Rock Band 3 Message Board older than one year ago

The introduction of Pro Mode, keyboards and access to more than 2,000 songs lead extraordinary list of new gameplay features.

Rock Band 3 is ready to receive the 1.93GB Rock Band 2 song export. RockBandAide details the export process (actually a track pack download) that requires $10 and the code from the back of your Rock Band 2 instruction manual, originally used for some bonus downloadable tracks. To redeem the code, go into the "Get More Songs" menu in Rock Band 3 and head on over to the "Redeem Code" option.

The five songs that will not survive the export process are:

• AC/DC - "Let There Be Rock"
• Journey - "Any Way You Want It"
• Metallica - "Battery"
• Red Hot Chili Peppers - "Give It Away"
• Soundgarden - "Spoonman"

RockBandAide reports nine songs from Harmonix bands will also not make it through the journey, but don't stop believin' in the company's bands, because they'll reportedly return as free DLC packs. Also, if you'd previously paid for the license transfer for Rock Band 1 tracks, don't worry -- those tracks are all set on your hard drive and ready for rockin'.

[Thanks, Andrew K.]

Like a rainbow in the dark. Whatever that means.

John Lennon, The Doors, Billy Joel and Bon Jovi headline epic roster of upcoming Rock Band 3 downloadable songs.

#harmonixmusicsystems John Lennon's most popular solo album, Imagine, will be "among the first albums" available for download following this week's launch of Rock Band 3, according to the game's developers. More »

Harmonix and MTV Games have announced that John Lennon's acclaimed 1971 album, "Imagine," will be among the first albums available for download in Rock Band 3. We imagine all the people who purchase the new keyboard peripheral will be very eager to play some of Lennon's ballads.

An exact release date and price has yet to be announced (should that have been a "Gimme Some Truth" joke?), though you can expect Lennon's nine tunes (the title track is already on the disc) to join The Doors and Billy Joel online sometime after the game's October 26 launch. And even if you buy it a bit late, there's no better way to commemorate a legend's 70th birthday. (Remember how disgusted Grandpa was when you gave him a quarter of a beetle inside a velvet box?)

#review The people who made music games great have delivered their best game yet. Harmonix, the developers behind Guitar Hero and Rock Band, have tweaked, polished, and re-engineered the Rock Band presentation, while also adding all-new ways to play. More »

Rock Band 3 owners can download "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm" and "Touch Me" for free through the in-game music store during launch week.

A portion of a Dtoid review… It’s a game that’s so solid that Harmonix could continue to support the game with downloadable content for years to come, and fans would find little to complain about. If they’re already dreaming of a follow-up, they’ve got their work cut out for them, because Rock Band 3 seems about [...]

The peripheral-centric rhythm genre seems like it's been around for an eternity, hasn't it? In actuality, the genre went from relative obscurity to complete and utter saturation in just five years. From deep beneath a blanket of fake plastic instruments, it can be difficult to see where the innovation is going to come from next -- or, to put it more efficiently, it can be easy to adopt the opinion that that innovation may never come. Fortunately, Harmonix hasn't capitulated quite so easily.

Though Rock Band 2 could be knocked for its lack of ambition, with its largest changes being focused on improving the user experience on a superficial level, the third generation of Harmonix's music platform has ambition to spare. Not only does it fix the few kinks left unsmoothed by previous entries into the series; it adds an unprecedented amount of new features to the Rock Band experience you -- and likely your group of faux-bandmates -- have come to know and love. That experience, already a relatively unparalleled source of enjoyment, is exponentially greater by the virtue of these new additions.

Or, to put it less mathematically: Rock Band 3 is the greatest rhythm game ever made, and quite possibly the only rhythm game you need to own.

Rock out with these new screens!

There may have been a part of you that had a dream. You might have thought you could pick up a Rock Band 3 Mustang controller or Squier guitar, learn a few tricks, and instantly start rocking out in Pro Mode. Now, just watch the note charts in this video -- never mind trying to make sense of them -- and feel the weight of your dreams being crushed.

Sorry kids, this is going to take some practice. It's like you're actually playing music or something.

