PSA: Rock Band 2 SD card not required for Wii DLC
by Alexander Sliwinski 
{ Jan 8th 2009 at 6:00AM }
A quick search on Amazon finds that most 2GB SD cards can be purchased for under $10. For those who just can't live without the branding on this SD card (which you'll never see once it's inside the console), it'll be available this spring. Also, this PSA extends to those outrageously priced Wii-branded SD cards as well.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Farmer @ Jan 8th 2009 6:05AM
I guess thats good news for Wii owners.
-_-
tuaamin13 @ Jan 8th 2009 6:30AM
Of course they don't mind if they give you the misconception that you need *this* SD card instead of any generic SD card.
baby sea tuna @ Jan 8th 2009 8:47AM
The more you know...
T @ Jan 8th 2009 9:35AM
When you get right down to it, the people this is aimed at are the less than techsavvy casual gamers who don't "get" how the Wii works with SD cards.
So when casual gamer customer A is looking for "those card thinigies for the Wii" they see this and KNOW that the product will work in their console.
It's a bummer there's a premium on the branding, but hey...Apple does that all the time.
E.J. @ Jan 8th 2009 6:31AM
The Wii's file allocation table probably does not support an SD card of more than 2GB, which goes to show how outdated the Wii's innards are.
On a more positive note, this should encourage people to get DLC on the Wii!
DBuck_Eye @ Jan 8th 2009 7:01AM
Actually, there was a person who got SDHC (over 2 GB) cards to work on the Wii. It ended up making transfer times from the card to the system much much faster for some reason. Not sure if that disproves your theory, but thought I should point it out.
Lionbacker @ Jan 8th 2009 7:28AM
It doesn't disprove his theory...
If a hacker can do it, it proves that that is a very skilled hacker, but Nintendo still ships wiis without SDHC support.
Mabui @ Jan 8th 2009 9:20AM
It probably has to deal with the fact that you have to pay some sort of licensing fee. Even if that is tiny - the thought of making it a update to the system would mean that they are once again spending money for Geeks and Otakus when most of their consoles will never use it.
Least that is how I figure they would look at it.
My Wii is overstuffed with games that I've had to start "Putting stuff in the fridge" and it is getting annoying - especially at the amazingly craptacular transfer speeds.
Mr Khan @ Jan 8th 2009 12:17PM
Transfer speeds were improved drastically with the last firmware update, and you're right, it is a licensing issue. You have to pay more for SDHC support, but the fun thing is, Nintendo HAS paid for the license by now, as the tech is incorporated in the DSi
BxGT @ Jan 8th 2009 6:43AM
The wii isn't sdhc? wow.
AwesomeTown @ Jan 8th 2009 7:26AM
Seriously. Especially since 8gb cards can be had for under $20. Scratch that, there is one on Newegg right now for the same price as the 2gb above.
Foetoid @ Jan 8th 2009 8:40AM
Is SDHC a patchable option?
ill trooper @ Jan 8th 2009 6:51AM
If that thing were $30 I'd say 'steer well wide of that,' but at $13 why not? I'm sure a few people will say something like 'LOL only an idiot would buy that" but I think it's a nice option to give to some Wii Rock Band fan as a gift, or a way to sort out which card has the Rock Band songs on it, etc.
It's sorta like buying Cowboys socks for a Dallas Cowboys fan - they'll love 'em, but no one will really see 'em. But the one wearing 'em will KNOW.
Personally, I'm wearing CHARGERS socks... And underwear. GO BOLTS!
DBuck_Eye @ Jan 8th 2009 6:59AM
The Steelers will CRUSH YOU come Sunday!!!
rodjoh @ Jan 8th 2009 8:25AM
Ur right... as much as the branding is unnecessary, the price is still acceptable. The bad thing is that the Wii can't support any more than 2GB. I mean come on!
Killjebus @ Jan 8th 2009 9:57AM
"as much as the branding is unnecessary, the price is still acceptable"
And paying $250 for a wii IS?
I think it is par for the course.
Just like Apple charging $1 a song when almost any other alternative is $15 dollars a month for UNLIMITED songs.
Face it, most of the people of this planet are mindless sheep that just go along with the other Lemmings on any and every decision.
Killjebus @ Jan 8th 2009 10:00AM
And paying $250 for a wii IS too right?
It is just par for the course.
Thank you Joystiq again for your wii-like editing for posts.
Mr Khan @ Jan 8th 2009 12:18PM
oh dear, don't compare them to the Wii
You know that's one way to really get under their skin...
