Guitar Hero and Rock Band See Huge Downloads, Increasing Music Sales

log1385 writes "More than 5 million songs have been sold as downloads for Guitar Hero III since November, and Rock Band has seen some 2.5 million downloads just in the last two months. These games are positive financial experiences for music labels outside of the Xbox Live/PlayStation Networks, as well. Songs included in the two games have seen bumps in popularity through other commercial outlets as well. Though not huge, they are noticeable enough to prompt future projects. 'MTVN already has plans to expand its outreach to artists, creating additional game expansions -- as both physical products and downloadable content -- around specific music genres and even artists. "We are talking to tons of bands, from indie to the most established ... to release not necessarily their entire catalog, but maybe some of their classic albums and do special packages around that," [MTV division president Van Toffler] said.'" Rock Band has certainly worked on me - I've been buying tracks to listen to the drum parts.

Wii Version is Missing Downloads

[Anonymous Coward]

I would give anything to be able to download songs for Guitar Hero on the Wii.

I don't know if the people whoe produced the Wii version were in a hurrry, lazy, or greedy, but I won't soon forget this travesty.

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

I guess Wii fucked you. HA HA HA HA

Sincerely,
Harmonix Inc.

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[bigstrat2003]

Harmonix has nothing to do with the Wii version of GH3. They make Rock Band, which doesn't have a Wii version.

I understand that you're joking, but it's important to keep things like that straight, so an uninformed party doesn't get pissed off at Harmonix for something they didn't do.

Re:

[ASimPerson]

Hey, they worked hard enough to bring the rich fullness of mono sound! Cut them some slack.

Re:Wii Version is Missing Downloads

[vonPoonBurGer]

The same people that developed the 360 and PS2 & 3 versions developed the Wii version. From Wikipedia [wikipedia.org]:

The game is published by Activision and RedOctane, with Neversoft as the developer for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii consoles...

If there is no option to purchase new tracks for the Wii version, the limitation is probably the Wii's Shopping Channel. Having both a 360 and a Wii, I'm firmly of the opinion that the Wii's Shopping Channel is a pale imitator of the 360's Live Marketplace. The Shopping Channel is far too slow to load and navigate, and as far as I can tell there is no 3rd party content on there currently. How did you expect them to sell you the additional songs if Nintendo won't let them sell the content via the Shopping Channel?

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[Telvin_3d]

The problem is that the Wii only has 512 MB internal memory. That isn't very many tracks. So far, Nintendo has been crippling games's ability to either run off of or access information off of additional memory cards, so the obvious solution is out. Really, if they made a minor firmware update to allow the Wii to access Virtual Console and other downloaded content directly off of SD cards, it would simplify a lot of things, from downloaded original games to expansion packs.

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[Chad Birch]

As usual, Wikipedia is a decent starting point, but doesn't include all the relevant information. Yes, the game was developed by Neversoft, however the PS2 port was done by Budcat Creations (see: http://www.budcat.com/games.htm [budcat.com]) and the Wii port was done by Vicarious Visions (see: http://www.vvisions.com/games/details.cfm?ID=105 [vvisions.com]). I suspect that the lack of DLC for Wii is a combination of limitations of the store and the Wii's small internal storage. A single DLC pack would take up over 10% of the Wii's int

To be handled in the FIXED version

[WidescreenFreak]

Apparently, downloadable content is to be available with the Dolby-Pro-Logic-corrected version of GH3 for the Wii. From Joystiq [joystiq.com]:

The new, stereo-enabled discs will be free of charge through Activision, though they haven't announced exactly when they'd be available, or how they would be shipped out. Also, we're not exactly certain how DLC will work on the system (our Wii's system memory is already bogged down by VC gems like Donkey Kong Jr. Math and Urban Champion), but RedOctane is reportedly working feverishly with Nintendo to figure out a method of getting new songs on the Wii. Apparently, trying to wish them onto the system hasn't been working out very well.

