Rock Band 3 features, tracks announced

Harmonix and MTV Games today announced what features and songs will be included in Rock Band 3.

Promising to "change the way fans think about and play music games," the game will have an 83-song setlist, as well as new gameplay modes and instruments.

Announced Features:

Redesigned Library for Better Music Management

Rock Band 3 allows players to create and save setlists and share them with friends, both in-game and through RockBand.com. New song filters make it easier to find the types of songs fans want to play and hide the songs they don’t, while a built-in song recommendation system will suggest tracks from Rock Band’s colossal music library, based on personal fan preference.

Expand the Band

In addition to guitar, bass, drums and solo vocals, Rock Band 3 adds three-part vocal harmonies that were introduced with The Beatles™: Rock Band™ and, for the first time ever, a keyboard peripheral to the band. Up to seven players can rock together for the ultimate social gaming experience.

Go Pro: Play Just for Fun or Rock for Real with Rock Band Pro

Rock Band 3 empowers players to develop actual musical skills through the fun of fully scalable Rock Band Pro gameplay. Fans can dive in on Easy to try out basic skills and work their way up to Expert for real mastery.

Pro Drums supports three expansion cymbals, with gameplay differentiation between toms and cymbals.

Pro Keys features pitch-accurate keyboard performance across a two-octave range, displayed on an easy-to-read keyboard track.

Pro Guitar features notated guitar and bass performances, available for play with either the new Fender™ Mustang™ PRO-Guitar™ simulated guitar controller from Mad Catz or the Rock Band 3 Squier® by Fender Stratocaster® Guitar Controller that is a real guitar/controller hybrid. The Rock Band 3 Squier Stratocaster is a fully functional, full-sized, six-string electric guitar that also functions as a game controller.

New Gameplay Modes

For the casual player, Rock Band 3 has great new party modes that allow fans to get rocking with friends quicker than ever, including party shuffle and persistent drop-in/drop-out and difficulty selection from any gameplay screen. For the serious player, the revamped Career Mode features 700+ goals and rewards and seamless leaderboard integration for an endlessly deep campaign experience. Rock Band 3 also adds a suite of social networking tools to the game so fans can engage friends and fellow rockers over Facebook, Twitter and more.

Announced Tracks:

2000s:

Metric, “Combat Baby”
Rilo Kiley, “Portions for Foxes”
Them Crooked Vultures, “Dead End Friends”
The Vines, “Get Free"
The White Stripes, “The Hardest Button to Button”
Phoenix, “Lasso”
Ida Maria, “Oh My God”
Juanes, “Me Enamora”

1990s:

Jane’s Addiction, “Been Caught Stealing”
Smash Mouth, “Walkin’ on the Sun”
Spacehog, “In the Meantime”
Stone Temple Pilots, “Plush”

1980s:

Dio, “Rainbow in the Dark”
Huey Lewis and the News, “The Power of Love”
Joan Jett, “I Love Rock and Roll”
Night Ranger, “Sister Christian”
Whitesnake, “Here I Go Again”
The Cure, “Just Like Heaven”
Ozzy Osbourne, “Crazy Train”

1970s:

Queen, “Bohemian Rhapsody”

1960s:

Jimi Hendrix, “Crosstown Traffic”
The Doors, “Break On Through”