A question which a few people have been wondering about—how Rock Band 3 will support legacy DLC—has been answered today by Harmonix. Unfortunately, it’s not great news for those hoping to play their existing catalog of songs with keyboard and vocal harmony support.
This question arose as a result of this week’s Bon Jovi DLC pack for Rock Band. This includes some previously-released tracks which now have “RB3 versions”. Harmonix have explained that those who already own DLC versions of these songs will have to pay the full $2 for the new Rock Band 3 version if they want to play keys or sing in harmony. Even worse, those who want to play Pro Guitar or Bass versions will have to pay an extra $1 on top of that for the “Pro” upgrade. Ouch.
A representative from Harmonix spoke to Joystiq and explained that they hope to have Pro versions available for legacy songs in the future, but that this won’t be the case for the Bon Jovi track pack.
While adding keyboard, harmony and Pro guitar/bass support to existing tracks is extra work for the team at Harmonix, charging full whack for tracks which people have already purchased isn’t going to win them any friends. Let’s hope that this is just an experimental period for the company, and that they figure out some sort of “upgrade” scheme soon. Otherwise people may be rather more hesitant to pick up future Rock Band DLC in case they get stung for further “upgrades” down the line.
That said, with the addition of keyboards, vocal harmonies and Pro modes to Rock Band 3, it’s difficult to know what future iterations in the series might add, hardware-wise. Unless there’s a 64-player backing string orchestra mode, complete with plastic violins. As a result, then, it might be safe to assume that Rock Band 3′s DLC format is the “final” iteration of these tracks, and so these versions are “safe” to pick up.
Does this news affect your opinion of Rock Band 3 and its DLC? What do you think of paying again for tracks you might already own for the sake of additional instrument support? Let us know in the comments.
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