Joystiq

Green Day: Rock Band more familiar to 'core audience' than The Beatles, MTV Games says

JC Fletcher — Fri, 14 May 2010 14:30:00 EST

The Beatles are a tough act to follow. And so, several weeks from the release of Green Day: Rock Band, publisher MTV Games has some promoting to do. MTV Games GM Scott Gutherie recently explained the reasoning behind picking the younger, less "classic rock"-oriented band for its next single-act music game following The Beatles: Rock Band.

"We were pleased with the performance of Beatles: Rock Band, but we were expecting higher sales," Guthrie said. "Our core audience of 16- to 34-year-old males are much more familiar with Green Day music than The Beatles." Targeting the core gaming audience with a band active during their lifetimes certainly seems like a sensible business move, though it does signal a move away from the kind of market expansion MTV and Harmonix were attempting with Beatles. However, Guthrie's suggestion that "Green Day probably has a much higher awareness than perhaps The Beatles did" seems like a stretch. Everyone knows The Beatles.

The clear market advantage that the Green Day game does have is the benefit of being compatible with Rock Band's existing and ever-growing library, as its tracks are exportable (for a fee) to Xbox 360 and PS3 hard drives and playable in the main iterations of the series. Though Guthrie didn't say as much, it's possible Beatles sales suffered because the game was a standalone project, which didn't mesh well with the Rock Band ethos and its core demographic.

Gallery: Green Day: Rock Band

Green Day: Rock Band more familiar to 'core audience' than The Beatles, MTV Games says originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 14 May 2010 14:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band Achievements walk a lonely road

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:45:00 EST

So, you not only want to play Green Day: Rock Band, you want to be the best at playing Green Day: Rock Band? You want some metric by which to measure your Billie Joe-bility against that of your friends and colleagues? MyGamerCard recently got its hands on the list of Achievements for the game -- which will presumably double as the Trophies, though we don't yet know which precious metals each task falls under. Check out the full list of trials posted after the jump!

Continue reading Green Day: Rock Band Achievements walk a lonely road

Green Day: Rock Band Achievements walk a lonely road originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 15 Apr 2010 13:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Full Green Day: Rock Band track list revealed

Griffin McElroy — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:20:00 EST

Over the past few months, we've received a handful of confirmations of tracks appearing in Green Day: Rock Band, but Entertainment Weekly's Music Mix blog just got its hands on the whole kit-n-caboodle. You can find the game's full 47-song track list just past the jump. Looks like we're in for sizable chunks of American Idiot, Dookie and 21st Century Breakdown, with light smatterings of Warning, Nimrod and Insomniac.

The songs will be split among three different venues signifying different periods during the band's career. The American Idiot tracks are played at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes, where they recorded their live DVD Bullet in a Bible. More than a dozen tracks will be played at the Fox Theater in the band's hometown of Oakland. Finally, songs from Dookie will be played at the "Warehouse" -- a mock-up of the "house parties and squats" at which the band got its start. Also, if you're laughing because we wrote "dookie" and "squats" in the same sentence, then congratulations, you're eleven years old.

[Thanks, Jake]

Continue reading Full Green Day: Rock Band track list revealed

Full Green Day: Rock Band track list revealed originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 09 Apr 2010 13:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band features all of 'American Idiot'

Griffin McElroy — Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:30:00 EST

In a recent interview with G4TV, Harmonix's Chris Foster revealed that Green Day's dumbest album will be featured in its entirety in the band's upcoming dedicated rhythm game. Yes, Green Day: Rock Band will feature all 13 tracks from the rock outfit's 2004 album "American Idiot," which features the song "American Idiot," which starts, "Don't wanna be an American Idiot."

We know there are plenty of youngsters who prefer "American Idiot," but we'd much rather hear that all of "Dookie" or "Insomniac" would be included in the game. Or all of "Vox Humana." Which -- nope, wait. Yeah, that's Kenny Loggins. We mixed up Green Day and Kenny Loggins again.

Green Day: Rock Band features all of 'American Idiot' originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 03 Apr 2010 20:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rock Band 3 to have vocal harmonies, Harmonix (accidentally) confirms

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:32:00 EST

At Harmonix's PAX East 2010 panel, five Rock Band designers answered questions from the audience for "An Awkward Hour" with one major stipulation: No questions about Rock Band 3. However, when an audience member inquired whether Green Day: Rock Band songs would still have harmonies when imported into RB2, Harmonix Project Lead Chris Foster began listing off the games with harmony support. "We've said Rock Band 3 would have harmonies already, right?" Foster asked his fellow panelists, who responded with a booming, "No!"

