Green Day: Rock Band
Encyclopedia
Green Day: Rock Band is a music video game
developed by Harmonix Music Systems
, published by MTV Games
and distributed by Electronic Arts
. It is the fifth 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 setlist consists of songs by the American punk rock
band Green Day
. Green Day: Rock Band features virtual depictions of the three band members performing the songs in new venues designed for the game. The game incorporates existing Green Day songs already released for the Rock Band series as downloadable content
, and allows players to export its full tracklist to the other Rock Band game titles except The Beatles: Rock Band
.
A free playable demo for the game was made available on May 25, 2010 for the Xbox Live Marketplace
and on May 27, 2010 for the PlayStation Network. The demo features full, playable versions of two songs from the game, "Welcome to Paradise
" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams
".
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 fret
s 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. The game will support harmonies as introduced in The Beatles: Rock Band
, allowing multiple singers to perform the vocal portion. Harmonies will be added to the six songs already available as downloadable content for the game when played in Green Day: Rock Band.
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, temporarily silencing that instrument and causing 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, and for guitar and bass players, using the controller's whammy bar to alter the pitch of marked sustained notes. 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 at the end of a drum fill when prompted; and for vocals, a noise must be registered by the microphone when prompted. The game does not feature any "Big Rock Endings", which allowed players to improvise at the end of a song for additional scoring as in the other Rock Band games, nor will including any clapping or tambourine sections for the vocalist player, due to lack of places in Green Day's songs to include these features.
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 or during a song via the game's "pause" menu. Upon completing a song, the players are given a star rating, from 1 to 5 stars, or 5 gold stars for very high scores if all band members are playing on Expert.
Green Day: Rock Band features a Career mode similar to The Beatles: Rock Band, however, it allows the player to immediately select any of the available songs and records to play from the start instead of stepping through specific sets. The Career mode has a "meta-game" through various challenges that subsequently unlock additional rewards (photographs or videos contained on disc), such as by completing every song in a specific set with a 4-star rating or better. In addition, some challenges require the players' band to earn enough "cred" to unlock them; these additional challenges three or four song challenges built around certain themes. A Quickplay mode allows players to select one of more of the songs available to the game to play outside of Career Mode.
A drum trainer mode will be available to help players become accustomed to the instrument controller. The trainer will include a set of stock rhythms that are generic for most songs, and a set of "Tre's Greatest Hits" with drum patterns and solos taken from Tre Cool's performances, including one "ferocious" solo that runs across two different lessons.
(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.
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. 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. Drummer Tré Cool
later confirmed that the band was approached by Harmonix during the development of The Beatles: Rock Band for the band-specific game, while Armstrong stated they first experienced a Rock Band game, specifically The Beatles: Rock Band, at a cast party for the American Idiot musical performance in Berkeley, California. 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. 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. In addition, previous downloadable songs released for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 will be included in the game.
Paul DeGooyer, senior Vice President of MTV Games, stated that Green Day was selected as the next band to focus on due to input from fans of the game. DeGooyer also claims that Green Day's music lends itself well to the format, as the music is both "fun to play" and also covers a range of genres from the band's early days in punk rock to their modern, alternative-based works. MTV Games' president Scott Guthrie believes Green Day has a larger awareness for their target market (16 to 34-year old males) than The Beatles, and expects Green Day: Rock Band would see better sales as a result. Harmonix's Chris Foster noted that the opportunity for making a Green Day-specific game was a matter of happenstance; at the same time they had completed The Beatles: Rock Band and were considering another band-centric game, the licensing deal with Warner Bros. Records presented the opportunity to include a large amount of Green Day's work into the Rock Band series. The Harmonix team felt it best to provide this as a stand-alone game as opposed to large DLC packs. The full game would also allow the developers to capture the "energy" of the band's members, Billie Joe Armstrong
, Mike Dirnt
, and Tré Cool
, as they perform their songs. Armstrong noted that Green Day was approached "a long time ago by people who will remain anonymous" near the time of release of American Idiot, prior to the popularity of rhythm games, but declined, believing it "it didn’t feel right" due to the "cutthroat" nature of the video game industry at that point.
