Late Night Consoling

With yesterday's announcement of Rock Band (PS3, X360) from Harmonix, many gamers have wondered just what kind of price tag will accompany the peripheral-laden game. Now, online retailers have put up product pages for the game itself as well as its spate of instrument accessories.

According to GameStop, Rock Band itself will sell for the standard PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 price point of $59.99, suggesting that unlike Harmonix's Guitar Hero games it will not include a controller. Both Xbox 360 and PS3 have guitar controllers listed for $59.99 each, as well as wireless guitar controllers for $79.99. The drum set controllers on both platforms run for $79.99 each, and the microphone controllers on both platforms for $39.99 each.

To assemble a full standard rock band, consisting of the game, two wired guitar controllers--one for lead or rhythm guitar and one for bass--a drum controller, and a microphone controller, would run up a pre-tax bill of $299.95, just over 299 US dollars. Swapping the guitar controllers for wireless versions would bump it up to $339.95.

It is a pricey proposition, but existing Guitar Hero owners may be able to save some cash, if a post by Harmonix developer Jason Booth on the game's official forums is any indication. "For some reason, IGN posted that Rock Band will not be compatable with Guitar Hero guitars," said Booth. "I thought I'd drop in and let you know that this is not correct."

There are currently no available adaptors allowing PlayStation 2 Guitar Hero controllers to be used with Guitar Hero II on Xbox 360 or either Guitar Hero game played using PS3's backwards compatibility function. It is unclear if Harmonix plans to release such an adaptor in the future. However, based on Booth's statement, it does seem likely that Xbox 360 Guitar Hero II controllers will work with the Xbox 360 version of Rock Band.

All pricing information on GameStop's site should be considered preliminary, along with the November 1, 2007 release date listed. As the retailer notes, "Release date and price are subject to change by game publisher."

Last month, rumors surfaced that Seta Corporation and Game Arts' Xbox 360 space shooter Project Sylpheed would be making it to North American shores courtesy of Microsoft Game Studios. This week, Microsoft officially confirmed those reports, stating that it will publish Project Sylpheed in North America this summer. The game's Japanese publishing rights are held by Square Enix.

Also confirmed for release by Microsoft Game studios was Artoon's supernatural stealth action game Vampire Rain. Vampire Rain was announced in Japan for Xbox 360 as well as PlayStation 3, to be published by AQ Interactive. It is not clear what the current plans are for the game's previously expected PS3 release in North America, given that the Xbox 360 version is being published as a first party game.

Both Seta's Project Sylpheed and Artoon's Vampire Rain are slated to be released by Microsoft Game Studios for Xbox 360 in North America this summer.

This week, the Wii's Virtual Console service saw three new releases, one each from NES, Nintendo 64, and TurboGrafx-16. Nintendo delivered its classic space shooter Star Fox 64 (Nintendno 64, 1-4 players), originally published in 1997 and available for 1,000 Wii Points ($10). Konami offered up its infamous Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (NES, 1 player) action game, released in 1990 and available for 600 Wii Points ($6). Finally, Hudson made put up Westone's sidescrolling action/adventure game Dragon's Curse (TurboGrafx-16, 1 player), being sold for 600 Wii Points ($6).

For full rundowns of all three games from the Shack staff, check out this week's edition of our Wii Virtual Console Reviews.

Microsoft has revealed that this week's Xbox Live Arcade Wednesday release will be MumboJumbo's ball-touching action puzzle game Luxor 2. The game, which sees players thrusting balls into similarly colored balls to destroy the balls before the long line of balls can pass into a ball recepticle, is similar to PopCap's Xbox Live Arcade launch game Zuma Deluxe--itself similar to Mitchell's earlier arcade game Puzz Loop, which the developer translated into this year's Nintendo DS puzzler Magnetica. Luxor 2 distinguishes its ball-matching action by giving players a moving platform from which to expel balls, rather than allowing players to release balls only from a fixed ball projector.

MumboJumbo's Luxor 2 will be released on April 4, 2007 for 800 Microsoft Balls Points ($10).

Capcom sent word that the second map pack for its Xbox 360 third person shooter Lost Planet: Extreme Condition will be released this week. It will include the multiplayer maps Hive Complex, set around an abandoned mine and bridges, and Trial Point, set in an office surrounded by a modern metropolis.

Lost Planet's multiplayer map pack #2 will be available via the Xbox Live Marketplace on Friday, April 6 for 400 Microsoft Points ($5).