Harmonix has just announced that next week’s Rock Band DLC content will be holiday themed, proving once again that they really get it when it comes to the music game market. The songs are, of course, pretty decent:
Barenaked Ladies – Hanukkah Blessings
Billy Squier – Christmas is the Time to Say I Love You
The Pretenders – Blue Christmas
This is the kind of thing that DLC is built for, especially for games that have built a business model around frequent DLC updates. Such a model allows for the industry to indulge yearly in a little bit of seasonal content, the same way Hollywood spews out the same cheaply-made movie about holiday family awkwardness every first weekend of December. I’m no fan of Christmas movies, but I’m happy and eager to drape games I already like in festive colors for a few days every winter.
Here’s a few other 2008 holiday DLC things to fool around with next to the fireplace this year. No, Guitar Hero isn’t getting anything (humbug). No, Rock Revolution isn’t getting anything either (hey, if you were Konami, would you support that game?).
Lips: Microsoft’s don’t-call-it-a-karaoke-game is getting a pretty nice set of holiday songs. If it can keep up this level of DLC updates, it could eventually become a contender:
Gene Autry – Rudolph the Red-Nose Reindeer
Brenda Lee – Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Burl Ives – A Holly Jolly Christmas
Barenaked Ladies – Hanukkah Blessings
Nat King Cole – Merry Christmas to You
Bing Crosby – White Christmas
SingStar: But it would take a while for Lips to catch up to Sony’s original don’t-call-it-a-karaoke-game. The SingStore already has more than 400 songs in it, and with its holiday DLC update it’s flexed its muscles and thrown up Paul McCartney’s Wonderful Christmastime. Oh, and these other titles:
Toni Braxton – Have Yourself a Merry Little Xmas
Babyface – Sleigh Ride
Shakin’ Stevens – Merry Christmas
Celine Dion – Christmas Eve
Soulcalibur IV: If you hate singing carols but love holiday fetish wear, Soulcalibur IV’s Customization Pack 3 is your fix. It contains all the costuming doodads you need to turn Ivy into a sexy, beardless Santa Claus. I’m not here to judge.

Xbox 360: There’s a holiday theme for the dashboard you probably know about, some skiing clothes for your avatar, and an avatar-torturing snow globe for some reason. But at least it’s something, compared to the…

PS3: which doesn’t have anything official. But the PlayStation Network Store has a third-party Mrs. Claus theme, which creepily attempts to eroticize Santa, infidelity (what, no Ms. Claus?) and freezing to death at the same time. PlayStation Home just got beards, which could probably be turned into festive beards if you ever wanted to venture into Home again.
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