News published on April 8th 2008
Rock Band finally dated for Europe
Electronic Arts have confirmed that the long awaited Rock Band will be releasing for the Xbox 360 in Europe on 23rd May. The PS3, PS2 and Wii versions will be coming soon after “later this summer”, in effect making the game a timed exclusive for Microsoft.
If you think back a few weeks, you should remember we told you that UK gamers will get Beetlebum by Blur, Rock ‘n’ Roll Star by Oasis, Through the Monsoon by Tokyo Hotel and Hysteria by Muse as exclusives tracks for the game. The Still Alive theme from Portal should also be available as a free download for the game come release, just like it is in America right now, that is unless some weird unexpected legal issues crop up.
18 comments ↓
Monkey Rimmer
April 8th, 2008
So they’ve finally remembered that there’s another continent out there apart from their own litigious shores?! I was beginning to think that this game was nothing more than a rumour!
I was going to start boycotting EA games after the Battlefield:Bad Company weapon debacle, but the temptation will be too great I fear, unless they stick an american sized (grossly obese) price tag on it!
Matt
April 8th, 2008
Hurrah!
Domstercool
April 8th, 2008
Oh man, the whole package is going to be £180! 129.99 for instrument set and £49.99 for the game!! I’m not buying it for that much!
Lloytron
April 8th, 2008
You can get the 360 and PS3 versions for 85 quid from vgp.ca. On the 360 its not a region free game and postage would be hefty, but it would still be cheaper to import the box set with all the instruments, bin the bundled game and buy a PAL copy
Lloytron
April 8th, 2008
Although having said that, it would be ridiculous for the full instrument set to not include a copy of the game.
graco
April 8th, 2008
talk about getting screwed over
Sean
April 8th, 2008
£180? Fuck that, man. You could get a new console for that, for Christ’s sake.
Nexus
April 8th, 2008
Wow. Seriously, fuck EA over this one, they could at least include the game with that. There’s no way i’m paying that much for a glorified guitar hero. Then again, I know someone who’ll pay that anyway so i guess i get to jam on it any which way.
Nogert
April 8th, 2008
Too much and too late.
Monkey Rimmer
April 8th, 2008
I thought this was a joke when I found out how much it was going to cost in Europe. I still question the American / European price conversions for games, films, books etc. and this just goes to show that they have little thought for what they’re doing.
EA lately have been shown in a bad light, and have done nothing to try and correct that. They’ve had bad press for treating their staff badly, they’ve had bad press for ripping off their ‘customers’, and still they continue to buy up every company with an ounce of ingenuity or creativity.
I will not succomb to this pricing strategy, and I agree with a lot of gamers who’re voicing their opinions online…. I will not pay this much for a game, I could buy a new console for that much!
I am going to boycott EA games from now on unless they re-address the balance. I urge you, fellow gamers to do the same. They clearly won’t listen to public opinion. They clearly don’t care what people say about them. So let’s hit them where they’ll have to pay attention… in the pocket. Maybe when they begin to lose sales will they wake up and smell the sh*tstorm they’ve created!
*rant over*
Andi
April 8th, 2008
£180, man. Looks like I’m going thirds with my housemates on this.
Matt
April 9th, 2008
I still can’t get over this… They could at least have the decency to throw in £20’s worth of DLC songs, or SOMETHING…
No amount of spin can change the fact that there’s absolutely no reason you’ve ever want to buy JUST the game OR the peripherals that I can think of, which leads me to question why the hell they’ve decided to do it. Grrr…
Floodland
April 9th, 2008
OSHI- not good. Unless EA gets this one sorted, I’m definitely not picking this one up too sharpish.
Monkey Rimmer
April 9th, 2008
Is it true that the guitars from Guitar Hero 2 & 3 won’t work with this either? I’ve heard mixed opinions as to whether they will…. it still doesn’t get past the fact that EA are trying to rip us off…. the Dollar to Pound conversion is wrong! By rights we should be getting this at ½ the price of the American customers!
William Cox
April 9th, 2008
The guitars work on 360 but not PS3 if I remember rightly.
The price is utterly ridiculous and based on the feedback given by US customers mainly. I was going to import before Christmas but decided to wait in the end as I had enough to be going on with. Now it looks like importing is by far the best option.
Monkey Rimmer
April 9th, 2008
Do we know if the 360 version is region protected? I’m guessing the PS3 version isn’t….. I still don’t know whether to get it anyway on principle even though importing will be a damn sight cheaper! When will this type of thing end?
William Cox
April 9th, 2008
The US version was region locked so I assume the UK one will be too. PS3 is of course region free so I suppose thats the one for importing.
Thomas
April 9th, 2008
If you want to try and changes EA’s mind you could try and email Watchdog. If they get enough emails they should give EA some negative press on TV, which could help them lower the price.
Make sure to tell them that the Euro price is nearly a 150% hike of the US one.
watchdog@bbc.co.uk