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#giftguide2010 Video game consoles are getting a bit long in the tooth. But these gifts will make them feel like brand new toys. More »

If this sounds like a familiar tune, it is: Music game sales have plummeted for a second-straight year. But this year, the tune is way more off key.

According to analysis by Gamasutra, which looked at the period from January through October in each of the past three years, music game revenues in the U.S. have taken a phenomenal nose dive from an epic height of $1.6 billion in 2008 to where they've landed today: under $250 million for the year. "Short of a Christmas miracle," concludes analyst Matt Matthews, "music games won't break $400 million for all of 2010."

Ohhh ... so that's why Viacom's hawking Harmonix.

Imagine some new downloadable content.

John Lennon's "Imagine" album will be next week's Rock Band DLC. The acclaimed set of songs joins the title track, which is one of the Rock Band 3 on-disc songs. The album's DLC launch comes about a month after the worldwide celebration of the 70th anniversary of Lennon's birthday.

No need to imagine the album's track list, it can be found after the break.

A clean space is a rocking place, so if Rock Band peripherals are taking up precious living room real estate, perhaps one of LevelUp Gears' ottomans could be a solution. The units are solid wood, with velcro guitar loops and other touches designed to keep your plastic music peripherals tidy.

The storage units are available in two versions: Back in Black and Skull and Snakes. According to a LevelUp representative, the Back in Black version is available now at Costco for $90. The Skull and Snakes, which is considerably more expensive for no discernible reason, is $180 at Kohls.com and $200 on JCPenny.com. Of course, if you're looking for a cheap storage solution, a 20-gallon trash can should also do the trick.

No jive talkin' here.

#hamonix Harmonix might be up on the selling block, but Rock Band 3 is stayin' alive, with a six pack of tunes dropping next week from the Bee Gees. You shall now overflow with joy. More »

Some big news hit developer Harmonix this week as parent company Viacom revealed plans to sell the company, but that shouldn't affect the weekly Rock Band DLC releases for the time being -- they're stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Next week's DLC offerings deliver a six-pack from the Bee Gees that includes several of the band's best-known hits.

Accompanying the brothers as they deliver disco dreams are B.B. King and Procol Harum -- yeah, that's quite a combination. Now, jive talkin' turkeys, check out next week's full DLC track details after the break.

The world tour starts in your hands.

After seeing this morning's news of Viacom selling developer Harmonix, many of you were concerned about the company's persistent work in supporting its products with downloadable content.

Harmonix has responded to our inquiry, stating, "This morning's announcement does not affect the ongoing work at the studio as we continue to support our existing franchises, Rock Band and Dance Central. As stated earlier, Viacom is in discussions with several potential buyers and will continue to fully support the business until a sale is completed."

The developer plans to continue answering outstanding questions on its forum on this thread. We're currently following up with Viacom and MTV Games regarding the status of the licenses for the music store and whether they'll transfer with Harmonix once the company is sold.

Viacom puts Harmonix on the block.

Viacom has announced that it plans to sell Harmonix, developer of the Rock Band series and Dance Central. The mega-corp has reclassified the Boston-based company as a "discontinued operation" in its third-quarter financial and has already changed all future earnings to reflect the sale. The company recorded a $299 million loss in discontinued operations to reflect the change.

We followed up with Wedbush Morgan analyst Michael Pachter to help explain the "discontinued operations" situation. The analyst told Joystiq, "I am sure that the purchase price of $175 million is in there -- it would have been carried on Viacom's balance sheet as goodwill. The rest could be other operations (non-gaming), some portion of the earn out that they paid a couple of years ago, which should have been expensed, but you never know, or some portion of the development costs for games not yet released."

[Thanks, Andrew B.]

Rock Band DLC released after October 26, 2010, is Rock Band 3 specific and will not be compatible with previous versions of the platform. This rule applies to all future Rock Band DLC, whether it's labeled "RB3 version" or not. Songs released before that cutoff date will remain available and compatible with the first two Rock Band titles. Also, new RBN tracks will be compatible with all versions.

