Wii Rock Band 2 hammers on DLC

It may have retained the same acclaimed gameplay as its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts, but the "Special Edition" of Rock Band for the Wii was regarded as a minor disappointment for two reasons. First, the rhythm game arrived seven months behind its current-gen competitors. Second, the...

It may have retained the same acclaimed gameplay as its Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 counterparts, but the "Special Edition" of Rock Band for the Wii was regarded as a minor disappointment for two reasons. First, the rhythm game arrived seven months behind its current-gen competitors. Second, the game had a lack of online functionality--namely downloadable content--which was one of the defining features of the Xbox 360 and PS3 editions.

MTV Games and Harmonix have addressed the first isssue in part with Rock Band 2. Falling under Microsoft's "first on Xbox" catchphrase, the 360 game was released in September, and retailers are expecting the PS3 version in mid-October, with the Wii and PlayStation 2 editions following in mid-November.

Now, the online functionality issue has been resolved entirely. Speaking to USA Today, MTV Games has confirmed that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will support the same online functionality as the Xbox 360 and PS3 editions of the game, including downloadable songs and online multiplayer modes. USA Today notes that the PS2 version of Rock Band 2 has not been similarly upgraded.

When Harmonix first broke the news that the original Rock Band would not support song downloads, it blamed the missing feature on the Wii's lack of substantial onboard storage. "Come on Nintendo, we need a hard drive," lamented Harmonix design director Rob Kay at that time. "That's what we want. The whole problem is there's nowhere to store it."

Though heavily speculated, Nintendo has yet to unveil a hard drive for its popular console, and USA Today's report did not reveal how Harmonix has circumvented the storage issue. For Activision and Vicarious Visions part, Guitar Hero World Tour on the Wii will support its online content by way of the console's limited internal memory unit as well as through SD cards, according to an interview with Shacknews earlier this month.

64 Comments

  • madgamer11087

    Posted Dec 6, 2008 6:27 am GMT

    well i already have a sd card fron playing guitar hero so im ready come rock band come out already

  • Gam3rKidd

    Posted Nov 25, 2008 1:24 pm GMT

    ...The wii needs a hard drive! Nintendo, get with the times

  • SeanChan10

    Posted Oct 13, 2008 8:15 pm GMT

    yes thank you harmonix im gonna like freaking buy like 10 4GB SD cards if i have too lol

  • DSgamer64

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 3:43 pm GMT

    The Wii can only use standard SD cards, at most you are only going to get 4GB's and there are only a couple of brands that have non SDHC cards. From what I have read the Wii can only read standard SD, maybe it can use SDHC with a patch but I can't find any information on it.

  • DSgamer64

    Posted Oct 2, 2008 7:55 am GMT

    There is only one flaw with the idea of using an SD card. The Wii only supports standard SD, not SDHC making cards above 4GB unreadable. Transcend makes a 4GB non SDHC card though, one of the few on the market but expect read times to be a bit slower then an SDHC card would provide. An external storage unit would be fine, they are affordable but Nintendo needs to set up support with any USB based mass storage devices including HDD's and USB flash drives. Nintendo shouldn't have to put out their own external drive, if they do it better be priced far more reasonably then the 360 drives which are a ripoff imo. A 2.5 inch mobile SATA drive in a case would be fine, 40 or 80 GB's of storage space would be tons for storing Rock Band 2 DLC as well as VC games.

  • Poison_Me_Rum

    Posted Oct 1, 2008 9:19 am GMT

    Storage is obviously an issue with the Wii, but download content for any game is possible. If the console could read from SD cards (whilst the game is in play) that would be one option. Another would obviously be a hard drive.

    Though once you've bought a song you never need to buy it again, so you can always re-download. Just a bit of a nuisance.

  • puppiemaster

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 6:23 pm GMT

    I've already used up all my space with VC games, come on Big N we need a hard drive, I own 2 Wii's, but I'd buy another with a hard drive and HDMI port

  • euphzilla03

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 2:03 pm GMT

    Sounds interesting. Though I did like the disc expansions...but ehh it works either way.

  • hot44boy

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:41 pm GMT

    I wonder if they'll do DLCs in the same style as GHWT. You can store them on system memory, or on SD cards.
    If you have enough space on your system to hold one song on GH, it will copy it to the system, let you play it, and when you finish, it deletes it.
    I plan to get RB2 for the Wii. (Hoping RHCP album will be available for download soon on there)

  • guitarmaster85

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:29 pm GMT

    I hope you can download rock band 1 songs too.I WANT YYZ!!!!!!!!!!

