Electronic Arts has finally announced a release date for Harmonix’s band simulator in the United Kingdom.
Out on May 23rd, Rock Band will release exclusively on Xbox 360 with Playstation 3, PS2 and Wii versions scheduled for a vague “summer”.
If you’ve been living in a cave, on a mountain or in the big brother house for the past few months, Harmonix left the Guitar Hero franchise to Activision, jumped ship and got bought by MTV, and then with Electronic Arts distributing they released Rock Band – the natural extension of their talents bringing guitar, vocals and drums into one harmonious explosion of sound.
Rock Band’s selection of tracks is incredible in both quality (in partnership with MTV, Rock Band features mostly original master tracks of the songs) and quantity. Besides the game’s 67 on-disc tracks (9 of which are exclusive to our European version), the number of songs available on Xbox Live (or Playstation Network) is reaching 100.
On May 27th, The Xbox Live will crush under the weight of these 70 downloadable songs being released for Europeans to pick and choose from. After that, European and American owners will receive brand new tracks simultaneously each week. (Songs are 160 MS Points each, £1.36)
Price Information:
In the UK, you won’t be able to buy the complete experience in one box. The instruments will available for £129.99 and the game itself will be sold separately for £49.99 (RRP). Together, this comes to a WHOPPING £180. When your product is more expensive in pounds than the relative dollar price tag ($169.99), you know you’re abusing your British customers.
The best course of action is to go piece meal; pick up the game, find a crappy USB mic, use your Guitar Hero 2 Xplorer Guitar (Wireless Guitar will be sold separately for £59.99) and grab a Drum Kit for £69.99.
| Instrument Pack | £129.99 / €169.99 |
| Rock Band Game | £49.99 / €69.99 |
| Wireless Guitar | £59.99 / €79.99 |
| Drum Kit | £69.99 / €89.99 |
| Individual Songs | 160 MS Points / £1.36 |
| Three Song Pack | 440 MS Points / £3.74 |
| Six Song Pack | 800 MS Points / £6.80 |
It’s been a painful four months, but with a concrete release date set we can sleep a little easier at night. Make sure you post which downloadable songs you’ll be picking up, in the comments.
Update: There has been a nasty rumour circulating that we will receive songs for double the price that Americans pay. Songs are 160 points in both regions, but some song packs are introduced at 80 points and raised to 160 after a few days. There is no news on whether a similar price system will be used in the UK store.
Wikipedia – List of Songs in Rock Band »
Button Bandits – Exclusive EU only tracks revealed »
Wikipedia – List of Downloadable Tracks in Rock Band »
19 Comments Comment RSS
I’ve narrowed down my initial song picks to Radiohead’s “My Iron Lung”, The All-American Rejects’ “Move Along”, Blink-182’s “All the Small Things” and of course Portal’s “Still Alive” (which is Free). At a tiny £4.08, I’ll be happy (besides, the original set list features so many amazing songs!)
Disappointed in EA. I was hoping to pick this up in April originally but its been pushed back and back and now not available for PS3 until summer.
Screw em, I’ll stick with guitar hero if they’re going to take the biscuit! Rock Band may be better, but least I can actually buy guitar hero.
P.S – Preorder cancelled. Meh
You know, I was going to save up and get this – I had guestimated that it would hit at around the 130 GBP mark. But at this price? Forget it. AND the DLC is 2x the us price.
Wait, one hundred and eighty Great British Pound Sterling? That’s outrageous! I’m surprised there isn’t a bigger mention of it in that post because that’s an absolute rip-off. There’s no way I’m buying it at those prices (unless it’s bought for me…).
Ben, while some songs are introduced for 80 points, songs are 160 points on the American Xbox Live Marketplace.
No news on whether we will receive a similar pricing structure.
This was a triumph! I’m making a note here: day one purchase.
I really wanted this game, but I was thinking that EA would not have the gaul to charge more than £120 ($236.12), but £180 ($354.18) is an absolute outrage. I know everybody says it, but I will NOT be buying this game – if only everybody in the UK would see sense and boycott these ridiculous prices for just a couple of months – things would soon change.
Bugger me, that’s rubbish, it’s the cost of the console itself, and it’s half price in America. Goes to show they region locked it for a reason.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it flopped here. People can get 5 – 8 games for the cost of that one!
Well i for one am hugely upset considering i’ve waited wince they announced it, gotten hugely frustrated at the push backs and now im shocked and upset that they think they’re gunna get £180 for something that costs around £100 in the “good old” US. I’m sick of everyone dumping on europe. Bad language.
No way I’m gonna pay twice for that. NO WAY.
Bugger that, Guitar Hero here I come :-)
even if neversoft introduced the dreaded battle mode, at least they never introduced a £180 price tag….madness. i really want this, but now i’ll be happy to see gh4 trounce it in sales just, you know, to send a message.
£180!?!
Have been pumped for this game for so long… but that price point is quite frankly offensive.
Until there are some serious price drops EA have lost a customer with that slap in the face.
I thought the whole point of Rock Band was that the kit was gonna be cheap to drive a high volume of sales, and then make the money back on the copius DLC. Now they want to bend us over on both ends.
Hmm…
Rock band….
or a second Nintendo Wii…..
or an Xbox 360…
or an Xbox 360 Arcade with a game…..
or a vintage Roland SH-101 synth, or a second-hand car, or any number of other things I could buy for ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY FREAKING ENGLISH POUNDS.
Thanks EA; you’ve yet again got us Europeans over a barrel.
I should note, yes, I am bugging both EA and Harmonix about this. This is bullshit, and they should be called out for it.
Well I see they are claiming it is due to lots of little things adding up.
So to be fair:
Well theres VAT at 17.5%
Import Duty at 5%
Shipping £5 by container.(if it isnt coming from china directly)
Maybe add an extra £2 because petrol is expensive over here – oh but of course this is a much smaller country so better take that back.
So thats £111 – now the £85 in the US could be that the retailers over there arent making a huge markup – so lets assume that game etc are greedier over here – maybe add an extra 25% – so £138 – which would probably drop to £125 after a while.
Nope its just a rip off
Ah play.com
Band in a box £99.99 inc delivery
Game £39.99 inc delivery
Total £139.98
So my guess of £138 was close!
hi guys,
i also think this is a rip off the U.S.A hav had this game before XMAS and now we have 2 pay double what they have. i suggest if u want it £40 cheaper and delivered on the day of release order it from amazon.co.uk its so much cheaper and you get the same stuff. so stick all the games stores round the country and EUROPE!
The last thing I’d add – is always trust your gut! I have left some ‘good deals’ on the table that didn’t feel right. And after some time, and some more investigation, and building my own knowledge base – I am glad I did!
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