A Harmonix representative explained to Joystiq that new tracks won't be backwards compatible "due to the new authoring standards, inclusion of new instruments, new lighting / venue cues, etc."

Although it's a bummer that owners of earlier Rock Band games won't be able to play new tracks, they won't easily be able to purchase the tracks by accident. Any songs released after 10/26 will not show up in the Rock Band and Rock Band 2 in-game store, nor will they show up in the standalone music store app or under RB1 or RB2 on the console's marketplace.

This week's Bon Jovi Rock Band DLC will include previously released tracks that now have an "RB3 Version." There was confusion about whether these songs, which now include keyboard and harmony support, would have their previous "legacy" versions upgraded for free. That will not be the case.

Harmonix explains those who own the legacy versions will have to pay the $2 for the new RB3 Version if they'd like to have the keyboard and harmony upgrade. Also, for those who want the Pro Guitar and Bass versions of the songs, they'll have to buy the RB3 Version, plus pay another buck for the "Pro" upgrade.

A Harmonix rep explained to Joystiq that the developer hopes to have the Pro Guitar/Bass versions available for the legacy versions -- without having to pay the $2 for the RB3 Version as well -- in the future, but that this won't be available for the Bon Jovi tracks. So, the short of it is: if you want the keyboard and harmony upgrades, you'll have to pony up the Jefferson ... that's who's on the two dollar bill. Yes, there's such a thing as a two dollar bill.

Keyboard parts playable with five-button guitar controllers.

Beyond the twenty trillion other games coming out weekly at this point in the year, you might be worried about how you'll fill your weekend? Maybe? Okay, okay -- for the one or two of you with some extra gaming time right now, several new demos have landed on Xbox Live Marketplace: Apache: Air Assault, Joy Ride (requires Kinect) and Rock Band 3.

Assuming your home entertainment center is equipped for maximum gameage -- by which we mean you have no less than three televisions and three Xbox 360s before you -- you can now experience what it's like to juggle being a rock star, a race car driver and a simulation helicopter pilot at the same time -- without having to commit to such an impossible lifestyle. Or you could play one demo at a time ... we guess ... but where's the fun in that?

Plus tracks from Deftones, New Order and Talking Heads.

Next week's Rock Band DLC adds the Bon Jovi Greatest Hits: Rock Band Edition album. The pack includes 12 of the band's chart-toppers, with some previously released tracks updated for Rock Band 3 with parts for Keys, Pro Keys, Pro Drums and harmonies -- you'll also have the option to add Pro Guitar and Bass parts for an extra dollar. (As for why we chose the above Bon Jovi album art for this post, the particular cover and music video always seemed inspired by Ghost in the Shell:SAC's The Laughing Man; available on Netflix instant watch.)

There will also be individual songs from Deftones, New Order and Talking Heads available next week. A standalone complex of details on all the tracks can be found after the break.

Time for another public service announcement from your civic-minded pals at Joystiq: If you were thinking about picking up Lego Rock Band on Xbox 360 hoping to suck its delicious track marrow from that disc-shaped skeleton, you're going to want to hold off until further notice from Harmonix. Also, you're going to want to work on that metaphor.

After a lengthy 20-page thread on the Lego Rock Band Forums, Harmonix took to the boards to assure fans - and would-be track-suckers - that the feature would be back up and running soon. You see, the process for exporting tracks from Lego Rock Band is a little cumbersome: You enter the code included in the game onto RockBand.com which, in turn, provides you with a code to "purchase" the license from the Xbox Live Marketplace. At this point, you're able to actually export the tracks for the cool asking price of $10. The snag: Harmonix has "temporarily run out of Lego: Rock Band redemption tokens" but expects to remedy the situation "soon."

