Rock of Ages

Is it a case of "better late than never" for the Wii version of Rock Band?
6/20/2008 6:23 PM | 0 Comments | Page 2 of 3

Crispy Gamer: They've also already announced that new Guitar Hero: Aerosmith Edition. How come you guys haven't announced Rock Band 2: Electric Boogaloo yet?

Kelly: We have some announcements in the works, stay tuned...

Crispy Gamer: Has there been any talk of doing a band-specific version of Rock Band?

Kelly: We're excited we've been able to provide deep musical experiences with specific artists through DLC of full albums. As for future plans, we haven't announced anything at this time.

Crispy Gamer: Now at one point there was a lot of talk about Metallica doing something with Rock Band, and while they've had a couple songs in the game, nothing bigger ever materialized. What happened with that?

Kelly: As previously announced, we are working with Metallica to bring some amazing rock to Rock Band fans.

Crispy Gamer: One thing you are doing that Guitar Hero isn't is full albums, the first of which was Judas Priest's "Screaming for Vengeance." First off, who's the big Priest fan on the team that pushed for it?

Kelly: I work with so many Judas Priest fans here at Harmonix, I honestly have no idea who suggested it first. I'm just ecstatic we were able to get the band involved.

Crispy Gamer: What are the other full albums you're planning and when might they be out?

Kelly: To date we've put out "Screaming for Vengeance," "The Cars" by The Cars, and "Doolittle" by The Pixies. We have a lot of big plans for albums in the near future, stay tuned.

Crispy Gamer: Is there one group you guys have been chasing after but they just won't return your calls?

Kelly: We're talking to a lot of people, and the labels and bands have been really receptive.

Crispy Gamer: Is there a group who keeps calling you but you keep ducking them because you just really hate their music?

Kelly: We have really diverse musical tastes here. We're completely open to anything that fits the four instruments -- guitar, bass, vocals, and drums -- and would be fun to play.

Crispy Gamer: There is also, I've heard, going to be a retail release for the Wii and PS2 called Rock Band Track Pack Vol. 1, which will have 20 songs that were previously available for download from Xbox Live and the PlayStation store. Who decided which songs would be included?

Kelly: Our Audio Team assembled a list of some of the best songs that we've put out to date. We're excited to share those tracks with fans on the Wii and PS2. Crispy Gamer: Obviously, since it's called Vol. 1, there are plans for a Vol. 2. Any idea when that might be out?

Kelly: We're excited to offer ongoing content to all the platforms, but again we haven't announced timing for future releases.

Crispy Gamer: Now when the Halo guys released their most recent map pack, they made the previous one free, and they're not the first to make their downloadable content gratis after a while. Are there any plans to make the downloadable songs available for free anytime soon?

Kelly: We released our first free song, "Still Alive" by Jonathan Coulton of Portal fame on April 1. We're hoping to do more gratis content in the future.