One of the features that was talked about a little bit back when the first Rock Band came out was the ability to design your own band merch and even have figurines of your customized characters made. The Rock Band Web site has been updated now to allow just that.

Syncing up with your gamertag, it gathers the information on all of your characters and bands and allows you to make a wide range of the stuff actual bands sell at shows. T-shirts, posters, bumper stickers, keychains and buttons are all available, emblazoned with your character and/or band logo.

I took a moment to fiddle around with the generator and it's really easy to use regardless of what you're trying to make. Just select the character or band, pose them and submit your choices. You'll get a preview of what the final product will look like and be given the option to purchase it. The photo above are members of my band, Shubby and The Thousand Young (left to right: Howard Phillips and Escarcho) designed as figurines.

Pricing ranges from $2-$5 for the smaller stuff, while posters will run you $14 and a t-shirt $29. The figurines, which measure 6" and are not poseable (beyond what the site's utility for designing them allows), are $69.

Does this sort of merchandising interest you? $29 is a little steep for a t-shirt, in my opinion, but the keychains and buttons could be neat tchotchkes to have. There's a press release with more details after the jump.

TransformYour Rock Lifestyle Fantasy Into Reality With Fully Customizable Merchandise for Rock Band(R) 2 Now Available at RockBand.com Outfit Your Rock Lifestyle By Creating Apparel, Posters and More Featuring Your Band Photo or Logo with the new Merch Booth Tool!

Design and Order Bandmates™—Personalized Figurines that  resemble Your In-Game Characters!

Create Customized Game Quality 3D Images for RockBand.com Personal Profiles

Cambridge,Mass. – October 6, 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), announced today the opening of a new specialty shop at RockBand.com where Rock Band(R) 2 enthusiasts can create and order customized merchandise featuring their in-game Rock Band(R) characters and bands.

"The products we will be offering through the Rock Band store go far
beyond standard videogame fare and encourage Rock Band players to live in the real world of rock," says Ryan Lesser, art director at Harmonix. "Just like with real bands, Rock Band bands need their own schwag too, so we're giving Rock Band musicians a chance to order personalized t-shirts, posters, bumper stickers and more that are sure to keep any fan happy."

The new Photo Creator, designed by Harmonix, makes it easy to create images of your RockBand 2 characters and bands; just simply pose your characters, add backdrops and visual effects, shoot the photos and assign the game-quality 3D images to your band pages and personal profile on RockBand.com. In addition, MTV Games and Harmonix have partnered with Zazzle(R), a company that specializes in on-demand customizable printing for apparel and accessories, to offer players the opportunity to use images captured with the Photo Creator tool and upload them using the Merch Booth tool onto a variety of T-shirts, posters,stickers and more!

MTV Games and Harmonix have also partnered with Z Corporation(R), a company that specializes in 3D printing and manufacturing, to offer collectible Bandmates™—detailed 6" figurines automatically generated from players' personalized in-game avatars. Using the Bandmate Creator tool, designed by Harmonix, players cancustomize their character's pose before ordering the figurine. Pricing for individual Bandmates is $69; a great value at nearly half the price of other made-to-order figurines available on the market.

Pricing details for customized Rock Band 2 merchandiseare as follows

-

Bandmates™ (Detailed 6" Figurines)

$69

T-Shirts

$29

Posters

$14

Stickers (sheet of 6)

$5

BumperSticker

$4

Key Chain

$3

Button

$2

 **Shippingand handling not included in prices above

TheRockBand.com store will also offer a large selection of band gear and clothing that features original art from Rock Band's surreal shell
design; merchandise that is only worthy of a touring Rock Band musician.

Released on September 14, 2008 for the Xbox(R)360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, Rock Band 2 has revolutionized music gaming with the ability to export most of the songs from the original Rock Band disc [1], 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 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 [2] 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 [3] by year's end. RockBand 2 is rated "T" for Teen with descriptors of lyrics and suggestive themes by the ESRB.

Rock Band2 is nowavailable on the Xbox 360(R) video game and entertainment system from Microsoft with an exclusive launch window in North America.  Rock Band 2 willbe available for other platforms later this year.

For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit
[http://www.rockband.com/] www.rockband.com and
[http://www.harmonixmusic.com/

] www.harmonixmusic.com.

