Number of new Rock Band tracks to download via Xbox Live

The downloadable content for Rock Band doesn’t stop there, almost all of your favorite rock songs are nowadays easy to play alone or in a band with the help of Rock Band. Five new songs appeared today, which can be downloaded via Xbox Live.

Three of the five songs are from Presidents of the United States of America: “Dune Buggy,” “Feather Pluckn,” and “Ladybug.” All three can be downloaded separately for 160 Microsoft Points, but also in one package for 440. The other two songs are “I Don’t Care” by Fall Out Boy and “Use Me” by Hinder. These two are for sale for a small 80 Microsoft points.

Rock Band 2: The Opening Act is a game that transfers the musical boyhood dream in a virtual form to the next-gen consoles. The Rock Band games are being developed by Harmonix, a developer who pioneered the Guitar Hero series. The game can be played with four people who use controllers in the form of instruments (microphone, two guitars and a drum kit) to imitate music from major rock stars. The vast majority of the songs contain heavy rock, of course, but genres such as classic and country are also included.

Rock Band is not a game, Rock Band is a music platform. Rock Band 2: The Opening Act is therefore not a normal sequel, but an ‘update’ of the platform. New are a slicker interface for managing your band, a laundry list of new songs and a set of new plastic instruments to get out and about. But because it’s all part of one platform, you don’t have to buy new instruments, or re-purchase songs to play them with Rock Band 2. Everything will work together without any problems.

The new guitar is another Fender Stratocaster, but this time with a softer neck, a better strum bar and finer *****. The drum set is now sensitive to how hard you hit, your strokes are muffled and the pedal has been drastically improved. Both are now wireless, including for the Xbox 360.

Rock Band 2: The Opening Act is out at an undisclosed date for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and PlayStation 2.