The trio which handles the publishing of Rock Band, Electronic Arts, MTV Games and Harmonix, is announcing that the price of the European version of the game, sold under the name Rock Band's Instrument Edition, is set to be cut so that a suggested retail price of 140 Euros, which is about 198 $, is reached as soon as possible.

The Xbox 360 version of the game was launched in Europe in May this year, retailing for a price of 170 Euros and a slightly lower one in the United Kingdom. The pack is made up of a guitar, a drum set and a microphone controller.

At the moment, you cannot get a PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2 or Nintendo Wii version of Rock Band in Europe but the people at Electronic Arts that handle distribution say that Europe, beginning with the United Kingdom, is set to start receiving shipments of bundled games as soon as next week. The release date in France is September 15; Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg should get the game on September 22 with Spain set for its first shipments a week later.

The only clear difference between the European Rock Band and the North American one is that there are nine songs from European bands that are bundled on the disk while they are only available in the United States via digital download. All the songs which are available for download in the United States for the game are also available in Europe.

Rock Band 2, the follow up to the successful music simulator, is set to arrive in North America this fall. It will allow for more singing options and all the tracks from the original game can be converted to work with the new release. Rock Band 2 does not have a European release date and will face stiff competition from Guitar Hero: World Tour.