Foster clammed up without revealing more details about Rock Band 3's harmonies (or even answering the attendee's original question), only mentioning, "It's been nice working at Harmonix." (We think he was joking about that last part.)

Rock Band 3 to have vocal harmonies, Harmonix (accidentally) confirms originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 28 Mar 2010 10:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harmonix gets its 'Brain Stewed' by Green Day: Rock Band

Griffin McElroy — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:20:00 EST

The one track we were most looking forward to from Green Day: Rock Band was, of course, "Brain Stew/Jaded" from the outfit's 1995 album. It's a powerful, triumphant tune -- and, apparently, it's also super hard. The Harmonix crew attempted the song during last night's "Rock Band Bar Night" event at GDC, and -- well, it ended in tears. Or rather, jeers.

You can check out some off-screen footage of their tremendous failure above, or footage of them actually playing the game past the jump. To be fair, the drummer didn't see the flurry of notes coming at him, due to his attempt to refresh himself with some libations. You know who else was enjoying a few beverages? The drunk dude who kept trying to throw the devil horns up in front of our camera while we were filming. Really, drunk dude? Really?

Continue reading Harmonix gets its 'Brain Stewed' by Green Day: Rock Band

Harmonix gets its 'Brain Stewed' by Green Day: Rock Band originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band releases June 8 worldwide

David Hinkle — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:45:00 EST

That's right, folks -- Harmonix has just revealed that Green Day: Rock Band will be available for all come June 8 on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii. Up to 6 players (3 mics; 3 instruments) will progress through the career of the trio, unlocking collectible images (more than 100, apparently) and some 40 minutes of "rare and unreleased" footage from interviews, outtakes and performances along the way.

As alluded to above, GD:RB will also sport the same vocal harmonizing feature that made The Beatles: Rock Band such a delight for mic hogs and comes loaded with 47 Green Day tracks, including "Brain Stew," "Jaded," "Hitchin' a Ride," "American Idiot," "Wake Me Up When September Ends" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams."

Oh, and if you're looking to export these tunes, worry not: all 47 tracks are fully exportable to a console hard drive and playable in Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and the recently announced Rock Band 3. The export fee is $9.99 via Xbox Live or PSN. The export features is not available for the Wii system. Additionally, if you've picked up the six Green Day tunes already available as DLC, you can play them in the new game with added harmonies, "unique" visuals and more "exclusive archival material."

Green Day: Rock Band will be available as a standalone game for Xbox 360 and PS3 for $59.99, while Wii owners will get a bit of a price break at $49.99. A special edition Green Day: Rock Band Plus will also come to Xbox 360 and PS3 for $69.99 and includes fancy packaging, an "export" feature (we assume, a voucher to export the disc tracks to the hard drive) and the six previously released Green Day DLC tracks.

Update: The GameStop pre-order bonus for the standalone game is an export voucher (for Xbox 360 or PS3). Essentially, pre-order GD:RB from GameStop, and you can export all 47 tracks to your console hard drive for free.

Gallery: Green Day: Rock Band

Green Day: Rock Band releases June 8 worldwide originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Mar 2010 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Harmonix cooperatively developing Green Day: Rock Band with Demiurge, MK12, others

Alexander Sliwinski — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:55:00 EST

MTV Games has confirmed that Harmonix is working on Green Day: Rock Band. The reiteration follows the widespread misinterpretation of a Demiurge Studios designer's personal blog post, specifically this line: "Not included in the [VGA] announcement was the fact that Demiurge Studios was working on Green Day: Rock Band."

A spokesperson for the publisher told Joystiq in a statement, "Green Day: Rock Band is being developed by Harmonix in partnership with Demiurge, MK12 and others." This is not Demiurge's first time working with Harmonix on Rock Band: the studio had also previously worked on the Rock Band Country Track Pack and the Rock Band Metal Track Pack.