JPN @ Jan 8th 2009 9:36AM
The branding is stupid - maybe they could, oh I don't know...put some tracks on it to actually play in RB2???? Crazy I know
UkuleleSHIMA @ Jan 8th 2009 10:17AM
how many RB songs can approximately fit on a 2gb card?
roboluke @ Jan 8th 2009 11:02AM
About 75 songs (25-40MB per song).
Scooter @ Jan 8th 2009 11:35AM
I think most hardcore Nintendo fans would pay a fair sized fee to get SDHC.
Grant @ Jan 8th 2009 1:05PM
It's the principle of the matter. It's simply retarded that it's not there. Nintendo does some stupid shit to limit their consoles and it has fucked them in the past.
Now they hit a home run as long as they can keep their shit together, but they seem to be sitting on their haunches riding the shitty software tidal wave that will eventually crash.
I'm sure they are just being lazy, cheap motherfuckers going "eh, it's good enough, no need to add something that will increase licensing fees" and this is a simple patch that could be released... hell, even sold as software.
Grant @ Jan 8th 2009 1:06PM
Whoops, that was supposed to be a reply to seth below.
seth @ Jan 8th 2009 11:50AM
Really? Are people still complaining about the lack of SDHC? I mean, how many games do you need on your dashboard at one time?
Take this as a thought experiment - Every time you want to play a retail game, you have to grab a disc and put it in the drive, unless that disc is already in the drive. With 2gb of capacity, you can have several games on one card. When you want to play one of those games all you have to do is place the card in and load the game onto your system (basically the same as playing a retail game).
And this may be BIG news to some of you, but you can even keep the games you are currently playing on your hard drive. So you don't even need to swap out the cards all that often.
I mean seriously, how many of you switch between playing 10 different games at a time? I usually am playing no more than 3 at once.
As for RockBand / GHWT DLC - As Roboluke pointed out, you can have 75 songs on the SD card - which is almost the same as a new RockBand game would contain. So really, this is no worse than buying new discs.
PS360 fanboys need to step off and realize that their systems just provide extra stuff that is ABOVE AND BEYOND what a reasonable person would want, not what a reasonable person would need.
Nick @ Jan 8th 2009 1:36PM
Man, wouldn't it be awesome if the DLC on the Wii actually worked?
xknight @ Jan 8th 2009 2:07PM
Can I load rock band 1 songs into rock band 2? How can I do that?
Gavin @ Jan 8th 2009 4:04PM
Yeah, who needs large storage space for downloadable content, movies, demos...and who needs voice chat, a solid online platform, and then maybe something like a quality control screening process.
People want none of that.....IF THEY ARE MORONS.
seth @ Jan 8th 2009 5:14PM
Umm, the wii does have voice chat now. I got Wii speak and it works quite well. Unfortunately, I, like the average person nowadays who plays games, don't have much use for it. When I play games with others, they are at my house and they are my friends. They aren't just random strangers who I really don't want to talk to anyway.
It also has DLC. but who cares. Again, the average person who owns a gaming system probably will not be interested in that. Again, only something that niche core gamers care about.
As for movies, well I have a blockbuster online account already, so I don't need my game system for that at all.
And no, we don't have demos. boo hoo. But I can still do research on games that I'm interested in buying. So far I've been satisfied with every game that I buy. And I've bought quite a lot of them.
As for quality control - yes, there is a lot of shovelware on the wii. But you don't have to buy it. Also, the lower cost to develop a wii game results in more developers taking a shot. Some miss the mark completely. But some of those games come out fantastic and are really unique. The high cost of developing for the PS3 and 360 result in more cautious decisions and more of the same with prettied up graphics and NEW GUNS. WOW!!!
I personally thought about buying a PS3 this winter, but when I looked into the games I really wasn't all that impressed. The great majority of the games are just clones of one another with different dressing. Why do I need 18 different first person shooters when the game play mechanic is basically the same on all of them? Honestly, the only game that excites me is little big planet. But I'm not going to pay upwards of $500 to play that game.
You, Microsoft and Sony are failing to see things from the perspective of the average consumer. Sure all that stuff that 360 and PS3 have that wii doesn't is appealing to hard core niche gamers. But people like myself who don't spend endless amounts of time on electronic entertainment and who aren't as technologically savvy have almost no need for it. What we want is an occasional escape from our hectic lives. The wii provides exactly what we need and nothing that we don't.
There is a greater market for what the wii is selling. And in the end that makes it the more widely adopted system, and ultimately the winner.
So go ahead and complain about what the wii lacks. I personally don't care. And I think the millions of consumers who chose the wii over the PS3 and 360 probably agree.
Kmm1106 @ Jan 8th 2009 6:24PM
Even more important PSA - DLC for Rock Band 2 is not yet available! So you really do not need a Rock Band 2 SD card.