Like the formative stages of some kind of pretend musical Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, it appears that we’re about to get some country in our Rock Band.
CMT blogger Alison Bonaguro wrote yesterday that five country songs will be released as downloadable content for Rock Band, and despite an earlier promise by Harmonix that country would end up in the game “sooner or later,” this is the first indication that something specific is actually on the horizon. In fact, Bonaguro is certain enough about this to name names: According to her post, the country DLC will feature artists Dierks Bentley, Braid Paisley, Brooks & Dunn, Miranda Lambert and the Dixie Chicks.
There’s been no official word from EA or Harmonix about this Boot Scootin’ addition to Rock Band, but according to Bonaguro the response on the Rock Band forums to the idea of country music in the game has been largely negative, on general principle. “If country is in that big of a demand, let them release a Country Band,” one user wrote. “Don’t pollute Rock Band with that… type of music.” Another said, “To quote my grade 12 ethics class teacher: ‘Country music is God’s curse on this earth.'”
It’s safe to say that a lot of the negative feedback is at least partially tongue-in-cheek (“Country music is the devil”) but the first quote makes a very valid point: Why not Country Band? Country music is hugely popular, and while the guitar-centric gameplay of Rock Band would need some tweaking I have no doubt that a lot of country fans would enjoy the opportunity to play a music game built around their genre of choice.
In the meantime, we’ll wait to see how this particular rumor pans out. Bonaguro says there’s been no details released regarding the difficulty levels of the tracks, but does suggest that the topic could come up for discussion when Bentley appears on the Top 20 Countdown on CMT on December 5.
UPDATE: Jeff Castaneda of MTV has confirmed that Bonaguro has the story straight. “We can confirm the artists mentioned in this story, and that this country DLC offering will be available starting December 16th,” he said. “More details to come.”
So there you go.
via: Kotaku
