Exporting confirmed for Rock Band 3

By Ellie Gibson Published 7 September, 2010

Plus: Pro Mode songs could cost more.

Harmonix has confirmed you will be able to export tracks from Rock Band 2 to Rock Band 3.

Speaking to RockBandAide.com, spokesperson John Drake said that will apply to all three versions of the game, including the Wii one.

"We're doing it for all three consoles," he said.

"We always have this issue where we have to re-licence every song from the disc, and we always have a couple of songs that get complicated. But we're doing our best to get every single song."

Drake went on to say that Harmonix expects the price of downloadable tracks for Rock Band 3 to remain the same. However, songs designed for Pro Mode will be more expensive as more development work is involved to produce them.

Rock Band 3 is out on 29th October and will feature tracks by Slipknot, Anthrax and Deep Purple. What no Liberty X?

Take a look at the latest HD trailer for Rock Band 3.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • hazelam #1 2 years ago

    you have to pay more money to use songs you already paid for?
    that'll be popular.

  • roquey Verified Lead Quality Assurance Tester and Compliance Specialist, Universally Speaking #2 2 years ago

    @Hazelam you had to pay to move your RB1 main disc songs to number 2 it was only like 300 MSP not all that much seeing as you got an extra 80 songs for RB2.

  • HisDudness #3 2 years ago

    Heh actually it was a really popular move for RB1 to RB2, considering its competition, Guitar Hero, makes you switch disks between countless iterations to get the song you want. DLC shouldn't be affected, and for a small one shot fee it's pretty great. I can just retire my RB2 disk, as I did RB1 before it.

    Interesting that the pro tracks are more expensive. Not sure how I feel about that.

  • andywilkie35 #4 2 years ago

    I hope they do it like Rock Band 1 rather than Lego Rock Band. On RB1 it imports each track as an individual file so you can delete the ones that you don't like, whilst with Lego Rock Band I wanted songs like Song 2 by Blur but then also got stuck with KT fucking Tunstall on Rock Band 2 as they were in one bulk file!

    My theory is I suffered through certain songs on RB2 to get it pretty much completed (only missed two achievements), so if there are certain songs I don't want to come up on a "random" setlist from that game, I should be able to choose.

    Either way, can't wait for RB3. Game of the Year for sure.

  • Ignatius_Cheese #5 2 years ago

    Gimme just a little bit more (cash)

  • bemaniac #6 2 years ago

    ive already imported rb1 into rb2. when i import rb2 into rb3 will i be keeping the rb1+rb2 tracks in rb3?

  • DDevil #7 2 years ago

    I would assume if you already have the RB1 songs exported on to your hard drive then RB3 will make use of them without any further fussing. Same with any DLC.

  • varsas #8 2 years ago

    Finally some confirmation! I hope it's really true for Wii!

  • Zomoniac #9 2 years ago

    Can they not just start getting longer licenses? Say license a song for every Rock Band game for a hardware generation or something?

  • Toothball #10 2 years ago

    @Zomoniac

    Presumably there are separate licenses needed for disc and DLC tracks. They probably don't want to add the extra cost to the disc version since there will be some people who play offline or don't want to export for some reason. I can't say I'd mind much, as I export Rock Band discs the first chance I get.

  • Markitron #11 2 years ago

    @Toothball

    I think your prolly spot on there. As I recall the only songs from RB1 that could not be exported were enter sandman, run to the hills and paranoid so its not SO bad. Hopefully the amount of missing songs from RB2 will be minimised.

  • varsas #12 2 years ago

    Hopefully it'll only be Metal tracks missing :D

  • terminalterror #13 2 years ago

    andywilkie35: I hope they do it like Rock Band 1 rather than Lego Rock Band. On RB1 it imports each track as an individual file so you can delete the ones that you don't like, whilst with Lego Rock Band I wanted songs like Song 2 by Blur but then also got stuck with KT fucking Tunstall on Rock Band 2 as they were in one bulk file!

    My theory is I suffered through certain songs on RB2 to get it pretty much completed (only missed two achievements), so if there are certain songs I don't want to come up on a "random" setlist from that game, I should be able to choose.


    Even if it does it as a bulk file, you'll be sorted because Rock Band 3 has proper track filtering and rating. You can rate the songs you don't want to come up on random playlists as 1 star, then they'll never show up. 2 stars and they'll very occasionally show up, 5 stars and they'll show up loads etc. Handy stuff!

