UPDATE: AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack is a Wal-Mart exclusive. Hooray?
Spotted on multiple sources this morning, Harmonix and MTV Games have officially announced the impending release of AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack on November 2, and November 16th for the Wii. Working similarly to previous Track Packs that Rock Band has seen, the title will function as a standalone game with new tracks — in this case, 18 live recordings of some of AC/DC’s biggest hits, including Thunderstruck, You Shook Me All Night Long, Highway to Hell, and Back in Black (finally). Whereas prior Track Packs served as a way for the DLC-unable PS2 and Wii versions of Rock Band to get some of the newer songs, AC/DC LIVE is being released for all major platforms, including Wii, PS2, PS3, and 360. Pricing the 18-song game at $39.88, Harmonix and MTV Games appear to be going the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith/Metallica route, combining a collection of band-specific songs in one package. There is one exception to the similarity: Unlike GH: Aerosmith, gamers who purchase AC/DC LIVE will be able to export the songs from the disc and play them as part of their regular Rock Band DLC library.
I love most everything about Rock Band; I play it almost constantly. I have no problem paying for DLC; my 150-track library (not including on-disc songs) is testament to that. AC/DC is a fantastic band, and I would love to play Back in Black with my fellow faux rockers. All that being said, I don’t think I would buy AC/DC LIVE, and I’ll tell you why.
The price point is certainly a factor. Forty bucks for an 18-song album is the most Harmonix/MTV have ever asked for any add-on content, and the value is demonstrably less than that for anybody who already owns Rock Band. It’s easily justifiable from a retail standpoint — including a playable game on the disc along with the songs makes it a product that can stand alone and be completely worth $40 — assuming the game you’re getting is a new one. There isn’t even any mention here of any special venues, custom models, or band-specific bonus content as promised by the Guitar Hero counterparts. It’s possible that such features are going to be announced later, but until we hear about them, we have to assume the game that comes with the new music is an identical or truncated version of the basic title, thus giving no new value to prior owners. There’s also the factor that one of the songs on the disc, Let There Be Rock, is already included in Rock Band 2’s library. The AC/DC LIVE track is probably an exciting new version, but it’s probably safe to assume you’ll inevitably come to prefer one version over the other — so, either way, you lose one song’s worth of value from your collection. In essence, if you already own Rock Band, you’re paying $40 for 17 songs, or $2.35/song.
That price is above and beyond anything Harmonix/MTV has ever charged for add-ons. Even if one ignores the fact that buying an entire album usually gets one a lower cost per song, the typical Rock Band DLC runs you $2/track. It doesn’t sound like much more — in truth, I’d still pay $2.35 per song in order to pick up a few favorites from the promised tracklist. I don’t have that option, however — the songs are sold as a package only. If I want to play my one favorite, I’m buying the other 17 songs whether I want them or not. And I wouldn’t hold my breath for these songs to appear individually on the Rock Band Music Store; given Harmonix/MTV’s firm stance on the Rock Band 1 songs, I think it’s safe to say they’re not going to undermine sales of the new Track Pack by offering a more attractive, customizable option.
Still, let’s assume that money is no object for you — perhaps you’d pay well over $100 to enjoy more AC/DC on Rock Band; a fair point. Still, I hope for your sake that means you’ve got an Xbox 360 or a PlayStation 3, because otherwise, this is still going to be a pain for you. PS2 owners know they have no other option, since their system can’t support any meaningful DLC solution, but Wii owners had just been given a reprieve: Only yesterday, Harmonix/MTV confirmed that the upcoming Wii release of Rock Band 2 would support DLC via SD card storage or the console’s (meager) memory. Finally, a new level of functionality for Wii players; no more disc swapping and starting up a new game to play new tracks, right? Sorry, nope — the song export functionality is only listed for PS3 and 360. There’ll be no dropping T.N.T. into your custom setlist, my friends. Enjoy!
Oh, and speaking to those of you for whom money is a concern: You may be hoping to utilize yesterday’s suggested solution for attaining the new tracks in the same way you can attain the RB1 library, namely, borrowing the disc from a friend long enough to export the songs and then never using it again. Not this time, folks; don’t count on it. The press release puts it thusly:
All tracks from the AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack will also be available for play in Rock Band and Rock Band 2 by entering a special export authentication code for the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system versions.
If Harmonix/MTV know their business — and let’s face it, they probably do — that export code is going to be unique. You know that code you got with Rock Band 2 for the eventual download of 20 free songs? The one printed on the back of your manual, that’s unique to your copy of the game, and is going to become invalid after you use it? Yeah — we’re guessing you can expect something like that for AC/DC Live. So, no, there’s no way around it; it’s their way or the highway (to hell). Prepare to part with $40.
Rock Band, you were doing so well. Back when I wrote a similar diatribe concerning the Guitar Hero spinoffs, I lambasted Activision for undermining their own DLC promises with these forced retail packages. I didn’t like it then, and despite the song export option — which, let’s face it, you would be crucified for not including at this point — I don’t like it now. I’ll reserve judgement until I see what truly comes with the $40 purchase, but for now, I’m quite disappointed in you.
September 30th, 2008 at 12:57 pm
Couple points.
The AC/DC LIVE track is probably an exciting new version, but it’s probably safe to assume you’ll inevitably come to prefer one version over the other — so, either way, you lose one song’s worth of value from your collection.
That’s not how that works. If I happen to hate Electric Version and decide after playing it once that in the future I’m always going to play Psycho Killer instead, my collection has not lost ‘one song’s worth of value’. Two different songs are two different songs. Whether they’re two different studio cuts of the same track, a live version and an album version, or rarely, a cover version and a master version, they’re still separate and quite possibly very different songs that add ‘value’ to your collection which Harmonix should not feel bad about charging you for. In this specific case, the live version of Let There Be Rock will likely be different enough guitar solo-wise that there’s more than enough room in everyone’s collection for both.
That changes your analysis of the price somewhat. While you could then decide that the value per song of the pack is 18 into the Xbox 360 price point, I’d argue that you’re better off using the Playstation 2’s lower price as a basis for comparison to existing DLC. All 18 songs into a cost of 29.88 comes out to 1.66/song, which is perfectly reasonable and in line with previous DLC albums. Looking at it that way, you can probably look at the increased $10 cost on the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of the pack as paying for the licensing fees for playing those 18 songs in Rock Band and Rock Band 2, a feature unavailable in the PS2 version. It certainly sounds plausible to me: $5 got a varied selection of songs from a bunch of bands into one game, whereas $10 is getting about half as many songs from a huge band into *two* games.
That said, there’s still a couple criticisms that I feel are valid…
1) The extra $10 on the Wii box if there’s no export capability. That’s kind of a shank to the back for Nintendo users, but I think it’s important to note that I do believe the track pack will *pre-date* Rock Band 2’s release for the Wii, meaning that there still might be room for an export feature to be added at a later date.
2) No individual track purchases as was done with previous DLC albums. While this certainly sucks for players that aren’t AC/DC superfans, I’m willing to chalk this up to being due to some sort of licensing voodoo that went on during negotiations that isn’t for outsiders like you or I to know. AC/DC is a huge band with a lot of sway. Aerosmith got its own stand-alone box game, so it’s quite possible that AC/DC’s representation might have demanded that kind of marketing exposure for their own song pack release. Note also the tie-in with AC/DC’s new album, which lends some credence to this theory. When it comes down to it, if the price to pay for actually getting AC/DC songs at all is that we have to buy all of them or none of them, I’m willing to take all of them, and hopefully a lot of other Rock Banders feel the same. I mean, it’s AC/DC, damnit!