Rock Band 3 to rock the world on Oct. 26, 2010, with more than 2,000* songs available to fans at launch.

#harmonix The Piano Man is bringing some of his biggest hits to MTV Games and Harmonix's Rock Band, arguably the best reason to pick up a copy of Rock Band 3's new keyboard controller. More »

#harmonix The Piano Man is bringing some of his biggest hits to MTV Games and Harmonix's Rock Band, arguably the best reason to pick up a copy of Rock Band 3's new keyboard controller. More »

There are plenty of reasons artists license their music for a rhythm game. There's money, certainly, and notoriety. But what about scorn? For Billy Joel, it was more than enough reason to license a dozen or so of his songs to Rock Band 3. Here's his account from USA Today:"I've never allowed my music to be used in a game before," but an Entertainment Weekly review of NBC's The Office changed his mind. Alluding to an episode in which characters mention a Rock Band featuring Billy Joel, "the critic wrote something like, 'God forbid that ever should happen.' So I called my people and said, 'Get me (on) that Rock Band game.' Then I wrote the critic, saying that every time I get a check, I'll give him a little nod."
We're assuming the songs will cost money, but we'd submit that reading the above story and knowing we'll never do anything remotely that cool is a dear enough price to pay.

#interview Just how fully-functional is Rock Band 3's keyboard controller? Synthpop sensations Freezepop are utilizing the peripheral onstage during their current tour, so we asked them. More »

#southpaws Ever since we previewed Rock Band 3's Pro Guitar mode, readers have been asking if lefties can play this mode. They can. More »

#music Rock Band 3 launches October 26, bringing with it three free and nine paid tracks from classic rock band The Doors and a confusing new way to classify downloadable music. More »

So, yeah, there are a lot of songs playable in Harmonix's various Rock Band games. More than 2,000 in fact, encompassing Rock Band Network, LEGO Rock Band, Rock Band 1, 2 and soon, Rock Band 3. In an effort to help make finding out if the song you want is among those, the developer has created an embeddable web widget that lets you search by artist, song title, year and genre (then sort within those results).

It's really pretty handy -- we've embedded it after the break, actually, so you can give it a try. If you'd like to stick it on your websitethingy, grab the widget here. Those familiar with iframes and other such web two-point-oh terms will know what to do with it.

Guess who's coming to RB3 now that there are keyboards?

Rock Band 3 owners can download "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm" and "Touch Me" for free through the in-game Music Store during launch week.

With Rock Band 3's new keyboard peripheral, it seemed like a sure bet that we'd see downloadable songs from The Doors sooner or later. Harmonix has opted for "sooner," announcing the release of twelve Doors tunes on Rock Band 3's October 26 release date.

Three of the songs, "Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm," and "Touch Me," will not only feature downloadable Pro Guitar and Pro Bass functionality, but will also be free until November 1. The rest of the songs, which have yet to be officially priced, will be designed for traditional Rock Band guitars (and Pro drums and keyboards), and will be released as a nine-pack on October 26. After November 1, all the songs will be available as a twelve-pack. All this is part of a promotion for the November 22 release of the new Doors "Live in Vancouver 1970" CD set.

Break on through to the other side of this post (we're so sorry) to see the list of tracks. Spoiler: yes, "L.A. Woman" is in there, for those of you desperate to have an excuse to chant "Mr. Mojo risin'" in your living room.

Though Rock Band 3 certainly seems to be doing its fair share of innovation, what with the keyboard peripheral and fancy real guitars, Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos recently told Edge Online that the studio isn't in danger of drying up the idea well. "There's a lot of creative terrain to explore with Rock Band," Rigopulos explained, "new forms of interaction between the player and the music. We still have some very exciting things planned."

One of those "very exciting things" was possibly referenced earlier in the interview, when Rigopulos explained the studio would love to return to its earlier rhythm titles -- namely, Frequency and Amplitude. "In terms of rhythm-action-type games focused on electronica," Rigopulos said, "that's something we'd love to come back to at the right moment in time. Or something completely new focused on that style of music." Ooh, ooh, we know! How about a game just called Rave, which uses two PlayStation Move controllers. We'd be so down for that.