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June 30, 2008 - IGN.com - Rock Band is ready for a comeback tour. Today, Harmonix announced Rock Band 2 is set to ship for Xbox 360 this September and PS3 later in the year. However, the official announcement of Rock Band 2 is sparse on details, so we went straight to Harmonix to learn more. We spoke with Lead Designer Dan Teasdale to get the full scoop on the mega-sequel. Teasdale gave us his thoughts on user-created content, improving accessibility, upgrading last year’s model and more.

IGN: The most important question. Will Rock Band 1 DLC be playable in Rock Band 2?

Dan Teasdale: Yes. We’ve been developing Rock Band as a music platform from the start. All of the songs that you’ve purchased so far (and will be able to purchase in the future) are instantly playable and fully supported in Rock Band 2. We’ve even added some cool new features that let you play your DLC in different ways, which I think people will be very excited to get their hands on.

IGN: Once RB2 is out, can you still download and play new tracks on RB1?

Teasdale: Absolutely! We’ve been working hard with Microsoft and Sony to develop a way to share content between games, and we’re really happy that we’ll be the first game to support fully functional cross-title DLC.
As far as Harmonix is concerned, there’s no difference between “Rock Band 1 DLC” and “Rock Band 2 DLC” – we’re just releasing awesome songs every week onto the Rock Band platform, all of which are playable by the Rock Band titles that support DLC.

IGN: Some people are going to ask, why even buy RB2 if you can keep enjoying DLC on RB1? I’m one of those people. So, what’s the hook that will make me want to spend $60 on a new game disc?

Teasdale: At Harmonix, we have a very clear method for making games – we innovate, then we perfect. With Rock Band, we innovated by being the first full band game that you can play in your living room or online.

Rock Band 2 takes all the lessons we’ve learned from making a multi-instrument music game, addresses them, then adds some amazing new ways for you to experience your music library that have never been seen in a music game before. We’ve been scouring forums and parties everywhere for what people liked and didn’t like, and I’m pretty confident we’ve addressed everything I’ve heard people ask for.

On that note, we’ve also secured what I can easily say is the best setlist I’ve ever seen in a music game. The PR team would kill me if I revealed some early, but it reads like a who’s who list of rock music. We have a couple of surprises that we’ll be announcing soon regarding this.
Rock Band 2 really is the ultimate rock experience, and I think people will find it hard going back to the original Rock Band after playing Rock Band 2 for a few minutes.

So why release first on Xbox 360?

“Microsoft has been a great partner throughout the launch of Rock Band in the last year and their continued support is instrumental in supporting the more advanced features and cross title compatibility we will have in Rock Band 2,” a Harmonix representative told IGN. “Of course, our goal is to make Rock Band 2 accessible to all and we look forward to bringing Rock Band 2 to all relevant platforms later this year.”

 
Rock Band 2 Screenshot

For the full interview, click here.  More details on Rock Band 2 will be known in two weeks when E3 2008 begins!

Microsoft just sent along a note revealing that new screenshots and concept art from Gears of War 2 will be released tomorrow at 9 a.m. PDT.

The screens will showcase the new Locust Rockworm and snow-capped locale of Landown. Additionally, screens from the competitive multiplayer aspect of the game will reveal all-new gameplay modes, maps and weaponry.

EGM will also be releasing the first-ever Gears of War 2 multiplayer footage today around the same time.

Update: Here it is -

 EGM Multiplayer Video - 16 minutes

Also, here are all the screenshots and renders that were released by Microsoft today.

Finally, we know why countless games have been delayed or cancelled for the PS3.  The President for Sony’s Worldwide Studios knows the secret:

“They (the third-party developers) massively underestimated the effort that was needed to re-architect the game to properly take advantage of the PS3’s multi-core architecture.”

Yes, it’s now the developers fault that the PS3 was built so horribly for them to make games on.  I wonder what Gabe Newell (the director of Valve) would have to say about this? 

