The much-improved Rock Band store announced to the world yesterday is now available on Xbox Live and PSN. A 30-second download and installation gives players access to the streamlined song-buying interface, which features audio previews and individual instrument difficulties for each song, as well as a much simpler way to sort and browse through the growing selection of music.
Besides the cool new store, we're also extremely gratified by the much-needed faster loading of DLC provided by the patch. After a one-time file creation upon the first post-patch load, the annoying little "loading additional content" animation was reduced from roughly ten seconds to about one second in our tests on Xbox Live. The physical "download data file" that actually speeds up the process takes up a paltry 112KB on our system, meaning there's no reason not to rock out faster!
Reader Comments (43)
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 10:13AM (Unverified) said
Any one know what the fan limits are set to now? for each difficulty?
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 12:53PM (Unverified) said
How do we request the allmighty ban-hammer to fall on this spamming douchebag?
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 2:13PM (Unverified) said
Thank you!
(BTW, because I don't want to seem like a DB myself - my comment was intended for a post that has since been deleted. It was not directed at Eric)
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(BTW, because I don't want to seem like a DB myself - my comment was intended for a post that has since been deleted. It was not directed at Eric)
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 10:13AM (Unverified) said
This is awesome. I think there's a little rock band going on in my pants right now...
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 10:27AM FrankTheCrank said
And Just For All...
One of my favorite albums of all time. All that crunchy goodness...mmmmm...has to be enjoyed at very high decibels.
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One of my favorite albums of all time. All that crunchy goodness...mmmmm...has to be enjoyed at very high decibels.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 10:55AM (Unverified) said
old license plate (or something similar) and some duct tape will have you fixed up and better than ever. Cust to fit, wrap in tap, bam, good to go.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:33AM Madmartigan said
Don't worry, even if it's not within the 60 days, you can still get it replaced free. I got mine replaced two weeks ago and I bought the game at launch.
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/rockband.php
Go there and fill it out. 100% free, and I even chose the option where i'd have to send the pedal in first and THEN get the replacement. Much to my surprise, instead of just an empty box, EA just went ahead and sent me a new pedal anyways, i didn't even have to wait.
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http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/rockband.php
Go there and fill it out. 100% free, and I even chose the option where i'd have to send the pedal in first and THEN get the replacement. Much to my surprise, instead of just an empty box, EA just went ahead and sent me a new pedal anyways, i didn't even have to wait.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:41AM (Unverified) said
as others said, you can get a replacement, but you should still reinforce it with something, as it will break again eventually. any type of thin metal plate duct taped across the top to spread the force will do the trick. It might not look pretty, but it works and the duct tape makes for a better grip surface. Plus you can always undo it, vs. some of the screw in methods.
THen again you could always make a new pedal using a real bass pedal... total cost would be about $40 and it's vastly superior to the included plastic pedal.. only for the hardcore though.
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THen again you could always make a new pedal using a real bass pedal... total cost would be about $40 and it's vastly superior to the included plastic pedal.. only for the hardcore though.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 10:41AM Jomolungma said
I think it's a very elegant solution. Was just messing around with it and I like it... a lot. I wonder how they will do new track announcements now - will they continue to post on their forums or will you get some sort of message in the new store?
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:08AM Dr said
Awesome is right. Microsoft, you may want to take some notes on how an online store should work. Sorting options, quick-jump indexes, previews and quick load times.
And now we can have see the quality (or lack thereof) of the cover songs before buying them.
Well done Harmonix. *applause*
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And now we can have see the quality (or lack thereof) of the cover songs before buying them.
Well done Harmonix. *applause*
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:27AM Neon Jebus said
That was just what I was thinking. They manage to do something I've wanted from Microsoft. Somehow I can preview a song yet MS still can't find a way for me to preview themes and gamerpic packs?
That wouldn't be so bad if they actually updated the xbox.com site with new samples but they don't.
