We were a bit disappointed when Sony confirmed that the PSP Go wouldn’t come bundled with Rock Band Unplugged like we previously heard. Now, we know as to why Sony didn’t bundle the game with the PSP Go. Anyway, instead of the full game, you’ll receive a “voucher” for an exclusive demo of the title. But, wait there’s more.

Sony has stated, on the PlayStation.Blog, that Rock Band Unplugged Lite – yes, that’s what the demo’s called – is basically a demo of the game that allows you to play five tracks from the complete game. However, it will accept downloads from the Rock Band Unplugged store, effectively allowing players to build a track list of their own, which is great news.

It’s that time again! You know, when we team up with someone, other then ourselves, to host an awesome contest. Anyway, we hear at GamerCenterOnline have teamed up with Pepsi, Harmonix and MTV for a summer promotion unlike any other.

With the launch of PepsiRockBand.com on June 2nd, Pepsi, Harmonix and MTV started a promotion in where the winner will receive an MTV Video Music Award Moonman for “Best Performance in a Pepsi Rock Band Music Video”.

To participate and to enter for a chance to win, gamers have to submit a video of themselves playing Rock Band on PepsiRockBand.com (using their Yahoo ID).

A big part of the promotion are the codes that can be found under the caps of 20oz and 1L Pepsi bottles – they can be played at PepsiRockBand.com and entered for a chance to win either:

• a Rock Band 2 Special Edition bundle (game software, wireless guitar, wireless drum set & mike) every hour, or
• 1 of 5,000 downloadable tracks every day (ends September 13th).

“MTV’s Rock Band has quickly established a new gaming platform that is extremely popular with music fans and gamers alike,” said Ralph Santana, VP of cola marketing, Pepsi-Cola North America Beverages. “We’re partnering with MTV to bring a new exciting twist to the game that will give one lucky band a once-in-a-lifetime experience and a taste of stardom.”

Coming June 9, 2009, Harmonix, Backbone Entertainment and MTV Games bring you Rock Band Unplugged, the award-winning full band experience found in Rock Band and Rock Band 2 right in the palm of your hands! For the first time, PlayStation Portable gamers will be able rock out – anywhere.

Just in time for Summer Vacation, Rock Band Unplugged gives you the ability to take the show on the road. Start a band and tour for fame and fortune while you learn to master lead and bass guitar, drums and vocals as a one man band. The multi-track game design takes the look, functionality and customization options of the Rock Band games and combines them with enhanced options built specifically for the abilities of the PSP. You’ll be able to control all four instruments at once by hitting the colored gems in time with the musical tracks just as you’ve done on other Rock Band games, but now you’ll have the added challenge of switching between instruments on the fly in an attempt to keep those note streaks going.

Rock Band Unplugged’s soundtrack features 41 songs on-disc and an additional 10 songs will be available for download following the game’s launch. You won’t have to worry about listening to lousy covers, either – all the music in Rock Band Unplugged will be master recordings and span all genres of rock from punk and metal to alternative and classic. And then you have Rock Band Unplugged’s in-game Rock Band Music Store which can be used to purchase downloadable content on the first game to enable the PSP’s in-game commerce capabilities.

The lack of mini-guitars and drum accessories can either been seen as a cursing or a blessing. Either you’re completely upset that you won’t be able to pound the skins in the back of your mom’s mini-van on the way to grandma’s house or you fully appreciate not looking like a complete tool in front of the guy next to you on the plane, but one thing’s for sure – at least you won’t be forced to sing in public. Vocals are handled like any other instrument – tap the buttons in time to the colored gems. Every one around you should be happier knowing this.

The Left, Up, Triangle, and Circle buttons on your PSP will handle hitting the notes while the shoulder buttons jump you from track to track as you attempt to keep the show going. The better you do on a certain track determines how much of a buffer you get between each track as you try to keep them from failing out. It looks like this game is going to be quite challenging.

The bright colors seem to make the game easy to see despite the smaller screen and the graphics look right about what you’d expect, though not any worse than a PlayStation 2 game. Hopefully the sound quality will be good enough a pair of headphones without too much lost to compression – if any.

