Other Bundles

[Mukster]

I don't know if this question has been asked or not, but I have not seen it around.

Will there be smaller bundles available such as drums+mic or guitar+drums? Or even just the game+drums? Because I already have a GH2 guitar, but want the drums and possibly the mic. however i do not really want to buy both the drums and mic separately since it's pretty expensive.

[Xzyliac]

Yeah single instrument bundles will be available.

[Mukster]

aight. thanks =]

[Akaymay]

Well, actually, there aren't "Smaller Bundles" available. But you could just buy the the game alone, and then just certain instruments. It would all be bought separately.

[Xzyliac]

Well, actually, there aren't "Smaller Bundles" available. But you could just buy the the game alone, and then just certain instruments. It would all be bought separately.

Wait when did this happen? And what sense would that even make on Harmonix's part?

[Varsps]

yeah i noticed that the only bundle is going to be drums guitar mic and game. everything is available individually, i think logistically all the combinations would confuse some people and take up way too much shelf space

[masterx1918]

Well, actually, there aren't "Smaller Bundles" available. But you could just buy the the game alone, and then just certain instruments. It would all be bought separately.
why would you think that? Just because the only bundle Harmonix has announced so far is the special edition doesn't mean there's no possibility for drums+game or guitar+game bundles. If I were all of you I would be expecting guitar+game, drums+game and mic+game bundles.

[toefer]

why would you think that? Just because the only bundle Harmonix has announced so far is the special edition doesn't mean there's no possibility for drums+game or guitar+game bundles. If I were all of you I would be expecting guitar+game, drums+game and mic+game bundles.

I think having all those combinations is a nightmare for distribution, and for the stores who have to keep track of all of them. All instruments + game, 1 instrument + game, and then each instrument separate, and the game separate, gets you 8 different combinations to keep track of.

What would be easier, I assume, is to just ship everything by itself, and have a sort of "Build-A-Bundle" option, where you can grab the pieces you want, rather than having them pre-packaged together. If that makes any sense. You can still get a discount from buying items together, rather than individually, but it makes shipping the items a lot easier.

[ThePaska]

Wait when did this happen? And what sense would that even make on Harmonix's part?

Small "bundles" have never been announced officially all that there is right now is the big bundle and the game and single instruments. It is possible and most likely that they will come out with smaller bundles, they just haven't yet.

[Nazriel]

I think having all those combinations is a nightmare for distribution, and for the stores who have to keep track of all of them. All instruments + game, 1 instrument + game, and then each instrument separate, and the game separate, gets you 8 different combinations to keep track of.

What would be easier, I assume, is to just ship everything by itself, and have a sort of "Build-A-Bundle" option, where you can grab the pieces you want, rather than having them pre-packaged together. If that makes any sense. You can still get a discount from buying items together, rather than individually, but it makes shipping the items a lot easier.

Plus less packaging designs need to be created that way. (Box shape *and* graphics for it)

Hope space isn't that much of a problem for Rock Band, period. There's an 8-foot section at my local Best Buy which is taken up completely by third-party GHII guitars just stacked up 5 feet tall. There will be more important uses for that space come November. :D

[masterx1918]

I think having all those combinations is a nightmare for distribution, and for the stores who have to keep track of all of them. All instruments + game, 1 instrument + game, and then each instrument separate, and the game separate, gets you 8 different combinations to keep track of.

What would be easier, I assume, is to just ship everything by itself, and have a sort of "Build-A-Bundle" option, where you can grab the pieces you want, rather than having them pre-packaged together. If that makes any sense. You can still get a discount from buying items together, rather than individually, but it makes shipping the items a lot easier.
that makes no sense. all bundles are is a game+the instrument. Your philosophy doesn't make any sense since there would still be the same amount of said products, except each instrument would be shipped with a game included in it. So instead of having 30 drum peripherals you have 30 drum bundles included with a game. The price would also be better since a drum bundle would probably be $100-120 and the drums by itself would be $80 or so. I think they should make it so if you want to buy an instrument by itself you have to buy from an online wholesaler, like they did with the 360 xplorer.

[Chris_Gonzalez]

Small "bundles" have never been announced officially all that there is right now is the big bundle and the game and single instruments. It is possible and most likely that they will come out with smaller bundles, they just haven't yet.

Aye, but the Special Edition bundle just got announced 2 weeks ago when we all figured it would exist for months. I'm also pretty sure someone from HMX said that you'd be able to buy guitar+game, drum+game, and mic+game. Not sure where, though.

And MasterX, they had single Xplorers in store, they were just all sold out on launch day. I guess they haven't restocked them, so they're on an online wholesaler now. But expect to find seperate instruments and game bundles on launch day.

[ThePaska]

Instead of making certain bundles would they be able to just have discounts on the items for people that buy a game and an instrument or multiple instruments? I think that would be a better idea than having all these different kinds of packagings for bundles.

