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Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-15 01:13pm
by Alferd Packer
Announcement
GREEN DAY, MTV GAMES, HARMONIX AND WARNER BROS. / REPRISE RECORDS ANNOUNCE GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND™

Artist Likenesses, Defining Albums from the Band’s Career and Exportable Track List to be Featured in Green Day Music Game Experience

Green Day 3-Pack Joins Rock Band DLC Line-Up on Tuesday, December 15th

LOS ANGELES / NEW YORK – Dec. 12, 2009 – Multi-platinum selling and Grammy® Award winning group Green Day, along with Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and Warner Bros./Reprise Records today announced at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards that they are collaborating on the standalone title Green Day: Rock Band™.

“We’ve worked with the Rock Band team in the past year to enable our fans to play tracks from 21st Century Breakdown, and we’re excited to now be working on a game, spanning our entire career,” said Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. “We want people to fire this up, choose their favorite Green Day tracks, and play along with us as Rock Band avatars so they can feel what it's like to perform on stage as Green Day."

The game is an extension and expression of Green Day’s most-defining albums and key moments throughout their career to date. It will feature likenesses of Green Day members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool, as well as select venues and art specific to the band's history. The title will be available globally in 2010 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ system from Nintendo. In addition, the track list will be fully exportable, giving players the opportunity to play the songs in Rock Band™ and Rock Band 2™ on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3.

"Green Day's music and explosive live performances transcend age barriers," says Tom Whalley, Chairman/CEO, Warner Bros. Records. "By partnering with the band and Harmonix, Warner Bros./Reprise is thrilled to help create a Rock Band experience devoted exclusively to their impressive catalog. This game will appeal to fans of all ages, including those who love their recent best-selling albums and those who've loved Green Day throughout their long, incredible career."

“It's very exciting to work closely with Green Day to create an experience that captures the incomparable sound, look and feel of the band,” said Paul DeGooyer, SVP of Electronic Games and Music for MTV Networks Music Group. “'Green Day: Rock Band' is yet another example of how music fans can connect with some of the greatest music ever recorded via the Rock Band platform.”

“This game will feel like a natural extension of Green Day and their music that will deepen the fans’ connection to the band and their history,” said Alex Rigopulos, CEO and co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems. “Fans will be able to enjoy some of the greatest songs from the Green Day catalogue in this standalone game or via Rock Band due to full export capability. We are thrilled to work with Green Day to revisit key moments from their career, including their likenesses, content and imagery, through our innovative form of musical interaction.”

This latest Rock Band title aims to encapsulate the spirit and energy of a band that has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and been hailed as one of the best live acts touring today. Green Day has won critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot and Record of the Year for their smash hit "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Earlier this year, Green Day released their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, on Warner Music Group’s Reprise Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, as well as on the Rock, Active Rock and Alternative charts, fueled by the alternative radio No. 1 single “Know Your Enemy.”

In addition to the game announcement, Green Day will bring three more tracks from 21st Century Breakdown to the Rock Band Music Store as downloadable content on Tuesday, December 15th. The three pack of songs will include, "Christian's Inferno," "Last of the American Girls," and "¡Viva La Gloria!," all from 21st Century Breakdown. These songs, as well as Green Day tracks previously released on the Rock Band platform, will be supported in Green Day: Rock Band.

The Rock Band platform stands next to none with more than 1,000 songs available from more than 390 artists. With more choices for fans than any other music-based videogame, Rock Band is, without question, the industry leader in providing the best selection of interactive musical content, songs and artists. Rock Band offers content in a unique way, through on-disc gameplay, game export, downloadable content, and soon with the Rock Band Network, which allows bands and labels to author their songs into downloadable playable Rock Band tracks. The Rock Band platform allows fans to interact with their favorite music in a unique and hands-on way, as well as giving artists the ability to reach fans through a whole new channel.

For more information, art and video assets on Green Day: Rock Band, please visit http://www.rockband.com/news/greenday. To see the world premiere package that aired during the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards, please visit http://www.spike.com/event/vga2009.
I guess if Van Halen deserves the royal treatment, why not Green Day?

Though, of the various band-centric rhythm game titles, The Beatles: Rock Band is absolutely head and shoulders above the rest, so it's entirely possible that this game won't suck. I do think it's a good idea to let 360 and PS3 owners export the game content to RB2, so that you're not constantly swapping disks out.

I dunno. TB:RB set the bar pretty goddamn high, so it remains to be seen what they can do with this.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-15 04:14pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Seeing as it's being published by WB Games rather than EA, it seems to me like more of a money-grab from the music label that Harmonix is willing to go along with because the check is big enough.

