Rock Band 3 Keyboard for $59.99 at Gamestop (PS3/360/Wii)

DarkonJohn

DarkonJohn

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For those waiting for a price drop on the Keyboard controller for Rock Band 3, we finally got one. Not a huge one, but better than nothing from $79.99 to $59.99.

PS3: http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/accessories/ps3-rock-band-3-wireless-keyboard/78041
360: http://www.gamestop.com/xbox-360/accessories/xb360-rock-band-3-wireless-keyboard/78042
Wii: http://www.gamestop.com/wii/accessories/wii-rock-band-3-wireless-keyboard/78040

Also, the stand is on sale for $19.99 (down from $29.99):
http://www.gamestop.com/accessories/universal-rockband-3-keyboard-stand/84291

Amazon price matched the PS3 and 360 models, but not for Wii.
 
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Thanks for the heads up OP; I sadly am too cheap for this still however. I told myself once I can get one for around $30 I would nab it. Hopefully a bunch of people are able to jump on this price drop at least, and perhaps it is a sign that it will drop even more in the future!
 
Yeah, personally I'm still on the fence on this one. I really do want to give the keyboard a shot with RB3 so having this drop by $20 might help, but my other (much more expensive) option is to get the MIDI adapter ($39) and a "real" keyboard (more keys) with MIDI output (probably around $100 - $200?).

Right now I'm thinking $60 is the the smarter choice since I may get bored with the keyboard and switch back to guitar and drums. Biggest thing pushing me towards a better MIDI keyboard is that it would make my wife more likely to play RB3 with me since she may think the "keytar" is a joke (even though I've heard it isn't that bad and even has MIDI output).
 
not bad. wish i can get the bundle with game for around $60.

is this permanent price drop or limited power saver sale only?
 
Can't really tell if it is permanent or temporary, but it shows the retail price ($79.99) which is crossed out with the $59.99 price next to it.

But at least you can get the game for $20 now...so $80 for what used to cost $140? ($60 for RB3 and $80 for keyboard)....not too bad.
 
Fry's also has this for 60 (where I just got mine two days ago), so it may be a universal drop with the game.

I was originally skeptical of it, but the quality of the keys are close to that of my MicroKORG and MicroX, and it has a MIDI-out for if you for whatever reason want to use it as a MIDI-controller. And since the next cheapest quality 25-key MIDI-Controller (that I know of) is the old M-Audio Axiom 25 which is about 120 bucks, this was a no brainer.

A plus for the keyboard is that you can also use if for Bass and Guitar parts, if you're like me who doesn't previously own those instruments.
 
[quote name='DarkonJohn']Yeah, personally I'm still on the fence on this one. I really do want to give the keyboard a shot with RB3 so having this drop by $20 might help, but my other (much more expensive) option is to get the MIDI adapter ($39) and a "real" keyboard (more keys) with MIDI output (probably around $100 - $200?).

Right now I'm thinking $60 is the the smarter choice since I may get bored with the keyboard and switch back to guitar and drums. Biggest thing pushing me towards a better MIDI keyboard is that it would make my wife more likely to play RB3 with me since she may think the "keytar" is a joke (even though I've heard it isn't that bad and even has MIDI output).[/QUOTE]

Same here actually. I have a 'real' keyboard, I was just waiting to buy the MIDI adapter once I could nab the Squier for cheap. Too bad none of my 6 real guitars work 100% through the MIDI..
 
I was waiting for this to drop and this is a good price point because I have gift cards at Amazon, who just matched it, and WalMart.
I know Amazon has a feature to notify them of a price drop but does WalMart?
 
[quote name='FoxHoundADAM']Still about $20 too much for me. Seriously why is it still so much?[/QUOTE]

Well, I think it costs this much because it's not just a toy keyboard. It supports MIDI, has velocity sensing keys, etc...things that you normally don't find on a keyboard at this price.

They probably could have put out a keyboard in the $30 - $50 range w/o these features (and maybe the should have as a lower priced option in addition to this model), but then people would have been bitching about why they released such a crappy game/toy keyboard.

Damned if you do, damned if you don't.

But I think this is a recurring issue for RB3's pro modes...they require more sophisticated controllers that cost more to produce. They tried to bridge the gap between game controllers (just need basic buttons) to musical instruments, but most people aren't willing to pay for the next level of performance.

