MTV Games will begin offering fans of the “Rock Band” music videogame full album downloads, which they can add to the game and play along.
The first album will be Judas Priest’s “Screaming for Vengeance” beginning April 22 on the Xbox 360 and April 24 via the PlayStation3. Next month will see the addition of the Cars’ self-titled album, followed by the Pixies’ “Doolittle” in June.
“Vengeance” will cost $15 to download, with tracks available individually for $2 a track. The price of each subsequent album will vary based on the number of songs included, generally at $2 a track with a volume discount for buying the full album.
According to Alex Rigopulos, CEO of MTV Games’ subsidiary and “Rock Band” developer Harmonix, additional downloadable albums will be released more frequently as the year progresses.
“We do want to release albums regularly at this point alongside the singles and multi-song packs,” he says. “I will also say that over the course of this year, the amount of content we release will increase as well.”
Rigopulos says the decision on albums selected to sell on “Rock Band” are chosen based on a combination of internal wishlists, record label suggestions and feedback from the gamers themselves.
As of April 15, more than 8 million single tracks have been purchased for the game. MTV just recently added a music store interface from within the game itself. Previously, gamers had to pause or quit the game and buy the new music from either the PlayStationStore or the Xbox Live Marketplace.
