Just how scarce is Rock Band?

by Justin McElroy { Nov 21st 2007 at 10:20AM }

Despite all of the warnings about Rock Band's scarcity, we've heard a few reports of copies of the the massive packages just sitting on store shelves. Some friends of ours even camped out overnight only to discover that the store in question had plenty in stock to meet demand.

That got us wondering: Just how scarce is the game? It'll be hard to pin down, but we thought the best place to start was to ask you: Have you seen any Rock Bands at your favorite local retailer? (And no, we don't count the Del Amitri cover band that sometimes plays upstairs at the Barnes & Noble.)

Tags: ea, harmonix, mtv, retail, rock-band, rockband

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)

FOXHOUND @ Nov 21st 2007 10:25AM

Wasn't hard to pick up the X360 version... but I did want to ask if anyone out there that got it had any trouble with the packed-in USB hub? Only two of the ports seem to be fully functional...

Adam Joe @ Nov 21st 2007 12:42PM

It is not hard to find Rock Band at all in store shelves. I was at Best Buy yesterday and they had stockpiles of Rock Band game bundles sitting on the floor waiting to be picked up by some willing gamers who can spend $160.

Srayer @ Nov 21st 2007 1:04PM

I also had some problems with the USB hub. At first, despite the green power light being on, nothing plugged into it worked. After some fiddling and swapping of ports it started working. However, I only had the drums / mic in the hub and a guitar in the second 360 USB port.

It looks like a flaky piece of junk so I fully expect this behavior to continue into the future.

Ruhmann @ Nov 21st 2007 4:19PM

I'm totally having problems with it. I think the power cable isn't working. I plan on buying a nicer powered USB hub at Fry's tonight so I'll have no problems rocking out with friends while the turkey cooks.

zlionsfan @ Nov 21st 2007 6:46PM

I had problems with the hub as well. I was playing alone, so it wasn't much of an issue (plus there are ports in the back of the HD DVD I think). The "hub" looked pretty flaky to me too. No big deal, I can pick up a decent one if necessary.

I haven't been in brick-and-mortar stores recently, so I don't know if there are copies of Rock Band around here. I pre-ordered mine through gamestop.com ...

Kellydude025 @ Nov 26th 2007 9:50PM

Mine works, but you guys are correct on the fact that it is a piece of junk...
Like when i wanna turn on my xbox with the drums guide button...it doesn't work when its plugged into the hub, causing me to walk a whole 4 feet to the xbox...SO OLDSKOOL!
But other than that, I have been very happy with Rockband, and i imagine my friends are even happier since they didn't have to pay a single dime :P

dantebk @ Nov 21st 2007 10:25AM

Went to Best Buy after work yesterday nervous they wouldn't have any left, but they had like 20+ Rock Bands for Xbox 360 (but zero for PS3, oddly).

I told the checkout guy I'd been nervous about being able to get one, and he said the pile had been twice as big that morning.

Negativecool @ Nov 21st 2007 10:27AM

There's some pretty large stacks of them at Walmart here in Iowa City...and at Best Buy too. (sorry, no picture proof)

Not to many people seem to know/care about it, but they know about Guitar Hero it seems.

doc j @ Nov 21st 2007 3:50PM

Iowa City? I live in Iowa City.

INCH75 Vocals @ Nov 21st 2007 5:33PM

Hey, I'm from Cedar Rapids! Always good to see fellow Eastern Iowans on the 'stiq.

n2 @ Nov 21st 2007 10:30AM

I was at Best Buy yesterday to pick up Mass Effect, and noticed they had 10 Rock Band packages for the 360.

It's not like it's $60. At $169, you have to really want it.

As far as my friend's list last night, only one person was playing Rock Band. The bulk were instead playing Mass Effect.

chris king @ Nov 21st 2007 10:31AM

i saw about 25-30 sitting on the floor at Best Buy last night in Little Rock, Arkansas. I didn't see any at Circuit City (though they had a sign posted that said the PS3 Rock Band would be delayed a few days due to a shipping error)

baby sea tuna @ Nov 21st 2007 10:31AM

I know that due to the rumors of scarcity, it was up to $280 on eBay at lunchtime yesterday and the aftermarket price has since dropped sharply. We'll see how it turns out after Black Friday...

If you can get a hold of this sucker though, I'd highly recommend it. 2 friends and I started playing after work last night and the next thing we knew, it was 11:30. As far as party games go, this one is my new list topper!

baby sea tuna @ Nov 21st 2007 10:32AM

No probs here. I got all 4 ports working.

