PS2 News

MTV Games, which owns Rock Band developer Harmonix, has confirmed to Shacknews that Canadian stores will not receive any version of the musical supergroup simulator until December 17.

Publisher EA previously announced that the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 editions would arrive in North America on November 20, with the PlayStation 2 version following on December 17. The November 20 launch of Rock Band in the United States is not affected by this news.
» Read More 

Rock Band has gone gold. That means the game is set for mass production and on target for a November 20th release for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, with a PS2 release set for December 18, 2007.

"Rock Band is a true symbol of Harmonix's vision, dedication and passion for music and after two years of development, we are thrilled that Rock Band is finally ready to get in the hands of rock fans everywhere," said Alex Rigopolous, CEO of Harmonix. "We have a small army filling our warehouses with final product, ready for our November 20th ship date so players can fulfill their rock and roll aspirations. Now, our focus is putting together an amazing selection of downloadable music content for players so players can continue to further customize their Rock Band experience post launch."
» Read More 

Harmonix has issued an official warning on the Rock Band bundles that are being sold before the street date. Those units are not full-real retail versions of the game. They are incomplete demos that are getting accidentally sold.

Read the full announcement and explanation in the official Harmonix community forums.
» Read More 

Oct 31, 2007 The first details have been spilled on Rock Band and Guitar Hero creator Harmonix' next project, which will apparently leave the dedicated peripherals of its previous titles behind. The info comes from a Game Developers Conference 08 session listing for senior designer Chris Foster, in which he'll discuss the challenges of leaving the beat-matching formula of Guitar Hero behind. The new game, says the listing, will adopt a system where beats are not authored by tech-savvy ...
» Read More

When Rock Band ships next month, you'll quickly realize there aren't enough USB slots on Xbox 360 to accommodate the load of peripherals that need to be jacked in for the whole experience. Given that the older versions of the PlayStation 3 feature four accommodating USB ports, this extra step won't be necessary there.

1UP reports:

"We were recently shipped the finalized Rock Band peripherals, including the USB hub. We haven't had enough time with the hub to determine how well it holds up -- up until now, we've been using a separate hub that was delivered with an earlier version of the game, but isn't part of the bundle on Xbox 360 -- but we can't say we're happy about having yet another device that needs to plug into the wall, especially considering the hub's limited length.

The hub's made by a company called ViPowER, and while it's a little disheartening there don't seem to be many reviews of the other USB hubs they make, here's hoping we don't have to search out our own replacement hubs a few weeks after launch."
» Read More 

Ahead of Activision's financial results next week, Janco Partners analyst Mike Hickey has commended short-term revenue prospects, but commented that "emerging competition for some of [Activision's] core franchises, including Guitar Hero and Tony Hawk", may prove damaging for the company's long-term growth.

Hickey stated for the short-term company prospects, "We expect key fiscal Q208 and 2H08 game sales will come from Spiderman 3, Shrek 3, Transformers, Guitar Hero, Tony Hawk, Call of Duty 4 and Enemy Territory: Quake Wars. The Company's fiscal '08 game pipeline is exceedingly strong, and will likely generate record fiscal '08 operating performance."
» Read More 

Oct 29, 2007 This is what you'll be rocking out to when Rock Band storms your bedroom early next year. 1960s Rolling Stones "Gimme Shelter" 1970s Aerosmith "Train Kept a Rollin'"* The Who "Won't Get Fooled Again" Boston "Foreplay/Long Time" Mountain "Mississippi Queen"* The Police "Next to You" David Bowie "Suffragette City" Black Sabbath "Paranoid"* Blue Oyster Cult "Don't Fear the Reaper" The Ramones "Blitzkrieg Bop" Deep Purple "Highway Star" KISS "Detroit Rock City" Molly Hatchet ...
» Read More

According to early tests conducted by IGN, the most compatible controller is Xbox 360's Guitar Hero 2 X-plorer model, which works with both upcoming titles, although you cannot use the special effects to the lack of a five-way switch. The GH3 Les Paul controller works with everything except the PS2 version of GH2 (played on a PS3, natch) and, like the X-plorer, cannot activates effects.

Rock Band's stratocaster, however, does not work with any Guitar Hero title on the Xbox 360. (IGN has not been able to test the PS3 version yet.) A statement released by Harmonix said, among other things, that they "welcome any 3rd party software that wishes to support Rock Band guitars. If a 3rd party guitar / music game does not support the Rock Band guitar controller, questions regarding this should be directed to the game manufacturer."
» Read More 

IGN writes: "Rock Band is arriving in stores on November 20. Along with a guitar, mic, and drum kit, the $169.99 package includes 58 songs (45 licensed tracks, and 13 more that are unlockable)".
» Read More 

Would-be Rock Band purchasers sharpening their knives and survival instincts in anticipation of dealing with the consumption-mad masses on the game's originally announced Black Friday release date of November 23 can relax a little. Reps for developer Harmonix today confirmed for GameSpot that the game will now go on sale November 20, three days before "Black Friday," and in time for the Thanksgiving holiday
» Read More