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Green Day: Rock Band
Developer(s)	Harmonix
Publisher(s)	MTV Games
Distributor(s)	EA Distribution
Series	Rock Band
Platform(s)	Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii
Release date(s)	TBA 2010
Genre(s)	Rhythm game
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer
Media	Blu-ray Disc, DVD, Wii Optical Disc
Input methods	Guitar controller, drum controller, USB microphone, gamepad

Green Day: Rock Band is an upcoming music video game being developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the fourth major console release in the Rock Band music video game series and, like other games in the series, it allows players to simulate the playing of rock music by using controllers shaped like musical instruments.

The game's soundtrack consists of songs by popular punk rock group Green Day. Green Day: Rock Band will feature virtual depictions of the three band members performing the songs in new venues designed for the game. The game will incorporate existing Green Day songs already released for the Rock Band series as downloadable content, and will allow players to export its full tracklist to the other Rock Band game titles except The Beatles: Rock Band.

Gameplay

Green Day: Rock Band allows players to perform simulated rock music by providing up to four players with the ability to play three different controllers modeled after music instruments (a guitar controller for lead guitar and bass guitar gameplay, a drum controller and a microphone for vocals). Players simulate the performance of rock music by using their controllers to play scrolling on-screen notes. For lead and bass guitar, this is accomplished by holding down colored buttons mimicking guitar frets and pushing the controller's strum bar; for drums, this requires striking the matching colored drumhead, or stepping on the pedal to simulate playing bass drum notes. When singing vocals, the player must sing in relative pitch to the original vocals. A pitch indicator displays the singer's accuracy relative to the original pitch.

As in previous Rock Band games, successfully hitting the proper notes in sequence earns points for each player and boosts their "performance meter". If a player fails to match the notes, their performance meter drops. If the meter empties, that player is forced to drop out of play, which in turn causes the band's overall performance to drop. Any player to drop out can be "saved" if another player activates "Overdrive", which is collected by successfully completing specially-marked phrases. Overdrive can also be used to temporarily increase the amount of points the band earns. Activating Overdrive is specific to each "instrument". For guitar, the controller must be temporarily shifted to an upright position; for drums, a specific drumhead must be hit when prompted; and for vocals, a noise must be registered by the microphone when prompted.

Immediately before playing a song, players must choose their difficulty level (ranging from "Easy" to "Expert"). A "No Fail" mode has been carried over from Rock Band 2 and is accessible from the difficulty selection screen rather than from the game's main menu. This mode allows players to complete songs regardless of their performance. In addition, No Fail mode is automatically enabled for any player who chooses the "Easy" difficulty. Players are also able to identify their handedness for guitar, bass, or drums before the start of a song or via the game's "pause" menu.

Instrument peripherals

All currently available Rock Band peripherals will be compatible with their respective console version of Green Day: Rock Band. Similarly, peripherals designed for Green Day: Rock Band will be backward compatible with other Rock Band titles. Some controllers designed for Guitar Hero games will also work with Green Day: Rock Band.^[1] While The Beatles: Rock Band received unique instruments bundled with the release, it is unclear if Green Day: Rock Band will receive instruments modeled after the band's real-life instruments.

Development

Prior to mid-2009, only some music from Warner Music Group (which includes Green Day's label, Reprise Records) had yet to be included in games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band, with the gaming industry believing that the music publisher was boycotting the music game genre over how little money they saw from the sales of the game; however, both Warner Music Group and MTV Games stated that the lack of songs from the publisher was due to current negotiations over new licensing costs. The two companies had reached a deal by June 2009, when a downloadable pack of Green Day songs was made available to the Rock Band series, heralded by both companies.^[2][3][4][5]

Simultaneously, with the release of the song pack, speculation arose about more band-specific Rock Band titles to accompany The Beatles: Rock Band, Green Day was mentioned among them most often. Though this was denied, MTV and Harmonix, the team who works on all Rock Band titles, did state that they were working with a few artists and announcements would be made soon. ^[6] This was followed by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong leaking that the band was working on a Rock Band project, but details were scarce. This was originally thought to be a track pack disc similar to the AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack or another pack of downloadable songs.^{[7 ]}. The game was formally unveiled on December 12, 2009 at the Spike TV Video Game Awards 2009, Green Day announced the game via a video and showed the first trailer. The trailer showed off all three band members playing the song "American Idiot" at the National Bowl in Milton Keynes from their live CD/DVD release titled Bullet in a Bible. ^[8] A subsequent press release by MTV Games confirmed that the game would arrive on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii with the entire setlist being exportable, meaning it can be played in both Rock Band and Rock Band 2. A 2010 release date was also stated.^{[7 ]} In addition, previous downloadable songs released for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 will be included in the game.^{[9 ]}

Soundtrack

While no tracks have been formally announced, the track "American Idiot" was seen being played during the games' announcement trailer. In addition, previous downloadable songs from Rock Band and Rock Band 2 were confirmed to be usable in the game.^{[9 ]} All songs from the game will be exportable to the other titles in the Rock Band series, with the exception of The Beatles: Rock Band.