Rock Band AC/DC tracks can only be transfered once per disc

by Ross Miller { Oct 1st 2008 at 11:45AM }

After yesterday's announcement of the AC/DC LIVE: Rock Band Track Pack, featuring all the tracks from the Live at the Donington album, Variety got a few more details from MTV's Paul DeGooyer. Most importantly, DeGooyer said the transfer can only be done once per disc, confirming initial indication of a download code printed on the game manual and expectedly void after use. Hear that gurgle? That's the collective sound of all those Blockbuster patrons' sinking hearts.

The Track Pack disc also lacks a character creator and has no online play, although you can use the AC/DC tracks online with RB1 and RB2. Unlike Guitar Hero Aerosmith, you will not be playing as the band. The good news is that all songs will be available immediately -- no need to wade through "Whole Lotta Rosie" to play "Heatseeker."

And if you're wondering whether or not "Thunderstruck" will be making a cameo on Guitar Hero: World Tour, DeGooyer said that AC/DC are exclusive to Rock Band "for a term" but provided no information on whether or not there will be future DLC from the band. The AC/DC Track Pack will be rocking and saluting in early November.

[Via X3F]

Tags: ac-dc, ac-dc-live, acdc, acdc-live, rock-band, rock-band-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

jsn @ Oct 1st 2008 11:52AM

not news.

Brent @ Oct 1st 2008 11:54AM

DO NOT WANT

Mimglow @ Oct 1st 2008 11:56AM

It's news to those who play RB2.

ToRo @ Oct 1st 2008 11:57AM

What I want to know is, will this be available in the music store online?

Mimglow @ Oct 1st 2008 11:58AM

No. Not available as DLC.

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?p=1356182#post1356182

Farseer (GDI) @ Oct 1st 2008 2:08PM

Right on - good to know.

It looks like there are 3-4 tracks I can now take off my "need to download" list.

dark_inchworm @ Oct 1st 2008 12:02PM

Should you guys have any other questions pertaining to the matter, the source provided details anything you need to know.

Kizzle @ Oct 1st 2008 12:10PM

This is coming from a huge Rock Band fan:

Absolutely a no-buy. Total ripoff in almost every aspect. I don't fault Harmonix since I know it isn't really their fault, but this game can suck my ass regardless.

RavenPaul @ Oct 1st 2008 4:31PM

Exactly. Definiately a no buy and a Suck It from me. I would download 3 or 4 songs if available, but appairently not.

CesarSalad @ Oct 2nd 2008 12:07AM

yea this shit it total ripoff. why would anyone in the right mind waste 40 bucks on a song pack AND unable to reuse it.. total ripoff

Jakka(A tribute to whose who fought and failed during the Epic Flamewar of L.A. Noir and MR.ESC) @ Oct 1st 2008 12:17PM

...and now we have DRM for Consoles....

Kyattsuai @ Oct 1st 2008 12:26PM

So now the game's pretty much a banana for which you peel the case, consume the delicious export code inside, and throw the rest away.

Paul Gandersman @ Oct 1st 2008 12:31PM

and what happens if my 360 dies? or the hard drive screws up and my songs are lost? what? thats it? gotta go spend another 30 bucks to buy it again? are you kidding me? ONE install ever?? this is ridiculous considering we ALL know that no one is still using their original 360.

Zoot Suit Jedi @ Oct 1st 2008 12:45PM

PG -

I'm still rocking a launch console. Day 1 baby. And I play the living daylights out of the thing. I know that I am an outlier though.

CTC XBL-supapaypamawio PSN-ctclaw @ Oct 1st 2008 1:55PM

You're on your first console, but don't worry, I'm making up for you by being on my fourth.

Monkeys Suck @ Oct 1st 2008 2:00PM

Umm, isn't that why Microsoft has that DRM console online? Pretty sure all this stuff will be transferrable the same way.

VaultICEE @ Oct 1st 2008 8:20PM

Uhh, no.

Everything works after your xbox red rings... only catch is you have to be online when using your account.

T @ Oct 1st 2008 8:50PM

Why is everybody freaking out about this? It makes perfect sense.

1) The CODE can only be redeemed once. Each code will be unique, and redeemable ONCE for the rights to export the disc.

