That will be not a problem. Most of the people will be very busy playing GTAIV and MGS4 anyway...

It "will not be a problem"...except for people who, you know, want to play Rock Band. Saying "hey, come over and play MGS4" doesn't quite have the appeal of "hey, come over and play Rock Band," you know? Or GTAIV, for that matter.

Ain't no two ways about it - people need Rock Band if they don't have it already. It sucks ass that they are bleeding people dry in Europe over it, but this is one of very few games where it is worth the investment.

If I were any of those console owners, I'd be glad. It's extra time for EA to realize their mistake and lower the price (or for retailers to realize it's neccesary and drop the price) Not to mention they'll have that much more heads up on DLC. I know if I had 100 songs to choose from I likely wouldn't have some of the songs I do now. (Impluse buying is bad m'kay) Still sucks they have to wait that long. But hopefully it's time invested in quality control on those instruments.

if you live in europe, have a ps3 and dont own rock band why dont you just import it?

... or maybe the delay is a "hint" for you guys to start saving for the overpriced Rock Band kit. j/k :)

There is no upside to this. PS3 folk can import it tho, so thats something.

Well if you have a PS3 it could still be cheaper ordering Rock Band from Abroad and faster, so not that much a problem. :)

And for the others it is giving people the chance to save of for the package, cause you need to pick deep in those pockets to get it. Smart move by them ;)

There is an upside to this. Money in your wallet that would have gone away. Keep it, it's not worth it.

You know, EA is really striving to be like Nintendo aren't they?

@Detre: Because there will most likely be INSANE shipping costs?
Normally you'd import a game at the drop of a hat in a case like this.

I know I would *hugs newly arrived Patapon PSP US for 19 euro*

But in this case, all the rockband peripherals ship in big boxes, I guess EA took the chance and just upped the prices because most people wouldn't risk going he import way.

Luckily, I don't give 2 shits about this game so I own't be so heartbroken. I want my Smash Bros Brawl already >_<

@Detre: Import stores charge a hefty premium on the bundle so it's even more unaffordable than the already outrageous official price will be.
You can import yourself but people who aren't used to it are shy of spending so much money for an import (if you can find somebody who ships abroad at a fair price in the first place).
Plus you have no real warranty and with reports of faulty guitars etc. on the street - there is quite some risk to import it.

I did when it launched and am very happy with it, but I can see if people don't want to import this beast.

Great move by EA/Harmonix in alienating your userbase even more - and on the consoles that matter in Europe, too. And Microsoft can't be too happy for their "exclusive" exclusive at that price either.

@Iceman B.: I guess EA took the chance and just upped the prices because most people wouldn't risk going he import way. Anybody who buys the RB bundle is not allowed to complain about the price of the RB bundle. It's overprice, true. But buying it essentially proves to EA that they can charge whatever and people will pay. If you honestly hate the price: Do not buy Rock Band.

You think this is bad? In Europe, we still have to wait another 46 days for Brawl to be released.

Even with import prices, it still costs less than buying the actual european release of the hardware. Just import it PS3 owners.

You shouldn't blame Harmonix or EA for the price, they don't choose the price. Plus, as has already been stated, you can get the gear for £100 and the game for £40 from Play.

It would be nice if they could explain why the delays are happening, but that not very likely.

Hey, look at the bright side, this means you'll have more time to save up for that "you-live-in-europe" tax.

It would be nice if EA actually came up with a reason for all this crap.

@TRT-X: I never said I *WAS* going to buy the game eh.
As for your point in general, I thought that went without saying. If you think it's outrageous, don't buy it.

I mean, paying around €250 for having all the tools to PLAY the game? Then you also need to garner some friends, and snacks and so on for an entire afternoon/evening of fun.

Again: I'll pass.

I'll admit that I am willing to shell out SOME euros for music games, namely Pop N music(selfbuilt controller) and beatmania IIDX(imported Konami controller) but in this case, I think the price is WAY too high.

The thing with importing the game is a bit tricky most retailers don`t ship the Hardware bundle to the EU plus if the toll gets the package they will charge you with a high amount of money for imported hardware.

At all I lost my interested for this game after they announced the prize and the delay of the PS3 version just because EA gets money from MS. And that can be the only reason PS3 and 360 version are identical in the point of view for the localisation plus the PS3 version is even region free so the only thing is SD PAL TV support and schwap the text (thats already localised for the 360 version) and bingo the EU version is done no need to change anything so it runs on EU PS3s.

I live in Australia... my friend imported Rockband for ps3, wasn't a big exercise.

Having played it I can tell you it's fun, it's slick, but it's definitely not worth paying the price EA is charging in Europe.

EA seem to think this game came from heaven or something... it feels like a better quality Guitar Hero with the only notable difference being the drums.

It's a niche item, priced out of any chance it had at being a hit here.

I kinda get a little bit mad each time I hear the words "Rock Band"

its like people would have already forgotten that it will cost more than a Wii and so on... :|

@Iceman B.:
I never said I *WAS* going to buy the game eh.

I know. It's just there's a lot of people right now who think they're being forced to buy RB at that price. It's really quite amazing. And frustrating...

Then you also need to garner some friends, and snacks and so on for an entire afternoon/evening of fun.

That sounds like PA's "Crystal Chronicles" comic from a while back. ;)

Bah! They can shove it for all I care! Shoulda brought one back from Canada when I was there but the box is huge! Anyway, thank again EA for screwing us Europeans over. I honestly was expecting a £150-odd price point but that was WITH the bloody game included! They can all stick it where the sun don't shine!