If you’re not completely sick of Rock Band/Guitar Hero style games and desperately need something to do in the car – when you’re NOT DRIVING, of course – this looks like it could really scratch that itch. On the other hand, if half the fun of a music game is the feeling of playing an instrument, I don’t think this is going to cut it for you. In fact, I’d say that plastic guitars and drum kits are more than half the fun, but that’s just me. Also, where’s the multiplayer? If you like the idea of going solo while you’re on the go, again, maybe this is aimed right at you. We’ll see what the game is like once it drops – which isn’t too far away.

It’s actually real. Almost a month after GDC, it seems that the long rumored title has finally been announced in what is a shocking turn of events.

Anyway, LEGO: Rock Band is being developed by TT Games in a partnership with Harmonix and published by Warner Bros. Entertainment. The title will combined he multiplayer music experience of Rock Band with the fun, customization and humour of the LEGO videogame franchise packed with brilliant chart-topping songs and classic favourites suitable for younger audiences.

Including hits such as Blur’s “Song 2″, Carl Douglas’ “Kung Fu Fighting”, Europe’s “The Final Countdown”, Good Charlotte’s “Boys and Girls” and Pink’s “So What”.

“LEGO Rock Band combines two compelling properties and creates an experience that family members of all ages will enjoy playing together as a group,” said Tom Stone, Managing Director, TT Games. “Harmonix and MTV Games are the world experts in music gameplay, and we’re genuinely thrilled to bring the unique and humour-filled LEGO experience to their Rock Band universe.”

LEGO: Rock Band will release on PS3, Xbox 360, Wii, DS and it is scheduled for 2009 release. It will be with Rock Band and “other music game” controllers.

With games like Resistance Retribution having the capability to interact with its PlayStation 3 counter part, Resistance 2. It leaves one to wonder if the PSP version of Rock Band, Rock Band Unplugged, would gain such a talent.

However, despite the crazy idea 1UP had about the PS3 version of Rock Band, or Rock Band 2, sharing sharing content or unlocking features for Rock Band Unplugged on PSP. It seems that Harmonix and MTV Games weren’t on the same page about it.

When 1UP asked Harmonix about their crazy idea at a demo event last week, it was revealed to them that they have no such plans to ingrate that with  Rock Band Unplugged on the PlayStation Portable.

We have heard of bands debuting their songs in video games, but nothing like this. When talking to Billboard.com, George Harrison’s son, Dhani Harrison, confrimed that The Beatles: Rock Band will feature “stuff that has never been heard, never been released.”

“I took the project to Apple and sort of convinced everybody to have a presentation,” he said. “My job description is…being enthusiastic. We’ve been working on it for the past two years. This is the first one that is going to be totally, historically accurate. It’s been a real headache, but it’s been the most enjoyable work I’ve done in my life.”

In order to counter the Guitar Hero DS titles, MTV Games and Harmonix have once again teamed up to conquer the video game music scene. But, this time it isn’t on PS3, or even the 360, it seems that they have planned there next Rock Band title for the ‘forgotten handheld’.

Today, MTV Games and Harmonix announced Rock Band Unplugged on the PSP, the first handheld version of the hit band game.

Rock Band Unplugged will allow gamers to take their band on the road and will utilise the PSP’s Wi-Fi capabilities becoming the first PSP game to include a in-game store for downloadable content in North America and Europe.

According to Primotech, who reported the games first details, Unplugged will use the left, up, triangle, and circle buttons to control instruments, switching from instrument to instrument with the shoulder buttons, and playing “phrases” of each instrument to maintain a score multiplier.

If you were wondering why EA was planning to put their upcoming Beatles/Rock Band hybrid against a number Music games that would be released this year, here’s why.

According to Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous, who spoke at a Billboard CES session today, the company will be taking a break from the release cycle of Rock Band this year.

“We’ve actually made a choice to break out of the annual release cycle for Rock Band this year,” Rigopolous told the assembled press and industry members. “[This is] partially because the annual cycle places limits on the choices you can make as a developer. We’re trying to take a long term view.”

Rigopolous added that the delay was also partly so the developer could focus on the Beatles-focused game announced last October. But, I hope, the cycle will return next year.

[Harmonix’ Rigopolous: “Rock Band 3 breaking the annual cycle” via Crispy Gamer]

What comes to mind when you think Music based video games? Is it Rock Band or is it Guitar Hero? Or is it Singstar? Well, probably one of the most over looked downfalls in this gaming generation has to be the fixation on the casual gaming market, and sadly this game doesn’t divert from that manner. But, none the less, Lips is a party game that has one of the greatest bonding powers of getting friends and family to play with on another. However, one can only wonder if Lips is going to be just another video game face plant or an instant sensation?

