Rock Band vs. Guitar Hero: The Rock Opera Continues

[Xzyliac]

Guitar Hero just put Activision as the top third party publisher of 07 bypassing EA.

Now can Rock Band put EA back on top? While the concept is hot the price appears to be a major turn off outside this forum.

[admanimal]

Rock Band will help, but probably not as much as Madden '08 will.

[hardyfoster]

rock band will perhaps bring in a new audience like guitar hero did. when GH first came out, people didn't know what it was until they played it at a friends house, then went out and bought a ps2 just to play the game.

rock band has in it's favor that it's a party game (4 players), so more people will be exposed to it and go out and buy it.

I've never been interested in Karaoke Revolution, but since rock band has that element in the game, i'm sure i'll do some singing as well as play the solo game involving singing. this may happen as well with karaoke players who weren't interested in guitar hero. they'll be interested in playing the guitar and drum parts.

i have a friend who didn't care much for the singing games, or guitar hero, but he just wants to play the drums....

so there's alot of "new" consumers out there....

i think it's smart they're releasing GH3 before RB instead of at the same time.

[Xzyliac]

I don't know. I just don't know.

[Rev0lver]

people are just used to guitar hero. and too stupid to realize harmonix created the first two games as well. but i garuntee once people start really recognizing this game nobody's going to go for gh4(if there will be one)

[IOIHUMMERIOI]

people are just used to guitar hero. and too stupid to realize harmonix created the first two games as well. but i garuntee once people start really recognizing this game nobody's going to go for gh4(if there will be one)

At this point, GHIII is going to be just an "add-on" for some extra songs to play. Rock Band seems to be the real deal, and Harmonix is promising the moon on this one between the extra content, hush-hush song list and the "rock solid" network code to make online play an incredible experience. Let's see if they can live up to it...

[Kaboobi]

Rock Band will be the better game by far, but I know that GH3 will sell far far far more copies initially than RB, but over time the sales will even out as it gains those "word of mouth" sales much like GH did.

[Eman311]

EA has madden 08. I think they'll be retaking the top spot fairly easily.
and what is this by? copies of games sold, profits?

[Xzyliac]

Profit. Madden is such a quick burst of success whereas GH has been in the top 10 ALL YEAR!

[IOIHUMMERIOI]

Madden is so overrated. It's the same thing, every year, with a few gimmicks and graphical tweaks here an there. This coming from a HUGE Madden fan when it actually meant something. :(

Too bad they snapped up the NFL rights and took 2K out of it. With that said, 2K dropped the ball on their latest offering, probably due to the fact that Madden is Madden and it will sell no matter what.

Oh well.

I will say, it looks like EA is trying to get some new franchises going (like Rock Band and Army of Two) instead of milking the same thing, over and over and over again like they've done for the past few years.

[Xzyliac]

Hopefully Peter Moore can pressure the sports division to innovate.

[IOIHUMMERIOI]

Hopefully Peter Moore can pressure the sports division to innovate.

Funny you say that because the day I heard the news he was headed over there, that was the first thing I thought of, and to get their online stuff up to snuff and none of this "I want to control our online experience" garbage as that's exactly what it is...garbage. If I wanted that kind of experience, I'd own a PS3 by now...wait, I already did and sold it after not having any good games for it! :cool:

I think Peter Moore went there to get closer to Rock Band after e3. :D

[Xzyliac]

HA!

I'd hit it.

[Terranova]

Rock Band will be the better game by far, but I know that GH3 will sell far far far more copies initially than RB, but over time the sales will even out as it gains those "word of mouth" sales much like GH did.

I would say the only reason GH III could sell more at the start would be those that have a PS2 only and so would get the game for that.. those with a 360 or PS3 i would be willing to bet they would go with rock band a lot more than GH III.. sites such as Gamespot already have Rock band ahead of GH III in which one they prefer whether this will change when the full games are released is another matter but i would say Rock band would come out on top.

[TheTogfather]

I would say the only reason GH III could sell more at the start would be those that have a PS2 only and so would get the game for that.. those with a 360 or PS3 i would be willing to bet they would go with rock band a lot more than GH III.. sites such as Gamespot already have Rock band ahead of GH III in which one they prefer whether this will change when the full games are released is another matter but i would say Rock band would come out on top.

Yah, but I'll bet ya a surprising number of the Rock Band faithful are going to buy both, myself included. For many reasons...out at least a month earlier, online play, pretty sweet song list, and the Gibson Les Paul it's shipping with. Believe me, my trust is placed fully in Rock Band, and I know that once it hits, GH3 is going to be gathering much dust, but there's no way I can resist a true Guitar Hero sequel (don't even get me started on that GH Encore: 80s game...still resisting that one, though dunno for how much longer...)

