Thinking about Import

[Coldplayer]

Hey, my fellow European friends. So, we are all sad that we won't get the game this year anymore. I don't know about you guys, but I'm dying to play this game and even a wait for a November release was hard for me. But now I have to wait until 2008. And nobody knows when exactly, could even be March or something, that would still be half a year!!

So, I'm seriously thinking about importing the game.
There are a few problems though.

First, we have to wait until we know if it will be codefree. (We will probably not going to find out until the game is released in the US) If it's not codefree I can stop thinking any further.

Second, this is not a small game, that is a 9kg heavy thing (as far as I heard) and that is probably going to cost a modest fortune because of the costums duty.

And what if something doesn't work? An instrument maybe? It's going to be though.

And last but not least, the DLC. We probably won't get the DLC on the European marketplace since the game is officially not released here!

Still... I'm seriously thinking about it. I don't want to wait so long, and I think I can't when I visit this forum and see all the people talking about how awesome the game is etc.

What about you?

[Gazler]

Hmm, I live in the UK, but my mother is currently working in the US and due back in December, so I am going to get her to ship it over here. As far as region encoding goes, PS3 games are all region free, so there shouldn't be an issue there. The peripherals should work universally which means that even if DLC and such doesn't work, when there is a UK release I can purchase the UK disc. This means it will still work and I'll be able to access DLC. I can sell the US disc on e-bay or whatever. :)

[DrBraun]

I live in Norway and I'm also considering importing the whole package - I want this game as soon as possible no matter the cost!

All PS3 games are region free, like Gazler wrote... so the only "problem" for me is that I'll have to pay a small fortune in shipping and 24% extra for the package in Norwegian taxes to get the game - I imported the original Guitar Hero when it was released, and it set me back almost 200 dollars all included...

I'm guessing that Rock Band will cost me around 400 dollars to get into Norway, and then I'll have to buy a new game disc when it's released over here.

[AVC808]

it set me back almost 200 dollars all included...

I'm guessing that Rock Band will cost me around 400 dollars to get into Norway, and then I'll have to buy a new game disc when it's released over here.

:eek: now that's devotion. although unlikely i hope you guys are able to score a discount on the euro disc through harmonix or EA for shelling out the extra dough early on.

[DrBraun]

:eek: now that's devotion. although unlikely i hope you guys are able to score a discount on the euro disc through harmonix or EA for shelling out the extra dough early on.

This time around I also spent 1.000 dollars on a PS3 just to be prepared for the release of Rock Band - with GH1 I spent 170 dollars on a chip for my PS2 :eek:

[Coldplayer]

OMG, 400 dollars?? I'm not sure if I want to spent so much money.
Besides, I want the Xbox 360 version. So I'll have to wait if it really is codefree. But it would be funny if it's not.

Still want this game... well, let's wait and see... maybe there is a retailer in my city importing it for me... hm...

[DrBraun]

Still want this game... well, let's wait and see... maybe there is a retailer in my city importing it for me... hm...

...I don't think that kind of import is legal - at least not in all countries - you can import it for your self, but a store can't import games and sell them to you.

[Gazler]

...I don't think that kind of import is legal - at least not in all countries - you can import it for your self, but a store can't import games and sell them to you.

Hmm, it is a bit of a grey area, I know lik-sang were sued bigtime from Sony for doing this.

[Coldplayer]

...I don't think that kind of import is legal - at least not in all countries - you can import it for your self, but a store can't import games and sell them to you.

Hm, could be, don't know. I think I remember seeing US version of games in a store in my city. Not sure though.

At least in China it seems to be legal, you know all those shops like liksang (okay, they got closed by Sony) and PlayAsia.com

[Coldplayer]

Hmm, it is a bit of a grey area, I know lik-sang were sued bigtime from Sony for doing this.

Yeah, but I don't think it illegal, Sony was just a little bit *****y and didn't want it. LikSang still did it, so they got closed. PlayAsia for example, is not selling Sony games to Europe - they're selling it in the US though. :confused:

[AVC808]

Hmm, it is a bit of a grey area, I know lik-sang were sued bigtime from Sony for doing this.

i know lik sang was a big importer, but didnt they also help propagate pircay? i think that was the main reason sony looked for any means to bring them down.

[Slab_X]

Do we know if the PS2 version is due out this year? If so, I'll definitely do what I can to import the game, drums and a guitar. By 'code-free' you mean no region lock-out right? If the 360 version is region free, that will be awesome. No more waiting.

[McDeezy]

Do we know if the PS2 version is due out this year? If so, I'll definitely do what I can to import the game, drums and a guitar. By 'code-free' you mean no region lock-out right? If the 360 version is region free, that will be awesome. No more waiting.

I've read that it was due out early 2008. Alex said that. I believe.

[DrBraun]

Do we know if the PS2 version is due out this year? If so, I'll definitely do what I can to import the game, drums and a guitar. By 'code-free' you mean no region lock-out right? If the 360 version is region free, that will be awesome. No more waiting.

PS2 version early 2008 has been said. X360 version won't be region free - but all PS3 games are region free

[Slab_X]

I thought perhaps they were talking about the European Rock Band release date, not necessarily when the PS2 version is coming out.

[sa_nick]

What sites can u go to to import the game? or does it have to be done some other way? I got no idea how to do it or what the costs might be... I live in Australia by the way, and other aussies got ideas of how it might work?

[Brock_Landers]

I thought perhaps they were talking about the European Rock Band release date, not necessarily when the PS2 version is coming out.

ps2 version hasn't actuaslly been officially announced for anywhere other than Europe yet.. so 2008 would make sense

[Gazler]

What sites can u go to to import the game? or does it have to be done some other way? I got no idea how to do it or what the costs might be... I live in Australia by the way, and other aussies got ideas of how it might work?

