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Rock Band Bundle Only Option Available This Year

Posted by Zonk on Mon Oct 15, 2007 02:28 PM
from the big-pile-of-controllers dept.
Entertainment 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 25 Comments More /

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  • 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.

    • I would kill to get Dark Side of the Moon or The Wall.
      I think Animals would be great, myself. The Wall might be a little slow for some of the instruments when taken as a whole however. I'd like to see a Wii release of the game though, personally. Without such, I'm getting Guitar Hero III. The lower price point and smaller amount of friends required helps too...
    • > 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.

      I doubt it. Companies want to make as much money as possible, and which of the following makes more money: letting the user use an open-standards (albeit expensive) MIDI controller he already owns, or creating a proprietary POS controller for exclusive use with your game?

      I could actually see someone modifying a Roland GR-1 to play Gui

  • I've heard this before (Score:4, Insightful)

    by WndrBr3d (219963) on Monday October 15 2007, @02:40PM (#20985575) Homepage Journal
    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.

    • 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..."

      Well Harmonix is talking about having new DLC for Rock Band every week, along with full albums available as well. They probably picked up their GHII DLC plans and transplanted them into RB. It was pretty impressive how quickly Harmonix switched gears once the GH franchise was transferred to Neversoft. Their swan song release of "Rock the '80s" was also particularly tepid. Coincidence?

  • Wii (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Fozzyuw (950608) on Monday October 15 2007, @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.

      • You'd miss out on a lot by buying it on the PS2

        Acknowledge. Which is why it would be only a temporary solution until they get it out on the Wii, which would hopefully have their download content sorted out by then. At which point, I'd trade in the PS2 version. Of course, it's interesting if they decide to release a PS2 "encore" disk(s) that contain the previously download only tracks. I could see that working.

        Cheers,
        Fozzy

      • it's very hard to get the PS2 online at all
        I don't know about the new PS2s, but the old PS2 just required you buy the ethernet card (~$30), plug it in, and run the setup disk. It took maybe 5 minutes to set up and get online.
  • 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.
    • I hear you on this one. It seems to me that this game just requires too much space. Unless you have an entire room dedicated to video games, it seems like something that will just end up getting shoved in a closet to get it out of the way. At which point you'll get too lazy to take it out again, and you'll stop playing.

      • Re:Too much space (Score:4, Funny)

        by jollyreaper (513215) on Monday October 15 2007, @04:21PM (#20987099)

        I hear you on this one. It seems to me that this game just requires too much space. Unless you have an entire room dedicated to video games, it seems like something that will just end up getting shoved in a closet to get it out of the way. At which point you'll get too lazy to take it out again, and you'll stop playing.
        In the suburbs, I hear they even have dedicated masturbatoriums! Wow, such largess!
    • Holy cow, 180sq ft? I wouldn't be able to survive in a space that small. How do you do it?

      • Holy cow, 180sq ft? I wouldn't be able to survive in a space that small. How do you do it?
        Is that about the size of a typical dorm room, not counting the common area and kitchen?

        • Holy cow, 180sq ft? I wouldn't be able to survive in a space that small. How do you do it?

          Is that about the size of a typical dorm room, not counting the common area and kitchen?

          Dorm rooms are meant for social living conditions with shared bathrooms and common rooms. You aren't expected to spend the majority of your time in the dorm room - it is really just a place for homework and sleeping. When you are 'home' in a dorm, you can hang out in the commons watching TV or whatever. An apartment you can be expected to spend a lot of your time in, when you are 'home', that is it. I still think 180sq ft is ridiculously small to expect somebody to live in.

    • It must be nice to live in suburbia[...]/quote No, it's not. Just a tad better than living in the city. Rural areas are where it's at. Copious amounts of room, great sense of privacy, low taxes, no zoning laws, etc. There's really just no reason to live in the city unless you're one of those Starbucks-drinking, suit-wearing corporate tools. :P
        • This is, of course, true. It's not as bad as you'd think though. A little inconvenient at times, perhaps. Then again, it is getting better. With a little effort from the necessary parties, it wouldn't even be a problem anymore. My area is supposed to finally have access to cable internet next month. I've done well enough with various satellite providers over the past several years though. The upload isn't very good, there's a few seconds of lag, and you have bandwidth limits, but it's pretty good for gener

  • Konami, anyone ? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by damaki (997243) on Monday October 15 2007, @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.

        • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

          by Captain Spam (66120)
          You do have a point about western markets (i.e. me) more likely to enjoy rhythm games with western songs in it. That's the entire reason Elite Beat Agents exists as a distinct game from... erm... whatever the original Japanese version was, I keep forgetting the name. The songlist is entirely different, the missions are different, and it all in all has a different feel. Switch markets, switch cultures, switch the game up. Basic marketing.

          But honestly, the Bemani division may be catching on, if only sligh

    • 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.

      My understanding is that you can only get the game with the bundle pack. Peripherals will be sold separately as it seems the game will only come with 1 guitar and it's capable of being played with 2. If they're going to see the drums at the start, has yet

      • RTFA- the game ships with a guitar, a mic, and the drum perph.

        On the $169.99 (USD) price point "$100 is asking quite a lot for just a guitar and a game, we think asking $70 more for the drums and microphone that change the experience is an amazing value."

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by Kilraven (1101873)

        My understanding is that you can only get the game with the bundle pack. Peripherals will be sold separately as it seems the game will only come with 1 guitar and it's capable of being played with 2. If they're going to see the drums at the start, has yet to be seen.

        According to the article it's one guitar, one mic, one drumset, and the game. Peripherals won't be sold until early '08 - which I'm not sure if they meant actual or fiscal year.

        The issue I have with this is things break. While the bundle is a damn nice deal for the initial purchase, what if the drumset or mic breaks two months down the road? I'd rather not purchase some off party piece - they never look or feel the same - or wait six months to purchase a replacement. I want to be able to sign, curse just a

              • Rock Band is compatible with the GH peripherals, even though the RB guitar is not compatible with the GH games.

                Wha, huh? First I heard of that. I realize both GH, and RB are going to add special things to each guitar that won't be present in the other, but for the core gameplay of 5 fret buttons, strum and Whammy bar... all indications point to them being interchangeable.

    • 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.

      $1 a track seems low for this to me - keep in mind that these songs are interactive, and that these have four instrumentations you can play instead of just the guitar track from GH2. Beyond that, the first few albums - Who's Next, Nevermind, and Metallica's "One" - are all headliners and, sav
    • When prompted on the matter, the Harmonix position was that licensing the song is $1 and then more money goes into creating tracks for 3 different instruments (+mike), and that what you're purchasing has more value than a regular song (depends on the value you place on portability/compatibility).

      They said they couldn't say if the song prices would be lower or HIGHER than for Guitar Hero.

      Bottom line: I fully expect $2+ songs and $20+ albums.

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