Harmonix Details Rock Band Weekly DLC

Harmonix and MTV Games have released details about the first wave of weekly downloadable content for its upcoming music-based videogame Rock Band.

Beginning November 20, tracks from Metallica, the Police and Queens of the Stone Age will be available in three-song packs for $5.49 (440 Microsoft Points for the Xbox 360 version), or individually for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points.) Individual tracks by Foreigner, Wolfmother, the Runaways and others will also be available. The new content will be released on a weekly basis continuing through 2008 and ranging in price from $0.99 to $2.99 per track, with the "vast majority" selling for $1.99.

"We are excited to unleash some of the most beloved rock songs of all time for consumers to customize their Rock Band game experience - for an amazing price," said MTV Games Senior Vice President Paul DeGooyer. "The overwhelmingly positive response from artists, managers, music publishers and record labels has set up a queue of fantastic tracks that will continue to roll out every week."

The Rock Band downloadable content release schedule for 2007 is as follows:

Week of November 20, 2007:

Metallica Pack
"Ride the Lightning" - Metallica
"Blackened" - Metallica
"And Justice for All" - Metallica

The Police Pack
"Can't Stand Losing You" - The Police
"Synchronicity II" - The Police
"Roxanne" - The Police

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
"3's and 7's" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" - Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" - Queens of the Stone Age

"Fortunate Son" as made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival *
"Juke Box Hero" as made famous by Foreigner *
"Bang a Gong (Get It On)" as made famous by T-Rex *
"My Sharona" as made famous by The Knack *
"Cherry Bomb" as made famous by The Runaways *
"Joker & The Thief"- Wolfmother

Week of November 27, 2007

David Bowie Pack
"Moonage Daydream" - David Bowie
"Heroes" as made famous by David Bowie *
"Queen Bitch" as made famous by David Bowie *

Week of December 4, 2007

Black Sabbath Pack
"N.I.B." as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"Sweet Leaf" as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"War Pigs" as made famous by Black Sabbath *

Week of December 11, 2007

Punk Pack:
"Rockaway Beach" - Ramones
"I Fought the Law" - The Clash
"Ever Fallen In Love" as made famous by Buzzcocks *

Week of December 18, 2007

"My Iron Lung" - Radiohead
"Buddy Holly" - Weezer
"Brass in Pocket" as made famous by Pretenders *

* Indicates a cover version. All others are original master recordings.

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Ooof. Take that Guitar Hero 3. Not only is the pricing better (unless they round up on Xbox Live), but they are seriously going to be pushing the extra content.

Activision better step up, though, ultimately, I'm still happier with my decision in purchasing GH3 and ignoring Rock Band. The song selection on GH3 is just....better.

I still can't get my head around the price and the size of the thing. But I'll probably cave and buy it. I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.

The one thing I find a bit annoying is that on launch day, they'll have another $30 of content to purchase for a game that's $200 already.

I am impressed by the volume of content they plan on releasing. I wonder if they'll be able to keep it coming, or if it's front-loaded for release.

This game plays horrible, I don't see how people are going to enjoy it compared to GH3.

imcaseyimhott:
This game plays horrible, I don't see how people are going to enjoy it compared to GH3.

I'm not sure what you're basing that off of, though I have a guess.

When I went to try the demo kiosk at my local Best Buy, the setup was completely uncalibrated. Something like a quarter second lag across everything. I went to go see if it was possible to calibrate the demo, and found only presets, with the "Manual Calibration" option turned off. In addition, there was no way to test out the various presets without choosing one, then going to play a song, rinse, and repeat. Being a demo kiosk where I was certainly not the only one standing there, I didn't exactly have all the time in the world to futz around. I finally got one that was okay, but still took some adjusting to. Was that similar to your experience?

Personally, I'm being optimistic, and hoping that when I get it home, and have the opportunity to manually calibrate it, I'll be able to make those timing issues go away. One thing that WILL require some personal adjustment is the feel of the frets on the guitar. Since they're not raised buttons, I was having a little more difficulty feeling my way around without looking at my hands. And, while this could be in-store-kiosk abuse, the neck on the guitar was simply not as solid as the GH versions, and being less thick, gave me fewer options for where to put my thumb.

Oh, what's this?

Actual competition in the rhythm/music genre?

While I have to agree that GH3 has the better setlist (by a rather thin margin, I should add), the DLC award goes to RB, hands down.

Cheaper, despite being more work per song, since it's not just the four difficulties of guitar and bass, but four difficulties of vocals and drums, too.

And offering the single song purchases right off the bat? Nice.

About the only thing I'm worried about now is how the covers sound; recently heard their Mississippi Queen cover, and damn, it sucks, it just sucks, compared to both the GH3 version and the original.

And I'm kinda disappointed that the only worthwhile Metallica song at launch will be ...And Justice for All, since they have way more good stuff than what's on offer here, but that's nit-picking at best.

imcaseyimhott:
This game plays horrible, I don't see how people are going to enjoy it compared to GH3.

You probably like the death metal version of the Devil went down to Georgia too don't you?

meh!

Rock Band is the winner by far!

WOAH! There's a Bowie pack?? and a QotSA pack?????
Urgh, my money! Thieves! >:[

I am a drummer, and I played the drums for this at the GameStop managers conference. They were horrible. A lackey said if I was a drummer, to set them on hard or expert. The track played nothing at all like drums and had parts that made absolutely no sense. I admit, I have not played it since retail, but that really left a bad taste in my mouth.