Yes, it was already rumoured when we saw the pic on one of Teasdale's blogs.

Have to say I'm a little disappointed as well. It seems that after the botched Moving Pictures launch, they've kind of lost some momentum. I'm sure things will pick back up at some point (Sept. 14th!).

so, what was the big announcement?

The "big" announcement was:

PAX Pack - all profits to charity.

Bladder of Steel achievement.

That's it.

Also, the Export option makes them all individual songs, so you can go in and get rid of the ones you don't want to ever play again, or something.

The achievement

The PAX pack

And (I think) all proceeds from the PAX pack will go to charity (Child's Play Charity)

Look out Guitar Hero! We have three tracks no one has heard of and an achievement that 1% of our audience will go for! How's that for a BIG Announcement!

I know the songs will sell decent to those that buy everything, but it's kind of a slap in the face to Child's Play. Put up a real song people want to bring in some real money for charity.

Speaking of, is Neversoft doing anything this weekend for GH:WT?

Oh, and that last bit is kinda cool, about being able to delete songs you don't want. Of course, if you sell your RB disc, it's probably just best to leave them all on that rare chance you want to play one of them.

*edit - pay no mind to the rant above, the poster is clearly peeved about the Offspring denial.

From someone who played the full game at PAX:

Drums have solo sections now.

I don't know if that was posted in here yet.

Sean confirms those two items as the "big" announcement via Twitter. Ouch.

Quick question from someone who doesnt have RB.When RB2 comes out do i get the guitar and drums(and mic) with that or do i need to buy RB1 complete and then RB2 just the game? As of now i just have GH3

What is his twitter link? I'd like to keep an eye on it myself but haven't been able to find it. My google-fu is weak i guess.

I will also be all over the PAX pack. I love nerdcore stuff and hope to see some more come down the pike.

When Rock Band 2 comes out it will first be available as disc only and i believe the instruments will be available separately at this time (so you would have to have the instruments from RB1 or buy the instruments individually and the cost would be a fair amount higher than buying the whole bundle).

Then i think a month later they are releasing the bundle with game, drums, mic, and guitar (all new iterations that are improved over their RB1 counterpart).

https://twitter.com/HarmonixSean

Thanks

Ouch indeed. They need to practice the idea of under promising and over delivering, not the opposite.

The announcement was so awso.......
Damn that sucked. Way to get everyone hyped up.

I mentioned it a while back. Someone on ScoreHero said they played a song with one during a play session a week or so ago.

Sucks that PAX is the only thing coming this week. They've promised 500 by the end of the year, so let's do some math

So, through 9/2, we have:

58 RB1 tracks and 203 (by my rough count) DLC tracks.

RB2 has 84 with 20 free DLC tracks coming.

We have 7 "albums" coming, 6 totaling 66 tracks and No Doubt with an unknown amount. Benefit of the doubt - 12 tracks.

17 Tuesdays after 9/2. Leaving 10, assuming each of the albums takes one of the remaining Tuesdays.

443 songs out or known. Leaving 57 or so to come. Over 10 weeks, they need to pick it up! No more of this 3/week stuff

Don't forget there are 5 Offspring songs still unaccounted for.

Interesting RB/GH info from PAX:

A guy I know from another forum was at PAX, and he got to play GH:WT. He said to play that, the line was only like one band long, so about 5-10 minutes. He didn't get a chance to play RB2 because the line was about 2 hours long.

Not meaning to stir up shit, but this is the RB thread.

Harmonix is not just helping out with the Child's Play charity..

The PS3 is helping to cure cancer, and now RB2 is fighting AIDS!

...Yet another reason why Harmonix is the most awesome dev on earth!

Kinda cool, but wouldn't it be just as easy to put up a DLC track people actually want and donate that instead of catering to a one off concert?

I agree with you to an extent, but they also have to cover their own asses as well. I'm sure that buying the rights to the PAX bands was considerably less (or even free), compared to what they had to pay for Offspring.

I'm fairly certain that Offspring will only get pushed back one week, so it's not like it's the end of the world. I'm guessing Moving Pictures isn't going to show up until RB2 hits. I'm thinking we might get some extra DLC that night, and then on Tuesday as well. So maybe MP will drop on one of those days.

That's why you work with the bands. Hey, we'll promote your next single if you give us just one song from your entire catalog that we can use for a charity pack. I'm sure not every artist in the industry is shallow enough to not be interested in charity work.

I wasn't addressing Offspring, not sure where you were going there. Let's take them for example though, they easily have a dozen or more songs that were pretty big. The band could easily let Harmonix use just one for a charity pack in exchange for putting up their next single in the game. Both sides win. The band generates interest and sales on the new album/tour and a charity benefits from a song that isn't pushing many album sales anymore.

Don't get me wrong, they've done a great job thus far with DLC, I just think they are missing the boat on cross-promoting tracks and creating bundles where the tracks have a similar theme or the like.

I'm going to focus on this part, as I don't want to derail the thread. But other than the PAX pack, what back or bundle that has come out recently hasn't had a similar theme? Most of the packs coming out over the last few months have been band-specific packs. The last one I can think of that didn't really mesh together would've been the Classic Rock Pack of Blondie, The Police, and Skynrd. Maybe could be said about the Scene Pack as well.

I'll give you that, but that's the easy way out (concert themed packs, record label packs). I'm talking tossing up something like a trio of classic songs about drinking. Here's a few off the top of my head (I'm sure there are better songs for each category, but you get the idea)

Drinking Tunes:
George Thorogood: One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer (or I drink Alone)
Sammy Hagar: Mas Tequila
Metallica: Whiskey in the Jar

Fictional Band Pack:
the Wonders: That Thing You Do!
Stillwater: Fever Dog
the Blues Brothers: Soul Man
the Monkees: I'm a Believer
Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem: Can You Picture That?
Spinal Tap: ?

Comedy Fun Pack:
Southern Culture on the Skids: Banana Puddin'
Presidents of the USA: Peaches
Bloodhound Gang: Fire Water Burn
Weird Al: ?

Food Pack
Cake: the Distance
Meat Loaf: Paradise by the Dashboard light
Warrant: Cherry Pie
Marcy Playground: Sex and Candy

Wolf Pack
Warren Zevon: Werewolves of London
Metallica: Of Wolf and Man
Duran Duran: Hungry Like the Wolf

TV Theme Pack
The Dandy Warhols: We Used to Be Friends (Veronica Mars)
Joan Jett: Bad Reputation (Freaks & Geeks)
Remy Zero: Save Me (Smallville)

Now that the Eagles are in the music game biz, give me an Eagles solo pack:
Don Henley: Boys of Summer
Don Felder: Heavy Metal
Joe Walsh: Life's Been Good
Glen Frey: ?

What about legitimate cover tunes:
Tesla: Signs
Ugly Kid Joe: Cat's in the Cradle
Pearl Jam: Last Kiss
Kenny Whayne Shepherd: Voodoo Child (or Oh, Well)
Tantic: The Chain

The perfect drug pack:
Tom Petty: Mary Jane's Last Dance
Buckcherry: Cocaine
Motley Crue: Dr. Feelgood

The better left untitled pack:
Violent Femmes: Blister in the Sun
the Who: Pictures of Lily
Divinyls: I touch myself

I want to see them get creative along those lines, not just slap three bands together because they are on tour together. Where's the creativity in that? The game is all about 'the fun' but the packs themselves don't reflect that. Get crazy with 'em and have fun with it.