#####

About MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a part 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 [http://www.mtv.com/] MTV,[http://www.vh1.com/] VH1, [http://www.cmt.com/] CMT, [http://www.logoonline.com/] Logo, [http://www.harmonixmusic.com/] Harmonix, [http://www.nick.com/] Nickelodeon, [http://www.nickatnite.com/] Nick at Nite, [http://www.noggin.com/] Noggin, [http://www.the-n.com/] The
N, [http://www.addictinggames.com/index.html] Addicting Games,
[http://www.neopets.com/] Neopets, [http://www.comedycentral.com/] COMEDY CENTRAL, [http://www.spike.com/] Spike TV, [http://www.tvland.com/] TVLand,
[http://www.atom.com/] Atom, [http://www.gametrailers.com/] GameTrailers and [http://www.xfire.com/] Xfire.

About MTV Games
MTV Games is dedicated to creating, marketing and publishing high-quality, innovative interactive products that are relevant to the MTV audience and complement the core values of the MTV Networks brands.

About Harmonix MusicSystems, Inc
Harmonix Music Systems,Inc., based inCambridge, MA, and established in 1995, is the leading developer of groundbreaking music-oriented videogames. Harmonix was founded by Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy, who formed the company to invent new ways for non-musicians to experience the unique joy that comes from making music and have pioneered music and rhythm gaming in the US. For more information please visit:
www.harmonixmusic.com

 

About Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), headquartered in Redwood City, California, is the world's leading interactive entertainment software company. Founded in 1982, the Company develops, publishes, and distributes interactive software worldwide for video game systems, personal computers, cellular handsets and the Internet. Electronic Arts markets its products under four brand names: EA SPORTS^TM, EA^TM, EA SPORTS Freestyle^TM and POGO^TM. In fiscal 2008, EA
posted GAAP net revenue of $3.67 billion and had 27 titles that sold more than one million copies. EA's homepage and online game site is www.ea.com. More information about EA's products and full text of press releases can befound on the Internet at [http://info.ea.com/]
http://info.ea.com.

About ZCorporation
Z Corporation makes products that enable users to capture, edit, and print 3D data with unprecedented speed, ease, versatility and affordability. These products include the world's fastest high-definition 3D printers — machines that produce physical 3D models from digital data in full color – and uniquely portable 3D scanners – handheld machines that digitize 3D surfaces in real time. Z Corp. technology is enabling a wide range of applications in manufacturing, architecture, civil engineering, reverse engineering, geographic information systems (GIS), medicine and entertainment. For the latest news and information from Z Corp., visit
www.zcorp.com.

About Zazzle
Infinite and Instant, Zazzle is the only, on-demand retail platform for consumers and major brands, offering billions of retail quality, one-of-a-kind products shipped within 24 hours. Offering the largest library of customizable digital imagesfrom world-class brands, Zazzle enables content owners to unlock their entire libraries of content, making it available for purchase and customization by consumers. Through Zazzle's innovative on-demand retail and technology platform, users can instantly create, customize to fit their personal style,purchase and sell a near infinite array of products online. The company launched in 2005 and is based in RedwoodCity,California. For more information, [http://www.zazzle.com/] www.Zazzle.com.

(c) 2008 Harmonix MusicSystems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Harmonix, Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Harmonix Music Systems, Inc., an MTV Networks company. Rock Band and Rock Band 2 developed by Harmonix MusicSystems, Inc. MTV: Music Television, MTV Games and all related titles and logos are trademarks of MTV Networks, a division of Viacom International Inc. All other marks are the property of their respective owners.  EA, EA SPORTS, EA SPORTS Freestyle and POGO are trademarks or registered trademarks of Electronic Arts Inc. in the U.S.and/or other countries. Microsoft, Xbox and Xbox 360 are trademarks of the Microsoft group of companies. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

[1] Online connection and title update download required. Owners of the original Rock Band will be able to export 55 of the 58 tracks from the original Rock Band disc for play in Rock Band 2. The following Rock Band disc tracks will not be available for export into Rock Band2: * "Paranoid" as made famous by Black Sabbath, * "Run to the Hills"as made famous by Iron Maiden, and "Enter Sandman" by Metallica. (* Indicates a cover song, all other songs are original master recordings.)

[2] The Rock Band 2 game disc will feature 84 tracks. In addition, players will have access to an additional 20 free DLC tracks following the game's launch. Online connection required.

[3] Online connection required for export of Rock Band 1 soundtrack, as well as all DLC tracks, packs andalbums released to date as well as future DLC releases. Nominal fee of $4.99 (400 Microsoft Points) required for export of Rock Band 1 soundtrack to compensate music licensors for expanded use.