Rock Band 2: All Rock Band 1 DLC available for Wii, online features confirmed

by JC Fletcher { Oct 15th 2008 at 9:00AM }

We've heard denials, denials of denials, and redacted denials; and, most recently, we've had indirect confirmations. We were all pretty sure by now that the Wii version of Rock Band 2 will actually have the online features found in the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions, and that EA is actually selling Wii owners a whole game this time ... but it is nice to have some reassurance.

Said reassurance comes in the form of an IGN hands-on, in which Mark Bozon specifically states what is in the game and what is different. What compromises do exist are delightfully minor, like the loss of the tattoo and logo editors. Head-to-head online play is there, and online coop World Tour mode is there. Battle of the Bands daily challenges are downloadable.

The biggest news is that all of the DLC tracks from Rock Band, which were not available for download through the first Wii game, will be updated and made available for download in Rock Band 2. And as for the storage issue: it's about what you'd expect. Songs can be saved to SD, but must be copied over to the Wii's memory for play. Allow us at this point to express the extremely unpopular opinion of whatever.

Tags: dlc, ea, harmonix, music, rhythm, rock-band-2

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Anthony @ Oct 15th 2008 9:28AM

Man, now I actually have a decision to make. I was going with GH: WT for sure because of DLC and online play. Now that I know RB will have it, I am not sure which one to get!

StckFigure @ Oct 15th 2008 9:34AM

This is my dilemma, too. I don't expect to be using GHWT's music creator myself, but if it's powerful enough, I'm pretty sure the "free DLC" that other people can make would be well worth it -- does anyone know how strong it will be? Also, are we 100% sure that the instruments aren't cross-compatible? That would make things so easy.

Ferco @ Oct 15th 2008 9:40AM

Not a dilemma for me as an european. And a cross-compatibility would be pure win.

Anthony @ Oct 15th 2008 9:44AM

I don't know, but it would be nice if I could just get a set of instruments that would work on both games. That would eliminate this dilemma.

VaultICEE @ Oct 15th 2008 12:14PM

I say pick up both Rock Band 2 and GHWT.

I own Rock Band on the 360, and the DLC basically makes the game. At this point, I have over 200 songs and its never a dull moment to be honest. I'm guessing they fixed the issue that the Wii version had, which was the background videos while playing instead of actual in-game graphics - the characters look even nicer. What I'm trying to say is I really love the game.

The only reason I say get GH as well is because I know a lot of Wii owners are hooked on it since RB was gimped last time around. I myself can't go back to Guitar Hero but I might pick it up once the reviews come in.

anthony @ Oct 15th 2008 12:58PM

I would like to get them both, but I don't want to have to get two different sets of instruments.

Sonic_13 @ Oct 15th 2008 9:31AM

It's great to hear that Rock Band has added all the features that were supposedly impossible on Wii (yet widely used by many other games), but I don't understand why they went to all that trouble but then stopped short with one critical feature. While with Guitar Hero: World Tour there is a cache feature so songs can be loaded and played from the SD card in game, Rock Band is making you swap out songs between SD card and Wii memory before you play.

I have no idea why they decided to do that.

Artron @ Oct 15th 2008 9:46AM

Still getting the GH: WT...

Anthony Johnson @ Oct 15th 2008 10:00AM

Does anyone know if there has been a RB2 vs GH:WT comparison. I currently have GH:WT on pre-order, but I don't know which one to get. I agree cross-instrument compatibility would be awesome and I would simply buy one set of instruments and both games, but since that is not an option . . . :-(

I guess I got to make a decision. GH:WT is looking the best so far especially since Gamestop is giving a code to those who pre-order to unlock all of the tracks and DLC can be store and PLAYED from the SD card.

THRILLHO @ Oct 15th 2008 10:36AM

the DLC isnt played directly from the SD card, but you can pick songs that are stored on your SD card. the game then "loads" the song to the wii memory so you can play, so there will be some loading time between songs if they are all on your SD. GHWT already said they wont support RB instruments, but did RB officially say they wont support GHWT instruments?

