Sound Off! What DLC Should be Updated with Rock Band 3 Features?
The Official Xbox Magazine’s podcast weekly podcast went live last Friday (available here), and in it the folks at Microsoft sat down with Daniel Sussman and John Drake to talk about Rock Band 3, and a few new items (and a cool request of fans) were discussed.
First of all, starting at about 54 minutes in to the podcast, Daniel Sussman talks about existing (from this point on, “legacy”) DLC. Rock Band 3 DLC will NOT be backwards compatible, which means that if you keep getting DLC, you will need to purchase Rock Band 3, as it will not work in Rock Band 2. HOWEVER, he did confirm that all existing DLC will work in Rock Band 3. As John mentioned, DLC will always be forward-compatible, but not backwards-compatible. Daniel further commented that pricing is still up in the air (I recommend Harmonix looks at this post for some interesting community feedback).
Daniel also said that ALL (although I’m expecting a few exceptions) legacy DLC (with the exception of Rock Band 1 DLC) will have Pro-Drums already charted in. John caveated this info that a few songs may have some “funky” charting when they first started the Pro-Drums authoring.
Daniel went on to request about 57:00 in that fans POLITELY request legacy DLC that should be updated with Rock Band 3 features on the Rock Band forums. Sayburr already created a page here for that, but I’ve also added a poll below for everyone to share and vote in the process.
PLEASE add your own below, and vote also for any other legacy DLC that you would like to see with Rock Band 3 features added in!
UPDATE 1: I’m trying to configure the poll so we can see everyone’s submissions…
UPDATE 2: PollDaddy does not show the other poll results to users. 
I can see what people are entering as their “Other” option in the admin panel. I’ll publish the results in a separate post. In the meantime, drop ‘em in below if you want. Spoiler: LOTS of people want Dream Theater!
And just because, I can’t think of that first REO Speedwagon song above without thinking of the Sklar Brothers… (Seriously, this song has to have Keys charted):
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I voted all of them
SebastianSB Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 9:22 am
Add your own.
Guns N’ Roses – This I Love!!! None of the piano was charted even though it was the only instrument playing for 3 minutes until guitar even came in. This would turn the song from boring to awesome!
Any way the poll could be expanded to show most/all of the options people add?
Until the “Other” gets fixed I also voted for Highway Star by Deep Purple. We should be able to finally play the organ solo.
Highway Star x2.
But of course, what I REALLY want is Beatles 2 with pro mode, keys and the entire discography.
Skydog Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:29 am
And like I’ve told 3 others.. that won’t ever happen unless they bring it to the beatles disc
I think we need the ENTIRE Queen Pack as well as the ENTIRE Boston pack from forever ago… I shall gladly add every song from those in somewhere if need be. =P
I put Bye Bye Love in the other, because that has some pretty awesome keyboards.
Moving Pictures from Rush should be re-released with keyboards!
grace_pressure Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Probably a great choice. It’s weird not being able to do the synth riff on Tom Sawyer, and it sure would spice up The Camera Eye. I’m personally really hoping that when Geddy Lee supposedly said that RB3 would be “getting one [level] too,” that it’ll be in the form of another full album DLC. And I can’t wait to see the pick for RB3! Hope it’s Subdivisions. Or, anything, really.
So I guess this is a good sign that we will see some old DLC songs updated
Clint Eastwood
Won’t Get Fooled Again
Baba O’Riley
She’s Not There
Every Freezepop song
Bulletproof
We Are the Champions
Panic Attack (I know it’s technically not DLC but still)
The Perfect Drug
Icky Thump
I can go on. I got about a few dozen more. Seriously, go play Rock Band right now. It is virtually impossible to NOT come across at least three tracks with either keyboard or harmonies that would be awesome in RB3. The amount of Legacy DLC that deserves the upgrade really is quite large. Even if it’s just an ongoing thing where every so often a patch needs to be released for a chunk of the Legacy DLC I really hope Harmonix can cover as much ground as possible.
i’d love all of them to be updated but i remember thinking how awesome harmonies would be on blink-182′s feeling this, as towards the end there is so many vocal parts going on there
I would love to play everything with pro mode, cant they charge for you to upgrade every song you have for rock band? i woul be prepared to pay somthing like $50 to have all my DLC upgraded
Nine Inch Nails
Boston
Queen
Alice in Chains
Hawkwind “Master Of The Universe”
The Zombies
“The Final Countdown” from LRB needs keyboards badly. (It’s not technically DLC, but you can play it in RB2 after exporting so I count it).
