Harmonix bringing Rock Band Network to the 360 with the PS3 and Wii following later

[Queasy]

Billboard has the details on the Rock Band Network coming later this year from Harmonix. Too much for me to summarize so I'll just quote some of the highlights and you can click through for rest of the details.

Later this year, MTV plans to launch a groundbreaking initiative called the Rock Band Network that will enable any artist-unsigned emerging act, indie cult fave or major-label superstar-to submit songs for possible inclusion in the game.

The Rock Band Network recently started a closed beta trial, which MTV expects to expand to a public beta test in August. The company hopes to open the Rock Band Network store before year's end. Songs available through the new store, which will remain separate from the existing "Rock Band" store, will be initially available for download to users of Microsoft's Xbox 360 game console. MTV expects to eventually make the popular tracks available for use on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii game systems.

...

Rather than deal with Harmonix directly, artists and labels will submit songs to a community of Harmonix-trained freelance game developers who will prepare the tracks for "Rock Band." Additionally, labels can either hire trained developers or school their existing employees to do the work in-house.

Songs submitted through this process must then be reviewed by other developers to check for playability, inappropriate lyrics, copyright infringement and so on. Harmonix will post approved tracks to an in-game download store separate from its existing "Rock Band" store where creators can set their own price (50 cents to $3 per song) and receive 30% of any resulting sales. Gamers will also be able to demo 30-second samples of each track.

Although originally designed to give indie and unsigned artists a way to sell music through the game, MTV quickly realized the Rock Band Network could be used to clear the bottleneck for major-label content as well. While the Harmonix team has grown from fewer than 10 programmers to a few dozen since MTV acquired the videogame developer in 2006, the company can only add about 10 new songs per week to sell through the "Rock Band" store. The same team has also been handling the development work for the upcoming "The Beatles: Rock Band," due in September.

...

The Rock Band Network is the result of a 16-month development process with a number of partners. Most important was Microsoft. Tracks released through the Rock Band Network will only be available at first to Xbox 360 users, as it relies on Microsoft's XNA game development platform and its Creators Club online community of developers.

The Creators Club allows freelance developers or hobbyists to make their own games and sell them on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Games created through this process must first be submitted to the Creators Club community for game-play and content review before they are added to the marketplace.

The Rock Band Network marks the first time that XNA and the Creators Club have been used to outsource the development of expansions to an existing game, according to Dave Mitchell, the Microsoft product unit manager in charge of overseeing the two programs.

The Creators Club reviews about 30-50 games per month. Because MTV and Microsoft expect the number of "Rock Band" submissions to quickly dwarf these totals, the software giant took the unprecedented step of creating a custom version of the Creators Club for Harmonix, complete with a customized set of review procedures specific to music games-including checking for copyright infringement-which Harmonix will host separate from the existing Microsoft site.

Another key partnership is with the software developer Cockos, which customized a version of its Reaper audio production application that developers will use to program the audio stems needed to create each instrument and vocal track within "Rock Band." Reaper will also allow developers to customize the avatars, camera angles and lighting for the background video rather than using the automatically generated default setting. Cockos is working with Audible Magic and Gracenote to identify rights holders.

And finally there is the freelance game development community. Harmonix will hold regular training sessions to certify developers for the program and operate a support forum staffed by Harmonix developers to answer questions. It will also maintain a list of certified developers for artists and labels to contact and reach out to existing rhythm game community sites like ScoreHero.

 

[Pheran]

Very intriguing. It will be fascinating to see what content comes out on this.

EDIT: Also, dammit, Queasy is even beating me to Rock Band news.

 

[Pheran]

Video available here:

http://creators.rockband.com/

The more I look at this the more awesome it seems.

 

[Queasy]

Originally posted by: Pheran
Video available here:

http://creators.rockband.com/

The more I look at this the more awesome it seems.

I just hope it includes a rating system. Otherwise, it'll end up like the Live Community Games/Indie Games where you can't tell the gems from the crap.

 

[Pheran]

Originally posted by: Queasy

Originally posted by: Pheran
Video available here:

http://creators.rockband.com/

The more I look at this the more awesome it seems.

I just hope it includes a rating system. Otherwise, it'll end up like the Live Community Games/Indie Games where you can't tell the gems from the crap.

Even if it doesn't, there always the external rating system at RBDLC. I'm surprised nobody else has commented on this, it is HUGE. This is going to change the face of music gaming. Also, Neversoft/Activision (Guitar Hero 3+) are so screwed.

 

[Redshirt 24]

Interesting idea. Not sure if the execution will keep up with it, but it is an interesting idea...

 

[Pheran]

The Rock Band Network tools have been released. In conjunction with the recent RB 2.2 patch, this should allow everyone to actually start authoring songs.

Rock Band Network Tools and Documentaion Released

Before someone asks, no you cannot take an MP3 and make a Rock Band song, you need access to the original multitrack audio stems (separately recorded vocals, guitar, drums, etc.).

 

[FeathersMcGraw]

I, for one, welcome our new track-mastering overlords.

 

[jdport]

I guess the biggest problem that I see with this is that these unsigned indy bands that are making the music this is geared towards, are not necessarily the people capable of making great game content. They are busy writing, recording, and performing their music... are they going to have time or desire to learn how to place all the note gems, work the lighting, camera angles, animations, etc? Unless they feel like hiring somebody who can do all of that to take their tracks and do it for them, this may not get the use it deserves. It looks really cool, and I hope it turns out to be as awsome as it seems like it could be.

 

[Pheran]

Originally posted by: jdport
I guess the biggest problem that I see with this is that these unsigned indy bands that are making the music this is geared towards, are not necessarily the people capable of making great game content. They are busy writing, recording, and performing their music... are they going to have time or desire to learn how to place all the note gems, work the lighting, camera angles, animations, etc? Unless they feel like hiring somebody who can do all of that to take their tracks and do it for them, this may not get the use it deserves. It looks really cool, and I hope it turns out to be as awsome as it seems like it could be.

There are already multiple companies that will take care of all that work in return for a percentage of the profits or fee.

 

[jdport]

Well that was quick. Capitalism is alive and well! =)

 

[Pheran]

The Rock Band Network open beta is launching!

http://www.destructoid.com/rock-band-network-open-beta-begins-tonight-160914.phtml

 

[Pheran]

As of today, the Rock Band Network store is LIVE on the 360! There are now 105 new songs to choose from, and there are even a few reasonably well known names in there (I recognized Steve Vai, Jonathan Coulton and Marillion).

The Rock Band Network Music Store Goes Live

 

[VashHT]

As of today, the Rock Band Network store is LIVE on the 360! There are now 105 new songs to choose from, and there are even a few reasonably well known names in there (I recognized Steve Vai, Jonathan Coulton and Marillion).

The Rock Band Network Music Store Goes Live

Nice! I will definitely be picking up the Shins song they put on there, I was actually listening to that song last night lol. I could see myself picking up some other stuff on here too, like that Senses Fail song and the jonathon coulton stuff. Seems like a good start for the RB network to me, I hope they keep on adding a lot of stuff to it.

 

[gorcorps]

Just an FYI, when you preview the song it's compressed to all hell and sounds terrible, bit the real songs are fine. Seems odd that they compress these previews so much more than the rest of the store.