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CNET.com.au: What can you tell us about Guitar Hero III DS?
CH: We are working on that. We're exploring a lot of things. We're hoping to really bring the experience to the DS and to do some very, very different approaches. We're working through a lot of engineering issues with Nintendo. I actually came from a set of meetings with them last week about this. While the technical path hasn't been set yet, we intend for this to be a very unique experience just like Guitar Hero was on consoles. This will play probably unlike any other DS game that has come out, and at this stage, that's all I'm afraid we can talk about until we have the engineering paths laid out with Nintendo.
CNET.com.au: Are there any plans to have a custom DS peripheral?
CH: That is definitely one of the options we're exploring. The DS peripheral is very intriguing to us. It's an integral part of the Guitar Hero experience, so as much as possible, we would like to keep it within the experience as long as it makes sense and it plays well. And we can do it on the DS where it not only makes sense for the title, but also for the way people like to interact with the DS. It needs to be affordable and it needs to fit within the environment that people normally play DS games in, but central to it all, we are exploring ways to get peripherals on a DS game.
CNET.com.au: The rhythm game genre isn't new. But until now, you haven't really had to fight for a foothold in the mass market. How do you think Rock Band will change the market landscape (including user's peripheral expectations) and how will you attempt to maintain an edge?
CH: Rock Band has been getting a lot of attention. I think there are a couple of things that are interesting about it in the marketplace. For one, it's always kind of irked me personally the association with EA. Everyone likes to call it EA's Rock Band, but it doesn't make any sense to me because it's a game that's developed by Harmonix, and published by MTV, and distributed by EA. So as far as I can tell, their biggest contribution to it really is just shipping these 20-pound boxes. They're not developing, they're not publishing, so they don't have any of those rights. So calling it an EA title, I've always felt, was kind of misleading. In North America, the most famous title distributed through EA partners was Final Fantasy, and you wouldn't call Final Fantasy an EA title. Everyone assumes it's us against EA, but in my estimation it's misleading. They are setting some very interesting precedents [with Rock Band]. I think the biggest thing for me is this price of $200 we hearing floating around for the ensemble. That's with a wired guitar and if you want a wireless guitar, the price floating around is another $80 dollars on top of that. If they went above $200, and possibly to $280, at $280, you're approaching the price of the Wii console, at least in North America. Those kinds of price points will be very, very interesting to watch. If the PS3 launch proved anything, it's that in my opinion price does matter to video game consumers. It'll be interesting to see how much consumer acceptance it has, especially for something billed as a casual game, which will be $300 US dollars, or $280. [That] seems to be awfully high for a casual game, but we'll see. As far as in your territory, Australia and New Zealand, I have two predictions: One is I don't think it will actually ship this Christmas in Australia/New Zealand, and secondly, I think if it does, the retail price of that will be at least probably A$275, and it'll be very interesting to see. We worked with Harmonix for years and they've always done a terrific job helping video games -- there's no reason to expect they wouldn't -- but I think you're getting into unchartered territory. This is probably the most expensive video game of all time, and for a casual game, it'll be interesting to see how well that gets carried off.
CNET.com.au: What can you tell us about Guitar Hero III DS?
CH: We are working on that. We're exploring a lot of things. We're hoping to really bring the experience to the DS and to do some very, very different approaches. We're working through a lot of engineering issues with Nintendo. I actually came from a set of meetings with them last week about this. While the technical path hasn't been set yet, we intend for this to be a very unique experience just like Guitar Hero was on consoles. This will play probably unlike any other DS game that has come out, and at this stage, that's all I'm afraid we can talk about until we have the engineering paths laid out with Nintendo.
CNET.com.au: Are there any plans to have a custom DS peripheral?
CH: That is definitely one of the options we're exploring. The DS peripheral is very intriguing to us. It's an integral part of the Guitar Hero experience, so as much as possible, we would like to keep it within the experience as long as it makes sense and it plays well. And we can do it on the DS where it not only makes sense for the title, but also for the way people like to interact with the DS. It needs to be affordable and it needs to fit within the environment that people normally play DS games in, but central to it all, we are exploring ways to get peripherals on a DS game.
CNET.com.au: The rhythm game genre isn't new. But until now, you haven't really had to fight for a foothold in the mass market. How do you think Rock Band will change the market landscape (including user's peripheral expectations) and how will you attempt to maintain an edge?
CH: Rock Band has been getting a lot of attention. I think there are a couple of things that are interesting about it in the marketplace. For one, it's always kind of irked me personally the association with EA. Everyone likes to call it EA's Rock Band, but it doesn't make any sense to me because it's a game that's developed by Harmonix, and published by MTV, and distributed by EA. So as far as I can tell, their biggest contribution to it really is just shipping these 20-pound boxes. They're not developing, they're not publishing, so they don't have any of those rights. So calling it an EA title, I've always felt, was kind of misleading. In North America, the most famous title distributed through EA partners was Final Fantasy, and you wouldn't call Final Fantasy an EA title. Everyone assumes it's us against EA, but in my estimation it's misleading. They are setting some very interesting precedents [with Rock Band]. I think the biggest thing for me is this price of $200 we hearing floating around for the ensemble. That's with a wired guitar and if you want a wireless guitar, the price floating around is another $80 dollars on top of that. If they went above $200, and possibly to $280, at $280, you're approaching the price of the Wii console, at least in North America. Those kinds of price points will be very, very interesting to watch. If the PS3 launch proved anything, it's that in my opinion price does matter to video game consumers. It'll be interesting to see how much consumer acceptance it has, especially for something billed as a casual game, which will be $300 US dollars, or $280. [That] seems to be awfully high for a casual game, but we'll see. As far as in your territory, Australia and New Zealand, I have two predictions: One is I don't think it will actually ship this Christmas in Australia/New Zealand, and secondly, I think if it does, the retail price of that will be at least probably A$275, and it'll be very interesting to see. We worked with Harmonix for years and they've always done a terrific job helping video games -- there's no reason to expect they wouldn't -- but I think you're getting into unchartered territory. This is probably the most expensive video game of all time, and for a casual game, it'll be interesting to see how well that gets carried off.
