Harmonix's Rob Kay Comments by Ellie Gibson

wow... so many stuff wrong.

GH guitars work with Rock Band on the 360 (not on PS3).
Faro is actually... in England. It's an English colony. A recent one. Last time I went there they abolished Portuguese for good, so it's not Portugal.

gingerlink: you wish..., you have to loose to us on penalties, every time.

Quote - because I don't actually know that much about it. endquote
I beg your pardon. that's your job matey.

I feel sorry for that guy. Marched out in front of the angry typing fingers of the internet to try and defend the most blatant overpricing of goods I can think of right now... Damn Ea...

@Muddtallica: Touche!

I'll shut up now :-)

Still i do think you guys are being a little harsh..

Yes i slagged off Team 17 for their decision on worms.. BUT I didnt (i hope) get personal towards spadge himself. And i most definately didnt resort to calling him a "cunt" like at least 3 people on here have done.

The other difference being spadge was probably (judging by way he spoke) partly responsible for the decision to cut features. This guy CLEARLY has no say in the price of the game..

Maybe someone from EA could come and defend the pricing decisions, given that they're distributing it.

(I'd probably have bought it at US prices. Now, I produce a hollow laughter.)

charging this much is one thing, but not even offering a decent excuse is (to quote the drill instructor from full metal jacket) like fucking a guy up the ass without having the god damned curtosy to give him a reach around.

We aren't bending over EA.

Very good point Aspic - The price is by far the biggest point of contention at the moment. The EG article subtitle even emphasises the pricing issue. To not be able to shed light on this is ridiculous - to think we'd be satisfied with what been passed so far is insulting.

"Then why does he seem to be the Harmonix/EA spokesperson on the issue."

He's the designer.. he's talking about the game he's designed.. He may not have even known question of price was coming up.

But he's asked his opinion on it.. so he's stating it.

If you think the designer has control over the pricing/marketing of the game.. then you're quite frankly a bit strange.

And if you think he's going to be 100% honest during an interview like that then again you're quite frankly naive. You can almost guarantee the interview was done over email and his legal/marketing department edited and censored what he replied.

EVEN if he thought the game was too expensive, he's hardly going to say "man, yeah.. dont buy this at this price - it's a complete rip off" is he? FFS THINK people!

*sigh*

The question that really needs to be asked is a more specific version of the one about the price being so much higher than the US price. It's not why the price is higher, because we all know the answer to that one (increased retail cost in Europe, higher taxes and import duties etc.) It's why the mark-up on the price is so much higher than comparable products. Every other piece of gaming hardware comes in at up to 50% above the US price. What is it about Rock Band that doesn't impact any other title that justifies the markup being almost 110%.

After he's failed to answer that one, it should be followed up Paxman-style with something along the lines of "Isn't it true, Mr Kay, that the real reason for the price being so high is that EA is trying to charge Europe for the hardware reliability problems you had in America?"

Actually it shouldn't be Rob Kay, because he's stuck between a rock and a hard place on this one - I'm sure he knows the European pricing is bull, and I'm sure he has no input on it. You guys need to get hold of an EA PR guy and give them a hard time.

@Aspic: I agree.. EA *should* give an interview (they probably wont though)

But my point being was that some people were OVERLY harsh on the poor guy.. stooping to personal name calling.. and he obviously has little to do with it.

(how many people have called him a "cunt" for example)?

Call EA names.. not the poor guy that DESIGNED the game YOU lot seem to want to play so badly!!!!

Damn, I thought that interview has some excellent questions until you hit on page 2 and started crawling up their arse.

Actually the suggestion in the interview of buying a Wii instead is a pretty good idea. We were going to buy Rockband and a 360 for my offices lunch/rec room, boss wants me to buy something at work that will make us paper slaved look forward to coming to work everyday (go figure). But a Wii sounds like a much better investment (everyone loves a good 'ol Wii Sports tourny, right?), plus with the money saved from not buying a 360 he can finally buy us the new coffee machine we've been for.

Thanks EG, you've made my purchasing decision much easier ^_^ It would be irresponsible to spend this much money on Rock Band when the price is so huge for what essentially is "just one game".

yeah, we need to hear EA/MTV's voice on this one, rather than this guy who couldnt tell us the truth even if he wanted to...