Also, for anyone still considering this, Amazon just matched the price...$59.99.
 
does any other game or future games (rockband 4?) support the keyboard?

i don't play instruments or have real guitars/keyboards/drums to mess around with. it is not my type of hobby, so this keyboard controller probably makes the most sense for me. still kind of steep if i'm going to buy it to play just 1 game.
 
At this time I think the only music game that supports the keyboard (at least this one) is Rock Band 3. Guitar Hero never supported keyboard.

However, one of the cool things about this keyboard is that it also has MIDI out, so you can hook it up to your computer using a MIDI to USB cable and use it with Garage Band on the Mac or other music apps that support MIDI input. Could potentially be useful if there were more PC-based games/apps you wanted to play with that supported a MIDI keyboard.
 
i'd buy at 30 or 40 :X
i have a big keyboard but too lazy to buy the midi adapter, or actually not certain if it would work with the game or not
 
I was able to resist it at $80, but I don't think I can pass this up. The lure of playing the Billy Joel DLC pack is just too strong.
 
I got the bundle for $100 at launch. Considering it's been 6 months and the fate of both Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, the price should have been lower at this point. If you waited this long, wait another couple of months - I believe it should go into clearance by the time summer hits.
 
[quote name='Zbornak']I was able to resist it at $80, but I don't think I can pass this up. The lure of playing the Billy Joel DLC pack is just too strong.[/QUOTE]

That pack will cost you another $20...
 
[quote name='netscorer']I got the bundle for $100 at launch. Considering it's been 6 months and the fate of both Rock Band and Guitar Hero franchises, the price should have been lower at this point. If you waited this long, wait another couple of months - I believe it should go into clearance by the time summer hits.[/QUOTE]

the fate of rock band/guitar hero? i heard one of these franchises will not be continued if their latest game didn't sell well. are both these franchises dead now?
 
I bought the midi adapter. I hope there is a Rock Band 4. Rock Band is one of the best group games when people are over.
 
[quote name='frpilot']the fate of rock band/guitar hero? i heard one of these franchises will not be continued if their latest game didn't sell well. are both these franchises dead now?[/QUOTE]

All Activision music games are on hiatus due to the low sales in the genre (which activision created by over saturating the market with the hero brands). No more DLC or hero games for the foreseeable future.

Harmonix has bought their independence from MTV/EA for the price of a game (!!!), and they are continuing to support their brand, but I doubt they are going to do any more plastic instrument games for a few years.
 
[quote name='Digital Idiot']All Activision music games are on hiatus due to the low sales in the genre (which activision created by over saturating the market with the hero brands). No more DLC or hero games for the foreseeable future.

Harmonix has bought their independence from MTV/EA for the price of a game (!!!), and they are continuing to support their brand, but I doubt they are going to do any more plastic instrument games for a few years.[/QUOTE]


So yesterday I went to BB to pick up RB3 ($20) and the guys there told me that the Rockband series is discontinued and so is Activision's XXX Hero series. Went to gamestop, they said the same thing. Both companies are not releasing any new titles due to oversaturated market and low demand. Probably explains the universal drop in RB3 at most retailers along with the DJ Hero 2 plummet.
 
[quote name='Digital Idiot']All Activision music games are on hiatus due to the low sales in the genre (which activision created by over saturating the market with the hero brands). No more DLC or hero games for the foreseeable future.

Harmonix has bought their independence from MTV/EA for the price of a game (!!!), and they are continuing to support their brand, but I doubt they are going to do any more plastic instrument games for a few years.[/QUOTE]

I did see some new GH DLC on PSN released yesterday, but that could have already been in the pipeline and I wouldn't expect more in the future.

For Rock Band, I'm hoping they keep adding DLC for RB3, especially with Pro tracks for Guitar & Bass. Lots of people still have their plastic instruments and might be interested in getting additional DLC, and at $20 everyone should get RB3.

I think RB3 may end up being the platform they use to release new content/expansions rather than releasing new games with new peripherals each year. You only buy the instruments you want/need and you buy the kind of instrument you want...game controllers which are cheap and fun or Pro-mode instruments which are more expensive but also teach you real-world music playing skills. I think this model is better for Harmonix and for users in the long run.
 
[quote name='Digital Idiot']All Activision music games are on hiatus due to the low sales in the genre (which activision created by over saturating the market with the hero brands). No more DLC or hero games for the foreseeable future.

