All factory-included songs for each version now only need YOU to step up to the challenge and show that you are worthy of being the first official World Record Holders for the game at Twin Galaxies
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Destructoid writes:

"If Pearl Jam's classic album Ten coming to Rock Band this March isn't enough for you, it looks like there's even more on the way.

Best Buy is running a special promotion for those who pre-order deluxe or "super deluxe" version of the forthcoming re-issue of Ten -- a token redeemable to download three bonus tracks for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The songs:

* "Brother"
* "Alive" from the "Drop in the Park Concert"
* "State of Love and Trust" from the "Drop in the Park Concert"

No word on whether the songs will be made available for purchase in the Rock Band store, but we'd put all of our money on "yes." Pearl Jam's remastered version of Ten hits stores on March 24; it comes to Rock Band as downloadable content on that same day."
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Harmonix has announced their latest batch of downloadable content for Rock Band 2 coming out next week.
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A recent Billboard article raised eyebrows by stating that Rock Band's downloadable song catalog would grow to a whopping 5,000 by the end of the year. However, Blend Games has learned that this just ain't so.
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Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced that Spectacular! will be the first DVD movie to offer tracks for Rock Band. A Nickelodeon Original movie, Spectacular! will premiere on February 16, 2009. Two songs from the film will be available on the Xbox Live Marketplace starting next week, but with the March 31 DVD release of Spectacular!, consumers that buy the movie will get a redemption code for a free download of the two songs.

"We think this is the first-ever DVD tie-in of this kind with Rock Band," said Marc Rashba, Sony Pictures VP of marketing.
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From the article: "An article in the latest issue of Billboard all about the upcoming year has laid a few predictions for 2009 at the feet of the Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises. According to the article, an unnamed MTV spokesman has said that the Rock Band Store will increase its catalog from 500 songs to 5,000 songs in 2009."
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GameSpot writes: "Last week the NPD Group, the industry standard of game-industry research firms, released its US sales figures for 2008. However, the company's top 10 game rankings only tracked individual products, or SKU (Stock Keeping Units), sold at retailers in the US.

As a result, it was unclear how two of the year's biggest rivals--Guitar Hero World Tour and Rock Band 2--fared against one another. Besides being multiplatform releases, the two solidly reviewed rhythm games each came in various retail configurations, such as a la carte or with one or more instruments."
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Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of six new Grateful Dead tracks to the Rock Band® Music Store catalog of downloadable content. The tracks include "Cold Rain & Snow" from the band's original 1967 album, The Grateful Dead."
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Thatgamingsite writes: "Forbes Writer, Peter C. Beller has responded to criticisms made after calling music game 'Rockband' a shameless knockoff in comparison to Guitar Hero. Althought it looks like he's sticking to his guns on this one."
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Videogaming247 reports that EA have refused to comment on plagiarism accusations by Forbes in regards to the Rock Band franchise.

The report in question by Forbes included bold words such as "teamed with MTV to sell Rock Band, a shameless knockoff of Guitar Hero that added drums, bass and a microphone to the world of make-believe rock stars".
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That Gaming Site writes: "Is Rock band a 'shameless' rip off of Guitar Hero? According to the latest article from Forbes Magazine it is."
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Harmonix and MTV Games announced today the addition of eight new tracks to the Rock Band® Music Store catalog of downloadable content including music from the Steve Miller Band, Godsmack, Belly, Ghost Hounds, Mute Math and Rob Zombie.
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Nirvana's bassist struggles to perform his own song in Rock Band 2.

Krist Novoselic of Nirvana fame complements music-based video games in a new blog entry on Seattle Weekly's website, introducing his post in the following way;

"Rock and roll has been proclaimed dead countless times. After a slump, rock usually bounces back in a wave of new bands and sounds. Things are different today: Rock has found new life with video games, and the phenomenon is leading to a revival of bands that have been around for a long time."

However, he wasn't too successful when it came to actually trying his hand at playing the bass line of a Nirvana song in Rock Band.
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Today Fender and Little Kids Rock, a non-profit music education organization, announced that an informal survey they conducted in November 2008 revealed that music games like "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero" actually do inspire students to play real instruments. The survey polled 812 music instructors and said that enrollment in music programs has increased in the past year.
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Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos says that "Rock Band" has encouraged more people to learn how to play real instruments. He also speaks briefly on The Beatles licensing.
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A roundup of the daily news featuring our conversation with Michael Pachter, a sequel to Call of Juarez, and more. Everything you need to know to keep up to date.
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Kotaku Reports: If they're going to tackle Halo 3 in the buff and Grand Theft Auto IV lollipop-fetishism, you know that the avant-garde nudies over Suicide Girls is all over Rock Band. And I do mean all over.
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Harmonix and MTV Games announced today that the inimitable singer-songwriter and producer Lenny Kravitz will bring four of his greatest hits to the Rock Band Music Store of downloadable content. The multi-talented Kravitz has sold more than thirty million albums and won four consecutive Grammy awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance 1999-2002, setting a record for most wins in a single category. Kravitz' classic rock star style and one-of-a-kind, smooth sound that blends the best of soul, rock and funk have left many to classify him as one of the most regarded rock musicians of his time.
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In the week ahead, Harmonix is putting out Rock Band tracks from Lenny Kravitz, Megasus, and Honest Bob and The Factory-To-Dealer Incentives. Three tracks will be from Lenny Kravitz, from the album "Let Love Rule" and another popular track of his, "Are you Gonna Go My Way." Here are the tracks that will be released next week:

Lenny Kravitz Pack 01 ($6.99 PSN or 560 Microsoft Points, or $1.99 or 180 Microsoft Points per track)
- "Are you Gonna Go My Way" by Lenny Kravitz
- "Freedom train" by Lenny Kravitz
- "Let Love Rule" by Lenny Kravitz
- "Mr. Cab Driver" by Lenny Kravitz

Single Tracks ($.99 or 80 Microsoft Points per track)
- "Megasus" by Megasus
- "Entangled" by Honest Bob and the Factory-to-dealer Incentives
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GameSpot writes: "For a company that wasn't party to last year's E3 Media & Business Summit, Activision Blizzard made its fair share of news. Just before the show, CEO Bobby Kotick signaled his interest in creating a "viable alternative" to Apple's iTunes, saying, "If you're downloading a song to play on your Guitar Hero, there's no reason why you can't download the performance also." The move would be made all the more easy thanks to Activision's new parent company, Vivendi SA, which owns the world's largest record label, Universal Music Group."
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