Comic 232 - UK gaming webcomic and news blog.

Sweet christ, in one week RockBand will finally hit retail here in the UK. It's been a long ass wait and one made all the more arduous by having to spectate as the US et al received pack after pack of DLC, DLC that was sensibly priced as well!

The asking price here, as you will likely have seen, is £180 for the complete set. Just to hammer this home to you lucky Americans thats around $350. Play.com are offering some respite with their £140 bundle which I will probably take them up on. I can always rationalize the purchase thusly "A course of drum lessons would cost way more AND be less fun". Whether you can legitmately learn the drums through this product remains to be seen but don't take this away from me. I need this.

I'm in a slightly conflicted position actually as I work for the media agency Activision have hired so, in a way, I'm an Activision employee... kinda. I've been working on campaigns for GH III and the soon to hit Guitar Hero On Tour for Nintendo DS and everytime I express interest in RockBand I am labeled a traitor of sorts. I know what is in store for GH IV, specifically what the new feature is for the Guitar controller and while it is very exciting, I just dont think I can wait another 6 months. By the time it comes out I will own RockBand.

And this is the problem. GH IV's instrument set will not be compatible with RockBands and visa versa. I can't imagine many people willing to buy two sets of plastic fake instruments and in this circumstance it seems to me that he who reaches retail first, wins.

EDIT: For those unaware, the following is a scene from the movie "Meet Joe Black"