Rock Band Wii... ... and it's utter failure.

[Devyn]

Yeah, I don't know for sure how it got that way. I used to rip on anything that wasn't Nintendo, but I guess I did that when Nintendo didn't get the appreciation it deserved. Now that they're popular again, I'm not as bitter towards the rivals.

[Penfold]

Well, although this game is surely gimped, Nintendo is making a pay to play service and I bet it has something to do with the following:

1. Nintendo is a money-hog and they want more money.

2. Even Nintendo fans are tired of shitty online service so they're going to have to shell out cash.

3. Maybe that means Nintendo will realize that a 20 gig $50 hard drive isn't such a bad idea after all.

Don't get me wrong. I love the Wii. It's my favorite console, but even a fanboy has to fess up and call its hero out when it is failing.

Here's hoping that the Wii gets a hard drive/actual SD card functionality in the near future. I wouldn't mind at all paying for the online service and paying for the hard drive, just so long as I can get a damn hard drive (I actually had to delete VC games just to make enough room for Brawl's save file).

[Devyn]

I had to delete some of my N64 games. I got the Milon Fantasy Adventure game, and I tell you, it is a trip. I mean, crazy Japanese trippy all the way, and the music is in real stereo - That's rare for an SNES game. But I guess we're all in agreement here so there's nothing left for me to say.

[zircon]

Erm doesn't the Wii HAVE a hard drive...? Where is it downloading VC games to?

[Devyn]

A tiny little 512 megabyte flash drive.

[Triad Orion]

I just wanted to bring up a point in a flaw of logic I saw earlier when discussing Nintendo's major franchises being "maimed" when "slightly improved" versions get released for new consoles.

...How can a franchise be maimed if the games are technically getting better? I don't want to sound like a dick, but to me, that sounds like how it should be going. Especially if the demand is there. If nothing else, we should consider ourselves lucky that Nintendo hasn't started completely phoning in most of their big name titles and that they're still largely AAA.

That said, I do agree with a lot of people on the weaknesses of the console. The lack of a hard-drive, an XBL style online matchmaking system, etc. are all a major problem. The matchmaking system in particular is a grave problem because if EA of all companies makes a decent one? Someone's doing it wrong!

Though gutting Rock Band after MOH's reasonable system? ...The logic eludes me.

The lack of third party support does fall into our laps too, as gamers. It's a vicious cycle; on the GCN, we didn't buy a lot of the exclusives because the PS2 and X-Box were the big sellers here in the states. The problem for third party developers is that paradigm still carries over into this generation, and thus third party games aren't as frequently produced because they still view the Wii has high risk. This kills us because we don't have any third party titles to buy on the Wii, and when we don't have titles to buy, the companies take that as a reason not to produce for that market. We pretty much have to make noise and indicate we want stuff on the Wii and then follow through.

I think Bahamut's earlier point on not supporting the third party games on the GameCube was right on the money, and I think that's come back to haunt both gamers and Nintendo. Money talks, so if you want more third party games, go out and actually buy the decent third party games that come out on the Wii like No More Heroes or Zack and Wiki.

It should be obvious by now that I own a Wii and enjoy it immensely. But I too, am aware of its flaws and really wish they'd be rectified so the product would be better.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

I'm still amazed that Nintendo has so many throngs of hardcore fans lying around. I mean, you'd think that anyone who was alive for the NES to the mid-N64 days would know that Nintendo has taken a serious dive bomb in terms of quality. Which isn't to say that they're making shit games, but they've been making piss poor decision after piss poor decision ever since the 'Cube. This current state of affairs just further proves that fact.

Which isn't to say that every console out there is without flaw, but it just seems that Nintendo is this generation's court jester. It makes me cry. At least the DS is holding up though(where the hell is FFIV U.S., damnit!! >.<).

[Vivi22]

The lack of third party support does fall into our laps too, as gamers. It's a vicious cycle; on the GCN, we didn't buy a lot of the exclusives because the PS2 and X-Box were the big sellers here in the states. The problem for third party developers is that paradigm still carries over into this generation, and thus third party games aren't as frequently produced because they still view the Wii has high risk. This kills us because we don't have any third party titles to buy on the Wii, and when we don't have titles to buy, the companies take that as a reason not to produce for that market. We pretty much have to make noise and indicate we want stuff on the Wii and then follow through.