[PsycoCheerio]

I think one thing Activision has going for it is the early release date being end of October...depends on the gap between RB and GHIII i think will determine what people go for. Everyone is very impatient.

GH: 80s was surprisingly good, granted i played in on Frets On Fire because i wasn't crazy enough to go spend $40 on 30 songs that only about 1/3 were great.

[Eman311]

I think one thing Activision has going for it is the early release date being end of October...depends on the gap between RB and GHIII i think will determine what people go for. Everyone is very impatient.

GH: 80s was surprisingly good, granted i played in on Frets On Fire because i wasn't crazy enough to go spend $40 on 30 songs that only about 1/3 were great.

hmmm i might do that......

[skyehill]

Profit. Madden is such a quick burst of success whereas GH has been in the top 10 ALL YEAR!


You obviously don't know much about the sales charts. Madden is in the top 10 consistently from August to about February each year. Show me one company that would deem that as a "quick burst" of success. I hate Madden, but it sells great each and every year. If Guitar Hero 80s Encore is any indicator, GH seems to be OK with the Madden approach of doing as little as possible for a buck.

[finsfan]

I for one will also but both GH and RB. As for the new consumers i think they would lean toward rock band as the "funner" game between the two. Like someone said before on this thread GH3 is more of an add on but rock band offers a new twist on the musical gaming genre. My wife for one, when i told her about RB she said "they have drums?" And that's when I knew I had her blessing of me getting RB. Tee hee! :D

Can they make Rock band come out tomorrow?? PLEASE!

[Electric_Zen]

To this day, the PS2 version of GH2 is outselling the 360 version month-to-month. So yes, the PS2/Wii capable GH3 will initially wipe the floor with Rock Band in sales. But obviously, Rock Band will be the stronger franchise in the long term.

[lorddavid]

Rock Band, Guitar Hero... it's gaming that I'm guarenteed to enjoy, so I'll be picking up both irrespective of who makes them anyway, but I do kind of expect GH3 to spend more time sat on a shelf... although it'll also depend on which game is in the console at any one time, as I often am too lazy to turn the PS2 off, or to get up and change the game, meaning I just stick with whatever's currently in, lol.

My only problem with ROck Band will be that I REALLY want to do the drumming, but I can't do that in my room 'cause it's too small (as it stands, I'm sat on my bed at a desktop PC, the desk is backed up to a wall, and I can reach behind me and touch the opposite wall, lol), so to play the drums I've got no choice but to set it up downstairs... this limits me to playing the drums on Wednesday, Thursday & Sunday... and even then, only when nobody else wants to use the main TV.

Wont stop me doing that tho' :D

[IbanezBassist_v2]

Madden is so overrated. It's the same thing, every year, with a few gimmicks and graphical tweaks here an there. This coming from a HUGE Madden fan when it actually meant something. :(

Thank you very much. Madden lost all it luster. Its not a game anymore. Its a footbal simulator.

[newwaytodie]

Hey guys, Guitar Hero 3 isn't the only game that activision has lined up for the fourth qurater this year.

New Tony Hawk
New Call Of Duty
New Quake (Enemy Territory)

Those are some pretty heavy duty, and well established franchises.

[GrayInvisible]

Hey guys, Guitar Hero 3 isn't the only game that activision has lined up for the fourth qurater this year.

New Tony Hawk
New Call Of Duty
New Quake (Enemy Territory)

Those are some pretty heavy duty, and well established franchises.

Wow cool new tony hawk. I'm a big fan of the series.

[Phrank-E]

It's also still completely up in the air as to whether or not GH3 will even feel like GH. It might not. Don't see exactly how it woulda been too difficult to reverse engineer the code and come up with something that feels the same, But ya never know.

I cringed the first time I saw battle mode and that giant whammy popped up on screen and the screen shook. Absolutly blasphemous.

[Kaboobi]

It's also still completely up in the air as to whether or not GH3 will even feel like GH. It might not. Don't see exactly how it woulda been too difficult to reverse engineer the code and come up with something that feels the same, But ya never know.

I cringed the first time I saw battle mode and that giant whammy popped up on screen and the screen shook. Absolutly blasphemous.

Yes, but even if it is completely awful, it will sell millions on name recognition alone.

[Phrank-E]

Yes, but even if it is completely awful, it will sell millions on name recognition alone.

True... At the beginning. But word of mouth works both ways.. "OMG this is the best game ever,You should come check it out!" easily can turn into "Holy Crap! They totally ruined what was a good thing.. Don't even bother with it"

Case in point Twisted Metal 2 to Twisted Metal 3.....

[Xzyliac]

Sky I see Madden hit top 5 for the initial two months, drop to the mid-teens, bounce back in November MAYBE keep in the top 10 through January and die.