, Dookie
(except for hidden track "All By Myself"), and 21st Century Breakdown
being playable. The inclusion of the full album of American Idiot was the centerpiece of the game's development, according to Harmonix' Chris Foster, due in part to the nature of the album which is meant to be listened as a whole, as well as the album's success and forthcoming Broadway musical
. This led the team to also including 21st Century Breakdown
, an album similar to American Idiot that is meant to be heard as one complete work; as Harmonix had already released six songs from the album as downloadable content, they did not want to make those that had purchased the songs have to pay for them again in the full game, and instead designed the game to immediately incorporate those songs into the game if the player had already purchased them. Once these two albums were selected, Harmonix' CEO Alex Rigopulos determined that they needed to include the full Dookie
album, the major label debut of the band and one of the most requested albums by Rock Band fans, in order to complete the experience. Though Harmonix had considered including material from the earliest Green Day albums, 39/Smooth
and Kerplunk, but master multi-track recordings required by the Rock Band game engine to provide proper feedback when playing were not readily available,. According to Cool, while the master tapes for Kerplunk exist, they are in poor shape and the process to digitize them would destroy the tape; as such, Cool stated "We’re making sure we have the right dudes to do it" as potential future downloadable content for the game. Harmonix opted against using live versions of songs on these albums, feeling that the game needed to stay with the studio versions of the songs. Once Harmonix had selected to focus on the three albums, they decided against including any additional non-Green Day songs, instead focusing on rounding out the group's history to present a complete Green Day experience.
Green Day: Rock Band features songs with up to three parts of harmony, featuring the same functionality as The Beatles: Rock Band. Harmonix noted that many of Green Day's songs are actually two part harmonies traded off with other lines, such as in "Rock and Roll Girlfriend"; only one song in the game, "Homecoming", features a three-part harmony. They authored the vocals on most of the songs to have the third vocalist (if present) singing the trade-off lines alongside the two-part harmony singers. There is very little censoring of the lyrics; according to the project lead Chris Foster, only about four to five words across the entire game are muted. Harmonix considered their standards for inclusion of songs to be similar to downloadable content, allowing for mature references to drugs and sex. Harmonix left intact certain pairings of songs that "blended" together due to how they were released on media, such as "Brain Stew/Jaded
" and some songs on the American Idiot album. They opted to leave the pairing of "Chump" and "Longview
" as separate songs due to how "Longview" was eventually released as its own single.
where Green Day played before they were signed as a major label; as Green Day was signed by a major label by the time they recorded Dookie, Harmonix opted not to make the venue exactly based on 924 Gilman Street for historical accuracy. The National Bowl
in Milton Keynes
, England is used for American Idiot and other albums, having been the site where the 2005 Bullet in a Bible
CD/DVD was recorded and where the band performed their first stadium show. The Fox Theatre
in Oakland, California is used for songs from 21st Century Breakdown, replicating the debut 21st Century Breakdown 2009 performance by the band there, being the second show in the restored theater. Harmonix considered several other real-life venues based on past Green Day performances. Woodstock '94
was one possibility, but the development team found it difficult to create the daytime setting. The Hatch Shell
in Boston was also considered, but the team felt that the venue has only regional awareness and was also marred by the riot that occurred after the Green Day concert there in 1994. They also considered using Madison Square Garden
but determined that ultimately, it was not as interesting as the other venues. The band, in their original meetings with Harmonix' Foster, wanted to make sure the game captured the "excitement of their live concerts" and the accuracy of the venues they played at; Cool noted that the game "skips a lot" of the band's history, but provided enough input on the band's history to "personalize [the game] and put our stamp on it".
The band members were modeled using motion capturing performed by actors hired by Harmonix, incorporating video and concert footage to create avatars for each member unique to each venues. The band's support team helped to take photographs of the band member's tattoos, and identified when they were received so that the Harmonix artists could incorporate them properly into the avatars. All the songs, including the six songs previously released as downloadable content, feature unique animations tied to each song. This was a different approach than as taken for The Beatles: Rock Band, where they created snippets of framing and animation which could be easily repackaged for other songs, including future downloadable content. Because of the integrated nature of the songs and animations, there will be no further downloadable content available for the game. The game includes, as reward items, over 100 photographs and 40 minutes of video footage pulled from Warner Bros. Records' archive of the band. The video content has been pared down from over 20 hours of raw footage from concerts and studio records. Some of the live video footage will be used as part of the 21st Century Breakdown venue backdrops. Many of these rewards are specific to individual songs, such as photos taken during concert performances of the song, and thus given as rewards for completing these songs.
