Rob Kay, design director at Harmonix and on Rock Band, has blamed the lack of storage space as the primary reason why Wii Rock Band owners will not be able to download extra songs via DLC.
"Come on Nintendo, we need a hard drive," Kay said when asked about the issue in a recent interview with CVG. "That's what we want. The whole problem is there's nowhere to store it."
"If the platform could do it, we'd jump on it", he continued. "It's something that we championed to Nintendo, that we'd like to do it. Who knows what will happen down the line, I don't know what's coming down the line, but that's the reason there's no DLC in Wii Rock Band"
Nintendo has repeatedly insisted there are no calls for an external hard drive, with the most recent defense being made back in November.
For more from Rob Kay about UK-specific tracks, pricing and the future of Rock Band, check CVG later on this week.
I'm not sure if I agree with DLC, mostly because of the pricing (I saw the price of the UK Rockband DLC - Ł1 a track is a joke), but the Wii definitely needs some form of external storage, or at least a firmware update that will allow the console to read data off SD cards. My Wii's memory is getting quite full thanks to VC downloads, and I don't really want to have to go through the rigmarole of deleting and re-downloading!
They could have alsways just put the songs onto the disc along with the game for free. But no, they have to get every last penny from the public that buy the game. Considering how much more we have to pay for the pakage here compared to the US it would have been nice to get the extra songs.
Yes we do. We really, really do. I'm hoping that Nintendo will only be able to hold out for so long before sense hits them. Preferably with a large DK-style hammer.
They are still hoping to use the lack of an HDD as an excuse as why they didn't include DLC? And people are actually buying that excuse? Wow, apparently they were right, people are dumb enough to fall for a fabricated reasoning. You can access data off the SD card right now without any problems. And the PS3 version's total download of all songs is around 2GB. I have a 4GB SD card. So even if the files are double (unlikely) the size because they include FMV performances (like the PS2 version) instead of real time like the PS3/360 versions, I'd still have enough space to download every single song they have available. And then, if I wanted more, I'd get a bigger card or delete what I don't play and as far as I understand, once you download it, you can redownload it any time, just like the VC games.
Here's what most likely happened,
EA said "Oh crap, GHIII is selling like crazy on the Wii, didn't see that happening, we need to get Rock Band out for it ASAP." Well, what's the easiest and quickest path to getting it out? Port the PS2 version. Wait, that doesn't include DLC but the Wii is capable of doing DLC. Doesn't matter, most Wii owners will buy it anyway without DLC and we can always say that the fact that they don't have a hard drive is the reason we couldn't include it. Won't people figure out that we could have just used SD cards as the storage? No, look at CVG's forums for an example on how they'll just buy our line without question.
online infrastructure and hard drive won't give them extra money,
and anyway casuals is their main marked and they are not so interested in gaming that they want more storage space and online multiplayer
so they won't go trough all the trouble giving the wii more memory and absolutely not the trouble of giving it proper online multiplayer. it's just not wort it economically.
They are still hoping to use the lack of an HDD as an excuse as why they didn't include DLC? And people are actually buying that excuse? Wow, apparently they were right, people are dumb enough to fall for a fabricated reasoning. You can access data off the SD card right now without any problems. And the PS3 version's total download of all songs is around 2GB. I have a 4GB SD card. So even if the files are double (unlikely) the size because they include FMV performances (like the PS2 version) instead of real time like the PS3/360 versions, I'd still have enough space to download every single song they have available. And then, if I wanted more, I'd get a bigger card or delete what I don't play and as far as I understand, once you download it, you can redownload it any time, just like the VC games.
Here's what most likely happened,
EA said "Oh crap, GHIII is selling like crazy on the Wii, didn't see that happening, we need to get Rock Band out for it ASAP." Well, what's the easiest and quickest path to getting it out? Port the PS2 version. Wait, that doesn't include DLC but the Wii is capable of doing DLC. Doesn't matter, most Wii owners will buy it anyway without DLC and we can always say that the fact that they don't have a hard drive is the reason we couldn't include it. Won't people figure out that we could have just used SD cards as the storage? No, look at CVG's forums for an example on how they'll just buy our line without question.
I didn't think the Wii supported SDHC cards. I thought the maximum it can support is 2GB...
Now rather than an external drive (which would entail a whole design and developemt process they could just enable SDHC and enable play from these cards and problem is sorted (with just a firmware upgrade). You can pick up large SDHC cards very cheap now.
It'd be nice if it taught Nintendo a bit of a lesson though. A lot of people (particularly those into these kind of games) own a Wii alongside one of the other systems. If you can get the same game but including the DLC for one platform and not the other, which would you go for?
