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.

Comments

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:Wii Version is Missing Downloads

[vonPoonBurGer]

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

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?

Re:Wii Version is Missing Downloads

[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) and the Wii port was done by Vicarious Visions (see: http://www.vvisions.com/games/details.cfm?ID=105). 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 internal storage space.

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)

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.

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:

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.