The more I hear about the recently announced AD/DC Rock Band expansion, the less excited I am about it. After reading through the details unearthed by Variety today, my interest remains low.
The New Details:
- Harmonix has exclusivity on AC/DC content indefinitely, after they’ve gone on the record as being against exclusive artist deals
- No character creation
- “There are some custom graphics,” but you don’t play as AC/DC
- No online play with the standalone disc
- Songs can be exported, for free, for play with Rock Band and Rock Band 2. Exported songs can be played online.
It just doesn’t seem like there’s any reason to warrant a physical product. Nobody is going to go and buy a few hundred dollars of Rock Band instruments to play 18 AC/DC songs, so anybody who buys this will likely have one of the original games anyways. Not making this DLC is just an inconvenience. Maybe I’m crazy – Anybody out there getting antsy in the pants for this one?
[Via Kotaku]
i am still very interested…just because it’s AC/DC. i would ALMOST pay $40 just for “You Shook Me…”
i think Walmart and AC/DC got in the way here. AC/DC already had a deal in place with Walmart as the exclusive retailer of their upcoming album (”Black Ice”). meanwhile MTV/HMX was busy actively pursuing them for the game, and the result is this over-priced, really should be DLC, “expansion pack”. AC/DC isn’t big on digital distribution – their songs still aren’t on iTunes. and of course seeing how Aerosmith got their own game, AC/DC probably wanted their own…conveniently to be sold at Walmart, who they were already in cahoots with.
i would bet Harmonix just wanted to do some album DLC and got dragged into this idea by the suits.
Good points all around.
I’ll be paying $40 just to play Highway to Hell — the greatest song in the history of music. Thunderstruck, Back in Black, and T.N.T are all icing on the cake. Mmmm…cake.
I agree it has all of these drawbacks but I will still be buying it. AC/DC music is perfect for rock band. I agree however it should be DLC and cheaper. I would at least expect to play as AC/DC if I am buying a physical product but it looks like it’s not going that way.
So if you can export them for free is there anything to stop you from renting the game (if it gets stocked) and doing that? That way you get the songs AND online play for less than 10 dollars.
I didn’t see any indication when I exported my RB1 songs to RB2 that my disc could only be exported once.