Rock Band 2 UK Bandana: VAT tax strikes again

by James Ransom-Wiley on Sep 18th 2008 3:15PM

We knew a dollar wasn't worth much in Europe these days -- but damn! $366 for a United Kingdom bandana? Harmonix is showing a sense of humor over the European pricing of Rock Band (the first one), which sparked a "flamefest" earlier this year when the total retail price was set at €240 (or, what was roughly $366) -- the price has since fallen to €210 for the Xbox 360 version.

The "UK Bandana" is being sold (using the game's virtual currency) in the Rock Band 2 shop as an accessory for players' in-game avatars, complete with this disclaimer: "Though this price may seem unfairly high, you need to figure in VAT tax, Suggested Retail Price, shipping costs ... you're not being gouged." Frightening American economic happenings aside, we're certainly enjoying a chuckle. How about you, Europe?

Source

Tags: harmonix, rock-band, rock-band-2, uk-bandana, Xbox-360

Reader Comments (70)

Harmonix has one of the better senses of humor out there among game developers...I also enjoyed "Welcome to Rock Band 2, congrats on scoring the game early!" on the title screen if you managed to get it before launch, as well as something like "In this challenge, you...hey, wait, the game isn't even out yet! You better have a legit copy of the game, buddy!" in one of the challenge modes.

Mmyess, I've to agree with you. Just like Valve, HMX has a nice sense of humor, and it might be one of the reasons why I like this dev a lot. Then again, it feels like a stab in the heart for those fellows in Europe.

I think Rare takes the cake. They had a penis in their level design!

getting drunk to piss on a fire, I will NEVER forget that moment...

that's hilarious...from the good old USA.

It'd be nice to get Rock Band 1 already. What is taking Harmonix solong with the Wii? They may as well forget it and just release RockBand 2. Are they waiting for a European hard drive or something tohold DLC?

Doesn't the t in VAT stand for tax?

maybe you have to pay taxes on the VAT tax?

Value Added Tax Tax

Just let my get my money for VAT TAX by putting the PIN NUMBER into the ATM MACHINE...

we dont call them ATM's over here

and i always just say PIN

maybe your just retarded

Jakka, you win.

we call them atms (or bank machines) over here (Ireland)...tho i have taken to using the term "Bankomat" after my visit to warsaw!

How exactly does one's "just" retard? And what exactly is a just for that matter?

Anyhow, way to verbally attack someone just 'cause they pointed out some common verbal faux pas.

Yeah, but avoid the one with the broken LCD display.

...and if some asshole purposely leaves a needle in the card slot, I might catch the HIV Virus...like they said it on CNN News...

Okay, I'm out of ideas now...

If you appear on TV, they might make you sign an NDA agreement...

Send all 'epic fail' pictures to master_of_puppets_667@hotmail.co.uk

Punch in the gut to us europeans that were/are

1) Gouged over the price in the first place. See the recent price drop to prove that it WAS more than it needed to be sold for

2) STILL waiting to get any sort of release date for Rock Band 2. Even just the fucking software over here would be nice, but no, EA and MTV dont give a shit about us.

(Dont worrie aussies, i know your plight is even worse than ours. Hang in there fellas ;_; )

"See the recent price drop to prove that it WAS more than it needed to be sold for"

That isn't exactly conclusive evidence. You're overlooking the possibility that they had to sell a certain number of units before it would have been cost effective to lower the price. See the recent price drops in Xbox 360 consoles as proof of this.

Don't listen to me though. You're probably right, and they do just want to screw you over real bad because they don't care about foreigners. That sounds way more reasonable than my scenario.

@Sam

That avatar is PERFECT for that comment. +1.

So it doesn't have anything to do with trying to license all the tracks in multiple markets, with different license holders in each market? It's just because they don't care about you?

@Dirk:

Is that a new one? That wasn't on Harmonix' Long List of Excuses last time I checked.

Thats funny, they don't have any problems licensing guitar hero tracks, and EA and MTV aren't exactly small-fry, they have no excuse.
And the RB1 store is now sync'd up to the US side, so they must be doing global licenses.

No, its just shitty is all it is, they could have sold millions upon millions over the past year on PS3. Now GH:WT will be the only girl at the ball.

No not funny. You try and pay that amount and laugh. Hell it's even higher here in Australia...oh wait no, it's not even being released here.

You might not think it's funny, but it IS rock 'n' roll

I like turtles.

i like you too

I like Metalocalypse.

I like Batman.

I like pie.

I like tree spirits.

I don't like clowns...especially rock n' roll clowns.

mmmmmm pie...

I do C-C-Cocaine.

I like feel good hits of the summer

I like nicotine, valium, vicodin, marijuana, extacy and alcohol

I like Kool Aid

It's only rock and roll. But I like it.

I like games that have ogres in them.

Do I see the funny side of not being able to afford to buy rock band 2?....

No Joystiq....just no

I got gouged; I had to go buy the game again because my imported PS3 copy wasn't compatible with European DLC.

And of course, the PS3 version only came out a week ago here.

Also, my drum pedal is broken yet the Rock Band warranty site for the UK says "this product has not yet been released in your area." - I beg to differ, kind sirs.

Oh yeah, and when I did buy the European game disc, some of the DLC caused the game to crash, and the Les Paul-compatibility update that the US copy recieved - guess which continent didn't get it?

Of course, they've fixed all that now (a mere week too late), but you'd think when a game is delayed for a fucking YEAR they'd get a chance to iron out a few bugs, no?

Sounds like you should have picked up the 360 version.

You might be able to import the US version of Rock Band 2 and buy US PSN cards for your DLC. I don't know if the shipping would make buying RB2 cost effective though.

Come on folks, this is funny, especially when you consider that the people who write the code for the game and decide on the jokes are probably not the same people who are responsible for setting esoterica like European pricing and where the game will ultimately be released. While I have absolutely no evidence to back this bald statement up, I'd be willing to bet a fortnight with two drunken Brasilian women of loose moral character that the people responsible for putting this attempt of humor in are gamers like us who realize the absurd unfairness of the European price model, and all this is is a wink in solidarity. Yes, I could be wrong- but I wouldn't risk loosing hot chicks from south america as a consequence.

Fuck I hope you're wrong ^_^

On one hand, that is damn funny. On the other hand, it's pretty mean if the joke doesn't come alongside some relief for our friends across the pond.

I'm surprised that EA let them put a message like that in the game. Right or wrong it's a contentious issue and you'd think that EA would want to distance themselves from it.

If I understand correctly, it's MTV Games that publishes Rock Band, not EA. The only involvement EA has is distribution. Probably no say in what they put into the game.

In that case replace EA with MTV

Smoooth....

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Rock Band 2 UK Bandana: VAT tax strikes again

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