Filed under: Sony PlayStation 3, Microsoft Xbox 360, Rhythm

One of gaming’s worst-kept secrets is now official: Rock Band 2 is coming. IGN has the scoop and an interview with lead designer Dan Teasdale, who reveals that all the current and future DLC will be compatible with both versions of Rock Band, as well as the same instrument controllers.

While details were scarce, Teasdale said to expect improvements for band and character customization as well as the navigation system and Band World Tour. Citing the current issues with random set lists, Teasdale said, “Nobody wants to play Green Grass and High Tides in their first random set list.” Visually, the few images seen show the game has changed very little from its predecessor (and yes, it turns out the box art from a leaked survey was accurate).

As for what songs to expect, Teasdale said, “we’ve also secured what I can easily say is the best set list I’ve ever seen in a music game.” He provided no examples, although we wonder if The Beatles fall onto that list. Rock Band 2 is set to debut at E3 next month.

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God, I hope so. Sure, there’s plenty of PSOne hits we’ve yet to see, but I’ve really been hoping for some PS2 downloads. You all know good and well that the system could pull it off. It was just a matter of waiting until Sony had it ready. So when?

While not official, the above picture gives me hope. This little gem comes from the N4G boards, where a board member claims this shot came from a Sony London employee. He says that a new PlayStation 2 Store will be announced at E3, and its launch is marked for late summer. And it’s supposed to launch in Europe!

Of course, none of this is confirmed. But the screenshot looks real enough. If you squint (or use the larger one in the gallery below), you can see Metal Gear Solid 2, Fantavision, The Bouncer, Ridge Racer V, Smuggler’s Run, Red Faction, and SSX. The highlighted selection, MGS2, lists for

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Ah, wrestling games. Back in high school, my friends and I were heavily into wrestling, and we all owned the first two WWF SmackDown! games (the ones on the PS1). We’d watch Raw and SmackDown! every week, and we’d beat the living hell out of each other (in the game, of course) every weekday afternoon after school. But the series’ third game, the first on the PS2, lacked the same luster and charm of its prior-gen predecessors — at least in our view — and we stopped following wrestling anyway soon afterwards.

Still, my group of friends is obviously not a microcosm or a good sample size of Americans in general, since the WWE remains hugely popular (at the very least, we all know that Suff0cat is a huge fan). THQ has decided to pump out a new iteration of the games every year, so this will be the fifth title in the SmackDown vs. Raw series. THQ and developer Yuke’s are hoping that SvR 2009 has a better reception than last year’s game, which garnered below-average reviews.

THQ PR reps were on hand at the 2008 Holiday Junket to demo the game’s exhibition matches (one-on-one and tag team), as well as its Create-A-Finisher mode. For more on how the game looks so far, head to the jump.

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It’s been a long time coming, but at last, one of classic rock’s greatest bands, The Who, will be making its way to Rock Band. Harmonix had long ago named the band’s seminal 1971 record Who’s Next as planned full-album DLC for Rock Band, but we’ve seen neither hide nor hair of songs like “Bargain” and “Baba O’Riley” (for the last time, people, it isn’t called “Teenage Wasteland”).

Now, alongside the official announcement of Rock Band 2, we’ve got confirmation from Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopolous that a bunch of Who tracks will soon be appearing in the Rock Band Music Store — and that they’ve had some difficulty in procuring what they originally promised:

Their music really comes alive when you’re playing it … We were trying to release ‘Who’s Next’ in its entirety, but we were unable to locate all the masters. So in the face of that, Pete (Townshend) and Roger (Daltrey) helped curate this best-of soundtrack of everything we were able to find.

On Tuesday, July 15th, Harmonix will deliver a grand total of twelve songs by The Who. Since it’s a Tuesday, the songs will presumably only hit Xbox Live Marketplace that day, and will probably come to the PlayStation Store two days later — although there’s no affirmation of that in the Yahoo! News article in which this story was first broken. As for the songs themselves, only two have been revealed so far, and they’re great ones: “My Generation” and “Who Are You.”

