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The very last weekly downloadable Rock Band song is to be, very fittingly, Don McLean's "American Pie." As Polygon reports, Harmonix revealed the news at its PAX East party last night. The song will be included in the final Rock Band update on April 2.

Not only is American Pie one of those timelessly brilliant songs, but it's full of lyrics that cutely mark the end of what's been a mammoth run of over 275 weeks and 4000 added songs for Rock Band DLC. We can still remember how all that music used to make us smile, and now we wait for the day the music dies.

The final weekly DLC release for Rock Band will be issued on April 2, Harmonix announced today. Due to other ongoing projects at the studio, production on Rock Band DLC has slowed in recent months. Up until April 2, Harmonix will release weekly DLC per usual.

Harmonix has been issuing Rock Band DLC songs for over 275 consecutive weeks, which comes to over five years of consistent weekly releases. The Rock Band DLC catalog includes over 4,000 supplemental tracks, spanning all Rock Band games and the Rock Band Network.

Your Rock Band catalog lacking in spice? Come Tuesday, August 30, a total of eight new Red Hot Chili Peppers songs will be available for download, spanning the group's more recent albums -- including the band's upcoming I'm With You. If you're looking for older Chili Peppers tunes, then you can just download some of the band's classic offerings, already available.

Hit the jump for the full track list.

With the release of some Yes! tracks this week, the Rock Band song catalog has reached a milestone of 3,000 songs. To celebrate this accomplishment, Harmonix is hooking up 30 Americans (sorry, international rockers) with 100 songs of their choosing each on either Xbox 360 or PS3. The mathemagicians out there have probably already figured this out but ... that's 3,000 songs total. Get it?

There are a few different ways to enter, (sorry anti-social folks): Twitter, Facebook or the Rock Band forums. Sorry, there is no option to sit at home with the lights off, shades drawn, until an envelope magically shows up on your nightstand.

The full list of rules can be found on the Source link below. If you're thinking about entering, act fast -- the entry period closes at 11:59pm ET on Thursday, July 28.

As was promised so many, many moons ago, it's time to take your pre-emptive dose of Dayquil and prepare for full-on Pac-Man Fever. Four of the album's eight tracks are available on the Rock Band Network today, allowing all to achieve a level of public embarrassment previously unseen on this Earth for only $2 -- unless your estimated value of $2 exceeds everyone's, of course.

Additionally, another Super Meat Boy track is currently available: dB Soundworks' "Betus Blues (Retro Remix)." Hit the jump for the full list of today's additions.

Rock Band Network production company -- er, "dude" -- Kario Charts will test the staying power of last summer's Bed Intruder meme when he releases "Bed Intruder Song" on the service in the coming days. Kario has uploaded a video preview of the Rock Band build on YouTube (sing along after the break), confirming on the Rock Band Forums that he "signed" the song's creator, The Gregory Brothers, to a contract back in December (he also has the rights to create an RBN version of the group's "Double Rainbow" ditty).

The untimely delay of "Bed Intruder Song" on RBN is due in part to the integration of Rock Band 3 Pro Keys charting, and Kario continues to make tweaks to the track based on feedback in the forums. RBN members will be able to playtest the song at the end of the week, when Kario plans to upload it for the first time.

Kario has also teased RBN releases of other viral virtuosos' works, including Ronald Jenkees' "Throwing Fire" ("Guitar Sound" is already available) and a collection of guitarist Erik Mongrain's songs, featuring "AirTap!"

#video Antoine Dodson went full meme in late July; his local-news anti-crime rant was autotuned into "Bed Intruder" in early August. The Blue and Gold Marching Machine of North Carolina A&T State University performed it at halftime about a month later, and then Rock Band 3 arrived two months after that. Why has it taken so long for this game and that song to get together? More »

Posting on its Rock Band Network creators site, Harmonix has stated that version 2.0 of the do-it-yourself Rock Band track creation system will roll out on February 15. RockBandAide has all the details -- it seems that all songs currently in-process for RBN must be completed by February 14, when version 1.0 will go into the great beyond.

All RBN content following the new system's activation will require a copy of Rock Band 3, sitting in your disc tray. The standard Rock Band Weekly tracks have been incompatible with any prior version of the game since RB3 launched in October.