Harmonix has partnered with Demiurge Studios
to help develop the game; Demiurge had previously helped Harmonix bring the Rock Band Track Packs to retail. Furthermore, Harmonix is working with design studio MK12
, who previously created the interstitial movies in The Beatles: Rock Band, and other studios to bring Green Day and their band's history into the game. The opening cinematic created by MK12 is done in a similar style to what they made for The Beatles: Rock Band, spanning Green Day's career over a brief period of time.
and American Idiot
, and twelve out of eighteen tracks from 21st Century Breakdown
(with the remaining six tracks available in the "Plus" edition of the game, or via pre-existing DLC). For Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners, every song in the game can be exported for use within Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3 for a $
10 fee, or included in the cost of the "Plus" edition of the game or for pre-ordering the game at select vendors. Wii users can only export the songs into Rock Band 3.
could not think of any easy way to identify the game from other Rock Band titles; "People kept asking me how the game was and all I could think to say was 'It's Green Day: Rock Band.'" Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
called the game "paint by number
s rocking", commenting that the feature set is essentially the same as The Beatles. Patrick Klepek of G4TV stated the game was "not as ambitious as The Beatles" but still came to help him appreciate the band more.
While the two games have similar content, some reviews felt that Green Day was a weaker title due to the limited number of venues compared with the Dreamscapes used in The Beatles, among other aspects. Johnny Minkley of EuroGamer
felt the additional content unlocked by playing through songs was "supplied in a way that feels separate rather than woven in to enrich understanding and appreciation" of the band, and considered the game a "backward step" from The Beatles. 1UP.com
's Justin Haywald considered the title less of a tribute to the band and more of a video game due to the need to repeatedly play content over and over again to unlock all of the included band's photos and videos. Critics felt that Harmonix were successful at capturing the sense of being at a live performance of Green Day through the detailed venues, animations of the band members, and banter and antics with the virtual crowds.
From a musical perspective of reviewers, the limited range of Green Day compared to the Beatles creates a mundane experience compared to the previous game, diminishing the interest level for those not familiar with Green Day's music. Many stated that one's personal enjoyment of the game would strictly depend on their preference for Green Day. While the inclusion of full albums was well received, some reviewers wished for more songs to be included in the game, particularly from their mid-career albums. Minkley considered that by skipping over these albums, "the experience is robbed of any real insight into Green Day's evolution" between Dookie and American Idiot. However, despite the song selections, reviewers found Green Day's songs to be better suited to Rock Band than The Beatles', in part to how enjoyable it was to play all the songs regardless of the instrument used, and without having to chart atypical instruments, such as piano or cello, to the instrument parts. Reviewers found the guitar portions to be challenging but not impossible due to the endurance of the chord-heavy part. DeVries found the vocal harmonies mechanics to be better suited to Green Day, as with the lyrical trade-offs in many of the songs, "it's less about trying to sing at a slightly higher pitch and more about just having fun". Critics also commented the use of censored radio edits to maintain the game's Teen rating, and felt this weakened the music included in the game. The ability to export the game's songs to other Rock Band was well-received. However, Lou Kesten of the Associated Press
noted that the added cost to export the game, as well as the cost of the additional six tracks available as downloadable content, made it feel that "MTV is nickel-and-diming its loyal audience".
Sales of Green Day: Rock Band within the month of June 2010 was considered "paltry" by industry analysis Doug Creutz, with only 82,000 units sold in North America.
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
developed by Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems
Harmonix Music Systems is an American video game development company based in Cambridge, Massachusetts in the United States...
, published by MTV Games
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
and distributed by Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
. It is the fifth major console
Video game console
A video game console is an interactive entertainment computer or customized computer system that produces a video display signal which can be used with a display device to display a video game...
release in the Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
music video game series and, like other games in the series, it allows players to simulate the playing of rock music
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
by using controllers shaped like musical instruments.
The game's setlist consists of songs by the American punk rock
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
band Green Day
Green Day
Green Day is an American punk rock band formed in 1987. The band consists of lead vocalist and guitarist Billie Joe Armstrong, bassist and backing vocalist Mike Dirnt, and drummer Tre Cool...