I think the PS3 is a waste of everybody’s time.  Investing in the Cell, investing in the SPE gives you no long-term benefits. There’s nothing there that you’re going to apply to anything else. You’re not going to gain anything except a hatred of the architecture they’ve created…I don’t think they’re going to make money off their box. I don’t think it’s a good solution. - October 2007

It seems Gabe is not the only one who thinks the PS3 is not worth his time.

Valve has also gone on to say that the PS3 will not be getting a version of Valve’s blockbuster Left 4 Dead, at least not a version developed from Valve.

Back in May 2005, when the Xbox 360 was revealed, all we heard from Sony and their followers was, “Wait till the PS3 comes out next spring”.  Then, when the PS3 was delayed until the fall in March of 2006, all we heard was, “Wait till the fall, then you’ll see the power of the PS3″.  Then it launched…and had one of the worst launch line-ups in history and every single multi-platform game was rated lower than Xbox 360’s version, with many of them having critical flaws.

Then all throughout 2007, we were told, “Wait till MGS4, Home, and LittleBigPlanet come out”, and then all of those things were delayed, and now it’s mid-2008, nearly two years since the PS3 launched, and we’re still getting the, “Just wait and see” line from Sony. 

Here’s the latest:

Next year will be the ‘year of differentiation,’ claims Yoshida - PS3Fanboy.com

Shuhei Yoshida isn’t wasting any time getting his PR machine in prime condition. As the new head of Sony Worldwide Studios (he took over for Phil Harrison recently), he’s got a lot of responsibility under his belt, but also a lot of knowledge. He admits the first year of the PS3 was riddled with growing pains because developers built their games on the 360’s architecture. This was the developers error, since releasing the game on the PS3 involved more effort than thought to take advantage of the multi-core processor — leading to delays or sub-par ports.

This was also Sony’s fault, he says, but now that good tools exist to assist developers and many have gotten their hands into the PS3, the trend may change soon. “Moving forward I’m totally confident that developers will start to use more from the PlayStation 3 platform. This year is the year of parity, next year is the year of differentiation in favor of the PS3 platform,” he said. With the clear difference in power between PS3-based games like Uncharted and Metal Gear Solid 4, we hope more devs take his advice and start their projects on the PS3 in the coming years. It will prove easier in the long run, since moving PS3 titles to the 360 is supposed to be much simpler.

Related: Development will favor PS3 in 2009, says Yoshida

All I have to say is, keep it up buddy.  In another two years, when Sony is desperately telling everyone just to wait till next year, it’ll be even funnier than it is now, three years since they started this desperate attempt to stay on top.  Instead, they’re in last place, and will be staying there for quite a while.

Make sure to check out my archive with Phil Harrison while you wait for 2009 (and PS3’s utter dominance) to come.  Mr. Harrison was the genius who said things like rumble was “last-gen and no longer needed.”

Halo: The Cole Protocol will be the sixth novel set in the Halo Universe. Tobias S. Buckell, author of Crystal Rain and Ragamuffin will pen the novel, which reveals the location of the Spartan Gray Team and “takes readers into an unexplored conflict of the Human-Covenant War where unlikely alliances are formed and shattered…”

Bungie expatriate and Microsoft’s Franchise Development Director Frank O’Connor had this to say on the upcoming book, which is slated for a Fall 2008 release, ” Buckell continues an excellent tradition that’s now a solid aspect of the Halo novels, bringing a fresh new perspective to a limitless universe and bringing his prodigious writing talents to bear in ways that will surprise and engage fans of the series and newcomers alike.”

About Gray Team: 

Gray Team is the designation for a mysterious team of three SPARTAN-IIs that are said to be “on battlefields too distant to be easily recalled” when the SPARTANS received the new MJOLNIR Mark V armor in The Fall of Reach.  The team was later identified (in Ghosts of Onyx) to have been “on a mission far outside the confines of UNSC space, now missing for over a year”.

What is the Cole Protocol? 

The Cole Protocol is a list of five procedures all UNSC ships are to obey if and when they detect Covenant forces.  It was put into place in an effort to stop the Covenant from ever finding Earth or any other Inner Colony planet/human population center.

For the full definition, click here.

