Rock Band returns for an encore @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on June 30, 2008

News: Harmonix announces Rock Band 2.

With Guitar Hero: World Tour gearing up for a Fall release, it looked like Harmonix and EA were going to be content with just adding downloadable content to the original Rock Band. But it looks like that is no longer the case as Rock Band 2 has officially been announced. It will be coming to the Xbox 360 first, in September, with the PlayStation 3 version launching "sometime later in 2008."

Harmonix is still being secretive about the sequel, confirming that the instruments from Rock Band will work in Rock Band 2, but a new set of instruments will be released with "upgraded" features.

As for that downloadable content, Harmonix has done something no other company has done before and worked with Microsoft and Sony to ensure every downloaded song from Rock Band will work with Rock Band 2. They've even taken it a step further and revealed that every downloadable song that will be released after Rock Band 2 will also work with the original Rock Band.

Finally, IGN spoke with a Harmonix representative who said that Rock Band 2 would appear on "all relevant platforms" in 2008, so while Rock Band just shipped for the Wii, I'd say a Wii version of Rock Band 2 is looking likely.