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Becoming The Next Great Rock Band Won't Come Cheap

The garage rock band has now turned into the living room rock band, and as Electronic Arts "Rock Band" approaches its release date for the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 on Nov. 23, reports are stating that only the bundle will be sold initially.

The bundle will ring in at $169, and individual instruments won't be available until early 2008.

More after the jump...

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Nostradavis - contributor
Published: 796 days 6 hours ago | News | PlayStation 3 | Xbox 360 | Wii | PlayStation 2

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1 Lightning Mr Bubbles | 796 days 6 hours ago - User only got 1 bubble - Show

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Nostradavis - 796 days 6 hours ago

2 -

yep. looks like EA is once again looking to rape the consumer. The reason stated in the article itself is ridiculous. It's a bottom line money hungry objective. I hope Guitar Hero wins out.

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BLACKJACK VII - 796 days 6 hours ago

3 - ???????????????????

"Becoming The Next Great Rock Band Won't Come Cheap"

Gimme a break, pressin' buttons IS NOT playing a musical instrument. No offense, but for price of any of these "Bundles" you could get yourself a nice acoustic & a chord book.

Much more impressive.

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Syko 360 - 796 days 6 hours ago

3.1 -

YES, Finally someone has stated the obvious. That's why instead of Halo 3 I got an assault rifle. I am just having a hard time finding people in Spartan gear to shoot.

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Nostradavis - 796 days 6 hours ago

3.2 -

@BLACKJACK VII,

Well of course real musicians are probably not going to be interested in playing fake instruments attached to a console, but I am not sure that is the target audience here. So if all things are relevant, the title does make sense for the audience it is targeting.

While I do understand the point you are trying to make, if the demand for this type of setup was not there, the publishers would not be creating these types of games.

Guitar Hero was a huge success and Rock Band is hoping to follow in their footsteps.

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BLACKJACK VII - 796 days 5 hours ago

3.3 - @ Nostradavis

I agree - you are correct - I know it will sell millions... nay, Billions....

But you are also right when you say musicians aren't interested, I play several instuments, but mainly lead guitar in an alternative rock band that gigs regularly. I would rather see a friend get a REAL guitar & learn something as opposed to this, especially considering the price. However, comparing that to purchasing an assault rifle...(Syko 360) is obviously ludicris & a pretty unfair comparison. There IS alot more to life than gaming, y'know - LOL, everything doesn't have to be a simulation !

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Ravenator529 - 796 days 4 hours ago

3.4 - I totally agree with Syko.

This is a game! Not a "real" instrument. And while I do think that Rockband is trying to do "too much", not every "gamer" who loves music want to go out and play a "real" instrument.

Games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band let you pretend that you are actually playing the song. Sure, we know we aren't but it's a very very enjoyable and fun exprerience to be had.

Learning to play a real guitar can be quite a frustrating experience. Playing a real guitar is no where near playing a game like Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Trust me, I know! I play the drums and have tried over and over to learn the guitar with no luck.

Sure I can play a little but I mess up WAY too much to even think about playing in front of people. It's not easy! When my fingers are cramped and bleeding, come over and tell me that this is more fun than a video game?

If you love music than you should love these games. They are created with the sole purpose of having fun. Not everyone has the talent to play a real instrument. But if a person can find enjoyment from playing a plastic guitar with colored buttons, then more power to them. It's the closest thing that most people will have to playing the real thing.

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Quickstrike - 796 days 2 hours ago

3.5 - Becoming the next great rock band wont come cheap

thats the understatement of the year

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Marceles - 796 days 5 hours ago

4 -

I guess I'm getting GH3 until the drum instruments come out. That was the only reason why I was going to get it was for the drums, but I'm cool with waiting to play this until next year. Games are killing my freakin' wallet this year.

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Latham99 - 796 days 5 hours ago

5 - Gotta love choice

I'm glad I actually have a choice as to which music game I buy, I don't particularly care about the drums or mic. Looks like EA's forced bundle made the choice easy for me :)

Guitar Hero III for the win..

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Nostradavis - 796 days 4 hours ago

5.1 -

@Latham99 ,

Yeah, thankfully EA can't buy the rights to music like they did the NFL, NCAA, and ARENA football leauges.

Or can they????

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Latham99 - 796 days 3 hours ago

5.2 - Nostradavis

I thought the exact same thing man, I could easily see EA buying exclusive rights to music so no other company could use them in video games. It's this type of strongarm tactics that harm consumer choice IMO.

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Sylo - 796 days 1 hour ago

5.3 -

wrong reply, sorry

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Ravenator529 - 796 days 4 hours ago

6 - Yes, Guitar Hero 3 FTW.

