thirdworldgamer

This was in today's The Philippine Star newspaper here in Manila: Having the Beatles at Microsoft's E3 Press Conference was a pretty smart move by Microsoft to gain worldwide attention for their event.

Right now they've got a LOT of surplus original US Rock Band Bundles (Xbox 360) for sale (literally, an avalanche of Rock Band Complete Set Bundles) at HMR in Pioneer, Mandaluyong City. Since they're 'surplus' (opened, used, but tested to be working), they cost far cheaper than getting a brand new Rock Band Bundle (currently priced at P5,500 for each bundle). I was just so surprised to see so many surplus Rock Band bundles all in one place. HMR has so many second-hand/surplus Rock Band Bundles right now that they are actually using one to demo the game! (the "other" local store that sells brand new Rock Band Bundles doesn't even let you test their brand new games....) Just a few notes before you buy: 1. These are US Version Rock Band Bundles (they only work on US, NTSC-U Xbox 360s), They're REGION LOCKED. So you have to have a US Xbox 360 to play the game, which is included with each bundle. 2. It's 'buy at your own risk' since these are c...

Found this great article, again via Neogaf forums: http://www.salon.com/mwt/feature/2008/05/27/rock_band/?ybf1=1 "The fake crowd roars. I fake drum faster. Our fake band, Sex Baby, embarks on a fake world tour on our fake jet, playing fake stadiums in all the fake capitals of Europe. Our fake selves grace the covers of fake magazines, and our fake fans number in the millions. When our fake manager calls to tell us we've been invited to play the fake Hall of Fame showcase in fake Stockholm, my real husband turns toward me, and smiles." I can imagine, not every gamer is going to find a significant other that also enjoys video games (let alone understands them). Rock Band is a great equalizer; after all, it involves playing music and singing---I think these things are enjoyed universally by people of all ages. Wuffy's comment: Slightly Off Topic: Scythe and I sometimes ask ourselves why we often have nice conversations regarding gaming but have nothing to record it on b...

Early this morning we received word that that US Xbox 360 Arcade that we ordered is arriving TODAY! So finally we can play this game! w00t w00t!!! As was reported previously there is no definite date for the Asian Xbox 360 version of Rock Band. Perhaps the version coming out in Europe will be compatible but it's incredibly expensive. This is the best option for us right now. It's just unfortunate that EA handled the worldwide distribution of Rock Band very poorly (by making the game region locked for the Xbox 360, the platform with the largest installed base of next-generation systems).

Rock Band is published by Electronic Arts. That company puts region locking on all their Xbox 360 games, probably to ensure that their global distributors get an even share of revenues. Because of this, we aren't able to buy Rock Band for the Xbox 360 because our 360 is an Asian version console (only NTSC-J games work on it, or Region-free games). Rock Band is already available locally in Data Blitz stores here in the Philippines; we just can't buy it because it won't work on our 360. =( We're actually considering buying a Playstation 3 just for Rock Band, because the PS3 doesn't have any region locking built in (so it will play games from any region, apparently). The only time I ever got to try this game was during Pinoyxbox's Grand EB last year. It's a great game; it's just unfortunate that it's in the hands of such an evil publisher. (google " Take Two Interactive EA Hostile Takeover" and you'll see what I mean) It's really rea...