It seemed like the days of plastic instruments cluttering up living rooms would never end. On April 2nd, however, Harmonix has announced that DLC support for Rock Band 3 will be terminated as the team moves on to other projects. The songs aren't going anywhere, and sales will continue to occur, but new content is officially at an end. Not only is it a sobering reminder of an era coming to pass, but it also marks the longest DLC support for a franchise in video gaming history, boasting over 275 weeks of continuous releases.

It lives!

Here's a little bad news for those of you who enjoy Rock Band 3 on the Nintendo Wii.  It was recently announced that this past Tuesday's installment of Rock Band Network releases would be the last batch for the Wii.   DLC packages will still be available, but the network has effectively been mothballed.  Is this another sign of the waning popularity of the music game genre?  Why yes, yes it is.  This statement comes from the Rock Band site:

It was only a little over a month ago when we told you that Harmonix's parent company, Viacom, was putting the developer up for sale after only owning them for a few years.  Rock Band 3 sales numbers were partially to blame for this, but the $179 million dollar selling price surely contributed.

Viacom, who owns such properties as Paramount Films, MTV, Comedy Central and Harmonix, have reported a 59% loss in earnings for the third quarter of 2010.  From the report - it seems partially to blame on Rock Band 3 development costs and early indicators of poor sales of the game.  Both the film and TV division of Viacom reported an increase in earnings - thereby making the Harmonix investment even more dire.

Rock Band 3 is a great game.  We say as much in our review.   Unfortunately, fans may be disappointed to hear that Harmonix  is taking a move right out of the Star Wars franchise playbook, in that they will be charging gamers again and again for the same content.  If you already own a song for Rock Band 2 you will need to purchase it again if you want to have the keyboard or vocal harmony portions. 

The guitar was so lonely that it gently wept

Harmonix has long set atop the music game pecking order, and Rock Band 3 is another very strong effort. The gameplay we've enjoyed for years is as good as ever, and arguably the best it has ever been. But the inclusion of an entirely new instrument and Pro mode are Rock Band 3's true focus.

We've got a couple bits of news for you after Rock Band 3's release earlier this week.  Ever been listening to the radio, hear a cool song, and think, "Wow, that would be awesome to play in Rock Band.  I wonder if it's available?"  But, you aren't close to your console to check it out?  There's now an app for that, albeit an unofficial one.  Called the "RB Song List", the app is free.  Now you'll be able to see whether "Wipe Out" is available in Rock Band anywhere you go.

With Rock Band's catalog of music hitting over 2000 songs this week, and soon to be a lot more added with the impending release of Rock Band 3 later this month, it's become difficult to remember just what's available in the game.  Perhaps you need to see if your favorite song has been added to the catalog but don't have access to the game, or you'd like an easy way to search for the song.  Luckily Harmonix has released just such a tool and we've got it embedded for you below.

Guitar Hero may have just released a new title, but there's only one game on the minds of discerning music game fans this fall: Rock Band 3.  As the anticipation for the new Rock Band increases, the platform itself has reached a major milestone: as of next week, 2000 songs will be available to play in game, whether via game disc, export, or DLC.  The 2000th song, "Are You Experienced?" is from a real guitar hero: Jimi Hendrix.  I can't think of a better track to have such an honor.  You can download this track and the rest of the Are You Experienced? album on October 12.

Bad news, everyone!   By bad news I mean that Harmonix has announced that the Rock Band 3 Keyboard bundle will not be available in the U.S., Canada, or Mexico, and by everyone I mean North American PlayStation 3 owners.  In an official statement  the developer says the PS3 SKU will "not be available...due to the agreement terms for the region."  Read on for the full statement.