAMES, HARMONIX AND EA ANNOUNCE ROCK BAND®2 FOR XBOX 360® COMING TO EUROPE

Award-Winning Rock Band 2 Shipping in November to the UK and Europe

Guildford, UK – October 29, 2008 – Harmonix, the world’s premier music video game development company, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that its critically acclaimed music videogame Rock Band® 2 will begin shipping in Europe for the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft beginning this November 14th. With an exclusive launch window in Europe, the award-winning Rock Band 2 software will make its debut on Xbox 360® in the UK on November 21st. Pricing for Rock Band software for Xbox 360 in continental Europe is €69.99 and £49.99 for UK. In addition, Rock Band 2 standalone hardware will be available at retail beginning in December.

Rock Band 2 revolutionizes music gaming with the ability to export most of the songs from the original Rock Band disc , Online World Tour, daily Battle-Of-The Band Tournaments, Auto-Calibration to eliminate TV lag, wireless drums, quieter, velocity sensitive drum heads, support for up to three drum cymbals (sold separately), No Fail Mode, and a real Drum Trainer. Rock Band 2’s massive list of innovations also includes the ability to export your in-game band avatar to the internet and order custom Rock Band merchandise including apparel and figures.

Rock Band 2 features the largest music catalogue of any music-based videogame to date including over 100 songs on the Rock Band 2 soundtrack with an unrivaled blend of classic and new artists including AC/DC, Guns ‘N Roses, Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Motorhead and more! With the addition of complete and immediate backwards compatibility for songs purchased from Rock Band’s ever-expanding online music store and the ability to export most songs from the original Rock Band disc, the Rock Band music library will feature more than 500 songs by year’s end.

The Rock Band online music store has surpassed 25 million paid downloads since the game’s launch in late November 2007. With more than 400 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at www.rockband.com/music), the massive Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks, packs and albums from the vast selection of offerings available as they build their own custom Rock Band library.

Rock Band 2 is rated 12+ by PEGI.

For more information on Rock Band 2 and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband2.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.

Developed by Harmonix, MTV Games is the publisher of Rock Band. EA is the exclusive distribution partner for Rock Band.

On a related, sad note, I put money down on a preorder for Rock Band 1 yesterday. Release date of November 7. 2008. It’d be great if by, oh, Rock Band 3 MTV and EA could get their shit together on these non-American launches.

Rock Band 2 "this side of Christmas" [Eurogamer]

Siouxsie & the Banshees 3-Pack ($5.49/440 MSP)

• Siouxsie & the Banshees “Hong Kong Garden” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Siouxsie & the Banshees “Kiss Them For Me” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Siouxsie & the Banshees “The Killing Jar” ($1.99/160 MSP)

• Blink-182 “Dammit” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Psychedelic Furs “Pretty in Pink” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Silversun Pickups “Melatonin” ($1.99/160 MSP)
• Silversun Pickups “Well Thought Out Twinkles” ($1.99/160 MSP)

'Dune Buggy' is a song about a spider and his girlfriend riding in a little blue dune buggy. It is my anthem. Until such a time as Harmonix wakes up and adds Stan Bush's 'The Touch' to their game, this shall be the only song I play, as far as any of you are concerned.

Rockband II Gamepack News [Official PUSA Site - Thanks TRTX!]

The tracks, which we'll unofficially refer to as the Harmonix Gift Horse Track Pack, are:

• The 88 - "Sons and Daughters"
• Authority Zero - "No Regrets"
• Between the Buried and Me - "Prequel To The Sequel"
• The Cab - "Bounce"
• The Chevelles - "Get It On"
• The Cocktail Slippers - "Give It To Me"
• Dealership - "Database Corrupted"
• Endeverafter - "I Wanna Be Your Man"
• The Ghost Hounds - "Ashes To Fire"
• Hollywood Undead - "Young"
• Kutless - "The Feeling"
• The Len Price 3 - "If I Ain't Got You"
• Lesley Roy - "I'm Gone, I'm Going"
• Opiate for the Masses - "Burn You Down"
• Semi-Precious Weapons - "Magnetic Baby"
• Shaimus - "Like a Fool"
• Thenewno2" - Crazy Tuesday"
• Tickle Me Pink - "The Time Is Wrong"
• Underoath - "Desperate Times, Desperate Measures"
• X Japan - "I.V."

