9:30 PM on 09.03.2009 |
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A few days ago, Harmonix and MTV Games announced its "Rock Band Bar Night" initiative, the goal to provide tools bar owners to host their own Rock Band nights around the United States. MTV and Harmnonix are promising to provide venues with the tools for promotion, including marketing support, as well as a new "e-commerce store" that will provide bars with access access to the game's massive downloadable library. To kick start the program, MTV and Harmonix are offering bars that sign up prior to September 8 an exclusive five-song preview disc of The Beatles: Rock Band (keep your eye out for that at your local watering hole). Additionally, a mobile-friendly Web site will allow potential inebriated rockers to search for Rock Band Bar Nights by zip code, with a free iPhone mobile application in the works. Bars featuring Rock Band as entertainment in place of traditional karaoke isn't a new concept by any stretch of the imagination. Check your local paper and you'll probably find a listing for one in your area. But this push to support venues looks like it's leading to what I've thought for awhile: The future of peripheral-based music games like Rock Band may not be in your living room. With the retail sales potential of the games possibly hitting its peak years ago, a lot of analysts have written the genre off as a fad. Fans of the games couldn't disagree more; we're still buying weekly downlodable content, purchasing new games, and expanding the library of what has become a staple of many social gatherings. With consumer sales waning, it always seemed like the logical next step was the push for this karaoke-night style entertainment. The next obvious step is for Harmonix to create software that's tailored for these nights, stripping out unnecessary game modes and streamlining the song selection and queue process for potential hosts. Karaoke remains as popular as ever, despite the range of low-end and mid-range machines available at retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. I don't see myself removing the plastic instruments from my living room anytime soon; there's something to be said about the convenience of being able to invite friends over to socialize while rocking out the 800 different songs. But at some point -- maybe two years, maybe nine -- the weight on my wallet is going to get too heavy, and I may start looking for other outlets. I just hope they keep that iPhone app up to date.
It's a sad week. Granted, it's an inevitability that's more than five years in the making, but nonetheless, it's sad. This is the week that Harmonix releases its final regularly scheduled Rock Band DLC -- a str... As I have been lamenting, the regular DLC updates for Rock Band 3 are coming to an end next week, but it's going out with a bang. Don Mclean's classic 1971 ballad chronicling the disappointments of counter-culture m...
Next week's update to the Rock Band Music Store will deliver three hit songs from Chevelle, "Send the Pain Below," "The Red" and "Face to Floor."
This is a band which I never connected with their music. Prior to today,...
Three more songs are being added to the Rock Band Music Store next week and they're all special in their own way. "Jungle Boogie" by Kool & the Gang is the most important contribution to music of the bunch, but "Shout" b... In a shocking turn of events, after 275 straight week of DLC, Harmonix announced that Rock Band would cease offering new content.
Now, it seems as if its other major franchise, Dance Central, will be following suit "for ... This month, downloadable songs from Drake, Rihanna, and Fergie will be joining the Dance Central 3 library. It all starts tomorrow with Drake's "Take Care"; March 12 will see the release Rihanna's "Umbrella" and "SOS"; and on... After more than 4,000 songs released over the course of 275 consecutive weeks, weekly Rock Band downloadable content will cease on April 2, Harmonix announced today.
Harmonix said the studio currently has "several" new titles... Boston's hometown heroes Aerosmith have a six-pack of tracks hitting Rock Band this coming Tuesday, January 29th. This is the first time the hard-rocking, blues-influenced band has graced the RB platform, and the first time t...
[In this guest blog written by Dance Central superfan David Nguyen, we're given a look at how he was able to go from cosplaying and creating some mash-up art for the fun of it to working with developer Harmonix on the pixel-...
I'm going to be straight with you on this blog post. I like Dance Central 3 and all (I got a copy for my niece for Christmas), and Carly Rae Jespen is great, but I really just posted this story to have another excuse to shar...
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