Minimum Tempo

I’ve eagerly been waiting for details of Rock Band for the Wii, and what the hell does Harmonix and EA give me? A port of the gimped PS2 version without any DLC or any online functionality at all, and no Wii exclusive features for the wait (five exclusive songs does not make up for giving us shit).

Joystiq asked Harmonix some questions earlier today after the official announcement of Rock Band for the Wii, which can be found here.

Will the Wii version of Rock Band include the Rock Band Store, and downloadable tracks?
When developing Rock Band for the Wii platform, we focused on making the core gameplay experience as solid and enjoyable as possible while tailoring it specifically to the strengths of the platform. The Wii version still contains the robust four-player band experience and all the fun at the core of other versions of Rock Band. However, because the Wii’s online capabilities and potential have yet to be fully realized, we wanted to wait before we explored online functionality for Rock Band to ensure that players get the high-quality of online performance they’ve come to expect.

Uhh… what? It’s a damn port, what exactly must you do to make the “core gameplay experience as solid and enjoyable as possible while tailoring it specifically to the strengths of the platform”? It certainly doesn’t seem you tailored Rock Band to the strengths of the Wii at all; Vicarious Visions added Wii exclusive features for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, so why can’t Harmonix do this? Is it friend codes? EA doesn’t even use friend codes; Medal of Honor Heroes 2 has a decent online for the Wii, and it shouldn’t be difficult to integrate EA Nation with Rock Band.

It’s true the Wii’s online functionality is lacking, but why no online play? If it was done for Guitar Hero III, why not Rock Band? Are you that lazy or reluctant to implement features that Wii users actually want?

Will the Wii “bonus songs” be Wii-exclusive, or five songs included on the disc from the Rock Band DLC store?
We’ll announce the songs closer to launch. Stay tuned!

Fuck that. Five songs will not make up for this bullshit.

Will the Wii version have missing or crippled features similar to the PS2 experience?
Rock Band for the Wii will have functionality similar to the PS2 version.

If there is character creation, will there be Mii support when creating your Rock Band character?
No, there will be no character creator. When developing Rock Band for the Wii platform, the primary focus was to make the core band gameplay experience as fun and solid for everyone — from the software to the Rock Band Wii drums, wireless Stratocaster guitar controllers and microphone peripheral. In tailoring Rock Band to the strengths of the Wii console, character creator unfortunately didn’t make the cut.

Uhh, no? I highly doubt porting this version was so difficult that you couldn’t include features like character customization. I don’t understand why we get the functionality of the PS2 version; we could easily get the game of the 360 and PS3 but with the PS2 version’s graphics.

Right as I was about to get a refund from Activision for Guitar Hero III to buy Rock Band instead; fuck you Harmonix, I’m not buying it. Why will you charge $169.99 (the same price as the 360 and PS3 versions) for an inferior product? Shouldn’t it be $159.99, the same price as the PS2 version?

This post is tagged EA, Gaming, Guitar Hero, Harmonix, Rock Band, Vicarious Visions, Wii

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