2) Much like the RB1 export, you are downloading the license. If your 360 or PS3 craps out, you just have to redownload the license.

3) REPEAT: The only thing you have "one time use" of is the code. Which makes perfect sense. They don't want multiple people using the same code for multiple licenses.

4) This is to prevent the problem with one copy of RB1 being an unlimted source of $5 exports.

Christ people...

John @ Oct 2nd 2008 2:37AM

@ Icee

Uh, no,
you can transfer your licenses once every 12 months now. Way to be 4 months behind the times.

Mark @ Oct 1st 2008 12:33PM

I'm a little confused, can more than one person use the same copy of Rock Band, pay $5, and get songs for their respective copies of Rock Band 2? That seems to be the impression I get.

Frankly, I don't see a problem with this new game having a limit of only one transfer per disc. It seems fair. Why should you be allowed to buy a game and almost immediately resell it while effectively keeping the game on your system?

jayeffaar @ Oct 1st 2008 12:33PM

A completely unnecessary rip-off.

With regular DLC content, I can pick and choose my songs and when I play at a friend's place, I can re-download my stuff and have it available as long as I'm logged in to Live.

That won't be possible with this silly new method of delivery and to add insult to injury, because they decided to go this way, we won't see those tunes as regular DLC for a while (if ever), so we can't get them even if we wanted to. Bad move.

Kaemon @ Oct 1st 2008 12:38PM

Well, actually, you still can. What it has a 1 time code for is a FREE license key. If you go to your friends Xbox, log into your account, re-download the license key, and then export again, it will work, if logged into your live account.

At least thats from my understanding.

You can do the same for RB1 export I do belive.

jayeffaar @ Oct 1st 2008 12:42PM

That would actually make sense, and I hadn't thought of that. They're probably using the exact same export logic as with the RB1 disk.

Ok, so if that's the way it works, it's not quite as bad, but it's still a shitload of money for 18 songs, not all of which can be expected to be gems... Still no reason this couldn't have been just another album download of the week.

JPN @ Oct 1st 2008 12:33PM

ridiculous. i hope this fails for wal-mart and ac/dc. so it never happens again.

Burritoclock @ Oct 1st 2008 12:38PM

Hilarious, since GH1 one of the MOST requested bands has been AC/DC, suddenly Harmonix provides them, probably paying some god awful amount of money, whose release is probably contracted to coincide with the album for promotional purposes and people bitch.

The internet will never cease to amaze me.

If it was DLC it would be ATLEAST $2.00 a song which is $36 dollars. As a disc it is $1.67 a track. So it is actually discounted.

Now as to the claim of DRM, if it were DLC it would only be usable ON ONE CONSOLE ANYWAY! So you get just as many copies.

The only legitimate complaint would be "What if I buy the disc, copy the songs, and then my hard drive dies" Well in that case you are screwed. (Although probably a new copy will be cheaper than $30 dollars at the point this happens.)

Burritoclock @ Oct 1st 2008 12:40PM

Whoops, correction: For everything but the PS2 it is actually $2.22 per song. Still a bargin.

Kizzle @ Oct 1st 2008 12:46PM

Uh, no, $2.22 a song is not a "bargain." It's more than both Rock Band tracks AND GH tracks (once you divide the $6.25/500 MS points charge by 3).

Plus you can't pick and choose which songs you want, you're forced to buy all of them.

Plus no character creator.

Plus a one-time only use code for export.

Plus no online play UNLESS you export.

Plus there is no special work being done on the game - no AC/DC setting/theme to the game like with GH: Aerosmith . It's just a gimped Rock Band with AC/DC songs.

"The internet will never cease to amaze me?" You're damn right, people will think anything is a bargain if they are dumb enough.

Kamizar @ Oct 1st 2008 12:41PM

But can you play the AC/DC version of the Hokey Pokey?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UdjRTOuo4Sc

Mimglow @ Oct 1st 2008 12:47PM

I guess AC/DC aren't environmentalists, considering all the plastic that will be wasted on people who would have gladly paid the same price for a digital copy. Same for their album.