After previous failed attempts by Microsoft at trying to recreate the fun derived from group gaming, with such examples as Scene It! and You’re In the Movies, Lips is another offspring of the guys over at iNiS in Japan, which is known for games like Elite Beat Agents – another party-driven game – and many others. Opinion-wise, I really do not think that it was a great idea to name the game Lips, which brings up the games first downfall. We really don’t think we need to go into detail about that.

However, with the game having a somewhat bad name, it does differ from its predecessors. The game has a start up track of about 40 songs, all of which are master tracks including music videos and select previews. They also have different videos other than the original video made for the song that the gamer can pick from. The game has a multiplayer feature that pits you against another player, or against the computer. As for mics, Lips has two beautifully designed wireless microphones that light up as you sing.

When singing, the upcoming lyrics will be highlighted in gray, and the current lyrics will be highlighted in white. However, in two player mode, where player one is on the top and player two is on the bottom, you sometimes fix your eyes on the gray lyrics if you are player two and end up singing the wrong words, which becomes a problem. Also, when singing in the right pitch and balance, the word bars will be colored in the the color of your mic (ex. player one red, player two blue).

Luckyly, the guys over at iNiS knew that you may not be able to hit all the notes so, unlike other music games, you are unable to fail any songs, which is both its strength and weakness. It’s just like the problem that many people had with Elika from Prince of Persia in his newest adventure. It really takes away from the challenge, I mean would you really want to play a game that does nothing to challenge the gamer? I think not.

If you add all those things together it really does make for a weak single-player experience, but this game is really strong when you play it was a buddy. Which brings me to the co-op and mutliplayer part of the game. When in this mode, you can take on a song with a friend (ex. Umbrella by Rihanna). This song has a better co-op standard then other songs in the game, for example Another One Bits The Dust by Queen. But, lucky the mutliplayer works great for this game.

Closing Statements:

I really had alot of fun playing this game. It is really strong in most aspects of it and will surely keep you playing for hours on hand. The interface is remarkably easy to use, the initial track list is solid, and the microphones are outstanding. But, there is one problem, it does not push itself as being a game that a hardcore gamer would want to pick up and play. The game also has the ability for you to transfer music from your iPod, but what really makes me mad is that you can’t upload music from an iPhone or iTouch. That is one reason we couldn’t put that in our review. Also the quality of the videos are mostly in SD, which doesn’t fit this game at all.

Score: B-

Altogether the music video game genre was down six percent in dollar sale for November, but the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises still remain on the genres top. But, unfortunately for EA, which has been suffering of lately, Activision’s property has simply proven itself to be the most popular.

“We should note that while the Rock Band franchise managed to grow in November, Guitar Hero overall still outsold Rock Band by more than 2-to-1 in terms of dollars in November and almost 3-to-1 in terms of units,” which was pointed out by UBS analyst Ben Schachter.

Anyway, the company behind Guitar Hero, Activision, can’t exactly be “jumping for joy.” Activision should be concerned since the franchise did see some significant declines last month.

“The biggest concern around Guitar Hero has to be the fact that Guitar Hero World Tour (12 SKUs) declined 48% in units and 31% in dollars from Guitar Hero III (6 SKUs) on a year-over-year basis. This will fuel concerns that the genre is past its peak,” Schachter added.

“With Activision and others sure to bring new innovation to the genre next year we can’t count it out, but it almost certainly won’t be the growth driver it has been over the past two years.”

[Guitar Hero easily beat Rock Band in November... via Game Daily]

As the news is still buzzing around the internet today, Activision Blizzard has unmasked that it has brought out U.K. developer FreeStyleGames. Now, according to a leak, FreeStyleGames could be working on DJ Hero, which was trademarked back in February by Activision, and Kotaku has possible collected the first details for the game. In the details given to Kotaku it states that DJ Hero will be a a music rhythm game that will let gamers scratch to the beat of popular mash-ups with a laptop turntable peripheral. The information goes on to state that the game was in development for nearly two years and is expected to hit shelves next summer. Which will explain the recent buy out of the name by Activision.

