Free Song Included in Update
Boston – January 25, 2017 – Today, Harmonix Music Systems, Inc. added Online Quickplay to Rock Band™ Rivals, an entirely new way for players to play their favorite songs with their friends, wherever they may be. With Online Quickplay, one of the Rock Band community’s most requested features, the promised feature set for Rock Band Rivals is now complete. The popular expansion has also added a dozen free songs, an all-new campaign mode and the weekly-challenge-based Rivals Mode to Rock Band 4 since it was released for $30 in October. Online Quickplay will be available to all owners of the Rock Band Rivals expansion on both Xbox One and PlayStation®4 via a free update.
Online Quickplay can be accessed via the new “Play Online” option on the Rock Band Rivals home screen. A counter has also been added to the home screen that shows how many friends are currently playing Rock Band 4.
Once players elect to play online they’ll be given the option of accepting an existing invitation or starting their own game session. From there, the player is taken to the Green Room, where the band selects instruments and gameplay options before continuing.
Once everyone’s selected an instrument and declared they’re ready to go, the band is taken to the song selection screen where each player gets to pick one song for a setlist. Only songs that every player owns are displayed in the music library, a feature new to online Rock Band play designed to speed up song selection.
Here is the Rock Band Rivals Quickplay Trailer:
Also coming this week to Rock Band Rivals owners is the free song S.O.M.P. What better way to celebrate the release of synchronous online multiplayer than with a brand new rock song recorded by Harmonix developers. And, since songs played in online quickplay count towards Rivals Mode challenges, you can expect to see it appear in a weekly challenge soon.
Gameplay Notes
The latest track coming to Rock Band Rivals owners for free is “S.O.M.P.” by Skratch ‘N Snyf. The tune tells a tale of a devious mastermind bent on controlling players through arcade machines – truly, a story that passes the test of time. Rock Band players will have a blast with this one; there’s plenty of shredding guitar solos throughout the tune, with a rippin’ solo towards the end which also takes place in double-time. Vocals feature a series of high notes and an incredibly long held note leading into the bridge of the song.
Last December, Oculus and Harmonix announced Rock Band VR, a completely new music simulation experience coming exclusively to the Oculus Rift.
Related: Rock Band Full DLC Lineup Revealed for January
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