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That wouldn't be so bad if they actually updated the xbox.com site with new samples but they don't.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:12AM shakeandb1ake said
Now if they can just make it to where my created character can play all of the instruments I can die happy.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:43AM (Unverified) said
6 mil d/l's so far, doesn't seem to have hurt them much. I'd rather them release an otherwise perfectly working game rather than delay it for something extraneous like this.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:16AM (Unverified) said
The Rock Band Store breaks background downloading. When you download a song through the store, you have to stay on the download screen until it completes. At least most songs don't take long.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:24AM Jomolungma said
I noticed this. Kind of a drag. The problem is, once you hit B to back out of the download screen it cancels the download and sends you back to the store. The only way I found to maintain the download was, like Anthony said, to stay on the download screen. Not a drag for one song, but if you want to download a few songs in a queue it could pose some problems. Not sure how they'd work around this though.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:17AM baby sea tuna said
Rad! I know what I'm doing when I get home today...
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:35AM Neon Jebus said
Running around the living room in your tighty whities and dusting the coffee table with your backside?
That's how I kick off the weekend!
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That's how I kick off the weekend!
Posted: Mar 22nd 2008 3:02AM ramifications said
Just call up Microsoft. They can see if funds were deducted and give you a download code for the song if you really were charged.
Back to the matter at hand:
THE STORE IS AWESOME!!!!
I didn't download any songs till tonight when I saw the store. I already downloaded three and more will be coming I'm sure.
Microsoft seriously underestimated the power of a preview option and fast loading! They could be making so much more money if the marketplace wasn't so damn slow to load everything and if you could preview stuff!
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Back to the matter at hand:
THE STORE IS AWESOME!!!!
I didn't download any songs till tonight when I saw the store. I already downloaded three and more will be coming I'm sure.
Microsoft seriously underestimated the power of a preview option and fast loading! They could be making so much more money if the marketplace wasn't so damn slow to load everything and if you could preview stuff!
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 11:35AM (Unverified) said
Another side effect of this store is it's breaking ME. I've already downloaded three songs I skipped on release even though I knew them and watched the YouTube previews here. What a product.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 12:05PM jynxycat said
I was sitting down the other day trying to look at the song DLC list, and it was a pain. You have to scroll to a song, and either wait for the delay on the info window so it scrolls up, or click on the song and wait for it to load then look at it.
Either way, it's a real pain to see which song is by which band, when they have so many available.
Kudos Harmonix, still one of the better developers out there.
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Either way, it's a real pain to see which song is by which band, when they have so many available.
Kudos Harmonix, still one of the better developers out there.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 12:53PM (Unverified) said
put the game in your 360 and it update automatically.
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Posted: Mar 21st 2008 12:37PM FakeJamaican said
yeah, i sent an email to EA for a replacement after reading that people who broke theirs got it replaced no questions asked...hopefully will get it soon...
Im thinking of modding the second one with that metal plate....
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Im thinking of modding the second one with that metal plate....
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 3:39PM (Unverified) said
I don't think we will see a rock band 2 this gen. what would be the point. all we really care about is new songs to play.
The real question should be on the next xbox or PS3 can we transfer all of our content.
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The real question should be on the next xbox or PS3 can we transfer all of our content.
Posted: Mar 21st 2008 3:42PM (Unverified) said
The PSN based version works VERY well.
Nice job..
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Nice job..
Posted: Mar 22nd 2008 5:30PM (Unverified) said
Do I need Xbox Live Gold Membership? or Can I dowload the content with Xbox Silver Membership?
When I'm trying to get into the rockband store and I received a message about the family settings are avoiding to download the premium content, but I do not have family settings applied.
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When I'm trying to get into the rockband store and I received a message about the family settings are avoiding to download the premium content, but I do not have family settings applied.
Posted: Apr 7th 2008 3:14AM (Unverified) said
i got the same message ( the family settings r blocking premium content, and i have a gold membership, what can i do to enter rockband store?
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