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Rock Band Bundle Only Option Available This Year

Posted by Zonk on Monday October 15, @02:28PM
from the big-pile-of-controllers dept.
Games
Via 1up, an interview at the site bits bytes pixels and sprites with the folks at Harmonix clarifies a great deal about Rock Band . The co-op multiplayer rhythm game is due out before the end of the year, and at least in 2007 the only way to get it will be the $169 bundle pack. There's also some information on the game's downloadable content, which sounds like it will be considerable: "Harmonix is committed to providing gamers with a wide selection of new content and promises that one week from launch The Who's famous album "Who's Next" will be made available for download. Harmonix has also scheduled new content to be released every week until the end of 2007 to keep the game fresh throughout the holiday season."

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Rock Band Bundle Only Option Available This Year | Log In/Create an Account | Top | 68 comments | Search Discussion
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  • I want!

    (Score:2)
    by Cy Sperling (960158) on Monday October 15, @02:33PM (#20985463)
    I cannot wait for this one. I have no problem getting the bundle. I know that if I bought the game and only one peripheral, odds are I would be back at the store a week later for the others.

    I am psyched that they are appearing to do some whole albums rather than just singles. I would kill to get Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall.

    I wonder if they will ever allow midi to work as a controller as my Roland V-Drums would be totally beyond awesome to use in place of the pack-in drum controller.

    • Re:I want! by morari (Score:2) Monday October 15, @04:30PM
    • Re:I want! by Skevin (Score:2) Monday October 15, @05:15PM
    • Re:I want! by PopeRatzo (Score:2) Tuesday October 16, @10:40PM

  • hrm

    (Score:1)
    by coolhandlucas (1174225) on Monday October 15, @02:35PM (#20985499)
    This is unfortunate, though understandable given the many different SKUs that will be necessary to sell this beast piecemeal. I was, however, really looking forward to dueling drums on day one, and I'm not willing to buy two bundles to make that happen.
    • Re:hrm by Fozzyuw (Score:2) Monday October 15, @02:41PM
      • Re:hrm by Cy Sperling (Score:2) Monday October 15, @02:51PM
      • Re:hrm by Kilraven (Score:2) Monday October 15, @03:06PM
        • Re:hrm by Osty (Score:1) Monday October 15, @04:00PM
          • Re:hrm by Kilraven (Score:1) Monday October 15, @04:23PM
          • Re:hrm by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Monday October 15, @04:28PM

  • Will they have a medic class?

    (Score:1, Funny)
    by Anonymous Coward on Monday October 15, @02:37PM (#20985521)
    Anyone claiming the rock band label should surely need one or two medics.

  • I've heard this before

    (Score:4, Insightful)
    by WndrBr3d (219963) on Monday October 15, @02:40PM (#20985575)
    (http://www.enusbaum.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday May 30 2002, @05:11PM)
    The biggest problem I have with Harmonix and their PR with downloadable content is they really burned XBox360 users with GH2. Their PR campaign before the games release was that GH2 for the 360 would have "more online content than anyone has ever seen in a game..." (link [ign.com] to interview). This gave people who had already spent $100+ on GH2 for the PS2 (Game/Controller + Additional Controller) a valid reason to buy it again.

    Here we are six after GH2 for the XBox360 was released. What downloadable content do we have? Four song 'packs' with songs that were already in GH1, and a song pack of indie bands few have heard of.

    So, although the offer of copious amounts of downloadable content for Rock Band is tempting and easy to get excited about, it should be taken with a big, big big big grain of salt.

  • Adding Content vs. Ransoming Content

    (Score:1)
    by jlf278 (1022347) on Monday October 15, @02:42PM (#20985599)
    I've already preordered (glad to see original price has come down by $30). Having missed out entirely on Guitar Hero, I'm expecting Rock Band to blow me away. However, I'm worried that their downloadable content will be priced similarly to previous offerings, aka insanely high. Hopefully, since it's similar, they'll go no higher than the iTunes route with $1/track $10/album. Anyway, for those who have played a lot of guitar hero, and so would be interested in Rock Band...I imagine this move will convert many purchases of just the game and drum set to full bundles.