I'm guessing that they're going to require the use of an SD card to store downloadable content, which is fine with me, considering the low prices of SD cards.

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[morari]

There has been no word at all about DLC being enabled in the replacement discs. In all likelihood, it will JUST fix the mono-only sound. It won't add in the Boss Battle Songs to Quick Play or anything. That said, Activision is now accepting orders for the replacement discs (both telephone and internet forms are available). When the discs are ready, they will send you a pre-paid envelope. You send them your disc and after several business days they'll send you a new one. So not only do you have to trust the

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[WidescreenFreak]

The Wii's internal system memory is not designed for the "release-now-and-patch-later" approach that too many game companies are doing today. I don't see how it could be done later without somehow encoding it within the upcoming discs; otherwise, they'd likely have to send out new discs again in order to enable DLC. My guess is that DLC functionality will be available on the fix disc but that the actual content will be made available later.

I do agree, however, that the whole "You'll be without your gam

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[morari]

I'm more worried about the utter lack of separate guitars at retail. Really though, there are only about six songs for download that would even be worth the price.

It's pretty obvious that the game was simply pushed out for the holidays. Consider that they keep telling us that downloadable content "is coming" even when they're doing a piss-poor job of delivering on the system that do have it (especially when compared to Rock Band). Furthermore, you have glitches all over the place and stereo sound complete

Makes Sense

[usul294]

The songs get a bunch of free exposure, and most of the songs on Guitar Hero are pretty good songs to begin with. Unfortunately for the music biz, I already own all the songs legally that I want from Guitar Hero, so no bump in sales from me, I haven't paid for any of the packs yet, though I do like the Halo Mix.

Not limited to these games, either

[volpone]

I just spent an entire iTunes gift card on various music from Midnight Club 3.

If I was a lesser known artist, I'd try to get all of my music into games. Hell, who had heard of Jonathan Coulton before Portal?

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[Amorymeltzer]

Hell, one of my favorite games, Tony Hawk's Pro Skater, introduced me to a bunch of music I'd never heard before. This really goes to show you want can happen when a discerning eye hand picks tracks, akin to the free downloads on iTunes. Nobody'd ever heard of those guys before, and suddenly they're discovering it. See, sharing music DOES work!

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[Drey]

Hell, who had heard of Jonathan Coulton before Portal?

People who read Slashdot might [slashdot.org] have [slashdot.org].

Lots of people had heard Coulton - Code Monkey

[SuperKendall]

If I was a lesser known artist, I'd try to get all of my music into games. Hell, who had heard of Jonathan Coulton before Portal?

Actually that's not the greatest example I think because he was actually pretty well known even before portal - Code Monkey being the most recognizable song, but also "Re: Your Brains" was quite popular and he was getting by OK just from music sales on his website.

Still, your primary point is an excellent one, I would never have known Freezepop if it wasn't for Frequency.... A great song in a great game means instant memories, and that's something you'll want to listen to again and again.

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[xhrit]

i first started to listen to skinny puppy after oghr did the soundtrack for descent 2.

The guy who did Code Monkey worked on Portal?!

[patio11]

Shoot, now I have much more incentive to actually play the game.

Just end song

[SuperKendall]

But it's worth playing the whole game to hear (and additionally the game is pretty good as well!).

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[NuShrike]

What about Wipeout and Cold Storage, Underworld, etc etc? It's one of the earliest games to start introducing people to music that's not Top40 radio crap. Who doesn't have the original full Wipeout soundtrack?

The follow ups have been eh.. however.

Everything old is new again

[XxtraLarGe]

As a 37 year old step father, I get a real kick out of seeing my step-son getting into Aerosmith, Kiss, The Who and other classic/hard rock acts on iTunes. Some of them were around in my formative years, and Guitar Hero has now made the younger generation realize how good a lot of these songs are too. He got Guitar Hero 3 + a $25 iTunes card for Christmas, and most of the songs he's downloaded have come from the Guitar Hero series.

