Rock Band for Wii on June 22

lifeisbetterwithketchup · Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:06 pm

http://www.thewiire.com/news/1228/1/Roc ... g_Onto_Wii

Cool that it's finally happening. No online or downloadable content though (seems to be the unfortunate trend for Wii titles).

I'll probably buy this regardless. Rock Band is awesome, and I don't have a 360 or PS3.

"To make this less spammy, discuss!"

Kurt_ · Post by **Kurt_** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 4:15 pm

Any news on special Wiimote features on anything special that would make this better (and a later launch) than the other two systems?

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:35 pm

Rockband online wasnt all that good anyway, at least the PS3 version.

no DLC, who cares? Micro payments don't sit well with me.

Post by **Black Six** » Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:29 pm

Kurt_ wrote:Any news on special Wiimote features on anything special that would make this better (and a later launch) than the other two systems?

Gamers will apparently not have to connect their Wii Remote to the instruments.

The Wii version will additionally boast five bonus songs, bringing the tracklist total to 63. Online play, downloadable content, custom character tools, Mii support and compatability with Guitar Hero III's controller will not be available. 480p and Dolby Pro Logic II will be supported, however.

So you can buy the game by itself, but if you already have GH3 you can't use the controller from that. There are five more songs, but I wouldn't be surprised if they were DLC for Xbox 360 and PS3. Sounds like a pretty bad deal IMO.

Personally I enjoy playing Rock Band on my 360 with my GH3 controller, buying a song every now and then (only bought one so far, but there's a couple others I may get soon), and playing online with my friends that are also away at college. But hey, that's just me.

Negative_Creep · Post by **Negative_Creep** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:29 am

So you get a later launch and less features than the 360 and PS3... for the same price?

Pretty crappy.

jones · Post by **jones** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:00 pm

By the sound of it the Wii version is basically going to be the PS2 version with 5 extra songs. The lack of online and DLC is fairly significant. Plus, if it is just like the PS2 version, there will be no Band World Tour which is a huge component of the game.

I have seen a number of Wii owners on the Rock Band forums complaining about it already. They actually had the brass to yell at Harmonix about it which cracked me up. Considering the the 360 and PS3 versions of the game have DLC and online, I think the blame could more fairly be leveled at Nintendo on this one. If Harmonix could put DLC on the Wii they would, as it has proven to be quite the source of revenue for them (over 6 million downloads and counting). But anyway I digress.

As for my RB experience, to be quite honest I haven't gotten much use out of the online part of it other than the leaderboards (which are fun to check out I must say). Otherwise I have only played online a handful of times with "TheElk" from the forums. It has worked great and been lag free on the few occasions I have played it.

With regards to the DLC, I have to admit that I was quite skeptical of it at first (I'm not a big fan of micro-transactions either). Over time though I saw songs I liked come out and I bought a few here and there. They do enhance the game a lot and add greatly to the longevity and enjoyment of the game.

I think one of the things that helps with this is that the songs integrate into all game modes just like the songs that came on the disc. They show up in Band World Tour mode in the mystery setlists, or you can add them yourself via the make a setlist concerts. This is handled far more gracefully than in GH where the downloaded songs sit off in their own area "apart" from the main game.

I've managed to download about 25 songs now (something I never thought would happen) and I am quite happy with my purchases thus far. On occasion they even bring songs out for $1 apiece instead of the usual $2, so it is nice that they aren't chained to one price point all the time.

The DLC definitely livened up a party we had last friday night as we rocked out to some Blink-182, All American Rejects, and STP amongst many others. Granted we played a lot off the disc as well, but the DLC helped to make it a more well rounded experience that touched on the musical tastes of all in our varied group of players at the party.

So yeah. Rock Band rocks!

Jongamer · Post by **Jongamer** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:34 pm

I'll probably get it anyway.

I doubt they will remove World Tour though, just a hunch.

They better put a damn hub in the complete set, because I don't want to see another BS move like the PS3 where people with the more common 40GB model get f***** and can only use 2 instruments without going out and buying a hub.

jones · Post by **jones** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:28 pm

Jongamer wrote:I'll probably get it anyway.

I doubt they will remove World Tour though, just a hunch.

They better put a damn hub in the complete set, because I don't want to see another BS move like the PS3 where people with the more common 40GB model get f***** and can only use 2 instruments without going out and buying a hub.

I read an article on Joystiq where Harmonix did say they would include a USB hub with the version like they did for the 360. So you're in luck there!

I will try to dig up the link.

Edit: Here ya go. http://www.joystiq.com/2008/03/24/rock- ... -answered/

They answer a few questions about the game so it is worth a read if one is interested in RB for the Wii. Enjoy!

Post by **Black Six** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:38 pm

No character creator either? It wasn't a huge part of the game, but it was pretty fun to make a character and then be able to customize them. It's pretty weak that Nintendo still doesn't have good online abilities. Not everyone can get four people to come play, sometimes it's easier to get together online.

Speaking of which, Jones, we should play Rock Band some time!

jones · Post by **jones** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 12:27 am

Black Six wrote:Speaking of which, Jones, we should play Rock Band some time!

Yes. That would definitely rock!