It's spotty, inconsistent, and unimpressive.

GH is Activisions new Tony Hawk but a comparison to Madden is just off. And granted not even TH has the consistency of Guitar Hero but the pop culture impact is there.

[IbanezBassist_v2]

True... At the beginning. But word of mouth works both ways.. "OMG this is the best game ever,You should come check it out!" easily can turn into "Holy Crap! They totally ruined what was a good thing.. Don't even bother with it"

Case in point Twisted Metal 2 to Twisted Metal 3.....

Hopefully three. Two was meh. Who doesn't love the napalm bombs?

[monlienNH3]

Rock Band will do fine. It will appeal to Karoke Revolution fans, Guitar Hero fans, and the untapped drummer market. I think both franchises will see great success this fall/winter.

When speaking of Rock Band's price, don't forget that not everyone is going to buy everything. Some people will only purchase the game and use their Xplorer, others will pick up the game and a mic, some the drums, some the guitar, and us fanatics will purchase the whole deal.

When they have Rock Band demo units in retail stores later this year, they will have no problem selling units.

[Magnet]

GH: 80s was surprisingly good, granted i played in on Frets On Fire because i wasn't crazy enough to go spend $40 on 30 songs that only about 1/3 were great.

Bright idea posting that on a Harmonix moderated forum.

[GambitOfDesires]

Like some of the other guys/girls here, I'll be picking up RB and GH3 although at this point I'm more interested in GH3. It's the songlist and GH3's abundance of one and RB's lack of one. I understand that, for whatever reason, EA wants to keep the songlist a secret but I think it's hurting them right now. Especially after Activision dropped the Iron Maiden/Dragonforce combo yesterday. Yeah, not everyone here likes either band but they're HUGE selling points right now. I went to two EB Games and a Best Buy yesterday to talk to a few friends who work there and lots of people have been coming in and asking about GH3 because of the new songlist. RB, not so much. It's this kind of attitude that keeps Microsoft and Sony popular and Nintendo not so much. Nintendo is notorious about keeping their bigger titles under wraps until almost go time and by that point, no one cares. Smash Bros. Brawl is the perfect example. When I first heard about it, I was estatic. Then Nintendo didn't say anything about it for the longest time. Now they're finally releasing tidbits about it but I don't care anymore. I'm at the point now where I'm debating even buying the game. I haven't reached that point with RB yet but if I don't hear any songlist news soon, it's a high possibility.
And this is a little off-topic but I don't want to see a RB sequel until they figured out how to do an eight-player, two-band rock-off.

[IbanezBassist_v2]

Like some of the other guys/girls here, I'll be picking up RB and GH3 although at this point I'm more interested in GH3.

I haven't reached that point with RB yet but if I don't hear any songlist news soon, it's a high possibility.

That is just a diarrhea of the mouth post. You're going to buy, you're not going to buy it. Let me know how that goes and works out for you. You'll be one of the first tards in line to pick it up.

With the short confirmed list (almost all being Master tracks) that has been announced, I'm not the least bit worried or concerned. I'll be looking for your post a couple of weeks to a month from now saying "OMG RB's song list is sooo much better". I have faith in Harmonix. They don't need a shameless ploy to take the attention off of another game unlike Nevercrotch and Craptivision.

[gh2masterwellalmost]

Here's an idea. Buy both. Support both. Enjoy both. I hate these console wars - I support them all (though I only have 360 and Wii I'm not made of money, and I have a tiny bit of hate for Sony after ruining the PlayStation brand but this sort of debate is more suited to an Xbox forum). So just support both Harmonix and Neversoft, two accomplished developers. and support Activision and EA (well the "support" and "ea" was hard to say in a sentance but they've been doing good recently).

So.. Bring on GH3 AND Rock Band is all i can say...

[Phrank-E]

Hopefully three. Two was meh. Who doesn't love the napalm bombs?

What? Did you just finish guzzeling down the entire stock of your personal pub? TM2 is one of the greatest achievements of mankind. The Sony let some other *******s develope the franchise and they ruined it. TM3 and TM4 were piles of steaming crap. Then Sony in their infinate wisdom brought Incognito back to put out a masterful TM:Black. Now they doing a new Warhawk bit have as of yet announced anything in the Twisted Metal arena. I may want Warhawk.. But definately want a new TM. Is one of the reasons I am likely to go with a PS3 this holiday season. I'm still hoping, Albeit probably wastefully, for cross platform online between the 360 and PS3. It could be done. But I don't see Sony and MS ever playing nice enough with one another to allow it. 'Tis a shame for us.

[IbanezBassist_v2]

What? Did you just finish guzzeling down the entire stock of your personal pub?

Actually yes....