Harmonix cooperatively developing Green Day: Rock Band with Demiurge, MK12, others originally appeared on Joystiq on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 12:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band won't be the only Rock Band in 2010

Andrew Yoon — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST

Some were disappointed to find out that Harmonix's follow-up to The Beatles: Rock Band was Green Day: Rock Band. MTV Games' Paul DeGooyer says the band was heavily demanded on the official Rock Band forums and added that a dedicated game would "satisfy a good amount of the constituency." DeGooyer, perhaps attempting to appease naysayers, also told Newsarama.com that "it's of course not going to be our only game this year."

So what is this mystery Rock Band game that DeGooyer is referring to? Most likely, it's the inevitable-but-not-quite-officially-announced Rock Band 3. While The Beatles and Green Day will take advantage of vocal harmonies, it seems Harmonix has other significant updates to make for the Rock Band platform. "As efficient as digital distribution is, there are still things that are much more efficiently delivered as a disc. In terms of major upgrades, I mean. That said, we haven't announce any formal plans for a sequel game ... yet."

Of course, we could be wrong about this whole "Rock Band 3" nonsense. Perhaps Harmonix will make our dreams come true with their real secret project: Jonas Brothers: Rock Band.

Green Day: Rock Band won't be the only Rock Band in 2010 originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 21 Jan 2010 19:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable

Griffin McElroy — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST

One of the least surprising "World Exclusive" reveals during last night's Video Game Awards show was the unveiling of Harmonix's next single-band opus, Green Day: Rock Band. In case you missed out on the late-to-the-party announcement, you can check out the debut trailer after the jump. If you don't feel like watching a streaming video at the moment, we'll summarize: It looks a heck of a lot like when you play those Green Day DLC songs on Rock Band 2.

The MTV Games press release that landed in our inbox shortly after the trailer aired contained one particularly interesting piece of news -- unlike The Beatles: Rock Band, all of the tracks in Green Day's outing will be exportable to the core Rock Band games. In addition, all the Green Day DLC released so far for the music platform, as well as the three 21st Century Breakdown tracks that will hit this Tuesday, will be compatible with Green Day: Rock Band. No release date has been given thus far, but the presser specifies that its coming to the Wii, PS3 and 360.

Continue reading Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable

Green Day: Rock Band trailer unveiled, songs will be exportable originally appeared on Joystiq on Sun, 13 Dec 2009 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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MTV teases 'Green Day Rock Band' [update 2]

Ben Gilbert — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:25:00 EST

Update 2: Yeah, it's real. Check out this clip from the VGAs to see the eyeliner-wearing band's big announcement.

Update: We also spotted some of the trailer during the "Rehearsal Sneak Peek" video over at Spike, which Geoff Keighley followed up with "You gotta tune into the VGAs to see the announcement of the next Rock Band game." Sure sounds like a full Rock Band game to us!

While perusing the internet today, we happened upon a particularly interesting video of Green Day performing "American Idiot" on MTV.com -- though rather than the usual real-life version of Green Day, Rock Band avatars of the group took the position, followed closely by the logo you see above. Is it a full standalone Rock Band game with Green Day? Is it a really robust downloadable content pack? We'd bet our bottom dollar that we'll find out in a few hours when the Spike VGAs start. As per usual, we've fired off an email to MTV Games and Harmonix to find out what's up in the meantime. Check out the full video after the break.

[Via Jared Rea's Twitter]

Continue reading MTV teases 'Green Day Rock Band' [update 2]

MTV teases 'Green Day Rock Band' [update 2] originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 12 Dec 2009 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rock Band Weekly: Green Day, 30 Seconds to Mars, All-American Rejects, Beatles: Rubber Soul album

Alexander Sliwinski — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST

For the sake of clarity and brevity in this week's Rock Band Weekly, let's split this info up:

The Beatles: Rock Band will have the album Rubber Soul available next week. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and Abbey Road were previously released on November 17 and October 20, respectively.
The standard Rock Band music store receives new tracks from All-American Rejects, 30 Seconds to Mars and even more Green Day.

As a reminder, Rock Band Unplugged DLC is going on holiday for an unspecified amount of time. Check out pricing and track details after the break.

Update: MTV Games/Harmonix has corrected the pricing for Rubber Soul.