[IErrantVentureI]

Uh, doesn't Special Edition Bundle mean special edition bundle? Meaning, that the special edition bundle is more special than the other bundles?

[ThePaska]

Uh, doesn't Special Edition Bundle mean special edition bundle? Meaning, that the special edition bundle is more special than the other bundles?

Not necessarily it just means the bundle is special edition. It doesn't mean there are other bundles out there that are non-special edition or something.

[Xzyliac]

Small "bundles" have never been announced officially all that there is right now is the big bundle and the game and single instruments. It is possible and most likely that they will come out with smaller bundles, they just haven't yet.

I seem to remember Alex confirming it and Kotaku running a piece on it.

[toefer]

that makes no sense. all bundles are is a game+the instrument. Your philosophy doesn't make any sense since there would still be the same amount of said products, except each instrument would be shipped with a game included in it. So instead of having 30 drum peripherals you have 30 drum bundles included with a game. The price would also be better since a drum bundle would probably be $100-120 and the drums by itself would be $80 or so. I think they should make it so if you want to buy an instrument by itself you have to buy from an online wholesaler, like they did with the 360 xplorer.

I think you just don't get it. It is a huge waste of space to have a separate bundle for each instrument. Sure, a game can easily be packaged in with a drum or guitar box, but that doesn't disprove my point.

Imagine a kid gets the guitar and game at launch. And then a few weeks later he wants a drum kit. Sadly, the store only has the drums with the game included, so he could either buy a second copy of the game, or sit around waiting for the drums to come in. Or, under your idea, the store can just carry drums with the game, and drums without the game. And that just makes a ton of sense.

I think the biggest point to keep in mind, is that this game is not what we think it is. It's not Halo 3, or GTA 4, or any of those other hugely anticipated games. It might be hard to realize that if you visit these forums all the time, and think every kid in the world wants this game at launch. The price alone is going to keep a lot of people from getting the game, especially if they are too young to work, and aren't spoiled by their parents.

If you have up to 8 different SKU's shipping out, you're going to have a lot of product sitting on shelves, and it becomes a logistical nightmare when you try to replenish certain items, or decide what to do with the bundles that aren't selling.

When you approach it from a logical, business standpoint, instead of whatever reason you have in your head, you would realize that its not practical to offer every single combination of instrument(s) and game, in pre-packaged form.

Predicting the demand for a single item is difficult in and of itself, but then adding to that 7 more combinations, and you'll see the problem.

Your reference to the xplorer is irrelevant, because that was for GH. For that game, most people were fine with just one guitar, and didn't really want to have a 2nd guitar. But with RB, the game is centered around having the entire band playing together, in which case you want to buy all the instruments. But, because of the price, for some people, they might only be able to buy one instrument at a time.

Explain to me what makes no sense with this:

Any given store has:

A pile of microphones.
A stack of guitars.
A stack of drums.
A stack of games.

Go pick out what you want, and here's a list of the prices for what you buy:

Game....................$xx.xx
Guitar....................$xx.xx
Drum.....................$xx.xx
Mic........................$xx.xx
Game + Guitar.......$xxx.xx
Game + Drum........$xxx.xx
Game + Mic...........$xx.xx

The SE bundle could come pre-packaged, only because that one makes a lot of sense, as in "buy this, and you have everything you need to play"* And surprise, surprise, you're not keeping track of any extra information, since, if bundles were packaged separately as you wish, they'd all have their own prices anyway.

Does having your game packaged inside the instrument box really matter that much to you, because if so, I'm sure HMX can ask employees at local stores to just open the box and slide the game in for you.






*because bass doesn't matter

[ThePaska]

I seem to remember Alex confirming it and Kotaku running a piece on it.

All that was said was they were trying to figure out the best way to do smaller bundles. They haven't made any final decisions yet, and for all we know there could end up being no small bundles. They are probably still messing around with it similar to how they are still debating DLC price, and the game price.

[Xzyliac]

All that was said was they were trying to figure out the best way to do smaller bundles. They haven't made any final decisions yet, and for all we know there could end up being no small bundles. They are probably still messing around with it similar to how they are still debating DLC price, and the game price.

Oh okay. My bad.

[MotleyPriest111]

When does the N64 bundle get released?

[Bobble]

I think they'll do what they did with GH2 in how they offered wireless bundles and multiplayer bundles with the PS2 but the only ones in the stores were wired single guitar bundles.

[IErrantVentureI]

This comes out for N64?!

[Snorkles]

That whole special bundle deal that people are estimating at 200...
Is that 2 guitars or only 1?
You guys think there will be a bundle with 4 instruments?

[Keebler]

That whole special bundle deal that people are estimating at 200...
Is that 2 guitars or only 1?
You guys think there will be a bundle with 4 instruments?

Why don't you check the official Rock Band website??

http://www.rockband.com/game_info/bundle