By Stevie Smith Dec 21, 2007, 12:33 GMT
While music and videogame lovers in the United States are busily hammering drums, strumming guitars, and screaming into microphones in rhythm-interactive Rock Band, spare a thought for their North American cousins up in Canada who are facing inflated prices in light of a retail release delay.
Canadian retailer selling Rock Band to willing customers for $500. Credit: Harmonix.
Sadly, Canadian gamers hoping to get their hands on Rock Band before Christmas have suffered a seasonal gut punch after the eagerly anticipated game suffered release delays and has subsequently been pushed back beyond its initial December 20 arrival in the region, reports CTV News.
And, to rub salt into that particular wound, one Canadian videogame retailer lucky enough to receive U.S. units of the Rock Band bundle are now holding needy and vulnerable Christmas consumers by their exposed baubles.
For example, Edmonton-based Play Me Games has taken stock of around 50 units of Rock Band from a broker in the states and is presently selling the game for a whopping $500. While such a price would frighten off most consumers, demand for Rock Band is so high that Play Me Games saw more than half of its supply flying from the store by yesterday afternoon.
According to CTV Edmonton, Play Me Games had originally attempted to sell Rock Band to desperate gamers for $800 when it opened for business on Thursday, but brought the price down to $500 when it didn’t drum up as much trade as anticipated.
Those not willing to break the bank in order to secure Rock Band before Christmas can take solace in the knowledge it is now pencilled in for a Canadian release on Friday, December 28 – for around $170.
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