IGN's sticks-on impression of Rock Band Wii drums

"If you have the option of purchasing Rock Band for another console, it's probably best to do so."

Here's a better option: Don't buy these stupid games in the first place.

The guitar in GH was OKAY. It stil lwas button mashing old school arcade style. But it's just retarded now. Especially the vocals aspect.

How is Rock Band stupid? If you don't like music rhythm games then you may as well save your money, but most people find them pretty damn fun and accessible.

No necessary, because there are some people out there that have only a Wii and not a next gen system. All those casual gamer could care less if there is DLC or what DLC is. I could see many Wii owners getting this, just like all of those who bought GH3 for Wii. Now the only problem is making GH3 controller working with Rockband, because there is going to be a lot of confusing Wii owners out there...

"All those casual gamer could care less if there is DLC or what DLC is."

Uh huh. 'Cuz the entire Wii install base is casual gamers.

Ken Seang--

I completely disagree. Rock Band enjoys an enormous amount of play in my household because of the DLC. If it didn't exist, the game would likely be ignored far more often.

In addition, it's the hope that I could one day play specific songs that gives me excitement in each week's DLC unveiling. Were there no DLC, there would be nothing to look forward to.

From the corporate standpoint, this is also an unnecessary hindrance. Not only will less copies of Rock Band be sold on the Wii to its crippled state but the revenue that could've been gained from the DLC will be non-existent.

All in all, this whole venture is pretty fucking stupid.

yeah, but saving some bucks on energy isn't worth it if you can't download things that make the game much more fun and much better. now if you only have a wii that's a different story, but if you have the choice, absolutely the 360 or ps3 version.

Yeah, but the 360 and PS3 (even ps2 I think) versions have surround sound options (optical out for digital sound). When playing with a group I would definately recommend it.

I wonder how many people who talk about the energy consumption of the Wii as a benefit actually have to PAY electric bills...

Why should one have to pay electric bills in order to benefit from fossil fuel conservation? Are clean skies, energy independence, and power outage-worry-free hospitals not benefits to those whose electric is included with rent?

the Wii is a disposable battery vampire

Thank you for proving my point, MarMar. You have little inkling on what you speak. So leave the going green speeches on the very special episode of iCarly that you stole it from.

Thank you for proving my point, MarMar. You have little inkling on what you speak. So leave the going green speeches on the very special episode of iCarly that you stole it from.

Thank you for double posting Sir Fidlious Wong (Justin T. McElroy Memorial Burn of the Day Award), you have little inkling (rolls eyes) on how to input comments

Fid, thanks for the laugh. That was a nice comeback.

Mr. Khan: Are you nuts? The Wii has no HDD so it cannot have DLC. It's that simple. Along with that it's not on the same level as the PS3 or 360 so the tour mode has to be altered to the level of the PS2 version. Anyways, this launch is good enough, many of my friends only have a Wii and they will enjoy this release.

Kahn, Disturbed's three song pack was 98MBs on PS3. That means if you are like me and have already added 30+ songs to your copy of Rock Band, Wii's port is impossible on the console to reach the same quality.

You can cry about Harmonix being lazy or you can cry about Nintendo's solution being "we don't know why people don't enjoy the fun fun happy game of tranferring data between the console and the SD card when they want to use it." Regardless, until Nintendo solves the storage problem, you won't see companies trying to solve that problem for them, especially when the only available solution (SD card as a readable drive to USE assets off of rather than a temporary storage device) is currently locked down by Nintendo.

That's the excuse they came up with. I mean i'm not delusional, but they could have done something. The SD Card slot has been used before specifically for the storage of music, and there are other options that they could have pursued equally.

All harmonix did was just say "it has no HDD, what can we do?" and sit back and watch it fail. Equally, there's no reason to not include more gameplay modes and options than the PS2 version. Hell, there was no excuse to do that to the PS2 either. It's like being able to choose a venue or create a character is some monster of processing power that can only be done on a 360 or PS3

"That's the excuse they came up with. I mean i'm not delusional, but they could have done something. The SD Card slot has been used before specifically for the storage of music, and there are other options that they could have pursued equally."

Here is the difference. DLC binds to your system code. Because of how this proprietary format is regulated by Nintendo, it's also bound to be read from the internal memory to run. The solution is ultimately the opening up of the SD port but Nintendo is soo piss awful scared of piracy that they'd never do it. Reading MP3s is nothing special, reading paid content from an SD card is one of those "Doomsday Scenarios" that made Nintendo claim they lost well over $100 million a year in Gamecube software piracy.

But as to the game modes, yeah. It does sort of suck that they limited the PS2 version and the followup Wii version but do you think the Wii version would BE crippled if Nintendo announced their hard drive expansions by now? It's there a point where a company can justifiably no longer wait for Nintendos move? The longer Rock Band stays off the console awaiting the chance to make the move, the more than chance is given the GHIV. I'm not happy about expansion discs as the solution, but I see it as the only one available to them.