If you've already been afflicted by this issue, Harmonix has some advice for you in its statement. Everyone else, sit tight until whatever licensing nightmare that's responsible for this goes away. The statement:
Due to overwhelming demand, we've temporarily run out of Lego: Rock Band redemption tokens for Xbox 360. We're really happy so many of you were excited to bring songs from LRB over into Rock Band 3 and we're doing our best to get new tokens set up for redemption as quickly as possible. Stay tuned to this thread and watch @RockBand on twitter for updates. We'll be responding to everyone via Redemption@RockBand.com shortly, but HMXcj and I will be updating this thread to reach as many people as possible. Sorry again for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience! [Thanks, Peter]

Fender has finally announced when its Squier Stratocaster guitar, the one built and licensed for Rock Band 3, will be available and, more importantly, how much it will cost prospective rockers. The guitar is expected to be released on March 1, 2011 for $280 (with pre-orders beginning January 1). The Strat certainly isn't cheap, but it's competitively priced in the world of electric guitars.

It is an actual guitar, after all, as opposed to the 102-button Mustang controller from Mad Catz, and the Squier is expected to provide a greater level of realism to RB3's Pro Mode. In addition to teaching players some real rock chops, Fender's guitar can also be plugged into an amp and, like the Mustang, serves as a fully functional MIDI instrument.

It's worth reiterating that Mad Catz's $40 MIDI PRO-Adapter is required to use the Squier with RB3. And it should also be noted that the Squier can't be used to play the game's standard modes, meaning you'll have to resort to a good ol' plastic guitar if you want to rock along with the classic multicolored gems.
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[Thanks Nick!]

#fender Fender's real electric guitar that doubles as a Rock Band 3 controller is coming next year, according to the guitar maker. You'll get your hands on the Squier Stratocaster controller in March 2011... if you can pony up the cash. More »

The Walking Dead is a few things:
Characters featured in many, many of the video games we've been playing lately. What we'll likely be called come Monday, after staying up 'til 4AM every night this weekend playing Rock Band 3. A show premiering this Sunday, which happens to be Halloween, at 10PM on AMC. What's everyone playing?

The Doors' songs now available as paid singles or a 12-pack of songs.

Okay, Rock Band 3 owners, if you haven't picked up your three free Doors songs ("Light My Fire," "Riders on the Storm," and "Touch Me,"), now would be the time. Next week, the three tracks will cost you and be added to The Doors Greatest Hits: Special Edition album pack, which will increase in price to $20. So, get those free tracks and pick up the album for $15, before you're singing the roadhouse blues for longer than you have to.

Also, one lone Rush song, "Subdivisions," will be available next week. It will feature the option to add "Pro" guitar or bass to it for a buck. Break on through to the other side of this post (we're so sorry, again) to see track details.

If you've elected to drop a few wads of cash on acquiring the new keyboard and Mustang guitar peripherals so you can enjoy Rock Band 3's newest features, you've secretly invested in a pair of fully functional MIDI instruments as well. Create Digital Music, a site dedicated to -- well, you can figure it out -- recently reviewed the two devices' capacity for real-life rocking; and surprisingly, they're both very capable in that regard.

The Mustang guitar may not have the authenticity of real strings, but at $150, it's one of the most affordable MIDI guitars on the planet. With Synth and Strum input modes, it could have some interesting applications for those creative types. The keyboard also received high marks for its ergonomic form factor and velocity-sensitive keys. In short, it's not the best keyboard on the planet, but it can (and should) be used as an actual keytar. Why haven't you bought this yet? You're wasting everyone's time.

Get creative and win money.

Here's a hypothetical situation you or someone you know has probably experienced at some point in your life: You and a friend are out at a restaurant or bar, and Wham's "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" comes on the radio. You remark how this is one of your favorite Rock Band songs, but your friend replies that this song, criminally, is not part of the Rock Band catalog. You argue about this point all night, ruining your dinner, drinks and, ultimately, friendship.

There's another way -- a better way, friends. A new, unofficial and free iPhone tool from developer Three Brothers Apps titled "RB Song List" lets you scan through the game's downloadable catalog on the go. Using this app, you could have resolved this hypothetical argument in seconds, and then spent the rest of the night talking about why the hell "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" isn't available on the Rock Band Store.