Will purchase that 2nd Thought track if it hits the store. Seems a nice mellow track to play along to.

We're starting to take advantage of the new and rather awesome RBNPreview Youtube channel that's been set up. So now all our Released song videos will (eventually) be in hi-def. Previews won't be, and our release videos will still be low-def (because that's the only hardware we've got on hand). So if you see a release video that's not HD it's only because we haven't gotten it to the right people to produce one yet.

Anyway. Progress! For fans of Blue News, we're putting up their lead single So Easy on behalf of AudioFour Games. Should be working through the pipeline in a few weeks. For fans of Man Parts (immature giggle) their second song Molten Death is very close to release, and may appear late this week or early next week. And pending some discussion and tweaking, both Magician and Janie are poised to release soon as well.

We should have a new song, by Shokkher, coming to playtest soon. We've also announced a new group, Morgawr, that we're working with on at least one, possibly a full album's worth of songs.

And lastly, though I'm sure this has disappointment potential... with RB3's whole keyboard and harmonies thing going on, there's possibilities of songs being held to take advantage of that. We'll know more and say more come E3. Either way, we are looking at a few new bands that would take serious advantage of those features, so hopefully we'll be jumping on regardless.

Another update! Molten Death is official, and will be in the game store tomorrow. First page has been updated to that effect.

Second, we've begun an official proxy program. Bands that are interested in doing their own authoring, but don't want to go through the cost and hassle of the XNA process (or can't due to location), are welcome to work with us to bring their songs into the system at virtually no cost. We've got two (possibly three) songs that we're either currently or scheduled to bring to RBN in this manner:

Blue News - So Easy (as mentioned previously)
Lyrics for Monday - Runaway
Man Parts - Scorpion Machinegun (possibly; the band may be doing the upload themselves.)

Third, we're close to bringing a number of new bands to RBN. We don't name names until the contracts are settled, but I can comment that one potential client has had a Top 5 Billboard hit, so if that deal does solidify like we're hoping you can bet there'll be a press release and everything. :)

Lastly, you'll notice Thunderclap has vanished. This isn't a mistake; we spoke with the band, and it was agreed that the piano in that piece is too awesome to ignore, so it is being retained until Rock Band 3. So that will hold the song from releasing for a while, but... the piano's worth it.

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Originally Posted by FairwoodStudios

Lastly, you'll notice Thunderclap has vanished. This isn't a mistake; we spoke with the band, and it was agreed that the piano in that piece is too awesome to ignore, so it is being retained until Rock Band 3. So that will hold the song from releasing for a while, but... the piano's worth it.

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Very understandable! That piano is totally worth it!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FairwoodStudios

Lastly, you'll notice Thunderclap has vanished. This isn't a mistake; we spoke with the band, and it was agreed that the piano in that piece is too awesome to ignore, so it is being retained until Rock Band 3. So that will hold the song from releasing for a while, but... the piano's worth it.

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This is awesome news. Hopefully RBN 2.0 will support Pro Mode and all the new features that'll be in RB3 as well.

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Originally Posted by Thom1234

This is awesome news. Hopefully RBN 2.0 will support Pro Mode and all the new features that'll be in RB3 as well.

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Personally, right now I'm skeptical that RBN will support Pro Mode outside of drums, simply for logistical reasons. It would demand far more expertise on the part of playtesters and authors to get the songs exactly correct. Drums, though, are very easy to "pro up" accurately and the retroactive Pro Drums kinda shows that.

We don't know, for sure, quite yet. But, I would temper your expectations.

This is a pretty amazing point for us. We finally have more released songs than in-progress tracks! "Janie" by The Raspberry Ants should be in the store on Monday.

We also just put up a preview video for "Burn Her Out", by Shokkher. It's some really crazy modern hair metal, we had to go call in Coach Z's vocal expertise to get that part taken care of. The drums are pretty nasty too, lots of double kicks (that I'm really hoping we can maintain through the whole test process).

Hopefully we can get Magician and Just Hang On complete soon, then we'll be able to focus entirely on the blast of metal we've got lined up.

finally Highlord!!!!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by FairwoodStudios

Lastly, you'll notice Thunderclap has vanished. This isn't a mistake; we spoke with the band, and it was agreed that the piano in that piece is too awesome to ignore, so it is being retained until Rock Band 3. So that will hold the song from releasing for a while, but... the piano's worth it.

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Why does this happen to all songs I'd but in a heartbeat? I mean that guitar solo it goes on so long that it's too epic to pass up.

Some news, from smallest to biggest:

First: Vision Through Sound is lined up to bring two songs from their album "These Things Happen", releasing tonight, to RBN. I found these guys on Amie Street a while back and I'm glad I did, they're really interesting surf/folk rock. We'll be authoring:

-- Rinse and Repeat
-- What's Yours is Mine

Second: We've helped Evan of Audio Four Games get the second Blue News track, "So Easy", into the store. It'll be appearing with the next update, probably Tuesday.

Third: We've also got Highlord's "Simple Man" showing up in the next update. It's our first straight metal track, and while it's not ludicrously hard, it is pretty challenging and really epic.

Fourth: If Simple Man isn't epic enough, how's about 9:30 of Pagan black metal? We've put out the first preview of "Herlathing" by Morgawr. Grab a drink, sit back, and watch one monster of a track. (Which, though I need to check the info on this, may be the second-longest RBN track to date.)

Fifth and final: ....well, I think it's big enough for its own post. You'll see. :)