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Rock Band Network Song List Grows, Launch Date Speculated
As of this posting, 118 songs have been approved for sale through the Rock Band Network. User trg007 on the Rock Band forums is constantly updating the finalized list. But that's not all. A couple of hints point to a March launch, and Twitter user RBNnews provides a glimpse into all of the songs that are currently going through certification.
Artists I recognized from the final list include: 3 Inches of Blood, Flogging Molly, Jonathan Coulton, KMFDM, Of Montreal, Reverend Horton Heat, Steve Vai, The Hold Steady, and The Shins. Also of note: Harmonix band The Main Drag is the first artist to include an entire album on the service. Links to YouTube videos of most of the note charts are available as well so you can see how the songs will play and see what they sound like.
RBN enthusiasts should also subscribe to Twitter user RBNnews to see what songs are currently going through certification prior to appearing on the final list. Recent Tweets include:
-Third Eye Blind: "Never Let You Go '09," "Jumper '09," "Semi-Charmed Life '09"
-The Smashing Pumpkins: "Bullet With Butterfly Wings"
-Flight of the Conchords: "Business Time"
-Wheatus: "Teenage Dirtbag 2010"
But when can we finally pay Harmonix money to play all of these tracks? Nothing's set in stone outside of the "early 2010" window, but a couple high-profile events could hint at a launch. The Game Developers Conference runs from March 9-13 and features several Harmonix staffer speaking sessions. The most interesting to us is a session called "Rock Band Network: Postmortem" that will take place on the 13th. Not only does "postmortem" indicate that RBN is already out, the session description is conspicuously absent even though the lecture is less than two weeks away.
During this same exact timeframe, Rock Band Network will be featured at this year's South by Southwest festival. The official announcement says, "The all-star debut of the revolutionary new system Rock Band Network will take center stage at the 2010 ScreenBurn Arcade!" This ScreenBurn Arcade gaming zone runs from March 12th through the 14th.
Of course, these date possibilities are pure speculation, but they certainly seems promising. What do you think of the RBN details so far? Are you buying any of the announced tracks when they become available?
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