Unbundled Rock Band available at launch

  • By Polybren, GameSpot
  • Posted Oct 22, 2007 12:15 pm PT

The upcoming PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2 game Rock Band is dependent on specialized microphone, guitar, and drum controllers that won't be available individually when the game launches. However, that isn't stopping developer Harmonix and MTV Games from selling stand-alone copies of...

The upcoming PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 2 game Rock Band is dependent on specialized microphone, guitar, and drum controllers that won't be available individually when the game launches. However, that isn't stopping developer Harmonix and MTV Games from selling stand-alone copies of the game from day one, in addition to the $169 bundle with the game and all three peripherals.

Harmonix CEO Alex Rigopulos gave a few more details on the company's Rock Band plans to the trade site Next-Gen in a recent interview. Rigopulos gave two reasons for the company's decision to release the game unbundled at launch, even though players won't be able to buy individual Rock Band instruments with which to play it at the time.

"Harmonix supports open platform standards in our game design, so people will most likely be able to use their existing peripherals with Rock Band," Rigopulos told the site in an opaquely worded reference to the Guitar Hero franchise Harmonix previously developed. "Furthermore, we know that many, many friends are planning to purchase a Rock Band bundle together, along with extra copies of the software, and then share the individual instruments among them."

As for when the official Rock Band instruments will be available outside of the bundle, Rigopulos only said that Harmonix is working to make them available "as soon as humanly possible."

63 Comments

  • davolir

    Posted Nov 19, 2007 1:21 pm PT

    is there a way of playing the drums or the guitar or even the bass with xbox 360 controller like in guitar hero 3?

  • frengerwub

    Posted Oct 28, 2007 3:00 pm PT

    dude this game is going to rock if any one needs a drumer my gamer tag is wubzu ill join up in your band wooooooooooooooooooo hohahahaha this game is going to be awesome

  • Anteraan

    Posted Oct 26, 2007 1:59 pm PT

    CRAZYCAM_93, the only other items in the bundle are the mic and the GAME, and you are going to need the game disc. So it's only ONE other peripheral, and when you add up the costs, you get the mic FREE! Do some reading, ya noob!

  • Boggy_d

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 11:50 am PT

    So you can buy the game, but not be able to play it?

  • CRAZYCAM_93

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 10:05 am PT

    But, I only want the Guitar and Drums! I dont want to blow all my dough on two peripherals I dont need!

  • greater_bird

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 10:05 am PT

    I'll be interested to see if eBay is afire with individual peripherals the week the bundle launches...

  • Calmed_Fury

    Posted Oct 24, 2007 5:35 am PT

    they are actually being pretty smart. they know most people would have purchased GH2 or GH3. so they make a bundle of everything else and you can just use your GH2 or GH3 guitar as the Bass guitar for when you want to play w/ 4 ppl at a time.

  • SteeleInd

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 4:05 pm PT

    GoldenS1104: "i wanted to get all of the instruments unbundled so i could get a wireless guitar"

    You can just buy the Wireless Guitar Hero III controller. It comes out in 5 days.

  • YInYangUXG

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 2:30 pm PT

    I just want to use the guitar(and maybe drums) as a kicka@ss MIDI controller. I will probably only play guitar/bass anyways since my buddy is getting the whole bundle and I'll be jamin' with him mostly.

  • frankeyser

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 1:01 pm PT

    drum controller and mic is all i need. until they are sold seperate i wont be buying it all though i am really looking forward to it.

  • MSG-Deathscythe

    Posted Oct 23, 2007 1:02 am PT

    I wish you could plug Roland V-Drums to this game. Those plastic drum sets don't look very durable to me.

  • SonicTheMonkey

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 11:12 pm PT

    I love Harmonix and all, but seriously, their producers must be riding the short bus to work. I mean how else could such a mistake come out of the company? For one, the main audience for the Guitar Hero games was casual gamers. Casual gamers probably won't want to drop $170.00 on a single video game. Also, they say this is the full band set, but what if you want a second guitar for bass (since it only comes with one guitar). Do I have to spend $340.00 and get another package just for the second guitar? They say "...we know that many, many friends are planning to purchase a Rock Band bundle together, along with extra copies of the software, and then share the individual instruments among them." Many, many friends, huh? I've heard of exactly zero people who are planning to do that. So again, I can either pay an obscene ammount of money for the game and extra instruments I don't want (seriously, is there one person here who is buying it for the vocal aspect?), or I can buy the game without any instruments to play it with. Sounds logical. If anything, this will push people over to their rival Guitar Hero III.

  • xXHackettXx

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:52 pm PT

    This is dumb I really want the rockband guitar but hows that going to happen if you cant buy just the guitar I dont want to buy the drums and mic too! This along with the November realese are all dumb moves.