About the Author:

Tobias S. Buckell exploded onto the science fiction scene with Crystal Rain, (Tor 2006) a debut that combined a unique mix of Caribbean culture – where Buckell was born and raised – and hard SF adventure elements. Buckell’s unique and groundbreaking work won him acclaim from peers and the literary community, who called him “a dazzling new voice.” His second novel, Ragamuffin, (Tor 2007) was a 2007 Nebula Award nominee for Best Novel; a 2008 Prometheus Award finalist for Best Novel; and a Locus “Best of 2007.” He is a graduate of the Clarion Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers’ Workshop, and was a first-place winner for the Writers of the Future, as well as having been nominated for the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer.

Buckell’s blend of hard science fiction with character-based action adventure and forays into classic SF pulp won the admiration of both Tor and Microsoft. Buckell is also a big Halo fan who has played every incarnation of the game.

What are your plans and goals for this summer in gaming?  I have many nostalgic memories of summer gaming going back many years. 

I remember many, many years ago, staying up till 4 or 5 in the morning every night playing Sonic Adventure on the Dreamcast and Perfect Dark on the N64.  In the summer of 2002, all I owned was the GameCube (and recently killed Dreamcast), and even though I was missing out on a lot of third-party games, I spent the summer with classics like the Resident Evil Remake and Eternal Darkness (along with some WrestleMania X8). 

I remember the summer of 2003, my first summer with the Xbox, staying up with MotoGP, NBA2K3, Soldier of Fortune, and NHL Hitz 20-03 (and of course Halo).  It still is my favorite summer, and I don’t see that changing any time soon.  Summer 2006 brings back great memories of Prey, and 2007 makes me think of The Darkness, Forza 2, and BioShock.  Basically, when I chart chunks of my life by season or eras, the games (and movies, to a lesser extent) I was playing at the time always stick out to me and become special to me.

This summer doesn’t have anything that really stands out to me like most summers though, so I’ve been playing some older games, and just continuing on with Halo 3 and Rock Band, as well as my repeated & continued play-throughs the Halo trilogy (which are very unique…I’ll be posting exactly what I mean by that at a later time.)

I’ve also been going through some games I’ve missed out on.  Last week I played through Turning Point: The Fall of Liberty, which was a game with so much potential, and an awesomely creative premise, but it just didn’t have the polish, budget, or testing to become a classic.  I did enjoy it though, even though it was frustrating at times.  Quake Wars was also a game I recently tried, and I honestly couldn’t play it longer than 45 minutes…I just couldn’t take it anymore.

I’ll be trying out GRID and NBA Ballers shortly, and am looking forward to seeing how they are, as it’s been over a year since I’ve played a basketball game, and the demo for GRID was excellent.  A few days ago, I set a GamerScore Goal for myself of 50,000 by July 7th (aka Bungie/Halo day).  I like setting goals like that for myself (and it seems many others do too), cause it’s just a little more added fun on top of everything else.

So anyway, what are YOUR goals and plans for summer gaming?  There are quite a few games coming out this summer, so there’s plenty to play!

The PS3 fanboys are going crazy over this one. 

As if the Metal Gear Solid games hadn’t already become a joke even to themselves, they’re now being used as weapons in Kojima’s xenophobic hatred of American companies and their products.  Ironically, the only games I can think of for the Xbox 360 (or any other system) that are more than one disc, are games that originate from Japanese developers.

I’m curious though, does Otacon ever mention the fact that to play a game on the PS3, you have to install it, due to the read times on the Blu-Ray being so incredibly slow?  I guess we’ll have to wait until gamers have a chance to sit through all the game’s two-hour cut-scenes later this week to find out.

There’s six new songs out for Rock Band today, and three of them are from Disturbed, but here’s a way to get two of them for free!

Go to http://disturbed1.com/xbox
Enter 1lfa89 and click submit.
Enter the code you receive into your Xbox 360’s Dashboard for the songs “Indestructible” and “Inside The Fire”

I’m not sure how long this is going to last or if it’s permanent or not, so get it while you can!