Rock Band DLC pricing and schedule revealed

by Dustin Burg { Nov 15th 2007 at 11:15AM }

In a followup to the post about Rock Band DLC facts being published in the latest OXM, today we've uncovered even more concrete info. And we think your wallets will be pleased.

According to Gamespot, Rock Band will features the "industry standard" three track song packs and they'll actually be cheaper than their 500 point GHIII rivals, costing "only" 440 Microsoft points (around $5.49). Also, unlike GHIII, Rock Band will offer up single songs as downloads that'll range anywhere from 80 points ($.99) to 240 points ($2.99), but the vast majority will land at the 160 points ($1.99) level. Harmonix also released a five week DLC timetable outling what's availabe and when (all viewable after the break). New DLC will start rolling out the week of November 20th and will release every week thereafter. The only DLC details Harmonix has yet to confirm is facts on full album DLC. But we wouldn't worry, their liberal approach to pricing should put albums at or around 1400 points.

Week of November 20, 2007
Metallica Pack
"Ride the Lightning" by Metallica
"Blackened" by Metallica
"And Justice for All" by Metallica

The Police Pack
"Can't Stand Losing You" by The Police
"Synchronicity II" by The Police
"Roxanne" by The Police

Queens of the Stone Age Pack
"3's and 7's" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Little Sister" by Queens of the Stone Age
"Sick Sick Sick" by Queens of the Stone Age

Individual Tracks
"Fortunate Son" as made famous by Creedence Clearwater Revival *
"Juke Box Hero" as made famous by Foreigner *
"Bang a Gong (Get It On)" as made famous by T-Rex *
"My Sharona" as made famous by The Knack *
"Cherry Bomb" as made famous by The Runaways *
"Joker & The Thief" by Wolfmother

Week of November 27, 2007
David Bowie Pack
"Moonage Daydream" by David Bowie
"Heroes" as made famous by David Bowie *
"Queen Bitch" as made famous by David Bowie *

Week of December 4, 2007
Black Sabbath Pack
"N.I.B." as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"Sweet Leaf" as made famous by Black Sabbath *
"War Pigs" as made famous by Black Sabbath *

Week of December 11, 2007
Punk Pack
"Rockaway Beach" by Ramones
"I Fought the Law" by The Clash
"Ever Fallen In Love" as made famous by Buzzcocks *

Week of December 18, 2007
Individual Tracks
"My Iron Lung" by Radiohead
"Buddy Holly" by Weezer
"Brass in Pocket" as made famous by Pretenders*

(Asterisk denotes cover band.)

Tags: ea, harmonix, mtv-games, rock-band, xblm

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Dante Sparda @ Nov 15th 2007 11:30AM

Awesome! By the Way the Guitar hero 3 Boss Battle pack is on the marketplace now for Free!

George @ Nov 15th 2007 11:42AM

I know this is a little off topic and i could probably search for this. BUT...is the Guitar Hero 2 xplorer guitar compatible with Rock Band? I played the demo unit at best buy and was not impressed with the guitar that Rock band has and would like to utilize my GH guitar. Any input would be greatly appreciated, thanks!

Kevin @ Dec 29th 2007 12:33PM

yes it is compatable, however you will loose some features though, such as the high frets for ripping hard solos and the sound switch selector for a diferent sound during use of the star power.

Studley @ Nov 15th 2007 11:43AM

Excellent! It might only look like a small price reduction, but it's certainly a start. With the volume of content that they're churning out, and the competitive pricing of it, Guitar Hero's content is starting to look very mean. GH3 price cuts? Here's hoping...

DjDATZ @ Nov 15th 2007 11:43AM

too fuckin expensive if you ask me...

im not getting either GH3 or rockband...so i couldn't give 2 shits anyways.

DjDATZ @ Nov 15th 2007 11:47AM

George...I think both of the GH guitars work with Rock Band but you cannot access some feature that is exclusive to Rock Band.

1up did a story on it a couple weeks back...
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3164005

Tony @ Nov 15th 2007 11:50AM

The lower price helps, but most importantly I love that we can get them separately as well.

