If you were at PAX 09, you could have landed an early shot at previewing the Rock Band Network, a community that creates and rates new songs with playable instrument tracks for the Rock Band series. Now anyone can access, create, and test songs for the games, as long as they:
The creator account for Rock Band Network itself is free and will let you see the names of some of the songs in review and accepted for eventual release, including "Creepy Doll" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton. To download, play, and rate songs you'll need to pay to join the active community.
According to reports, we'll also see tracks from Flight of the Conchords, Evanescence, Billy Idol, Creed, The Shins, Minstry, and All That Remains - though none of these are evident on the site at the moment.
The store itself is due to launch "in a few weeks" with songs priced at $1-3 each. So if you don't want to pay to beta test tracks, you'll soon be able to purchase the fruits of this network which promises to provide music from more indie sources than Harmonix can deliver on its own. Bands who want their songs on the Rock Band Network can either create them or hire a company that specializes in this sort of thing.
Oh, and for now this is Xbox 360 only, though Harmonix expects to add PS3 and Wii support if/when they solve the technical issues to make this possible...
- are 18
- live in the U.S. (for now)
- have an Xbox Live Gold account (approx. $50/year)
- have an XNA Creators Club account ($50/4 months or $100/year)
The creator account for Rock Band Network itself is free and will let you see the names of some of the songs in review and accepted for eventual release, including "Creepy Doll" and "The Future Soon" by Jonathan Coulton. To download, play, and rate songs you'll need to pay to join the active community.
According to reports, we'll also see tracks from Flight of the Conchords, Evanescence, Billy Idol, Creed, The Shins, Minstry, and All That Remains - though none of these are evident on the site at the moment.
The store itself is due to launch "in a few weeks" with songs priced at $1-3 each. So if you don't want to pay to beta test tracks, you'll soon be able to purchase the fruits of this network which promises to provide music from more indie sources than Harmonix can deliver on its own. Bands who want their songs on the Rock Band Network can either create them or hire a company that specializes in this sort of thing.
Oh, and for now this is Xbox 360 only, though Harmonix expects to add PS3 and Wii support if/when they solve the technical issues to make this possible...
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