Rock Band

1001 Video Games

Rock Band appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Controversy

The game was much more expensive in Europe than in the US. The US bundle (game, drum kit, microphone and guitar) retailed at $169.99. In Europe, no single bundle was available. The game was sold separately from the instruments. The instrument pack identical to the US one (safe for the game) cost £129.99/€169.99 ($256/$267). The peripherals were also sold separately. The game itself cost £49.99/€69.99 ($98/$110). That way, a full European bundle could be priced up to $377 based on the suggested retail price, or more than twice (!) the US price.

There was a consumers backlash on the internet and European online retailers such as Play.com immediately knocked off $100.

In September 2008 an official price cut was announced for the instruments edition, bringing the suggested retail price to €140 in mainland and £110 in UK ($198/$192), still not as much as Play.com immediately deducted at the launch.

References to the game

Rock Band was mentioned in the 2008 movie Eagle Eye. -Spoiler Alert- It was given as a gift to the son of the main female character, Sam Holloman (Cameron Boyce), by the main character, Jerry Shaw (Shia LaBeouf), for his birthday at the end of the movie.

Sales

On 18th January 2007 MTV Games announced to have sold 2.5 million downloable music tracks in eight weeks, in the US.

Awards

• GameSpy
  • 2007 – #5 Game of the Year
  • 2007 – #5 Console Game of the Year
  • 2007 – #3 Multiplayer Game of the Year
  • 2007 – Game that Makes Us Want to Treat Our Guitar Like The Who Award

Information also contributed by beetle120