Search Posts

Top Categories

  1. DS
  2. iPhone
  3. PC
  4. PS3
  5. PSP
  6. Tech
  7. Wii
  8. Xbox 360

Follow Us

  1. Get the latest updatest in your favorite RSS feed reader.


When "Rock Band Unplugged" was first announced, I had visions of tiny plastic instruments or four people sitting next to each other rocking out on their PSPs. Not so.

Unlike the console iterations of "Rock Band," "Unplugged" is a one-person band. Read more...

The band's sixth and most recent album will be available for download next week. Read more...

Check out the first trailer for upcoming PSP title "Rock Band Unplugged," where your hands are the peripherals.

The game will be out on June 9 with the PSP. There will also be a "Rock Band Entertainment Pack" that comes with the game, a black PSP, a 4GB memory stick and a voucher to download the movie "School of Rock."

Related Post:
'Rock Band Unplugged' Comes To PSP In June, With DLC

Once "Guitar Freaks" and "Guitar Hero" established the basic interface for music sims, there was a natural extension to bass and drums, but one reason hip-hop games haven't caught on, a "Scratch: The Ultimate DJ" designer told me, is because hip-hop doesn't naturally lend itself to gameplay. Read more...

Time to look under the couch for change, as MTV Games and Harmonix have announced the latest downloadable content for "Rock Band," featuring live Thin Lizzy tracks, more from Pat Benetar, the debut of The Pretenders and even some Nickelodeon (?!) tracks. Read more...

Several websites cited a Billboard article today that stated Harmonix and MTV Games would deliver 5,000 songs to the "Rock Band" catalog before the end of 2009, but a statement released by MTV Games to us says that's not entirely accurate. Read more...

The success of "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" could convince diehard Harmonix fans their previous music games, "Frequency" and "Amplitude," have been forgotten, but that's not true, according to an Ars Technica interview with CEO Alex Rigopulos; they want to make a PlayStation 3 version. Read more...

Harmonix's Alex Rigopulos says that "Rock Band" has encouraged more people to learn how to play real instruments. He also speaks briefly on The Beatles licensing. Read more...

"Guitar Hero Arcade" is not the first time arcade developer Raw Thrills had been asked to work on a Harmonix property.

When Harmonix was showing the first demos of "Guitar Hero," Raw Thrills VP Andrew Eloff was approached by Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos.

Rigopulos wanted Eloff to look at the studio's earlier music games for arcade consideration.

"Alex took me over to his suite and he showed me the 'Guitar Hero' game," recalled Eloff during a phone interview last Friday about "Guitar Hero Arcade." "Because they wanted to pitch us on [their PS2 music games] 'FreQuency' and 'Amplitude.' They kept saying 'You've gotta make 'Frequency' for the arcade!' It's like, yeaaah, you know, I don't know. We like 'Frequency' a lot. It's a neat game and stuff and everybody over here loves it and we love to play it, but we were just like ehhh."

Little did Eloff know that a few years later, he would be transforming a sequel to a Harmonix game into an arcade -- except this time, Harmonix wouldn't be involved.

An MTV spokesperson declined to comment on Harmonix's past arcade plans.

Would you have played a "Frequency" arcade game?

Related Stories
More Instruments In ‘Guitar Hero Arcade’ Up To Activision, Developer Interested
‘Guitar Hero Arcade’ Is Based On ‘GH III,’ Developer Explains Konami’s Surprising Involvement
Source: ‘Guitar Hero Arcade’ Coming Next Year From ‘Big Buck Safari’ Developer

Last night The Who performed at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles for a crowd of 1,000 people at Harmonix's E3 "Rock Band" bash. The legendary band played a two-hour set including classics like "My Generation," "Behind Blue Eyes," "Who Are You," "The Seeker," "The Kids Are Alright," "Pinball Wizard," "Baba O'Riley," "Won't Get Fooled Again" and many more. Basically, it was the best concert ever.

I was lucky enough to sit in the front row with Kotaku's Brian Crecente and GameLife's Chris Kohler. Check out all my photos on MTV's flickr page.