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[XxtraLarGe]

other classic/hard rock acts on iTunes

Meant to say "Guitar Hero"

Of course it would help if...

[Moryath]

they included some DECENT songs by said artists.

I mean, come on - "Same Old Song and Dance" is the best Aerosmith they could get? SHAME.

Seriously, there are SO many better songs out there.

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[Moryath]

Ok, the KISS song was a good choice.

"The Seeker"? Please. Can I get some Tommy out here?

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[mwvdlee]

I think the primary criteria for song selection would be how well it would convert to gameplay. Not many songs have the musical "attributes" to make it playable in a computer game. Especially not at a more easy level and lets face it; not every song delivered with the game should be at the most difficult level. There's a good chance you'll find some of the more popular songs as downloads. And they might want to keep popular songs for future iterations of the games too.

It's simple

[Drakin020]

You take a mans love for music, and give him the ability to interact with it without much skill required, or money. This is a great way to success. I love playing drums. Even more I love playing to some of my favorite songs. You really get into it and feel like your apart of it.

My biggest issue with rock band...

[Rhys]

Is that we have way more people who want to play than we have instruments to play! 4 (or 3 when one is broken and getting fixed) instruments really has a hard time holding up 10 players! It was extra-worse when we had a guitar out for (non-cross-ship) repair. We've lost two guitars and one foot pedal so far -- they needed to build in a lot more durability in those, c'mon folks, engineering like this is not rocket science.

Also: bring back the strum bar microswitches! (GH1/2/'80s stock guitars)

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[enderjsv]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVbAuMr5eac [youtube.com]

There ya go.

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[Run4yourlives]

I think you just might need to take better care of your stuff.

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[tukkayoot]

No, these controllers are just poorly built, especially the Rock Band guitar.

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[bigstrat2003]

No, the initial run of Rock Band guitars was poorly built. The second run, as far as I've read on the forums, is quite nice. Indeed, after my original guitar broke within 24 hrs of buying the game, the replacement I got works beautifully. Best fake guitar I could ask for.

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[u8i9o0]

Considering the history of the series, an upper limit of four players is better than just two.
And even if they could raise that, a TV screen can only fit so many tracks at once. One horizontal + three vertical seems to be the practical limit, given that they invested quite a bit in the background scenery animation.

My biggest issue is that when my group plays through career, "Blitzkrieg Bop" is not only in the fixed setlists, but also appears to be in all of the random setlists. After the dozenth 'random'

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[Reapy]

lol. That happened to us with the Boston song. By the end of the night we were like NOOO BOSTON!!! Every first random song was that. I figured something was wrong, and I went ahead and turned the machine off, then back on, and lo and behold, boston stopped coming up. I hope that that doesnt happen with persistence though, cause I'd hate to always play boston every first time we have a random song :)

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[Knara]

Having taken apart both the Rock Band and GH2/80's controllers, he's the skinny.

They both have microswitches. However, the Red Octane ones have them positioned on a circuit board with square switch moldings and a spring mechanism that makes it almost impossible for the switch to misfire.

The RB controller has a similar looking strum bar from the outside, but on the inside there are two switches in poorly constructed/cut posts with some horribly offset screws, inside of which are mounted one microswitch ea

NO NO NO

[band-aid-brand]

This is exactly what I DON'T want to happen. Record companies start to realize that if they can get their songs into the games they might stand to make a buck. They'll start slipping Red Octane bribes to place their songs in the lineup. Then the games will become just as watered down as CD's are now. We'll end up paying (assuming we still support the game) sixty bucks for a game with four songs we actually enjoy and the rest will be crap.

I can see it now, Guitar hero XXXVII: Brittany and the Constantine ROCK THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Captcha: Dwindled, how fitting...

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[meringuoid]

Guitar hero XXXVII: Brittany and the Constantine ROCK THE NEW MILLENNIUM

Britney I'd prefer to avoid, but if they could get a few old Mucous Membrane tracks on the next Guitar Hero I'd be a very happy old Scouse punker.

