Get Your Fingers Ready! Rock Band 4 is Happening!

Here at Techpedition we don’t do alot of straight-up-news posts, but this one is quite close to our hearts. After alot of speculation, surveys and Harmonix stopping just short of officially announcing the game, the team behind the best music games in the industry has officially announced Rock Band 4 for current gen consoles (PS4 and Xbox One). Rather than trying to sum up everything they said, I’m just going to drop their official press release right here. Enjoy.

HARMONIX ANNOUNCES ROCK BAND 4 COMING TO PLAYSTATION®4 AND XBOX ONE™

Cambridge, Mass. – March 5th, 2015 – Harmonix is excited to announce that it is teaming up with Mad Catz to bring Rock Band™ 4, the next generation of the award-winning social and interactive music gaming platform, to PlayStation®4 computer entertainment system and Xbox One, the all-in-one games and entertainment system from Microsoft®.

Players can guarantee that they can be ready to rock with new hardware on release day by signing up to be alerted when pre-orders go live at http://www.rockband.com/preorder.

Additionally, fans attending PAX East in Boston between March 6 and March 8 can pre-order an exclusive Penny Arcade-themed guitar in person at Harmonix’s booth, #4224.

Video: “Meet the Rock Band 4 Team”
Rock Band 4 Logo, artwork, and assets
Penny Arcade-exclusive guitar image

START A BAND. ROCK THE WORLD.
Rock Band 4 brings the critically-acclaimed franchise to a new generation of consoles, focusing on the features and gameplay that people love, and expanding the franchise in innovative ways that were informed by how fans play and what they want.

“With Rock Band 4, we’re doubling down on the energy and excitement of playing music live with your friends,” says Harmonix Chief Executive Officer Steve Janiak. “Focusing on the core experience that our fans have told us they love allows us to evolve established gameplay in meaningful ways that we can’t wait to share with everyone later this year.”

“We couldn’t be happier to be working with Harmonix and help bring the band back together for the launch of Rock Band 4,” added Darren Richardson, President and Chief Executive Officer of Mad Catz. “Harmonix possesses unrivalled passion and vision for music gaming and we can’t wait to introduce the next generation music platform to passionate gamers.”

Harmonix will reveal to its fans more details about exciting new features of Rock Band 4 this coming May.

STILL THE MOST MUSIC. PERIOD.

In addition to a killer on-disc soundtrack, Rock Band 4 will support over 2000 tracks released since the 2007 launch of the original Rock Band, accounting for more than 500 of rock music’s most legendary artists.

“Since the beginning, we’ve called Rock Band a music platform. Players responded by downloading hundreds of their favorite tracks, and building a massive library of playable music,” says Rock Band 4 Product Manager Daniel Sussman. “It’s important for us to respect those purchases and enable our fans to bring that content over to the Rock Band platform on new generation consoles.”

Players who’ve purchased or downloaded playable tracks on last-generation consoles will be able to download and play those tracks on their new platforms at no additional charge*. Hundreds of tracks will be available at launch, with more back catalog music – and new tracks – to be added regularly after launch.

CELEBRATE WITH FREE DOWNLOADABLE CONTENT FOR ROCK BAND 3, AVAILABLE NOW

To celebrate the long-awaited announcement of Rock Band 4, Harmonix is offering a free downloadable track. “I Still Believe,” recorded by UK-based songwriter Frank Turner for his fourth EP, Rock & Roll, is available now for download today, free of charge, on PlayStation®3 and Xbox 360®. Playable today in Rock Band 3 and Rock Band Blitz, this is one of the hundreds of songs that will be compatible with Rock Band 4 when it ships later this year for PlayStation®4 and Xbox One!

Rock Band 4 will be available later this year. For more information, head over to http://www.harmonixmusic.com and follow @RockBand on Twitter for updates.

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For more information on Rock Band and Harmonix Music Systems please visit http://www.harmonixmusic.com.

* The timing of release of “legacy” DLC on next-generation consoles is to be determined and may be subject to change. “Legacy” DLC will be downloadable and playable in Rock Band 4 only after the DLC is released on next-generation consoles.
© 2015 Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Harmonix, Rock Band 4, Rock Band 3, Rock Band Blitz, Rock Band and all related titles and logos are trademarks of Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. Rock Band 4, Rock Band 3, Rock Band Blitz and other related products and services developed by Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. All other marks are the property of their owners.

The best part of this news is the legacy DLC.  Sure licensing is a tricky thing and I’m sure some songs will not make the jump, but knowing I already have a giant library of music for this new game is fantastically exciting. The only thing about this that concerns me is the lack of an announcement that legacy instruments will be compatible. **crosses fingers**