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Rock Band 2 Dev Talks Track Selection, Exclusivity Deals
IGN spoke with Eric Brosious, audio director for Harmonix, about selecting songs for the upcoming Rock Band 2 release. He talks about balancing difficulty between instruments, bringing a wider range of genres to the game, and his view on the competition for songs and artists between Harmonix and Activision.
"We prefer not to sign exclusive deals with artists because while it seems like the competitive 'business' thing to do, in the long run, it's really not good for anyone. We think we should be working to get more music out to more people."
I kind of wonder if the Rock Band guys would ever consider using any creative commons or netlabel music?
Netlabel music doesn't usually evoke the same kind of live-fast die young superstar feeling that these games usually seem aim to evoke. And they'd probably prefer to stick to songs that people have actually heard of. Still it's probably a cool idea.
What's the value of information that you don't know?
And shame on Activision.
I hate to support EA under any circumstances, but they've proven they know when to leave the hell alone - not like Activision, who get their hands on a franchise and pretty much universally ruin it.
Look at Guitar Hero. Harmonix's first two were awesome; 3 was passable. Then we were hit with "Rocks the 80s", and even worse, "Aerosmith edition" - I mean, what is this shit? Halfway through the 31 songs and I've barely played 5 actual Aerosmith songs? They taunt me with "The band covered X song on Y early tour date" info and that song's not even on the menu?
"Exclusivity" agreements explain why Rock Band's only Aerosmith song was the piece of junk "Train Kept a-Rollin" instead of a good one. They probably also explain why the "Best of the Who" download set included the crappiest cover I've ever heard of Amazing Journey, and left Sensation and Pinball Wizard completely out.
The less exclusives we see, the better. Unfortunately for Harmonix, you know for a fact Activision isn't going to play fair on this. They're desperate to get anything to get people to buy the next Guitar Hero after being 2 and a half times burned (one for 80s, one for Aerosmith, 1/2 for GH3 for the crappy boss battle setup).