The Wii is the family friendly console. More families have Wii I suspect with younger kids (16 and below) that will bug the mess out of them to get a full bundle so they can pretend drum for Christmas.

I mean what kid doesnt want to bang away on a set of drums?

Plus you need the new WT guitar to get the new effects and such, the old guitars will lack that functionality in GH:WT.

Not sure how it will all end up number wise but the Wii will skew everything since its the largest selling console of them all.

I thought the same thing prior to the RB launch on the Wii, based solely on the impressive GH3 numbers. It didn't work out that way.

Ahh but HMX screwed themselves by waiting too long and putting out such a sad port, and making the guitars proprietary by not using the Nintendo controller standards.

Another reason why GH:WT should sell thru.

Now if HMX is smart this time they will make existing Wii:GH guitars compatible and get some online play and DLC going in RB2. If not it will fail just as hard as RB1.

I don't know all those specifics other than the incompatibility between controllers (was it really HMX that did that though? IIRC they were the ones on the 360 that were open to both controllers).

Here's the (rough) numbers:

GH3:
PS2 - 4.24m
360 - 3.39m
Wii - 3.21m
PS3 - 1.54m

RB:
360 - 1.83m
PS3 - 0.77m
PS2 - 0.61m
Wii - 0.45m

This whole "battle" fascinates me because i could see a company like Harmonix not selling nearly as many units but making absolute bank on the continual stream of DLC versus Activision owning the market share on actual copies of games but not making as much due to the lower amounts of DLC.

If Activision has marketshare and steps up the DLC would they just demolish the RB franchise? Has RB gained some kind of customer loyalty due to their DLC so far or has that been eroded by problems (like Moving Pictures delay, the rumored Nirvana album, instrument flaws)?

It really interests me because this "battle" seems like it is on several fronts and has a ton of different factors so makes for some fascinating armchair economics.


edit: And does anyone for a second think Rock Revolutions is going to do anything at all? All covers. No vocals. A drum kit that isn't compatible with the other games. Seems like a recipe for fail to me.

Agreed. I find it really interesting as well. I expect that GH will continue to do great sales-wise. They have a very loyal fanbase and I expect that GH:WT will deliver for that fanbase.

I also believe that Rock Band has fostered a lot of goodwill by delivering on the promises they made regarding DLC from the very beginning. Yes, there was the Moving Pictures delay. Yes, there have been some weak weeks as far as DLC goes. But they have given us DLC every week, full albums, great variety, and a very reasonable pricing structure. I expect that Harmonix will also keep their loyal fanbase and make enough money from DLC sales to stick around for quite a while.

In short, I think there's enough of a market out there to support both series for the foreseeable future.

I didn't know that their shitty drum kit isn't compatible with other music games. I think they had more than enough nails in their coffin already, so I don't think this one will make a difference. I can't believe that their finance people are letting them follow through and release this piece of crap. There's zero interest out there, and it's going to be a complete failure, no question about it. Seriously, name one thing that it has going for it. Poor Konami.

I read yesterday that Konami actually said that RR won't have it's own guitars and you'll have to use "your favorite".

No vocals? I didn't even know that! What a waste when they already have the KR engine.

Proprietary drums? That just flies in the face of the guitar comment yesterday.

Whole thing is bizarre.

Well it was bumped to next year. I expect it to be cancelled, at least the drums. I think they will cut their losses and release the game only.

I honestly think they might be better off financially if they cancel it. Their sales probably wouldn't even cover the costs to produce the discs and distribute them, market the game, etc. When you already have two giant franchises in a niche, you need to bring something significant to the table if you plan to break into that niche. Rock Revolution does not have a single thing going for it that I can see. I can certainly understand Konami wanting a piece of the music game pie (a genre that they arguably started), but this is just a laughable "me too" attempt.

Sounds like somebody needs to rewatch the E3 live presentation!

I would agree that it's best for them to cut their loses and move on. I never understood how they were going to get shelf space anyway. The shelves were already nuts last year with all the peripherals, but now with the full band GH:WT release this holiday season it's going to be pretty ridiculous.

