| FishyJoe said: I saw this editorial on digg, and I mostly agree. It's crazy to only sell the $170 version of Rock Band only. Nobody except the most hardcore want to spend that kind of money on an unproven game. http://www.mashedbuttons.com/?view=main&article=121 Why Rock Band may lose to Guitar Hero Posted: Monday October, 15 2007 @ 9:52:15 AM By soulscreme Wow, I was really looking forward to Rock Band. It seemed like such an awesome idea, construct a whole band. I also have a roommate, so the prospect of buying the instruments seemed surmountable. However, I never planned on buying it all at once. I figured we'd pick it up with just the guitar to start. Eventually I'd likely pick up the drums as well. Never had much interested in the microphone. So, that was the plan, spread out the cost over time and ignore the mic. Well, Harmonix has decided that that's not in their gameplan. I've decided that I'll likely be buying Guitar Hero III. This may be another bit of bad news for Rock Band. I see Guitar Hero selling many more units this Christmas for a number of reasons. First off, Guitar Hero is a name that people know, not Harmonix. Yes, those of us that follow every tidbit of gaming news known to man know that the original Guitar Hero developers are behind Rock Band. But what about those people that have a PS2 for no reason other than to play Guitar Hero? They will walk into the store and see what would appear to be a Guitar Hero knock-off. They will likely want to stick to the brand name that they know and love. Secondly, Rock Band is going to be fucking expensive. Until February you will only be able to buy the $160 - $170 bundle for Rock Band. Now, if someone is in the store and I can get Rock Band for $160 on PS2 and Guitar Hero III for $90 on PS2, their decision may be made. I mean, for the price of Rock Band you could get GH3 and two guitars. Celebrity support is for Guitar Hero III. The game is going to feature Slash and Bret Michaels. This is like when sports starts promote EA Sports games. It just lends it some credence. Finally, Guitar Hero III is going bigger than ever before. As of now there are 36 songs announced for Rock Band. There are 61 songs confirmed for Guitar HeroIII. This may be the biggest point of all. Out of the box you are getting a shit load of music. Really, you're getting close to twice the number of songs. While Rock Band can say that they really have 3 times as many, since they can all be played with any of the instruments, that is bullshit. I know it's harder to develop the songs for 3 instruments, but when people go to the store they will see Guitar Hero 3's track list making that of Rock Band look puny. So, I'm going to make a bold prediction. I think that Guitar Hero III will kick Rock Band's ass this Christmas. I don't think we'll really start seeing Rock Band sell until next year when customers aren't being forced into paying $160 - $170 for the thing. Agree? Disagree? Leave a comment.
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I don't think that prediction is so bold, I think it's very likely. I can't believe what a stupid move they're making by not offering separate SKUs until February (has this really been confirmed?). On the one hand, I think it was designed to rip people off by getting parents to buy the $170 bundle for Xmas instead of being able to choose a cheaper variant -- on the other hand, with GH3 out for $90, parents already have that choice, so it's just dumb.
As far as song selection is concerned, more songs = better, and not just because it "looks" better to have more songs, but because you have more musical variety. Yeah, you can go back and play the same songs with the other instruments, and of course that will be fun and add to RB's replay value, but it's not the same as just having a lot more to learn, play, and listen to, and almost all of the announced tracks for GH3 are GOOD tracks. Rock Band may have downloadable content, but I'm sure you'll have to pay for it ON TOP of the $170 you spent on the initial package.
I just don't understand why Harmonix felt the need to break away from Activision and Red Octane when GH1&2 were such a massive success. If they wanted to go the Rock Band route, they could have done that as one team and avoided shooting themselves in the foot. Guitar Hero, not Rock Band, and not Harmonix, is the name that people recognize. Why ruin a good thing?