All Rock Band Network tracks are available for purchase through the Xbox 360 Rock Band games, and Harmonix periodically dumps some popular tracks from the DIY authoring service onto the PS3 and Wii games as DLC. Next week's set of RBN songs (after the break), however, will be the last to make the trip over to Wii.

"With the smaller online install base, limited demand for releases so far and the significant amount of work it takes for our producers and audio team to convert and process these additional tracks," Harmonix's Aaron Trites explained in the weekly DLC announcement, "we're no longer able to continue submitting RBN content to the Wii." That's not the end for all downloadable music on Wii, however: "regular Wii DLC, and RBN releases for the 360 and PS3 will continue uninterrupted."

#music "Vault 101," the Fallout 3 ballad by nerd rockers Kirby More »

There's a lot of overlap between folks who love Fallout 3 and folks who love Rock Band. Here's some news that caters to the inner portion of that particular Venn Diagram: Nerd-rock duo Kirby Krackle's Fallout tribute song "Vault 101" is now available on the Xbox Live Rock Band Network Store.

#harmonix One of your resolutions for 2011 should probably be "play more Rock Band 3." Harmonix is encouraging that kind of behavior with a long list of new additions to its full band music game, including an injection of Johnny Cash. More »

Next year, you'll finally be able to live out your childhood dream of being Buckner and/or Garcia, singing your heart out about arcade games with which you're casually acquainted. The 1982 novelty album Pac-Man Fever is coming to Rock Band.

According to IGN, the full Pac-Man Fever album will be available as Rock Band Network DLC for the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band 3 in early 2011 and will of course include such essentials as "Pac-Man Fever," "Do the Donkey Kong" and even "Froggy's Lament." Aren't you thrilled about the chance to sing these lyrics, like "Jump over all the barrels and let out a little scream / Duck underneath the pie, 'cause it's a coconut cream," out loud? With people around?

#screengrab Harmonix and MTV brag about their ever expanding Rock Band set list at E3 2010 by printing out the whole thing, now with more Rock Band Network, on a huge wall, with human being included for comparison. More »

Yesterday, Harmonix and MTV Games launched an initiative called the Rock Band Network Affiliates Program, the goal of which is to further involve bands, music distributors and promoters in the rhythm title's track creation community. In return, prolific Rock Band Network creators will have more opportunities to collaborate with all sorts of elements within the music industry, which might increase the number of tracks that ultimately end up on the platform.

In short, it's kind of a win-win for companies and creators. And for us players, too. A win-win-win. Still, couldn't they have come up with a better, more rocking name for the program? We're imagining David Lee Roth shrilly screaming "are you ready for some affiliaaaaaaates," and it's making us very confused.

Harmonix knows that you and your crew of Losties will be looking for something to do on Tuesday nights now that there's no more Lost to watch, and has stepped in to help. Now you'll be able to turn those watch parties into Rock Band parties, as you play along to two songs featured in the show.

G4 reports that, in the near future, the Rock Band Network will play host to both "You All Everybody," the hit song from Charlie Pace's band Drive Shaft, and "Dharma Lady," by '70s band and frequent hidden reference Geronimo Jackson. The Rock Band Network status means it'll be released on Xbox 360 first, and then possibly brought to Wii and PS3 later.

It's probably a bad idea to use this music to try to introduce someone to the show. These songs are hilarious as in-jokes, but on their own, they're ... well, still hilarious, but not in a good way.

[Image: Lostpedia]

The first songs from the Rock Band Network to be available on PS3 will be released tomorrow, April 22, 2010. The five selected songs are "some of the most popular tracks" from the full selection:

Individual Tracks (with expected prices based on Xbox 360 RBN pricing)

• Flogging Molly - "Drunken Lullabies" (Live) ($1)
• Jonathan Coulton - "Code Monkey" ($2)
• The Shins - "Australia" ($2)
• The Slip - "Even Rats" ($2)
• Steve Vai - "For the Love of God" (Live) ($2)

Harmonix explained that, due to the way submissions work on PSN, the company is "currently capped at 5 songs per week." The developer explains that despite "practical realities that aren't in [its] immediate control," it is trying to bring out as much music as possible.