They go onto talk about the controls system will likely include the ability to use Guitar Hero guitars for versus mode face-offs. Also it talks about the games control system which will feature nearly a half-dozen iterations. With the device looking a lot like a simplified DJ Deck. There is a platter for scratching which will act like the strum toggle on a Guitar Hero guitar. Above the platter are three buttons for sampling. The controller also includes a cross fader and a sound effects dial which will act like the whammy bar in Guitar Hero.

Instead of flowing the musical notes down a guitar neck, DJ Hero will flow the music down and around a virtual record in a half arc. Either left top to middle bottom if you are left handed, or right top to middle bottom if you are right handed.

Currently the wireless controller has grooves molded into the bottom so it will sit comfortably in a player’s lap, though the team is also looking into legs for the deck so gamers can play while standing up.

“Games can sure make you rich,” I told my girlfriend that and guess what? When reports like this come in, it proves me right. E.A today released there first quarter results, which shows them bring in $804 million dollars. Which happens to be 50% more than last year’s earnings of $409 million. The games that played a very key role in their success were and still are Battlefield: Bad Company, UEFA EURO 2008 as well as Rock Band.

Heres what EA’s Chief Executive Officer John Riccitiello had this to say “We are now seeing the early returns of the change agenda we started last year,” Go figure… While this year acquisitions where made, E.A. has many Allstate Highlights this year (as seen below).

Highlights (comparisons are to the quarter ended June 30, 2007)

• Battlefield: Bad Company, Mass Effect™ for the PC, SPORE™ Creature Creator and the recently launched NCAA® Football 09 debuted with strong quality ratings from critics.
• The SPORE Creature Creator is in the hands of 2.5 million users. Over two million creatures have been uploaded into Sporepedia™ in just six weeks.
• EA is the number one publisher in North America, with 17 percent segment share and number two in Europe with 14 percent segment share calendar year-to-date.
• EA Mobile™ is the world’s leading publisher of games for phones – with revenue of $44 million – up 33 percent year-over-year.
• EA Partners signed a co-publishing deal with id Software to bring RAGE™ to consumers around the world.
• EA acquired Hands-On-Mobile™ Korea, a leading Korean mobile developer and publisher.
• EA purchased ThreeSF, developers of an online social network for gamers.
• Critics gave EA titles high marks for quality and innovation at the recent E3 industry summit in Los Angeles. Highlights included SPORE, Mirror’s Edge™, Dead Space™, Dragon Age™: Origins and Left 4 Dead™ from Valve.

[EA Reports First Quarter Fiscal Year 2009 Results]

Talk about being a bit money hungry, like Metal Gear didn’t make you enough money already. Bloomberg is reporting that Japanese video game creator, Konami has sued Viacom’s Harmonix studio over the well know game, Rock Band. According to the recent complaint, yesterday in a federal court in Texas, Konami demanded cash compensation along with an order that would block Viacom and Harmonix from using the inventions. Some may think this is over the top, but if you ask me this is one case i hope Konami does win.

Unscripted 360 spoke with EA Montreal earlier this week and told them that fans should expect new campaign maps for Army of Two very soon. They also where told that the demo will be coming at a good price, FREE. There wasn’t many other details giving about the games DLC so just keep an eye out for more information.

[Army of Two DLC maps coming & will be FREE! via Unscripted 360]

Activision reveals new screenshot for Guitar Hero IV under development of the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Wii. Of course of many new innovations will be part of Guitar Hero IV like a complete set of accessories including a guitar, Drumset, microphone and battery. This makes it possible to compose your own Battle Of The Bands where two groups of four players to clash on line. The game will be releasing this year on Microsoft Xbox 360, Sonys PlayStation 3 and the Nintendo Wii.

Harmonix has announced that Rock Band, as we know it, has surpassed the three million copies sold mark. But wait, that’s not all. We also so have gotten word that nearly ten million songs were downloaded since the launch of the game last November. The game will be revealed in Europe on the Xbox 360 in 20 days and on August 29 on PS3, PS2 and Wii.

Great news Army of Two Fanboys, EA has revealed the downloadable content for Army Of Two plus they also revealed the details for the upcoming demo for the game. According to a post on the EA forums Matt Turner, Assistant Producer of Army of Two, revealed some new details for the demo and the DLC for the game. In the post it states that the demo will be coming out on April 1st. Here’s what he had to say about the DLC:

“……. So there is 1 new multiplayer map arriving as well as 2 new campaign maps in the not too distant future. As well as SSC Challenge- that’s the obstacle course for mercs that I mentioned in my previous post…..”