Rock Band Getting Jimi Hendrix in 'New Edition'

[UPDATE] Speaking to Shacknews, a Harmonix spokesperson referred to reports of a standalone Hendrix-themed Rock Band game as incorrect and reiterated the official statement of being "in discussions to bring more of his music to our platform." [/UPDATE]

ORIGINAL:

A new entry in Harmonix's rhythm game series Rock Band that includes the music of Jimi Hendrix is due out before the year's end, the musician's estate manager Janie Hendrix apparently told the Los Angeles Times.

Neither Harmonix nor owner MTV Games have announced any such project, though the latter company has teased that there will be multiple Rock Band games in 2010.

"Stay tuned," MTV told Billboard when reached for comment. "While we have not made any official announcements regarding Jimi Hendrix and Rock Band, we are excited to say that we are in discussions to bring more of his music to our platform."

While rival franchise Guitar Hero has seen several songs from Hendrix, Rock Band has thus far received only one: "Fire" by The Jimi Hendrix Experience in LEGO Rock Band.

Hendrix was previously believed to be receiving a dedicated Guitar Hero game, based off comments made by Guns N' Roses guitarist Slash. Such game never materialized, though Guitar Hero later got several Hendrix tunes as downloadable content.

But while the comment could suggest a dedicated Jimi Hendrix game or inclusion in the expected Rock Band 3, it's also possible that Janie Hendrix's comments were misunderstood by the paper--"a new edition of Rock Band" are the paper's words, not Janie's--and merely imply that several tunes are coming to Rock Band as DLC. Downloadable content is often used to promote a recent release, and the article was in regards to the re-release of Hendrix's Valleys of Neptune album coming March 9.

Then again, there have also been several dedicated Rock Band retail releases--The Beatles and AC/DC, with Green Day's coming soon--so we'll just have to wait and see.

Thanks to TheWeaponeer for the tip.