. Green Day: Rock Band features virtual depictions of the three band members performing the songs in new venues designed for the game. The game incorporates existing Green Day songs already released for the Rock Band series as downloadable content
Downloadable content
Downloadable content is official additional content for a video game distributed through the Internet. Downloadable content can be of several types, ranging from a single in-game outfit to an entirely new, extensive storyline, similarly to an expansion pack. As such, DLC may add new game modes,...
, and allows players to export its full tracklist to the other Rock Band game titles except The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
.
A free playable demo for the game was made available on May 25, 2010 for the Xbox Live Marketplace
Xbox Live Marketplace
The Xbox Live Marketplace is a virtual market designed for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console that allows Xbox Live members to download purchased or promotional content...
and on May 27, 2010 for the PlayStation Network. The demo features full, playable versions of two songs from the game, "Welcome to Paradise
Welcome to Paradise
"Welcome to Paradise" is a song by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from its third studio album and its major label debut, Dookie. The original version of the song was released on the band's second studio album, Kerplunk and was re-recorded for Dookie in...
" and "Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Boulevard of Broken Dreams (Green Day song)
"Boulevard of Broken Dreams" is a song by American punk rock band Green Day. It was released as the second single from their seventh album, American Idiot. The song was written by Green Day, with lyrics by lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong...
".
Gameplay
Green Day: Rock Band allows players to perform simulated rock musicRock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
by providing up to four players with the ability to play three different controllers modeled after music instruments (a guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
controller for lead guitar
Lead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
and bass guitar
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
gameplay, a drum
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
controller and a microphone
Microphone
A microphone is an acoustic-to-electric transducer or sensor that converts sound into an electrical signal. In 1877, Emile Berliner invented the first microphone used as a telephone voice transmitter...
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 fret
Fret
A fret is a raised portion on the neck of a stringed instrument, that extends generally across the full width of the neck. On most modern western instruments, frets are metal strips inserted into the fingerboard...
s 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
Relative pitch
The term relative pitch may denote:* the distance of a musical note from a set point of reference, e.g. "three octaves above middle C"* a musician's ability to identify the intervals between given tones, regardless of their relation to concert pitch * the skill used by singers to correctly sing a...
to the original vocals. A pitch indicator displays the singer's accuracy relative to the original pitch. The game will support harmonies as introduced in The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
, allowing multiple singers to perform the vocal portion. Harmonies will be added to the six songs already available as downloadable content for the game when played in Green Day: Rock Band.
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, temporarily silencing that instrument and causing 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, and for guitar and bass players, using the controller's whammy bar to alter the pitch of marked sustained notes. 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 at the end of a drum fill when prompted; and for vocals, a noise must be registered by the microphone when prompted. The game does not feature any "Big Rock Endings", which allowed players to improvise at the end of a song for additional scoring as in the other Rock Band games, nor will including any clapping or tambourine sections for the vocalist player, due to lack of places in Green Day's songs to include these features.
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
Handedness
Handedness is a human attribute defined by unequal distribution of fine motor skills between the left and right hands. An individual who is more dexterous with the right hand is called right-handed and one who is more skilled with the left is said to be left-handed...
for guitar, bass, or drums before the start of or during a song via the game's "pause" menu. Upon completing a song, the players are given a star rating, from 1 to 5 stars, or 5 gold stars for very high scores if all band members are playing on Expert.
Green Day: Rock Band features a Career mode similar to The Beatles: Rock Band, however, it allows the player to immediately select any of the available songs and records to play from the start instead of stepping through specific sets. The Career mode has a "meta-game" through various challenges that subsequently unlock additional rewards (photographs or videos contained on disc), such as by completing every song in a specific set with a 4-star rating or better. In addition, some challenges require the players' band to earn enough "cred" to unlock them; these additional challenges three or four song challenges built around certain themes. A Quickplay mode allows players to select one of more of the songs available to the game to play outside of Career Mode.
A drum trainer mode will be available to help players become accustomed to the instrument controller. The trainer will include a set of stock rhythms that are generic for most songs, and a set of "Tre's Greatest Hits" with drum patterns and solos taken from Tre Cool's performances, including one "ferocious" solo that runs across two different lessons.