  • Stevewins1

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:12 pm GMT

    I'm out of storage, so at the moment, I'm not really a fan of DLC.

  • raahsnavj

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 6:48 am GMT

    Well, I hope you can get SD cards to work seemlessly with this game because 10-20 songs would fill up the rest of that 512 MB internal storage...

    And I doubt you get the export of RB1 songs... The Wii users still the the shaft for just having a piss-poor console.

  • pokerguy94

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 5:52 am GMT

    There's still some things I wanna know.
    1. Can you use SD cards?
    2. Is there character customization or are there the same prerendered background videos?
    3. Is there a nonlinear world tour mode?
    GHWT for Wii is still my first priority. I'll probably get the disc-only Rock Band 2 since i have a RBWii guitar and drum set.

  • rockstar_88

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 4:19 am GMT

    @Guitar-Dunnie
    Nintendo ditched their hardcore fans like me so they can rake money off of casual gamers. Our pleas never really get answered and I'm going to guess that Nintendo is going to avoid the topic of HDDs for as long as it can, and when it does come time to bring it out, it'll be something pathetic like the WiiSpeak.

    It's good to see DLC on the Wii though, but in the end, Wii owners are still going to end up spending more money on buying extra storage devices when Nintendo could've easily solved the problem by coming out with a hard drive add-on or even a built-in hard drive. The iTouch has a built-in 32GB FLASH HDD, why can't the Wii?

  • shani_boy101

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 1:39 am GMT

    @Guitar-Dunnie
    "It's about time. I may not have a Wii, but I still feel like Wii owners are being treated like underprivileged gamers."

    Maybe thats because the majority of Wii owners AREN'T GAMERS. Most people who buy a Wii buy it for Wii Sports and the motion control which isn't all that great. The Wii is meant to be a family console for adults who have never touched a video game in their lives or 7 year old who get their parents to buy everything they see. I think Nintendo should have put in a hard drive in the first place and they could have made the graphics at least somewhere in between PS2 and now gen. i don't like looking at those Mii eyesores.

  • milnet

    Posted Sep 30, 2008 12:35 am GMT

    Gonna get it on PS3 instead, better graphics and my online is perfect on PS3 as apposed to the Wii.

  • halomonkey1_3_5

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 7:52 pm GMT

    Why do people complain about a hard drive not being on a Wii? There already is one...just not a massive one. I have the 20gb HDD on my 360 and I haven't filled that thing up...and I've had the 360 longer than the Wii.
    If you're running out of memory, delete stuff or save onto an SD card. If you want to play it again, just download it later or play it off the SD card.

    the Wii does NOT have a hard drive it only has internal flash memory...and the reason why there complaining is that the amount of storage in the wii is the equivalent of around a $5 SD card...so even though nintendo COULD have put in more memory(i found multiple 2gb SD cards for under $20) for cheap they didnt

  • finaleve

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:49 pm GMT

    Why do people complain about a hard drive not being on a Wii? There already is one...just not a massive one. I have the 20gb HDD on my 360 and I haven't filled that thing up...and I've had the 360 longer than the Wii.
    If you're running out of memory, delete stuff or save onto an SD card. If you want to play it again, just download it later or play it off the SD card.

  • leafdj

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:27 pm GMT

    Eh...
    The Wii just seems like it'd be sketchy about this kind of thing.

  • bgres077

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 4:18 pm GMT

    Awesome news, hopefully you can store songs on a SD card.

  • Sim_Gamer

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:48 pm GMT

    But the next question is: Will there be character customization?

  • padouke

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:48 pm GMT

    all i care about is guitar hero. its good to be reassured though

  • pole211

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:46 pm GMT

    YES!!!

  • RockmanSRD

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:45 pm GMT

    I think it's just easier to own the game for the PS3 or 360.

    I mean, yeah, get it on the Wii if that is all you have. But still...

  • POkemonfreak101

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:43 pm GMT

    Mush_Mouth:
    yes 4 GB is plenty, but unfortunately, the Wii only supports up to 2 GB SD cards =[

  • DannyRice

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:43 pm GMT

    Good, they both hav DLC. And I hav an SD card so I'm happy.

