I really hope I didn't misquote him... I think he's watching me right now...

One of the things I wanted to make sure I did while at PAX East was to try and get some answers to the questions that you guys had so graciously sent me. On the final day, I had a good block of time to talk to John Drake, PR at Harmonix, to try and get some answers to the questions you sent.

Let me preface this first by saying that I’m paraphrasing much of these answers, as we chatted for awhile and John is a master of responding to questions without giving out specific answers that Harmonix can be held to later on.  Anyway, lets get to the goods!

Let’s get this out of the way first.  Can we expect Muse as DLC in Rock Band, and if so, when? And what are the chances of a Muse: Rock Band?

So the good news is that to the best of John’s knowledge,  Guitar Hero does not have exclusive rights to Muse.  He went on to say that they are one of the most requested acts in Rock Band, which I don’t think comes as a surprise to us.  Their music is damn good, and would potentially be an awesome fit for Rock Band gameplay across all instruments. As of right now, there are no plans for a dedicated Muse: Rock Band, but with nearly 1,200 PAGES in the “Muse DLC. Period.” thread at RockBand.com, Harmonix definitely hears you loud and clear, and they would love to give you more Muse in Rock Band.

Let me offer this: We as fans need to be aware that there can be any number of hoops to jump through (labels, managers, bands, etc.) to get DLC from a specific band in Rock Band, but at this point lets be confident that Harmonix is working on getting them into the game… if they know what’s good for ‘em!

Will existing DLC, RB1, RB2, LEGO, AC/DC, and Green Day tracks be available in Rock Band 3? What about the Beatles tracks?

While not promising anything, John’s response was basically that since the beginning of the franchise, all DLC (with the exception of the Beatles) has been compatible and exportable into the latest release in the franchise. Now, there are a few exceptions to this.  Rock Band 1 did not allow three songs to be exported into Rock Band 2 due to licensing issues.  Harmonix sure isn’t planning on stiffing the community by not allowing all their currently purchased songs to be included in Rock Band 3.  (Beatles DLC is different, as that has a whole separate licensing issue that is rather prickly.)  I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s safe to assume nearly all Rock Band, Rock Band 2, LEGO Rock Band, AC/DC, and Green Day Rock Band songs will be compatible with Rock Band 3.

More questions after the break…

When can we expect the RBN on the PS3?

Good question.  Harmonix REALLY wants to get the RBN on the PS3, despite what many people are saying. (In fact, I started by asking John “Why does Harmonix hate the PS3?” and we all had a good laugh… but I digress.) What it boils down to is the level of ease at which independent creators can submit tracks for the RBN between the Xbox 360 and PS3.  For instance, on the PS3, each person who would submit a RBN track for the PS3 would have to be set up as a separate vendor! I’m not even talking about authors, I’m talking about submitters.  And the process to set up vendors is much more difficult and cumbersome than getting someone set up on Xbox 360′s XNA Creator’s Club.  The process as planned today is for 30 day exclusivity on the 360, followed by “select RBN DLC” making its way on to the PS3 and Nintendo Wii.  I followed up with which “select DLC” make the cut, and it comes down to a number of different factors, including sales numbers, as well as things like diversity of genres and difficulties, as well as probable inclusion of some Harmonix bands.

The PS3 may see a more robust RBN coming out with inclusion in Rock Band 3, however (more on that later).  Unfortunately for you RBN fans on the Wii, I wouldn’t hold your breath on seeing the RBN featured on the Wii anytime soon.  First of all, I got the impression from John that there are a number of significant technological hurdles to overcome to get it working.  Also, and this is from my own detective work (i.e. NOT from John), according to unofficial DLC leaderboard statistics on RockBandScores.com, the Wii only makes up about 3% of total DLC (not including RBN) purchases… in other words, cost vs. benefit wise, it’s probably not the wisest investment of resources for Harmonix.

When can we expect more Beatles DLC?

Let me start off by saying everyone wants this, including people at Harmonix, but there are a number of factors that come in to play with this.  John wanted to mention that a number of sources, myself included, had been summarizing something attributed to him that if the Beatles DLC sold well, more would be on the way.  He wanted to make it clear that what he actually said was taken out of context to some extent, and that there are actually a number of factors weighing on whether more Beatles DLC is on the way. Sales are obviously a major component (Harmonix is still a business, after all), and John mentioned that despite what some were saying, the Beatles DLC sold very well.  Another factor is access to the newly created multi-track master stems from the Beatles catalog, which are kept in England, so it’s a physical process just to access them.  Also, Harmonix has resources dedicated to other projects right now (such as Green Day, Rock Band 3, and ongoing weekly DLC), so time is another factor.  Remember, Beatles DLC was not just your average DLC, but each track had custom Dreamscapes that had to be developed.  With all these taken into account, it didn’t sound like there would be Beatles DLC in the near future, but John did mention that they still reserve the right to go back and make more DLC if they wish.

If I can offer words of advice… hang on to your Beatles: Rock Band disc.  The Beatles are a pretty timeless band, and at family gatherings and holidays, the Beatles disc is still one of the most popular requests at my place. Harmonix knows this, and the Beatles as a pop culture icon are not going anywhere. However doubtful it may be, there is always a possibility!

Any chance at seeing the RBN in different countries (specifically Mexico)?

If you’re on an Xbox 360, your chances are good at seeing it at some point, however the big hurdle for this is whether your country supports the XNA, which I’ve been told Mexico doesn’t at this point.  If they get on board with Microsoft’s XNA program, then you can definitely expect to see it!