And there you go.

Rock Band 2 Free DLC Revealed [IGN]

October 16, 2008 - Harmonix, the world's premier music video game development company, and MTV Games, a part of Viacom's MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), along with distribution partner Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: ERTS), today announced that Rock Band 2 for the PlayStation 3 computer entertainment system will be available on October 19, 2008. In addition, Rock Band 2 for the PlayStation 2 computer entertainment system and the Wii home videogame console from Nintendo will ship in December 2008.

In addition, the Rock Band 2 Special Edition Bundle for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft will also be available on retail shelves October 19, 2008.

Rock Band 2 Shipping and Pricing Information:

October 19, 2008

* Rock Band 2 Special Edition Bundle (Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 system) $189.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Software (PlayStation 3 system) $59.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Drums (PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 systems) $89.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Guitar (PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 2 systems) $69.99 MSRP

December 2008

* Rock Band 2 Standalone Software (PlayStation 2 system) $49.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Software (Wii) $49.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Drums (Wii) $89.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Standalone Guitar (Wii) $69.99 MSRP
* Rock Band 2 Special Edition Bundle (Wii) $189.99 MSRP

Rock Band 2 for Wii, developed by Pi Studios under the direction of Harmonix, will be fully featured with online modes including World Tour and Battle of the Bands, an innovative character creator, weekly downloadable content and more! With more than 100 songs [1] on the Rock Band 2 Wii soundtrack and an additional 30 downloadable tracks [2] available for purchase at launch, Rock Band 2 Wii owners will have access to the most impressive music catalogue for a music-based videogame on the console. In addition, fans can expect a roll-out of the current downloadable content offering every week until the entire back catalogue is available.

In addition, Rock Band 2 owners (Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 system and Wii) will have the ability to export their in-game band avatars to RockBand.com to use as profile images as well as order custom Rock Band merchandise including apparel and figurines.

Rock Band 2 for Xbox 360 was released on September 14, 2008, and has received numerous editor's choice awards and a combined metacritic score of 93. Rock Band 2 has revolutionized music gaming with the ability to export most of the songs from the original Rock Band disc [3], Online World Tour, daily Battle-Of-The-Bands Tournaments, Auto-Calibration to eliminate TV lag, wireless drums, quieter, velocity sensitive drum heads, support for up to three cymbals (sold separately), No Fail Mode, and a real Drum Trainer.

Rock Band 2 features the largest music catalogue of any music-based videogame to date including over 100 songs [4] on the Rock Band 2 soundtrack with an unrivaled blend of classic and new artists including AC/DC, Guns N' Roses, Bob Dylan, Pearl Jam, Motörhead and more! With the addition of complete and immediate backwards compatibility for songs purchased from Rock Band's ever-expanding online music store and the ability to export most songs from the original Rock Band disc, the Rock Band music library will feature more than 500 songs [5]by year's end.

The Rock Band online music store recently surpassed 21 million paid downloads since the game's launch in late November 2007. With more than 400 tracks available to date via disc and download purchase (complete list of tracks at http://www.rockband.com/dlc), the massive Rock Band Music Store allows players to preview and purchase downloadable individual music tracks, packs and albums from the vast selection of offerings available as they build their own custom Rock Band library.

Rock Band 2 is rated "T" for Teen with descriptors of lyrics and suggestive themes by the ESRB.

For more information on Rock Band 2 and Harmonix Music Systems please visit www.rockband2.com and www.harmonixmusic.com.

The first episode of VH1's Rock Band 2: The Stars recently debuted. In case you were wondering, both Alice Cooper and Sebastian Bach are trying to find the best Rock Band players out there to start their own bands with. This involves many challenges, such as being able to play Rock Band on expert or smashing your guitar in a real cool way. They kick off five people in the first episode, including one of the only few girl singers. But don't worry, they all sucked. And hey, if it's any consolation, I know there's one guy out there looking for a singer!

Two more pics on the jump.

So much goodness here, but yet...something is missing.

Beta RockBand.com [Official Site]

Sifting through a 15-page thread I can't seem to find any response from Harmonix on this, as to whether the glitch is known, what the problem is, if there's a workaround, if a patch is coming, what. Now, I don't have a direct line to Harmonix — I don't even have the game here — and besides, it's a Saturday anyway. But yeah, if this problem is as people describe it, that's pretty goddamn aggravating and they're owed an explanation, or at least an acknowledgment of the issue. So how about it, Harmonix.