Any of the American sites that say they will ship worldwide. Have a look at the pre-order section on http://rockband.com and see if any there allow it.

[Terranova]

I'm very tempted to import. i have a PS3 so no need to worry about playing the game as mentioned PS3 games are region free.. it's the cost of importing that's keeping me back at the moment.. i checked on a site that i import from to see how much GH3 with the LEs paul would be to import into the UK to get some kind of idea for Rock band.. it worked out at £52 for the game with the les paul and £32 for shipping based on the size and weight of the box.. now if the size and weight of the RB box is correct then it's going to be far far more than that, it could end up costing almost as much as the bundle not to mention Import fees on top not something i want to be paying close to the Xmas holidays even for RB. now i am only interested in Guitar and drums so I could just import the game and guitar ( if such a bundle is released) and then get the drums at a later date ( again if they are released on their own) so importing that way wouldn't cost as much.. so i guess it's a wait until HMX say what bundle(s) they plan on releasing.

As for the DLC aspect it depends on how HMX are planning this they haven't said much on that yet. i don't know about Xbox live so i cant comment on that, for PS3 if it is just downloads from the PSN store like all the other updates and downloads and you can pick which store you go to then it wouldn't be problem you could just wait for the game to launch in Europe and get them from the Euro store, but if DLC is done in game and it automatically connects to HMX U.S servers or the U.S Store then you Will have a problem and then would have to get a Euro version of the game disk at some point.

[AVC808]

I'm very tempted to import. i have a PS3 so no need to worry about playing the game as mentioned PS3 games are region free.. it's the cost of importing that's keeping me back at the moment.. i checked on a site that i import from to see how much GH3 with the LEs paul would be to import into the UK to get some kind of idea for Rock band.. it worked out at £52 for the game with the les paul and £32 for shipping based on the size and weight of the box.. now if the size and weight of the RB box is correct then it's going to be far far more than that, it could end up costing almost as much as the bundle not to mention Import fees on top not something i want to be paying close to the Xmas holidays even for RB. now i am only interested in Guitar and drums so I could just import the game and guitar ( if such a bundle is released) and then get the drums at a later date ( again if they are released on their own) so importing that way wouldn't cost as much.. so i guess it's a wait until HMX say what bundle(s) they plan on releasing.

As for the DLC aspect it depends on how HMX are planning this they haven't said much on that yet. i don't know about Xbox live so i cant comment on that, for PS3 if it is just downloads from the PSN store like all the other updates and downloads and you can pick which store you go to then it wouldn't be problem you could just wait for the game to launch in Europe and get them from the Euro store, but if DLC is done in game and it automatically connects to HMX U.S servers or the U.S Store then you Will have a problem and then would have to get a Euro version of the game disk at some point.


i hope everything works out in your favor and you'll be able to get this game early without breaking the bank. im not a serious gamer, but i know resistance allows you to get map packs either through the psn or in-game. plus resistance has a world server. hopefully the ps3 version of RB is done the same way (band mates uniting from around the world!), then you wouldnt have a problem.

[DrBraun]

i checked on a site that i import from to see how much GH3 with the LEs paul would be to import into the UK to get some kind of idea for Rock band..

Could you share the address of the site? I was thinking of ordering from GameStop.com - Amazon won't ship it outside the US...

[Coldplayer]

X360 version won't be region free

How do you know? Are you from HMX? A lot of X360 games are region free, like Bioshock e.g.

They could at least make it region free, if they can't release the game here in 2007.

[DrBraun]

How do you know? Are you from HMX? A lot of X360 games are region free, like Bioshock e.g.

Ooops... sorry if I offended you, but I just thought I'd heard that ALL X360 games were region coded.

[Coldplayer]

Ooops... sorry if I offended you, but I just thought I'd heard that ALL X360 games were region coded.

Thank god, I almost thought you know something. :p

Well, anyway, they're not. So there is hope that this game is region free.

[DrBraun]

OK. Isn't GH3 either being released in Europe this year?

[Brock_Landers]

Would suck if your gear or disc got damaged in the poast though.

I don't think I'd be able to handle all the worrying inbetween it shipping and arriving.

[Coldplayer]

OK. Isn't GH3 either being released in Europe this year?

No, I'm pretty sure that GH3 comes here out shortly after the US release. (a few weeks maybe - not sure though)

And Brock, yeah, that would suck. Well, there is still time. I will think about it.

[Terranova]

Could you share the address of the site? I was thinking of ordering from GameStop.com - Amazon won't ship it outside the US...

sure i use www.videogamesplus.ca it's a Canadian site, they don't have rock band listed yet maybe because they don't have date yet for them.. but as i said in my post they do have GH3 so you can get some kind of idea for Rock band. they have a very good rep and they use first class shipping so you usually get your order in 3 days.. most of my PS3 collection is from them if you look on the right hand side of their web page you can see a currency option so you can change to Pounds Euro's Australian dollars etc.. the default is Canadian dollars.

[Terranova]

No, I'm pretty sure that GH3 comes here out shortly after the US release. (a few weeks maybe - not sure though)

And Brock, yeah, that would suck. Well, there is still time. I will think about it.

The only site i could find listing the Euro version of GH3 was Play.com they have it down for 26 October.. but the strange thing is they only have the game listed no Les paul controllers either on their own or with the game for either 360 or PS3 the only version listed with the guitar controller is the Wii.

[sa_nick]

I emailed GameStop about them shipping it internationally and they said that there is a chance, they havn't been told they cant, but i dunno. Also, they have no idea how much it'd cost.