    But major downside: in Nintendo Power they showed that the Guitar Hero: World Tour drums put a Wiimote in above the drum pads, instead of using a cord like Rock Band did. So no compatibility w/ drums Well... 99% sure that's the case. Not cool!

  • Mush_Mouth

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:31 pm GMT

    forget the hard drive, the sd cards can hold what, 4 gigs now? is that not good enough?

  • Kowpow

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:21 pm GMT

    GH/RB instrument compatibility...hopefully...

  • tyzwain

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:09 pm GMT

    They'll probably release a special Rock Band SD card, maybe a 16gb one?

  • siLVURcross

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:09 pm GMT

    I'd still prefer this on the PS3/360. I can imagine more people playing it on this system compared to the Wii.

  • Somebody89

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:06 pm GMT

    Cool that the wii won't get the butchered version but I'll stick with the 360 because well it has a HDD.

  • Generic_Dude

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 3:04 pm GMT

    Rock Band 2 Wii Edition: The Game That Sold A Zillion SD Cards

  • Macgyver95

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:25 pm GMT

    GH:WT gonna have dlc for wii!

  • N-One

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 2:09 pm GMT

    Still don't trust them, plus I already pre-ordered GH:WT on Wii

  • n4m3l335

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:57 pm GMT

    IDK about DLC for GH4, but I suspect that if there is not a HDD for the Wii by the time RB2 is released, they will probably use data redundancy, or give you access to a file rather than downloading the file.

  • BloodMist

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:51 pm GMT

    Hmmmm....maybe they know an HD is on the way.That'd be killer.

  • mkDSpro63

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:45 pm GMT

    Happy days, happy days. This is extremely good considering I'm a sole Wii owner. So what. Is Harmonix gonna bite and just use to internal hard drive and sd cards?

  • silversonic1

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:43 pm GMT

    You know, all any developer has to do is add HDD support IN the game by adding a generic driver... Of course, they would have to come up with their own encryption protocal...

  • garrett_duffman

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:36 pm GMT

    i think that the team on rockband knows something... theres a reason its not being released until november, nintendo's got something

  • gnbfd

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:29 pm GMT

    $100 that if Activision and VV hadn't done it first, Harmonix would still be making us Wii owners kiss their @$$.

    I'm still getting it on PS3 though because I really don't want to spend $400 on only 2 GAMES. $260 is a hell of a lot more reasonable lol

  • The_Dude1212

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:24 pm GMT

    Y'know what Nintendo should have done right from the getgo? Had an option at the Save File screen for all their games if you wanted to use the Data from the Wii or SD card. Would have made *everything* simpler, and it would have been a helluva lot cheaper, too.

  • wiifan001

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:22 pm GMT

    Guitar Hero world tour is getting DLC on wii. It's not Nintendo's fault for no DLC with Rock Band, it's YOUR fault Rob Kay.

  • Knight_OfBlood

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:16 pm GMT

    I'm not sure about the Wii but you can use Guitar Hero guitars for both rock band 1 and 2. I'm glad they found a way to get DLC on the Wii but I still like having tons of space on my hard drive for songs and my saved games.

  • Taters660

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 1:02 pm GMT

    Ok so you fixed the online issue. But what about allowing us to use Guitar Hero Guitars instead of forcing us to buy Rock Band guitars to plug into the USB port. If you they don't fix that, I'm sticking to Guitar Hero.

  • thk123

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:49 pm GMT

    I would get this if you could use the DS as a mic and the Wiimote as the drums! Then it would be cheaper hence better.

  • Harerazer

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:45 pm GMT

    2 Gigs may be enough for the average user. I have DL'd close to 100 songs for RB on my PS3 so a card option wouldn't work for me. I also have tried and found that the Wii doesn't read HD cards so you won't have the choice of going to a 4GB card. I doubt anyone would DL more than 8GB so that would solve it all.

  • Warchief_Zuljin

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:41 pm GMT

    "No hardrive = Epic Fail. This is another reason why I don't have a wii." Did you just recently start playing video games? Because the HDD is a pretty darn recent addition to console gaming. It's also no real excuse for buying a console.

  • Raide890

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:40 pm GMT

    YES DLC PEOPLE. C'mon who cares about hard drive space. I'm just wondering if all rock band 1 dlc will be available. I want my disturbed

  • Res0lu7ion

    Posted Sep 29, 2008 12:27 pm GMT

    @mansellj

    no that would make it the secondmost strong online game for the wii... you're forgetting about GHWT.

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