  • animateria

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 7:06 pm PT

    360 not being wired is because of MS not them btw...

    MS should just back off a bit.

    By the Way... A GH3 Bundle is $100

    Paying $70 more gets you a drumset and a mic...

    I think GH3 is overpriced compared to RB.

  • I_AM_AROD______

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:58 pm PT

    That's fine with me, it's like an extra Guitar Hero, until I buy the drums then it's Guitar+Drums Hero.

  • 4themob1

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:53 pm PT

    there is no wireless guitar bcuz MS hasnt licensed one or released the specs yet. it is all proprietary at this point. but i still have my guitar from gh2 so i'll be all set for all of the instruments.

  • musicaz70

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:27 pm PT

    On Amazon they individual controllers are listed to come out Jan 31... sooo yea, good wait XP because i just want the drums

  • humangameboy

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 6:05 pm PT

    this game is gonna rock!!!!! but i dont no how often ill be able to play it because i could probably only play it if my friends came over because i want 2 play with the full band because thats wut the games about, and so idk how im going to beat world tour mode, i guess it wuld just take me a while, but i dont get a 360 till christmas and i have a ps2 but the ps2 version doesnt come out till december 17 and the 360 version comes out november 23, so i wont be able to play it until at least halfway through december either way, wich stinks, but i figure if i only have 2 wait 8 more days 2 play the 360 version, i mite as well get that because itll probly be better

  • therejectx

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 5:44 pm PT

    lame bro. lame.

  • MasterChief725

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 4:18 pm PT

    w/e, i dont want rock band, guitar hero III will be the superior game

  • Tybolt

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:49 pm PT

    Nice, then me and my friends who are buying the bundle together can share the instrum. but still play, Nice

  • ianfan

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:46 pm PT

    Well, this is better than bundles only, but not by much. Here is the question Harmonix needs to answer: How can I buy Rock Band for my 360 and get the controllers I want and not get ripped off or have to wait 3-6 months after launch?

    I will not settle for wired guitars. I do want the drums. Okay, how do I get there? Is the best way spending $170 on the bundle and an additional $80 or so to get a wireless guitar down the road? Seems like I'm paying for a wired guitar I don't want taking that route. Is it buying the game stand alone and then buying a wireless guitar and the drums sepperate (whenever it is that they actually become available)? Seems like I'm not getting any break there for making my own bundle (figure $60 for the game, $80 for the wireless guitar, so that leaves about $40 for the drums (since it would have been $180 for a bundle with wireless guitars which they opted against) and no mic) and I'm forced to wait 3-6 months.

    How can anyone think it's acceptable to have wired controllers on a next-gen system? Yeah, drums are not of the size to just carry around, so I'm willing to accept that (even though there really is no excuse), but not with guitars. Okay, so you don't want to use MS propretery wireless protocol...you've never heard of 2.4 GHz RF? Guitar Hero III is utilizing it instead of the Bluetooth on the PS3, why not here on the 360? I'll take a dongle over wires without complaint any day of the week...

  • Radiozo

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:25 pm PT

    Not buying until I can get the drums seperatly. Im not paying for stuff I wont use.

  • Pete5506

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:24 pm PT

    why would you buy them without the it

  • polsci1503

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:18 pm PT

    that's better than last week's news that it was going to be bundle only.

  • kazya_mishima

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:13 pm PT

    Whats Rock Band? *snickers*

  • Dan2002sk8er

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:07 pm PT

    Rock is not a guitar hero knock off it is made by the developer of guitar hero (Harmonix) if you played the first two you would know this, where as Guitar hero 3 is made be Activision this time around. And even MTV games jumped from Guitar Hero to Rock Band. who care you have a $500 system and $170 is too expensive for a game like this??? thats the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard.

  • paullywog

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 3:06 pm PT

    i'm trying to figure out what to buy with guitar hero 3 coming out soon. this isn't helping.

  • devilscry

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:40 pm PT

    Its not dumb if you don't have $170 to shell out right outta the gate. instead, have the guitar from Guitar hero 3 or 2, and then when its available get the drums or whatever. Its an open option, and i think a good one. so rather then waiting, i can get it right away and just wait for the drums

  • jdknight21

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:25 pm PT

    Surprised it took them so long to say 'hey, if we don't release so at least the guitarists can pick up the game w/o having to rebuy a guitar then GH3 is going to eat us alive'. Looks like people will be fighting over drummers this holiday season since it seems (from my experience, not presenting it as a fact) like only the younger crowd (up to 19 yrs. old) is getting it this holiday season and almost everyone else is holding out until the 1 peripheral/game bundle releases. I still think they'll be forced to release this package I mentioned before x-mas, though, because not everyone is willing to throw away an extra $20 since American Idol and other shows have proven that very few people actually need mics. Others that won't be 'party gaming' it up don't want to drop the extra money for the guitar cause they already own one or only want drums.
    Probably best to split the package with a couple friends who want to buy the game and each get your own copy. But everyone has different playing circumstances and everyone knows what sounds good in theory can sometimes be a disaster with 'friends'.