"lost well over $100 million a year in Gamecube software piracy."

Not to divert the conversation, but Nintendo had to be tripping when they made that claim. Pretty much the only people who could even pirate or otherwise crack GC encryption were the number of people who had Phantasy Star Online, and a Broadband adapter

Their paranoia is fun to watch, sometimes

Well, their paranoia is amusing. But it's also damaging. Like why isn't the SD card an extension of the Wii Channels? Because someone might steal a copy of 10 Yard Fight from their friend?

There has to come a point where this thing either gets opened or DLC will continue to bypass the system. Of course depending upon who you ask, DLC is either a boon or a curse to current games.

People forget that the Wii version of Guitar Hero 4 is going to have DLC. Rock Band Wii is just another crap port slash cash-in, and I'm going to spend my money accordingly.

Screw you Harmonix!

The number of times you mentioned GH DLC on Wii is greater than the number of songs you'll be able to fit on the Wii at once.

Maybe so... but I'm not a WiiWare or Virtual Console Junkie, so I've got a lot more space on mine than most other Wii owners might. I wonder if GHIV will have the DLC remotely stored, and then "buffered" into temp slots reserved for Guitar Hero when you actually select them... just a thought.

Okay, two things...

1. You're expecting the company that shipped GHIII with mono to actually innovate on Wii?!? Who is your dealer?

2. If you purchase 5 song packs on Wii, you've killed your storage space and your arguement. The quality of the DLC depends upon the variety of it and the ability to store mass amounts.

So you diversify. Sell them as singles on Wii instead of song packs. Think inside the box and make more money, or stay trapped in the box and make less

People keep thinking about porting to Wii in convential terms, based on the standards set by the other two. Obviously this is going to lead to apparently "insurmountable" problems

If HARMONIX doesn't have DLC for Rock Band, I doubt very much that ACTIVISION will find some way to do it, despite their claims to the contrary. These are the people that said there would be DLC for GH3 by early 2008.

@Zippy5150:

DLC was listed as one of the key features for in their press release, they mentioned it like 20 times in it.

This product obviously isn't aimed at people who also have 360s and PS3s, though.

Argument = moot. If you've only got a Wii, your choices are RockBand or GH4, one of which has promised DLC, and one which hasn't (details as yet unreleased).

I'll wait and see what GH4 has in store for the Wii, and decide accordingly.

And to Sir Wong... I can't really say that there are 5 existing song packs on the other services that I'd buy.... In other words, they'd be lucky to get 5 song packs out of me, because so many are based on crappy MTV2 bands, or are bundled in with junk that makes it worthless.

How exactly is my argument moot? The product is aimed at anyone who owns a Wii, it's because of the systems restraints that it's a worse product. It's not because EA/Harmonix is trying to tap into a different audience, it's because Nintendo has a half assed online infrastructure and limited HD space (SD cards?).

My argument was Rock Band is superior on 360/PS3, and it damn well is.

You're also saying to skip the wii version in favor of the 360 and PS3 versions...

Everybody who already has a 360 or PS3 already has RB, and if they don't they're probably not considering buying it for their Wiis anyways. Its basically the same price point, but with less stunning graphics and no DLC. Its a no-brainer.

RB Wii is catering to those that don't have the 360/PS3 and still want the "Rock Band" Experience. These people don't have the choice, so "skipping the wii version" doesn't apply to these consumers.

I'm not saying the Wii version will be better. I'm just saying that this product is aimed at those who don't have the choice...

Punchy McJunk... here is the thing I notice. What makes a good song does NOT necessarily make a good Rock Band track. Likewise, bad songs can sometimes make VERY FUN Rock Band tracks. So I wouldn't judge the DLC on Rock Band based upon how much you like or hate a song. For example, I absolutely despise Wanted Dead Or Alive... but the guitar in that song is a blast to play.

@ Sir Fidelius:

Very true. But isn't Bon Jovi a standard track on Rock Band?!? Its harder to convince me to buy a track from a band I've never heard of.

Believe me, I hear you on this point. Some songs are incredibly fun to play, despite any preconceived notions I've had about them. The game in general makes most songs pretty fun. I'm just not sure I'd buy everything out there... I'm just a selective shopper.

To make my point, all of the GH3 tracks that are unlockables have gone virtually unplayed despite tons and tons of gameplay... why? Because they are 2nd tier songs... They weren't good enough to be the feature songs in GH3, and they're basically an afterthought in many cases. I feel that some (not all, for sure) DLC is like that as well. The NIN pack was good, and there are some other gems out there, but I just wouldn't be tempted to buy much unless its from a single band that I absolutely love.

zing!

RE4? Godfather? Bully? ;)

RE4? Godfather? Bully? Care to name any other games that were out for the PS2 and you can easily pick up for under $20?

Hell, you can even pick up RE4 for the Gamecube and play it on the Wii for less than $20.

looks like theres a usb dongle in that picture, but i may be wrong.

heh, dongle.