Rock Band 2 Patch Adds Many Amazing Fixes

A new patch for Rock Band 2 has fixed a lot of issues and improved things that the community has long demanded.

The first big change is that other 360 wireless microphones will now work with Rock Band 2, which has essentially kept the earlier promise that Lips mics would be supported in the game.

Second, Rock Band Network integration is finally coming with the addition of the Rock Band Network Audition, which will allow those creating their own songs using the Rock Band Network to test them out in the game. The Rock Band Network will soon hit open beta, we're told.

Next up is the ability to sort by stars when you're playing songs in Quickplay, which I know I've been wanting for a very, very long time. This will give players the ability to see which songs they need to improve on, as well as finding songs they've downloaded but have yet to play as, obviously, they won't have a star rating.

Fourth is background downloading in the music Store. As you're no doubt aware with our weekly posts on what's new in the Rock Band music store, there are lots and lots and lots of songs, and no plans to stop any time soon - so the fact that you no longer have to wait for one song to finish downloading before you go back to the catalogue is a big improvement. You should now be able to start downloading a song, look through the catalogue, and queue up as many as you like.

Finally, some minor additions. Firstly, the improvements made to chord hammer-ons/pull-offs in The Beatles: Rock Band (which we touched upon in our review) have been added to Rock Band 2, and secondly, the brilliant-but-silly Ion Drum Kit is now velocity sensitive in both drum fills and the Drum Freestyle mode. And yes, I'm calling it silly because I'm jealous of everyone who has one.

You can find a few more details on the patch on the official forums. This is a fairly major update and it's nice to see the developers paying attention to the community's concerns and desires.