Alice in Chains Pack
Boston Pack (including Foreplay/Long Time)
Baba O’Riley
Somebody to Love
We are the Champions
Taking Back Sunday and Blink-182 songs should be updated with multiple vocal parts
Lots of Weezer tracks would looove some harmonies.
The entire Pixies album needs harmonies. Harmonies are one of the most important qualities of that entire band, imo!
I think it’s great that they’re thinking of updating the DLC. But the order I really want is:
- Update the on-disc songs from Rock Band 2
- Then update the on-disc songs from Rock Band 1
- Only then go on to updating the best of the DLC.
Really, so many more people own the RB1 and RB2 discs than almost any DLC. And they’re the ‘core packs’ – the standards that everyone *should* be incentivised to own or add to their collection so we can play together. They’re also awesome songs across an awesome range of music.
After that, DLC still isn’t actually my main priority. It’s that Harmonix allow RBN to update their own songs. The RBN songs are some of my favourites in the game (hidden gems for sure) and many of those authors would update their songs for free, just for the extra sales and publicity. It could be the shot in the arm that the service needs (along with front-and-centre promotion from the RB3 main menu).
Darth Logo Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
This is a really smart way to look at it. And, they could still probably charge a fee for a re-export of these songs. Not sure exactly how it would work out, though, but as far as priority goes, if this is possible, I think it would be really smart for the whole community.
I don’t understand why Pro Drums won’t be available for early stuff.
I’m looking at the chart MIDIs for RB1 and RB1DLC songs right now (fretsonfire.net > Tune Posting if you’re interested), and they all have pro drum notes charted.
The MIDI notes 110, 111, and 112 signify that the coinciding yellow/blue/green notes (respectively) are toms. By default, they’re cymbals.
SatansBestBuddy Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 2:16 pm
Early DLC, apparently, didn’t have pro drums, while Rock Band 1 songs do.
Dunno way, betting their just covering their asses in case they forgot a song and people start jumping down their throat about it.
BathTub Reply:
August 11th, 2010 at 10:31 pm
@SatansBestBuddy People have already been playing War Pigs with pro-drums, DLC doesn’t really get much older than that.
My Top 5:
“Bring Me to Life”
“Don’t Stop Believing”
“The Final Countdown”
“Seize the Day”
“Somebody to Love”
Danton Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Frikkin THIS!
I think that they should at least do it for all the disc-based songs out there.
RB, AC/DC, RB2, Lego, and Green Day should get the upgrades.
Boston – Foreplay/Long Time
I know, it’s on-disc, but wow, Foreplay is such an epic keys part (even if Long Time is terribly simple by comparison). There are so many other great picks among legacy songs for keys, harmonies, and simply Pro Guitar/Bass (and Drums if not already present).
Radiohead, Silversun Pickups, The Pixies and pretty much all Indie/Alternative Stuff.
MOAR MUSE
“Interstate Love Song” for Pro Guitar & harmonies, plz.
Antwon Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 5:07 pm
Seconded, wholeheartedly.
The Beatles – While My Guitar Gently Weeps.
Yeah, yeah, I know, never gonna happen, but you asked for what I want, so I told you!
I voted for all the choices, and for other I voted for No More Tears by Ozzy Osbourne. The bridge section would be awesome to play on keys.
I’m very glad to hear that DLC upgrades are seriously being considered. I think it’s kind of a bad idea to do just blanket requests for songs (e.g. saying ALL QUEEN or ALL BOSTON) because realistically, most people would still only play a few of those songs. Asking them to upgrade 12 songs when only 5-6 are likely to get regular play is a waste. I’ve tried to make a list of songs that are both popular enough to get a lot of play, or that I think are being overlooked and would really benefit from added harmonies/pro guitar/pro keys.
