I’ve spent way too much time today reading the whining of many people on both the Rock Band forums and the Guitar Hero forums. All the whining stems from the long rumored but now confirmed announcement that Rock Band: AC/DC will be releasing in early November. For all intents and purposes this amounts to an AC/DC Greatest Hits package, the stand-alone track-pack will contain 18 songs, which comprises the set list for the August 1991 Castle Donington show that has been immortalized on VHS, DVD, and most recently Blu-Ray. The package will only be available at retail in disc based form and if you live in the US it is only available at Wal-Mart for a price point of $39.88 for the 360, PS3, and Wii or $29.88 for the PS2.

The Rock Band forums are ablaze with outrage over the price point (which amounts to $2.22 a song), the fact that it won’t be available as a pick and choose DLC pack, and the fact that you have to go shop at Wal-Mart to get it. The Guitar Hero forums are ablaze with accusations that AC/DC sold out. The simple facts are that $2.22 a song is only a slight premium over the average DLC song price, yes it is more than the average DLC album but considering the artist it seems fair. AC/DC is notoriously hard to deal with in terms of licensing their material and has taken an all-or-nothing approach that explains why this isn’t a simple pick and choose DLC pack. AC/DC and Columbia Records have a huge marketing plan for their new studio album, “Black Ice”, that includes exclusivity for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club stores, MTV and Harmonix had nothing to do with this. AC/DC is no more a sell out than Aerosmith is, so both sides can sit down and shut the hell up. If you like AC/DC then you will have to play Rock Band, if you like Aerosmith (outside of Train Kept A Rollin’) then you will have to play Guitar Hero.

The simple fact of the matter is that this is AC/DC and if you like AC/DC (like me) then you will be getting this release, if you don’t you won’t. I do however think that this release may set a worse precedent than Guitar Hero: Aerosmith did three months ago. Even though you will be able to import the 18 tracks into Rock Band and Rock Band 2 (something that Guitar Hero: Metallica will need to be succesful), 18 tracks for $40 is a bit steep when compared to the 41 for $60 that Guitar Hero: Aerosmith provided. What is really scary is what could happen further down the line, stuff like Rock Band: Led Zeppelin IV or Guitar Hero: Appetite for Destruction for a premium price of $40. Hopefully that won’t happen but if it does the music genre could get really scary, really fast.