·:[ Smiling Politely ]:·
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Not only do I get to export Rock Band tracks for use with RB2, I don’t even have to take Run to the Hills with it!

I never really took the time to write about Rock Band. I still don’t have it. Thanks to the generosity of Mike over Christmas, however, I got to play a ton of it for the couple of weeks I was back.

Secretly, in the back of my mind, I was prepared for disappointment. I was so very, very excited about the game. It’s the primary reason that I even have a 360 right now (especially ironic now that the game is finally out and I can’t really afford it, natch.) There was no way it was going to live up to my internal hype.

Holy crap, I cannot stress how much I enjoyed my time with that game. It surpassed my expectations. I want to do violent things to undeserving victims in order to get more time behind the drums or even with the guitar. Every week, they release even more awesome songs. Even if this game didn’t have the additional instruments, it would be the best pretend-guitar-game on strength of soundtrack alone.

The big question on everyone’s minds, however, is “when are those full albums coming?” Before the game was even released, they announced loud and clear that they were going to have Who’s Next available, as well as Nevermind and some other unspecified albums. None of these have materialized, despite an otherwise consistent 3 track per week record. Nobody seems to know quite exactly why, so, it’s time for unfounded speculation!

• They lied! Possibly the simplest explanation: they never actually got the rights secured on ink and paper, but maybe they were close and some wires got crossed somewhere and someone went and announced something a bit too soon, and everything has since fallen apart.
• Strategic reserve. Seeing as how the 3 tracks per week deal seems to be selling gangbusters, perhaps they’re just being jerks and holding onto the goodies for a more opportune time. Inject some excitement back in if the bottom falls out of the weeklies, take some wind out of Activision’s sails (sales!) on the release of GH4 or an expansion pack or just some big DLC release, or something like that.
• Gameplay logistics. The explanation given in interviews for the lack of an online-capable Band World Tour mode was that they just couldn’t figure out a graceful way to handle tracking progress or other issues along those lines. (I do not understand this, their already awkward local system that requires a constant “band leader” seems like it would do the trick, doesn’t it?) Maybe, rather than have the full albums be just a bunch of tracks to dump onto your list of songs like everything else has been, they want to do something special. (This kind of makes sense?) Like, a separate menu option or setlist to play the album “cover to cover.” This goes beyond the scope of a track download, however: you’d need to code up a patch for the game itself, which then introduces compatibility problems between people playing online, etc.
• XBL logistics. (Not familiar enough with the PSN to figure out how that relates to things.) One big glaring pit for someone to fall into as more and more songs get added to the roster is that on XBL, when songs are sold both individually and as a bundle, there’s no checks or warnings preventing you from buying the same track twice. This would be worse if they are going to release full albums that contain tracks that they’ve sold previously.
• Stupid memory. I thought I had another one but I’ve since forgotten it.

In any case, they seem to be doing just fine without the full album downloads.  So much so that I actually don’t even care if they ever come out any more.  Even if I had Rock Band I’d be hard pressed to afford more than what is already coming out.

Just to give advance warning, I’m in the midst of working on my way-too-long and certain-to-go-unread Best of 2007 CD mix, a now annual tradition.  Stay tuned for kicks, mirrors, numbers, and a surprise appearance from the soundtrack to my personal Game of the Year.

In the meantime, I will soon be playing Rock Band (not my own copy, alas), and plan to plant like Ann Bland.  Should you choose to interrupt me, prepare to suffer violence.

Have I mentioned, I desperately want?

My Sharona confirmed!