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)”
