Ok, this is hilarious. I am reading the Rock Band review in this months OXM (Official Xbox Magazine) and they've included the song list. The hilarious part is that on the list is
Timmy & The Lords of the Underworld - Timmy & The Lords of the Underworld! I guess the fictional band idea has had some measure of success and they brainstormed for another such band they could use in this type of game. It's a bit cheesy, but also kind of cool (especially for South Park fans).
Looking at the list i notice a number of songs that are in GH3: Beastie Boys - Sabotage, Black Sabbath - Paranoid, The Killers - When You Were Young, Mountain - Mississipi Queen, Smashing Pumpkins - Cherub Rock. I would complain about this, but they are good songs and we are getting to sing them and more importantly, play their drum/percussion track. Still, one wonders if there hasn't been a bit of a silent war on the part of Harmonix to take as many of the better songs from GH3 as possible and top what was done by Activision/Redoctane & NeverSoft.
Also, find i am mildly disappointed with the song list over all, but only mildly. I don't know what i was expecting, but there are a number of songs here that i simply could care less about. For example: Flyleaf - So I'm Sick? Fall Out Boy - Dead On Arrival? Meh. Some may be happy about this, i would not be among that group. There are also only 58 songs. A lot of people are not going to understand that more work had to go into each song, and they will compare directly to GH3 that had what? 72 songs? For me this isn't much of an issue because it's like 3 games in one. Even solo you can play as a guitarist, a vocalist and a percussionist. Still, i wouldn't have minded a few more songs. And out of those 58 songs it looks like only 7 are covers. That's a reasonable amount. Though i am disappointed that one of those covers is Rush - Tom Sawyer. I would have hoped that would be an original.
I am still excited and can't wait to get my hands on this game, but i really hope that the promised weekly downloads will be something to cheer about, and not MTV favorites.
On that note,
It is my sincerest hope, a hope against hope i know, that sometime in the year of promised downloadable content, that the labels which produce the music we know and love, would contact MTV Games/EA to see how possible a release of some kind of downloadable album of their artists would be. It is the best chance the real metal community has ever had to see our favorite bands get some serious treatment in this gaming phenomenon (not to mention, it's great publicity for current efforts here in the united states and a bit of money to boot). Roadrunner, Century Media, and Nuclear Blast, i am particularly looking at you as the ones who could each make something like this happen for your rosters, if anyone could.
The thought of being able to rock out in Rock Band to everyone from Nightwish to Opeth. From Tarot (admittedly a longer shot than others) to After Forever to Firewind. Scar Symmetry to Arch Enemy and Dark Tranquillity, to.. well the possibilities are nearly endless, is downright exciting and more than a few metalheads would gladly shell out the money for the opportunity rock to the songs of these artists. Including Dragonforce in GH3, and Soilwork - Exile as a downloadable song in GH2 were the first steps. Now with Rock Band, the time has come to take these early successes and move to the next level.
EDIT: I've made some refinements to the Rock Band/Metal Downloads argument and posted it
here for easier reading and longevity.
