Harmonix clarifies RB1 compatibility to Rock Band 2

28 Comments by Alexander Sliwinski Jul 15th 2008 6:45PM
Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Online, Rhythm

We spent some time with Dan Teasdale, senior designer of Rock Band 2, and asked him several questions -- but we really wanted to know what's the deal with transfers of Rock Band tracks to the new game. We wanted to know a little bit more about what Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos meant at the Microsoft press conference when he said most songs would be available for import.

Teasdale tells us that the final list of songs not transferable to RB2 is still up in the air and it all comes down to licensing issues. We heard from a separate source that "it should only be a couple songs" and, although the company would love to just do the whole set from the first game, there may be some exclusivity issues. Harmonix apparently had to re-license every song over again for the RB2 transfers.

Gallery: Rock Band 2

Tags: dlc, harmonix, mtv, rock-band, rock-band-2, teasdale, transfer

(Page 1) Reader Comments

urbanyeti: Jul 15th 2008; 6:49PM

Can't wait for RB2!

tcc3: Jul 15th 2008; 6:51PM

So Train Kept A Rolling is out. Wonder what else

Roders: Jul 15th 2008; 6:56PM

I think I would be just fine if we had to skip that one Aerosmith song.

Enter Sandman would be a little harder, but I think I could still make the sacrifice.

Sora: Jul 15th 2008; 6:58PM

Licensing issues...So no Train Kept A Rollin'? Good riddance, I hate that song. Oh snap, that may mean no Metallica, because of the whole GH:Metallica thing....

aerobica: Jul 15th 2008; 7:01PM

The elimination of 'Train Kept a' Rollin' makes Rock Band an infinitely better game!

Cmo4Ever: Jul 15th 2008; 7:03PM

Seeing as Battery is in the game, I don't think Metallica is an issue.

dvnt: Jul 15th 2008; 7:04PM

I wanna know about the new guitar... The Guitar Hero guitars feel much better than the RB Fender. Mostly because of a more responsive strum bar. I hope the new guitar is improved!

mr mobius: Jul 15th 2008; 7:05PM

The relicensing explains the rumoured $5?

neko to kuruma: Jul 15th 2008; 7:15PM

Looks like it. Honestly I wouldn't mind paying $5 for it, because I'll easily cover that from selling the RB1 disc (once I get some more gamerpoints out of it.)

Christopher Grant: Jul 15th 2008; 7:08PM

Yeah, I can do without that Aerosmith song. Less exposure to their music? Sounds like Aerosmith's loss to me.

arrrgh: Jul 15th 2008; 7:09PM

royalty wars fucking up yet another game.

guitar freaks never looked so good back in the day.

damn

They need to make a guitar hero with all the greatest original NES tunes from Megaman2 and shit

mr mobius: Jul 15th 2008; 7:28PM

If the Wii version ever got DLC then I'd consider it possible from Nintendo.

There is a NES hack though that plays some old NES tunes in a Guitar Hero game run on the NES.

Ordeith: Jul 15th 2008; 7:09PM

Why can't they just license them for the Rock Band platform and be done with it?

RIAA screwing business as well, it seems.

Dr.: Jul 15th 2008; 7:14PM

Good news. I feel like Harmonix is really trying to look out for their fans. It's a shame they won't be able to give us all the tracks, but at least they're trying their best. :)

Travis: Jul 15th 2008; 7:18PM

at least the DLC will be available!

ScottG13: Jul 15th 2008; 7:23PM

Woot. These guys get loads of my cash this year.

deft: Jul 15th 2008; 7:27PM

Harmonix really does care about the fans.

mr mobius: Jul 15th 2008; 7:37PM

It's called PR. The reason why some companies give to charities - makes the company look good.

HighFiveJesus: Jul 15th 2008; 8:05PM

that, and they know we have a choice, to stick with the brand they created or support their new projects. as long as we show we love em, they should return the favor and do everything they can to treat us right.

todd: Jul 15th 2008; 7:48PM

Be cool to have the RB1 songs but oh well at least Ill be able to play my downloads.

Alex Land: Jul 15th 2008; 7:50PM

Pretty awesome that they're implementing that.

TrojanGuy: Jul 15th 2008; 8:19PM

That's too bad. I wish the license would have covered the Rock Band PLATFORM, not just the first game. Hopefully Metallica DLC for RB1 doesn't have the same problem.

KEFIOX: Jul 15th 2008; 8:49PM

I could care less about Train Kept a Rollin' and a number of other songs on the RB1 disc but I still want them all as part of that $5 deal. At least they're trying, I know they can pull this off.

FSK405K: Jul 15th 2008; 9:34PM

Is the $5 fee available for the eight gamers who buy RB2 who never had RB1, or just for all of us pre-existing RB lovers?

J.Goodwin: Jul 15th 2008; 10:39PM

I'm really happy that Harmonix is going to all this effort for the fans.

This is the way to do it Activision. I know that you're not familiar with gamers and fans, you only see dollar signs above our heads, but this is how you EARN those dollars.

Mo the Hawk: Jul 16th 2008; 1:16AM

In a perfect world, the only songs that get left behind are the covers.

Mississippi Queen
Train Kept A Rollin
Green Grass and High Tides
Run to the Hills
Tom Sawyer
Ballroom Blitz
Paranoid

I can live without those, especially GGAHT and RTTH, which are just pure pain when they show up in random setlists.

FSK405K: Jul 16th 2008; 4:26AM

Nono, I don't want to have to swap disks just to play Green Grass and High Tides. It's insanely fun and the only song I've not beaten yet on expert guitar. The drum part is a blast, too.

dark_inchworm: Jul 16th 2008; 9:54AM

FSK405K: What? I found the drumming to be pretty fun for the first half of the song... then it's cringe-inducing to be forced into basically the same pattern for 5 minutes.

Maybe it's just me?

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