Remember when we told you about a leaked Wal-Mart memo that essentially confirmed exclusive Rock Band AC/DC songs for the retail chain? Now we’ve got proof, courtesy of a New York Times article detailing the promotion. In case you hadn’t heard, AC/DC is releasing a new album, Black Ice -- their first one in eight years -- on October 20th (October 18th in Australia), and in America, the record will be sold exclusively at Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club, and on their Web sites.
This isn’t the first time that Wal-Mart has secured something like this -- recent new albums from Journey (Revelation, 2008) and the Eagles (Long Road out of Eden, 2007) were initially only available through the same avenues. But this is the first time that Wal-Mart has been able to score an exclusive music videogame. Yes, you read that right: MTV has struck a deal with AC/DC and its label, Columbia Records, to produce a full-on standalone exclusive disc for Wal-Mart called AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack.
More after the jump.
[Via New York Times thanks to power-glove -- who else?]
The title will be available for every console that Rock Band is produced on (i.e., PS3, 360, Wii, PS2), and according to the promotional Web site that Wal-Mart has put up, it will cost $29.88 on the PS2 and $39.88 for the current-gen versions. While the promo site itself doesn’t say so, the NYT piece confirms that the 18-track set list is, indeed, taken from the band’s seminal 1991 performance at England’s Castle Donington, which was released on DVD (and later, Blu-ray) as Live at Donington [aside: I own the Blu-ray, and it rocks].
The Web site does advertise “more than 99 minutes of game play for each instrument,” and in an important note that seems to suggest we’ll eventually see this released as DLC on the Rock Band Music Store, says, “All tracks from the AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack will also be available for play in Rock Band and Rock Band 2.”
Of course, that could just mean that you’ll be able to import the songs to your hard drive off the game disc, à la Rock Band, so we’ll have to wait and see how that plays out. Either way, the prospect of playing AC/DC classics like “Back in Black” and “Highway To Hell” has produced a bulge in my pants the likes of which have rarely been seen before. Check out the full list of songs below.
- "Thunderstruck"
- "Shoot to Thrill"
- "Back in Black"
- "Hell Ain't a Bad Place to Be"
- "Heatseeker"
- "Fire Your Guns"
- "Jailbreak"
- "The Jack"
- "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap"
- "Moneytalks"
- "Hells Bells"
- "High Voltage"
- "Whole Lotta Rosie"
- "You Shook Me All Night Long"
- "T.N.T."
- "Let There Be Rock"
- "Highway To Hell"
- "For Those About to Rock (We Salute You)"
Contest:
5:46 AM on 09.30.2008
| 
@Jamn: Considering it says ACDC >LIVE< ROCK BAND TRACK PACK, and its the same set list as their live cd, do the math and be ready for you're dumb ass fail.
Interesting use of "you're", I must admit.
This could be the track pack that gets my dad to play this game.
;)
i would MAYBE get this if you had to buy a voucher or something for DLC..
then again Nick Chester is right... they all sound the same.
If you notice, it says "All tracks from the AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack will also be available for play in Rock Band and Rock Band 2." There's probably some sort of Disc Export.
Is a difficulty level for any Ac/Dc song even needed?
I'm a huge fan of the band, but all of there stuff is in 4/4 and very simple song structure.
But then again, Back in Black is the biggest selling album in history only 2nd to thriller, so you cant put the band down for that...they are fucking loaded bastards.
P.S/ The fact that these are all live tracks is cool, but when a band plays live they always get off time a bit...that might piss off some people and start more tv/game latency issues.
and really, the only one hard enough to be on rock band is thunderstruck.. everything else can be played on a real guitar by most people.. lol it mostly centers around B, A, and E power chords played with some heavy distortion..
Megadeth, Metallica, Suicidal Tendencies, Nevermore, Nuclear Assault, just a few bands that don't always use 4/4.
So anyway, if this is a standalone, will there be achievements?
It will just add even more enthusiasm to the crowd! :)
Also, if you're pretty much ripping these to put them on your hard-drive from the disc, will you have to register it or something, to keep from just passing it around virally?
-Jd
I did read the full post and frankly this statement confused me. An official promo site contradicting a NYT piece. I had assumed it was studio tracks arranged in an order to mirror the live set based on the information I read from the promo site.
"While the promo site itself doesn’t say so, the NYT piece confirms that the 18-track set list is, indeed, taken from the band’s seminal 1991 performance at England’s Castle Donington, which was released on DVD (and later, Blu-ray) as Live at Donington [aside: I own the Blu-ray, and it rocks]. "
@ JoshDunford
They come with a code that allows you to export them, and I'd assume it's a one-use code.
Bah, I knew it wouldn't be that easy!!
Even so, the price sounds good for what you're getting, live or not.
Most of these are pretty much their biggest hits. The only problem I have is with everyone else: AC/DC really does sound very similar from song to song. Andrew W.K. went to the same school of music. That dude LOVES to fuckin' party.
If you balked at that because of the short track list, you should not buy this...Else, hello hypocrisy!
This, plus the free 20 downloadable songs they're releasing by the end of the year will be more than enough Rock Band for me. Score.