Jakka(A tribute to whose who fought and failed during the Epic Flamewar of L.A. Noir and MR.ESC) @ Oct 1st 2008 12:58PM

I laugh at all those RB Fanboys trying to defend it.Not because defending DRM is simply a bad idea, but because if GH was to do that, they would shit all over it.

Hypocrisy FTW!

Hafk @ Oct 1st 2008 2:02PM

Fucking agreed completely.

Raikage (Mr. ESC? Mr. ESC? MR. ESSSSSSCCCCCC!) @ Oct 1st 2008 2:17PM

Yeah, I love RB and all but you RB fans are an arrogant bunch.

Hopefully this will wake you up.

It's too bad though...

Kyattsuai @ Oct 1st 2008 3:17PM

Indeed, I thought I was veering towards Rock Band fanboyism until I heard this news, and knew that it was not blind devotion after all.

ChooChooCharlie @ Oct 1st 2008 12:58PM

Vote with your wallets, people.

Don't buy the damn thing and they won't try to pull this physical media stunt again. Personally, I like being able to pick what songs I will buy from a pack, rather than being suckered into getting the entire set.

Roto13 @ Oct 1st 2008 1:02PM

Anyone who would pay $40 for this when there are full albums of DLC for like half that DESERVES to be ripped off.

hail2dking @ Oct 1st 2008 1:49PM

Full albums of crap vs. 18 classic AC/DC songs...this is what AC/DC fans have been wanting (well, maybe not live, but we'll take what we can get). I will enjoy everyone of these songs...Pixies 2 or 3, Judas Priest 2 or 3, The Who 5 or 6, etc.

Buy it, DL the songs then sell the standalone game to someone w/o internet access (plenty of folks bought the Arcade 360). Then STFU and enjoy...

Deezul @ Oct 1st 2008 2:43PM

I only want half the songs. Half of shit I don't want IS STILL SHIT.

Roto13 @ Oct 1st 2008 2:46PM

I'd rather listen to Blood Sugar Sex Magik exclusively for the rest of my life than listen to this album of AC/DC caterwauling once.

lokar82 @ Oct 1st 2008 1:14PM

Just make sure you are the first person to your Blockbuster or video rental store of your choice and rip the tracks. The early bird gets the rock!

spyder @ Oct 1st 2008 1:33PM

so,its good one time... to attach it too account.. but you have to be able to reimport it into that same account again right? what if your harddrive tanks..

Louis @ Oct 1st 2008 1:35PM

I don't understand the complaints. EVERYTHING on XBL has DRM on it. I'm sure this will work the same way, it'll be tied to your console and gamertag, if you want to use it somewhere else you'd just have to be logged in. I do understand the complaints about the price though, which is why I will have someone I know who works there buy it for me with their discount, which will bring it more in-line with normal XBL prices.

Thordon @ Oct 1st 2008 4:21PM

It's a problem because this is the beginning of console DRM on a retail disk. If they were to take this a step further, they could require that all new games require "registration" over LIVE before you can play them. If you don't/can't register the game over LIVE, then you're stuck with a coaster. Imagine the next full game you buy from the retail store, and when you're done with it, you can't sell it on e-bay, Craig's List, or to your friends. Once you pay for a $60 game, it'll be tied to you forever. No more renting of games from Blockbuster or Game Fly because of the DRM.

brad77 @ Oct 1st 2008 1:36PM

I wonder how this works when using the same hard drive with multiple consoles. I'm using a backup console now while I get another warrantied. If I export, will I be able to play these on the other console when it gets back?

How will this work with the license transfer tool (http://tinyurl.com/x360licxfer)? Usually you have to re-download the content to reset the license after transferring.

kbomb1upc @ Oct 1st 2008 1:37PM

Oh no... You got Activison in my Harmonix

Farseer (GDI) @ Oct 1st 2008 2:12PM

lolz

Farseer (GDI) @ Oct 1st 2008 2:12PM

lolz

VaultICEE @ Oct 1st 2008 8:22PM

I hate how we have to pay 40$ for only 18 songs...

But I'm a sucker for AC/DC and will probably buy it =/

Hey, at least its not a completely new game with no transferablity, ala Aerosmith. But maybe a few extra features, like the band being exclusive characters and maybe more art or something should have been tossed in... also ala Aerosmith.