Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box - Kotaku Comments

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Zero2007 — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 02:05:47 MST

It's interesting--I just bought very recently and wanted to get Rockband for my girlfriend. I actually could have bought the PS3 and it earlier had we actually had some in stock at our best buy. Checking on the shipments and shit, Oahu sucks crap for Best Buy Rockband offers. Our only two stores are the only ones in the district without them, which made me irritated for a week or two.
Now, my local 230948320482308 gamestops had RB, but after seeing the condition in which the boxes were (their consoles look worse too! Almost bought a PS3 and I saw the box all shitted up and the guy only said sorry for the junk looking box but I assure you everything inside's fine), I simply walked out of the store, called my best buy, and what do you know-- 4 mysteriously came in. Came in, snatched them, and boom.

Well I strayed from my main point, but yeah the price point was kind of annoying. Lucky for me, employee's discount (woo hoo!). Aside from that, I was disappointed at the drums being poorly made (thank goodness for that sound DIY mod), but yeah the game's really entertaining. Comparing it to the $99.99 GHIII bundle, it's not that bad, considering you get two more instruments to mess around with. And RB actually feels more fun than GHIII. Just my opinion though..

Zero2007

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

fuchikoma — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 19:46:49 MST

Not in Canada yet, so I can't buy it.
My friends are mostly FPS fans who wouldn't touch a rhythm game, so I'd take the standalone version... but after the side by side movies of it and GH3 (they have that many same songs? weak!) it looks like GH was what I was after anyway. I want more crazy shredding on guitar. And I've had it for weeks since it's actually available here.
I'll probably grab it eventually because I must have all music games, but so far... meh. Really haven't been that moved by it yet to be honest.

fuchikoma

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Atilla_the_Nun — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 16:58:33 MST

@vanderhoef: Under normal circumstances, yes, it's a fair price for what you get. But factor in the 70% chance of getting a POS peripheral that will break after 5 songs, then ... not such a geat deal IMO.

Atilla_the_Nun

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Witzbold — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:57:39 MST

I so want Rock Band. D:

Witzbold

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Anarchist_Gamer — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:57:26 MST

I don't get it. A game costs $60. Add a (wired) guitar, drum set, and microphone, and that's well over $100. Nobody complains about GHIII's price, and all you get is one guitar. Rock Band is a steal! Anybody who says otherwise probably does not own it, and...yes...they're jealous. Seriously, if you don't own the game, I don't need to hear your pitiful justification. Play whatever it is you do think is worth your cash.

Anarchist_Gamer

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

ckranger11 — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 09:49:01 MST

@punkasscrab: Apparently 364,500 people decided it was worth having a "rock studio made of cheap plastic set up in their living room".

Of course, I can only speak for myself, but at least one of us 364,500 doesn't live in a friggin' shack so we have plenty of room to carry our burdensome "cheap plastic" to a closet.

ckranger11

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

punkasscrab — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:27:46 MST

I've seen it available in lots of stores. The reason that I didn't pick it up is because they put out demos to play with and you can hold and feel what cheap pieces of plastic you'd be buying. That, and who wants a rock studio made of cheap plastic set up in their living room?

punkasscrab

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Rastaman4200 — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:20:33 MST

Rock Band is pretty good but the $170 was a bit hard to swallow, but i bought it and now have to send the Guitar back and possible the Drums :`(

Think EA will send me 2 games if i have send back my drums too??

Rastaman4200

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

jacksons98 — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 08:13:12 MST

I think low sales because they didn't ship enough. I pre-ordered mine from NewEgg for PS3 and just got it last week.

jacksons98

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

qBIRD — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:37:07 MST

people complaining about the price of Rock Band should just not buy it or talk about the price..I think it was a deal at $170.00 now that my replacement guitar works unlike the original..I would have paid more..$60.00 for a regular game isn't asking too much either.

qBIRD

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Mezodon — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:27:30 MST

@Clarke: I didn't say that. What I was getting at is that there could definitely be a Wii version even without DLC since DLC is usually just an overpriced money grab, and in this case it's not critical to enjoyment of the game.