Harmonix has bought their independence from MTV/EA for the price of a game (!!!), and they are continuing to support their brand, but I doubt they are going to do any more plastic instrument games for a few years.[/QUOTE]

The money is in the recurring revenue. RB3 is a great platform and now has an extremely cheap entry fee in $20, or maybe $60 if you buy a clearanced RB/GH bundle to get all the instruments. Or walk into any Gamestop and buy up all the used instruments you desire.

Once you are on the RB3 platform then they make money by licensing $2 songs and $1 Pro mode upgrades. So long as they keep releasing relevant material, the existing customers keep buying it, it could go on forever. Better this way than a new version every 6 months, especially when it's based on just a single band (ahem: Beatles, Green Day, VH, Metallica, Aerosmith :ahem)

IMHO Harmonix should really talk talk to Activision to buy out the GH franchise, or at least the existing music licenses, which they could then charge an "export fee" to migrate disc content over to the RB3 platform... Or simply just relicense all the exclusives. More Van Halen, Metallica, Aerosmith, Ozzy, Eagles, Chili Peppers, Hendrix, etc... now that would be good!
 
[quote name='PatelKing']So yesterday I went to BB to pick up RB3 ($20) and the guys there told me that the Rockband series is discontinued and so is Activision's XXX Hero series. Went to gamestop, they said the same thing. Both companies are not releasing any new titles due to oversaturated market and low demand. Probably explains the universal drop in RB3 at most retailers along with the DJ Hero 2 plummet.[/QUOTE]

I can completely understand if they don't release a new version of Rock Band for a while, and I'm not sure they need to or should. If you look at all the songs they've included in RB1, 2, and 3....there's probably over 200+ songs, and many of them are very popular hits. it becomes increasingly difficult to put together another large track list (RB3 had over 80 songs) that will appeal to a broad variety of people.

And from a gameplay perspective, nothing more really needs to be done. The career mode is little more than a vehicle for getting you to play a bunch of songs and give you a sense of accomplishment and progression, but once you've finished it, you will either stop playing because you "finished" the game or will keep playing the same songs (or new DLC) at harder difficulty levels to improve your skills. And if you are the kind of person that wants to play new songs, you really don't need another version of Rock Band.

GH was a bit different in that they had their silly storylines instead of Rock Band's career mode, but it really served the same purpose...to give you a reason to play all the songs and a sense of progression and reward for doing so. But I'm pretty confident that NOBODY bought GH because of the cool storylines.

The Rock Band "Track Packs" were kind of nice because you could get a collection of songs at a reasonable price (especially at the current prices) vs. paying more if you wanted to buy them as DLC. But Harmonix did things right because all of the songs in these track packs could be exported for use in RB2/RB3 for no additional fee (except for the Green Day one, which wasn't really a Track Pack).

GH screwed users over by not licensing things properly and ended up charging users again if they wanted to export the songs for use in the main GH games (and this wasn't even an option for things like the Van Halen release or GH3).

I'm hoping that they keep selling RB3 for $20 for the foreseeable future to allow new gamers to join it, while also releasing new DLC on an ongoing basis to keep the RB community active.

Going forwards, I think the growth area is in the Pro content. I think playing plastic music game controllers gets old after a while and people will either stop playing or will want to move on to actually learning how to play real instruments. RB3 can help you make this transition and teach you how to play new songs, and while not everybody will want to do this, I think anyone that wants to really learn how to play an instrument can benefit from the Pro mode features in RB3.

That's what I'm thinking, but it will be interesting to see how things actually play out in the coming months.
 
[quote name='raiser']The money is in the recurring revenue. RB3 is a great platform and now has an extremely cheap entry fee in $20, or maybe $60 if you buy a clearanced RB/GH bundle to get all the instruments. Or walk into any Gamestop and buy up all the used instruments you desire.

