Fxxx Off, Rock Band! Guitar Hero IV: World Tour - DLC for Wii confirmed!

[alpha_dk]

WOOOOOOOT.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

I was wrong about the Activision/Harmonix split. Since that day, it hasn't been Activision that has tried to screw over their customers over and over again. Maybe someday I will go back to a Harmonix game, but unless they start caring more about their customer's experience (*cough* DLC, world tour, using GH3 controllers on the wii version, online battle mode; I don't even care about customizable characters being removed because that is a legitimate technical issue) I don't see any reason to.

Seriously, Harmonix. I used to love you guys. You introduced me to Freezepop, for f*ck's sake. Any company that employs the duke has to be a tiny bit awesome. But if you don't start taking the desires of your customers into account, and put some g*ddamn work into your products instead of outsourcing a half-assed PS2 port to what will likely be the most successful console this generation, you are going to lose ALL of the goodwill you've built up through the years by associating your name with shoddy products to the majority of incoming customers. If you don't start to put some effort into the Wii, and I mean *real* effort, the kind that would find a way to make a top-notch game with the added bells and whistles, YOU ARE GOING TO BE LEFT BEHIND.

Customers don't want to hear "oh, it's too hard" or "oh, we're just gonna port over the PS2 version because it's easier".

Customers want to hear "We are doing everything in our power to make this work for you. We are working with Nintendo to get you this DLC. We're working to make online battling work. We're giving you as many features as we can get the system to give us."

That's what Activision is doing, not Harmonix. And it pains me that I may get through this generation without buying a Harmonix game; late into last generation (as in, after the Wii got me back into gaming) I bought a PS2 for Guitar Hero(es), Frequency, and Amplitude. But if you guys don't start treating ALL your products as though they reflect on you -- because believe me, they do reflect on you -- well, then you are going to lose your legitimacy in the face of millions of Wii players who may not have experienced you on PS2.

Your brand is worth more than that, Harmonix. Don't ruin it in the eyes of the new segment of the market. There's a lot of money to be made there, but in the face of stiff competition from Activision you will have to work for it. It won't be handed to you on a silver platter. If you put as much effort and love into the Wii version of RB as there obviously is in the PS3/360 versions, you'll be fine.

BUT.

If you release it without GH3 guitar compatibility, without DLC, without online versus, without world tour, etc. and think that is treating your customers well;

If you think that 5 extra songs that would otherwise be downloadable is enough to make up for the lack of those features, or really anything other than a 'sorry for the delay';

If you think that, in the face of competition, you can afford to half-ass your Wii support;

If any of those statements apply to you, Harmonix, then I really hope that you enjoy your future mediocrity. If they apply, then your EAization has already begun, and I can only pray that you find a way to stop it before it is too late.