Rock Band 2 Free Tracks Delayed

Rock Band 2 was supposed to receive 20 free tracks, from various less known bands, as downloadable content sometime today. But it seems that there have been some issues related to getting the songs on Xbox Live and the exact moment when they become available is still unknown.

With the official Rock band forums awash with posts about the free tracks, Sean Baptiste, who is the community manager for Harmonix, recently talked about the issue. He said that “We have hit an unexpected delay with getting the content online with Microsoft and are working diligently with them to get that resolved. We have suspended sending out the token codes until the content becomes available. Sending out the codes before the content is live will just result in more confusion. We hope to have this resolved in the next 24 hours and apologize profusely for the delay”. It’s not clear whether the problem is generated by Harmonix or by Microsoft’s Xbox Live service.

As a result, the e-mails with the tokens which allow for the songs to be downloaded have not been sent out to players and will not be sent until the Xbox Live related bugs have been solved for good. It appears that the tracks will be up on the PlayStation Network as previously announced and that codes for that platform will be sent out as soon as possible.

Downloadable tracks are a big part of the appeal of the two big music games. Both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour are trying to get big bands to offer up music, which can be then offered via download. Harmonix surprised some people with the announcement of 20 free tracks for Rock Band 2, but it will likely incur the wrath of players if it does not deliver on its promise.