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If you're wondering where Rock Band 3 is, a year and a half after Rock Band 2 and five months after the launch of The Beatles: Rock Band, it seems EA isn't sure it's going to get to publish it. During an investor conference call, EA execs revealed that the publisher's deal with Viacom (the company that owns MTV, Harmonix, Rock Band and maybe you as well) is only active through fiscal year 2010 (which ends March 31).

Presumably the deal somehow includes the yet-to-be-released Green Day: Rock Band -- but EA's unlikely to announce any more Rock Band games until it knows it has the license locked down for another year.

USA -- the television network, not the nation -- has selected Harmonix founders Alex Rigopulos and Eran Egozy as the two most important "New Media" figures in its annual Character Approved Awards. According to USA's announcement of the 2010 winners, the awards are designed to "honor the real characters who are changing the face of American culture." Considering we haven't been to a social gathering in two years that didn't turn into an impromptu Rock Band party, we think Rigopulos and Egozy are deserving of the honor.

Check out the pair's award page to find out more about their personal history. We didn't know Egozy is actually a classically-trained clarinetist. Where's that peripheral, guys?

It's a well-known fact that anything signed by a founding member of The Who is immediately imbued with supernatural properties. Imagine, if you will, the raw, unbridled power a Rock Band guitar would gain if tenderly handled and Hancocked by frontman Roger Daltrey. We're pretty sure it would be incapable of missing notes at that point.

Such an artifact is now attainable, if you're willing to dish out enough cash to claim it. Daltrey and peripheral manufacturer Mad Catz have teamed up to auction off a pair of classy Wooden Fender Stratocaster guitar controllers for Xbox 360. The proceeds from the auctions will support the Teenage Cancer Trust, a U.K. charity which funds special oncology units in hospitals which "enable young people to be treated together, by an expert team, in the best possible environment for their age group." These auctions are a great cause -- with some extremely rocking benefits.

The auctions are up right now, and will run until next Thursday. Also, we can't think of an appropriate pun to end this post, but if we write about Roger Daltrey and don't link to the "YEEEEEEAAAHHH" button, we're contractually obligated to resign.

[Via Shacknews]

The rhythm-based games developer has apparently filed for several hip-hop and rap song licenses, indicating something a bit funkier and perhaps a bit fresher is in the works. Scripts may be flipped. We really don't know.

Here are the requested tracks (via Royalty Network):

• "Ante Up" by M.O.P.
• "Evacuate the Dancefloor" by Cascada
• "Say Aah" by Trey Songz
• "The Way I Are" by Timbaland feat D.O.E.

As you can tell, these tracks aren't really known for their rocking and/or rolling, so it's not the usual Rock Band fare. Wanton speculation would suggest that Harmonix is working on an extension of its franchise into the hip-hop, R&B and rap segments -- a possible answer to Activision's DJ Hero?

[Via Destructoid]

Hey, Rock Band aficionados! Are you ready to spend your hard-earned Microsoft Points, Wii Points or good old-fashioned cash money on tracks which you'll never be able to play without injuring your tender, fragile metacarpals? Brace your bones -- the Music Store is about to get a healthy dose of Megadeth, in the form of the outfit's 1990 album "Rust in Peace." Or, as it's more commonly known, "The one with 'Hangar 18' on it."

The nine-track album will be available for $14.99 (1200, bundle not available on Wii), and can also be purchased piecemeal for $1.99 (160, 200 Wii Points) per track. In addition, the Who's "Super Bowl S-mashup" medley will be made available on Sunday after the big game for $1.99 (160, 200 Wii Points).

Check out all the songs included in next week's update after the jump.

If you want to play a bunch of songs by The Who in Rock Band in a manner that satisfies your minute attention span, and do so soon, MTV and Harmonix just made an announcement that will delight you (however briefly). Alternately, you're going to be thrilled if you want to capture some Super Bowl magic in your living room.

On Sunday, February 7, The Who will play a 15-song medley during the Super Bowl's halftime show, and Rock Band will feature that same medley as a $2 download the same day (on Xbox 360 and Wii, anyway -- the PS3 version will arrive later). The identities of the songs contained in the medley will be unknown until the Super Bowl performance, but, really, they're all good.

Yeaahhhhhhhhh!

[Update: We mistakenly identified the "S-mashup" as consisting of the 15 songs listed in the press release. It is actually a medley of unannounced songs. We apologize for the error.]

Next week's Rock Band Weekly update puts country stars on the road again, yup, they just can't wait to get on the road again. So, this is the part where I confess that I know little to nothing about the artists featured in the next update. Honestly, the closest I get to country is driving in my friend's pick-up along the forest-filled back roads of Connecticut.

Check out the full pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.

When you guys aren't setting franchise records downloading a track for The Beatles: Rock Band, you're helping to save lives .... well, actually, we guess you were kinda doing them both at the same time. My, what wonderful multitaskers you all are!

Microsoft has revealed that the Xbox-exclusive track "All You Need Is Love" managed to procure $217,780 to date for the Doctors Without Borders charity, an international humanitarian outfit that specializes in assisting those in need in impoverished and war-torn countries. That figure comes from both the DLC and the custom Xbox 360 auctioned off for $17,400.

Oh, and if you didn't know all that about the charity stuff and just wanted to download a Beatles song, then there it is: you're making the world a better place, one harmony and hot guitar solo at a time. All proceeds from "All You Need Is Love" will go to Doctors Without Borders up until January 31.

