How Much Do I Spend On Rock Band?
Rock Band, Harmonix's newest game and possible successor to the Guitar Hero throne, cost me about $170 initially. Money well spent. While I think Guitar Hero III might be a better solo game if you prefer being an air-guitar star, Rock Band is probably the best party game videogame I've ever played. It's the perfect size for our family of four, everyone can play cooperatively on different skill levels, and when friends come by, Rock Band comes out.

I don't buy all of the downloadable songs that come out for it. Though I found myself buying a couple that I'd originally skipped after playing them at a friends' place. Last night, downloading the Grateful Dead pack, I realized that I've probably spent narly $40 on extra music for the game.

And you know what? It didn't bother me.

Rock Band shipped with a reasonable number of songs (most of the expense of the game is due to the guitar, drum set, and microphone controllers that shipped with it). True, when starting out in world tour mode, it seems like it takes forever to escape the first couple of batches of "beginner" songs, but eventually all 58 songs become available and it feels reasonable.

Now the number is around 78. It feels like a great game has just been made better, and it's becoming customized to my tastes. Sure, it would be better if there was an option to remove the Beastie Boys' "Sabotage" completely from the list, and if the downloaded songs were swapped in as stand-alone songs on different venues rather than only appearing in random or custom set lists. But hey - I've got three songs by Rush, "Gimme Three Steps" by Lynard Skynard, and songs by Blink 182, the Pretenders, Weezer, and CCR with my game.

And I've been getting introduced to music that had always been under my radar. And some of the artists (and iTunes) have profited.

Nevermind the fact that Rock Band has sold something like 3 million of these downloadable songs by now. Or am I underestimating?

If I were a music studio executive right now, or an agent for an indie band, I'd be lining up with an attractive licensing deal for MTV / Harmonix - or Activision / RedOctane - or whoever else might be working on the next big music game (Hmmm.... a licensing deal for Steam's indie hit Audiosurf?) - right now. In fact, I am guessing they already are.

As GLaDOS would say, "Huge Success."

UPDATE: Wow, can I call it or can I call it?

Labels: Biz, Guitar Hero, music, rock band

- posted by The Rampant Coyote @ 9:31 AM (Permalink)