EG if you could find some EA/MTV exec to answer just where the extra £80-85 (on top of $30 VAT) is going, it would be great

that is all we want to know

weve been insulted and lied to, now we just want to know where exactly the remaining £80 or so, not accounted for by VAT, is going

btw if anyone remembers that writer who appeared on FOX news bad mouthing mass effect, and the consequences on her amazon book reviews, it'd be cool if we could to the same thing here, and bring the games amazon review rating down to the dirt

at least it might dissuade some parents not in the know to avoid buying it for their kids...

"to quote `So if you weren't working on it, if you were a plain old gamer, would you pay GBP 180 for Rock Band?`

Sounds like they would have got a sale off this had he not no doubt already had one.

utter utter lazy question and wtf was he supposed to say.....no ?"

I think he was meant to be caught off guard, give an honest answer, and admit that Rock Band was poor value for money

dk_rare: Nice idea, but I suspect EA had a sniper in the rafters to make sure he didn't get off-message.

Sorry EG. That's weak-assed journalism....

EG:C an you justify the pirce?
HX: Well not really but its good, honest...
EG: Yeah but it is pricey?
HX: Sorry love, ask EA
EG: Oh, okay... well I'd buy it!

Nicky Campbell must be spinning his grave.

Metaphorically.

Oviously he's not dead...

Unless he went quietly in the night and is yet to be discovered by the maid.

"at least it might dissuade some parents not in the know to avoid buying it for their kids..."


uh??

Sorry.. i'll repeat.. UH???

If said parent thinks it's good value, and said kid enjoys said game.. then what's it matter if they lived in another country they could've gotten it cheaper?

Or is it a case of "you cant afford it - so no-one else should"?

Considering its not Harmonix who are responsible for the price I think he said all he could in a reasonable manner.
Its EA we need to be asking about the price.

Vent your anger here folks...

ssmithwright@europe.ea.com

Mr Simon Smith-Wright, EA's European PR Director.

@ smelly

uh??

Sorry.. i'll repeat.. UH???

If said parent thinks it's good value, and said kid enjoys said game.. then what's it matter if they lived in another country they could've gotten it cheaper?

Or is it a case of "you cant afford it - so no-one else should"?

as usual you get the wrong end of the stick...


if a hundred of us went on to amazon.co.uk, wrote short reviews saying to import the game from the US, mention the price gouging, and gave it low ratings, and direct them to an importer, then it would might significantly impact their european sales, enough to make them lower the price

cooper lawrence certainly took note when mass effect fanboys started thrashing her book
alot of people take note of customer reviews on amazon, and amazon is a large distributor of games...

kids could still get their game, but parents may save £60-70 if they import

now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?

Don't know why...but I'm glad I have a game like Audiosurf. Just cost me £5 to enjoy music. Sure, I'm not emulating actually being a musician but I can do that for free when I sing along to it on my cd player...

Hey...anyone feel like going to a Karaoke bar? :)

"Maybe I'd try it over at a friend's first, to see if I liked it or not." That is if your friend could afford to get the game and the peripherals. He really didn't think that one through.
Can't have a go at your friends when your friend can't afford the thing.

tgigreeny: I was also given swhite@europe.ea.com

If anyone does write to these gentlemen, please keep it rational, polite and to-the-point. Ranting and raving at them isn't going to help anyone.

>now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?

It's a bit sad and immature?

man, im really getting tired of you... im not even gonna argue with you anymore...

i see someone else has already beat me to it anyway

well, if anyone cares to do it, it'll only take 2 minutes, and may help some uninformed people avoid getting ripped off at the very least

i might get around to it tomorrow...

">now what on earth is wrong with that smelly?

It's a bit sad and immature? "

Smelly - I really hope you're called something like Shaun or Steven or Simon Melly, so the alias has a meaning.

Otherwise you're calling yourself smelly, and are accusing other people of being sad and immature.

>man, im really getting tired of you...

The feelings mutual.

smelly is so full of shit, in every thread, attention-whore deluxe. why dont we just all ignore him?

Ill just take that offer right now. Wow, the warmth..mm~

buy a fucking guitar and learn to play for 180£ - my 1st guitar was less than that tbh..

Yes titus! Playing a real guitar is great, but its not the same. You can do both! (well, if you can stomach the price of the plastic one..)