  • Wii

    (Score:3, Interesting)
    by Fozzyuw (950608) on Monday October 15, @02:46PM (#20985647)

    All well and good, but the only news I want about Rock Band is information on when it's being released for the Wii. I was this close *holds two fingers together* at buying a 360 just to get this game but then the Harmonix CEO said they would "Absolutely" have a Wii version. So, I'm holding off until then.

    If rabid Rock Band mania consumes me, I guess I'll pick it up for the PS2 until a Wii version is released.

    • Re:Wii by azuredrake (Score:1) Monday October 15, @02:58PM
      • Re:Wii by Fozzyuw (Score:2) Monday October 15, @03:10PM
        • Re:Wii by azuredrake (Score:1) Monday October 15, @03:14PM
      • Re:Wii by toleraen (Score:2) Monday October 15, @03:28PM
        • Re:Wii by Mattintosh (Score:2) Monday October 15, @04:46PM

  • Too much space

    (Score:2)
    by TibbonZero (571809) <Tibbon AT gmail DOT com> on Monday October 15, @03:05PM (#20985915)
    (http://whatisnoise.blogspot.com/ | Last Journal: Tuesday August 21, @11:52AM)
    For those of us that live in a major city, this game simply takes too much space. I can deal with cheap DDR pads, as I can fold them away, or a Guitar Hero controller, but in my 180sq/ft studio apartment... this game simply will not fit. I have a real drum set, and it's stacked in a corner, because it just takes up too much space. It must be nice to live in suburbia where you have a room for video games (or laundry even) that is larger than my entire living space. I love Boston/Cambridge.

  • Konami, anyone ?

    (Score:3, Interesting)
    by damaki (997243) on Monday October 15, @03:09PM (#20985955)
    Now that Rock Band is bound to arrive soon, I am questioning more than ever the international marketing choices of Konami. I mean than Konami already did every rythm that Rock Band will regroup but still, did not have a clue on how to penetrate the american and european markets. Are they totally dumb?
    Guitar Freaks has existed for years, and because of its japanise-ish (though nice) tracklist, they never exported it. Same goes for Drummania which definitely rocks. And how about the karaoke thingy? They had these all and discarded the foreign markets.
    I guess that some Konami executives must be currently in a mass sepukku movement.
    They have all these great franchises but are absolutely unable to exploit these correctly outside Japan.

    Well... as long as I can buy those Bemani games, I do not really care. Long live Bemani, hail Beatmania, and all these other venerable but high quality franchises.

  • LOVE Guitar Hero

    (Score:1)
    by 40ozFreak (823002) on Monday October 15, @03:30PM (#20986269)
    Guitar Hero is one of my favorite games. Who would have thought that taking a concept like DDR and turning it into a guitar shredding rockfest would turn out to be one of the most fun gaming experiences on the market? I can't wait for this one, because it is the next logical step in the evolution of Harmonix' franchise.

    I do wonder how well the havoc of four people playing different instruments will work out in a single room, on one television. Hopefully it will be alright for those of us that don't have cutting edge TV technology in our homes. I'm not sure how four different screens will appear on a 27" television. Do you think they'll do the 4-pane window split like in multiplayer FPS games? That might be squeezing things too tightly on smaller TVs.

  • Does anyone know who owns the rights to AC/DC?

    (Score:2)
    by jonwil (467024) on Monday October 15, @09:23PM (#20990097)
    I want to see AC/DC on Rock Band and wonder if starting a petition to whoever owns the rights would make them more likely to say yes (as opposed to the no answer they have given in the past)

  • How exciting!

    (Score:2, Insightful)
    by Tol Dantom (1114605) on Tuesday October 16, @02:00AM (#20991841)
    (Last Journal: Monday July 09, @12:31PM)
    How exciting that premium content that I must pay exorbitant prices for will be released not even a week after the game is released, further mocking me by ridiculously not being included in the original purchase even though its ready at the same time. Where do I sign up?

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