Someone sounds bitter about this! I'm glad I have it for 360 and don't have to deal with this.

ZING!!

I wholeheartedly agree with you.

Not surprising... but then again, unless it's clever PR suggesting that when it comes to online the Wii is pretty piss-poor (I'd be inclined to agree), wouldn't the best way to "fully realize" it be to go just go ahead and do it?

Also, you could fix that HAMRMONIX tag if you have time.

... but who will think about the children, then?

No real internet framework from nintendo = no pervs using the wii to get at the innocent kids

i figured that would happen. as long as BWT is intact, it shouldn't be that big a deal.

On-line infrastructure aside, isn't the Wii's limited, internal storage an issue too?

Not surprising at all. With the pay to play thing nintendo probably has a system for such stuff coming soon, but being nintendo they probably aren't going to give out any of the information about it ti they have a game out using it.

Gamers don't want to play online anyway. Right, Nintendo?

Ok, simple.

I'm not buying it.

Is that hard to understand? I am so very over Nintendo, your actions are so very clear, and no one is going to choose the butchered ports you force developers to make over the real deal.

This game was the ONLY way to measure development of DLC. It seemed to me that the entire delay was because they were waiting for Wii Ware to launch which would then be their distribution method. Clearly no, so the whole platform is doomed. The promised GH3 DLC for Wii will never arrive either.

There's nothing left for hardcore gamers on Wii. The people who kept Nintendo's name alive during a consistent series of horrible decisions are turning away, and I don't feel bad about it anymore.

No NIN for you.

kinda hard to download when the wii has 512MB of space, Nintendo also seems to be in no hurry to offer a Hard drive or more memory.

Then again I dont care I play it on my 360.

I wonder how hard Harmonix worked when they "focused" on core game play and how they tailored it for the Wii. I hope its not a copy and paste port of the PS2 version.

What a load of shit.

I'm a member of that rare species known as Kotaku Reader Whose Only Current-Gen System Is A Wii, and this news burns me to the very fiber of my being. Nintardo may have just driven me to become an Xbox person over this.

Nintendo has nothing but disdain for online play. It is so goddamn retarded to allow unprotected and WEP encryption for wireless, but not WPA?! Way to ostracize most wireless users on top of not having any hardline capability in the Wii.

@nerdtacular:
Yes. In fact, what the hell does the Wii's online network have to do with anything? Stick it online, and have people download it. Plus, you could always stick the songs on an SD card if you're worried about space. Whatever. I've totally given up wondering about why Nintendo hates anything online related.

Nvm my WPA rant was against the DS. That too, is crap.

Well, they can always patch later. Oh wait, they can't.

I'd hate to play rock band in 480i anyway.

@destro713: May I suggest...PS3? :)

Again I will say, be glad we're getting it at all. No one promised you all three platforms were going to be the same, and if you thought that when you bought a Wii, one look at the controller should have taught you otherwise.

The Wii has its own particular strengths and weaknesses; online is not one of its strengths. So be glad we get Rock Band at all. If you're that upset, go get another console.

'bout time for the Wii Drive if you ask me...120gb USB $99 nice profit for all (although with fall drive prices it's probably cheaper to make 250gb) Where are those new George W.Bush Bucks going for anyway...

Hey Brian that seems lie a good idea for a post "What are you going to purchase with your Stimulus package George W.Bush Bucks?"

I think I will go to the strip club (Strokers in Atl) and get my package stimulated!...just joking

(hopefully pay down your personal debts)

..srry I got a lot off topic =/

Yeah I don't understand, why not just let people download the songs from Rock Band's website and put them on an SD card, surely DRM-ing the songs to the console (make you enter the console code when you buy them) would be sufficient.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding because all I see in this post is that there isn't any online multiplayer, does that just automatically rule out DLC because Harmonix insists the songs be downloadable in-game? I admit the SD card solution would be a bit intensive for the Wii's target audience, but some method always seems better than no method.

The real key here of course for Harmonix is shipping this thing with as few problems as possible before next Xmas, they want the biggest install base to be able to give them money as well, and damn whatever features like Online, if they would push that release back a few months. I'm not criticizing, just stating that must be their priority.

@TheEngineer: Kirbytheslayer is awesome.: Because the game has to connect to the network, and I betcha 10 bucks that their servers aren't nearly as powerful as Microsoft and Sony's, two companies that have internet experience OUTSIDE the game industry.

Not buying it.

@TheEngineer: Kirbytheslayer is awesome.: I think Nintendo was once taken advantage of by the internet. Fondled and touched in its special places... Poor Nintendo.

Seriously, this is a major strike against Nintendo. What Wii owner in their right mind (myself included) will by a butchered version of a game, especially considering you have to plunk down $170 bucks for it?

Nintendo is DEAD LAST in terms of their online community, and so long as they keep rolling in the dough, they could probably care less. Friend Codes? WTF?!

So glad I own a 360 and a PS3 as well as a Wii.

@Clushje: Exactly.

Brawl's use of the "Smash Service" to deliver stages, shows that content can be downloaded from the internet, stored on an SD card, and then loaded and used in-game.

So why not take that system and build off it to implement DLC. A song is downloaded, stored on SD, and then loaded and played as needed. Sure the load time may be a bit, but at least HMX would show they're trying to make it work.

And honestly, what's the difference between a 16 digit friend code and a username? Have something do that behind the scenes!

Way to kill your game Harmonix =s

@Bobby McPresscott: What kind of bullocks is this? 'butchered ports you force developers to make'? This is the most absurd thing I've read. Ever. You want to try to convince me that, Nintendo told them to stick the butchered PS2 version of the game onto their system, even though they've clearly said time and again that developers need to put their top teams on the system?

