@rocketpig 

I agree. As much talk as there is about the Wii's last gen graphics you can't argue against how horrible their online strategy is. The original Xbox had a more refined online strategy than Nintendo.

There is not a single good reason for friend codes. Easier to remember universal gamertags that work with every game can protect you from strangers just as easily. And once you establish that you are friends with another console there is again no good reason for no voice chat. i can understand no voice chat against strangers but friends???

Adding storage for DLC is a must. Like many on this board I currently have a vast majority of my flash memory still free because I don't play VC games much. But I still want a storage solution because until a HDD is put out games won't use DLC more extensively. It's a stupid cycle where devs won't make larger DLC because of no HDD and Nintendo points out there isn't enough DLC to warrant a HDD. My launch Xbox had a HDD so there is no reason the Wii shouldn't at least have the option for one.

If Nintendo doesn't fully embrace the online atmosphere next gen there'll be even more of a backlash from core gamers than there is this generation.

@gnizmo

While I agree this is a gimped port with no online even though GH has online i'm not going to blame DLC on them.  I understand that FF WiiWare game has DLC but Rock Band DLC is far more massive and it would get to the point that after downloading a few song packs you'd have to start deleting them before you could download more.  There's well over a gig of DLC released since launch and more coming all the time.  512MB shared with all game saves and VC is nowhere near enough. 

I don't even care if Nintendo adds a HDD to the Wii... They just need to actually enable the removable memory to do something worthwhile. Right now it's really just a waste of space and money.

 Don't you understand that it would be in EA/Harmonix/MTV's best interest to give Wii owners the best version of Rock Band? Don't you think that making a Wii version 6-9 months after the initial launch of the game is NOT something that they'd prefer to give you an inferior version over.

Don't give me the Square Enix DLC bullcrap. We're talking about FF:CC's few-megs of DLC versus Rock Band's DLC that takes upto 5+ gigabytes of data, that span ALOT of things - title updates, patches, and lots of new goodies.

Where is GH3's DLC for Wii too? Again, your trying to compare piecemeal DLC efforts by square for a downloadable game versus fully fleshed out content for DLC. And where are the Wii Demos for big games? Why are they not there? If Nintendo had ANY capability to offer competent, robust online services, why aren't there bigger, better efforts than a few downloadable games and piecemeal content? PSN and XBL have hundreds (and even thousands) of gigabytes of downloadable content versus only a few gigs of Wii content...Despite the Wii having the hardware lead...Despite software selling well...Everything Nintendo has done for online has been a day late and a dollar short (a Rock Band song)....So why are we to suddenly blame a company that is known for money-grubbing ways versus the host of the content?

 And to date, Rock Band is nearing 10 million songs downloaded - at $2 a pop, it's made more money than many non-AAA games on the Wii, 360, and PS3. Thats huge. Why wouldn't EA want that on a system that has more units in the wild than any other (and a track record to show that a robust RB could sell well)?

Right, going back to my old mantra:

Wait for Rock Band 2 (assuming they actually work on it, since I'm sure they'll keep riding the DLC) or rock out with your neighbors who bought a 360 only for Rock Band (they...might buy Portal...maybe)

A shame Nintendo can't handle the only good example of DLC so far.

As someone with the 360 version of Rock Band, this doesn't affect me personally, but I really wish the Wii version had the capabilities of the other "next-gen" (current gen) systems.

Band World Tour needs to be in there. No excuse for it not to be. 4 players jamming out together in quickplay is awesome. 4 players forming a "band" and pretending to tour the world while earning stuff and unlocking new arenas to play in is even more fun. It's rather astonishing to me that the Wii is getting the PS2 version of the game, seeing as it has the largest install base and the possibility of selling the more copies of the game than any other system, since it's a "casual" enough game to be right in the Wii market's wheelhouse.

No DLC is just as ridiculous. Nintendo has dragged its feet in the online arena for far too long. The throwaway effort they made on the Gamecube set them up to do little to nothing online with the Wii. The online gameplay itself isn't terrible (SSB and Mario Kart being examples) but the runaround required to do so (friend codes, I am looking in your direction) is completely counterintuitive. Sure, nobody wants to see kids victimized via the interwebz. Hampering the entire online experience for everyone who owns the system over one very small chance of something happening (which should be the PARENTS' responsibility to police in the first place) is just a terrible way to appease your customer base.

Here's hoping Rock Band 2 will rectify the situation, and maybe at some point Nintendo gets its head out of its ass in the online arena and provides a cutting edge online experience rather than a console equivalent of using my old 1997 AOL browser.

Let us step back and look at this port as a whole. It lacks dlc forsupposedly a good reason. It lacks online multiplayer because? It lacks custom character creation beacause? It lacks world tour mode because? It lacks compatability with the Guitar Hero 3 guitar because? There is no defending this port. It is a shameless money grab and it fucking reaks of it. EA is trying to make a quick cash-in, and maybe establish the games name on the system. It is in Harmonix et alls best interest to do a full port, but they chose not to. It is undeniably a half assed port of the game to make a quick buck just like the PS2 version. There probably is a very good reason for dlc being completely absent from the Wii, but that ain't the reason Rock Band Wii will lack it.

And read my first post again. I have never claimed they could do it well. Hell if they had come out and said we just don't think people would want to have to shuffle songs on a thousand external memory cards I wouldn't be saying a thing. I am not doubting that there are severe technical barriers that cause dlc on the wii to be an issue. I am doubting that Harmonix put enough effort to find even one of them though. There is no excuse for the crippled port the Wii is getting, and I will be damned if I keep my mouth shut while people blame the wrong company for parts of it. This is a C team effort, and Harmonix deserves to be bashed over it.

 Considering the fact that you're paying extra for that, and many people (see: most casual gamers and fair chunk of the hardcore crowd) don't care for paying for extra content...

 ...yeaaaaaaah. Not to mention the Wii version has 63 songs, not 56. Additionally, Guitar Hero III isn't considered "gimped" even though it doesn't have DLC, like II did. AND, Rockband has more-or-less the same number of songs as GH, but a much more complex game setup and a more diverse offering.

How does any of that make it gimped? Okay, no DLC. But, uh, if you DO get every single downloadable song, you end up paying over $250 for the whole thing in the end. For those of us that don't want to spend more than the already tremendous $170, there's nothing missing out. DLC? Big deal.

 I'm no expert but IMO is it at least 100 times easier to get "dlc" on something you already downloaded.  Show me DLC on a disc based game please.

Wii version only has 5 extra songs, so either 56 or 63 is wrong. 10 million song downloads don't lie. 4 million in the last month and a half. Lots of people are downloading songs. Even just 5 of your favorites completely makes the game. You get to pick and choose every week. GH DLC = garbage in comparison to Rock Band. It is gimped because of no DLC, which is Nintendo's fault (as Rocktpig and MrStickBall have said: why would EA not want more money?), as well as no character creation, world tour mode, online play, etc, which is Harmonix's fault I guess. It's a PS2 port with 5 extra songs. At least with the PS2 instruments you can use them with the PS3 because they are the same, so a future console purchase gives you DLC without having to pay for more instruments. Hopfully the Wii instruments are compatible as well.