linky

The short version.
Rockband (1) is being released here a month after the US gets Rockband 2 , And the price will be 2.5 times the price in the US.

It is only rumour ... but honestly it sounds about right.

Regional pricing and regional releases suck. Do not give this company a cent.

Do not give this company a cent.

It's ok, I had no intentions of buying it anyway.

im gonna not buy this cos Obes said so.

Yeah, I saw that last night. $410 and month after the sequel is released, what a bargain.

http://i38.tinypic.com/r2w8hu.jpg

ahahaha obes, did you do that?

Come on trog I haven't got a creative bone in my body ...

That has been stolen randomly from the interwebs from sources unknown. (I'd give credit if I knew who to give it to)

Only photoshops I ever did was the khel and bear series.

cue the khel defense force...

Harmonix says it ain't so, but fail to provide anything to back up those words.

But its up to EA ... unless Harmonix grew some balls.

Probably wasn't going to buy it before (Back when it was actually RELEASED in the USA)... definitely won't be now

only on gaming blogs could you find two completely contradictory stories within a few hours.

Is that the sort of thing people like reading now? I mean, it's obviously working for kotaku because everyone seems to read it, but as a reader it s***s me to tears when every rumour is published and then pulled hours later when the actual authorities on the subject say "wtf, that's bulls***" then have to contradict it.

I've always wanted to maintain our news as "only stuff we know is true" because rumours just annoy me and I figure getting everyone's hopes up (or down, as the case may be) without actual confirmation is a real suckerpunch, but if it's what everyone wants maybe we can loosen up the reins on some of that stuff.

I said it was rumours ... but honestly I have no reason to doubt them.

The only other believable option would be if they said "we aren't going to bother releasing it in Australia at all".

what's so hard about importing the game and buying the instruments from the states?, missing alot of fun.

Humoring the rumours for a second. If there's any merit to this, I think it would be more likely that it's actually a street date and Australian price point for Rock Band 2 than the original.

With 2 due before the year's end in the US, it seems silly to me that EA would even bother releasing the original game here at all. Would be far more sensible for them to just release Rock Band 2 here closer to its US launch and as a token of good will for skipping us last time, bundle it with a bonus content pack that contains all the Rock Band tracks.

That it was Rock Band 2's date/price would also explain the Harmonix guy's comment about it being completely false.

End of the day though, EA is a big publisher with one goal - making money. If distributing it here isn't worth their while then they won't bother.

In related news. I finally caved and ordered an import ver of Rock Band today.

I like the blog style of kockatoo. Wont be buying this anyway, infact I will extra not buy now it now that I have read this thread.

nice work dan, The guitar is fun but isn't up to gh standard of difficulty, altho the hammer on's are based on gh2 not gh3 so timing is a factor.

The drums are where the games at, even with the clickity clackaty racket.

kotaku is news with commentary, it's more entertaining than rehashing press releases

Yeah, no offence, but I much prefer the Kotaku/blog style of delivering news. I also like that they report on unconfirmed stories (which they never try to pass off as confirmed afaik). It ultimately ends up with more interesting content imo.

Sucks to be a kiwi!

In a customer email sent out today, NZ retailer Gameplanet has confirmed official prices and an early October (the 10th perhaps) street date for EA's Rock Band in New Zealand. According to the email, EA's sent the store a single shipment of the game and hardware. What this means in real number isn't certain, but you can be sure it'll sell out quickly.

Then again, maybe it won't. Kiwis after the complete Rock Band experience (two guitars, drums, game and microphone) will have to shell out a staggering $NZ 519.85. That's madness with a dollar sign. The game itself will retail for $NZ 119.95.

The original email, with pricing for the Xbox 360, PS3, PS2 and Wii, can be found after the jump. Before you ask, no, there's no mention of Australia. However, I wouldn't be surprised if we hear something soon... and it won't be from Harmonix.

Welcome to this special "Rock Band" Edition of the Gameplanet Store Newsletter!

Rock Band is coming to NZ -- secure yours now!

Rock Band has been a phenomenon in North America and Europe and us Kiwi gamers are finally going to get in on the action early October. The bad news however is that Electronic Arts has advised that this is a one off shipment and stock will be extremely limited! Here's what is going to be available...

