On Rock Band & Hosers
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:07 pm
Looks like Canada’s gotten a Rock Band-related raw deal yet again. First the game’s release was delayed. Now, that updated release date has come and gone, but it sounds like actually finding the game on a shelf up there hasn’t gotten any easier.
Here’s what the CBC has to say about it.
That screaming sound you hear coming from the Boston area is probably someone at Harmonix thinking about suing EA over this, provided this is actually a distribution issue. If not, it’s a little weird that the CBC article makes no mention of MTV or Harmonix and puts all the blame at EA’s feet.
Add to that the minor fiasco over broken hardware and you’ve got an unfortunate set of unrelated situations that have marred one of the year’s greatest games. For me, Rock Band rises above all this crap because it’s an amazing multiplayer experience unlike anything before it that’s approachable even if you don’t live and breathe rhythm games.
Rock Band is a lot like the Wii. I know that sounds a little weird, but hear me out. Last Christmas, all my friends came back to town for a few weeks and we did a whole lot of hanging out. The Wii–well, Wii Sports, anyway–was a huge hit because it’s easy to pick-up and a lot of fun, even if you don’t normally play video games. Rock Band is already doing that this year. I’ve been playing it with people who don’t normally play many video games, and people who I would never expect to play (and be pretty decent at) a rhythm game. That’s powerful, not to mention handy, since I need people to help get through the Band World Tour mode. Now I just need to find a couple of people willing to take turns singing… seems like I’m the only one around here who will ever grab the mic.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:59 pm
Well you don’t really need to be a videogame expert to play Rockband, it’s pretty much easy to pick up and play much like the Wii with Wii sports like you said. Still I’m not really into this game.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:00 pm
Everyone I know just went down-border to get a copy.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
Man I want to sing AND play the drums at the same time. I can’t wait until I get my Rock Band bundle.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:58 pm
I didn’t think I’d get into the singing at all, but now it’s my favorite part of the game. It turns out I’m not as bad as I expected!
It’s a shame about the hardware issues. I’m on my third guitar, and I think I’m about to be on my third drum set. I understand that putting together such a crazy package for an unproven new franchise is a huge risk, so I can see why they went with such cheap manufacturing, but it’s obviously backfired.
I would love to have the option to pay extra for some premium quality instruments. I would do it in a heartbeat. The game is an incredible experience when it all comes together.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:23 pm
You wanna pull a “Phil Collins”. Lord of Ultima?
I really wanna get this game, but it is hard to do so here in Brazil.
I guess no one has the guts to suck at singing in front of others, or at least, few do.
GUS
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:24 pm
I have been doing the wolrd tour solo being i have no friends lol
I pick the bass to do it being much easier to score those points!
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:25 pm
Since I’m
a hoserCanadian, all of this crap is quite nicely justifying my waiting on buying Rock Band. I wonder why they’re having so much trouble getting copies up here. Is it just a production issue? Problems with French packaging?December 22nd, 2007 at 3:53 pm
At Least they got it in time for Christmas. Us in Europe haven’t gotten anything yet. I suppose that just spreads them out.
Although I do agree that it is like the Wii. Everybody who has played my copy of Guitar Hero 2 has gotten bored playing it on easy and sometimes medium. I’m guess because of the whole band dynamic in Rock Band its more fun.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 pm
As someone who’s never touched Rock Band and hardly any Guitar Hero anything, I’d have no problem doing any sort of part, even vocals, for anyone. Can I guarantee that you’d have a problem with my vocals? Hellz no, man. I has a love-it or leave-it singing voice, but seem to do well on Karaoke Revolution anyhow. If you is seriously desperate for a singer, Skype!…assuming that’d work.
I need to get back into rhythm games, and so do Canadians =P
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
I live in Monteal, and I had a friend be my mule and bring a copy up from Vermont over a month ago. All this crap makes me really glad I didnt wait for it to be released here. I almost feel bad for my Canuck brethren. Almost…
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:17 pm
I live in Canada, went today and found it on most store shelves, unfortunately no bundles are here yet, so I just bought the game itself, I guess the instruments with have to wait until they are released separately. I sure hope the instruments become available separately soon.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:06 am
Yeah, I’ve had troubles getting my pre-ordered copy. Apparently the EB I preordered it at will be getting it on Christmas Eve but they may not even get enough to fill the preorders. I reserved a copy about two months ago so I sure hope I get one.
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:08 am
Im from the UK, just having a release date would be nice
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:50 am
The prospect of being at home from (grad) school this break and having people around to play Rock Band with me led to me picking up the game. You’re absolutely right – we’re playing Rock Band this year like we played Wii Sports last year. It still scares people, though, as it’s not as easy to pick up. I’ve been showing people the guitar and drums tutorial, but it’s still frustrating to them when they fail out in a middle of the song on easy. There needs to be a “super freakin’ easy” mode for drums that doesn’t use the kick drum so that anybody can sit down and just smack the pads.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:46 am
Yeah, Rock Band is a blast. My friends and I have all been getting together to play. It usually ends up being a 3:00 PM to 12:00 AM gaming session.
December 25th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
You know, it is tough to sing in Rock Band. I was hoping my family would be in to it since I’m not so good, but it turns out, no one wants to sing! Oh well, I’m still having a blast.
Ok, so I got Christmas $ and I’m trying to decide, Super Mario Galaxy or Mass Effect… If only Gamefly were a little cheaper or I had more free time to play games!!!!
December 26th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
I feel you on the mic Jeff. I’m usually, barring a few rare occasions, the only one of my friends that sings when we get together to play Rock Band even though some of them are without a doubt better singers than I am. My friends even go so far as to make fun of my need to sing falsetto to hit the entire range yet not one of them will even attempt the singing.
January 3rd, 2008 at 8:51 am
I want the infograms theme song in rock band!!!!!! It is the best song ever written to paper forget metallica!
The genius of this song can not be ingnored!!@@!@##E@##\
Everybody must sing the Atari Infogrames theme song!
http://anthems.zdnet.co.uk/anthems/infogrames.mp3
infogrames/atari rocks your world.mp3
January 10th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
i live in canada, and i pre-ordered my rock band bundle, i go it on boxing day (it wasnt sold out) at an eb games. guess it sux 2 b other people. btw, i love the game, and all of my friends got hooked immediately after trying it.