  • DonutTrooper

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:21 pm PT

    Can't wait to get this game, but for god's sake, please make it sooner.

  • lamplan

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:13 pm PT

    It's a good idea they are selling it alone. For you people up there who only want part x and y. you can sell your other parts to friends or split the cost or ... or...

    *boom*

  • MysticDynamite

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:06 pm PT

    Drum controller + Microphone. That's all I need.

  • 1407

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:05 pm PT

    . i just need base and the drums, keep the mic

  • y2kcrazyjoker

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 2:03 pm PT

    How is it pointless? People with GH2 guitars or USB mics can take advantage of 2/3 of the solo campaigns. Or if you split up a bundle amongst your friends, everyone can own an instrument and play.

  • Agreb91

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:59 pm PT

    That is pointless.

  • jmartinez1983

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:58 pm PT

    Why can't they just come out and say that selling it all bundled up is the best way for them to make money? I'd actually respect them if they just said that.

  • edflam311

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:56 pm PT

    I though this was pretty common info anyways.

  • ZOnikJJ

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:53 pm PT

    Ok. So maybe... I could get GH3... then buy Rock Band the game only... then later next year... buy the drum controller alone as well. Sounds like a plan! GO ME!

  • y2kcrazyjoker

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:42 pm PT

    @matt_dangelo: this is jsut a GH knock off by EA...i mean wow...

    You're a dumbass. Rock Band is being developed by Harmonix (NOT EA), who made Guitar Hero 1 and 2. Harmonix got bought out by EA, and RedOctane by Activision - hence, why Activision's Neversoft team is developing Guitar Hero 3. So in reality, Guitar Hero 3 is a knock-off of the first 2.

    Try to get your facts straight, noob.

  • easterlin

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:28 pm PT

    I have two 360 guitars so picking up yet another guitar in a bundled pack is a complete waste of $$$. If I could buy the mic / drums and game when it came out without the guitar, I'd be all over it. As it is now, I'll pass... and more likely it'll be a permanent pass as other games will come along that will take up my time and $$$.

  • Tremblay343

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:25 pm PT

    Im getting the full set either way, so doesnt matter

  • NX75

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:17 pm PT

    All I'm in it for is Drum Hero. When can I get that?

  • Perant

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:16 pm PT

    "matt_dangelo

    this is jsut a GH knock off by EA...i mean wow..."

    except rock band is being developed by harmonix, the original creator of guitar hero and guitar hero 2. gh3 is being done by neversoft, who's new to this.

    harmonix isn't knocking off anyone but themselves.

  • 4esth

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:13 pm PT

    I wouldn't settle for using my GH controller with Rock Band. Isn't the fun of the Rock Band guitar the second set of buttons?

  • fire_tidus

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:12 pm PT

    Well, I'm buying this game with the 3 peripherals, a guitar, drums and mic; I have another guitar from guitar hero series, so, im waitin for this game

  • naboob1

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 1:10 pm PT

    stupid. they just want us to shell more money for the bundle.

  • Chirico_Cuvie

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 12:56 pm PT

    Think about it. Four people get together and decide they're going to be the band. Instead of every fool shelling out $170+ for a bundle, they each put in $75, then divvy up the instruments and three of them buy the game on it's own. It saves them some dough, and they don't have a bunch of extra instruments lying around. It also could factor in the inevitable flood of 3rd party hardware that is probably on a boat from Asia as we speak. This way people can buy the game and use whatever they want to play, including the 6axis if they want.

    My guess is this. it costs them slightly more to run off 10,000 copies of the game than to run off the 5,000 or whatever the amount is to cover the bundles. They now have a bunch of "loosies" to move so what the hell, let's put them out on the shelf for the above reasons and they'll sell more. There are people that will buy the game that can't afford/find the bundle, then wait until the wireless or 3rd party instruments come out.

    Think of the Guitar Hero people that want it strictly for the guitar parts, it like getting another guitar hero a month after GH3.

  • ApplesAndCarmel

    Posted Oct 22, 2007 12:54 pm PT

    we are getting better but still not there yet. instruments would be lovely but now i can use my gh3 guitar and just get the game and wait til' February for the drums

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