Rock Band 4 Pre-Orders Begin and Things Are Looking Pricey

Amazon and Toys "R" Us have begun taking pre-orders for Rock Band 4's October launch, and those plastic peripherals are going to cost a bit more this time.

Internet super sleuth Wario64 has let us know that pre-orders for Rock Band 4 have gone live at Amazon and Toys "R" Us. Based on these listings, we should start saving our money, because Rock Band 4 is back and it is bigger and more expensive than ever. Mind you, the game itself (sans peripherals) will cost the usual $59.99 for its current-gen release. The Toys "R" Us listing features the game and its new Fender Stratocaster guitar together for a price of $129.99, which is a bit more expensive than the $99.99 guitar/game bundle Guitar Hero Live offers. Likewise, the entire Rock Band 4 set, including the drums, microphone, guitar and game, is priced at a whopping $249.99. Mind you, the original Rock Band guitar/mic/drums/game bundle cost $169.99 in 2007. The following year, Rock Band 2's peripheral/game bundle cost $189.99. So why the drastic increase in price?

It is likely that the extra cost has gone into the higher quality of the new peripherals themselves. These plastic instruments are a bit different than their predecessors. In particular, the Drum Kit and Fender Stratocaster Guitar are both wireless and likely chargeable via a USB connection. The USB Microphone offers consistent clarity and captures everything without distortion. Rock Band 4 offers the best versions of the peripherals to date. The Drum Kit comes with extendable support bars to let you lower or raise your drums to your own preference. A major concern (which happened to me with my original Rock Band set) was accidentally breaking the Drum Kit's stomp pedal from exerting too much force. The new stomp pedal is metal-reinforced, so feel free to go crazy during your solos without having to worry about duct taping the thing back together.

Based on these listings, Rock Band 4 will launch on Oct. 6 for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Pre-ordering the game will grant you a bunch of bonus songs. It looks like there are retailer-exclusive songs being offered as pre-order bonuses as well, which is exactly what we wanted for a music game (sarcasm). Amazon will throw in  "Trainwreck 1979" by Death From Above 1979,  "Don't Wanna Fight" by Alabama Shakes, "Failure" by Breaking Benjamin,  and "Follow Me Down" by The Pretty Reckless for their pre-orders. Thankfully, we don't know who any of those bands are.

Check Out These Interesting Video Game Facts: