How ridiculous...

[_GABO_]

Not sure whether to put this in General or not, seeming as how it pertains to Rock Band.

A couple of minutes ago, my mother called me from our local Wal-Mart where she was shopping, to tell me that there are at least fifteen bundles of Rock Band (and that's only for 360) sitting out in the open right now. The day after Black Friday, it's ridiculous! I already have the bundle pre-ordered from Wal-Mart, but I'm not sure if I've gotten charged yet, and if I wasn't and could cancel my order, I would so I could go out and buy Rock Band rather than wasting a five-day-weekend with out it, like I am right now.

[surferbill]

dude, even if your card did get charged you can still return it for a full refund. just go buy the one your mom saw! you should be in the car by now!

[Hockey07]

This morning, a Best Buy over here had a huge stack of bundles, too.

[_GABO_]

dude, even if your card did get charged you can still return it for a full refund. just go buy the one your mom saw! you should be in the car by now!

Too easy, lol.

I always could do that, but I can wait. It's just kind of irritating that I didn't have to pre-order (which I don't quite think Wal-Mart understands the meaning of, seeming as how my order didn't even begin processing until yesterday) afterall.

[JDillard]

To easy? So instead of going and getting it, you would rather jump on the boards and complain about spending a 5-day weekend without it?

[Angry_Games]

it will take a while to get Rock Band as popular as Guitar Hero. Almost no one had ever heard of Guitar Hero original until Guitar Hero 2 was about to come out. Then it sorta just built up like a tidal wave as the 80's came out but we were screaming for GH3, and in the meantime, we bought all the Guitar Hero games and made everyone play with us so they too would be addicted and then somehow a mom and dad found out and THEY started playing it and telling their friends and so on and so on.

GH3 comes out and is an instant hit. Probably more than half of the current customers of GH3 already had a GH game previously and already had some guitars (except PS3 owners who never had it before lol). The rest (including a lot of those majority that had a previous game + guitar) bought a bundle mostly and some game-only's, because even if we already had the guitars for the platform, we still wanted a new one.

Oh and let's not forget the Wii. The most popular console in sales for a while now, and getting close if not surpassing even the 360's 11 or 12 million base. Wii is already freakin cool enough to bring families and friends of all ages together for some bowling or whatever, but now there's a music game!? We are all connected by music in some way or another. We can all relate to some song we both know (or that EVERYONE knows) whether we love it or hate it.

So anyway, all the word-of-mouth hype from those of us who bought it for PS2 and Xbox360 combined with the marketing of Activision as well as Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo has brought the Guitar Hero franchise to the current point: extremely popular, almost a pop-icon (you pretty much know it is if South Park took how many years to make the World of Warcraft episode and a relatively short time later makes a Guitar Hero episode?). Almost no one hasn't heard of Guitar Hero now, even if they have never seen it or played it.


Enter Rock Band. No one has heard of Rock Band. Even a lot of Guitar Hero owners haven't heard of Rock Band. Ok, a few of us have heard of it lol. But what's the number one myth out there? That Guitar Hero is made by Activision/RO/Neversoft. It's true for the last game, but there are a lot of people that have NO clue that Harmonix actually created this franchise and nurtured it to the popularity is is right now just by creating better and better revisions giving it the now instant name recognition.

But ask Guitar Hero fans now who Harmonix is, they'll probably not know unless they own DDR or another game made by Harmonix. The truth is, we live in a brand-conscious society. Hey, have you heard of this brand? That brand? We now even use brand names as substitute for an actual item, like "coke" instead of 'soft drink' or 'soda' etc.

Brand recognition is very important. If you've heard of Nike for shoes but never heard of BilboBaggins shoes, which are you likely to be more interested in for purchase? We like to think we are smarter now with the internet and we say "i always research my interests before purchasing" and in some cases that is true. But most of us really aren't that way. We tend to stick to brand loyalties/prejudices. Again, not always, but most of the time this is true.

And in the age of the internet, that same loyalty/prejudice still exists, and in some ways, it's worse than it ever was when you actually had to talk to someone face to face or write in to a newspaper editorial to voice your opinion on whether or not Ford sucks and Chevy rules. Now with the internet, you got fanboys, haters, all sorts of anonymous crazies who love to jam their opinions down your throat then say you like sexual relations with the same gender as you are if you disagree. On top of that, they just bleat the same repititious nonsense like sheep to anyone, whether it is true or not. PS3's give you testicular cancer! I read on the internet that like 5 guys got giant tumors down there from just having one new in the box not even opened! REALLY? I got to go tell my forum this bit of scary news!

