In the case of my take on the variations of the GH and RB franchises; I didn’t want to delve into the details of the DS and PSP versions. I was aiming at a larger point instead of breaking down each one of them like you did. I think the idea to expand on other systems is a good thing. Example Rock Band Unplugged is amazing (If you like amplitude or Frequency).

DJ Hero is a cool idea and its good for the market who wants to do more Hip-Hop music. My beef with this stuff is the price! This is something you hate but I can’t begin to tell you how annoying it is that for me, to try this game, I have to shell out 120+ dollars. What if I hate it? Can I return it? how do I know this game is worth the money? That drives me crazy to no end. I want to try DJ Hero I’m actually interested in it, but I can’t afford it.

Maybe Band Hero will be fun? I will again have to gamble with that one. I remember buying Rock the 80′s only to find out 3 songs were master tracks and there was hardly anything on there worth playing after a few of your favorites. What I mean by this is, when you buy one of these games, it’s a good bet that you will start to love a lot of the songs even if you do or don’t know them, but its also possible you won’t. It’s happened before and it could happen again.

I hate gambling on games with my cash. I want a way to see if the games that are to break the mold are going to be worth it. the changes are nice, and its what the franchises need, but they also need to expose the games to the public if they want them to be interested. I love that I can demo games like GH: Smash Hits, or I’m sure Rock Band Beatles and Guitar Hero 5 will have a demo. I need to know before I invest cause I’m not made of money, and I have expectations I expect to be met. I’m picky but that’s how I roll.

Good article Jeff. You have an eloquence to your style and I love it, even though you are an Activison fanboy j/k lol

Let’s be fair though. Rock Band Beatles Edition was announced long before GH5 so, in fact, it is Activision who is countering with GH5, not the other way around. As far as sales go, it wouldn’t surpise me at all if the Beatles only Rock Band does close to the sales of the all encompassing GH5.

Couple the fact that the Beatles game will release time and date with every Beatles record re-released on digitally remastered cd’s and I think that it will be the Rock Band brand that will gain the most steam.

Plus, I don’t think it would be a bad thing to release Rock Band 3 in a completely different fiscal quarter than the traditional Guitar Hero release that Harmonix themselves made a juggernaut. What I have found is that often times these are not competing franchises, but instead two seperate games that families with thinning wallets have to make a tough choice on when the time comes (though usually they would prefer to have both.) Perhaps staggering the release of the two competitors apart from one another would be the best thing they could do to ensure that their game is purchased when the time comes.

I think that there are some great enhancements with GH5 that are base in multiplayer. Obviously, there was no way for Harmonix to tell the future, but I thought that GH5 should have been countered with ROCK BAND 3, not John, Paul, George and Ringo.

…but with the announcment of the Rock Band Network, who knows what else they have up their sleeve?