[Thanks, Benji B]

All right, so the Left 4 Dead/Left 4 Dead 2 crossover DLC "The Passing" passed March by. Valve just announced it'll be available for download next week! We're sure the content will still be fresh, and the zombies still putrid, in April! Valve promised to update the official blog next week with more details.

Additionally, in the spirit of crossover ... ing ... ness ... the Left 4 Dead blog announced that two songs by the fictional Midnight Riders band have been added to the Rock Band Network. For just one dollar each, you can play "Midnight Ride" and "One Bad Man!" It would be appropriate to gather three friends to play the songs with.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in!]

Serj Tankian or The Used should probably be our focus for next week's Rock Band DLC -- however, we can't get Smash Mouth's "All Star," also available next week, out of our heads. That song is the musical equivalent of one of those brain beetles from Wrath of Khan. Get it out, get it out, get it out! Ahhhhhh!

Check out the full release list after the break.

Announced as a Rock Band Network release during PAX East, the Joystiq Podcast opening theme, "Gravity (Don't Let Me Go)," is now available for the Xbox 360 version of the Rock Band platform for 80 ($1). As with all RBN releases, the playable song can be demoed before purchase. The RBN version of the track, an update of the show theme, was authored for the game by TheMainDrag and will appear on Jon Black's upcoming EP The Beginning (Up From The Ground Vol. 1), available April 27.

Joystiq Podcast host Justin McElroy wants fans of the show and of music to download the track immediately, saying, "If you're not using your fingers to play 'Gravity (Don't Let Me Go)' on Rock Band, just cut them off and choke yourself with them."

RBN currently hosts around 210 songs, which are listed here. Now go drop "Gravity" onto your console.

We wish we possessed the kind of thought processes required to make the mental association between the release of the Rock Band Network and the catchy, quirky ditties from 'Splosion Man. The game's theme is already up on the RBN Store, but that's not the extent of the musical 'Splodiness -- in an interview with SavyGamer, Twisted Pixel CEO Mike Wilford revealed two other tracks from the game would soon hit the Network: "The 'Splode Beneath My 'Splosion" and "Donuts Song."

No time frame has been given for the songs' release, but that hasn't stopped our excitement for the vocal part of "T'SBM'S" from growing to catastrophic, earth-quaking levels.

We haven't gotten much of an indication of how successful Harmonix's recently launched Rock Band Network platform has been during its first few weeks in operation. I mean, we'd consider the Rock Band-ification of The Slip's timeless Guitar Hero classic "Even Rats" to be a huge success, but we're pretty sure they measure it in dollars and cents. RockBandAide recently did a bit of calculation and educated guesswork to come with the amount of cash the RBN has brought in so far -- according to the site, Harmonix has grossed over $107,000 in sales from user-generated tracks alone.

RockBandAide also estimate that regular DLC has brought in roughly $161,000 in revenue on the 360 since the Network went live -- a slightly larger sum, though the profit margin on Network tracks is supposedly much higher than that of regular DLC. The site also compiled the top 20 purchased RBN songs thus far, which we've posted after the jump. Keep in mind -- these numbers aren't official, but they're the best we've got to go on thus far.

[Thanks Tommy!]

Eleven days ago, Harmonix delivered on a concept many of us had fantasized about since the very first time we ever played Rock Band: It democratized the track-making process. For the first time in the franchise's history, any schmo off the street with a bit of MIDI engineering experience and a song in their heart could put that song on the Rock Band Store for the world to see (and hopefully purchase).

At GDC, Harmonix senior sound designer Caleb Epps and Rock Band Network producer Matthew Nordhouse sat down to speak about the challenges that came with opening up the game to user-generated content, and how its dedicated community has organically evolved the song-sharing process.

#harmonix In January, Harmonix launched the tools needed for artists to publish their songs on the Rock Band Network. Today, the Rock Band Network Store opens to the public, with more than 100 new songs for fans to purchase and play. More »

The Rock Band Network has gone live on Xbox 360 with a catalog of 105 songs. With over 4,000 registered authors and peer reviewers registered to participate in the program, we're guessing a lot more tracks are coming. Prices range from 80 to 160 ($1 and $2).