I think Bahamut's earlier point on not supporting the third party games on the GameCube was right on the money, and I think that's come back to haunt both gamers and Nintendo. Money talks, so if you want more third party games, go out and actually buy the decent third party games that come out on the Wii like No More Heroes or Zack and Wiki.

I don't think the problem lies so much with people not buying third party titles for the Wii so much as it's too cheap and easy for them to put out casual games and shovelware for next to nothing and earn a lot of money off of it with relatively few sales. In fact, by bringing in the more casual gaming crowd who want stuff more along the lines of Peggle than MGS or FF, Nintendo pretty much guaranteed that a lot of developers would go for the quick buck. That's not to say every developer does it, but there's no denying that the games from third parties that appeal to your hardcore gaming crowd are few and far between, and mostly from Nintendo. So we end up in a bit of a vicious cycle; there's a guaranteed audience for your Metal Gear's, Final Fantasy's and Gears of War on the 360 and PS3, and a guaranteed buck to be made by pumping out cheap, easy to make casual games on the Wii. The disconnect here is that the best way to see more hardcore games come out on the Wii would be to have decent ports of hardcore games from the other systems, but since you can't do a straight port, you usually either end up with a vastly inferior version, or something thrown together by a different dev team and, well, we know how that usually goes. Unless developers put forth the effort to take a chance on putting some good hardcore games on the Wii, we'll never see it break out of the casual gaming mold.

[Dhsu]

Which isn't to say that every console out there is without flaw, but it just seems that Nintendo is this generation's court jester.

I would be too if it boosted my profits up by 77%!

[Triad Orion]

I don't think the problem lies so much with people not buying third party titles for the Wii so much as it's too cheap and easy for them to put out casual games and shovelware for next to nothing and earn a lot of money off of it with relatively few sales. In fact, by bringing in the more casual gaming crowd who want stuff more along the lines of Peggle than MGS or FF, Nintendo pretty much guaranteed that a lot of developers would go for the quick buck. That's not to say every developer does it, but there's no denying that the games from third parties that appeal to your hardcore gaming crowd are few and far between, and mostly from Nintendo. So we end up in a bit of a vicious cycle; there's a guaranteed audience for your Metal Gear's, Final Fantasy's and Gears of War on the 360 and PS3, and a guaranteed buck to be made by pumping out cheap, easy to make casual games on the Wii. The disconnect here is that the best way to see more hardcore games come out on the Wii would be to have decent ports of hardcore games from the other systems, but since you can't do a straight port, you usually either end up with a vastly inferior version, or something thrown together by a different dev team and, well, we know how that usually goes. Unless developers put forth the effort to take a chance on putting some good hardcore games on the Wii, we'll never see it break out of the casual gaming mold.

I guess the real trick here is to demand companies to produce these games for the Wii. The problem lies in getting them to listen; as you say, it's easy to make shovelware for a quick buck to pray off the uninformed. The thing is enough Wii owners have to make enough noise one way or another demanding more "hardcore" games. It's a difficult position, considering companies don't like risks and don't care about consumer desires unless it suits their needs and serves to make them money. Not a slight, but the truth.

That's why I suggest buying what hardcore games DO come out for the Wii. It's the most powerful method consumers have to tell developers what they want: Purchasing Power.

[UnforgivingEdges]

I guess the real trick here is to demand companies to produce these games for the Wii. The problem lies in getting them to listen; as you say, it's easy to make shovelware for a quick buck to pray off the uninformed. The thing is enough Wii owners have to make enough noise one way or another demanding more "hardcore" games. It's a difficult position, considering companies don't like risks and don't care about consumer desires unless it suits their needs and serves to make them money. Not a slight, but the truth.

That's why I suggest buying what hardcore games DO come out for the Wii. It's the most powerful method consumers have to tell developers what they want: Purchasing Power.

Or you could, you know, save some money an buy a system that has your favorite franchises on it.

[Bigfoot]

Everyone and their mother better buy Okami when it comes out for the Wii then. I know I am because I missed out.

[Bahamut]

I'm still amazed that Nintendo has so many throngs of hardcore fans lying around. I mean, you'd think that anyone who was alive for the NES to the mid-N64 days would know that Nintendo has taken a serious dive bomb in terms of quality. Which isn't to say that they're making shit games, but they've been making piss poor decision after piss poor decision ever since the 'Cube. This current state of affairs just further proves that fact.

