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Rock Band Unplugged Officially Official This June

Harmonix goes on the record with Backbone-developed PSP Rock Band game.

Harmonix took the time today to officially announce Rock Band Unplugged, the PSP version of its popular music game franchise. Rather than having you bolt on weird peripherals, this version of Rock Band will be played using the standard PSP controls. Or, as the press release puts it, YOUR HANDS ARE THE PERIPHERALS.

Official details on the gameplay remain a bit scarce, but it's been said to play a lot like Frequency and Amplitude, the awesome music franchise that Harmonix developed for Sony before the world went mad for plastic guitars. Really, this trailer pretty much tells the tale:

  


There is a bit more detail on the song list, as well. While the game will feature over 40 songs, most of those songs will be material that has appeared in Rock Band on other platforms. Nine songs will be exclusive to the PSP, though these songs will eventually come to the Rock Band store on other platforms:

  • 3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
  • AFI - "Miss Murder"
  • Alice in Chains - "Would?"
  • Audioslave - "Gasoline"
  • Black Tide - "Show Me the Way"
  • Blink 182 - "What's My Age Again"
  • Freezepop - "Less Talk More Rokk"
  • Jackson 5 - "ABC"
  • Tenacious D - "Rock Your Socks"

Hey, great. 3 Doors Down. I love those guys. No, really. It's like my favorite parts of Creed and Nickelback fused into one thing.

The game will launch on June 9 as a standalone product and will feature a downloadable content store much like the other versions of Rock Band. Sony will also be releasing a bundle that gives you a PSP, a download voucher for the movie School of Rock, a 4GB Memory Stick, and a copy of Rock Band Unplugged. That pack will run $199.99.
Jeff Gerstmann on Google+

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jeff

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Edited By jeff
Harmonix took the time today to officially announce Rock Band Unplugged, the PSP version of its popular music game franchise. Rather than having you bolt on weird peripherals, this version of Rock Band will be played using the standard PSP controls. Or, as the press release puts it, YOUR HANDS ARE THE PERIPHERALS.

Official details on the gameplay remain a bit scarce, but it's been said to play a lot like Frequency and Amplitude, the awesome music franchise that Harmonix developed for Sony before the world went mad for plastic guitars. Really, this trailer pretty much tells the tale:

  


There is a bit more detail on the song list, as well. While the game will feature over 40 songs, most of those songs will be material that has appeared in Rock Band on other platforms. Nine songs will be exclusive to the PSP, though these songs will eventually come to the Rock Band store on other platforms:

  • 3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
  • AFI - "Miss Murder"
  • Alice in Chains - "Would?"
  • Audioslave - "Gasoline"
  • Black Tide - "Show Me the Way"
  • Blink 182 - "What's My Age Again"
  • Freezepop - "Less Talk More Rokk"
  • Jackson 5 - "ABC"
  • Tenacious D - "Rock Your Socks"

Hey, great. 3 Doors Down. I love those guys. No, really. It's like my favorite parts of Creed and Nickelback fused into one thing.

The game will launch on June 9 as a standalone product and will feature a downloadable content store much like the other versions of Rock Band. Sony will also be releasing a bundle that gives you a PSP, a download voucher for the movie School of Rock, a 4GB Memory Stick, and a copy of Rock Band Unplugged. That pack will run $199.99.
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Paradigmer

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Edited By Paradigmer

On the PSP? This still seems really weird to me. 

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Verdugo

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Edited By Verdugo

So it's Rock Band...without peripherals. Wonder how that will work.

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LiveOrDie1212

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Edited By LiveOrDie1212

awesome...too bad i don't have a PSP

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Artimisticus

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Edited By Artimisticus

Only on the PSP? That's a shame. I could really go for another Frequency type game, but I don't care to own a PSP

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MattyFTM

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Edited By MattyFTM  Moderator

Officially Official? Isn't that something people say when they're pretending to be official, but actually aren't? *Cough*MattBodega*Cough*?

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Buccura

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Edited By Buccura

Jackson 5 is sure an interesting choice to use in the trailer for a Rock Band game.

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Slunks

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Edited By Slunks

I understand that they're trying to reach a large audience, but I can't help to feel as if Harmonix is slowly selling out. There's no satisfaction of hitting notes (or how you hit them) as there is when playing a console version -- I'm assuming there's also no sense of band cooperation. So who is this game for? Really, just comes off as an interactive music player to me. There's no hook other than portability.

C'mon Harmonix, you're better than this.

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FlipperDesert

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Edited By FlipperDesert

Only song I even half-like on that list is Gasoline. =/

Still, wouldn't mind that PSP deal when this comes out.

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Berkie

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Edited By Berkie

I think it's cool! It looks like this may be a good year for the PSP.

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lordofultima

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Edited By lordofultima

Amplitude was sick, they need to drop this Rock Band crap and just make a new one of those.

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rjpelonia

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Edited By rjpelonia

Looks like it'll play similarly to DJ Max Portable. We'll see how this all turns out closer to its release.

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MetalGearSunny

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Edited By MetalGearSunny

Epic win. Jackson 5 and Tenacious D? Waiting til' this comes to RB2.

Edit- Oh yeah, Would. Amazing song.

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RHCPfan24

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Edited By RHCPfan24

Well, "Would?" is great but since it is coming as DLC soon, I'll just wait for it there. It looks pretty and stylish, but, seriously, I wanna play Rock Band with the real controllers. That's the whole experience!

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Scorched

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Edited By Scorched

 remember the last plastic guitar game on a portable gaming device . . .

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Gregomasta

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Edited By Gregomasta

Jackson 5, nice stuff, that'll totally get the ladies dancing a bit more at the rock band partys.

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Doogie2K

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Edited By Doogie2K
remember the last plastic guitar game on a portable gaming device . . .

Except this is really nothing like that.  There's no peripheral meaning that, as Jeff pointed out in the story, it's basically Frequency or Amplitude with a Rock Band skin.  And that's perfectly okay with me.
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PLWolf

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Edited By PLWolf

Looks Awesome and I can't wait to play it.

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Oni

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Edited By Oni

Hey screw you Jeff, Kryptonite is great, okay? Well the fact that I really liked that song during an impressionable time of my life probably helped, but I'd still love that song in proper Rock Band, so here's hoping.

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Kyle

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Edited By Kyle

Hell. Yes.

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Ziaxool

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Edited By Ziaxool

So, Guitar Hero have Metallica and Rock Band's got... Pop music on the PSP. Awesome.

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WreckinRodRumbler

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Oh boy, this looks really neat. Can't go wrong when you combine Rock Band and Amplitude!

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stephengotlost

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Edited By stephengotlost

Jeff is in a band (Midnight Brown) with Chris Henderson from 3 Doors Down.

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Edited By Kowalski

Freezepop - "Less Talk More Rokk" - pwned GH2!

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Media_Master

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Edited By Media_Master

$200 no way