Email from a tipster explaining the glitch is on the jump.

Writes Justin B.

A number of Rock Band 2 players are experiencing an error in tour mode where at some point through the game (it seems people most often make substantial progress and are just prior to the airplane award) they start the game and find they cannot access their band. Your character and your band do not show up in the selection screen, but unlocked songs are still available. If you enter quickplay mode your character is deleted. For some reason your band will show up in online mode, but when you access it you get a message stating "looking for band leader" that never resolves and you have to back out. In the game options screen, when you try to load your band, or modify it in any way, you can still see the band but your only option is to delete it. This error seems to becoming more and more common, and its incredibly frustrating because your only option is to create a brand new band and start your tour all over again.

The common threads seem to be the use of an X-box Live Enabled primary account and a non X-box Live Enabled secondary account. To form your band. This makes me believe this will be an X-box 360 error and not anything that would effect the Wii or PS3 versions.

Rock Band 2 Bugs — Freezing, Characters Deleted, Band Name Association Broken [Rock Band Forums]

Not only have the months proceeded in a timely fashion, but I have not posted the results of my Drum Trainer experiment. So here's the deal (Yes, an excuse is coming). A week after kicking off my grand experiment, my television went out. Then I had to fly to New York. Now I have to fly to Tokyo. I'm not pulling the plug on the experiment, nor am I changing the rules, really, but I am going to postpone posting the results. I'll still show you the progress of 30 days of training, but it's going to come later in October.

For now relish in the official training guide that John Drake over at Harmonix, a drummer himself, was kind enough to put together for me.

Above all else Drake stresses that you practice makes perfect, lots of practice. But he also said that practicing in this particular order could, perhaps, speed things up for fans of drumming and Rock Band 2.

LEARN HOW TO DRUM IN ROCK BAND 2
To begin:
Start with the “how to play your RB drums” tutorial to get the correct stick/foot position if you’re unfamiliar.

Play each beat to 100%. Play each fill to 100%. Head into freestyle mode with the metronome on and see if you can put the techniques to use!

Then try each song in no fail mode and see how you do. If you struggle, try the beats again. If you still fail out, try the troublesome parts in practice mode.

SIMPLE/WARMUPS
- Mixed Hands
This is a great hands only way to warmup! Alternate between your left and right playing the 8th notes and start loosening up your hands
- 8th note hats
Simplest of beats, hands only
- Kick and Snare
The other half of simple beats, only 2 things
- Hard Rock Hats
Straight forward beat, with quarter note hats
- Baby’s First Rock Beat
Straight forward beat, with 8th note hats
- Pound through the following simple fills:
Quarter Note Snares
Quarter Note Kicks
Quarters down the toms
Flams on Quarters
Quarters with a kick
8th Notes
8ths down the toms
8ths with a kick

Wrap it up with a song: Eye of the Tiger
Play a second song? : Psycho Killer
Play a Third song: Hungry Like the Wolf!

Surfin/Punk (California Times!)
- Surfin on 2 hands
- Surf’s Up
- Poodle Skirt
- We Will We Will Rock You
Sing along if you’re having trouble rocking this one!
- You Will You Will Rock Us
- Fast Punk 1
- Fast Punk 2
- Pound through the following fills:
Chicka Bum Chicka Boom
The Balladier
3 Big Ones
3 Big Ones with a Kick

Wrap it up with a song: My Own Worst Enemy
Play a second song?: Keep Em Separated

Disco Beats!
- Disco 1 (your right hand is going to hit on all the quarter notes…so it matches right up with the kicks! Just alternate your hands…try hands first for all these disco beats!)
- Disco 2
- Disco 3
- Disco 4
- Pound through the following fills:
16th Notes
16th Notes 1 tom
16th Notes 2 Toms
16ths around the set

Wrap it up with a song? : Orange Crush
Play a second song: Everlong (way challenging!)

