A friendly letter from Rock Band developer Harmonix
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 9:57am by Jack
Hey Infendo readers and Nintendo lovers, it’s Harmonix here, guest writing for the Infendo editorial gang.
Guess what? We really do hate you. We didn’t think your little system was any good when it came out in November 2006, and we thought it was rubbish when we released Rock Band for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 last year, so we ignored you.
Then we sat on our hands for six months and raked in profit from our overpriced DLC. It was all good fun. Until we noticed that Guitar Hero 3 wiped the floor with us! Especially on the Wii! My my my, we fumbled that one.
So here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re going to release the PS2 version with a bunch of white spray painted drum sets and gimp online play. It’s all Nintendo’s fault, of course. Oh, and then we’re going to say you guys get five exclusive songs that are actually downloadable tracks Xbox and PS3 owners have had for a while.
Cheers, and thanks for your $160! $170! Suckers!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:15 am
White drum sets? whatever. And I don’t really care about online play, rhythm party games are more fun in person. As for DLC… I’m not sure. DLC would be nice, but I won’t complain if it’s not there.
$160?! SIGN ME UP!
April 15th, 2008 at 10:19 am
I thought it was way to expensive on the other systems, but with how the wii version is it’s just plain unacceptable. Oh well, I wouldn’t have bought it either way.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:23 am
I thought it was $170, same as the good versions.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:34 am
Bad use of the word “gimp”. Gimp presumes something is still present, but in a greatly reduced capacity. Online play and download content have been totally excluded- so they killed online play- and Rock Band as a whole was therefore gimped.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:55 am
Well if the UK version is going to ratail for $360+ and the wii version is blowing hardcore for $160. Then mabye i can pretend im from the UK and get a 360 arcade + rockband.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:03 pm
I’m not in the same boat as you guys, as I have the PS3 version, but if they didn’t have DLC for that version, I don’t know what I’d do. Every week Harmonix releases at least one good song that I immediately purchase. The few they’re adding as bonus is a good addition, but there’s no “More than a feeling” from Boston, “Wonderwall” from Oasis, and a whole slew of awesome songs that didn’t come with the original disc. The stock songs they have are great, but it makes spending $170 more palatable when the game stays relevant for a year after its purchase. You’d be kidding yourself if you think DLC is a useless feature for Rock Band.
April 15th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
As much as I want it, I will not buy it. I’m already going to pay 60 dollars for a second GH3 guitar for a game that can’t even download new songs. I then can’t use these guitars for Rock Band, and I’ll have to buy more guitars. Thanks Harmonix for trying to pretend that you care, but no thanks.
April 15th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
170 is way too expensive, and considering that Rockband here in Mexico costs almost twice that amount… I’m afraid of how they’ll overprice the Wii version (what with it being so popular and all).
I’ll wait for the final review and a price drop, and give Guitar Hero 4 enough time to change my mind if it’s worth getting.
April 15th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
I’m stickin’ to guitar hero 3. You know, the game they ripped off of liberally? (though I guess Guitar Hero ripped off Guitar Freaks…)
Anyways. Fuck you Harmonix. I ain’t letting any of my friends pay a pretty penny for your shitty half-ass port.
April 15th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
My thoughts exactly, Jack.
April 15th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
Quite immature for an article/opinion piece, but I certainly echo your thoughts. I’m disappointed in Harmonix…I definitely will not be picking up Rock Band.
@gojiguy
I’m sure you realize that GH1 and GH2 were made by Harmonix, so if there was any “ripping off,” then it certainly wasn’t from Harmonix.
April 15th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
@the_iSaac and gojiguy
Yeah, Harmonix is awesome, it’s freakin EA!!!!!!
Oh, and thanks EA for taking out the 3D easter egg!
April 15th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Couldn’t agree more, Jack. Rock Band Wii is bad form.
April 15th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Jack your article is a biased and uneducated to the actual happenings.
Harmonix isn’t to blame it’s Nintendo, not the other way around. So why not change Harmonix to Nintendo, and actually say the truth.
6 Months, seems a lot of time to actually be in negotiations and try and find a way to work out some type of way to actually get downloadable content off the ground. I’m also pretty sure a port takes a little more than 6 months time too.
However on the other hand, if they did say it was “exclusive tracks” which i’m sure an article about that could probably be found really quickly. They are kinda at fault, but Harmonix has always been a decent company. I mean even when there was faulty guitars, drum sets, etc they quickly rectified the problem.
So I don’t see why you would post an article like this.
April 15th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
This is all a real shame… I really would’ve bought it if it wasn’t worse than the other versions…
April 15th, 2008 at 10:41 pm
wtf! god… i love u jack amen brother
April 16th, 2008 at 8:37 am
I totally agree with Will. I think that people are quick to bash Harmonix because its much easier than blaming Nintendo. Wii owners need to realize that there is a reason why they are getting gimped, its because they bought a system which on many fronts is simply insufficient. This is Nintendo’s fault and no one else’s.
(3rd time now) Harmonix are doing the bets with what they have. It is a follish business move for them to jump backwards through hoops to provide what will end up being an awkward online set up.
April 16th, 2008 at 10:09 am
Maybe I’m alone on this, but I’d prefer that they include all the songs in the disc at once. That way I’d pay $170 (or whatever they charge) in total, not $170 plus many DLC’s. Can’t they do that?
April 16th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Whoa whoa whoa, Will and Daniel Primed, while I can see why the lack of downloadable content is Nintendo’s fault, clearly the blame for the total elimination of both online and world tour mode (which includes character creation) falls on Harmonix’s shoulders. Last time I checked, Wii’s been online for quite a while, and world tour wasn’t even online to begin with. Fact is, they just wanted to make a quick buck, so why bother changing anything from the PS2 version?
April 17th, 2008 at 12:55 am
Okay, both parties are to blame here. Nintendo for the lack of a hard drive and therefore preventing DLC.
However, is Nintendo telling Harmonix to up the price on the Wii version? Did Nintendo tell them to make sure the GH3 guitar was incompatible with Rock Band? Did Nintendo tell them to include 5 more songs that are DLC for the 360 and not great songs to begin with?
The answers to all of those is no. Nintendo might not understand online, but they are not the ones trying to screw over the consumer in this instance. This is horrible by harmonix. I wouldn’t have bought this either way, $170 is a rip off evne if I do enjoy playing this at my friends.
But that’s the point. As long as one friend has Rock Band, and he has it for 360, there is no need for others to have it. Waste of cash.
Good article by the way, I was laughing throughout.