I really doubt I'm going to buy this game, but at the same time I'm not throwing a shit-storm over it like some Rock Band fans. If this sort of 2 games a year trend continues, then there will be a new "Band: Rock Band" game every year, and a new 'core' Rock Band title every year. Which is a much more reasonable sort of release schedule than the Guitar Hero franchise has, especially when you compare the track export and DLC compatibility.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-15 04:37pm
by Stark
They skipped a year for core RB, right? Hopefully they steal the two good gh ideas for RB3.

The outrage of people who thought only evil Activision did this is hilarious.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-15 05:18pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Stark wrote:They skipped a year for core RB, right?
Most people are considering LEGO Rock Band to be the "core" RB game for this year, though it's more like the first core title for Family Games Night Rock Band than a continuation of the numbered and T-rated Rock Band games.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-15 11:46pm
by Elessar
DPDarkPrimus wrote:I really doubt I'm going to buy this game, but at the same time I'm not throwing a shit-storm over it like some Rock Band fans. If this sort of 2 games a year trend continues, then there will be a new "Band: Rock Band" game every year, and a new 'core' Rock Band title every year. Which is a much more reasonable sort of release schedule than the Guitar Hero franchise has, especially when you compare the track export and DLC compatibility.
The Beatles: Rock Band is not exportable. Although it might be just because of the artist's legendary control over their property, I wouldn't hold my breath expecting that Band-centric RB games will be exportable.

It's still the better franchise than GH, I suppose. GH5 and Band Hero are exportable though, so Activision is quickly catching on.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-16 03:10am
by DPDarkPrimus
The Beatles: Rock Band are not part of the core Rock Band games. Compare it to Guitar Hero, which does not have track export features up until just now (and not even all of their titles then) and so little in terms of DLC cross-compatibility as to be non-existent. My point, which has not altered, still stands.

It says right in the article in the OP that Green Day: Rock Band will be fully exportable, so it would appear that B:RB was the exception rather than the rule.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-16 12:30pm
by Losonti Tokash
DPDarkPrimus wrote:The Beatles: Rock Band are not part of the core Rock Band games. Compare it to Guitar Hero, which does not have track export features up until just now (and not even all of their titles then) and so little in terms of DLC cross-compatibility as to be non-existent. My point, which has not altered, still stands.

It says right in the article in the OP that Green Day: Rock Band will be fully exportable, so it would appear that B:RB was the exception rather than the rule.
It's also possible that sometime in the future TB:RB could be exportable. Much like RB2, it has a code in the manual that as of yet has no purpose.

At any rate, the idea that GD:RB wouldn't be exportable is particularly hilarious considering there are currently 6 Green Day songs already available for download in the music store.

Edit: Also, from my Rock Band nerd perspective I'm hoping that the vocals+guitar models and animations from this one make it into the next core RB game.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-16 03:38pm
by Stark
Yeah, the GH-based games do that already (although the band selection doesn't support it directly). Hopefully RB3 nicks all the good things GH managed to find by accident while releasing 15 games.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-16 05:05pm
by DPDarkPrimus
Losonti Tokash wrote:It's also possible that sometime in the future TB:RB could be exportable. Much like RB2, it has a code in the manual that as of yet has no purpose.
It's already been stated by Harmonix that it's just a unique serial code for each copy of the game, which is something they like to do.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-16 11:34pm
by Elessar
DPDarkPrimus wrote:It says right in the article in the OP that Green Day: Rock Band will be fully exportable, so it would appear that B:RB was the exception rather than the rule.
Hmm, the point is happily conceded.

I would certainly echo Stark's hope that RB3 picks up some of the things that GH has stumbled onto. Their multiplayer party mode is quite a bit better now that someone isn't gimped into playing the mind-numbing bass guitar all the time.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-17 05:43am
by DPDarkPrimus
What do you mean, does Guitar Hero still force you to play either lead or back-up guitar all the time, while the other person plays the other? That's not any better than guitar/bass.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-17 08:22am
by Losonti Tokash
He's referring to the party mode, where anyone can play any instrument, regardless of whether someone else has already taken it or not.

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-17 02:49pm
by DPDarkPrimus
But does Guitar Hero still chart the guitar parts separately?

Re: Green Day: Rock Band? Really?

Posted: 2009-12-18 12:11pm
by Alferd Packer
Also, I think the doing open notes on the bass is another thing GH got right. It definitely makes the bass more interesting.