News
Rock Band has Rocking DLC
Low Prices and Good Dates
by Coop
Since it landed on the Xbox 360 the Guitar Hero franchise has promised downloadable songs. They did, eventually, deliver. Sadly the delivery was a bunch of crap from the past at high prices. We took it, with a tear in our eyes, and hoped that the abuse would one day stop. Seventy Trillion Dollars later, Guitar Hero seems to be sticking to its guns on the “overcharged crap” bandwagon and without some type of competition we would have continued to be force-fed whatever it was that they were trying to sell us at any price.
Gamers prayed that one day a light would shine down from the heavens and a choir would sing, a drummer would drum, and a bassist would, well, bass.
In a further attempt to outdo Guitar Hero at every turn, Rock Band’s downloadable content details have been announced. In one week Harmonix will unleash songs at low prices (compared to Guitar Hero). In two weeks they will have outdone all of Guitar Hero II's DLC in terms of numbers and quality.
Here is the full story from Gamespot:
Rock Band will still feature pre-selected three-song packs for download, but they will instead cost $5.49 (440 Microsoft points on Xbox 360). Songs will also be available individually for $1.99. Harmonix has said future songs will be sold individually for as little as $.99 (80 Microsoft points), and as much as $2.99 (240 points). However, "the vast majority" will come in at the standard $1.99 price point. The developer did not say how much full-album downloads would be, or when the first albums would be released.
Harmonix also detailed its release schedule for the first five weeks after Rock Band launches. The opening week will be highlighted by track packs from Metallica, The Police, and Queens of the Stone Age, with individual songs from Creedence Clearwater Revival, Foreigner, T-Rex, and more. Downloaded tracks will be integrated into all of the game's modes, and will be playable online only if all players have purchased the songs.
Week of November 20, 2007: (*--asterisk denotes a cover version)
Metallica Pack
"Ride the Lightning"--Metallica
"Blackened"--Metallica
"And Justice for All"--Metallica
The Police Pack
"Can't Stand Losing You"--The Police
"Synchronicity II"--The Police
"Roxanne"--The PoliceQueens of the Stone Age Pack
"3's and 7's"--Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister"--Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick"--Queens of the Stone AgeIndividual Tracks
"Fortunate Son" as made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival *
"Juke Box Hero" as made famous by Foreigner *
"Bang a Gong (Get It On)" as made famous by T-Rex *
"My Sharona" as made famous by The Knack *
"Cherry Bomb" as made famous by The Runaways *
"Joker & The Thief"--Wolfmother
Week of November 27, 2007
David Bowie Pack
"Moonage Daydream"--David Bowie
"Heroes" as made famous by David Bowie *
"Queen Bitch" as made famous by David Bowie *Week of December 4, 2007
Black Sabbath Pack
"N.I.B." as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"Sweet Leaf" as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"War Pigs" as made famous by Black Sabbath *Week of December 11, 2007
Punk Pack:
"Rockaway Beach"--Ramones
"I Fought the Law"--The Clash
"Ever Fallen In Love" as made famous by Buzzcocks *Week of December 18, 2007
Individual Tracks
"My Iron Lung"--Radiohead
"Buddy Holly"--Weezer
"Brass in Pocket" as made famous by Pretenders *
The line up looks solid, but the thought of waiting thirty more days for Buddy Holly pains me. The fact that it is on the horizon, however, makes me smile. I wonder how the "different prices for different songs" deal will pan out. Maybe cover tracks will be cheaper? Wishful thinking, I know.
Rock Band comes out for the Xbox 360 and PS3 on November 20th, 2007.
Comments
How are these low prices? The packs are still a bit much and the fact that they might charge as much as $3 for a single song is ridiculous. Also, the list is so disappointing. If they're selling individual songs, I should be able to buy the songs from the pack individually as well. For instance, I should be able to buy just "I Fought The Law" since those other two songs don't interest me at all. Seems like they've made minor improvements over the GH DLC model, but it's still not really where I'd like it to be. It should be more like iTunes, no variable pricing on songs. Who the hell determines was song is better and thus costs more?
You can buy them by themselves for $2.
I generally eschew paid downloads (outside of my VC), but I may have to plunk down some ducats for the punk pack!
Come on SoulScreme: when did $3 become expensive?
srsly have you seen some of the prices on Itunes? It is the same price as a CD and all you get to do is listen to the music. They need to cover the charges of actually integrating the song into the game. They aren't just giving you music you've heard before, they are giving you a brand new experience. So buck up and take the price like a man, a rockin man.
wow. hey, soulscreme, first to post. first to bitch.
Also, Jukebox hero, huzzah!
YES, anything by David Bowie.
And the Ramones are the gem of any punk rock pack end of story.
You tell him, Danny Rand!
so wait, you said that GH is price gougy, whats the comparison? Are they charging like 5 bucks for just a song or something?
Like $3 a song or so.