EihBeir @ Nov 23rd 2007 12:56AM

There was a stack as high as my head around 7:00pm at the Best Buy in Duluth, MN. I was one of the nine who was at the store when it opened, only to be told that the truck had been abducted by aliens. To make it up to us, the store took our names and held a copy for each of us, and they gave us $25 gift cards when we came to pick it up.

Casey Vincent @ Nov 21st 2007 10:33AM

Last night while I was picking up Mass Effect at my local Best Buy (in Broomfield, Colorado) I was surprised to find huge stacks of Rock Band. They had two large stacks... probably about 50 copies total.

They also had at least 30 copies of the game only...

rv @ Nov 21st 2007 10:34AM

I might buy this today. I don't know. I either get this or mass effect and assassins creed... Ill make a decision when I go to the store.

Fa1kor @ Nov 21st 2007 10:45AM

Nope; Guitar Hero, yet not impossible, is harder to find.

Kool G @ Nov 21st 2007 10:39AM

Monday, my BB said that they would get 96 Rock Band bundles in on Tuesday. I swung by after work, no PS3 versions were available (they are starving for new/good software) and about 15 360 versions left. So I grabbed one, instead of Mass Effect like I planned, and it was waaay more fun than GH3, and about as much fun as GH2. The drums though, drums. Oy, the drums. I like it though, a nice challenge without the general impossibility of the GH3 7th set.

baby sea tuna @ Nov 21st 2007 10:46AM

Yeah, I don't think the people last week that were all "Oh the drums are just too easy! I was rocking that shit on expert at Best Buy!" didn't realize how it gets exponentially harder once you add in that kick pedal (not to mention that Metallica DLC.)

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 21st 2007 11:44AM

Nobody expects the difficulty of adding a foot. Same reason nobody respects Marching Bands. Moving while playing is hard enough, Moving to a specific spot while playing is even harder, moving to a specific spot while keeping time with your feet, only to move again to a different spot about 50 times during the show is even harder yet.

jynxycat @ Nov 21st 2007 11:59AM

The Metallica DLC lists as a level 9 difficulty, out of 9 I think, when you sort the songs by difficulty.

So, ya.

Ben Hobbs @ Nov 21st 2007 1:53PM

Crono

"Nobody expects the difficulty of adding a foot. Same reason nobody respects Marching Bands. Moving while playing is hard enough, Moving to a specific spot while playing is even harder, moving to a specific spot while keeping time with your feet, only to move again to a different spot about 50 times during the show is even harder yet."

Thats so NOT the reason people in Marching bands don't get 'respect'.

GRANTED @ Nov 21st 2007 10:39AM

i was in target yesterday picking up a 3ft fake xmas tree with the lights already on it. as i was holding the 3ft long xmas tree box on my shoulder in line, a guy walks past holding the approximately-same-sized rock band box. our eyes met, and i lost approximately half of my soul.

J.R. @ Nov 21st 2007 10:52AM

Yeah, I saw a good number left at my Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon. It definitely surprised me considering the talk about it's scarcity before the game came out. I guess EA realizes it, because I've seen a lot of commercials for it over the last two days.

rv @ Nov 21st 2007 11:06AM

The commercials are horrible too. I watched it and there was so much emphasis on the car in the commercial that a person who doesn't know what rock band is might think its a touring game. Also, they don't show you can use a guitar to play, much less drums and a microphone. That is definitely a really bad commercial.

Phil @ Nov 21st 2007 10:42AM

Not sure about local Gamestops, but at the Best Buy where I bought mine last night they had about a half-bajillion copies.

DZeroStar @ Nov 21st 2007 10:43AM

My local Best Buy (in a Chicago suburb) had 40+ units stacked at the front of the store, near the registers. I didn't look closely enough to see the 360/PS3 breakdown, though.

Odd that their demo has not worked properly since the first day I saw it out...it freezes and shows disk read errors constantly! Maybe the manager expects to sell every unit on Black Friday and doesn't want to cannibalize a retail package--but isn't a working demo only going to help make sure that every other copy is sold?

samfish @ Nov 21st 2007 10:50AM

No one should be at all surprised if a $170 dollar game isn't exactly burning up the sales charts...

Crono (NDF - Knight of the Old School) @ Nov 21st 2007 11:48AM

But the fact that it is burning up the sales charts is indicative of lots of hype for a good game.

Matthew @ Nov 21st 2007 10:50AM

My local Gamestop guys, who are actually decent human beings, made a huge deal on how they were going to sell out and pre-ordering was mandatory if you wanted it. I got it yesterday and there were 16 left until Friday.... and I was the last to pick up a pre order.

Autopsy15 @ Nov 21st 2007 12:38PM

Ok, Nicholas Cage, tell me when Doom Forever is coming out.