Once you are on the RB3 platform then they make money by licensing $2 songs and $1 Pro mode upgrades. So long as they keep releasing relevant material, the existing customers keep buying it, it could go on forever. Better this way than a new version every 6 months, especially when it's based on just a single band (ahem: Beatles, Green Day, VH, Metallica, Aerosmith :ahem)

IMHO Harmonix should really talk talk to Activision to buy out the GH franchise, or at least the existing music licenses, which they could then charge an "export fee" to migrate disc content over to the RB3 platform... Or simply just relicense all the exclusives. More Van Halen, Metallica, Aerosmith, Ozzy, Eagles, Chili Peppers, Hendrix, etc... now that would be good![/QUOTE]

Sounds like we're thinking along the same lines, however I wanted to comment that I actually really liked the band-focused releases (especially when the songs are exportable for free/almost-free). I've played the GH Van Halen and Metallica releases and had a lot of fun spending some focused time with the bands. The motion capture was also done fairly well, where you could really see the motions of the actual musicians in their avatars (though sometimes they do the same motions over and over). Plus, after you finish a song you can view the "extras" for it, which usually consist of the written lyrics and the option to view the video for the song that you normally can't see because you are too busy trying to play the song) along with various facts about the song and the band. Kind of a neat feature and fun if you enjoy listening to the music anyway.

I picked up the Green Day+ pack when it dropped to $20 to get the free export key but haven't played it yet.

Crossover licensing form GH to RB would be awesome, but I'm not holding my breath because the licensing issues are probably nearly impossible to sort through and overcome. I mean, if you can't play the Van Halen songs you got with the Van Halen game with your other Guitar Hero game (even for a fee), then how would they ever allow you to play those songs with Rock Band? At best, Harmonix buying GH would possibly eliminate some of the exclusivity issues, but not the re-licensing issues. This is one of those things where it would just make too much sense for it to ever happen in the real world.
 
I really want this, especially since I just got RB3 last week for $20. But I don't NEED it now. I'm actually surprised it's still even $60. I think $40 might be my price point.
 
I like the theme releases. Story mode with the bands experiences is a great idea. I wish they could manage to do that at a reduced cost. Those are a tough sell at the normal MSRP of a game release.
 
Yeah, I think $40 (50% off) is the sweet spot for most people (including myself), but I ended up buying at $60 from Amazon just because I didn't want to wait (but I was NOT going to pay $75/80 for it).

I wouldn't be surprised if it does drop down to $40, but I also wouldn't be surprised if it levels out around $60.
 
[quote name='Japakneez']I like the theme releases. Story mode with the bands experiences is a great idea. I wish they could manage to do that at a reduced cost. Those are a tough sell at the normal MSRP of a game release.[/QUOTE]

Agreed on the price of the themed releases, especially considering the number of songs you get with them compared to the main RB/GH games.

Then again, the content is usually more popular songs that are going to be more expensive to license, and the band-specific avatars and motion capture are going to be more costly to generate compared to the stuff you see in the general games. Having also played the AC/DC pack for Rock Band, while I loved the music I really hated the fact that they just used generic avatars with generic moves rather than having avatars of the band members with their specific motions. Really, the AC/DC release was nothing more than a Track Pack, while the VH/Metallica releases were like reading a band bio while listening to a bunch of their albums and playing along with the songs.

I'm curious to see what they did with the Green Day Rock Band release. Will probably get around to that in a week or two.
 
Another Rock Band question. If i'm too cheap to pay the 800 points to import my RB1 and RB2 songs into RB3. What happens when I download a new RB song? Can I play it in RB 2 and RB3? Also will the songs I purchased on XBL be playable in RB3 without the 800 point license? Is the license just for the songs on the old RB disks?
 
[quote name='Indiana']Another Rock Band question. If i'm too cheap to pay the 800 points to import my RB1 and RB2 songs into RB3. What happens when I download a new RB song? Can I play it in RB 2 and RB3? Also will the songs I purchased on XBL be playable in RB3 without the 800 point license? Is the license just for the songs on the old RB disks?[/QUOTE]

This is how I understand things work:
1) If you buy Rock Band DLC, it will work with RB1, RB2 and RB3...no additional fee for future versions of RB (same scenario for GH DLC from what I understand)

2) If you buy Rock Band 3 DLC, it will only work with RB3 (and probably future versions)

3) If you pay to export RB1 songs for use in RB2, they will be treated as DLC (actually, I believe they ARE DLC) and will also be available for use in RB3 for no additional fee.

4) For the Rock Band Track Packs, these come with a one-use code that allows you to export all of the songs for use in RB2 and RB3 (possibly RB1, but since they came out after RB1 I can't confirm).

There some songs in RB1 and RB2 that can't be exported or are not available in RB3, but I think the total number of songs that fall into this category is only about 5 songs from each (I think there are 2 RB1 songs that can be played in RB2, but not RB3).

I'm using a PS3, but I'm pretty sure things work the same on the 360.
 
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