Rock Band

Summary

Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was released in the U.S. on December 18, 2007. The Wii version being released on June 22, 2008. The game was released in Canada for the PlayStation 3, Wii and Xbox 360 on December 22, 2007 and for the PlayStation 2 on January 2, 2008. It was released in parts of Europe on the PS3, 360 and Wii on May 23, 2008 while the PS2 version was released on September 22.

Rock Band allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular rock music songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs with "instrument controllers", as well as sing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical "notes" while playing instruments, or by their ability to match the singer's pitch on vocals. Players with the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions can interact through both online and offline multiplayer capabilities. In addition to the 58 core songs included on the game disc, over 1000 downloadable songs have been released for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, with more added each week.

At launch, the game software was made available in a bundle that packaged it together with the instrument peripherals, as well as for purchase separately. Individual instrument peripherals were released at a later date. The game has received widespread critical acclaim, with sales of four million units and global revenues of $600 million. Players have also made 30 million downloadable song purchases since Rock Band's release. The game's success prompted the release of the sequels, Rock Band 2, The Beatles: Rock Band, Lego Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band, and Rock Band 3.