Matthew @ Nov 21st 2007 1:55PM

What does that mean?

GD86 @ Nov 21st 2007 10:56AM

A walmart in a small city in PA had a good stack of 5 360 and 3 PS3 bundles in where I lived. But then again Rock Band has lacked the advertising push that Guitar Hero 2 and 3 have had. Unless MTV has been pimping it like so many rides I've not seen a single TV ad for it.

Pendras @ Nov 21st 2007 11:00AM

And I don't think I have ever seen a soul so in despair...

Well, last week when I picked up Galaxy anyway, there were people waiting for the truck to come in for Wii's.

Went with a buddy who had it reserved at Gamestop and picked it up no problem... I did call a closer Gamestop (he had it reserved in the city) just to make sure that it had come in, and they gave the song and dance about how they only had enough for the reserves.

So we got back to his house around 3, and after a few tries at the drum tutorial and gathering the band, we set about creating our likenesses (that took a good hour and a half it seemed...)

Yeah, I got home around 2:30 in the morning. If you see it, if you've got a few buddies to go along with you... you got your party game for a long time.

Orion_of_Chaos @ Nov 21st 2007 11:01AM

The circuit city near my office had a big display still mostly full when I went by yesterday. Didn't check how much of each version, but they had plenty.

MMurdock @ Nov 21st 2007 11:03AM

I got mine and the local Game Crazy (Hollywood Video) only got enough for pre-orders. Luckily enough I got mine. Unluckily I only got to play it for about 2 hours before my 360 died. Off to Best Buy for another 360!

bangbang023 @ Nov 21st 2007 11:07AM

I work in a Best Buy. We got in 10 PS3 packages and 110 360 packages. The 360 version is, obviously, far from scarce.

nicko @ Nov 21st 2007 11:07AM

Well my local store dosnt have any... but thats because I am unfortunate enough to live in the UK (well not unfortunate, but it does hinder the release of certain music based games)

Dash my luck

yaksplat @ Nov 21st 2007 11:07AM

about 40 sitting at BestBuy in Buffalo, NY

FrankTheCrank @ Nov 21st 2007 11:07AM

I hate how my eyes start doing that weird thing after looking away from the screen....objects look like their rising when their just sitting there. Weird.

Uhm....this whole Rock Band smells like PS3 all over again....big hype, eBay squatters, plenty on the shelves...could pricing be the factor in both cases?

Tiptup300 @ Nov 21st 2007 11:58AM

Heres the kicker though, people don't have to take out loans to get the best version of rock band.

Autopsy15 @ Nov 21st 2007 12:59PM

If you have to take out a loan to get a PS3 then you must not have a job and still live with your parents...how sad.

edgore @ Nov 21st 2007 11:08AM

I had preordered, but I am pretty sure that the Gamestop had a couple of 360s left. I did get a bad drum kit though - the blue pad doesn't work at all. This was actually reassuring, since I didn't THINK i sucked enough to fail out that quickly. EA says I should get a replacement in 3-5 days, which doesn't suck only becasue I will be out of town for a few days starting tomorrow...

Mike @ Nov 21st 2007 11:09AM

All that being said, they are selling out at Sam's Club, where members can pick it up for $150.

Jason @ Nov 21st 2007 11:14AM

Yesterday (launch day) late afternoon we went to Wal Mart and a Best Buy in Northwest Oklahoma City. There were more than 20 at each store stacked up/sitting on shelves. My wife went to the same Wal Mart at Midnight launch night and the guy said they had like 60-80 on the truck (both versions combined I think).

shadyrudy @ Nov 21st 2007 11:42AM

Down here in Austin, TX there were plenty to be had for the 360 at Best Buy and Wal-Mart.

T H @ Nov 21st 2007 11:15AM

I totally slept on pre-ordering.. called around Manhattan at my girlfriend's urging Tuesday morning, and GameStop (6 of them) said they had no PS3 versions left (although there were still a few 360 versions) and would be out of stock til about FEBRUARY!! Of course.. these guys have the price jacked up to about $500 on craigslist.. bastards.

busydoingnothing @ Nov 21st 2007 11:14AM

I think it's a combination of both price and competition from other games. In my opinion, $170 for everything is a steal. The game itself is worth $60, so that leaves $110 for the mic, guitar, drums, and USB hub. It's a much better deal than Guitar Hero III (and a much better game, IMO).

You also have to factor in the number of people who are just buying the game itself and no accessories due to Guitar Hero's guitar compatibility with the game (not to mention the people who prefer the GH guitar to the Rock Band guitar). I was playing online last night with a few different people, and most of them did not have the drums, which surprised me a bit.