Which isn't to say that every console out there is without flaw, but it just seems that Nintendo is this generation's court jester. It makes me cry. At least the DS is holding up though(where the hell is FFIV U.S., damnit!! >.<).

I don't know how you can say that Nintendo has been making piss poor decision after piss poor decision when they're dominating in terms of profits. Obviously they are doing things right if they are making so much money and even overtook Sony as one of Japan's top 10 most valuable companies.

Not to say that they are making the best decisions with respect to hardcore fans, but Nintendo abandoned them after they abandoned Nintendo.

[Triad Orion]

Everyone and their mother better buy Okami when it comes out for the Wii then. I know I am because I missed out.

Same here. I didn't own a PS2, so the news of Okami coming to Wii is great. May not be an exclusive, but damn, is it nice to have.

[Overflow]

Not to say that they are making the best decisions with respect to hardcore fans, but Nintendo abandoned them after they abandoned Nintendo.

QFT. I don't know where the drop happened; everyone agrees that the N64 was the best of its time (the PS1 was kind of meh), but once the cube cam out, BOOM! all the support from consumers goes down the tubes.

I honestly don't know what happened. I know the cube had next to nil 3rd party, but HOW did it get that way is what I want to know.

[Nekofrog]

QFT. I don't know where the drop happened; everyone agrees that the N64 was the best of its time (the PS1 was kind of meh)

It was at this point where my bullshit radar went off.

[Bahamut]

QFT. I don't know where the drop happened; everyone agrees that the N64 was the best of its time (the PS1 was kind of meh), but once the cube cam out, BOOM! all the support from consumers goes down the tubes.

I honestly don't know what happened. I know the cube had next to nil 3rd party, but HOW did it get that way is what I want to know.

As much as I loved my N64, I really think the PS1 was probably better (I missed out on a lot of PS1 games back then, played mostly RPGs due to lack of money to buy games). It really had so much more than the N64 did, although the N64 was king for multiplayer.

[CC Ricers]

EA is just trying to feed the Wii poison as far as I can tell.

[Malaki-LEGEND.sys]

Everyone remember playing Goldeneye with friends and never once bitching about how annoying split-screen was?

Now when I play Halo, all my friends are like "Waahh! The screen is too small!"

[Bahamut]

Everyone remember playing Goldeneye with friends and never once bitching about how annoying split-screen was?

Now when I play Halo, all my friends are like "Waahh! The screen is too small!"

People have gotten spoiled. Screencheating has been annoying in Goldeneye though.

[sgx]

Online multiplayer in Rock Band and Guitar Hero is worthless.

DLC is awesome though. It probably wasn't worth their time to try to implement it - they probably just ported over the PS2 version to the Wii, and the fact that there's only 512 mb of storage means you're only going to be able to buy at most 20 ish songs (songs are usually like 25-40 mb on xbox live). DLC is a next-gen feature - if you wanted real DLC, you need to get a real next-gen console.

Oh, and I'm off to download "Still Alive" for free for Rock Band. Too bad for Wii

[Bahamut]

I'm probably one of the few people that online multiplayer is all I got for Rock Band - I've isolated myself when it comes to being in my apartment, so no Rock Band multiplayer in person for me.

[Equinox]

wtf, this song is retarded easy, still alive that is

[UnforgivingEdges]

EA is just trying to feed the Wii poison as far as I can tell.

What does this even mean?

[Vivi22]

QFT. I don't know where the drop happened; everyone agrees that the N64 was the best of its time (the PS1 was kind of meh), but once the cube cam out, BOOM! all the support from consumers goes down the tubes.

I honestly don't know what happened. I know the cube had next to nil 3rd party, but HOW did it get that way is what I want to know.

Don't remember that era very well do you?

The PSX took a little longer to start taking off and the N64 started strong, but 3rd parties started to drift away from the N64 before too long, and the consumers went too. 3rd parties liked CD's more as did consumers, and who could blame them since they held more and some N64 games were twice as expensive as PSX games early on. The N64 started Nintendo's support loss, and this only continued with the Cube, especially when the PS2 managed to outsell just about every system ever made (though while we're on that topic, the PSX sold a ridiculous amount as well). People generally regard the PSX as having the better game lineup overall, though the N64 had it's moments, and was better for multiplayer.