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ROCK BAND 3 UPDATE:
Keyboards, harmonies, pro guitar, pro drums, playlists – it’s all very exciting isn’t it? But who knows if Rock Band 3 will see a release in Australia? We can hope, but failing that rest assured that come the start of November 2010 Canned Geek will have a comprehensive guide to importing Rock Band 3 and all the peripherals.
In fact, here's a start already:
PS3 owners - you can pre-order the keyboard and Rock Band 3 game bundle from Gamestop.
Xbx 360 owners - order the Rock Band 3 game from Game UK and order the keyboard from Gamestop due to the 360 region lock on games. (Note however that Game just list the release date as 2010, instead of the more specific American release date of October 31st, 2010)
Strange days indeed. While Rock Band 1 has been out in Australia for some time and The Beatles: Rock Band is set for an international release on September 9th, 2009 (yes, including Australia!), Rock Band 2 is yet to see an Australian release date.
Policy changes, region coding and the whims of the powers that be have created separate classes of Rock Band 2 owners, depending on what console you have and whether or not you’d set up an Entropay account before Sony changed their policy. While it is all a bit complicated, it’s certainly worth it to enjoy the many improved features of Rock Band 2. Take heed of this advice and you’ll avoid region confusion and just be able to enjoy having your music from Rock Band 1 and your DLC songs all available on Rock Band 2.
Hit the jump to read on.
OPTION 1: You have an Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 has some/most of its games region locked and Rock Band 2 is one of those games. This means you must import a PAL version of Rock Band 2 from the UK. Unfortunately, Play Console has mysteriously disappeared and I’ve found no other online store that will ship Rock Band 2 to Australia. However, there is always eBay. Also, because you’re importing a UK copy of the game this means you should be able to just download Rock Band DLC from the Australian online store.
OPTION 2: You have a PlayStation 3
The great thing about the PlayStation 3 is that PS3 games aren’t region locked. The downside is that DLC is region locked, which means you need to purchase DLC which matches the region your game came from. American DLC won’t show up in an Australian copy of Rock Band 2 – and vice versa. In my case, I have a copy of Rock Band 2 from America and I purchase all my DLC songs from the American PlayStation Network store using a virtual credit card service called Entropay.
However, Sony has changed their policy regarding Entropay: people already with Entropay cards linked to their accounts can continue to use it as normal, but they are no longer accepting new Entropay cards on the PlayStation Network. So do not import an American copy of Rock Band 2 as you will not have an easy method of adding funds which means no DLC on your game.
But if you’d already set up your Entropay account and you’ve got an American copy of Rock Band 2 you’ll just have to keep using Entropay and paying a little bit more, depending on the exchange rate between the US and Australian dollar. Actually it’s not too much more expensive – and it’s still cheaper than the Australian price for DLC in Guitar Hero World Tour.
However, if you really want a copy of Rock Band 2 nowadays, you will have to import a PAL version of the game from the UK. Unfortunately, Play Console has mysteriously disappeared and I’ve found no other online store that will ship Rock Band 2 to Australia. So eBay UK is the answer. By getting a PAL version of Rock Band from the UK you can just access the Australian PlayStation Network store and that DLC will be compatible.
For LEGO: Rock Band the songs are full exportable, but it remains to be seen whether you can export songs in Rock Band when the games are from different regions. We’ll just have to wait and see about that.
Lastly, if you’re like me and you’ve got an American copy of Rock Band 2, buying The Beatles: Rock Band presents a new question: should I buy an American copy The Beatles: Rock Band or an Australian version? That considered, Harmonix has already stated that Rock Band DLC is not cross-compatible with The Beatles: Rock Band and that the songs in The Beatles: Rock Band are not exportable like how it was for Rock Band 1 and 2 (and will be for LEGO Rock Band.) Given all of this, personally I’m going to pick up an Australian copy of The Beatles: Rock Band and buy any Beatles DLC from the normal Australian store. Who knows – things may change, but at the moment this seems a sensible option should The Beatles: Rock Band and Rock Band remain forever incompatible. Oh, note that I’m only talking about compatibly of the DLC – the peripherals are totally cross compatible. Speaking of peripherals, remember that peripherals are not region locked so feel free to eBay some Rock Band 2 peripherals. The Rock Band 2 guitar is particularly awesome.
As you can see, you’ll need to figure out just what situation you’re in. Ideally having an all Australian/PAL set of Rock Band games is the most convenient but so long as you keep your games and DLC to the same region everything will be awesome. Hopefully you’re aware of where you stand and can now just focus on enjoying playing some plastic instruments.
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