Xbox 360
• Rock Band (game only) ($119.95)
• Hardware bundle (Drums, Wireless Guitar, Mic) ($299.95)
• Drum Kit ($179.95)
• Wireless Guitar ($99.95)
PlayStation 3
• Rock Band (game only) ($119.95)
• Hardware bundle (Drums, Wireless Guitar, Mic) ($299.95)
• Drum Kit ($179.95)
• Wireless Guitar ($99.95)
Nintendo Wii
• Rock Band (game only) ($99.95)
• Hardware bundle (Drums, Wireless Guitar, Mic) ($299.95)
• Drum Kit ($179.95)
• Wireless Guitar ($US 99.95)
PlayStation 2
• Rock Band (game only) ($99.95)
• Hardware bundle (Drums, Wireless Guitar, Mic) ($299.95)
We fully expect to be sold out of Rock Band stock well before the arrival date. We strongly advise you to pre-order early to avoid disappointment... don't leave it too late! :D

If you thought Guitar Hero was great, you ain't seen nothing yet...

Happy gaming!

From all the team at Gameplanet Store New Zealand.

Source

Just saw that on GPSote, def adds credence to the aussie rumours. Guess they do have the gaul to launch RB1 here when RB2 is already complete. How absurd. I'm really hoping Activision treats us right with GH: World Tour.

It's pretty pathetic, it's cheaper to buy a brand new Xbox 360 than it is to buy Rock Band.

Kiwi's even technically pay less for the game alone? 119.95 NZD = 93.1477 AUD?

This s*** is wack.

so $nz520 works out to be about $au404, which is about on par with the prices given in the original post on Kotaku :)

someone explain to me why the f*** you people even care about this game. It seems like theres more rage about this than super smash brothers brawl getting released 6 months too late in EU/AU.

Yeah, no offence, but I much prefer the Kotaku/blog style of delivering news. I also like that they report on unconfirmed stories (which they never try to pass off as confirmed afaik). It ultimately ends up with more interesting content imo.

Fair enough

someone explain to me why the f*** you people even care about this game.

I couldn't give a flying f*** about rockband 1, 2 or 3. What gets my e-rage on is the fact that someone has the balls to shaft us aussies (and to a lesser extent the kiwis) by taking the US price and doubling that sucka and then adding a few extra dollars on top. For example, new release games in the US tend to be around $50 USD, here they can be $80-$120 AUD (and only $80 if JBhifi is trying to shaft EB again - soul calibur 4, I imported my copy for $60).

And we can't blame local retailers for milking us (well we can somewhat, but most of EB's profit these days in printing money *read reselling 2nd hand games) And publishers love to blame it on shipping... (cost me $8 for Soul Calibur btw, god I love my region free ps3)

I'm going to tear up some more over the numbers

For the Game (xbox), 2 guitars, drums and mic will cost kiwis
$520 NZD... which is $400 AUD or $380 USD

Now the US version released all the way back in November 2007 (Rock Band Special Edition Bundle) costs the yanks
$170 USD... which is $180 AUD or $230 NZD




P.S. And so England doesn't feel left out (EA blamed VAX and shipping for this)
US Rock Band Bundle $170 US OR $180 AU OR £85
UK Rock Band Bundle $350 US OR $370 AU OR £180

Oh and technically we do have some pricing info. Harvey Norman was taking pre-orders months ago for it and their prices were $120 for the game and $200 for the drums, ONE guitar and mic. (and they're all wired)

so $380AUD (assuming cost of the extra guitar is $60) or $360USD

sifgreazy ...

SSBB, yeah it sucked it was late. But it was consistently late. And the pricing was just your standard regionalised gouging.

With Rockband its released in other PAL regions just not here ... WTF? Its being released here after the sequel in the US ... WTF ? The pricing is not the standard 1.5 gouge its more like 2.5. Get f***ed!!!

If it succeed then why would they change their ways ?

Name and shame!

It was a great surprise to see the GPStore spam in my inbox, especially since I was in a meeting about potential pricing and bundling options yesterday of which none of them match this pricing.

This exact same thing happened for the US release - EBGames and Gamestop sent out "The game is going to be $200+US" emails and preorders, and then when we announced the price they had to refund money to a bunch of people.

I know it blows waiting, but we'll have news soon.

pfft, what would YOU know spray

Heh, that's awesome. There seems to be a lot of separate retailers spouting similar dates and values though, I wonder where their information is funneling from. A confused local publisher?

even if the bundling was at a respectable price I will still be boycotting this due to the time frame it has taken to come out here

In an ideal magical world filled with happiness, rainbows and publishers being dragged out onto the street and shot...

Sorry, I digress, in an ideal world the bundle that we should get would be the the Rock Band 2 bundle with the wireless gear with Rockband tossed in as well.

That could almost justify the giant markup on 'shipping' instead of EA's current plan to just clear out the old rockband stock in the US to make space for the Rockband 2