Mezodon

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

bagelskate — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:19:34 MST

when i bought rock band on launch night, the frat boys in front of me were plotting out loud to buy extra copies and sell them on ebay. HAW HAW HAW. i'm so glad their plan failed miserably. i'm also glad rock band is fairly easy for everyone to obtain and is selling fairly well, because it's great.

bagelskate

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

kruador — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:04:01 MST

Damn, no edit: URL was supposed to be [web.archive.org] - guess Kotaku's auto-URL formatter didn't detect the embedded URL.

kruador

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

kruador — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 07:02:57 MST

@MindInRewind: and selling rhythm-action game peripherals was what Red Octane's business was before Guitar Hero. They'd never published a game before that. (Go far enough back at [www.redoctane.com]">Wayback Machine and they were a game rental company along the lines of NetFlix.)

kruador

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Electroqueen — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 06:04:45 MST

I went to Best Buy yesterday and I caught a person buying both "Guitar Hero III" and "Rock Band." And the funny thing was it was a woman, not much taller than five feet. Man even I have trouble trying to carry that box for prolonged periods of time.

Electroqueen

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

mind in rewind — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:48:42 MST

Anyway, 364,500 copies in 11 days is damn good for ANY game. Let alone one that costs $170.

mind in rewind

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

mind in rewind — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:39:13 MST

@kathartik: Because they haven't released a peripheral before. Red Octane made the GH guitars.

mind in rewind

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

4dSwissCheese — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 05:08:14 MST

My bet would be that there's a Wii version coming eventually - they just have to design different peripherals for it. And given that they can't make enough hardware for the SKU's they've got out there already, it'll probably be a bit.

4dSwissCheese

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

SAKY — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:55:32 MST

It is a little pricey but 360k ain't bad. Also these numbers explain why all I ever see on shelves are PS3 versions

SAKY

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

DrXym — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:28:04 MST

@Torgen: Is the PS3 hardware any different? I thought it used a dongle. Maybe that and other incompatibility issues is part of the reason it's not selling so well. The PS3 has bluetooth. It's bizarre that games keep issuing dongles.

DrXym

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

splines — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 04:02:25 MST

I'm sure Australian sales numbers would be decent.

If they sold the fucking thing here.

splines

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:37:49 MST

@darkslide: But the PS3 version sold poorly. Will the DLC money offset the fixed costs of producing the PS3 version of the hardware and software?

Torgen got his apology faceplate but not his fixed GH3 disc

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Ergophobia — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 01:01:25 MST

@Ergophobia: Wait I read that "old" my bad. keep being indie. I get annoyed at people who are too "old school" to play new games.

Ergophobia

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Ergophobia — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:58:17 MST

@Goldwings: Living in the past FTW. Unique and old are not the same. Infact old usually means its been done.

Anyway Rock band is Amazing, and I found a free way to fix my guitar online. If it weren't for Uncharted this would have never left my PS3.

Ergophobia

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

karnag3 — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:56:22 MST

So far I've had like every component go bad except for the mic. Had a bad bass pedal out of the box. A week later the guitar strum broke. Then my drumsticks started to splinter at the ends. Now the yellow drum pad is cracked (thanks to my friend and his heavy hits.) Oh yeah, the new bass pedal is now forming thin cracks on the sides. =(

karnag3

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Ario Reads Kotaku, Seems Pleased — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:49:57 MST

Well I saw Rock Band for a tasty $150 per box! A whole pallet of them and they sold out!

Then again I am in So Cal and that was a grey market dealer... go figure...

Ario Reads Kotaku, Seems Pleased

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

kathartik — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:45:17 MST

so....
if that's the case, why is there all these supposed "shortages" as HMX has been putting it? It's not like they haven't released a music peripheral before, so why the huge flustercluck now?

kathartik

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Konchu — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:31:51 MST

Its an awesome game but yeah the 170 price tag probably is hurting it they need to get the standalone controllers out and it will help some Guitar Hero did well pushing its luck at 70-90 bucks but I am curious of the PS2 offering and some 360 how many had guitars packed in and how many were repeat customers.