Spike @ Oct 16th 2008 4:42AM

it was confirmed that the GH3 guitar is compatible with RB2 no work on GHWT instruments yet, aside from the mic

Spencer @ Oct 15th 2008 10:21AM

Man do I love game companies that blatently lie to their customers. "It's impossible to do online gaming on the wii well." Realy? Cause Tiger woods 07 had it...and it worked...really well! No friends codes, nothing annoying like that... it just worked.

No DLC because you don't have enough space? Really? Because Excite Truck accesses MP3s directly off up to 2gigs of SD storage... sounds like plenty of space for a few dozen DLC songs.

HappyFunBall @ Oct 15th 2008 10:49AM

But will the GH:WT instruments be compatible? I'm buying GH:WT but if the instruments are compatible, I'd definitely buy the game-only RB2. Having the old DLC available is really nice.

Monkey Thing?!!? @ Oct 15th 2008 11:07AM

And thus is the dissolution of Harmonix's excuses

Though not emulating Guitar Hero in the storage solution sense is still kinda fail, Rock Band is the better game at heart.

bukizzle715 @ Oct 15th 2008 11:41AM

I'm still getting GH. But I am wondering, why did they even bother releasing RB 1 on Wii only mere months before RB 2? If RB 2 is going to be infinitely superior, why didn't they just wait?

Gewurz Man got equipped with... free Wii points @ Oct 15th 2008 7:03PM

MONIES

fco. @ Oct 15th 2008 11:50AM

mmh... decisions, decisions...

I do like Rock Band's tracklist better, but Guitar Hero's music creator looks quite cool, and having to transfer the downloadable tracks on Rock Band everytime I want to use them will be a pain. Then again, that shouldn't be a problem once Nintendo starts letting load games from the SD card.

Of course all this would be solved if Guitar Hero instruments were to be cross compatible, but I highly doubt It'll happen.

Bainge @ Oct 15th 2008 12:34PM

Honestly guys this really should not change anything relating to which game you by. GHWT is still vastly superior, with better instruments, circle notes, new innovations to the formula (such as open bass notes and a fifth drum note), and the music creator mode. There shouldn't even be a question about what game to buy because the choice is obvious. Especially since it seems from this annoucement that you can't play DLC directly off the SD card in RB2.

HappyFunBall @ Oct 15th 2008 12:46PM

You can't play DLC directly off of the SD card in GH:WT either. You have to have like 200 blocks free in the Wii memory, and the game will load the songs in the background. It's supposedly transparent to the user...

TheOverlord#2 @ Oct 15th 2008 2:52PM

You basically can though.
I mean, would you rather have 200 blocks on your Wii and be able to play a ton of songs(from SD Card)...or have a small amount of songs on your Wii's memory that you have to interchange every time you wanna play a new song?

Bainge @ Oct 15th 2008 8:42PM

Yeah I tripped over my words a little bit there. I have no idea how large 200 blocks is but I am assuming that is hardly anything, and since I only have Megaman 9 and Zelda on my internal storage I think I will be just fine, especially with my SD card to fill also.

But yeah, the only really good argument about why you should buy RB2 over GHWT at this point was looking back on the quality and the amount of DLC releases for RB1 compared to GHIII. Obviously Rock Band was amazing in this respect, but I think that World tour will step up their game in the DLC department, and I'm already sold because I absolutely love the Smashing Pumpkins (Well, until the new stuff).

BigB @ Oct 15th 2008 2:00PM

I'm still going for GH simply for the fact thatthe guitar doest feel like a POS, and it has the clickign strum bar.

The RB guitar I absolutely despise.

Destin @ Oct 15th 2008 5:00PM

Isn't the biggest news in the IGN preview that the GHIII guitar will work on RB2? I don't remember that being mentioned before, and it's the reason I've heard at least two people say they were sticking with the Guitar Hero franchise. Yet the article clearly says "Guitar Hero III's controllers do in fact work, according to MTV Games."
http://wii.ign.com/articles/919/919793p1.html

THRILLHO @ Oct 15th 2008 4:43PM

I cannot believe I didn't notice that line. Now I can buy GHWT full band and RB2 disc-only and be happy.