Foreplay/Long Time
Highway Star
Alive
Bodhisattva
Carry On Wayward Son
Cool for Cats
Pinball Wizard
Ramblin’ Man
Crocodile Rock
The Final Countdown
Fire
Short and Sweet (FANTASTIC keyboards in this)
Ride the Lightning
Moonage Daydream (great piano)
Casey Jones
Sugar Magnolia
Truckin’
Peace of Mind
More Than a Feeling
Smokin’
Tom Sawyer
YYZ
Bad to the Bone (great piano)
Tempted
Excuse Me Mr. (great piano)
Space Truckin’
Pride and Joy
Texas Flood
Dr. Feelgood
Even Flow
Midnight Rider
Roll with the Changes
She’s Not There (fantastic organ)
The Trooper
Wasted Years
Powerslave
Chest Fever (fantastic organ)
Killer Queen
Somebody to Love
Under Pressure
The Sounds of Silence
I Am a Rock
Peace Sells
Holy Wars… The Punishment Due
Hanger 18
Five Magics (great harmonies just for the back and forth at the end)
Tornado of Souls
Bad Romance
Poker Face
Spanish Castle Magic
Little Wing
If 6 was 9
Bold as Love
Different People
End It On This
The Climb
Touch of Grey (keyboard is probably better than guitar in this)
Floods
No More Tears
Bad Moon Rising
Proud Mary
Down On the Corner
Last Night On Earth
Viva La Gloria (Little Girl)
Longview
The Hellion/Electric Eye
Baba O’Riley
ABC (great piano)
I Want You Back (again, great piano)
Shining Star
Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine – Pt 1 (fantastic piano solos)
I’ll probably be in the minority suggesting a lot of those, but I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
Xzyliac Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 6:28 pm
All it needs is Bulletproof and I will second it completely!
I agree with Alex. First RB2, then RB1, perhaps even LEGO and/or Green Day and then the most popular DLC, big packs/albums, songs with prominent harmonies/keyboard parts. As well as songs that would be good training for Pro Bass/Guitar.
Really glad they seem to be considering this seriously now!
I think the results of this poll will be a bit…skewed in favor of the default options that were on it.
RockBandAide Reply:
August 11th, 2010 at 8:55 am
To have an “Other” category in the poll, I had to first have three static options available. I’ll take those out when I tabulate the results.
The Styx and Speedwagon songs.
Okay, nobody will respond to this question when I ask it on the RB forums, so I’ll try here: What happens in the following scenario?
Final Countdown seems like a pretty obvious choice for an update. But right now players either have it on the Lego Rock Band disc or as part of a huge bulk export that includes like 40 other songs. So if HMX were to release a new version, those of us who wanted to update could not delete the original without deleting ALL the Lego songs. So we would have two versions of the same song in the game.
If HMX updated ALL the Lego songs and released them as a pack, nobody would ever have to buy Lego Rock Band to get the songs on it. Then again, by the time this even happened, it probably wouldn’t matter anymore.
Delibird444 Reply:
August 11th, 2010 at 1:47 am
I don’t think it would work like that. I think that the original DLC pack (the entire LEGO: Rock Band file) would stay on the hard drive, but that new charts, stems, and data would be downloaded into the Rock Band 3 folder. When playing Rock Band 3, the new data will be “patched” into the Legacy DLC on the drive. The legacy DLC would still be backward compatible with Rock Bands 1-2, but when playing Rock Band 3, the legacy version will be combined with the new stuff. There won’t be two copies.
It’s kinda confusing, but it works.
Plutarch Reply:
August 11th, 2010 at 7:24 am
That would indeed be the most efficient way to handle it. Hope that’s how it works out!
Off-topic, but what song is that in the pic up top?
Antwon Reply:
August 10th, 2010 at 5:08 pm
That would be “In The Meantime” by Spacehog.
I think they should AT LEAST update the RB1 and RB2 setlists. Because while DLC is hit/miss with alot of people, most people have at least the RB1 and RB2 games.
I’d like to see between 1 and 3 appropriate (major hits and/or lots of keys and harmonies) songs for all of the signifcant bands (those with lots o’ dlc, big followings, etc).
Otherwise those bands that got on the rb bandwagon early (foo fighters, blink, etc) will miss out on having their best stuff charted ideally.
I want Hey Dude. I know no one else in the world does other than me, but that song is so goddamn awesome. I’m so glad Rock Band introduced me to that band.
I think that all the disc exports should be upgraded first. This will give Harmonix and the players a good starting point to jump into downloading Upgraded-Legacy DLC. Plus, across Rock Band 1 and 2, LEGO: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band, AC/DC Live: Track Pack, and the genre track packs, there is a diverse selection for everyone to enjoy.
After the discs, I say start with the tracks that incorporate harmonies AND keyboards. Then do ones with harmonies OR keyboards, then do the rest up for Pro mode. I’d also slow down a while on new releases until a good chunk of the current catalog is upgraded.
(I wrong a biiig four page thing about this. http://tinyurl.com/2a4umbr)
I relished toying around with Lego when I was littler and in the last few months the video games. I think that it is definately the most well-made toy ever. The outstanding thing about it is the amount of unusual methods it can be organized. This is a extraordinary example of how Lego can be used. I will definitely get my age-old Lego out now!