Konchu

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Gamewatcher at Busy Gamer News — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:30:48 MST

I think the true test will be when there's solid availability of Rock Band on Xbox 360 and PS2, where there's installed base. I've been hunting Rock Band on 360 for three weeks and finally just secured a copy tonight on Amazon (Christmas is saved!).

Once everyone who wants Rock Band can buy it on their platform of choice, we'll see how it does. I'm sure it will underperform a little due to price (not as likely to go mainstream) but the perceived value is higher, too. Plus, GHIII has the advantage of an installed base of controllers, so you can play all of the modes with a legacy axe. Unbundling the hardware from Rock Band next year will probably make a difference.

I personally have no interest in GHIII because I'm less about the rivalry and more about the co-op and opportunity to play the drums.

Gamewatcher at Busy Gamer News

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Elsmooth — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:22:51 MST

Lousy RockBand ruined my plans of a capitalist ebay christmas.

BAAAAAHHH HUMBUG.

Elsmooth

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

TheIrishNinja — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:10:14 MST

Worth every freakin' penny, no lie. this thing's gotten more casuals around my place playing games again and loving em than Wii Sports did, and that's saying a lot.

TheIrishNinja

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Jazhuis — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:01:13 MST

@Jazhuis: By "mixed bag" I mean the warranty service EA has been providing. Some people seem to get crapped on, some people seem to get exemplary service, and some get crapped on but then get a free game out of the deal.

Jazhuis

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Jazhuis — Thu, 20 Dec 2007 00:00:17 MST

@InsidiousTuna (ChickenOfTheSea to some): @Kirbytheslayer: Inside jokes get him more followers: That really sucks. :( I will say that my strum bar stopped working Saturday, and I got my new Strat today. It seems a mixed bag.

Although I would certainly ask them to prove delivery before they charge you for not returning your old one (or even better, dispute the charge with your credit card). Assuming they do charge you.

Jazhuis

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Clarke — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:38:07 MST

Guitar Hero 3 $100 + Guitar Hero Controller $60 = $160

I think I know where you're saving money. I guess you could say the mic is $10 but Rockband seems like a better deal.

Clarke

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

theprof00 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:34:21 MST

i blame the commercials. The only reason I don't wanna play it with friends is because I don't wanna argue over whose going to be doing scissor kicks like some lame scenester wannabe

theprof00

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Petezah — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:28:04 MST

They'd be stupid not to release a Wii version. The Wii market loves custom-peripheral gaming. That's the whole point of the Wii! Plus the sheer casual gaming factor of both Rock Band and the Wii.

Petezah

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Clarke — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:21:09 MST

@darkslide: Yep Activision is making so much money on GH3's DLC on Wii. Plus PS2's version of Rockband is gonna make tons in DLC sales.

Clarke

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

PurpleMonkey — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:17:39 MST

@DELETED: Well, no not really. It is a more expenisve guitar hero with a prettier guitar, a karaoke game mic, and what is essentially Drum hero. Kinda like 3 games in one, which when combined (and by combined I mean played w/ other people) is the equivalent in awesomeness of forming Voltron (which is pretty awesome.)

PurpleMonkey

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Ampillion, Dayman. Fighter of the Nightman. — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:17:12 MST

@darkslide: I'm betting they'd of made more on the Wii version than they have made on the PS3 version, if GH3 is any indication. Plus, as stated, they're already working to get the DLC on it for GH3, I can't imagine it being any different for RB.

Ampillion, Dayman. Fighter of the Nightman.

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

LLamaStar — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:15:43 MST

we have it at our work...needless to say the lunch and dinner breaks are awesome.

LLamaStar

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

badarsemother3k — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:15:38 MST

I saw Rock Band and OK and thought OMG Radiohead's OK Computer... than the letdown. Seriously give us OK Computer.

badarsemother3k

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Yuki — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:13:35 MST

Steel Battalion says welcome to the club.

Yuki

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

DELETED — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:02:19 MST

i didnt see this as being a real must have, its basically a more expensive guitar hero with drums.

