Agreed, I'll be getting the bundle, the decision was made much easier when they lowered it $30...

I still find it very hard to believe they won't have just the game available the 23rd. As I said before, they obviously will have the game complete, since it's included in the bundle, so how difficult could it be to get just the game packaged up and made? Unless it's by design that they won't have the game available by itself, but damn that would be dumb, and ebay prices for individual components would go through the roof.

If the instruments aren't available separately until February, how are we supposed to get another guitar for the bass part when you play four player?

EB has solo instuments availible in February.

Exactly. They don't want you using your GH guitar, they want your money for their peripherals. It would be hard to get people to fork over dough for a new guitar in Feb if they've already mastered the game by then.

I would be shocked if there wasn't a guitar by itself, or at least a guitar-game combo available on release day too. As it stands, the bundle isn't even complete. They'd be leaving money on the table by not offering a guitar from the get-go.

I could see the mic and drums taking longer to be available separately, but the guitar is pretty much required.

I suppose we'll find out soon enough.

http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/827/827329p1.html

New song, Flirting With Disaster by Molly Hatchet. :up:

I think there will be a game-only version available on release date, and I heard that guitars are/will be available around that time as well. I think they were possibly running into production problems with the drums (can't make them fast enough), so they are only putting those in the bundle. I don't know how this would be an issue for the mic though.

Taken with a block of salt, obviously, but I traded some crap in at Gamestop today, and the guy (who did actually seem intelligent and was personable) said the individual peripherals were delayed until February. I still don't think I believe it.

From Joystiq earlier today:

I still don't understand if that means the game WILL or WON'T be sold individually Nov. 23rd? The instruments will not, good to know (I planned on getting the bundle anyways - getting the game + drums for sure, $140, might as well pay $30 more for a mic and guitar.).

Again, according to both Amazon and Gamestop, the $59.99 game will be released on November 23rd. I'm still trusting that's accurate.

I still cannot believe they would rather deal with shortages and frustrated consumers rather than offer the basic package that Guitar Hero has come with since the beginning. It just blows my mind how they could leave that much money on the table.

Yeah, it's not like it's 2 weeks or something, it's over 2 MONTHS. No way they don't release a game only deal for that long.

I honestly think they are already leaving a ton of money on the table with no PS2 or Wii version. The 360 version will do well, but the PS3 is still a very weak console and they are missing out on millions of potential buyers that will get GHIII on PS2 and Wii instead.

Rock Band is coming out for PS2 on Dec 11.

Missed that. That makes a bit more sense. It is at least out before christmas though GHIII will be the only game in town for over a month.

:shrug: I think it's pretty basic. They don't want you using your GHII controller. They want you to buy their peripherals which won't be ready individually until Feb.

Right, that makes sense, but at the same time it doesn't. If they want you using the new Rock Band controller, release it individually or in a bundle with just the game.

Personally, I want the drums more than anything - but it sounds like people here and others I've talked to want the game and guitar most. So why force people to spend $60 extra to get a drumset they don't want? I think for that extra $60 enough people will be happy to use their GH2 (or GH3) controller for a couple months until the Rock Band guitar comes out.

It makes no sense...I'm sorry. They're missing a huge market - the Guitar Hero II Xplorer controller flat-out sucked balls. Harmonix knows this, and they set out to make the Rock Band controller the best. Not offering it separately at the outset is missing a bunch of money in add-on sales. I sold my Xplorer, and kept Guitar Hero II, hoping that I can go back to it with a better controller later. Now I've got to wait even longer? Looks like it's Guitar Hero III for me...

But would their sales for the $170 set be through the roof right now if people could just get the guitar/game combo?

Sometimes you have to wonder about the people in charge of these games ... Rock Band is being touted as a 4-person game, yet the initial set only allows 3 to play (unless the GH3 controller will work) .. That said, why not charge $200 and include 2 guitars and the drums so that the set works out-of-the-box for 4 people?

I don't think they'd sell fewer bundles if they also made a game+guitar combo available from Day 1. I truly don't. The $170 bundle will sell regardless. So I do feel they are missing out on a huge amount of money.

The bundles will be sold out everywhere and I'm sure some frustrated people will grab GH3 instead. It's a major fuck-up on their part. Guitar Hero was available as a game+guitar from the beginning. I can't believe the same people who made that game don't realize the power of that configuration.

Rock Band will sell, but its sales will look pretty sad compared to GHIII this year. They are doing it to themselves though.

Who knows though. Over time Rock Band may have better legs and sell more over time. Especially when they break out the instruments.

Because that's all there was to Guitar Hero. Rock Band is so much more and they want the whole experience to be felt. If you want to just rock on guitar and that's it, then Guitar Hero 3 is probably the way to go. The songs in Rock Band don't look anywhere near as difficult as the ones in GH3.

Well since they aren't including enough equipment to get the whole experience, that's not exactly true.

I realize it's a different animal. I also realize that the absence of a guitar+game version does not equal more bundle sales, but smaller sales overall. And that's bad business.

I guess it's not confirmed, but Foreplay/Longtime by Boston is supposedly in the game.