In the latest issue of Edge Magazine, Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos and Neversoft project director Brian Bright both speak out regarding the current state of rhythm-music gaming. As you might imagine, neither developer thinks that the genre is flatlining. In fact, Rigopulos even believes that "future music games will exceed the sales success of the last generation."

Surprisingly, though, while each heads up their own approach to the genre, the two seem to be in near-direct agreement on the next step for their franchises. "User-generated content will be absolutely critical to the ongoing success of the genre, I think," Rigopulos says. Bright echoes his statement, saying, "I think user-created content is key to the evolution ... if you can't create or edit licensed music due to copyright laws, then you're limited to pretending to play someone else's music."

That said, each developer differs in their definition of exactly what that "user-created content" will be. In the case of Rigopulos, he believes the Rock Band Network and its potentially "huge community of power-users -- skilled music creators" will be his company's next "defining moment." Bright is less sure of a plan, simply stating, "I think the key is to create music, but make it compelling to create, so the game is in the creation."

No, EA didn't release a single-band game following the career of the band behind "All Right Now" -- that would be Free: Rock Band. Rock Band Free is actually a one-song demo of the iPhone version of Rock Band. If you'd like to try out the touch-controlled version of the multi-instrumental rhythm game -- and if you'd really like to hear the Foo Fighters' "Learn to Fly" right about now -- now you can check it out without the daunting (for iPhone) $7 investment.

Should you then decide you like rockin' on your phone, there's some potential good news: EA assured Kotaku that "some new premium tracks will soon be available at a low price on the Music store," avoiding a Rock Band Unplugged situation.

Rock Band Free (Free):
[Via Kotaku]

Next week's Rock Band update is a raucous blend of heavy-hitting tunes, comprised of songs from Motörhead, Blue Oyster Cult and Rage Against the Machine. The metal mayhem, for obvious reasons, won't be compatible with Lego Rock Band -- somehow we just can't picture Lego people playing "Godzilla" by Blue Oyster Cult without being rocked to pieces.

Check out the full pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.

Some were disappointed to find out that Harmonix's follow-up to The Beatles: Rock Band was Green Day: Rock Band. MTV Games' Paul DeGooyer says the band was heavily demanded on the official Rock Band forums and added that a dedicated game would "satisfy a good amount of the constituency." DeGooyer, perhaps attempting to appease naysayers, also told Newsarama.com that "it's of course not going to be our only game this year."

So what is this mystery Rock Band game that DeGooyer is referring to? Most likely, it's the inevitable-but-not-quite-officially-announced Rock Band 3. While The Beatles and Green Day will take advantage of vocal harmonies, it seems Harmonix has other significant updates to make for the Rock Band platform. "As efficient as digital distribution is, there are still things that are much more efficiently delivered as a disc. In terms of major upgrades, I mean. That said, we haven't announce any formal plans for a sequel game ... yet."

Of course, we could be wrong about this whole "Rock Band 3" nonsense. Perhaps Harmonix will make our dreams come true with their real secret project: Jonas Brothers: Rock Band.

If you've been tinkering around with the Rock Band Network song programming tools, turning your heartfelt ballads into batches of multicolored gems, you'll be able to place your work in front of an audience for the first time today. Harmonix is launching an open beta of the platform at some point this evening, which will allow musicians with an XNA Creators Club membership to publish their songs, and peer-review the work their fellow artists have contributed.

Of course, we won't be able to download the songs until the platform officially goes live -- which Harmonix recently informed Destructoid wouldn't be until "we accrue a good base of content, though we're already really excited by what we have in the pipeline." If you were curious about what that pipeline currently looks like, we suggest checking out this Harmonix forum post, which compiles all the bands who've shown interest in Rock Band-ing their ditties.

Update: Okay, the beta is actually live now! Let the rocking commence.

Megadeth's inclusion as DLC in Rock Band (not to mention past appearances in Guitar Hero games) apparently won't stifle the group from putting together something "over-the-moon" with Neversoft and Activision for the future. In a "Scorpion" feature (read: "Ask the Band") on the band's website, a couple of fans posed the "What about a Guitar Hero game?" question, to which the lead singer/guitarist Dave Mustaine replied: "I have recently had two very important high-level meetings with the people from Activision and Neversoft, and we are talking about a lot of things."

He only clarifies a teensy bit, saying a Guitar Hero: Megadeth game "is not attractive" to him and that the Guitar Hero developers have instead offered up a "new idea." Mustaine also laments past legal run-ins, and hopes that no one "stand[s] in the way of this happening." We've contacted Megadeth as well as Activision for more information on the subject, and will be rocking as hard as possible while we wait for a reply. Oh, and yes, we suppose we'll tell you if we hear more.

[Via Kotaku]

OK, so next week's Rock Band DLC doesn't include "Mary Jane's Last Dance" (pictured above) -- that was included in the previous Tom Petty live anthology pack -- but that video is all we can think of when someone mentions Petty. Well, that and the "Don't Come Around Here No More" video, which had Petty playing The Mad Hatter and is also positively frightening -- but that song is in neither pack. Beyond Petty memories of our broken childhood, next week's update also includes tracks from Phoenix and Silvertide.

Check out pricing and track details for the console releases after the break.