page_title: Rock Band
section_title: Band-specific games
hierarchical_section_title: Rock Band / Games / Band-specific games
caption_attribution_description: English: Set of instruments-shaped controllers for the video game The Beatles: Rock Band&#160;: a Höfner bass, a Gretsch Duo Jet guitar, a Ludwig drum set and a microphone with its stand. Français&#160;: Trois des contrôleurs du jeu vidéo The Beatles: Rock Band&#160;: une basse Höfner, une guitare Gretsch Duo Jet, une batterie Ludwig et un micro avec son pied.
context_page_description: Rock Band is a series of rhythm games developed by Harmonix, principally for home video game consoles. Based on their previous development work from the Guitar Hero series, the main Rock Band games has players use game controllers modeled after musical instruments and microphones to perform the lead guitar, bass guitar, keyboard, drums and vocal parts of numerous licensed songs across a wide range of genres though mostly focusing on rock music by matching scrolling musical notes patterns shown on screen. Certain games support the use of "Pro" instruments that require special controllers that more closely mimic the playing of real instruments, providing a higher challenge to players. Players are scored for successfully-hit notes, while may fail a song if they miss too many notes. The series has featured numerous game modes, and supports both local and online multiplayer modes where up to four players in most modes can perform together.
context_section_description: In October 2008, Harmonix, along with MTV Games, announced an exclusive agreement with Apple Corps, Ltd. to produce a standalone title, titled The Beatles: Rock Band, based on the Rock Band premise and featuring the music of The Beatles. The game was released on September 9, 2009, coinciding with the release of remastered collections of the Beatles' albums, and features a visual and musical history of the Beatles with United Kingdom-released versions of songs from their albums Please Please Me through Abbey Road. The game also has been supported by downloadable content, with three full albums, Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Rubber Soul, available to purchase. Though branded as a Rock Band game, the title remains as a standalone game in the series. It includes a function to add new songs to the game disc.
  
  Following on the success of The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day: Rock Band was released in June 2010. It includes the band's songs, including full albums for Dookie, American Idiot, and 21st Century Breakdown, avatars of the band's members and venues after real-life performances of the group. The track list is fully exportable to other Rock Band games.
  
  Several bands stated they were seeking to or working with Harmonix to develop band-specific content for the series. The band Pearl Jam worked with Harmonix and MTV Games along with Rhapsody on a Rock Band-related project that was to be released in 2010, allowing for users to vote for their favorite live versions of the band's music. In August 2011 it was rumoured that the Pearl Jam related project would be released as downloadable content, but Harmonix spokesman John Drake later clarified that while a Pearl Jam-based game was deep in development, it was ultimately cancelled.
  The band U2, after declining an option to place themselves in a Rock Band game in 2008, were reconsidering their stance after seeing the success of The Beatles: Rock Band, according to bassist Adam Clayton. Similarly, Queen were in behind-the-scenes talks about a possible title for their group within Rock Band, according to Brian May. Even though no game based on the band was released, Lego avatars of the band members appeared in Lego Rock Band. Roger Daltrey of The Who had stated that a Rock Band-title based on his group's music would be available in 2010; however, no such title was released in 2010, or after that year for that matter. Though Janie Hendrix had stated she allowed for Jimi Hendrix's works to be used for a Rock Band game to be released in 2010, this was later clarified as licensing several full albums from Hendrix to be made as downloadable content. Harmonix had also considered standalone band games for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, but neither project proceeded past developing concept art and cinematics.
caption: The Beatles Rock Band complete set of controllers.
exif: {}