  • L3linky #14 2 years ago

    Why are people still playing this...?! Think about all the hours that you've played it...you'd be a fairly adequate guitar player now....also you wouldn't have to re-buy your entire music collection so that you could "play" your favourite songs, pick up your guitar and rock on...just food for thought! And FYI I traded my GH stuff in after GH2 and bought a cheapy guitar and amp for £90....haven't looked back

  • Markitron #15 2 years ago

    @L3linky

    You need to get off your high horse. Its a party game, can all of your friends instantly pick up your real guitar and start playing songs? Its funny/sad when roger daltrey says that kind of thing, but a person who posts on a games website should know better.

  • sanctusmortis #16 2 years ago

    I've got a real electric guitar, and played all the Harmonix games on 360. One is a fun game for friends, one is playing music. Both have their place.

    I play Halo for fun, not to learn how to fight an alien invasion - why would I expect different from this?

  • kinky_mong #17 2 years ago

    If Harmonix couldn't sort the licence for Nine In The Afternoon and Living On A Prayer to be used in Rock Band 3 that wouldn't be the worst thing tbh.

  • Der_tolle_Emil #18 2 years ago

    Good news. I think it's fantastic how they are establishing Rock Band as a music platform rather than just a bunch of seperate games.

  • L3linky #19 2 years ago

    @Markitron

    Chap, don't get me wrong....I fully understand the party element/angle, I myself partake after a few jars. What I can't understand are the individuals that attempt to "100%" GH/RB. Some of those songs on expert just aren't fun...it's a chore, if there's no enjoyment what's the point in a video game. Ok you can 100% Freebird on expert...well done but to me there's more sense of an achievement to play it for real.

  • Markitron #20 2 years ago

    @L3linky

    I never mentioned anything about wanting to get a 100% a song on expert, and even if I did it would be because I wanted to accomplish something in a GAME. If I wanted to play a guitar I'd play a guitar, not a game. Apples and oranges man

  • L3linky #21 2 years ago

    @Markitron

    But you're playing a guitar based game...?! What was the motive for buying the game...probably it's USP (at the time) of giving gamers the chance to "play" a guitar.

  • frycrayola #22 2 years ago

    Your use of inverted commas answers your question, L3linky.

    Playing a guitar is hard. Extremely rewarding, but hard.

    "Playing" one is easy and fun. That's the motivation. "Playing". The same motivation that drives people to buy racing games instead of taking to the streets in their Focus. You can get a share of the end experience without the effort.

    As for why some people are still playing, it might just be as simple as the fact they find it fun.

  • Rack #23 2 years ago

    As was said before as a party game. No-one expects players of Singstar to be on X factor or Call of Duty to enlist.

  • Sonic_D #24 2 years ago

    I think more for PRO tracks is fair enough, but HMX please tell us how much the realstrat is gonna cost and when it will be available in the UK!

  • PlugMonkey #25 2 years ago

    "What was the motive for buying the game."

    I can't speak for anyone else, but my motive when buying the 1st GH game was that I LOVED Amplitude, not because it came with a toy guitar.

    There is something about rhythm action games that can get me 'in the zone' like nothing else. That moment where your eyes witness your hands pulling off a move that your brain is 100% certain it doesn't know how to do. It's an experience that is provided by very few other games, and one that I find doesn't really apply to learning and playing a real instrument.

    GH broke the mainstream because it took that gameplay and put it in a wrapper that everyone can understand (which is basically air guitar with a scoring mechanism).

    Then RB turned it into a social party game that anybody can play.

    As Markitron says, I might expect Roger Daltry to need that explaining to him, but I'd expect most gamers to be able to see and understand the difference between the two activities.

  • brommers #26 2 years ago

    'That moment where your eyes witness your hands pulling off a move that your brain is 100% certain it doesn't know how to do'.
    Now thats what these games are all about. I took up learning the guitar because of these games. Been studying on and off for about a year (life soaks up a lot of my time) and RB3's pro mode seems it will stregthen my skills.

    Can.Not.Wait.

    p.s 'HMX please tell us how much the realstrat is gonna cost and when it will be available in the UK!'
    THIS!!!
    Edited by brommers at 07/09/10 @ 14:10

  • Zastai #27 2 years ago

    Interesting.
    Back when RB2 came out they justified the (small) fee needed for the export (and the inability to export a few of the RB1 tracks) due to the tracks being licensed for the "Rock Band" game rather than for "the Rock Band Platform", forcing them to re-license them for RB2. They also said this would not be an issue from then on.

    And now RB3 comes out and they're not sure they can get all RB2 songs exportable due to licensing issues (and no word yet on whether it will be free)? Very odd indeed. Then again, if licensing issues prevent the export of Visions, I don't think too many people will mind :-D

  • darc #28 2 years ago

    "Importing confirmed for Rock Band 3" would have been a much more sensible headline, unless my dyslexia is acting up again.