Rock Band drumming up more business on mobile phones

by Alexander Sliwinski on Sep 2nd 2009 2:15PM

Get out your toothpicks, because Rock Band is coming to cell phones. After shrinking the rhythm franchise down for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP, EA is looking to make it even smaller on September 16th, when Verizon gets a mobile version. The 25 included songs are listed after the break.

The title will also support multiplayer, along with quickplay, "Tour mode," and leaderboards. We're currently unaware if players will be able to download additional tracks -- there's nothing we'd like more than adding another category to our novella-sized Rock Band Weekly posts.
Rock Band Mobile set list:

30 Seconds to Mars – "Attack"
30 Seconds to Mars – "The Kill"
AFI – "Girls Not Grey"
Beastie Boys - "Sabotage"
Blink-182 - "All the Small Things"
Blondie – "Hanging on the telephone"
Finley – "Tutto E'Possibile"
George Thorogood and the Destroyers – "Bad to the Bone"
Jethro Tull – "Hymn #A43"
Joan Jett – "Bad Reputation"
Lynyrd Skynyrd – "Simple Man"
Motorhead – "Ace of Spades"
Rise Against – "Give It All"
Silversun Pickups – "Lazy Eye"
Angels & Airwaves - "It Hurts"
Steve Miller Band – "Take the Money and Run"
The James Gang – "Funk No. 49"
The Pixies – "Debaser"
The Presidents of the United States of America - "Ladybug"
Foo Fighters - "Learn to Fly"
Foo Fighters - "Everlong"
The Go Go's- "We Got The Beat"
Tempted – "Squeeze"
The All American Rejects - "Move Along"
Smashing Pumpkins – "Cherub Rock"

Tags: ea, electronic-arts, harmonix, mtv-games, music, rhythm, rock-band, rock-band-mobile, rock-band-weekly

Reader Comments (41)

Looks kind of like TapTapRevolution (which looks kind of like Rock Band (which looks kind of like Guitar Hero (which looks kind of like DDR))) I love that TTR has been free on iPhone and has provided plenty of free DLC. If they release this for iPhone I'm not sure I'd pick it up.

Verizon doesn't carry the iPhone.

Which is why I said IF they release it on iPhone. EA has released tons of games on iPhone, releasing this wouldn't be much of a surprise.

Jethro Tull – "Hymn #A43" -- should be "Hymn 43"

So, when can we see the animated GIF of how it'll run in real-time? I kid, I kid (I hope, I hope)

Android plz.

Mmm thanks but no thanks. I'm not a fan of the same songs over and over again, even on Unplugged there was too much repetition. Still I bet this sells like hot cakes.

NOW who's milking! Haha, jk.

Ok, we have 1 mobile version, 1 handheld (actually two since I think theres going to be a RB DS, 4 Console games with significant improvements and DLC that is actually appealing, compared to what?

2-3 Mobile GH games
3 Handheld games
10 Console games all half released in the same year.

Who's milking? Still Guitar Hero.

The two portable Rock Band titles are Frequency/Amplitude style gameplay with the Rock Band name attached. Instead of games built solely to move yet another GH related peripheral (this time on the handheld)

The mobile game? Not much info on it yet. But GH I believe has 3-4 games already out for mobile. Not to mention that failed money grab of an arcade game.

Meanwhile on the main market (consoles), GH just released it's third title this year, with two more yet to come. Van Halen continues the string of band-centric titles with random artists mixed in to fill up 45 songs. And Band Hero is simply GH5 with a different setlist and guest artists.

Rock Band on the other hand has two console releases this year, Beatles (which is 100% Beatles AND supported by additional Bealtes DLC....3 albums worth to be exact and more on the way), and LEGO...which takes the Rock Band franchise and mixes in new game modes and features that build off the LEGO license.

Harmonix isn't even CLOSE to what Activision has accomplished. Especially when all of the RB games combined ALMOST even out with all of the GH titles released this year.

Doesn't really matter how many games, milking is still milking. Which is what Harmonix is doing to the rockband franchise, which is what activision has been doing to the GH franchise.

This is what businesses do kids. When something gets really popular, they make more from that franchise in the pursuit of more cash.

"we" ???
emblazin, has your harmonix fanboyism gone so far that you now consider yourself part of the company?

Um. I am always pro-Harmonix. But this is just wrong. OK, EA. You want to become the new Activision AGAIN after Activision became the new EA. If there will be an iPhone version for $9.99 or less, I might pick it up though.

So fuck it, but I'll get it if it comes to my platform? Gotcha.

That's not what I meant but I understand the downvotes. That did not come out as expected.

What I was trying to say is: "I am getting a little worried with where EA is taking the franchise. Also, they are not 'there' yet, so I would probably pick the game up if it was out for the device of my choice".

I was a huge fanboy of Guitar Hero until the "WTF? I just spent 40 pounds for this game, and now a month later you want me to buy another one?! seriously?" era. I just don't want Rock Band to go the same way.