I honestly just don't think $2 is unreasonable given the work involved. I mean, hell, it costs $.99 just for the song on iTunes and all they're doing is sticking up what was already done before. Hopefully the stuff that's more is just extraordinarily long and isn't just based upon greedy labels.

I know I'd love things to be even cheaper, but at some point I think it's just an unreasonable thing to expect. Hopefully they'll do some freebies every once in a while because I think, especially for new bands, this could be a major, major, major marketing tool.

Tony @ Nov 15th 2007 11:51AM

Ugh, and no sell on the David Bowie covers. The guy they had do Ziggy Stardust on the original GH was terrible.

Josh @ Nov 15th 2007 11:51AM

I just want to know when the release date for "One" by Metallica will be released for DLC in Rock Band...that's all.

ChromaTick @ Nov 15th 2007 11:54AM

George, What Dj said. Your x-plorer will work fine with Rock Band, but the Rock Band one won't work with GH2 or GH3.

As for the DLC news. This is great. I would have been happy even if they kept it at 500 points considering there is more work going into an RB track (drums and voice in addition to the guitar and bass).

I thought I had read somewhere that the three pack songs will also be able to be purchased as individuals.

$1.99 for an individual song sounds just right to me. Same price as a music video on iTunes, with a whole lot more interactivity. :)

George @ Nov 15th 2007 11:55AM

Thanks DJDatz! I cant wait for tuesday!

Scott @ Nov 15th 2007 12:01PM

Well played Rock Band. Coming in below, and having two extra data streams for each song. Obviously I wouldn't mind them being cheaper, but its a bit harder to complain with RB's. And instead of saying "THE MOST DLC OF ANY GAME EVER EVER!!!!", they come out with an actual release date list and options with some in packs, and some in singles. I am very impressed, and stupid GHII should have handled it this way. Lets see GHIII tweaks there ways now that there is a new player in the game.

TORO @ Nov 15th 2007 12:06PM

In the near future bands will be selling their albums with DLC, and you can then transfer them to your mp3 player. Could you guys see that happening?

michael @ Nov 15th 2007 12:07PM

what happened to whole album downloads, with the promises of who's next? can someone please tell me if I dreamt that or if it was actually said

dunnypop @ Nov 15th 2007 12:11PM

GH 3 is good... it's what GH 2 should have been. however, Rock Band is going to be the new Guitar Hero... they are doing everything right so far. the career mode looks like a lot more fun.

the music packs look solid and 3 songs for $5.49 is pretty awesome... and I usually stock up on points when they are discounted, this is even sweeter! don't forget you can use it for bass, guitar, drums, and vocals.

Tony @ Nov 15th 2007 12:15PM

I don't know, I think GHII is what Guitar Hero should have been in general. I like the addition of online play, but screw the guitar battles.

Tim @ Nov 15th 2007 12:42PM

Wow, that pricing strategy and song list has just about made me decide to go ahead and get the game and use my Xplorer controller. I was gonna wait for the drum kit to be available seperately, but now I don't know...

Boomaga @ Nov 15th 2007 1:15PM

Holy Sh*t!! Ride the Lighting and Blackened in the Metallica Pack?! It's making my poor, Guitar Hero-only soul ache.

thisguyrighthere @ Nov 15th 2007 1:17PM

I was going to pass on Rock Band because I didn't want to have all of these guitar controllers hanging around. Now that I know I can use my GH controller for RB I think I'm on board. Though I'll have to compare the track lists. I'd hate to be buying 2 games if there are overlapping tracks.

Stan @ Nov 15th 2007 1:26PM

That's definitely some good stuff. It really makes GH3's DLC pricing seem even more horrible, considering you're paying more for ONLY a guitar and bass track.

Joop @ Nov 15th 2007 1:32PM

Having DLC available on launch day reeks of "Hey, why should we put this in the final game when we can have it ready on the same day, boast about how we have better DLC, and make more money off of it?"

I really hate the way EA handles DLC. It's insulting.