DELETED

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

marissa_melee — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:01:28 MST

Mine (X360 version) came with a broken guitar just like everyone else's, so I had EA send a new one. That too was broken. Now I'm waiting for them to receive my original guitar (I had them send me a new guitar before I sent my old one, with credit card as collateral) so I can report my second one as broken and start the whole thing over again.

marissa_melee

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

SupaNeeb — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:59:38 MST

I've tried endlessly to get Rock Band for my brother in time for Christmas but EBGames has told me that I can't expect to pick it up until Christmas Eve (previously I was told the 20th). Im 3rd on the pre-order list at the store but with X-mas well on its way I don't wanna risk more delays and am now most likely going to buy the cheaper PS3. They'd have more sales if they could actually get onto the shelves.

SupaNeeb

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

darkslide — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:57:31 MST

@clarke:
of course. but why invest in it, when you aren't going to make the lucrative money you will on the PS3 and 360 versions that DO have DLC? I'm sure this was the major factor in making that decision.

darkslide

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:57:11 MST

@InsidiousTuna (ChickenOfTheSea to some): Complain. Complain enough, and all your problems get solved.

I hate to say that, because it makes you sound like those whiny bastards who sue for everything, but if you literally get screwed over, and you complain, they'll usually just solve your problem and over-accommodate you to make sure you're not one of those whiny bastards who sue for everything.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

adamonfire — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:56:41 MST

I was having a blast playing it, until my foot pedal broke an hour ago. EA damn well better replace it for free and in a timely fashion, or I'll be PISSED.

Fuckin' Boston.

adamonfire

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:53:22 MST

@Kirbytheslayer: Inside jokes get him more followers: They already have my account info. They'll take my money. I'm gonna just say "fuck it" and hope I get enough money working over Christmas to buy a whole new set. I'm pissed, but there's nothing I can do.

InsidiousTuna

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Kiriphii — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:48:22 MST

Not bad, but not necessarily good. I think Rock Band may be one of those games that stays in the chart for a while, like New Super Mario Bros. This game will sell on word of mouth and more than likely, provide a steady, if unspectacular, number of sales each week/month.

Kiriphii

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

sn1per420 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:46:17 MST

So wii and ps2 combined made up well over half of the sales of the game, but activision treats us the worst?

Also, rock band is much more fun than gh3. The only downside is that now that I'm home from school, gh3 on the wii doesn't seem so fun compared to RB on my roommate's ps3.

sn1per420

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:39:50 MST

@InsidiousTuna (ChickenOfTheSea to some): Don't pay. If you don't have the drums, don't pay.

Though on a side note, today marks the 1 month anniversary since my guitar broke and I filed for a new guitar.
I also found out today that they forgot to ship it to me. Yeah, that's right. It was delayed, but then once it was ready, they forgot to send it.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Ampillion, Dayman. Fighter of the Nightman. — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:33:31 MST

@CaptRonJ: I was gonna answer, but ckranger11 beat me to it.

Either they will eventually come out with their own hard disk, open up USB support for other hard-drives, or allow usage of SD cards for actual gaming purposes. There's no 'lose' scenario for them to create more ways to save things on the Wii.

Ampillion, Dayman. Fighter of the Nightman.

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

captronj — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:24:05 MST

@ckranger11: thanks, that explains a lot to my technically feeble mind. appreciated.

captronj

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

InsidiousTuna — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:23:59 MST

I'm unhappy. I'm getting fucked sideways by EA. My guitar and drums are broken, and I haven't recieved the new drums. Haven't said a thing about my guitar. I have 4 days to return the broken drums before they charge me $125 for the new set. Haven't recieved the new set, yet, though! I'm going to end up paying three hundred dollars for Karaoke Revolution: Rock Edititon.

InsidiousTuna

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

AlphaTwo — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:22:55 MST

@darkslide: Rock Band PS2. So what was that about DLC that warranted no Wii version?

