Music fans may have been upset to learn they'd only have one option for purchasing Rock Band this fall; a recent report said the upcoming Harmonix production would stay bundled until 2008. In other words, consumers wouldn't be able to buy the instruments and game separately until next year.
However, this may not be entirely true. According to a recent interview with Next-Gen, Harmonix head Alex Rigopulos assured everyone that they will provide gamers with individual instrument controllers for their title "post-haste."
"The highest priority is to make sure that as many people as possible can have the multi-instrument band experience this holiday,” he said. “We are working diligently to get individual instruments into the channel as soon as humanly possible and we have a huge effort in place to make this happen.”
We noticed he didn't give a specific time frame, but he did say "this holiday," so perhaps this contradicts that earlier report. Rigopulos was responding to gamer concerns about the impending bundle. At $169.99 for the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions, it's definitely a bit pricey, even for big-time fans of the genre. However, it should provide the complete "rock band" experience, as the package includes a microphone, guitar, and drum kit. Of course, if you wanted a true quartet, you'd need another accessory…which is something Rigopulos wants to give us ASAP, evidently.
But he also wanted to add there are indeed other options, especially when multiple gamers are involved. It is designed to be the ultimate party game, after all.
“Also, note that standalone software will be available at launch,” Rigopulos added. “Harmonix supports open platform standards in our game design, so people will most likely be able to use their existing peripherals with Rock Band. Furthermore, we know that many, many friends are planning to purchase a Rock Band bundle together, along with extra copies of the software, and then share the individual instruments among them."
We don't have any prices for these individual instruments as of yet, nor do we have estimated release dates, but at least we know the score. Harmonix is definitely listening to the consumer, here.
Related Game(s): Rock Band