In my mind, the real “hit” sprinkled among the 18 AC/DC classics in this standalone Rock Band expansion isn’t “Hell’s Bells” or “T.N.T.,” but the delicious irony that said track pack is being hawked exclusively at Wal-Mart, the supposed home of apple pie and all-American values. (Same goes for the band’s latest record, Black Ice.) Guess AC/DC’s hard-drinking, drug-addled history fits right in with that whole “Save Money, Live Better” vibe. For those about to shop, we salute you.
|
Hey, that’s not Angus Young! Rock Band’s AC/DC Live gives you a “Whole Lotta Rosie,” but not necessarily the band members you’d expect. |
But here’s the thing: While everyone’s talking about how Rock Band and Guitar Hero have “saved” the music business and introduced a new generation of plastic axe-shredders to the joys of ’70s and ’80s rock, I’m watching this sudden spate of exclusive signings and track packs like a bassist who’s down to his last good string. Especially when they’re slapped together like this one, in a $40 package that not only doesn’t feature any digital likenesses of the surviving band members, but doesn’t even let you customize your own rocker. (Unless you import the tunes digitally into your copy of Rock Band or Rock Band 2; sorry, PS2 owners—you’re screwed.)
Yes, it’s all about the exclusivity and the cash grab, as last week’s announcement that Rock Band has cleared a cool $300 million for developer Harmonix made abundantly clear. While The Beatles and AC/DC are dishing their tunes to Rock Band, the cats at Activision have snapped up Aerosmith and Metallica for Guitar Hero, which effectively means that fans who only have the cash (or the interest, or the space) to invest in one of the two dominant music games are essentially out of luck. It’s like the whole Halo and PlayStation thing all over again, this time with a killer bassline.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. Astonishingly, Activision and Electronic Arts have managed to work out an agreement that lets us use the drum sets, guitars and mics with both Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour (but not across console platforms), thankfully saving our living rooms from a nasty plastic apocalypse. So why can’t they agree to share and play nice on this?
Speaking for music-game aficionados everywhere, what we want is what Apple already gives us with iTunes, and what Xbox Live and the PlayStation Network were moving toward: The ability to pay for, download and flip plastic frets to songs we know, love and wanna thrash to. As cool as a Beatles track pack sounds, if it’s only for Rock Band 2, that’s not getting us there.
In the meantime, AC/DC fans can rock through bare bones, good stuff, if you don’t mind getting live, dialed-down 60-something Brian Johnson vocals instead of the heyday Bon Scott stuff. For the price of four sweet solo sets in “Jailbreak,” it’s a worthwhile if expensive get for fans who feel the urge to break out the schoolboy uniform. Rock on, dudes.