If the Wii is going to start to have games like this lacking the DLC ability of the game on other formats then they're obviously going to lose sales, plus this is the kind of thing that a lot of the future 'casual' titles that the Wii is selling so many of are probably going to offer.
It's not as if a hard-drive is essential for the playing of games like it is with the PS3 and the original Xbox, so if people want the extra content then they shouldn't complain about the need for a hard drive.
They are still hoping to use the lack of an HDD as an excuse as why they didn't include DLC? And people are actually buying that excuse? Wow, apparently they were right, people are dumb enough to fall for a fabricated reasoning. You can access data off the SD card right now without any problems. And the PS3 version's total download of all songs is around 2GB. I have a 4GB SD card. So even if the files are double (unlikely) the size because they include FMV performances (like the PS2 version) instead of real time like the PS3/360 versions, I'd still have enough space to download every single song they have available. And then, if I wanted more, I'd get a bigger card or delete what I don't play and as far as I understand, once you download it, you can redownload it any time, just like the VC games.
Here's what most likely happened,
EA said "Oh crap, GHIII is selling like crazy on the Wii, didn't see that happening, we need to get Rock Band out for it ASAP." Well, what's the easiest and quickest path to getting it out? Port the PS2 version. Wait, that doesn't include DLC but the Wii is capable of doing DLC. Doesn't matter, most Wii owners will buy it anyway without DLC and we can always say that the fact that they don't have a hard drive is the reason we couldn't include it. Won't people figure out that we could have just used SD cards as the storage? No, look at CVG's forums for an example on how they'll just buy our line without question.
i linked up my old sinclair zx81 16k wobbly memory pak and doubled the graphics capability of my Wii. next i'm going to link an old Ł14.99 mp3 player to my Wii doubling the current internal memory
stalker - if you played Medal of Honor Heroes 2 online, you'll find a well suported online multiplayer infrastructure, but thats mostly because EA did their own thing and didnt rely on Nintendo's online software systems. Just saying that not all of the Wii games have crappy MO.
back on topic, I fully agree with the need for a HD. In fact, I want games next generation to be DL only, no more discs that can scratch or get dirty.
There are 2 things that annoy me about the way the Wii was designed. 1 - No Dolby 5.1. Seriously, can we get proper surround sound, Nintendo? 2 - No firewire support. USB HDs are nice, FW HDs are MUCH better. Hell, on a FW HD, you might actually be able to stream the games directly from the HD.
Anyway, at this stage, Nintendo just needs to get a USB HD out to us. I want DLC, and I want more storage space for Wiiware/VC games
He's got a point. I assume this is the reason we haven't seen any downloaded songs for GH3 yet either. Unless they've been snuck out without me knowing...
We won't see a HDD for Wii, plain and simple. The console is aimed at casual gamers who aren't going to consider DLC. All they care about is a fun game at a cheap price. If DLC is that big of a deal for some of you, pick up a 360 or PS3 to compliment your Wii...
Maybe they can bump up the price to Ł220 and add a 4GB SD Card with it. I don't know why they're complainin, with the price of the game who is even going to buy it in Europe.
We won't see a HDD for Wii, plain and simple. The console is aimed at casual gamers who aren't going to consider DLC. All they care about is a fun game at a cheap price. If DLC is that big of a deal for some of you, pick up a 360 or PS3 to compliment your Wii...
LOL Vulcan, do you get paid by Sony or MS?
Everyone, casual or not, is familiar with downloading stuff, so DLC for even casual gamers playing games like GH3 and RB will adopt the option of being able to add new songs. You don't have to be a "hardcore" gamer in order to appreciate the option to download add-ons. Ultimately, Nintendo will hear enough gripes from people, which will present demand... and where there is demand, there is money. Thus the creation of supply. It's just simple business.
That, my friend, is exactly why Nintendo will eventually put out an external HD device.
Now they just need to explain the horrible decision to not support the Guitar Hero 3 Guitar, and not use the Wiimote in the Rock Band guitar. Doing that would have really tailored the game to the console. And its not Activision's fault- Nyko is coming out with a GH3 compatible guitar, and they aren't getting sued.
Now what excuses have you got up your sleeve for simply porting a PS2 version, omitting the World Tour Mode, Character Creation and Online Play? Because I really don't think you can blame that on the lack of a hard drive.
Bottom line is; he's right - the Wii needs a hard drive. HOWEVER, it's a very convienient excuse; they ported the PS2 version anyway - I doubt they would've actually included DLC regardless - where's online? Where's World Tour Mode? Where's Character Creation? There are no technical constraints for those, except that it's easier to port the PS2 version and be done with it.
Copyright 2006 - 2009 Future Publishing Limited, Beauford Court, 30 Monmouth Street, Bath, UK BA1 2BW England and Wales company registration number 2008885