I wonder if they've taken the PS3 and other overpriced products as a benchmark? Aim for the stars don't they say? Perhaps the pricing has been taken with the aim of making as many sales at this price as possible before lowering it and still picking up the sales they would have gotten anyway? That as the library grows and the price drops people's interest will grow, and as such will sell maybe more units at the price everyone expected it to be (yet still considered too much?).

Also, I find it interesting that on the social side, this is a game that yet again attempts to take public activities and turn them into just one, or at most a few, people. Things like actually going to a bar and singing some karaoke, or seeing a live band, or learning to play an instrument and playing as a live band all forgotten as people yet again aim to emulate real life activities in a small confined and controlled space.

I'm just speaking my brain.

Gents, the answer is simple. They sold a bucket of them in the US, saw the huge GH sales, thought "gee, we must have underpriced it" and decided to make a bunch of extra cash for the much vaunted new "quality over quality" ethos at EA.


Bend over Europe, we got some hot lovin for ya.

(and when you factor in the extra cash for DLC - ooh yeah, it stings).

Just vote with your wallet.

Yeah, he's just the sacrificial lamb thrown to the internet wolves by EA, but it's still his job, and he could easily have said "I made a great game, but I'm not comfortable with the pricing by the publisher - talk to them", like when Michael Bay hit the roof when Transformers was HDDVD only. Trying to bullsh*t that it's a fine deal irrespective of the US price was foolish. But leave the insults, guys.

/Full Metal Jacket quote - priceless.

"Gents, the answer is simple. They sold a bucket of them in the US, saw the huge GH sales, thought "gee, we must have underpriced it" and decided to make a bunch of extra cash for the much vaunted new "quality over quality" ethos at EA. "

That sounds believable actually Will. They saw that the game was selling anyway, so they might have thought they could overcharge us because we will need it anyway. Profiteering some people might call it.

I hope this game fails miserably here, so they don't pull this 110% price inflation crap again.

And time releasing it for the 360 only is going to hurt them.

smelly - you are boring

anyway I'll get the game and use the GH guitar...

You know, I'd love to see EA and/or MTV come out and just admit the price is higher than it normally should be, backed up with some reasons they think are legitimate. Maybe that the US DLC's didn't make them as much money as they planned for, or that they want to recover money for all the broken peripherals in the US... Of course, they'll never say something like this (since it would be a PR disaster if it wasn't accompanied with an apology and an immediate price cut) but if they did, at least they'd have back some of my respect.
I'd even settle for any reaction at all. The internet gaming community has been set aflame by this, and it's a bit shameful that they haven't stepped in and at least responded to the outrage yet. At least someone from Harmonix had the balls to respond (I'm hoping he wasn't ordered to do this by his boss), although his answers are a bit disappointing, since it's making him look like he's fully supporting the price.

Come on EA, just respond to us! Setting this much higher a price point is insulting and not responding to us even more so!

@sph
You can count on it that EA has a very large part in pricing this. Contrary to what you're thinking, they're not just a distributor here. They're the publisher. And MTV isn't the publisher, but Harmonix's owner. So yeah, MTV is partly responsible for the prices, but EA is more responsible. Hence all the negative reactions towards EA. ;)

Edit:
Oh, two other things. First, throughout these discussions, there's been a mention of import duties popping up sometimes. I thought that the import duties on videogames were abolished in 2002 or 2003 or sometime around there? Or am I mistaken? (Of course, there's still the import duties we as consumers have to pay if we import games ourselves, but that's to replace the VAT.) Can anyone enlighten me as to whether the import duties on videogames still exist for sellers/game publishers?

Second, here's another place to speak your mind:
http://www.petitiononline.com/RockBand/p...

Of course, we should vote with our wallets first, but maybe petitions like this will help lower the price faster, so we can enjoy the game faster... ;)

Oviously he's not dead...

Unless he went quietly in the night and is yet to be discovered by the maid.

He woke me up this morning. So I suspect he's not dead.

please, music games, f**k off forever

Can we all just agree the price is a rip-off and that Smelly is a Cunt and should be Globally Ignored / banned / and cast into hell to be eternally buggered.

Eurogamer = Journalism, don't make me laugh. That 'interview' was as challenging as farting at a baked beans eating contest.

In my world, smelly do not any longer exist. You should try this "world 1.001"-patch, guys.

