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Rock bands together gamers |
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Tuesday, 13 January 2009 |
By KRISTA HAYES
Staff Writer
A testament to a wildly successful, emerging game genre is its record-breaking sales and its popularity — one spreading across the nation, all the way to Wapakoneta.
These interactive video games are Rock Band and its off-spring, Rock Band 2, and its nearest competitor, Guitar Hero World Tour.
These provide gamers the chance to perform music as a virtual band using lead guitar, bass guitar, drum and microphone peripherals on three different game systems including Nintendo’s Wii, Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PlayStation.
As a sixth-grade student at the Wapakoneta Middle School and a virtual Rock Band guitarist, Zach Krites said he has been living a video-game version of his rock ‘n’ roll dream for two years, playing the game for as many as 4 hours a day with addition band practice with his friends and family on the weekends.
“I got the original Rock Band for my Xbox 360 about two years ago before it was officially released, and it hasn’t got boring yet,” the son of Cathy and Berry Krites, of Wapakoneta, said. “Although I enjoy playing Guitar Hero World Tour more, I still like Rock Band because it’s fun and challenging to try to beat the songs so you can unlock even more and eventually move on to Rock Band 2.”
With 58 playable songs, including Bon Jovi’s “Wanted Dead or Alive,” the Rolling Stones’ “Gimme Shelter” and Metallica’s “Enter Sandman,” the original Rock Band and Rock Band 2, released in December 2008, offers on-line connectivity, where gamers can download additional songs for a charge.
“After I beat the original Rock Band, I downloaded some songs from the Internet for me and my family and friends to play to hold us over until Rock Band 2 was released,” Wapakoneta Middle School fifth-grade student Noah McCune said. “I usually play the game 4 to 5 hours a day with my band, ‘Psycho Monkeys’ as the lead guitarist or drummer.”
“So far, I have managed to unlock a lot of songs, although I haven’t beaten the game yet,” the son of Cheryl and Greg McCune, of Wapakoneta, said. “I usually play the game on the expert level since I am so familiar with how the song notes go, but when my friends are over I will play on medium so they have a fair shot.”
Published by Electronic Arts and Viacom’s MTV division, the Rock Band franchise was widely accepted by gamers of the U.S. when it was first introduced to store shelves. It has sold more than 5 million units since the release of its first version last November.
In addition to its sky-rocketing sales, compiled data from Nielsen SoundScan and the NDP Group, a leading global provider of consumer and retail market research information for a wide range of U.S. industries, found that sales of Rock Band and its Guitar Hero rival brought in more revenue in 2007 than digital music downloads from services such as iTunes. The two video-game franchises made their respective publishers more than $935 million combined, while digital sales came in at roughly $835 million.
While Rock Band and Guitar Hero games include peripheral devices, they typically command higher profit margins than stand-alone games.
The full-band kit for Rock Band 2 sells for nearly $200, which sparked .some worry with the Wapakoneta Wal-Mart about how many consumers would snap up such an expensive game during the Christmas holiday given the current U.S. economic recession.
Ironically enough, Wapakoneta Wal-Mart electronics sales associate Andrew Clark said the full-band kit has been the best selling version of the game so far, often selling out on store shelves.
“Although I can’t say for sure how many Rock Band game systems we sold in 2008 or this past holiday season, I know that it had to be in the higher hundreds and that we had a hard time keeping them in stock, especially the units for the Wii system because of their high demand, given how much cheaper they are compared to PlayStation and Xbox,” Clark said. “It was very surprising to me to see how easily we sold out of them, with the economy being as bad as it is today.”
Given the condition of the economy, Clark said that did not stop people from inquiring about the Rock Band game systems after learning that they were sold out elsewhere.
“We had a lot of people call and ask us about Rock Band, particularly if we had them in stock, as they were finding that other area stores couldn’t keep getting them in stock fast enough either.”
Despite their high costs, Rock Band game systems continue today to be the most appealing video-game for virtual gamers across the nation, and a Wapakoneta High School senior said he believes he has an explanation.
“I think the main reason why Rock Band is so popular is because it gives gamers the fantasy of being a rock star without actually having to spend years of learning a real instrument,” Cliff Deringer said.
“Plus its a fun, interactive game that will let you make a complete fool of yourself while rocking out with three to four members of your band at the same time compared to a stand-alone game where only one or two players can play at a time,” said the son of Chris Deringer, of Defiance, and Leo Stapleton, of Lima.
With all the success, Rock Band has experienced, there is no doubt that its next version, Rock Band 3, should be a big hit among gamers as well, the daughter of Michelle and Rob Huebner, of Wapakoneta, said.
“Right now off the top of my head, I can probably name 30 or more people that I know that have Rock Band or have played it at someone else’s house,” Wapakoneta High School senior Chelsea Huebner said. “The game is just that popular, even among girls whose boyfriends get mad when they receive a higher score on a song than they do.”
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 13 January 2009 )
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