<shrug>

Anyway. Point is, Rock Band is not an established name yet. It will be. It's just a really slow ride at first, like a mudslide or avalanche or tidal wave. They all start small and slow, but there comes a point where they build up enough inertia/momentum to come raging through your little village burying everyone underneath. Guitar Hero was like that. Imagine the wave once everyone starts to become familiar with Rock Band "because Rock Band is like Guitar Hero but with drums and microphone and 4-player bands!!!" as we all like to tell anyone who will listen to us about how great it is.

A lot of people I know that I turned on to guitar hero still really don't know about Rock Band. A good many of them do just because I showed that 'leaked' RB video that got hmxsean and crew all up in arms lol about 5000000 times to everyone who liked guitar hero. But unless they've come over to the house since last Tuesday, they still really don't KNOW about Rock Band hehe. It's one of those things, just like GH, that you just have to see in action, and in person, and try it yourself.

Once the recognition of the name "Rock Band" gets more and more propagated to the masses (like a viral achievement on Xbox360 lol), I think you'll see even more popularity unless the GH franchise somehow turns a corner and starts trying to out-Rock Band Rock Band heh. That would be cool too, as that would drive BOTH companies to come up with more innovations and such, making the game experience better in the end for EVERYONE, and more choices for everyone.

Choice is good unless you are a communist leader.

I really should just put this nonsense in blogs instead

[ChaosElement]

Holy crap long post

[_GABO_]

Holy crap long post

I know, right? Makes you wonder if he just spat that out all at once or if he's been waiting with it, just lurking in a corner for a while now, waiting. I think I skipped at least two or three paragraphs there, but even then, I still got the gist of it.

[brokentoothpic]

A long post, but a true one nonetheless.

Although, it did make my cerebral cortex bleed....


:)

[atomic_il]

Not sure whether to put this in General or not, seeming as how it pertains to Rock Band.

A couple of minutes ago, my mother called me from our local Wal-Mart where she was shopping, to tell me that there are at least fifteen bundles of Rock Band (and that's only for 360) sitting out in the open right now. The day after Black Friday, it's ridiculous! I already have the bundle pre-ordered from Wal-Mart, but I'm not sure if I've gotten charged yet, and if I wasn't and could cancel my order, I would so I could go out and buy Rock Band rather than wasting a five-day-weekend with out it, like I am right now.

I had preordered GH3 but forgot to get express shipping, and the estimated ship date was 2 weeks after it came out! I went and bought a set instead, and sold the one I ordered when it arrived.

[surferbill]

whats the point of waiting really? you have a long weekend to play with this and you'd rather wait? i totally appreciate your patience and wish i could be like that, but dude, carpe diem, seize the day. Rock n Roll is waiting

[toefer]

I think it depends on where you live. Most stores here are sold out of it. I was at Wal-Mart this morning to buy another PS3, since they were offering 10 free Blu-Ray movies with it (so I'm throwing the PS3 and 2 of the 10 movies up for sale on eBay, and hoping I take a small loss, which I can justify with getting 8 Blu-Ray movies for myself...but that's a different story). While I was there, someone called up and asked if they had RB in, and the conversation went like this:

"Yes, we have 1 copy left"
"Can you hold it for me?" <----I assume this is what they said
"No, we can't hold items for people"
"Can you hide it for me?" <----I assume this is what they said
"No, we can't hide it for you"

I thought it was funny. But when I went around yesterday, the local BestBuys, Circuit Cities, Wal-Marts, and Targets had a combined 3 copies in their stores, out of the roughly 8 stores I went to.

[nicko68]

Oh and let's not forget the Wii. The most popular console in sales for a while now, and getting close if not surpassing even the 360's 11 or 12 million base. Wii is already freakin cool enough to bring families and friends of all ages together for some bowling or whatever, but now there's a music game!? We are all connected by music in some way or another. We can all relate to some song we both know (or that EVERYONE knows) whether we love it or hate it.

Very nicely said. And a great reason why Rock Band needs to be released on the Wii. :D These games are a natural fit that platform and the type of gamers that are attracted to it.

[visualdeity]

But ask Guitar Hero fans now who Harmonix is, they'll probably not know unless they own DDR or another game made by Harmonix.

Since when has Harmonix had anything to do with DDR? I thought that was all Konami.

[_GABO_]

Well, I checked online today and my bundle is actually just in the next city over (fifteen minutes drive) at the UPS place, and should be at my door tomorrow. Evidentially it's been there since Friday morning (which angers me a bit), but at least I'm gonna be able to play tomorrow after school! I can't wait [to see if my guitar sucks/to play]!

[municipalblack]

I'm really surprised that there's bundles actually sitting in stores. Send them up to Canada we'll take care of them :)

[_GABO_]

I'm really surprised that there's bundles actually sitting in stores. Send them up to Canada we'll take care of them :)

Well, if you send me a good $200 USD ($180ish + my shipping & fees:D), then I'd be more than glad to send you one. lawlz.

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Post #333