True, the game has been good for a laugh. That's about all it's good for.

I agree on the goodwill for Harmonix thing personally. They have consistently put out stuff. Much of it i liked. Some i did not. But every bit of it i knew was attractive to someone. They also did some small quirky things right up my alley (like the PAX pack and Still Alive) that probably weren't the best business decision (aside from the fact one was free and the other was a charity) due to limited appeal. In my eyes that marked them as music fans willing to experiment to find some niche appeal items.

Or maybe i have just drank the kool-aid.

However, the build quality on their instruments definitely sucked. I have played maybe 5 hours in my life of Guitar Hero/Rock Band guitar and even i can tell the RB guitar is a piece of crap. I had to RMA my guitar and it had been played maybe 3 hours? That is just absurd and i can imagine some folks might have no sympathy for the company after that.

As for me, the music is king, and they get a good bit of leeway for that alone. Just like i will buy GH:WT purely to have access to NOFX. It is a great fun song that i never thought would make it to a game like this.

But it still interests me. I'm a good deal more low key about this stuff than some die-hard fans.
Well i am assuming the drum won't be compatible because there is no kick pedal but there is like 8 freaking pads to hit.

But honestly, when i first read that all the songs would be covers and have no vocals (which i assume means there aren't even vocals to listen to - but i could be mistaken) then i knew i would not be buying the game.

I will buy Rock Revolution if it ever comes out. I am a sucker for music games and it is only $50. I have heard only one bad cover and they have a setlist that has some amazing songs that are unique (at this point, hopefully not long) to Rock Revolution.

The HMX model seems to be working well for them. Offering titles thru DLC so you can eventually play any song ever made should be the goal.

In fact I am wondering if Apple is trying to figure out how to incorporate this into iTunes so people can dl GH/RB tracks and import them somehow.

Activision has to figure out if they are going to keep the GH guitar only franchise or make everything now a band game. And these band exclusive discs Im not so sure of either yet. The Aerosmith title could have been much much better as far as fan content and history, extras and so on. The videos were nice add but could have been better.

If they treat them more like special edition DVD movie titles then it may work out. But if GH:Metallica is more of the same, then just release the tracks on DLC and forget the cheesy video cutscenes.

Aerosmith had so much promise. I still enjoyed it but they could have definitely done a whole lot more in the features department. More 'Behind-the-Music' type stuff. Footage of setting up for a concert, music videos, real interviews(not the pieced together shit they did) and the like. Plus it needed a dozen more songs for the price.

The features really did seem half-assed. Those interviews were just awful. It needed to be a $39.99 game.

^Definitely agree about Aerosmith's pricing being way off... I rented it and got most of the achievements...then I saw it used for $20 and picked it up. For that price I thought it was worth it, but $50? Hell no.

$50? Wasn't it $60?

I bought it at $60 and it was worth every penny. At $20-30, which it is now, it is a no brainer for anyone that plays these games. There are some great songs on it.

Well since this is a Music Game thread:



Samba De Amigo Wii
Out Tuesday for $39.99.

I loved this game on the Dreamcast.

I've been listening to The Bedlam in Goliath (The Mars Volta), Ouroboros would be a blast to play in one of the games w/ drums/guitar/vocals. That said, by blast I mean in actuality... it'd probably be too difficult to enjoy.

No sites have an updated date with a new date for Rock Revolution yet. Konami (based on the E3 debacle as well) must not have their act together with this game...

Heard Our Lady Peace on XM this morning and it got me thinking about "one hit wonders" and here's an alternative pack I'd like to see from the 90s:

New Radicals - You Get What You Give
Our Lady Peace - Superman's Dead
Harvey Danger - Flagpole Sitta
Semisonic - Closing Time
Blind Melon - No Rain
Nixons - Sister

You know, as a start I'm sure I can come up with many more if I thought about it or searched.

Also, another guilty pleasure:
Bryan Adams - Summer of '69