GREEN DAY, MTV GAMES, HARMONIX AND WARNER BROS. / REPRISE RECORDS ANNOUNCE GREEN DAY: ROCK BAND™

Artist Likenesses, Defining Albums from the Band’s Career and Exportable Track List to be Featured in Green Day Music Game Experience

Green Day 3-Pack Joins Rock Band DLC Line-Up on Tuesday, December 15th

LOS ANGELES / NEW YORK – Dec. 12, 2009 – Multi-platinum selling and Grammy® Award winning group Green Day, along with Harmonix, the leading developer of music-based games, MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), and Warner Bros./Reprise Records today announced at the 2009 Spike Video Game Awards that they are collaborating on the standalone title Green Day: Rock Band™.

“We’ve worked with the Rock Band team in the past year to enable our fans to play tracks from 21st Century Breakdown, and we’re excited to now be working on a game, spanning our entire career,” said Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong. “We want people to fire this up, choose their favorite Green Day tracks, and play along with us as Rock Band avatars so they can feel what it's like to perform on stage as Green Day."

The game is an extension and expression of Green Day’s most-defining albums and key moments throughout their career to date. It will feature likenesses of Green Day members Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt, and Tré Cool, as well as select venues and art specific to the band's history. The title will be available globally in 2010 for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft, PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ system from Nintendo. In addition, the track list will be fully exportable, giving players the opportunity to play the songs in Rock Band™ and Rock Band 2™ on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation3.

"Green Day's music and explosive live performances transcend age barriers," says Tom Whalley, Chairman/CEO, Warner Bros. Records. "By partnering with the band and Harmonix, Warner Bros./Reprise is thrilled to help create a Rock Band experience devoted exclusively to their impressive catalog. This game will appeal to fans of all ages, including those who love their recent best-selling albums and those who've loved Green Day throughout their long, incredible career."

“It's very exciting to work closely with Green Day to create an experience that captures the incomparable sound, look and feel of the band,” said Paul DeGooyer, SVP of Electronic Games and Music for MTV Networks Music Group. “'Green Day: Rock Band' is yet another example of how music fans can connect with some of the greatest music ever recorded via the Rock Band platform.”

“This game will feel like a natural extension of Green Day and their music that will deepen the fans’ connection to the band and their history,” said Alex Rigopulos, CEO and co-founder of Harmonix Music Systems. “Fans will be able to enjoy some of the greatest songs from the Green Day catalogue in this standalone game or via Rock Band due to full export capability. We are thrilled to work with Green Day to revisit key moments from their career, including their likenesses, content and imagery, through our innovative form of musical interaction.”

This latest Rock Band title aims to encapsulate the spirit and energy of a band that has sold more than 50 million records worldwide and been hailed as one of the best live acts touring today. Green Day has won critical acclaim and numerous accolades, including Grammy Awards for Best Alternative Album for Dookie, Best Rock Album for American Idiot and Record of the Year for their smash hit "Boulevard of Broken Dreams." Earlier this year, Green Day released their eighth studio album, 21st Century Breakdown, on Warner Music Group’s Reprise Records. The album debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200 chart, as well as on the Rock, Active Rock and Alternative charts, fueled by the alternative radio No. 1 single “Know Your Enemy.”

In addition to the game announcement, Green Day will bring three more tracks from 21st Century Breakdown to the Rock Band Music Store as downloadable content on Tuesday, December 15th. The three pack of songs will include, "Christian's Inferno," "Last of the American Girls," and "¡Viva La Gloria!," all from 21st Century Breakdown. These songs, as well as Green Day tracks previously released on the Rock Band platform, will be supported in Green Day: Rock Band.

FAIL

is it only going to use one button like they only use one chord?

Seriously... It will probably be harder to play on guitar hero than on a real guitar.

Drums on this game are going to be awesome.

The Rock Band franchise cracks me up. But I'm also amazed by it.

I can't think of another example of ANYTHING, EVER where a company has put out the same product over, and over, and over, and over, and over again and people keep buying the "updated" version.

MAYBE Madden comes close...but Rock Band is easily #1 in this category. All they have to do is dress up a couple new characters and swap out the soundtrack. Incredible.

You can say that about pretty much any annual game. Small incremental changes with new characters and maybe one or more gameplay tweaks.

I call Rock Band #1 because the schematics of the game itself are so incredibly simple. Those tracks of buttons scroll along and you don't even pay attention to what's happening in the background.

I see what you're saying but with other games at least the changes or updates are a little more substantial. For example, on a platformer there are new puzzles, even if the character design is the same. And with sports games...well they don't change that much but at least you have new stadiums and it seems like the gameplay improves a little more year-to-year...ie more fluidity. Certainly more than just pushing buttons that roll down a track.

i know it's just semantics, but guitar hero is way worse. at least every rock band game (except beatles) allows you to export the songs to your hard drive so you can just use one Rock Band game to play every song.

That line has the Gene Simmons stamp of approval placed right on it.

When the fuck are they gonna announce the release for that live Pearl Jam Rockband game?

shouldnt they call this, PunkBand?

I really cant stand games that are all about pressing the buttons Im told to press.

Isn't that the idea behind most video games?

Personally I love Rock Band but I think I'm gonna have to pass on Green Day. I'd probably buy a few singles, especially some older stuff if it were being sold separately as D/L content, but there's no way I'm shelling out $40-50 for a 21st Century Breakdown mix

i like the fact that they dont put out rock band 3,4,5 every year actually..instead they just release new songs every week..i buy em from time to time..just got a few last week actually

i like this about it too, because really, they are about as far as they are going to get with timed buttons on a streaming highway set to music. the problem with guitar hero is that they keep releasing a new game every 6 months to REPLACE the previous version, rather than build on the the one that's out that's already good enough. the rock band formula is at least not forcing you to buy a whole new game every time they release something. don't like beatles? don't like green day? fine, there are other tracks to add to your library every single week.

i wish eventually they allow you to rip the beatles songs to your hd like they let ya do with rb1..that way i dont have to be switchin discs