News: Nine exclusive tracks for the PSP version as well as a June 9 release date.
Harmonix has announced that Rock Band Unplugged, the PSP rendition of the popular music game, will be released on June 9. The Backbone Entertainment-developed game will be available in both a game-only package and a special PSP bundle that will include the game, a voucher to download School of Rock from the PlayStation Store, a 4GB Memory Stick Pro Duo, and a Piano Black PSP system. The Rock Band bundle will be priced at $199.99 while the game-only version will be available for $39.99.
As expected, Rock Band Unplugged will be similar to previous Harmonix games Frequency and Amplitude in that players will have to tap the PSP's face buttons in time with the music. Or as Harmonix says, "Your hands are the 'peripherals' [...] allowing you to take direct control of the lead/bass guitars, drums and vocals." The game will also include the standard Rock Band modes World Tour, Band Survival and Warm Up as well as a character creation mode.
Rock Band Unplugged will include over 40 songs, include nine that have yet to appear on any version of Rock Band:
3 Doors Down - "Kryptonite"
AFI - "Miss Murder"
Alice in Chains - "Would?"
Audioslave - "Gasoline"
Black Tide - "Show Me the Way"
Blink 182 - "What's My Age Again"
Freezepop - "Less Talk More Rokk"
Jackson 5 - "ABC"
Tenacious D - "Rock Your Socks"
According to Harmonix, these tracks will eventually be able to be downloaded through the Rock Band Store for the PS3, Wii and Xbox 360. Rock Band Unplugged users will also have access to a PSP-specific version of the Rock Band Store, giving them the ability to purchase additional tracks and play them a Memory Stick just like their console counterparts.
We'll have more soon.