(Unfortunately, after having 5*'d all of those songs on expert, you suddenly realise that the Hell level is a lot more convincing than it used to be...)

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[morari]

I don't know about you, but I checked out the tracklist for Guitar Hero III before buying it. If it didn't have a good portion of enjoyable songs, I wasn't going to buy it. I think Rock Band probably has a better line-up overall, but they don't seem to care about us Wii users. Yet they can push out a gimped PS2 port. :(

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[trdrstv]

This is exactly what I DON'T want to happen. Record companies start to realize that if they can get their songs into the games they might stand to make a buck. They'll start slipping Red Octane bribes to place their songs in the lineup. Then the games will become just as watered down as CD's are now. We'll end up paying (assuming we still support the game) sixty bucks for a game with four songs we actually enjoy and the rest will be crap.

Already happened, it's called Guitar Hero Encore: Rocks the 80s [metacritic.com]

Yuck

[brkello]

If I were a business person, this would say to me that it is best to hold back content and sell it for more later. I wish this wasn't so successful.

Thank God the success isn't universal

[hawks5999]

Can you imagine if this [gamezone.com] was as popular as Guitar Hero and Rock Band???

A few problems

[kellyb9]

I've actually noticed a few problems with my version of Guitar Hero's Legends of Rock. Somehow, it contains a song written by Disturbed. I expect this problem to be fixed soon...

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[Saige]

You got lucky to only have that bug. Mine is worse - it also contains a song by Slipknot, and is supposed to have a song by Slayer but seems to have noise and a random fret chart in place.

New to Guitar Hero

[Enderandrew]

I'm late to this bandwagon. We finally bought GH3 this past weekend and my wife and I can't stop playing it.

I'm just wondering a few things that hopefully the mighty-Slashdot crowd can hopefully answer.

Why are the PS3 guitars 2.4 Ghz instead of Bluetooth? Is this really a cost-saving move? They have to include a dongle, and I can't power on the system with the controller. This just seems stupid.

Why can't I find any stand alone PS3 wireless guitars anywhere?

Why aren't the buttons analog? I imagine the g

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[tlhIngan]

Why are the PS3 guitars 2.4 Ghz instead of Bluetooth? Is this really a cost-saving move? They have to include a dongle, and I can't power on the system with the controller. This just seems stupid.

Probably. It costs a lot to develop a Bluetooth solution. For the PS3, it would involve figuring out how to pair the controllers together and all the itty bitty parts of PS3 negotiations (controller assignments, etc). Especially if you need to get it certified. If you wouldn't mind the PS3 version costing 2x more t

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[Higaran]

That's an easy answer, the PS3 is 10 times harder to program for than the 360, most people think the Cell is an 8 core chip and it trumps the processor in the 360. That's not true, the cell is a single core with 8 segments, one of is reserved and the other seven are then used, this chip is more efficent for processing stuff like SETI blocks of info or other stuff, were as the 360 processor is a tri core processor based off of power pc architexture, better for generl use, gaming and what not. The 360 proc a

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[bigstrat2003]

Why are the PS3 guitars 2.4 Ghz instead of Bluetooth? Is this really a cost-saving move? They have to include a dongle, and I can't power on the system with the controller. This just seems stupid.

Probably cost-saving. I agree, it's stupid. I have the PS3 version as well, and I hate the lack of Bluetooth. The insulting thing was that Neversoft claimed it was because Bluetooth wasn't precise enough, but the Wii guitars use the Wiimote's signal, which is (surprise!) Bluetooth. If you need to cut costs, fine, but don't lie to us about it and expect we won't figure it out.

Why can't I find any stand alone PS3 wireless guitars anywhere?

They're not on sale yet. I think they're slated to go on sale this month or next, but I'm not really sure.

Why aren't the buttons analog? I imagine the game would be more realistic if you could press the fret button harder to extend the note, or perhaps strum harder to play louder, etc?

I don't know that the gam