What’s the deal with the Pearl Jam project?

When I asked that question of John, I seemed to get the feeling that the idea of a separate Pearl Jam Rock Band project was something that was pushed hard by people outside of Harmonix.  He mentioned that it’s still possible, but the real priorities at Harmonix right now are Green Day and Rock Band 3.

How about Snoop Dogg?

John smiled when I asked this. I think he’s heard this question a lot.  Long story short on this one, it’s probably going to be awhile.  I’m assuming something blew up behind the scenes, but that’s just a guess.

Will harmonies be added in to current DLC to be compatible with Rock Band 3?

Another good question.  I can’t imagine Harmonix would go back and updated previously released DLC, however the currently existing Green Day DLC tracks will have harmonies added in when played in Green Day Rock Band, so I guess anything is possible.  You should have no problem with single vocal track DLC compatibility with Rock Band 3, as DLC will simply be included as is, with only its single vocal track.  Based on everything I’ve heard thus far, I’m coming to the conclusion that DLC released subsequent to Rock Band 3 will include harmonies (in songs that have them, that is), and will be playable with the multiple vocal track compatibility in Rock Band 3.  Assuming new DLC will include harmonies, it is not known if they will be backwards compatible with Rock Band 2… so just buy it to be sure… why wouldn’t you?!

With all that being said, John did tell me that there will be a whole lot of cool features added to Rock Band 3 that will be announced at E3, including a very clear picture on how our existing song libraries will work, so let’s not take this off the table just quite yet!

What about the RBN?  Will they eventually include the ability to add vocal harmonies?

The Rock Band Network has been a big success for Harmonix, even at this early stage.  We’re just over a month in to the RBN store going live, and with all the effort that’s gone into it thus far, there’s no way they will neglect it going forward.  They see the RBN as an important part of the content pipeline for Rock Band going forward.  At some point we can anticipate the release of a RBN 2.0, but chances are that it will not roll out as an additional patch to Rock Band 2, rather it will be refined and included natively in Rock Band 3.  Expect RBN 2.0 to be integrated more into the game experience, and include a number of new and enhanced features based on intense creator and community feedback.  Harmonix is clearly dedicated to the RBN, so changes and improvements will absolutely be coming at some point.

I know the item that I’m most passionate about is the addition of a ‘Sort by Release Date’ feature.  Additionally, if the creators community would support vocal harmonies, I imagine that feature would be included in future iterations of the RBN, as well! Hopefully when we see more details about Rock Band 3 at E3, we’ll also see more details about RBN 2.0!

Any summer promotions planned, like the Pepsi one last year?

The only promotion that is currently running is the T-Mobile one related to RBN Artist of the Month. There was no word on whether there would be a similar promotion like Pepsi’s this year.

How is music selected for Rock Band DLC?

It’s a very complicated process.   There’s a finite amount of people and time working on what seems like an infinite amount of music that people want in the game.  Not only does Harmonix keep track of the songs submitted at rockband.com/request, but they also track the songs that you include on your rockband.com profile.  They obviously go after the tracks that people want, and at that point, it’s a lot of behind the scenes happenings involving lawyers, licensing agreements, etc.

Artists and labels sometimes approach Harmonix/MTV Games directly, typically to help promote new music.  One thing I specifically asked about was “Why was there no “Sister Christian” in the Night Ranger DLC track pack?” John mentioned that assuming the masters and rights are available, Harmonix may sometimes hold a song for a future release.  While as much as I want to read between the lines and say ‘”Sister Christian” will be in Rock Band 3,’ John further explained that a number of things could change prior to release.  So, I’ll revise my initial thought and say ‘HOPEFULLY “Sister Christian” will be in Rock Band 3!’

And on a somewhat related note, this gives more weight to my Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ in Rock Band 3 rumor that I’ve been pushing since the Queen track pack came out!

What’s the deal with using DLC for the Wii?

The quick answer is that there is no hard drive on it, so patching a game to fix or include additional features is not technically possible, which takes the RBN off the table as a future possibility with respect to Rock Band 2 on the Wii.  Hardcore Wii Rock Band enthusiasts are quick to point out that technically the Wii now supports 32gb memory cards, and as such we should see larger libraries as a possibility. While that is true, changing the library architecture to reflect Nintendo’s update after the fact is not possible, as it would again require a patch to the game itself… which we’ve already noted as being impossible.

Let’s remember that Nintendo has a history of saying one thing to game developers, and then doing completely the opposite when they release a game they developed in-house.  I’m talking about when Nintendo said that the Wii will not support dual-layer discs, and then a few months down the road released Super Smash Brothers… a dual-layer disc.  They’re making it very hard for third party developers, such as Harmonix, to develop future titles if the hardware capabilities are constantly changing.

My advice if you’re on the Wii: wait for Rock Band 3 to see if that solves a number of your problems.

What happened with Rock Band 2′s release in Australia?

Ouch. I still feel for you guys on that one.  The response I was given was licensing issues (which seems to be the “easy out” on a lot of these, now that I’m writing this).  Short term solution: import the game. Long term solution: Wait for Rock Band 3… hopefully there will be a simultaneous worldwide release like the Beatles and Green Day.

Rock Band Japan?  Any possibility at this point?

While I wouldn’t expect a standalone title, John did seem optimistic about the possibility of having some non-Kanji J-Rock and J-Pop as DLC at some point.

OK, that’s all I’ve got for now.  I’m working on my E3 plans this week, so I’ll hopefully be able to do another session then.  Thanks!

11 Responses to “John D. From Harmonix Answers Your Questions”