And yeah, about the journalism.. ;x
Im all for Ellie, she makes boring stuff hilarious..but to put her at an interview? No thanks..
When you read an interview that you yourself is serious about (the price) you dont want cheap laughs in between. Just so wrong.

Interesting...
...though:

1) If we don't get the US tracklisting and get some "UK-centric" bullsit that means a load of fucking Muse tracks and other wanky bollocks. It's possible we'll end up with a comparatively piss-poor experience compared to the septic version.
2) FIFTY quid for _just_ the game?!? I could see them getting away with £30 but FIFTY and you don't even get the instrument... That's some definite swapping dollar for pound signs.
3) 160MSP or 80MSP for ONE song is daft - That's £1.36 / 68p. Or $3.32 / $1.66 per track. 6.25
Like-for-like it's like charging us 266 or 133 GP for one song. I know it's because the pricing structure is wonky and MSP are much more expensive over here and if Microsoft are going to have a global points pricing (800 for this, 400 for that) they need to sell their points according to the exchange rate but it still stands that we're _actually_ paying more. So the You're-paying-the-same-as-the-US is a nice dodge ;) (Incidentally Wikipedia is out of date - they showed the UK price being 1.4 times the US price in October - now it is 1.65 times the price)
I reckon something sneaky is going on here... Like MS will have, say, 20,000 points spent on a product and pay a developer the US-cut of 20,000 points... but in reality they're making way more cash in different territories... So if anything EA are getting screwed. Or, rather, not being allowed to partake in screwing us. That said, I can't see EA's legal team missing that one...
4) This comment is getting too long.
5) The price per track could be a deal breaker if the track listing in-game is total arse. I'm still pissed off that GH2 had pretty much no decent DLC at rip-off prices (£10.30 for 3 tracks, one of which would be shit). I was hoping for a 2100 point pack with all the GH1 content as it was GH1 I wanted to play - and the threat of "more DLC than any other game" made me stupidly think GH1 would get a release as a DLC pack. And it didn't. Lesson learned, I'd hold back and see what sort of DLC gets released and the volume of it. I only bought GH2 because I thought I'd get loads of cool tunes for it - and I didn't. Plus my guitar was arse and I spent the first six months trying to email someone to get a replacement. Emails either bounced or went unanswered, so I boycotted GH3 and if RockBand is £180 then I'm out on this too.
6) I wish people would stop comparing GH/RB to playing a real instrument. They're not even close - not even the drums (unless you're some kind of Indie two-piece drumkit kiddie). They're both fun, but one is a game and the other is grinding your nuts off. And there's no way I can play the GH guitar anywhere near as hard as my real instruments. It'd break :-D
7) More metal / death metal songs - Some Cannibal Corpse, Death, Deicide, Obituary etc. DragonForce is just arse - but comical. The Slayer track in GH3 was a nice touch but sadly the GH2 guitar just isn't up to playing it (mine registers mis-hits just when you go anywhere near the trem bar - push down and then up and you often get three notes. Touch it even slightly and you get a note. Bollocks. :)
8) NOW this comment is way too long. \o/

I just went on Amazon.com out of curiosity. They're doing Rock Band 360 for $148, and there's a marketplace seller selling a 360 Arcade unit for $238. So for £10 more than UK Rock Band you can buy it AND the 360 to play it on in the States. So that's a super-powerful console with 256MB memory card and 5 XBLA games for a tenner.

I don't blame Rob Kay, I feel sorry for him and the abuse he's getting. But whoever is responsible for this really is a fucking cunt. A cunting cunt. But it'll slide, just as PS3 did it'll be reduced within 6 weeks.

"a super-powerful console"

lol

I wonder how much it's going to cost in Australia? We get raped the most when it comes to game prices. Doesn't matter though, I won't be buying it.

For fuck's sake. They're both super-powerful consoles, if you want to go on a fanboi bitch then go somewhere else.

Which idiot started that petition to have the price lowered? You'd think they'd try to make it look a little bit professional, spell words correctly, address it to the correct people, that kind of thing.

It's not going to make any difference anyway but still, you'd usually at least try to make it decent.

"They're both super-powerful consoles"

No, they both are not.

there is no way that i would spend 180 on a game, i dont care how many instruments they include, they could have a whole orchestra for all i care!
and that was a week ass excuse "VAT is 17.5%" and electronics do not cost double over here, who are they trying to kid,,, themselves!!

ridiculos!!