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Rock Band's UK release gets hefty backing

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Rock Band's UK release gets hefty backing

EA teaming up with Microsoft to ensure title is 'everywhere gamers and music lovers exist'

Rock Band is set to hit European Xbox 360s later this month, and EA's UK office is readying a rocking marketing campaign in support.

The game has shifted nearly two million units since it was released in North America last year, and has won numerous awards and critical acclaim.

However, UK gamers have had to wait for their chance to form a virtual band, with the 360 version set to arrive on UK shores on May 23rd.

“We are very excited about launching Rock Band this month and this will be reflected in the marketing of the game,” EA’s marketing manager Stuart Lang told MCV.

“We are still finalising our full plans but it's fair to say there is a significant spend behind Rock Band and we will be everywhere gamers and music lovers exist.”

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Rock Band is currently a temporary exclusive on Microsoft’s Xbox 360, with the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3 and Wii editions due later in the year. EA has partnered up with Microsoft in time for the game’s launch.

“Microsoft has been a fantastic partner in helping us bring Rock Band to Europe and we’re excited to be working with them for the Xbox 360 launch in May,” added Lang.

“There will be an instruments edition featuring one guitar, a drum set and microphone. All the Rock Band software and peripherals will be sold separately so we can give our consumers the greatest amount of choice possible.”

So thats what the £180 price tag is paying for

posted by Onehunglow May 06, 2008 at 8:45 pm
1

Nice. Over priced pile of tat

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Re: So thats what the £180 price tag is paying for

posted by Peter May 07, 2008 at 9:00 am
2
Peter

Are all the instruments including the microphone wireless? If so, the cost might be justified and no more.

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Re: So thats what the £180 price tag is paying for

posted by Monkey Dung May 07, 2008 at 3:41 pm
3
Monkey Dung

All of instruments bar the Guitar are wired, the rest plug into a usb hub. Guitar Hero IV will have the same 'band style' mulit-instruments but will be completley wireless. Personally, I'll save my money and buy the original and best. The reason it's all available seperatly is too make more money, not give people choice! F*** E.A.

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You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Vasi May 07, 2008 at 6:05 pm
4
Vasi

Yeah, thanks Harmonix and EA for still not releasing the PS3 version until practically the 32nd of never. I bet you'll both be wondering why when you finally do release it in the UK (hello, you might have heard of little old us, we're the third largest gaming market after you and Japan, worth £2 Billion you know) hardly anyone will buy it. (psst. It's because we've already had to import it from America rather than wait a month for you to regionalize it by changing every instance of words such as color as favorite.)

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Lauren May 07, 2008 at 8:58 pm
5
Lauren

The 360 guitar is actually wired like the rest of the kit, but you can use the guitar hero guitars with it, whereas the PS3 version has the wireless guitar but incompatibility with guitar hero guitars.I've played the PS3 one and i really don't like the new guitar and i'd prefer to stick to my GH3 gibson. On the plus side, you can use the 360 headset to sing into apparently so you can play an instrument and sing at the same time without having to balance the mic on the arm of your sofa while sitting on the floor! Can't do voice chat on PS3 Rock Band anyway so it kinda sucks. I'll be buying it when it comes out even if we are being screwed over the price again. I could probably get a hold of a US 360 and Rock Band for the same price as getting the game alone here. I could cope with a delay, but a rip off is something that is beginning to grate on me to the extent where i'm not buying new games anymore. I'll buy it preowned and then the developers and publishers have a hissy fit about the state of the market. UK gamers always get ripped off over prices and delays yet the preowned business is booming at the disgust of dev teams and publishers and piracy is increasing, can you blame us? You can't have your cake and eat it, so get your fingers out and start giving a damn about us gamers, we're your bread and butter!

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Pantythief May 08, 2008 at 9:18 am
6
Pantythief

The headline of this flash should have been:

'Rock Band's UK release gets hefty price tag'

What a joke........

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Ratty1009 May 09, 2008 at 10:10 pm
7
Ratty1009

Quick question here... why has nobody looked into the game enough to realise that EA are not the publishers of ROCKBAND and that all they are doing is distributing it. MTV are calling all the shots and anyone that's done their research would realise this.

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Vasi May 10, 2008 at 10:29 am
8
Vasi

You can use the PS2 GH guitars with the PS3 Rock Band anyway, which suits me fine. It sounds ridiculous that you can't use a GH3 Gibson though, but only as ridiculous as the fact you can't use PS2 GH guitars with GH3, even if you have a USB adapter. I don't think I'll mind not being able to use a wireless GH3 Gibson as they're not as good as the old wired ones for actually hitting all the notes anyway.

Ratty1009 - You're right, I didn't mention MTV, but I don't really see it as their problem. EA are distributing it, or rather they're responsible for not distributing it over here, hence why I'm directing my bile towards them, for being the champions of game delaying (I think I'll actually make them a crown if they surpass a year between the US and UK PS3 release dates).

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Fed up of waiting May 16, 2008 at 11:14 pm
9
Fed up of waiting

Here here Vasi, Ratty EA are the king of delays, who do we really feel is pulling the shots, me think microsoft have a rather large sledgehammer to EA / MTV head. PS3 overs getting screwed again. I have both Xbox and PS£ so i dont care, But nealy a years us to uk realse they getting done over for £180 do they think we are stupid. With the current exchange rate they are taking us all for a ride and we should put up with it. But we do, look at GTA4.

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Re: You Really Do Hate Us

posted by Fed up of waiting May 16, 2008 at 11:16 pm
10
Fed up of waiting

And yes my spelling grammer sucks but i cant edit it now :)

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Don't buy Rock Band. Don't buy EA.

posted by Blob May 24, 2008 at 10:33 am
11
Blob

Teach them a lesson where it hurts most - their profit bonus. Boycott all EA / Harmonix / MTV products until pricing has been realistically set.

Not only do they really do hate you - they despise you and think you are really stupid! Here's Greg LoPiccolo, Head of Product Development, Harmonix -

“We’re not gouging you, primarily because doing so doesn’t serve our interests. We can only build our franchise if you buy our games. You may conclude that Rock Band isn’t worth the price charged, and that is your prerogative. But it’s not magically going to get cheaper because you wish it to be so.

“We’re not making a killing on Rock Band in Europe. We are incredibly sensitive to pricing issues. We are painfully aware that the higher the price we charge, the less copies we’ll sell. That is true of any nonessential commodity; it’s not rocket science. The fact of the matter is, the costs of releasing in Europe are far higher than in the US, in some ways uniquely so for Rock Band compared to other game titles, because of the size of the peripherals.”

“Seriously, I was shocked to learn how much it costs us to ship an RB peripherals box to Europe. It’s way more than you’d expect.”

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