Tom/Harder Hands Work
- 8th Note Hats
- Tricky Snares 1
- Tricky Snares 2
- Tricky Snares 3
- Kick/Snare Var 3
- Tricky Snares 4
- Smells Like That Beat
- Big Band Toms
- Pound through the following fills
- Little Rock Fills
- Big Rock Fill
- Big Rockin Crash
- Stairway to Flams
- Hands Foot Simple
- Hands Foot Simple 2

Wrap it up with a song: Move Along
Play a Second Song? : We Got the Beat
Try a Third Song: Go your Own Way

Triplet/Swing Week
- 2 Hand Swing (6)
- Swing the Hats (62)
- Swing the kick (63)
- Swing and Stomp (67)
- Triple the Hats 1
- Triple the Hats 2
- Triplet Doom (76)
- Pound through the following fills
Intro to 8th Triplets
All 8t
8t with Toms
8t Around the Set
8t, 1 hand 1 foot
Tricky Triples
Triples around the set
Speed Bonham

Wrap it up with a song: Spirit in the sky

Tricky Kicks Week
- Baby’s First Rock Beat
- Tricky Kicks 1
- Tricky Kicks 2
- Robot Rock
- Prog Rock
- Tricky Kicks 4
- Pound through the following fills
Double Kicks
Quads
Thundering Kicks
Mix it up 1
Mix it up 2
Craziness
Craziness 2

Wrap it up with a song: Alive (Pearl Jam
Try a Second Song? : Lump (Presidents of the United States of America)

Some Tips:
- In these beats, and most of the beats moving forward, the right hand is almost always constant. This means that you can practice the foot/left hand patterns, using the hi-hat as a guide (since it’s evenly spaced). Then add the hats back in. (or get the hand patterns down and then add the kick.) When in doubt, drop out one limb and learn it part by part!
- Play what we call “open closed open”. Start the beats slow, work up to higher speeds and then slow it back down to show that you’ve mastered it!

Don't worry, there'll be ours eventually. Hell, we don't even know if we should look forward to them yet or not. I'm still holding out for a 20-song collection from Stan Bush of "The Touch" fame.

Rock Band 2 DLC Reg Page [Official Site]

We contacted Harmonix this morning for clarification and it turns out the New York Times got it right: AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack will be released as a disc-only game exclusively at Wal-Mart.

The standalone game will include 18 classic live tracks from the band's live performances for more than 99 minutes of gameplay on each instrument. And, according to Harmonix, the game will not be available as DLC only as a disc.

If you buy the disc you can export the tracks from the pack to Rock Band or Rock Band 2 at no extra charge by entering a special export authentication code from the manual, though an online connection will be required. The $30 to $40 game will also be available for purchase at Sams Club in the U.S.

For those living in Europe, Australia and New Zealand the game will be available at most major retail outlets, but still not online.

While unannounced, MTV Games has confirmed that the upcoming Nintendo Wii version of ``Rock Band 2'' will offer the same online functionality — i.e. song downloads and Internet multiplayer modes — as the Microsoft Xbox 360 and Sony PS3 versions. The PS2 version, however, will not include online connectivity.

I suppose the Wii's online capabilities and potential have finally been fully realized. Oh happy day!

UPDATE: Harmonix has confirmed with us that the Wii version will support both DLC and online play, and there was much rejoicing.

'Rock Band' sequel steals the show [USA Today]

More important is the message "Rockband 2 out November, Rockband out now," at 0:16 to 0:20. Price quoted is in pounds and Miss Moneypenny supplies the voiceover so, there's no mistaking this is for the UK. The Rock Band forums are alive with Brit commenters taking this as gospel. Harmonix have offered no confirmation yet. So, we'll call it a rumour for now, taking care to use our special friends' spelling of the word, the notional agreement of collective nouns, and the word "advert."

Rock Band 2 Ad UK [YouTube, thanks readers Craig and Jake]

• "The Power of Equality"
• "If You Have to Ask"
• "Breaking the Girl"
• "Funky Monks"
• "Suck My Kiss"
• "I Could Have Lied"
• "Mellowship Slinky in B Major"
• "The Righteous & The Wicked"
• "Blood Sugar Sex Magik"
• "Under the Bridge"
• "Naked in the Rain"
• "Apache Rose Peacock"
• "The Greeting Song"
• "My Lovely Man"
• "Sir Psycho Sexy"
• "They're Red Hot"

All Red Hot Chili Peppers songs are required to be played shirtless. Sorry, ladies, those are the rules.

In other news, I just remembered I had this record on tape. Tape! Anyone picking it up?