Continue reading Rock Band Weekly: Green Day, 30 Seconds to Mars, All-American Rejects, Beatles: Rubber Soul album

Rock Band Weekly: Green Day, 30 Seconds to Mars, All-American Rejects, Beatles: Rubber Soul album originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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More Green Day headed to Rock Band

Richard Mitchell — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:30:00 EST

In simple terms, Green Day and Rock Band are friends. There have already been several Green Day tracks released for Harmonix's musically inclined baby and it was announced today that even more are on their way later this month. Starting December 15 on the Wii and Xbox 360 - and December 17 on the Playstation 3 - players will be able to grab three new Green Day tracks from the band's 21st Century Breakdown album: "Christian's Inferno," "Last of the American Girls," and "¡Viva La Gloria!". The tracks will be available individually for $1.99 / 160 / 200 Wii points. The full track pack will be available on PS3 and Xbox 360 for $5.49 / 440.

More Green Day headed to Rock Band originally appeared on Joystiq on Sat, 05 Dec 2009 06:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rock Band Wiikly: Green Day, Mayhem tracks, many others

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EST

This week's Rock Band Wiikly was already partially announced with last week's Rock Band Weekly. Green Day and the Mayhem track pack (not in pack form) will be available tomorrow on the Wii's Rock Band Music Store, along with The Presidents of the USA and a bunch of other artists from the back catalog. Check out the full list after the break.

Continue reading Rock Band Wiikly: Green Day, Mayhem tracks, many others

Rock Band Wiikly: Green Day, Mayhem tracks, many others originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 06 Jul 2009 10:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Rock Band Weekly: Green Day and Mayhem Pack

Alexander Sliwinski — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:15:00 EST

Next week's Rock Band Weekly brings the announced three-pack from Green Day's 21st Century Breakdown album. The tracks are apparently the first offerings from an "exclusive partnership" between Harmonix and Warner Music to bring the band's songs to the platform. Green Day isn't even the angriest band this week ...

Green Day Pack (440 / $5.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)

"21 Guns" (160 / $2)
"East Jesus Nowhere" (160 / $2)
"Know Your Enemy" (160 / $2)

Mayhem Pack (1080 / $13.50/ 200 Wii Points apiece)

"Conquer All" -- Behemoth (160 / $2)
"What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" -- Black Dahlia Murder (160 / $2)
"Hammer Smashed Face" -- Cannibal Corpse (160 / $2)
"Empire of the Gun" -- God Forbid (160 / $2)
"Embedded" -- Job for a Cowboy (160 / $2)
"Disposable Teens" -- Marilyn Manson (160 / $2)
"Black Magic" -- Slayer (160 / $2)
"This Is Exile" -- Whitechapel (160 / $2)

All tracks are original masters and are available for download next Tuesday on Xbox 360 and Wii. They make their way over to PS3 on Thursday.

Rock Band Weekly: Green Day and Mayhem Pack originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 02 Jul 2009 15:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day DLC packs coming to Rock Band

Justin McElroy — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EST

Harmonix has been hinting around this, but now we have some official word: Green Day is bringing tracks to Rock Band via DLC in three-song packs. The first will arrive on July 7 and will include ... why, their new stuff, of course! Just like you were hoping! Specifically, you can look for "21 Guns," "Know Your Enemy" and "East Jesus Nowhere" from the band's new 21st Century Breakdown.

Before you lose your mind, take heart! More (hopefully earlier) material from the band is coming on an unannounced date. Can we request "All By Myself"?

Green Day DLC packs coming to Rock Band originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:15:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Green Day coming to Rock Band in some capacity

JC Fletcher — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:30:00 EST

Green Day will have something Rock Band-related out this year, according to statements made by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong during a KROQ appearance. An audience member asked the band if they were planning on putting songs out for the game, and Armstrong revealed that something was in the works.

"Yeah, we're doing a whole Green Day Rock Band, uh ..." Armstrong responded, unable to finish his sentence due to a swell of applause. Green Day Rock Band what? Game? Downloadable track pack? Expansion disc? Guitar decal line? Instructional video? Whatever it is, we'll find out about it soon, because it's supposed to be out by the end of the year.

The band, having just previously made fun of social networking, went on to discuss how they were too old to play Rock Band well. That's how you connect with your young audience!

[Via Kotaku, thanks, Chris W.]
Source (Part 5 of the "Kevin and Bean's Breakfast with Green Day" recording)

Green Day coming to Rock Band in some capacity originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 09 Jun 2009 09:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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