A few weeks back, we got a press release from EA’s PR company. It was tucked within an attachment titled “Rock Band Verizon iPhone Fact Sheet_V3.docx”. As if seeing “iPhone” behind “Verizon” wasn’t strange enough, the rest of the press release made absolutely no reference to an iPhone release. The folks we talked to denied that an iPhone port existed, and we chalked it up as a really, really strange typo.
Looks like it was more of a Freudian slip.
While wandering the halls of CTIA convention in San Diego today, we spotted a small kiosk dedicated to Rock Band Mobile. Sure enough, no iPhones in sight – just a couple of Verizon handsets. Above the kiosk, however, was an LCD screen endlessly looping through a demo reel of EA Mobile’s portfolio – and therein lied the gold. Right at the end of the reel, it pops up clear as day: Rock Band for iPhone and iPod Touch.
The screen only pops up for about half a second (we actually had to watch the reel loop through three times to get a good shot of it), so we didn’t see much in person that you aren’t in a photo. They’re obviously rolling with the same kinda-grungy, kinda-cartoony look and feel as they have on all of the other platforms. You can see just a smidgen of the game mechanics on the right; the notes flow down the fretboard in the same manner as all of the other games, with 4 guitar pick shaped buttons that I presume are pressed to trigger a note.
The first issue that pops into our head, here: Where does this leave Tapulous, with their Tap Tap Revenge series? Tap Tap Revenge already has a massive following on the platform, but it’s very similar to Rock Band. They’ve just launched Tap Tap Revenge 3, which banks heavily on premium content through In-App Purchase. After the success of the console series, the Rock Band name would likely carry a bit more weight with content/license owners than that of Tapulous/Tap Tap Revenge; are we about to see a content war, or will the two games roll together harmoniously?
Update: Immediately after we posted this, someone filled us in on some of the details: Yes, it’ll have premium content. It’ll also have 4-player multiplayer through Bluetooth.
Update #2: They’ve officially announced it now.
Awesome!!
“and therein lied the gold”
and therein lay the gold…
Nice work Dady. I’d pay for that.
Awesome, now I have something to do when Twitter goes down. Which seems to be happening a lot lately.
ive had it on my wm phone for a while.
did you write an article about that?
Poor iphone owners. They’re always behind the rest of us with our real phones.
Everytime they get a new feature it’s 6 months to a year behind the rest of the mobile world.
Let them get excited about all the little things they get drip fed. Maybe one day they’ll even get flash.
This post is another reason why http://iphonessuck.com
I need this in my life and commuters need the early morning performances on the train journeys into London! This should get the early shift prepped for a hard days work in the office…
Am I the only one also wondering if this may mean that Verizon will be offering the iphone in the near future?
Nah, EA Mobile wouldn’t know that months (or however long) in advance – especially not the flacks. Apple just doesn’t share that stuff with their software partners.
More likely, some PR rep was blasting out the email and meant to type “Verizon enV” and just slipped.
I have no problem with the entertainment possibilities of the peripheral-heavy Rock Band franchise for console gaming. But when Guitar Hero came out for the DS, I shook my head, as I am doing now. The motions you’re going through in Rock Band and Guitar Hero are rudimentary, but it’s SOMETHING. Now we’ll have a poor re-enactment of a simplistic re-enactment of real-life musical expression. How far removed do people want to get?
I agree. I don’t see how this can be fun. I LOVE Rock Band but it’s really made to play with dorky plastic instruments. I don’t see how any of the same feeling can be ‘ported’ to the iPhone or any other phone for that matter. Indeed, Guitar Hero for DS sucked, bad. This is probably gonna suck even more.
I think that this is great ! – The sites like jamlegend bring rock band and the franchises to a new level — if this is brought to the mobile market, the results will be impressive and fun. Rock band is FUN – and on expert, it makes the guitar seem rudimentary in comparison to some songs.
I disagree with copying music and the rest but rock band makes you feel good when you play — Don’t mess with RB
i really like rock bands…m waiting for that to come on iphone
nice post….iphone apps are really hot
Even though I love Tap Tap Revenge, the newest one kind of sucks. I loved the older Tap Tap games because of the FREE music you can download. This new thing with them asking us to buy music to play them, I am not a fan of. I mean, I understand why they did this but still, I love the FREE Tap Tap Revenge, such as Tap Tap Revenge 2.
Anyway, Rock Band for the iPhone sounds like an AWESOME idea. Looking forward to it.
Greg, used your pic here. http://mobil.feber.se/166482/
Please let me know if it’s not ok and I will remove it! :)
iPhone are so cool. I want one!!!
For the moment I play Guitar Rock Tour 2 Free and it’s freaking awesome, I bet it’s even better then Rock Band iPhone. I’ll get the full version tonight. Awww…music. Why are you doing this to me..