No. It couldn't be that EA was fucking lazy and didn't want to waste time actually trying to work within Wiiware or the Wii's limitations to deliver any DLC and instead made the minute changes with their drums and guitars so that they work on the Wii, so they can rake in a lot more cash for very little extra effort. EA, no... the gaming industry as a whole never does anything like that.

It's apparent that Nintendo has not learned from their past mistakes. Not embracing DLC is just like when they chose to go cartridge with the N64.

People clamoring to be scammed by 'DLC' is hilarious.

Any excuse to bash Wii, I guess, but seriously...it's such a scam. This was MTV, they could have included a ton more songs, but now they are trying to squeeze every penny out it releasing them piecemeal (when they should easily be able to afford to pop 50 or 100 more songs on a CD and sell it as a 20 or 30 buck expansion).

I might miss storage space on a Wii sometime next year. I might miss the trash talking open server environment in one or two games (but I doubt it)...frankly, if there's no DLC trying to milk a dollar for every rock band or guitar hero song...I won't miss that?

Strange. Nintendo is going to roll out DLC functionality at some point:

"Further upcoming uses for Wii points will be add-on game content and special services, with the cost of maintenance offset by the modest user charges."
[www.gamasutra.com]

This was at the GDC lecture Takashi Aoyama, the Nintendo Network Administration Group Group Manager, held last Feb.

@Ampillion, now with the hair stylings of TVs Frank: *sigh*... it's the same kind of reason that they said they couldn't do downloadable characters for Smash Bros.. It's not just as easy as deciding to create downloadable content and then posting it somewhere. XBOX Live makes that easy. Nintendo doesn't, and at least from their view doesn't need to.

If you noticed, even without 'superior' online, the Wii prints money and moves units like nothing else. And in Nintendo's business' case, if it isn't broken, why fix it?

I still maintain that if you (in general) are that upset about no DLC for the Wii, you probably should have seen this coming, and if it matters THAT much to you, it's probably time to move to a new system.

@x3sphere: What mistake? Without DLC and Online the Wii is still the best selling console of this generation.. from a financial point of view they're doing nothing wrong..

That really sucks for people that only have a Wii. For me personally I don't think I would be playing Rock Band as frequently as I do if not for the downloadable content. It's the one thing that keeps me coming back. Well that and the fact that the game is ridiculously fun.

It honestly really doesn't bug me, and I'll bet that most Wii owners won't have a clue as to what they're missing. There are plenty of songs included to play and have fun with, I know that I don't miss GH3 DLC.

But I also do most of my game playing on my PC where I get all the DLC I want for free. It's going to take some serious convincing before I start to get caught up in all the micro transactions that come after already buying a game.

@TRT-X: smash is a first-party title though right? it's going to have privileges.

@tincow: if you expect 50-100 songs on a $20 expansion, you're nuts.

@CockroachMan: Yeah... for now. This "if this isn't broke why fix it" mentality is what caused Nintendo to lose its top spot to Sony when the PlayStation was released.

Um last I checked Wii games could read songs straight from the SD slot and 3rd parties can use there own online method (EA anyone) instead of Nintendos, so why is everyone bashing Nintendo only?

Anytime a company wants to do something on Wii outside Nintendos online framework it seems like they can so why didn't harmonix just setup a song purchase option from within the game and serve out the songs themselves?

Sometimes I feel like XBL has let devs get a bit lazy because PC gaming has no unified method for matchmaking, downloading extra content or anything and somehow companies managed to get things done so whats changed?

Nintendo trojan-horsed us with their big "OMG LOOK WE HAVE INTERNET" announcement they initially made for the Wii.

Get with the times Nintendo. Demos/Online interface/DLC - DO IT.

If I don't see some better game on the horizon soon, I might just trade my Wii in.

@TRT-X: And honestly, what's the difference between a 16 digit friend code and a username?

"My gamertag is KaneRobot."

"My friend code is XK1V-DO5L-99XA-APP7."

Yeah, one of those is a little easier to remember in conversation, and the other one sounds fucking retarded and cumbersome.

I'm happy we're even getting it. Be grateful! Yes nintendo made a mistake w/ online and hard drive space. It is there first time at it. Freind codes are a pain but hey, beggers cant be choosers. If we have to download onto sd cards or buy a hard drive (if they release on) I'd do it! And if it is a crap port, it's not nintendos fault is it? No that would be harmonix and ea (not that im bashing them, they're both great companies)

they could have at least put a bunch of extra songs on there. wii owners will be buying the game what, 7-8 months after the other versions came out? and what do they get for it, 5 "bonus" songs and no dlc?

i wouldnt be suprised to see wii and ps2 expansion disks containing around 30 songs. and of cousre these disks will be $30.

@deathsyth8888: That would be so depressing if the Wii version was the PS2 version.

@yomachaser: "Anytime a company wants to do something on Wii outside Nintendos online framework it seems like they can so why didn't harmonix just setup a song purchase option from within the game and serve out the songs themselves?"

This is exactly why I blame Nintendo. If EA creates its own online network for the game they have to worry about security issues, people sharing songs, etc. I don't really think Nintendo provides any framework for this sort of stuff yet. That's a major issue.

@Ampillion, now with the hair stylings of TVs Frank:
It's much easier and satisfying to just blame Nintendo. They have the "deep pockets."

@Seg:
The key to listening Nintendo talk about upcoming online functionality is to not believe a damn thing they say until you are personally able to do it. They haven't come through on 99% of their statements about online play or functionality in the past, so nothing they say should be held to any worth.

@CockroachMan:
They are making a mistake that may very well bite them in the future. I'm a 19 year old gamer and I was myself very excited about the wii and what they could do with it. Unfortunately, 16 months later, I find that my demographic has been left high and dry by Nintendo. Th