The success of the Guitar Hero games has sort of passed me by thus far, the appeal of playing along with the songs is obvious enough but it was only when I actually had a go at Christmas that I got the addictive nature of the game, and since then I admit I’ve been tempted. But with the less than stellar reviews for Guitar Hero 3 (not to mention the myriad of problems the Wii version of the game has had) I decided to wait, what really got my interest was the game the original creators of Guitar Hero, Harmonix, went on to make next – Rock Band.
After its release last November in the US the game has been a massive success, especially given that the game plus all the accessories (the game comes with a drum set, microphone and guitar and can add another guitar for the full band set up) cost $170 (£85). However the game was only available for PS3 and Xbox 360, so whilst the game looked interesting it wasn’t really on my radar. That is until the recent announcement that the game was coming to the Wii. Despite the fact that there wont an online mode (or the option to download additional content) I was still pleased by the news, the game already comes with 65+ songs and I don’t really have the time for online play so it isn’t something I would really miss. So everything seemed good again, until that is the price was announced.
£180
Yes, that’s right. The same as the Wii console, MORE than an Xbox 360 core console and more than double the price of the US version? What?
This pricing has only been announced for the Xbox and PS3 versions of the game (the Xbox 360 version is due out at the end of May with the Wii and PS3 sometime later in the year) but is bound to follow for the Wii. So why is it so high? Well firstly UK prices are always higher than their US counterparts, partly due to VAT and tax and other reasons but this usually results in items being 30%-50% higher. There is also the fact that in the UK EA is selling the instruments separate to the game, the instruments cost £130 with the game an extra £50 – again posing the question of why given that you need both to play the game and each is rather useless without the other. So even with these factors this doubling of the price is crazy and puts this game pretty much out of my range, even if it would be fun and last a long time, I just can’t justify that kind of expense, and by the sounds of the internet in recent days a lot of people are in the same boat.
For a company to release a game 6 months late and double the price over the US version is unacceptable and it will be interesting to see how peoples reaction to this pan out over time. I think EA will have definitely have hurt their potential sales and with the general public more wary about spending as well I suspect that this announcement may cost the company more in the long term than they expect. Of course there are those who will buy it regardless whilst grumbling about the price, because we have no choice, but for those interested or on the fence about the game, this announcement may just have swayed them the wrong way.
Thursday 10 April 2008
Not quite ready to rock
The success of the Guitar Hero games has sort of passed me by thus far, the appeal of playing along with the songs is obvious enough but it was only when I actually had a go at Christmas that I got the addictive nature of the game, and since then I admit I’ve been tempted. But with the less than stellar reviews for Guitar Hero 3 (not to mention the myriad of problems the Wii version of the game has had) I decided to wait, what really got my interest was the game the original creators of Guitar Hero, Harmonix, went on to make next – Rock Band.
After its release last November in the US the game has been a massive success, especially given that the game plus all the accessories (the game comes with a drum set, microphone and guitar and can add another guitar for the full band set up) cost $170 (£85). However the game was only available for PS3 and Xbox 360, so whilst the game looked interesting it wasn’t really on my radar. That is until the recent announcement that the game was coming to the Wii. Despite the fact that there wont an online mode (or the option to download additional content) I was still pleased by the news, the game already comes with 65+ songs and I don’t really have the time for online play so it isn’t something I would really miss. So everything seemed good again, until that is the price was announced.
£180
Yes, that’s right. The same as the Wii console, MORE than an Xbox 360 core console and more than double the price of the US version? What?
This pricing has only been announced for the Xbox and PS3 versions of the game (the Xbox 360 version is due out at the end of May with the Wii and PS3 sometime later in the year) but is bound to follow for the Wii. So why is it so high? Well firstly UK prices are always higher than their US counterparts, partly due to VAT and tax and other reasons but this usually results in items being 30%-50% higher. There is also the fact that in the UK EA is selling the instruments separate to the game, the instruments cost £130 with the game an extra £50 – again posing the question of why given that you need both to play the game and each is rather useless without the other. So even with these factors this doubling of the price is crazy and puts this game pretty much out of my range, even if it would be fun and last a long time, I just can’t justify that kind of expense, and by the sounds of the internet in recent days a lot of people are in the same boat.
For a company to release a game 6 months late and double the price over the US version is unacceptable and it will be interesting to see how peoples reaction to this pan out over time. I think EA will have definitely have hurt their potential sales and with the general public more wary about spending as well I suspect that this announcement may cost the company more in the long term than they expect. Of course there are those who will buy it regardless whilst grumbling about the price, because we have no choice, but for those interested or on the fence about the game, this announcement may just have swayed them the wrong way.
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