Instrument peripherals
All currently available Rock Band peripherals are compatible with their respective console version of Green Day: Rock Band. Some controllers designed for Guitar Hero games will also work with Green Day: Rock Band. While The Beatles: Rock Band received unique instruments bundled with the release, Green Day: Rock Band is a software only release and will not be bundled with instruments of its own.Development
Prior to mid-2009, only some music from Warner Music GroupWarner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
(which includes Green Day's label, Reprise Records
Reprise Records
Reprise Records is an American record label, founded in 1960 by Frank Sinatra. It is owned by Warner Music Group, and operated through Warner Bros. Records.-Beginnings:...
) had yet to be included in games like Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
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.
Simultaneously, with the release of the song pack, speculation arose about more band-specific Rock Band titles to accompany The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band
The Beatles: Rock Band is a 2009 music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games, and distributed by Electronic Arts. It is the third major console release in the Rock Band music video game series, in which players can simulate the playing of rock music by using...
, 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. This was followed by Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
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. Drummer Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
later confirmed that the band was approached by Harmonix during the development of The Beatles: Rock Band for the band-specific game, while Armstrong stated they first experienced a Rock Band game, specifically The Beatles: Rock Band, at a cast party for the American Idiot musical performance in Berkeley, California. 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. A subsequent press release by MTV Games confirmed that the game would arrive on the Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, and Wii
Wii
The Wii is a home video game console released by Nintendo on November 19, 2006. As a seventh-generation console, the Wii primarily competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Sony's PlayStation 3. Nintendo states that its console targets a broader demographic than that of the two others...
with the entire setlist being exportable, meaning it can be played in both Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
and Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2
Rock Band 2 is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems. It is the sequel to Rock Band and is the second title in the series. The game allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments...
. A 2010 release date was also stated. In addition, previous downloadable songs released for Rock Band and Rock Band 2 will be included in the game.
Paul DeGooyer, senior Vice President of MTV Games, stated that Green Day was selected as the next band to focus on due to input from fans of the game. DeGooyer also claims that Green Day's music lends itself well to the format, as the music is both "fun to play" and also covers a range of genres from the band's early days in punk rock to their modern, alternative-based works. MTV Games' president Scott Guthrie believes Green Day has a larger awareness for their target market (16 to 34-year old males) than The Beatles, and expects Green Day: Rock Band would see better sales as a result. Harmonix's Chris Foster noted that the opportunity for making a Green Day-specific game was a matter of happenstance; at the same time they had completed The Beatles: Rock Band and were considering another band-centric game, the licensing deal with Warner Bros. Records presented the opportunity to include a large amount of Green Day's work into the Rock Band series. The Harmonix team felt it best to provide this as a stand-alone game as opposed to large DLC packs. The full game would also allow the developers to capture the "energy" of the band's members, Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong
Billie Joe Armstrong is an American rock musician and occasional actor, best known as the lead vocalist, main songwriter and lead guitarist for the American punk rock band Green Day...
, Mike Dirnt
Mike Dirnt
Michael Ryan Pritchard is an American musician, best known as the bassist, backing vocalist and co-founder of the American Rock band Green Day. While at school, he would play "air-bass." While pretending to pluck the strings, he made the noise, "dirnt, dirnt, dirnt"...
, and Tré Cool
Tre Cool
Frank Edwin Wright III, a.k.a. Tré Cool, is an American drummer, best known as the drummer for the punk rock band Green Day. He replaced the group's former drummer John Kiffmeyer in 1990...
, as they perform their songs. Armstrong noted that Green Day was approached "a long time ago by people who will remain anonymous" near the time of release of American Idiot, prior to the popularity of rhythm games, but declined, believing it "it didn’t feel right" due to the "cutthroat" nature of the video game industry at that point.
Music selection
The game is the first Harmonix game to feature a full album in the game as shipped, with the entirety of American IdiotAmerican Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
, Dookie
Dookie
Dookie is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on February 1, 1994 through Reprise Records. It was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo and its major record label debut. Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number...
(except for hidden track "All By Myself"), and 21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
being playable. The inclusion of the full album of American Idiot was the centerpiece of the game's development, according to Harmonix' Chris Foster, due in part to the nature of the album which is meant to be listened as a whole, as well as the album's success and forthcoming Broadway musical
American Idiot (musical)
American Idiot is a one-act, through-sung stage musical. The show is an adaptation of punk rock band Green Day's concept album of the same name. Additional Green Day songs were interpolated from other sources, including 21st Century Breakdown, American Idiot b-sides, and an unreleased song called...
