Even on a busy news day where a “Ducktales” re-make is announced, the first “Bioshock: Infinite” review is published, Steam gets another fantastic indie game sale underway, and the first “Final Fantasy X HD” screens are released, my favorite story manages to come from an unlikely source.
An old friend doing one last tour
Developer Harmonix announced today that they will stop releasing tracks for “Rock Band” after hundreds of songs, millions of downloads, and six years of service. Before they are done though, they have one last track to add…
How exactly Don McLean’s epic rock ballad “American Pie” (one of the few songs that can truly claim that title) avoided getting added to the music catalog until this point is beyond me, but as a fitting finale to the entire series, there can be no greater choice. It now joins songs like “Freebird,” “Cowboys From Hell,” “Jessica,” “Highway Star,” “Through the Fire and the Flames,” and the greatest of them all “Texas Flood” as the best digital songs the plastic instrument genre has to offer.
I haven’t played “Rock Band” or “Guitar Hero” in a while, but the games are institutions of my generation and among the coolest home releases ever created. It’s likely that twenty years from now people will still be able to pick up “Rock Band” for the first time and feel that same rush of rock star dreams joy, courtesy of an expertly made arcade style experience.
So while the music gaming genre craze is long past its heyday, let this stand as a good reason to dust off the drum kits, re-sticker that guitar, and get the band back together one last time.