Gewurz Man got equipped with... free Wii points @ Oct 15th 2008 7:09PM

THANK YOU for pointing that out!

That just made my day. Month even!

Gundam_Warrior @ Oct 15th 2008 3:36PM

Here is my main question:

Will all Rock Band 1 DLC be available at launch date for the Wii or will we have to wait months for them to update the entire catalog?

THRILLHO @ Oct 15th 2008 4:48PM

They will most likely have all the DLC up, because they don't refer to any of the DLC as RB1 or RB2, just RB DLC since it will work for any Rockband game.

Supergluey @ Oct 15th 2008 3:45PM

To Be Honest, I feel RB2 As a big patch, they are fixing what they blatantly did not do the first time around(because according to them it was impossible , yet they are doing it now.. ) They are fixing that, adding new songs but content wise its still the same as before. Whereas GH:WT, actually supported the Wii from the Get-go instead of trying to compete with Rockband 2, they're doing something different.
That is just my opinion , and obivously i'm bias because i own GH3 for the wii, and I considered it worth my purchase.

Gewurz Man got equipped with... free Wii points @ Oct 15th 2008 7:11PM

I'm curious to know if there's any validity to the Datel Crossplay (a random google of "wii guitar compatibility" brought it up). But, if GH3 guitars do work, it's already obsolete.

THRILLHO @ Oct 15th 2008 9:11PM

Alot of people must've been confused because a Harmonix rep posted this at http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91443
“There have been some mixed messages in gaming press, but I’m happy to confirm that the Wii Guitar Hero 3 guitar will be compatible with Rock Band 2 for the Wii. We wanted to clarify for all the Wii Rockers that have expressed confusion regarding this compatibility, and reassure that Harmonix will continue to advocate wide-ranging compatibility for instruments across music platforms.”

Gewurz Man got equipped with... free Wii points @ Oct 15th 2008 10:30PM

Somewhat cryptic that it only mentions the GH3 guitars, and no word on the WT guitar & drums, but hey, good enough for me!

Consider me officially sold on RB2 in addition to GHWT, and more than happy to have access to RB1 DLC for Wii in the process.

Now I can put off getting a PS3 even longer!

djfly2008 @ Oct 16th 2008 12:53AM

From what I saw on Rock Band official site, this isn't true.

From Rock Band Official Site:

Completely customize your characters to reflect your inner rock god*

Play solo or as a band in Tour Mode – Start small and work your way to the top

Go online to play with – or compete against – rockers around the world*

Keep expanding your rock universe with downloadable content* & track packs**

*XBOX 360 and Playstation 3 only

**Playstation 2 and Wii

See for yourself here
http://www.rockband.com/games

djfly2008 @ Oct 16th 2008 1:01AM

OOps! Scratch my last comment! I read that wrong! That was Rock Band 1. Sorry!

Doug @ Oct 16th 2008 9:37AM

Is anyone else concerned about how online play will be implemented? I'm wondering how the two will compare on the online side of things.

Damitol @ Oct 16th 2008 3:27PM

Truth? I'm not 100% committed now that RB II has stepped up, but I'm still leaning towards GH:WT as the music creator interests me and I like the wireless drums w/cymbals out of the box better (are RBII's drums wireless?). I prefer the track list in RB II, but I don't think that will be as big a deal since DLC is now on the table.

Since I do have a GH III Les Paul there is a decent chance I'll pick up the RB II disc only version at some point (again, I like the track list), but if they work it so all of the GH:WT hardware is compatible - then that is a guaranteed sale.

I'll decide for sure once both systems are out and can be tested side by side (things like bass drum pedal quality could be a factor), but as of now I'm most likely sticking with Guitar Hero.

Laura @ Nov 7th 2008 7:50PM

I have rockband, and guitar hero three, and im definately going to get rockband 2. Even on wii for rockband, i thought it was so much fun and even still i love it.

But what im wondering is:

1.) If have rockband already, do i just need to buy the game and not all the instruments?

2.)Do rockband 1's instruments work with GH:WT?

And whats the whole deal with the sd cards? how is that going to work?