AlphaTwo

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

ckranger11 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:21:33 MST

@CaptRonJ: The Wii does not have an internal hard drive, but it does have 512 internal flash memory with the ability to utilize an SD memory card, which are usually 512MB-4GB in size. There has been much speculation that Nintendo will eventually release its own proprietary hard drive or allow the usage of USB external hard drives that will really open things up a bit.

The recent "Punk Pack" on the PSN was 56.5MB total or 13-22MB for each single, and those are punk (typically shorter) songs. See: [blog.us.playstation.com]

All that said, apparently the GH3 DLC is going to find a way to come to the Wii in the new year, so I wouldn't be terribly surprised to see the eventual Wii Rock Band get their own DLC on the system. In fact, I'm personally betting that is part of the holdup.

ckranger11

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

THX5334 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:20:54 MST

@Custom Reality:

Sorry, but you're misinformed. This game has a very robust single player mode.

Imagine being able to have Guitar Hero, Drum Hero, Bass Hero and Kareoke Hero all in one! That is single player.

This game is fantastic and is getting most of my play time, as well as getting much interest from friends who are not gamers or casusal gamers at best.

My guitar had a bum motion sensor and even though I had a Best Buy replacement plan to swap the whole thing, I opted for the online warranty exchange. I went for the $125 hold and they had me a perfect guitar in two days. I thought my USB Hub was bum too and warrantied that, but it is fine and was my error. They messed up and sent me a second guitar which I have opted to keep because it is also perfect.

So, even though I'm paying $125 instead of $80-$90, at least I have a full set and don't have to worry about dealing with sold out individual instruments which is bound to happen.

That is worth the extra $35 for me.

I can understand not paying $300 for that XBox Mech game, but $170 for three peripherals, four single player game and one multiplayer plus online dlc,

You have no idea the fun you are missing out on.

Also, the idea that modders are making these peripherals into actual electronic instruments (esp. the drums) adds value if you're any kind of musician.

Sorry your frugality is going to keep you from some serious fun.

In fact they sent me two

THX5334

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Dick.Blake — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:19:06 MST

If the instruments hold up, there is no reason why this won't become my favorite game. New songs every week... geez. I feel those last 60 stars on Mario Galaxy will go neglected.

Dick.Blake

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

captronj — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:13:22 MST

Wait, so, and I'm being honest here, the Wii Shop Channel and hard drive could not support DLC for Rock Band? Like Rock Band songs are bigger than all of the N64 games? I don't know a lot about how big such files (or whatever they are called in this case) are. I would feel like the Wii would be able to get the extras to people, as well.

captronj

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:11:29 MST

I know that the Ps2 version is selling like crazy. The friend I mentioned once before has been searching frantically for a copy, and they're going for $300-400, assuming you can actually find one that isn't back-ordered.

Kirbytheslayer: In-Kirby XMB

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

PsionicMonkey — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:04:37 MST

I'd like to see Rock Band come to the Wii - and, as much as it causes me physical agony to say it, it would be a great...p-party game.

I could live with dialed down online options, or a lack of DLC initially.

PsionicMonkey

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

RawSteelUT — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:04:35 MST

More importantly, Rock Band appeared on the tail end of November, and had initial shortages. Guitar Hero 3 was released in early or mid October if I remember correctly. The real test will be how Rock Band does in December.

RawSteelUT

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Vexorg — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 22:01:18 MST

Those numbers seem to be in line with my findings that I've only seen 360 Rock Band on the shelves a couple of times (and bought one of them) but have seen far more PS3 copies available.

Vexorg

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Clarke — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:59:33 MST

@Mezodon: Yeah because having no Rockband is better than having Rockband with downloadable content. You make a lot of sense. I've seen the light.

Clarke

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

logicaldefense — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:51:56 MST

It's surprising to see GH3 sell so well.. the game experience is just bland..

