Do NOT buy Rock Band for Wii

It hasn't exactly raced through the online community yet, but Rock Band for Wii was dated (June 22nd) and priced ($169.99) in an official press release today. Though for the love of God, don't support this abomination-

GoNintendo Blog Archive Rock Band - No Mii support, audio/video support, and more- What are you waiting for?

- Bonus songs will be announced at a later date
- no character creation
- no Mii support
- no support for GHIII guitar
- Instruments don’t need to be connected to Wwiimotes
- ship with USB hub
- DPL II, 480p

Zentendo

Unfortunately for Wii owners, EA and Harmonix have decided against releasing downloadable content for the game stating that since the Wii's online service's potential "have yet to be fully realized" and as such they are going to wait before exploring their options with the online service.

We're getting the PS2 version of Rock Band, with five extra songs. That's it, five extra songs. Guitar Hero III pulled off online just fine, and Wiiware will be out by May 12th, yet online play and DLC will not be included.

**** you, Harmonix.

I have a simple strategy for this sort of thing:

Stay away from rhythm games
(not worth buying)

I never used character creation anyway and why the hell would I use a Mii on Rockband? What pisses me off is that it is only 480p. I bought an HDTV, why can't I rock out in hidef?

Anyway, I already have the 360 version of rock band. Why am I complaining anyway?

I have a simple strategy for this sort of thing:

Stay away from rhythm games
(not worth buying)

If we all followed that stratagy the world would be a much more boring place.

Originally Posted by Rhalen

I have a simple strategy for this sort of thing:

Stay away from rhythm games
(not worth buying)

Damnit Harmonix.

What were they thinking?

Can you really blame them though? Nintendo's to blame here for not including a reasonable form of storage. You could only fit about 30 songs on there if they made DLC available.

^ Explain Wiiware.

Nintendo knows how to compress stuff. If they've figured out a way to cram entire games into the system (including the VC storage), single songs wouldn't even remotely be a problem.

That, or they could simply use SD cards. Really, they're not much of a hassle at all.

Wiiware's rumored size cap is around the same as a single three-song download pack. Using that space for a full game makes sense, but a few songs? And the withholding of DLC can probably at least partially be attributed to Nintendo's online service, and thus some laziness on Harmonix's part to adapt to it. But still, this doesn't really surprise me at all. 512MB is pretty pathetic.

Originally posted by Slime
Wiiware's rumored size cap is around the same as a single three-song download pack. Using that space for a full game makes sense, but a few songs?

Given the size and complexity of some games, such as LostWinds or My Life as a King, I can't see how that rumor would be true. At least, without the compression of the songs' space.

I don't know... wasn't planning on buy Rock Band for any system to begin with.

No character creation? What is this madness? Most Rock Band vs Guitar Hero debates I've seen have wielded that as a pivotal argument.

Originally Posted by Jeff

Given the size and complexity of some games, such as LostWinds or My Life as a King, I can't see how that rumor would be true. At least, without the compression of the songs' space.

My Life as a King is under the limit by 10MB, I know...And the limit is around 50 or 40MB, if I remember what they stated in the GDC interview.

That said, I do think the lack of DLC on the Wii is Nintendo's fault. It's just like WiFi on their systems when they just started out. Nintendo is the first ones to support it, and eventually, third parties will follow, but usually to a lesser extent. That has always pointed to me that Nintendo isn't exactly getting in there and helping developers utilize the service on their systems. That's really how I've always felt about it. Same with WiiMote support.

um, here's an idea. screw the godawful wii and buy a much better ps3 or 360 instead!!!! OMG!!!!!

Originally Posted by The Master Sword

What? I don't like rhythm games I don't buy them.

Originally posted by Mr. Wonderful
My Life as a King is under the limit by 10MB, I know...And the limit is around 50 or 40MB, if I remember what they stated in the GDC interview.

It's still not a tiny game in the way that other Wiiware or XBL or PSN games are, especially now that DLC is confirmed for it. If LostWinds can have 22 levels in it and fit under that space, how can the songs be that straining?

That said, I do think the lack of DLC on the Wii is Nintendo's fault. It's just like WiFi on their systems when they just started out. Nintendo is the first ones to support it, and eventually, third parties will follow, but usually to a lesser extent. That has always pointed to me that Nintendo isn't exactly getting in there and helping developers utilize the service on their systems. That's really how I've always felt about it. Same with WiiMote support.

I understand this for second parties, but why third? Nintendo's not developing the games for them, it's not as if they can go to every last third party developer and create the online function. By now they've shown how to utilize Wiimote controls well, and the online (to some extent), it shouldn't be that hard for companies to take a bit of a hint. That fact that certain third parties themselves have shown how to do both right is proof that they don't need their hands held for the entire gen.

Originally posted by zeldask8r
um, here's an idea. screw the godawful wii and buy a much better ps3 or 360 instead!!!! OMG!!!!!

Every gamer should play one of the two higher-end systems consistently, no doubt. Though I'd say if you skip out on either both of them or just the Wii you miss out on far too much from this generation.

Originally Posted by Jeff

It's still not a tiny game in the way that other Wiiware or XBL or PSN games are, especially now that DLC is confirmed for it. If LostWinds can have 22 levels in it and fit under that space, how can the songs be that straining?

The mp3 in itself can run between 5-10 mb. That is the small part. After that you have to consider the four parts that need to go along with it, each taking up its own space. Then you have to consider the lip synching of the singer and how the band interacts with each other during the performance. And since its not a single layered song it will take up more room that way. Each part needs to be seperate so mistakes can be heard. So I hope you can see why songs would be a hassle to fit on the Wii.

Originally Posted by Goron red

Damnit Harmonix.

What were they thinking?

Its not harmonix fault. They made the game, but EA is in charge of puting it on the systems. Its really EAs fualt. Since EA doesn't have faith in the Wiis internet service (alot of other EA games have lacked online on the Wii) they refuse to use it.