Can't justify the price anyway, I could buy a real drum kit for £180.

It's exacerbating. Basically double the price of the American release and ten months late? It's ridiculous!

But I guess nobody really cares what Europeans think, eh? Or Australians? I'm sure they get just as raw a deal.

i really wanted to play this game (or the drums at least) but im getting more turned off by the minute. rock band wont be an exciting new game in late august. by then i might just wait for the next guitar hero game.. for which i hope my gh3-guitar will work.

but then again. i just might be bored later this autumn and pick it up. but i suspect EA/Harmonix have lost some good will from the audience..

A few online retailers have dropped the UK price to £130 for the both the game and the instrument box on the Xbox360, I guess EA are waiting to see how well it sells, then if it bombs they can lower the price point to around that figure for the other versions. Would make sense considering the delay.

Guess that's the date I buy a PS3...

Basically a year after us release and double the price? thats fair...Are Ea and harmonix just that retarded they cant sort this out?
EA want to be the one gaming company....not like this

Rockband can take as long as it wants to come out because im not gonna buy it and if the folk on the internet practice what they preach they arent buyin either.

Wow, that... sucks. Another four months, on top of the hefty £180 price tag? Christ, every nerve ending in my body is sending "screwed" signals to my brain.

Problem with importing, like everybody stated is the insane shipping fee plus european taxes. Calculating everything using $87.50 for shipping (standard USPS fee for the size and weight of Rock Band), 25% VAT (Scandinavia) and custom fees, a $169 Rock Band kit end up at $340, which is almost exactly equivalent of the price Swedish stores still list for Rock Band with European warranty coverage :/ It really feels like we're stuck between a ripoff or abstinence.

Decided to import it via US Ebay the day this awful scam was revealed. Would have done it at launch, but shyed away because of the international PSN credit card issue. There are solutions to that too, thankfully ...

PS3 is the only way to go here. Lots more storage space for DLC plus wireless guitars! Plus it doesn't crash every half an hour like my 360.

I end up getting the whole packaged shipped form America to here (Australia) for only $250AUD. Which I think is perfectly fine (approx. $50US shipping!).

Since there is still no Australian release date announced, I'm more than happy that i was able to get it so cheaply.

i can't understand how they could not get the game out in time for PS3 - it's been out here all this time.

Here's a simple rundown: Game+guitar/mic/drums+tax+toll+postage = 170 euros. Really. From the US. With tax. Not using that expensive UPSP postal service. 1-7-0- euros. Release for Xbox 360 version in Europe: May 23rd. UK, GER, FRA Other countries: Later in the summer PS3/Wii: August Why waste time and money to get it from Europe if you can order it waaay cheaper online? Do what I did and click that order tab on a netstore. Do it today.

They should at least give something to the EU for the long wait, such as a few free DLC songs.

now i have to wait even longer -_-

...And I'm using Finlands 22% VAT and 5% customs tax, so the price might be even less in other countries.

Except, the news has been pulled back by EA. Update on the news source page. "Update: VideoGamer.com earlier contacted EA regarding the date following the presence of an August 29 release date on a Rock Band fact sheet. EA's confirmation has now been retracted. The publisher telling VideoGamer.com that the European release date for Rock Band on PS3, Wii and PS2 "isn't confirmed, and is on the factsheet in error". All EA is willing to confirm is a "later this summer" date, which is back where we started."

The news has been updated. Check the videogamer page. EA retracted the date.

PPFFTAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHA!!

='D oi...

as if they couldn't get it worse.

Shrug. When they said "summer", I was expecting an October release, so afaik this is good news.
I'm holidaying to America in July, I just need to debate whether it'll be worth an import, and if my baggage constraints will allow me to return with it.

There is always a thing called Importing!! For all we know, 5% of the PS3 gamers in Europe already have the game by buying the US Version.

That is the power of Region Free :D

they could always buy the us version.

Adding shipping + VAT + other random stuff they would still spend less then 360 user.

@Furu: Or more... if you live in Sweden at least. 25% VAT and 3.5% Custom fee... plus in handling fees... and then comes where to get it. If I had somebody buy it and send it with USPS, I'd end up at $340/€215 and I'd end up at $315/€200 from GameStop with $60 shipping... Amazon won't ship it to international adressess... and I doubt anybody could get shipping much lower than $60 anyways... so if Play.com (and possibly others as well) can get it down to €196, I'd actually be less screwed over by EA Europe than I would by my own government and american logistics from importing it.

@The Whaleman: That should be: "$17/€11 in handling fees"... sorry about leaving that out.

Also: To clarify the Play.com mathematics for those who think that would be importing as well. While it's importing, it's importing within EU and thus has none of the extra fees mentioned above. Now Play.com doesn't want to send the instrument pack outside the UK though and I'm not ready to spend €200 for a game just yet anyways... but I'm more tempted than ever after actually playing it today.

Euro should learn2recession.

If your money was doing poorly then it would cost about the same.

LEARN TOO recession.

(or if you think bush is intelligent, learn2slowdown)

BTW, where is the free portal song we were going to download??? I never saw it on the PSS...any ideas?

Thursday. With the new PSN store update.

I don't see what anyone would whine about, anyways. Not like many people are going to buy it, anyways. I could've sworn that I've heard someone mention something about organizing a boycott.

@Azmodean:
"I end up getting the whole packaged shipped form Ameri