[Nieuws] Geschreven door Johannes op 2008-04-11 17:07:10

Harmonix over Rock Band gezeur

Gamers klagen nogal over de prijs, het gebrek aan downloadbare content en meer. Lees hier het interview waarin Harmonix reageert. Rock Band is een game die ongetwijfeld één van de duurste games ooit zal worden. Met een adviesprijs van €240 (!) krijg je weliswaar je het muzikale spel plus instrumenten, maar dit prijskaartje zal vast en zeker niet gamers overhalen om dit spel aan te schaffen. Zeker niet, wanneer je nagaat dat er in Noord-Amerika 'slechts' [URL="http://www.wiids.nl/article.php?id=25515"]170 zwakke Amerikaanse Dollars[/URL] overhandigd dienen te worden om eigenaar te worden van het pakket. Inderdaad, Europa wordt weer genaaid waar iedereen bij staat. Maakt niet, zijn we inmiddels al gewend. Rob Kay, design director bij ontwikkelaar Harmonix, legt het prijsverschil uit aan de hand van de transportkosten, aangezien het in de USA geproduceerd wordt. De belangrijkste stukken uit het interessante interview van CVG voor de Wii-versie staan hieronder.

Why is there no downloadable content on the Wii?

Kay: Come on Nintendo, we need a hard drive! That's what we want. The whole problem is there's nowhere to store it. 

If the platform could do it, we jump on it. But it's something that we championed to Nintendo, we'd like to do it. Who knows what will happen down the line, I don't know what's coming down the line, but that's the reason there's no DLC in Wii Rock Band.

The pricing and packages in the UK is very different to the US? Why split up the peripherals and the game, and do you think the cost is justified?

Kay: We wanted to do that in the US, but we weren't able to. People can just buy the actual game, because you can use any USB microphone or the Xbox 360 headset to sing. 

Or you might just want to buy the guitar, so you'll buy the game and just the guitar and it will cost you just seventy quid. Or you can do the same with the drums. 

As for the cost issue, we think it's less of an issue when it gets released. There's no precedent for this kind of game. Most games are just a disc. 

And there's a growing amount of games that are a disc and some kind of peripheral. There's no other game with these sized peripherals that are all different and are all put together. 

I think it's pretty amazing; we think people are going to get value for money. I can understand why people feel like this - I was born and grew up here so I remember what it's like to feel that things are a lot of money compared to out there. 

I could list a lot of reasons that contributed to the UK price, like VAT, and not including the sales tax in the US price. There's lots of little reasons that have attributed to it, but we still think people will get value for money. 

Rock Band costs more than the actual console it comes on. Are you aiming it to be almost a music platform rather than a game?

Kay: Rock Band isn't a console unto itself, but I think that's such a part of what people are gonna' get when they get it. 

You absolutely get a kick-ass game when you get it - sixty six songs that you can experience or play. But this is a game where you can create your own band and tour with it. 

But we're also going to grow it. These instruments are not going to just be used for Rock Band, they're going to be compatible with future games. 

You'll be able to use these going forward. You'll also be able to use these with downloadable content and this is where this notion of Rock Band as a platform comes about. 

We're really excited about where it's going to go. You're going to have more out there than any other game.

Gekoppelde games

Rock Band (Wii)