Today, MTV and Harmonix announced the first patch for the hit music-rhythm game, Rock Band. The patch features several updates, notably an in-game download store in the main menu. Although all the songs and packs will still be available for purchase through the PlayStation Store and Xbox Live Marketplace, this interface simplifies the process by allowing gamers to sort through the music by artist, genre, song, album and difficulty thus mimicking Rock Band's song selection menu.

The new Rock Band Store makes it easier to buy (and rock out to) new downloadable tracks. Click to see more Rock Band Store images.

Harmonix has released over 70 downloadable tracks in the four months since Rock Band hit shelves and followed up that success with over six million "game levels" purchased. The developer noted that changes in the way players will scroll through potential music purchases was the result of user feedback, as well discussions with the Xbox Marketplace team.

"Thank you to the music lovers who have helped Rock Band reach an incredible milestone of over 6 million purchased downloads at such an early stage," stated by Paul DeGooyer, SVP DVD, Gaming and Audio, MTV. "The success of Rock Band downloadable content to date firmly reinforces our vision and its potential as a platform for music discovery. By empowering players with the ability to customize their Rock Band library with a rapidly growing selection of rock artists and songs on a weekly basis and adding great new features such as the in-game music store, we are thrilled to give fans more ways to enhance and enjoy their Rock Band experience."

The store, styled to match the Rock Band interface, will let users sort through new releases, albums, packs, and see upcoming releases. The song list will also be sortable by year, artist and packs. In addition, the game will mark previous purchases, preventing users from buying a song they already own.

Each song, pack, and album also have a preview page, complete with album art, music samples, and a difficulty rating for each instrument.

In addition to the new store, the patch now speeds up the song selection screen, as gamers who had purchased a large number of songs were being unintentionally punished by long load times. The fan cap for playing instruments on less-difficult levels in the World Tour mode has been lifted. Even though certain venues will still be locked until players complete more challenging difficulties, all the cities will be accessible. Previously, casual gamers who chose 'Easy' or 'Medium' difficulty could only acquire a limited number of fans, preventing them from playing in cities later in the game.

Harmonix also hinted that it might consider adding cheaper, and possibly free, songs to the download store in the not-too-distant future.