Rock Band is great fun alone or with friends, online multiplayer is really awesome. I've met a lot of online friends and my friends list has grown tenfold.
Not to mention going back to GH3's animations... its just sad to see. Rock Band actually makes you excited to see the backgrounds. Your avatars are playing instruments and singing in sync to the song!

logicaldefense

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

blackadvent — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:50:00 MST

I feel the urge to make some wisecrack involving mono sound, broken instruments, and the urge to call people who can 5-star 'Through the Fire and Flames' freaks of nature.

blackadvent

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

goldwings — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:48:59 MST

@SuperFox: I've never played a MGS game *blush* but that'll change with MGS4

goldwings

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Mezodon — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:46:42 MST

@clarke: Of course. But it seems we've moved into an era where selling content for a game soon after it's released is considered a feature. Sorry, but the value of "DLC" is lost on me having played many PC games where you get the whole thing in the box or get more for free later on as a bonus for the $50 you already spent.

Mezodon

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Mit — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:41:52 MST

Activision is incredibly lucky they have the name "Guitar Hero" attached to their rhythm game.

In any case, I work in GameStop, and all copies of Rock Band we get sell out by the end of the week, so it's doing good. Guitar Hero III's sales will slow down next year, and I expected Rock Band to continually sell as more and more people can afford it. The individual bundles won't hurt either.

Mit

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

eggfou — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:40:24 MST

I already ahd two GH2 guitars for my 360, so I just picked up the game by itself. I have no drums, but at least I can use my headset to sing. Even with just the two guitars, its still tons of fun.

eggfou

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Rohsiph — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:39:31 MST

@Custom Reality: What? GTA3/VC/SA's coding is pretty solid?

Oh, . . . so it must've been a creative design decision to limit it to no more than a dozen vehicles in view at a time. I had never understood that before.

Rohsiph

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

AndrewMP — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:39:17 MST

@katorok: I live in Canada and have a copy pre-ordered. Today, however, I was shopping in Bangor, Maine, and came across a whole pile of them at a Wal-Mart. Of course, they may have just been put there.

AndrewMP

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Lstormy10 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:37:59 MST

@Goldwings: You are not alone in your statement (although there is a good chance I will purchase a game from one of those franchises in the coming year).

Lstormy10

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Tortillalad — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:37:58 MST

2.18 million just from Wii and PS2 sales?

*Glares at Harmonix/MTV/EA*

So, how's about that Wii port? And please, don't make it half assed like the PS2 version. Thanks.

Tortillalad

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Katorok — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:31:23 MST

Erm.. there are none.. No one can find one, it wasn't available in Canada either, so there are a number of reasons why it's not up there..

Katorok

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Lstormy10 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:31:06 MST

Actually, the software sales being reported by 1UP are incorrect or are for a different time period than the NPD reporting month of November. I know this because NPD provided the numbers for the month of November directly to the simExchange the day that they (the NPD) reported all the other numbers. Only the Xbox 360 sales were provided to the simExchange because that was all that was needed for the site's purposes. The sales of the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band for the NPD month of November was 311,900 copies.

Source: [the simExchange]

Lstormy10

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Custom Reality — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:22:14 MST

@Squanderdalfast: A game can be 'good' design-wise but 'bad' opinion/taste-wise. There are people out there who think the GTA series is a generic snore-fest. I am one of them. Aside from GTA 4, the others are visually unimpressive and the stories are pretty generic and over-the-top in an unfunny way. That's my opinion though. The game's coding is pretty solid, as is the control and game mechanics.

Custom Reality

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Clarke — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:21:33 MST

@darkslide: I am still able to play the game without downloadable content aren't I?

Clarke

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

SuperFox — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:20:24 MST

@Goldwings: The real feat would be if you have never played a Mario, Zelda, or Metal Gear Solid.

SuperFox

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

jrbatche — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:20:16 MST

Agree on the DLC. I haven't downloaded one piece of GH2 or 3 stuff that's come out, but I bit the bullet for Buddy Holly and My Iron Lung and both are great on guitar (drums are next). unfortunately, my guitar finally crapped out on me during buddy holly (double strumming, mostly), so I had to pull out my GH2 Xplorer.

Have to say, going back to the old guitar was tough, I was finally getting used to the Strat and was really liking it (I hated the strum at first, then started to really like it, then it broke). I'm not used to the noise anymore, and it 'feels' like a toy in comparison (see, I put feels in quotes because obviously they're both toys, and neither feel nearly as good as a solid wood body electric).

