PS3 Fanboy: "Yesterday we found out we are getting trophies, and today we might have the release dates. If the official online store for Rock Band franchise rockbandstore.com is to be believed, we have two different release dates for Rock Band 2 on our hands. The regular edition with just the game will be out on November 30th, according to the pre-order page. While first time rockers and those who have the dough for another set of plastic instruments will start jammin' away sooner on October 19th."
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Bad news for Freezepop fans (like Joystiq) -- the synthpop trio, of which Kasson Crooker, Senior Producer at Rock Band creators Harmonix, is a member, does not have a song in their latest game, Rock Band 2. And that's a shame -- they've had a new song on the disc in every Harmonix game since FreQuency (including Phase, their iPod game), which makes this the first Harmonix game without a new Freezepop tune.

Shocked at this revelation, we confronted Harmonix at the Rock Band event this evening, and they confirmed that yes, there is no Freezepop song on the disc in RB2. The reason given to us was that Freezepop hasn't recorded any new music lately, and that they didn't have anything new to put out. But our source at Harmonix did say to look out for some Freezepop DLC -- they may be planning, Joystiq was told, a two or three-song downloadable pack of "sweet and cold and fruity and plastic-y" music.
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VG247: Yep, The Who did play the Rock Band E3 gig in LA tonight, with frontman Roger Daltrey pointing out between tracks that rhythm-action games may be the saving grace of the commercial music industry.
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Alan Tsang of PS3Fanboy says,

"We mentioned before that Rock Band 2 will allow players to "export most of the Rock Band disc tracks and upgrade them into Rock Band 2 gameplay." Most means not all. So what tracks are excluded? Joystiq got a chance to talk to senior designer Dan Teasdale, who said the final list of importable songs is still up in the air, due to licensing issues. Apparently Harmonix had to re-license all of the tracks from the first Rock Band. Sources are saying the number of songs excluded will probably be around 2 to 3. This is speculated to be caused by the new exclusivity deals with Guitar Hero: World Tour.

The official Rock Band 2 website has also been opened. No new information, but there are a couple of IM icons and wallpaper. The website also allows you to pre-order the game on the Xbox 360 on Amazon, but a quick look around also leads a pre-order for the PS3 version, including the Special Edition which includes the instruments. We did notice the Special Edition is has a release date listed as October 19th while the game by itself has it listed as November 30th, but these dates are probably inaccurate. The 360 Special Edition, which already has a confirmed release date of September, also has the release date listed as October here."
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"At the big Microsoft event this morning, Alex Rigopolis, President and CEO of Harmonix, teased the crowd with a small sampling of Rock Band goodness. He first debuted the whole lineup onscreen in a font so small none of our puny cameras could take legible pictures of the writing, and then went on to outline some of the big tracks that would be featured in the game.

You're going to want to sit down."
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Via Kotaku:

"Rock Band 2's tracklist is official. It resembles many of the leaks we've seen up until now, featuring over 100 songs - more than 80 songs plus 20 bonus tracks available as free DLC this fall."

Hit the jump for the full track list.
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Cancel your weekend plans from this October until May 2009 - the tracklist for Rock Band 2 has been released, and it's huge. This is the real tracklist, not some internet fakery, and it comes straight from the source.Not only that, but you'll be able to import the songs (both the downloaded tunes and the stuff that came on the actual disc) from the first Rock Band directly into RB2, so you'll be able to play something like 500 ... » Read More

There are differing leaks out there regarding the track list for Rock Band 2. Both are unattributed, one to a friend of a friend who got a look at an email from Harmonix to MTV or something. But in the interest of rumormongering, we'll repeat both with the caveat that there is no way of knowing if this stuff is for real or not. But if, combined, they're half right then this could be one hell of a track list, possibly the best of any rhythm game.
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Dick McVengeance of Destructoid says,

"Let's face it: the Guitar Hero controller is not the ideal item for the game. It'd be nice to hold a full-sized guitar in your hands. We've seen people build custom controllers and put them on eBay, but those were one-off deals, and usually rather expensive."
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Destructoid writes: "The latest out of the NYTimes is that this Monday MTV and Harmonix will announce that a Guns N' Roses track called "Shackler's Revenge" will make its official debut on Rock Band 2. The track is from the perpetually delayed album, Chinese Democracy. The article then goes on to state that Chinese Democracy could come out this fall with Duke Nukem Forever and When Pigs Fly.

Of all the songs that I wish could be in Rock Band 2, I can't say that I imagined a Chinese Democracy single was one of them. The Guns N' Roses library is considerably vast. How about "November Rain" or "You Could be Mine?" There's something special about those two songs specifically. It could be the Slash solo or the Terminator, but what do I know?