The songs will go for $1.99 apiece, while the twelve-pack of master tracks will sell for $19.99. It may not be all of Who’s Next, but I’m sure that whatever it is, it’s going to rock. After all, the band’s only remaining founding members helped pick the tracks. Are you already opening your wallet, like I am?

[Via Yahoo! News]

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It looks like Eric Lempel wasn’t kidding when he said that Sony would “shortly” be posting part 2 of their video walkthrough of PS3 system software update v2.40. The second video was

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While everybody in Japan and America have been enjoying their “last-gen” rumble, we in Europe have had to do without. Obviously, this is understandable, because just like Smash Brothers, there is simply so much translation involved. You need to change “DualShock” on the boxes to “L’DualShock,” and that takes forever!

Sony claims the DualShock 3 is the “first choice for gamers,” which is funny, because up until now we’ve not had that choice. Fear not, however, for we have now been graced with a release date, and that date is July 4th.

How amusing: it’s the only time a British person has had a reason to celebrate Independence Day.

[Update: It seems likely that the July 4 release date is for the UK & Ireland only. Europe, however, should be enjoying the DS3 as soon as July 2. Good going!]

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The time is at hand, fellow PS3 owners. First, we saw a purported list of the v2.40 update’s features, and a proposal of a release date: three weeks. The very next day, a tip arose from the murky depths of NeoGAF; it said that we’d see an official announcement and a video walkthrough from Sony on June 30th. It’s funny just how true some rumors turn out to be. The forumite over at Le GAF was proven correct early this morning: shortly before 3 AM EDT, a five-and-a-half-minute video walkthrough of how in-game XMB will work was

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Saturday, EA issued a statement via the official Battlefield: Bad Company website, proclaiming that they are aware of connectivity issues that some players have been facing while trying to play online. The statement is written as if the tech guys live in the fictional world of Bad Company, where mercenaries carry gold bars in their pockets at all times.

We are aware that some X360 players are having issues connecting to the Bad Company servers. We’ve been monitoring stats non-stop and are working with several partners to locate any possible flashpoints and eradicate any hostiles we encounter.

The release then went on to add the most ridiculous “fix” we have ever heard.

Until we are ready to implement a permanent fix, a possible workaround is to turn off your console for approx. 20 minutes before turning it back on and connecting again.

Turning off my console for twenty minutes? What is that going to do other than allow me to whip out another game that doesn’t force me to sign on to servers outside of the Live network? I’m all about squashing bugs and tackling server problems, but treating my console like an overheated George Foreman grill is hilarious.

Have any of you been experiencing these problems? Shall we suggest another “fix” for EA?

[Thanks, Dustin!]

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Good ol’ DMV is back again with a few more games for you. Recently, I’ve been talking about some games like Pro Bull Riding and Looney Tunes: Cartoon Conductor, but here are two gems: Defendin’ De Penguin and King of Clubs, another set of games I got to try out while visiting Crave Entertainment up in New York City.

I can tell you’re excited just by hearing the names. The first title, Defendin’ De Penguin is a tower defense game that’s aimed towards kids. King of Clubs, the other title in this feature, is a miniature golf game. So, without any other interruptions, I invite you to follow the jump and find out about these two titles.

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We know that you like videogames, or else you wouldn’t be browsing right now. For some enthusiasts, games transcend the confines of hobbyist enjoyment and enter into the realm of art. Usually, this territory quickly becomes mired in too much Lara Croft or Dead or Alive characters, so it is especially refreshing to see something this elegant.

This hot tiny pink number is called the “Nintendo Dragon.” Elliot Ortiz created it, with inspiration apparently taken from the Wii. Futurenerd describes it as a “toy” that will serve only as a display piece for those entrenched in videogame culture.

Personally, I think it looks pretty slick. I especially enjoy the appearance of the Wii Remote and its streamlined design. If only we could all toss away our bulky controllers for something this pretty. For an additional picture that shows a side-by-side console comparison, as well as a brief description by the artist, hit the jump.

[Thanks, wardrox!]

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