. This led the team to also including 21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
, an album similar to American Idiot that is meant to be heard as one complete work; as Harmonix had already released six songs from the album as downloadable content, they did not want to make those that had purchased the songs have to pay for them again in the full game, and instead designed the game to immediately incorporate those songs into the game if the player had already purchased them. Once these two albums were selected, Harmonix' CEO Alex Rigopulos determined that they needed to include the full Dookie
Dookie
Dookie is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on February 1, 1994 through Reprise Records. It was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo and its major record label debut. Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number...
album, the major label debut of the band and one of the most requested albums by Rock Band fans, in order to complete the experience. Though Harmonix had considered including material from the earliest Green Day albums, 39/Smooth
39/Smooth
-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, guitar* Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals* John Kiffmeyer – drums, percussion, backing vocals* Andy Ernst – producer, engineer...
and Kerplunk, but master multi-track recordings required by the Rock Band game engine to provide proper feedback when playing were not readily available,. According to Cool, while the master tapes for Kerplunk exist, they are in poor shape and the process to digitize them would destroy the tape; as such, Cool stated "We’re making sure we have the right dudes to do it" as potential future downloadable content for the game. Harmonix opted against using live versions of songs on these albums, feeling that the game needed to stay with the studio versions of the songs. Once Harmonix had selected to focus on the three albums, they decided against including any additional non-Green Day songs, instead focusing on rounding out the group's history to present a complete Green Day experience.
Green Day: Rock Band features songs with up to three parts of harmony, featuring the same functionality as The Beatles: Rock Band. Harmonix noted that many of Green Day's songs are actually two part harmonies traded off with other lines, such as in "Rock and Roll Girlfriend"; only one song in the game, "Homecoming", features a three-part harmony. They authored the vocals on most of the songs to have the third vocalist (if present) singing the trade-off lines alongside the two-part harmony singers. There is very little censoring of the lyrics; according to the project lead Chris Foster, only about four to five words across the entire game are muted. Harmonix considered their standards for inclusion of songs to be similar to downloadable content, allowing for mature references to drugs and sex. Harmonix left intact certain pairings of songs that "blended" together due to how they were released on media, such as "Brain Stew/Jaded
Brain Stew/Jaded
Vinyl Box Set-Other versions:"Brain Stew"* A live version featured on Bowling Bowling Bowling Parking Parking. * Another live version on Bullet in a Bible....
" and some songs on the American Idiot album. They opted to leave the pairing of "Chump" and "Longview
Longview (song)
"Longview" is a song and the first major-label single by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the fourth track on the band's third album, Dookie . The song was the band's first single to top the Modern Rock chart in the U.S...
" as separate songs due to how "Longview" was eventually released as its own single.
Art direction
The game includes three venues representing the historical progression of the band. "The Warehouse" is a fictional venue set in 1994 that is based on a composite of "house parties and squats" where Green Day played before they became popular, and where all the songs from Dookie will be played. Part of the design of this venue was inspired by the clubs such as 924 Gilman Street924 Gilman Street
924 Gilman Street is an all-ages, not for profit, collectively organized music club usually referred to by its fans simply as "The Gilman." It is located in the West Berkeley area of Berkeley, California about a mile and a half west of the North Berkeley BART station and a quarter-mile west of San...
where Green Day played before they were signed as a major label; as Green Day was signed by a major label by the time they recorded Dookie, Harmonix opted not to make the venue exactly based on 924 Gilman Street for historical accuracy. The National Bowl
National Bowl
The National Bowl is an entertainment venue in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The site was a former clay-pit , filled in and raised to form an amphitheatre using sub-soil excavated by the many new developments in the area and it has a current maximum capacity of 65,000...
in Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes , sometimes abbreviated MK, is a large town in Buckinghamshire, in the south east of England, about north-west of London. It is the administrative centre of the Borough of Milton Keynes...