Players will be able to download RBN samples if they wish to try tracks before they buy. Songs will debut exclusively on Xbox 360 for 30 days, after which "a selection of standout tracks" will become available on PS3 and Wii.

The above track from The Shins is just one of the hundred tracks that have been approved for release on the Rock Band Network. Remember, while the actual service isn’t up and running on Wii (and it may never be), Wii owners will indeed see release of select Rock Band Network tracks. [...]

Believe us, dear reader -- there's nothing we'd like more than to have brought you with us to Las Vegas for this year's DICE, but you must understand that the airfare was simply too much to bear. We've got the next best thing though (outside of our weeklong coverage, of course): the full bag of swag handed over to us upon entry. In practice, this means a Modern Warfare 2 throat communicator, a Street Fighter IV fightpad, a seasonally appropriate Rock Band Network hoodie, a Rayman Raving Rabbids-themed Wiimote charger and ... some other stuff! All you have to do is tell us below in the comments what you thought was the most interesting story to come out of DICE 2010. 24 hours starts now!

• Leave a comment what you thought was the most interesting story to come out of DICE 2010.
• You must be 18 years or older and a resident of the US or Canada (excluding Quebec, in part because of our feelings on The Quiet Revolution).
• Limit 1 entry per person per day.
• This entry period ends at 6:01PM ET on Monday, February 22.
• At that time, we'll randomly select one winner to receive one Modern Warfare 2 throat communicator (ARV $29.99), one Street Fighter IV fightpad (ARV $39.99), one Rock Band Network hoodie (ARV $10), and a Rayman Raving Rabbids-themed Wiimote charger (ARV $29.99).
• For a list of complete rules, click here.

What is Joyswag? Since we don't keep the games and merchandise we receive for review or promotional purposes, it becomes "Joyswag," which is passed along to our readers. Please note that Joyswag may be in "used" condition. For more info on our policy, click here.

[Image credit: Jaymiek] In the latest issue of Edge Magazine, Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos and Neversoft project director Brian Bright both speak out regarding the current state of rhythm-music gaming. As you might imagine, neither developer thinks that the genre is flatlining. In fact, Rigopulos even believes that "future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation." Surprisingly, though, while each heads up their own approach to the genre, the two seem to be in near-direct agreement on the next step for their franchises. "User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think," Rigopulos says. Bright echoes his statement, saying, "I think user-created content is key to the evolution ... if you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws, then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music." That said, each developer differs in their definition of exactly what that "user-created content" will be. In the case of Rigopulos, he believes the Rock Band Network and its potentially "huge community of power-users -- skilled music creators" will be his company's next "defining moment." Bright is less sure of a plan, simply stating, "I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation."

If you've been tinkering around with the Rock Band Network song programming tools, turning your heartfelt ballads into batches of multicolored gems, you'll be able to place your work in front of an audience for the first time today. Harmonix is launching an open beta of the platform at some point this evening, which will allow musicians with an XNA Creators Club membership to publish their songs, and peer-review the work their fellow artists have contributed. Of course, we won't be able to download the songs until the platform officially goes live -- which Harmonix recently informed Destructoid wouldn't be until "we accrue a good base of content, though we're already really excited by what we have in the pipeline." If you were curious about what that pipeline currently looks like, we suggest checking out this Harmonix forum post, which compiles all the bands who've shown interest in Rock Band-ing their ditties. Update: We contacted Harmonix to get more details about the beta, and learned that it won't go live until tomorrow. We'll let you know when it's up!

If you've been tinkering around with the Rock Band Network song programming tools, turning your heartfelt ballads into batches of multicolored gems, you'll be able to place your work in front of an audience for the first time today. Harmonix is launching an open beta of the platform at some point this evening, which will allow musicians with a Rock Band Creators account to publish their songs, and peer-review the work their fellow artists have contributed. Of course, we won't be able to download the songs until the platform officially goes live -- which Harmonix recently informed Destructoid wouldn't be until "we accrue a good base of content, though we're already really excited by what we have in the pipeline." If you were curious about what that pipeline currently looks like, we suggest checking out this Harmonix forum post, which compiles all the bands who've shown interest in Rock Band-ing their ditties.