Anyway, I hope I get it before christmas as i'm leaving for a week the day after. Luckily, i have a friend right down the road with a GH guitar so we can keep going over the weekend.

jrbatche

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

MushroomBoy1022 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:19:42 MST

@topaz420: EXACTLY. its a shame it's so costly, when it's SO much better than gh3. D=

MushroomBoy1022

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

AndrewMP — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:19:41 MST

And it's not even out in Canada yet.

AndrewMP

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

darkslide — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:18:35 MST

@clarke:
How can they put it on Wii when DLC is so important to the game? Gonna fit everything on that SD card?
I'm sure they could have done a gimped version, but whatever.

darkslide

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Squanderdalfast — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:16:33 MST

@Goldwings

How, exactly is not playing good games, a win?

/skeptical

Squanderdalfast

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Custom Reality — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:16:05 MST

In my honest opinion, $170 is much too much to ask for a game... even - with - proprietary peripherals. I have a hard time justifying $50 per a game, let alone $170 for a game I can't play unless I have a lot of friends over or sit online. Who has that kind of time this day and age? I play games five hours a week at most, what with a career, going back for more college and a wife/social life. At that price I would have to play it every day so that I don't feel bad about spending all the money on for the game to collect dust. As well as take up space.

Custom Reality

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

CyN1caL — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:15:44 MST

@ckranger11: Buddy Holly and My Iron Lung and amazing on all 4 instruments. They're pretty easy, but I enjoy myself so much when playing them, I don't care about the difficulty.

CyN1caL

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Clarke — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:14:43 MST

Good Job Harmonix/EA for not launching on the Wii. This Nintendo fanboy is glad you tanked. Those PS3 Rockband bundles stacked up at GameStop will make great coffee tables though.

Clarke

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

CyN1caL — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:14:24 MST

GH1 didn't sell that well at first, and Rock Band is in pretty limited supply.

Once word spreads, and instruments are being sold separately, it will easily outsell GH3, because it's a far superior piece of software.

CyN1caL

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

ckranger11 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:12:57 MST

Regardless of B&M sales numbers, I will be extremely interested to hear how much $$$ Harmonix/MTV/EA is pulling on DLC.

When the Guitar Hero DLC hits, all you hear are rallying calls for people to avoid it due to the forced track packs. In the last 2 days, everyone that owns Rock Band seems to be talking about how much fun it is to play Buddy Holly. EA's already coaxed about $30 out of me that Activision will never see with their current pricing structure.

ckranger11

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Eman311 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:11:39 MST

I wonder if this simply the 170 bundle, or if stand alones are included (not than many were sold anyways)

Eman311

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

Malavin — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:08:11 MST

*Hoping to get it for Christmas*

Malavin

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

XbhaskarX — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:07:33 MST

The sales numbers for both versions of Rock Band have been known since the November NPD came out, they just were not posted on Kotaku.

As far as comparing Rock Band sales for 360 and PS3, next-gen.biz did so in their NPD analysis:
[www.next-gen.biz]

XbhaskarX

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

goldwings — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:07:04 MST

I've never played any Guitar Hero game nor Rock Band. In fact, I'm an odd gamer that has never bought any GTA or Madden game. Uniqueness FTW

goldwings

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

DamienMagi — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:06:05 MST

Pretty sure it's the price of Rock Band that's the problem. When I bought mine. A lady was being help by a Best Buy person. She found out GH3 was sold out and was directed at Rock band. She looked interested at first. When she asked the price, she frowned and walked out with Assassian's Creed.

DamienMagi

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

TheCleaningGuy — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:05:32 MST

I haven't played rock band, simply because I don'tknow anyone who has it.

TheCleaningGuy

Rock Band Sells OK For A Troubled, $170 Box

topaz420 — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 21:04:14 MST

The faulty hardware hasn't tarnished my view of this game one bit -- it still hasn't left my 360's tray for the last 3 weeks!

topaz420