EA is trying to sell way too much with Rock Band. Guitar Hero keeps it simple. Not to mention that I already have a PS2 guitar and a 360 guitar for Guitar Hero.

I'm not buying anything but a game this time. No more equipment.

Yes, it's great that there is a choice but switching over to Rock Band has this "dirty" feel to it. I have loved the Guitar Hero series of games since day one and for some reason I am really bothered that EA had to get involved in this genre.

I kinda hope it blows up in their face. But as we all know, it will sell a ton. But I still think Guitar Hero 3 will come out on top due to the fact that many people will only need to buy the Guitar Hero 3 "game". Granted PS3 owners will have a bigger decision on their hands but many 360 owners already purchased Guitar Hero 2 and may not be ready to drop another $90 on a Guitar Hero clone.

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Syko 360 - 796 days 4 hours ago

6.1 -

Yes the mis-informed general gamer will buy GH3 due to name recognition. However anyone that knows anything about these two games knows that EA has nothing to do with Rockband other than being the publisher of the game. Just like Red Octane has had nothing to do with GH 1 and 2 other than making the Guitar Controller and publishing the game. When the two companies that made GH 1 and 2 split (Harmonix and Red Octane) The developer of the games(Harmonix) kept the game engine. While the publisher(Red Octane) kept the Guitar Hero name. So Rockband is actually the true successor to GH2. And GH3 is a brand new game engine built from scratch by Activision/Neversoft and published by Red Octane. Meanwhile Rockband is being developed soley by the original music game makers(Harmonix) with titles like GH1, GH2, Amplitude and Frequency. After being bought by EA they have also teamed with MTV and have access to a far greater selection of music than ever before in a video game.

Either way I am getting both but people that buy GH for the name alone deserve to miss out on the true successor to Guitar Hero. Rockband!

Oh and on a side note, How much does local multiplayer cost with Guitar Hero 3? Oh yeah $100 for the Game and Guitar and another $60 for an additional guitar. With 1 person stuck playing boring ass bass lines all day. Drums, Mic, Guitar, Bass = WIN

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Nostradavis - 796 days 3 hours ago

6.2 -

@Syko 360,

No one is doubting the quality of either game, however to say that the publisher has nothing to do with the game is just silly. I have been in contact recently with a development studio which I will not name that is currently in the process of shopping their game to publishers. They have come up with several pitches that vary slightly based on the publisher they are pitching to.

That aside, for a moment lets assume that the publisher has nothing to do with the actual development of the game itself, that doesn't mean they are completely hands off in other areas. Take this exact scenario for example. If you believe that the publisher (EA) had no say in forcing consumers to purchase the bundle you would be sadly mistaken.

The bottom line here is that consumers should not only have the choice between games, they should have the ability to purchase just one piece if that is all they want.

Maybe the better deal is to buy all three at once, but if I am a consumer and I want spend nearly half the cost of the 3 pieces together and walk away with just the guitar or just the microphone, then that should be my choice.

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Syko 360 - 796 days 2 hours ago

6.3 -

@ Nos. I agree with almost all of that. However if you do want to buy the game and instruments separately all you have to do is wait till Jan or Feb 08' That is when they will be available. I wouldn't expect to save much money going that route though =/

Plus, E-Bay will be full of people selling individual instruments at a slight mark-up anyway.

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Loopy - 796 days 3 hours ago

7 - Too expensive

It's like buying a new console.
I know they try to make the price lower, but the cost of all those instruments don't come cheap (especially if the production volume is low initially).
They need to put the price at the 100$ barrier.

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Dante8205 - 796 days 1 hour ago

8 - nahh

and i thought guitar hero was a little pricey....no one will buy this do they realize that?

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Syko 360 - 796 days 1 hour ago

8.1 -

At least one person will.... Me

Edit- @Cat-And may you burn in hell for getting the PS3 version. =(

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Catastrophe - 796 days 1 hour ago

8.2 -

buying it? i've got it on pre-order.

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Sylo - 796 days 1 hour ago

9 -

GH3 is $99.99. Rock Band isn't that much more. And with whats bundled with Rock Band, its really not that bad of a deal.

I just always thought Rock Band was more of a party game. Play GH3 by yourself, maybe a roommate. Bust Rock Band out for 3 or more.

Off topic...Imagine learning the guitar, and being able to sing the parts in the mic at the same time.

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Nostradavis - 795 days 19 hours ago

9.1 -

yes, imagine ... then the fake groupies would really want to tear your clothes off! :)

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