, England is used for American Idiot and other albums, having been the site where the 2005 Bullet in a Bible
Bullet in a Bible
-Certifications:-Personnel:* Billie Joe Armstrong – lead vocals, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, harmonica* Mike Dirnt – bass, backing vocals* Tré Cool – drums, percussion-Additional musicians:* Jason White – lead guitar, rhythm guitar, backing vocals...
CD/DVD was recorded and where the band performed their first stadium show. The Fox Theatre
Fox Oakland Theatre
The Fox Oakland Theatre is a 2,800-seat movie theater, located at 1807 Telegraph Avenue in downtown Oakland, California. The theater was designed by Weeks and Day, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and reopened on February 5, 2009....
in Oakland, California is used for songs from 21st Century Breakdown, replicating the debut 21st Century Breakdown 2009 performance by the band there, being the second show in the restored theater. Harmonix considered several other real-life venues based on past Green Day performances. Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94
Woodstock '94, often called the "commercial Woodstock" or "Mudstock", was a music festival organized to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock Festival of 1969...
was one possibility, but the development team found it difficult to create the daytime setting. The Hatch Shell
Hatch Shell
The Edward A. Hatch Memorial Shell is an outdoor concert venue adjacent to the Charles River Esplanade near downtown Boston....
in Boston was also considered, but the team felt that the venue has only regional awareness and was also marred by the riot that occurred after the Green Day concert there in 1994. They also considered using Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden
Madison Square Garden, often abbreviated as MSG and known colloquially as The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan and located at 8th Avenue, between 31st and 33rd Streets, situated on top of Pennsylvania Station.Opened on February 11, 1968, it is the...
but determined that ultimately, it was not as interesting as the other venues. The band, in their original meetings with Harmonix' Foster, wanted to make sure the game captured the "excitement of their live concerts" and the accuracy of the venues they played at; Cool noted that the game "skips a lot" of the band's history, but provided enough input on the band's history to "personalize [the game] and put our stamp on it".
The band members were modeled using motion capturing performed by actors hired by Harmonix, incorporating video and concert footage to create avatars for each member unique to each venues. The band's support team helped to take photographs of the band member's tattoos, and identified when they were received so that the Harmonix artists could incorporate them properly into the avatars. All the songs, including the six songs previously released as downloadable content, feature unique animations tied to each song. This was a different approach than as taken for The Beatles: Rock Band, where they created snippets of framing and animation which could be easily repackaged for other songs, including future downloadable content. Because of the integrated nature of the songs and animations, there will be no further downloadable content available for the game. The game includes, as reward items, over 100 photographs and 40 minutes of video footage pulled from Warner Bros. Records' archive of the band. The video content has been pared down from over 20 hours of raw footage from concerts and studio records. Some of the live video footage will be used as part of the 21st Century Breakdown venue backdrops. Many of these rewards are specific to individual songs, such as photos taken during concert performances of the song, and thus given as rewards for completing these songs.
Harmonix has partnered with Demiurge Studios
Demiurge Studios
Demiurge Studios is an American video game developer company, founded in 2002 by Albert Reed, Chris Linder and Tom Lin. It is located in Cambridge, Massachusetts...
to help develop the game; Demiurge had previously helped Harmonix bring the Rock Band Track Packs to retail. Furthermore, Harmonix is working with design studio MK12
MK12
MK12 is a design and filmmaking collective based in Kansas City, Missouri, with acclaim in both commercial and artistic arenas. Founded in 2000 by art school refugees Jed Carter, Tim Fisher, Matt Fraction and Ben Radatz and later joined by designer / composer Shaun Hamontree and computer guru Chad...
, who previously created the interstitial movies in The Beatles: Rock Band, and other studios to bring Green Day and their band's history into the game. The opening cinematic created by MK12 is done in a similar style to what they made for The Beatles: Rock Band, spanning Green Day's career over a brief period of time.
Soundtrack
The game features 47 tracks spanning the band's career, including two full albums—DookieDookie
Dookie is the third studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on February 1, 1994 through Reprise Records. It was the band's first collaboration with producer Rob Cavallo and its major record label debut. Dookie became a worldwide commercial success, peaking at number...
and American Idiot
American Idiot
American Idiot is the seventh studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It was released on September 21, 2004 through Reprise Records and was produced by longtime collaborator Rob Cavallo. In mid-2003, the band began recording songs for an album entitled Cigarettes and Valentines...