Xbox Live overhaul due in November [GameSpot]
[NeoGAF]

Buy Rock Band 2 for the Xbox 360 and get a 1600 Live Points Card [Amazon]

Should you stay or should you go? Does Harmonix still corner the market on video game rocking out? We'll see.

Loved
Still a Blast: If nothing else Rock Band 2 is still Rock Band. It's still an addictive, easy to pick-up-and-play rhythm game with surprising depth. And this time around the Harmonix folks have made it even easier for the musically challenged to get their groove on with "No Fail Mode" and expanded training modes.

Bringing It On(line): One of the biggest additions to Rock Band 2 is the inclusion of full-on, online tour multiplayer. The ability to create a band, have friends and strangers hop on with you and jam out is a huge plus for the game.

Music Selection: Bob Dylan. I really don't need to say anything else. The addition of folk rock legend Dylan is just one of many delightful selections awaiting you among the more than 80 songs on the game, including The Who, Metallica and AC/DC.

Backward Compatibility: If that 80-plus song list wasn't enough for you, Rock Band 2 has you covered. Not only do all of the songs purchased online for the original Rock Band play in the new game, but for $5 you can have 55 of the 58 songs found on the original Rock Band disc ripped to your hard drive to play in Rock Band 2.

Smooth Instruments: Quieter guitars, with a more realistic veneer and (at least for me) a better feel, are a huge plus for a game that relies so heavily on its peripherals. The drums are also upgraded, with a bit more padding to quiet them down and more stable legs to keep them from wiggling as much. Even the drumsticks have changed ever so slightly. Oh and there's that whole wireless thing. Sure it may not be as realistic for the guitars, but in this case I'm willing to sacrifice realism for going wire free.

Hated
Disorienting Solo Tour: In general I'm OK with the campaign-esque tour mode. I love that it no longer distinguishes between single player and multiplayer. But what I don't love is how free-formed it is. I want to have a cohesive journey, one that forces me to play from one gig to the next, earning respect and better opportunities. Sure some of that is in Rock Band 2's tour, but the fact that I can jump around from city to city willy-nilly can be disorienting, especially when I'm trying to figure out how best to proceed. And these set lists created at the different venues, they can be quite aggravating, forcing me to replay the same song more than once, or not crediting me on the song, for completing it. It's a minor point, but for fans of solo play, is worth noting.

Trainer With Few Lessons: I was quite excited to learn that Rock Band 2 was going to feature a Drum Trainer mode. QUITE. But when I finally got my hands on it, it was a bit disappointing. I was hoping that the trainer would have a bit more depth, maybe a better way of tracking progress or some sort of lesson plans. Instead I got a bunch of rhythms and tempos and very little guidance.

Quiet, but Maybe Not Quiet Enough: The drums are most certainly quieter than those hard jobbies from the original game, but over time they seem to be getting louder and louder. Nowadays when I play I have to crank up the music to hear the television drums over my own pounding.

Where's the New: Here's the thing. Rock Band was amazing, a genuine leap forward for both Harmonix and the genre of rhythm gaming. Rock Band 2? Not so much. In fact it almost feels like a really deep expansion pack. It has tons of tweaks, lots of great new music, but no fundamental shift, nothing that would reinvigorate my flagging interest in the genre, if it were flagging.

Rock Band 2 is essentially a much better, more polished Rock Band with an amazing new set list and better instruments. The songs alone would probably be worth the price of entry and if you're up for new instruments, this is a great way to do that as well. But with the exception of one important online gameplay addition, don't really expect a different experience.

I'm still loving Rock Band 2. I play it daily, my son plays it daily, even my wife has expressed interest in checking it out. I just hope that Rock Band and the creative folks at Harmonix aren't headed down the path of Madden.

Rock Band 2, developed by Harmonix and published by Electronic Arts was released on Sept. 14 for the Xbox 360. Retails for $60 for just the game, $190 for the special edition with instruments. Focused on tour mode both solo and with others, tested Xbox Live online play.

Confused by our reviews? Read our review FAQ.

There's more, including the new Photocreator mode, giving us sexy shots of our virtual band (the Eggplant Wizards) and an extensive (extensive) database on all of the game's downloadable music. And there's more.

For the full list of what's coming to the new RockBand.com, hit up the forums for a detailed look.

An All-New RockBand.com is Coming! [Rock Band Forums - thanks, Smidget!]