How to play Rock Band Unplugged on Mac

Game summary

Rock Band Unplugged is an expansion of the Rock Band series of music video games released for the PlayStation Portable. The game is developed by Backbone Entertainment in conjunction with Harmonix and is distributed by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America and Europe on June 9, 2009. The core game is functionally similar to the note-matching gameplay of Harmonix's previous titles, Frequency and Amplitude, with the player responsible for playing all four instruments—lead and bass guitar, drums, and vocals—using the Portable's controls. Game modes are similar to Rock Band's, and the soundtrack includes a number of songs that have already been a part of the Rock Band series. Additional tracks will be a time-limited exclusive to Unplugged before they are released as downloadable content for the console games. The game supports the addition of new songs that can be purchased through the PlayStation Store. Rock Band Unplugged, in addition to being released separately, was also released as part of a "Limited Edition Entertainment Pack" that also includes a Rock Band Unplugged-branded PSP, a 4GB memory card, and a voucher to download the movie School of Rock.[1] A voucher for an exclusive 5-song demo of "Rock Band Unplugged" that is compatible with downloadable content is included with the PSP Go.[2]
First released: Jun 2009

Play Rock Band Unplugged on Mac with Parallels (virtualized)

The easiest way to play Rock Band Unplugged on a Mac is through Parallels, which allows you to virtualize a Windows machine on Macs. The setup is very easy and it works for Apple Silicon Macs as well as for older Intel-based Macs.

Parallels supports the latest version of DirectX and OpenGL, allowing you to play the latest PC games on any Mac. The latest version of DirectX is up to 20% faster.

Our favorite feature of Parallels Desktop is that when you turn off your virtual machine, all the unused disk space gets returned to your main OS, thus minimizing resource waste (which used to be a problem with virtualization).

Rock Band Unplugged installation steps for Mac

Step 1
Go to Parallels.com and download the latest version of the software.
Step 2
Follow the installation process and make sure you allow Parallels in your Mac’s security preferences (it will prompt you to do so).
Step 3
When prompted, download and install Windows 10. The download is around 5.7GB. Make sure you give it all the permissions that it asks for.
Step 4
Once Windows is done installing, you are ready to go. All that’s left to do is install Rock Band Unplugged like you would on any PC.
Did it work?
Help us improve our guide by letting us know if it worked for you.
👎👍