HMX won't. This is for mobiles, not just another RB title. Now if we see RB3 before Lego:RB, I'll eat my drum set.

cherub rock? thats not on the console versions yet...

Fail. It was on RB1.

Are you kidding? Its in RB1 -and- GH3.

It's on Rock Band 1.

YOYOYO can we get another confirmation???

(that's been happening to me so much lately)

i was saying boo-urns

Mildly interested, but only if DLC is available. That tracklist stinks.

WOW LOOK AT E$A CA$HGRABBING!!!!!

ok RB fanboys... do you know how ridiculous you sound when you rip Activi$on for doing what camp Rock Band is doing here? Video game companies are in the business to make money, they don't care about you, the player, at all. They are simply striking while the iron's hot and cashing in while the getting is good (Remember how many versions of DDR came out a few years back). In 4 years we'll all be playing something else, then Activision, EA, Ubi Soft will all be making spin-offs of that.

You are an idiot.

EA is not hurting the console Rock Band players in any way whatsoever with this. Unlike Guitar Hero, with its incompatible DLC and standalone-band games that prevent artists from being in either regular Guitar Hero games OR Rock Band.

Go play in traffic.

All of the WT DLC is compatible with 5. Except for the Jimi Hendrix songs, but honestly, they had to go through so many loops to get Jimi Hendrix in the first place. The Hendrix estate wouldn't even let them sell the songs individually. With Hendrix not being a character in GH5, they don't want some nobody playing Hendrix songs, so they said no. Really, It's not Activision's fault at all.

And GH2 DLC doesn't work with GH3 because GH2 dlc is in Harmonix's format. Not only that, but GH2 and GH3 both have NO full band tracks, not to mention some of them being rhythm tracks. It just won't work that way.

Dollars to Doughnuts says my Blackberry Storm will be awful with this.

mm...donuts

Jeez! I said I was joking, as in, I didn't mean what I said!
Shoulda known I would've pushed someone's buttons... I apologize anyway.

EA and Activision are both hungry for money money money and more money.

Neversoft and Harmonix are just honest developers making the best games they can. It's not their fault they are exploited like this.

Leave the hate for the big guys.

Yeah, I don't think it's a bad thing. If there are still people who want to buy these games, then it's fine. As long as they're not ripping off consumers like no backward compatible songs I guess. Idk

No MIDI please

Good lord, how many times are we going to see Ace of Spades? I swear these games are paying Lemmy's bar tab.

Okay...maybe like half of Lemmy's bar tab.

I guess most of the folks on here only will allow a company to release one game - after that, it's milking?

Id - Doom & Wolfenstein
Bungie - Milking Halo
Nintendo - Mario anything
Sega - Sonic anything
Epic - Only a matter of time before the Gears RPG or cell phone game. And don't think they're not already developing Shadow Complex 2.

EA & Activision are too easy, and aren't the only ones.

THANK YOU.

The guys at Neversoft don't get to deal with the red tape. If they can't have a song for a reason, it's not their fault. In fact, they even said that Activision was trying to get more songs from WT and SH to be exportable.

If you were to check the list of exports, you would see that it's not Activision or Neversoft's fault for the exports........ It's WARNER MUSIC GROUP. There's virtually no WMG artists on the export lists because WMG is being a pain in the ass with the rhythm game industry. There's no Sony Music Entertainment songs either, which means there must be problems from there.

So as far as DLC and Exports go, You're going to see alot more from Universal Music Group, EMI, and indie labels.

er, that was supposed to be a reply... anyway, point still stands.

Get this: 09-09-09 Rock Beatles comes out
09-09-09 the Apple Event

RockBand will be coming to the iPhone
and they're saving it-til 09-09-09 where they'll show a demo playing rockband on a ipod touch

And still, the only game with Lemmy is Guitar Hero Metallica. It's a shame. Lemmy should export to GH5 or something. Those mutton chops of destiny are trapped in GH:M!

Really? Again?

Weblogs REALLY needs to fix their comment system.

i'm a RB fanboy to the end, but i just said lolwut when i seen this, do we really need to play rock band on out phones nowadays, HMX is starting to milk RB, but at a slower rate what guitar hero

AHEM! Mr. Sliwinski, that would be Squeeze - "Tempted", not the other way around.

DON'T DOWNLOAD UNLESS YOU HAVE AN UNLIMITED DATA PLAN ON YOUR PHONE!!!

Each time you play a song, it has to download to your phone temporarily and then get deleted when you're done. It adds up quiiiiiiiiickly, and you have to pay $1.99 per mb...

...for anyone who didn't know...

Rock Band drumming up more business on mobile phones

Reader Comments (41)

Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:25PM (Unverified) said

Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:28PM MowDownJoe said

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Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:37PM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said

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Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:52PM Dark Archon PSN Archonik XBL Dar said

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Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:46PM darkinchworm said

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Posted: Sep 2nd 2009 2:48PM garbagedick said

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