, and twelve out of eighteen tracks from 21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown
21st Century Breakdown is the eighth studio album by the American punk rock band Green Day. It is the band's second rock opera, following American Idiot, and their first album to be produced by Butch Vig. Green Day commenced work on the record in January 2006...
(with the remaining six tracks available in the "Plus" edition of the game, or via pre-existing DLC). For Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 owners, every song in the game can be exported for use within Rock Band, Rock Band 2 and Rock Band 3 for a $
United States dollar
The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....
10 fee, or included in the cost of the "Plus" edition of the game or for pre-ordering the game at select vendors. Wii users can only export the songs into Rock Band 3.
Reception
Green Day: Rock Band was generally well-received by video game critics. Many critics noted the game follows the previous dedication to presentation, audio, and playability that were seen in The Beatles: Rock Band, though some believed it followed the formula too well to make it indistinguishable from the previous titles. Jack DeVries of IGNIGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
could not think of any easy way to identify the game from other Rock Band titles; "People kept asking me how the game was and all I could think to say was 'It's Green Day: Rock Band.'" Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica
Ars Technica
Ars Technica is a technology news and information website created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Ars Technica is known for its features, long articles that go...
called the game "paint by number
Paint by number
Paint by number describes kits having a board on which light blue or grey lines indicate areas to paint, each area having a number and a corresponding numbered paint to use. The kits were invented, developed and marketed in 1950 by Max S...
s rocking", commenting that the feature set is essentially the same as The Beatles. Patrick Klepek of G4TV stated the game was "not as ambitious as The Beatles" but still came to help him appreciate the band more.
While the two games have similar content, some reviews felt that Green Day was a weaker title due to the limited number of venues compared with the Dreamscapes used in The Beatles, among other aspects. Johnny Minkley of EuroGamer
Eurogamer
Eurogamer is a Brighton-based website focused on video games news, reviews, previews and interviews. It is operated by Eurogamer Network Ltd., which was formed in 1999 by brothers Rupert and Nick Loman. Eurogamer has grown to become one of the most important European-based websites focused on...
felt the additional content unlocked by playing through songs was "supplied in a way that feels separate rather than woven in to enrich understanding and appreciation" of the band, and considered the game a "backward step" from The Beatles. 1UP.com
1UP.com
1UP.com is a video game website owned by IGN Entertainment, a division of News Corporation. Previously, the site was owned by Ziff Davis before being sold to UGO Entertainment in 2009....
's Justin Haywald considered the title less of a tribute to the band and more of a video game due to the need to repeatedly play content over and over again to unlock all of the included band's photos and videos. Critics felt that Harmonix were successful at capturing the sense of being at a live performance of Green Day through the detailed venues, animations of the band members, and banter and antics with the virtual crowds.
From a musical perspective of reviewers, the limited range of Green Day compared to the Beatles creates a mundane experience compared to the previous game, diminishing the interest level for those not familiar with Green Day's music. Many stated that one's personal enjoyment of the game would strictly depend on their preference for Green Day. While the inclusion of full albums was well received, some reviewers wished for more songs to be included in the game, particularly from their mid-career albums. Minkley considered that by skipping over these albums, "the experience is robbed of any real insight into Green Day's evolution" between Dookie and American Idiot. However, despite the song selections, reviewers found Green Day's songs to be better suited to Rock Band than The Beatles', in part to how enjoyable it was to play all the songs regardless of the instrument used, and without having to chart atypical instruments, such as piano or cello, to the instrument parts. Reviewers found the guitar portions to be challenging but not impossible due to the endurance of the chord-heavy part. DeVries found the vocal harmonies mechanics to be better suited to Green Day, as with the lyrical trade-offs in many of the songs, "it's less about trying to sing at a slightly higher pitch and more about just having fun". Critics also commented the use of censored radio edits to maintain the game's Teen rating, and felt this weakened the music included in the game. The ability to export the game's songs to other Rock Band was well-received. However, Lou Kesten of the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
noted that the added cost to export the game, as well as the cost of the additional six tracks available as downloadable content, made it feel that "MTV is nickel-and-diming its loyal audience".
Sales of Green Day: Rock Band within the month of June 2010 was considered "paltry" by industry analysis Doug Creutz, with only 82,000 units sold in North America.