Rock Band confirmed for Wii

By Ellie Gibson Published 1 February, 2008

Not coming to Europe before April.

Silver-haired fox John Riccitiello has confirmed Rock Band is coming to the Wii.

Speaking during a conference call, he also revealed the game will be released in Europe across all platforms (with the possible exception of Gizmondo) some time after 1st April.

"One of the things I'm very proud of is the partnership between Electronic Arts and MTV," he said.

"What's probably the most interesting piece right now is the coming launch on the Wii, the continued sale of the core platforms in North America and then the fiscal '09 launch across Europe against all of the SKU."

Rock Band launched in the US on 20th November. Since then more than 1.5 million units have been sold, and Americans have downloaded music tracks worth USD 2.5 million (GBP 1.25 million).

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Iora #1 4 years ago

    1st of bloody april. This had better be a joke.

  • Lebowski #2 4 years ago

    C'mon, that's ages away! Couldn't they at least circle off a small batch of hardware, and give Europe an initial-if-limited batch instead of keeping the Yanks happy and supplied? Europe: third-rate customers yet again. :-(

  • JonFE #3 4 years ago

    Iora, I'm afraid that when the price is announced no one is going to be laughing though :{

  • McBradders #4 4 years ago

    FUCKING APRIL!?

    APRIL?!

    FUCK!

  • Iora #5 4 years ago

    JonFE, £169.99 for a PS3 import at a GForce store in Glasgow.
    I would have sold my Grandmother for it but i already traded her in last month for a packet of pork scratchins.

  • systems #6 4 years ago

    There will be tears if the price is announced with the usual "$1=£1" wheeze. It's looking like the price of a Wii as it is.

  • Goodfella #7 4 years ago

    Actually it says "some time after 1st April".

    So, December it is then.

  • Eighthours #8 4 years ago

    APRIL????!!!!! Nooooooo!

  • adcworks #9 4 years ago

    i'm tempted to just not bother, they've pissed me off treating europe as 2nd class in this launch.

  • Saladin #10 4 years ago

    @systems:

    Of course it'll be £1 to $1. Don't you know that our excessive prices are to subsidize the cheap prices enjoyed in the US? Obviously it's the least we can do after they won the war and killed off all those nasty Nazis for us.

  • SirDespard #11 4 years ago

    Doesn't surprise me, I know someone who works for EA UK, and it's a hardware availability thing. Most of the instruments are made in China and we're pretty much hitting Chinese new year where there are long factory shutdowns. So the US gets what little stock there is (which is a pain), but it looks to be worth the wait (providing the price is reasonable and I can convince the missus that we have enough living room space for it)

  • Moz #12 4 years ago

    Any one know if I was to get the US PS3 version of this would it work with the Europe DLC when it launches?

  • Machetazo #13 4 years ago

    Well, I'm determined not to bother (with the game at all). I really am becoming stalwart in my apathy towards those who give this region an unreasonably shoddy reception. Might just cut my losses, and go for GH3 PS3, seeing as the only part I'm interested in is guitar - only recently really, discovering the fun of rhythm action games.
    Edited by 2 at 01/02/08 @ 10:41

  • Toothball #14 4 years ago

    @Moz:

    I expect you'd need a US PSN account in order to get hold of any of it?
    Edited by 1 at 01/02/08 @ 10:39

  • McBradders #15 4 years ago

    DLC does appear to be locked to the games region.

  • brooza #16 4 years ago

    It's better than the article I read last night that said it had slipped from Q1 2008 to Q1 2009, but forgot to mention that it was fiscal 09 rather than calendar

  • brooza #17 4 years ago

    I don't think I'm gonna bother with it anyway

  • ParmaViolet #18 4 years ago

    £150 for the full set?? - personally, I'll only get this if I can get just the game and guitar (I'm a sucker for a Strat)....the drums and microphone don't interest me in the slightest. I'm a little concerned, though, that the guitar playing isn't as challenging as GH3 - can anyone confirm that this is true?

    :-)

  • rudedudejude #19 4 years ago

    to Wii Awesome!

    Wonder if GH3 Guitar will work?

  • Stu #20 4 years ago

    Gah!

  • hyperkineticninja #21 4 years ago

    @Moz.

    I would not import as if you have any issues with the hardware, i.e. it breaking, which you probably will, you can't return it.

  • MasterNameless #22 4 years ago

    @ Adam_T

    Good question. Although , unfortunately, as the squabble between the two devs isn't platform specific and as they still haven't sorted their differences out, I doubt they will be compatitble...

  • systems #23 4 years ago

    @Saladin - show some respect. They sure saved our asses in dub-ya dub-ya two.

  • MBar #24 4 years ago

    Fuck sake.

    Get it done and stop arsing about.

  • skybluesam86 #25 4 years ago

    Huzzah! Finally a Wii version!
    Hopefully I can get my housemates to chip in. They all like Guitar Hero too much, I never get a chance to play it >_

  • Kropotkin #26 4 years ago

    So lets consider this news carefully. The Wii is getting Rockband and Europe will not be getting the game until the Wii version appears which won't be any time soon.

    I'm guessing that Europe will get this game in November of this year. By which time US gamers would have moved on and EA try to sap more money from the game only in another territory. Yes its shoddy. Yes we hate EA for doing this. Yes we are bitter. Yes being a European and liking video games is not a good thing and never will be. But we'll still buy the game by the truckload.

  • gaztech #27 4 years ago

    Christ, how to turn one conference call into 3 News articles, well done! :p

  • KingOfIceland #28 4 years ago

    Oh jippy!! I'm moving to Florida now, getting REAL tired of this bullcrap