Anyway, feel free to speculate like crazy, because if a song from Chinese Democracy is going to hit Rock Band 2, then anything will. I call for the Orgy rendition of "Blue Monday", or even KMFDM's "Hau Ruck." Even better, how about the entire Jimmy Buffet library this time around?"
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Thought $180 for the original Rock Band package was expensive? You ain't seen nothing yet. The official Web site for Ion's professional Drum Rocker (as recently revealed in Game Informer) lists a $299.99 price for the deluxe drum controller. Only the Xbox 360 version of the set is currently available for pre-order, though Wii and PS3 editions are "expected to ship later in the year," according to the site. It's important to note that this is not the official drum set that will be packaged with Rock Band 2, but rather an officially licensed deluxe set that works with both Rock Band games.
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The latest issue of Game Informer (via Score Hero) has a feature spread on Rock Band 2 and, while most of the information was released online yesterday, the magazine does have images of the new drum kit, both the upgraded basic and Ion Premium Set. The upgrades to the basic set include metal metal reinforcements on the foot pedal, velocity sensitive pads and expandable slots for cymbals.
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PS3fanboy : Looking for some hard info about Rock Band 2's track list ? Well, look no further, Gamespot got a little hand-on time with the much anticipated game, and it looks like the earlier leaked list was correct.
The 10 official songs released so far out of the 80....
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Rock Band 2 is coming to the PS3 and Wii on November 17th, almost two months after the Xbox 360 release according a retailers.
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MTV Games along with Harmonix offically announced yesterday that Rock Band 2 is slated for a Wii release later this year. Currently it is unknown as to whether or not the Wii version will support everything found in the Xbox 360 version, specifically downloadable content.
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Steven Totilo of MTV Multiplayer writes:

"Not too long ago I was told how MTV Games' Rock Band 2 would be different from the first Rock Band. I was among a group of games reporters in a small theater at the Los Angeles studios of Electronic Arts. The makers of Rock Band 2 were giving a demonstration. Later, they let us play the game, but I was feeling too sick to jump on the drums, wield the guitar and sing. (I did feel well enough to block the game with my head).

So, aside from the fact that Rock Band 2 will let gamers play World Tour mode online, this is how the new game is supposed to be different from the original…"

Click Ahead For More.
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There's a video right now on YouTube that supposedly leaks all of the Rock Band 2 tracks! Rock Band Forum poster XxMattxX starts the discussion in their forums off by saying,

"Has anyone else seen it?"

There are a lot of personal favorites on the list, but none stuck out more than "Comfortably Numb" by Pink Floyd. Video and full list of songs and artists below, Rock Band Forum discussion after the jump.

Here's The List:

Warmup:

If You Wanna Get to Heaven - Ozark Mountain Devils
Gold Lion - Yeah Yeah Yeahs
Possum Kingdom - The Toadies
Black Betty - Ram Jam
Don't Speak - No Doubt
Black - Pearl Jam
Drain You - Nirvana
Farmhouse - Phish
Santaria - Sublime

Apprentice:

You Oughta Know - Alanis Morrisette
We Got the Beat - The Go-Gos
Float On - Modest Mouse
Kiss Me Deadly - Lita Ford
Atomic - Blondie
Heartbreaker - Pat Benatar
Piece of My Heart - Janice Joplin
Rock the Casbah - The Clash
I Wanna Be Sedated - The Ramones

Solid:

Panic Attack - Finger Eleven
Chop Suey - System of a Down
Give it Away - Red Hot Chili Peppers
Everlong - Foo Fighters
Kids in America - Kim Wilde
Ace of Spades - Motorhead
Hello There - ?Cheap Trick?
Anyway You Want It - Journey
Pinball Wizard - The Who

Moderate:

Machinehead - Bush
Born to Run - Bruce Springsteen
What's the Frequency Kenneth? - REM
Want To - ?
I Write Sins Not Tragedies - Panic at the Disco
The Old Apartment - Barenaked Ladies
When I Come Around - Green Day
Zombie - The Cranberries
Soak Up the Sun - ?Sheryl Crow?

Skilled:

Waiting on the World to Change - John Mayer
Man in the Box - Alice in Chains
Ramblin' Man - The Allman Brothers
One S...
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Recently we had the rumour mill churn out a song list and speculation about free DLC for Rock back 2. The battle of the bands is heating up. If the current batch of rumours are true then Harmonix are not taking the news of Guitar Hero World Tour laying down and will be releasing their entire back catalogue of content as free DLC.

Is this more value than what could be a complicated song creation system for Guitar Hero?
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Wondering why there isn't any Led Zeppelin in the Rhythm Games you love? Here's what Michael McWhertor of Kotaku says,

"According to their management, the band isn't 'comfortable' giving up access to its master tapes, the very thing required to edit these things down to Rock Band and Guitar Hero ready formats.

'It ain't about the money,' says Peter Mensch of Q Prime Management who handles Led Zep's interests."

McWhertor goes on to list a few of the bands that have given up the access, including Van Halen, Steely Dan, Guns N' Roses, and the Eagles.
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58 has been done before. 60 is too small of a jump. 70 is getting closer, but still isn't awe inspiring. Now 80, 80 is a number that can be celebrated and a number that accurately describes the number of master tracks that will be included with Rock Band 2.
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